Application of modified multiple subarrays detection method to multibeam bathymetry system

Either amplitude based methods or phase based methods are usually used in multibeam bathymetry system and chosen in practical measurement by ad hoc criteria. The errors of the detection are often caused by choosing wrong detection method. In this paper a modified multiple subarrays amplitude-phase united detection method is proposed , which uses both the amplitude and phase of echo from bottom. This new method not only realizes the super-wide swath coverage, but also improves the detection performance by using the phase differences among subarrays in place of phases of subarrays to estimate the phase slope image. Experimental results are also analyzed and discussed to demonstrate the effectivity of the proposed approach.