Detection of Underwater Targets Using Polarization Laser Assisted Echo Detection Technique

Abstract

At present, polarization imaging detection experiments of underwater objects mainly focus on the degree of polarization but lack of Stokes vector imaging effect of each element. Based on the principle that the polarization characteristics of different materials are different, the experiment of underwater target detection by laser pulse polarization is carried out in this paper, and the influence of different depths of an underwater object and material factors on polarization imaging detection is studied. The results show that in air, the average degree of polarization of iron sheet is 0.56, that of ceramic tile is 1.00, and that of plastic is 0.48. In water, the average degree of polarization of iron sheet is 0.3625 at 7.5 m, the average degree of polarization of ceramic tile at 7.5 m is 0.359, and that of plastic at 7.5 m is 0.3805. The medium will change the degree of polarization of the measured object. The targets made of different materials have different polarization characteristics, and the polarization information is of great value in improving the detection performance of man-made targets. Polarization detection can obtain better information about underwater objects than traditional radiation intensity detection and can effectively suppress the absorption and scattering of light by water.

Keywords

• underwater target laser pulse polarization detection
• target detection
• degree of polarization