Abstract : Traditional sonar systems have evolved in recent decades into sophisticated imaging systems. The underlying reason behind this choice is that as human observers, we are more comfortable with images than we are with one-dimensional signals, in this case the sounds themselves. Imaging sonars have come a long way and have improved dramatically in terms of noise and resolution. However, the image formation process, and most notably the envelop detection processing, suppresses all of the information contained in the phase of the signal. During this presentation, I will talk about this specific issue of phase information which guided my research on wideband sonar systems. I will show how the phase can be exploited for resolution improvement, recognition or system design for diverse sonar systems including SAS (Synthetic Aperture Sonar), MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) or WBS (WideBand Sonar) systems.

Biography : Yan Pailhas is a Research Fellow at the Ocean Systems Laboratory in the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Heriot-Watt University, where he is currently carrying out research activities in bio-acoustic signals and sensors, signal processing (for detection and classification), and numerical simulations. His research focuses on the understanding of the interaction between wideband ultrasonic waves and solid objects. He is currently working on the development of novel wideband signalling systems, detailed analysis and simulation of wideband target echoes, and on the implementation of a low power wideband sonar system for AUVs. He authored and coauthored more than 70 papers in various journals and international conferences. In 2016, Yan won the A. B. Wood medal from the Institute of Acoustics for his distinguished contributions to the field of Underwater Acoustics.