The Topology of Circular Synthetic Aperture Sonar Targets

Abstract: This report presents a connection between the physical acoustics of an object and the topology of the space of echoes resulting from a circular synthetic aperture sonar (CSAS) collection of that object. A simple theoretical model is developed that yields a precise, yet qualitative, description of the space of echoes. This theoretical model is validated in simulation and with experimental data from a laboratory sonar system.