Techniques to enhance the performance of hybrid lidar-radar ranging systems

Hybrid lidar-radar uses a combination of lidar and radar techniques to enhance underwater detection, ranging, and imaging. In turbid water, the lidar return signal includes a significant amount of backscatter in addition to the object-reflected light. System performance is highly limited by the backscatter which results from volumetric scattering of the transmitted light signal off the particulates existing in the water channel. A new backscatter reduction technique based on spatial frequency filtering will be discussed. The spatial filter algorithm leverages radar techniques developed to enhance through the wall imaging (TTWI) performance. Algorithm validation via experimental data is provided.