Lidar Imaging Through the Ocean Surface

This work is concerned with the detection and the identification of immersed objects. Our efforts have been motivated by, and concentrated on, the specific problem of the LIDAR imagery of underwater mines. The difficulties of this problem are illustrated by the experimental data used in this study. We follow the standard approach which suggests to model the surface elevation as a random field. We combine the statistical analysis needed needed for the model of the roughness of the surface of the ocean with the physics of image forming which include focusing/defocusing, scattering and backscattering of the light beams, and finally the sensor noise, into a large simulation program. The latter is used to produce realistic images and video sequences of moored mines as seen from airborne platforms, making possible the analysis of the statistics of the image degradation process.