Backscattering phenomena on range-gated imaging in short-range turbid water media

Abstract

Clear image acquisition in turbid seawater environment has always been a matter for concern in various underwater inspection and intervention tasks. This is particularly true for Underwater Robotic Vehicle (URV) missions in turbid waters. Among various imaging approaches, optical imaging system offers higher resolution and faster frame rate compared with sonar imaging systems. The focus of this research aims to reduce the effects of image degradation due to optical noise resulting from scattering of the intervening turbid medium. In the context of our application, there is a need to acquire clear target images that is within 3 m range. A range-gated imaging system reduces most of the backscattering noise from the turbid medium. Subsequently, optimization was on fine-tuning the image quality based on control parameters and image processing techniques.