Seafloor sediment classification based on multibeam sonar data

The multibeam sonars can provide hydrographic quality depth data as well as hold the potential to provide calibrated measurements of the seafloor acoustic backscattering strength. There has been much interest in utilizing backscatters and images from multibeam sonar for seabed type identification and most results are obtained. This paper has presented a focused review of several main methods and recent developments of seafloor classification utilizing multibeam sonar data or/and images. These are including the power spectral analysis methods, the texture analysis, traditional Bayesian classification theory and the most active neural network approaches.