Utilization of new echo attributes for acoustic seabed classification and characterization

单波束回声测深仪是一种标准的海洋测量工具，可产生用于绘制海底水深图的回波。这些回波还包含有关海床的信息，既来自从海床表面散射回来的能量，也来自紧邻海床下方的沉淀物体积。在有限的情况下，通过对这些回波的直接估计来表征沉积物的性质。然而，声学海底分类系统使用的一种更实用的方法是从海底回波中提取称为特征的描述性统计信息。这种方法在当今的商业系统中很常见。海底分类系统将分割算法应用于特征集，以将海底划分为具有相似声学特征的分段。通过地面真实信息，这些区段往往成功地与海底类型的类别相关联。

The single-beam echosounder is a standard marine surveying tool that generates echo returns used to map seabed bathymetry. These echo returns also contain information about the seabed, both from energy scattered back from the seabed surface and from the sediment volume immediately below the seabed. In limited situations, sediment properties have been characterized by direct estimates from these echoes. However, a more practical approach utilized by acoustic seabed classification systems is to extract descriptive statistics known as features from seabed echoes. This approach is common to present day commercial systems. Seabed classification systems apply segmentation algorithms to sets of features to divide the seabed into segments of similar acoustic character. Through ground truth information, these segments are often successfully related to classes of seabed types.