Single Ping Filtering of Multi-Beam Sounding Data Based on Alpha Shapes

From the standpoint of complex marine environments relative to underwater acoustic signal propagation, the application of multi-beam systems for the filtering and processing of multi-beam sounding data is critical. However, currently existing automatic filtering methods estimate data, which involve several calculations and require the respective computer to possess significant processing capabilities. In this study, raw data are measured using an interferometer multi-beam echo sounder, and the characteristics of the noise data are analyzed. The noise data are discontinuous; however, accurate data can be approximated as a continuous distribution. Under the assumption of continuous underwater terrain, in consideration of a circle of the appropriate radius rolling on the terrain profile, the continuous underwater terrain data can be extracted from the raw data by means of the alpha-shapes algorithm. Finally, on the basis of the measured data in a sail trial, the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is verified.