Building Elevation Maps From Underwater Sonar Data

Deriving a terrain model from sensor data is an important task for the autonomous navigation of a mobile robot. This paper describes an approach for autonomous underwater vehicles using a side scan sonar system. First. some general aspects of the type of data and filtering techniques to improve it are discussed. We then proceed to derive an estimcltcd bottom contour, using a geomemc reflection model and information about shadows and highlights. Severat tccfiniqucs of surface reconsrruction and their limitations are presented.