Efficient processing of side-scan sonar images and fast detection of sparse targets in large-scale images

Poor feature representation, confusing background topography, and excessive data volume render detecting sparse targets in large-size acoustic imagery challenging. Especially when conducting real-time processing tasks, accuracy and speed are required to be optimized with limited computational resour...

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Main Authors: Xi Zhao, Qiangqiang Yuan, Jiadan Xu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-08-01
Series:International Journal of Digital Earth
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2025.2510568
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author Xi Zhao
Qiangqiang Yuan
Jiadan Xu
author_facet Xi Zhao
Qiangqiang Yuan
Jiadan Xu
author_sort Xi Zhao
collection DOAJ
description Poor feature representation, confusing background topography, and excessive data volume render detecting sparse targets in large-size acoustic imagery challenging. Especially when conducting real-time processing tasks, accuracy and speed are required to be optimized with limited computational resources. Therefore, this paper proposes an efficient method for real-time side-scan sonar (SSS) image processing and detection of sparse targets in large-scale images. Primarily, an intelligent real-time processing method is proposed for the raw SSS data to acquire high-quality SSS images. Aiming at the characteristics of large-size SSS images and sparse targets, we propose an innovative two-stage inference method: The SSS image slices are pre-classified based on the MobileViTv3-XXS model, and then the optimized detection model of RepVGG+YOLOv5m is employed for target detection of image slices containing targets. Experiments show that real-time preprocessing yields SSS images with an average PSNR of 27.112 and SSIM of 0.816, comparable to the post-processing methods. Meanwhile, it maintains high efficiency and achieves 88.2% mAP, significantly outperforming the slice-only method in detection accuracy and efficiency.
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spelling doaj-art-c5a934ebca8c427e870960b799064b6d2025-08-25T11:31:54ZengTaylor & Francis GroupInternational Journal of Digital Earth1753-89471753-89552025-08-0118110.1080/17538947.2025.2510568Efficient processing of side-scan sonar images and fast detection of sparse targets in large-scale imagesXi Zhao0Qiangqiang Yuan1Jiadan Xu2School of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of ChinaSchool of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of ChinaSchool of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of ChinaPoor feature representation, confusing background topography, and excessive data volume render detecting sparse targets in large-size acoustic imagery challenging. Especially when conducting real-time processing tasks, accuracy and speed are required to be optimized with limited computational resources. Therefore, this paper proposes an efficient method for real-time side-scan sonar (SSS) image processing and detection of sparse targets in large-scale images. Primarily, an intelligent real-time processing method is proposed for the raw SSS data to acquire high-quality SSS images. Aiming at the characteristics of large-size SSS images and sparse targets, we propose an innovative two-stage inference method: The SSS image slices are pre-classified based on the MobileViTv3-XXS model, and then the optimized detection model of RepVGG+YOLOv5m is employed for target detection of image slices containing targets. Experiments show that real-time preprocessing yields SSS images with an average PSNR of 27.112 and SSIM of 0.816, comparable to the post-processing methods. Meanwhile, it maintains high efficiency and achieves 88.2% mAP, significantly outperforming the slice-only method in detection accuracy and efficiency.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2025.2510568Acoustic imageefficient image processingdeep learningautomatic target recognitionside-scan sonar
spellingShingle Xi Zhao
Qiangqiang Yuan
Jiadan Xu
Efficient processing of side-scan sonar images and fast detection of sparse targets in large-scale images
International Journal of Digital Earth
Acoustic image
efficient image processing
deep learning
automatic target recognition
side-scan sonar
title Efficient processing of side-scan sonar images and fast detection of sparse targets in large-scale images
title_full Efficient processing of side-scan sonar images and fast detection of sparse targets in large-scale images
title_fullStr Efficient processing of side-scan sonar images and fast detection of sparse targets in large-scale images
title_full_unstemmed Efficient processing of side-scan sonar images and fast detection of sparse targets in large-scale images
title_short Efficient processing of side-scan sonar images and fast detection of sparse targets in large-scale images
title_sort efficient processing of side scan sonar images and fast detection of sparse targets in large scale images
topic Acoustic image
efficient image processing
deep learning
automatic target recognition
side-scan sonar
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2025.2510568
work_keys_str_mv AT xizhao efficientprocessingofsidescansonarimagesandfastdetectionofsparsetargetsinlargescaleimages
AT qiangqiangyuan efficientprocessingofsidescansonarimagesandfastdetectionofsparsetargetsinlargescaleimages
AT jiadanxu efficientprocessingofsidescansonarimagesandfastdetectionofsparsetargetsinlargescaleimages