Physics-Based Modelling and Simulation of Multibeam Echosounder Perception for Autonomous Underwater Manipulation

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Oceanography
• Acoustic Imaging

Background:

• Underwater manipulation faces perception challenges due to environmental factors like turbidity and lighting.
• Current sonar simulation methods in robotics often lack physics-based models, leading to unrealistic image properties.
• Existing simulations fail to capture coherent imaging system and speckle effects, distorting object geometry.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a physics-based simulation for multibeam echosounders (MBES) that addresses limitations in current sonar image generation.
• To accurately model acoustic interactions and coherent speckle for realistic sonar perception simulation.
• To enable robust development and testing of autonomous underwater manipulation strategies reliant on sonar data.

Main Methods:

• Implemented a physics-based multibeam echosounder simulation.
• Utilized a point-based scattering model to simulate acoustic interactions between targets and the environment.
• Generated synthetic sonar images and physical time-series signal data.

Main Results:

• The simulation produces qualitatively realistic sonar images, including coherent image speckle and correct point spread functions.
• The method efficiently generates both sonar image and physical time-series signal data.
• The simulation captures fundamental aspects of sonar perception absent in traditional rendering methods.

Conclusions:

• The developed physics-based MBES simulator is a critical tool for advancing autonomous underwater manipulation.
• Realistic synthetic sonar data generated by this simulator enhances the development, testing, and evaluation of perception-based robotic strategies.
• This approach overcomes key deficiencies in current sonar simulation techniques, improving the fidelity of simulated underwater environments.