Advances in the Detection of Submerged Unexploded Ordnance in Marine Environments

2/11/2021

Advances in the Detection of Submerged Unexploded Ordnance in Marine Environments

This SERDP and ESTCP webinar focused on DoD-funded research efforts to improve unexploded ordnance sensing and identification in marine environments. Specifically, the investigator discussed high-resolution sub-sediment imagery and synthetic aperture sonar processing using the Multi-Sensor Towbody platform which incorporates a downward looking sonar and a suite of additional tools.

Presented February 11, 2021- Presentation Slides

Abstract

“Sequim Bay Blind UXO Testbed Survey Results with the Multi-Sensor Towbody eBOSS Volumetric SAS” by Dr. Timothy Marston (SERDP Project MR18-1051)

The Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington (APL-UW) developed a platform for unexploded ordnance (UXO) sensing and identification called the Multi-Sensor Towbody (MuST). The Buried Object Scanning Sonar (BOSS) developed by EdgeTech is a downward looking sonar integrated into the platform that, when combined with synthetic aperture beamforming, can produce high resolution sub-sediment imagery. Funded by SERDP, APL-UW has been developing tools to exploit synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) processing with BOSS data to improve the survey process and extract structural acoustic features to feed into a classifier. During this webinar, the September 2020 scan of the Sequim Bay blind UXO test bed is used as a springboard to showcase and discuss the suite of tools APL-UW has developed for BOSS SAS processing. These tools have performed a variety of functions, including the following : (1) live synthetic aperture beamforming for real-time target detection and localization; (2) optimization of navigation data for SAS processing; geo-rectified data mosaicking with feature-based alignment and detection of anomalous scatterers; and, (3) effective visualization of volumetric multi-look 3D SAS data; and extraction of structural acoustic information to feed into classifiers.

Speaker Biography

Dr. Timothy Marston is a principal engineer at the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington . His research interests include acoustic signal analysis, remote sensing, synthetic aperture sonar processing and machine learning. Before joining APL, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher from 2009 to 2010 in the department of physics and astronomy at Washington State University, where he used synthetic aperture techniques to analyze the acoustic response characteristics of submerged elastic structures. From 2010 to 2013, he worked at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, focusing on the application of synthetic-aperture sonar to mine countermeasures and UXO remediation. Dr. Marston earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Seattle Pacific University and his master’s and doctoral degrees in acoustics from Pennsylvania State University.