BURIED OBJECT SCANNING SONAR (BOSS)

The BOSS-SAS (Buried Object Scanning Sonar-Synthetic Aperture Sonar)

system is a bottom looking sonar used for the detection and imaging of bottom and buried
targets. The system can generate 3-dimensional image maps. The BOSS-SAS system
consists of two wings each having 20 hydrophones and an omni-directional transmitter.
The element dimensions are .058 meters by 0.58 meters and equally spaced to provide a
real aperture of one meter for each wing. The transmitter operating parameters are listed
below:

source level: 190 dB rel to 1 uPa

frequency: 3-20 kHz FM pulse
pulse width: 2 or 5 msec
ping rates: variable (but typically 10 pings per second or 20 pings per second)
sampling rate of system: 44 kHz

Typical vehicle parameters when operating at sea are speeds of 2-3 knots at
altitudes between 3 to 5 meters from the bottom. A Bluefin 12.75-inch Unmanned
Underwater Vehicle (UUV) with the BOSS-SAS system is shown in Figure 1 and the
BOSS-SAS data processing approach is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 1. Bluefin 12-inch UUV with BOSS-SAS system.

 There are several target fields located throughout the NSWC, Panama City
operational areas. During August 2005, field tests were conducted at the 10-meter deep
sand target field in the St. Andrew’s Bay OPAREA. This area is depicted by the larger
square shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Navigational chart showing the 3 and 10-meter deep sand target fields in the St.
Andrew’s Bay operational area.

The 10-meter deep sand target field was populated with eleven targets that were
buried at the time of deployment. Figure 3, shows some of the targets that were deployed
in this field.

Figure 3. Targets deployed in 10-meter sand field.

 The initial layout of the field is depicted in Figure 4. The left most target/marker corresponds to the southwest corner of the field.
The black circles show the surveyed locations of the targets after several months from deployment.

Figure 4. Target layout.

A diver survey prior to the August 2005 field tests was also conducted. Table 1.0 provides the target offsets referenced to the southwest
marker. The small target was not found during this survey.

Table 1. 10-meter deep field target survey report.

Referenced To SW Marker

Along Track Range Off Centerline Range

Feet Meters Feet Meters

SW Marker 0 0 0 0

Scale bomb-like object not found

Small bomb 46.95 14.31 24.08 7.34 west partially buried

18" 6' cylinder 106.57 32.48 5.67 1.73 east partially buried

7" 5' cylinder 153.28 46.72 21.09 6.43 west fully buried 6" deep

14" sphere 192.34 58.62 0.91 0.28 east 5" diameter exposed

large bullet-shaped object 217.26 66.22 0.58 0.18 east ?

14" sphere 242.32 73.86 19.25 5.87 west 10" diameter exposed

6" 2' cylinder 295.64 90.11 6.75 2.06 east ?

scale bullet-shaped object 304.87 92.92 3.42 1.04 west fully buried

NE Marker 353.5 107.75 0 0

 The August 2005 field tests consisted of several calibration runs and several runs prosecuting the target field. An UUV run at a 5-
meter height above the bottom with speeds of 2-3 knots was programmed and executed. The UUV tracks and the target locations from the
last survey are shown in Figure 5. This figure also shows the tracks referenced to the BOSS data. Six sets of data were recorded. The BOSS
data filename format is [surveyfield1{Ar-Fr}NNN.jsf], where {Ar-Fr} corresponds to the data set for the different legs of the run and NNN is
incrementing file number. The BOSS data is message based, binary and data is stored in little endian format. The data set associated with
{Dr}, a run from the northeast to the southwest, are not available because of an error during the transfer process.

30.135
30 08 6

30.134
30 08 2

30.133
Latitude

30 07 59

30.132
30 07 55
Corresponding
BOSS files:
30.131 Ar, Br, Cr, Er, Fr
30 07 52

30 07 48
30.130
-85.699 -85.698 -85.697 -85.696 -85.695 -85.694 -85.693
-85 41 56 -85 41 53 -85 41 49 Longitude -85 41 42 -85 41 38 -85 41 35

Figure 5. Programmed runs and corresponding data sets.

BOSS DATA

A BOSS data file consists of multiple messages. Each message has a 16-byte header that identifies
the message and the number of bytes that follow the header in that message. The following tables
provide the header, sub-header and message formats. A short Matlab program has been written to
extract the message information from the BOSS data files. However, this program does not map the
raw data messages to their respective hydrophones in the BOSS wing receivers.

16-Byte Header

MATLAB Byte offset Purpose/Value Format

Variable
0-3 Reserved Long
msg_code 4-5 Message code Short
6-11 Reserved 3 shorts
n_bytes 12-15 Number of bytes in message long

Message Code 4007: Pulse Information Messages

The Pulse Information Message consists of a message header and the raw transmit waveform and
received match filter.

MATLAB Byte offset Purpose/Value Format

Variable
p_name 16-95 Pulse filename Char
rec_samprate 96-99 Receive ADC sample rate in Hz Float32
txm_samprate 100-103 Transmit DAC sample rate in Hz Float32
num_mfcoeff 104-107 Number of match filter Long
coefficients
pulse_gain 108-111 Pulse gain Float32
mfcoeff_1 112-115 Zero based first coeff in MF Long
forfft_size 116-119 Forward FFT size of MF Long
invfft_size 120-123 Inverse FFT size recommended Long
inv_samples 124-127 Number of good samples in Long
inverse
num_txmsamp 128-131 Transmit samples Long
txmdelay_samp 132-135 Transmit delay in samples Long
maxping_rate 136-139 Max Ping Rate Float32
140 Number of pulses
141 Number of MF
142 Number of VGA gain ramps
143 Number of pulse phases
140-267 Reserved for future use
txm_data 268+transmit Pulse Data Signed Short
samples
mfcoeff Rest of msg MF FFT coeff (real/imag pairs) Float32

Message Code 4021: BOSS 40 Channel Raw Data Message

This message consists of a per ping header followed by 40 ADC data frames. An ADC data frame
contains the ADC data for all channels for a given sample time.
 MATLAB Byte offset Purpose/Value Format
Variable
16-17 Diagnostics ADC 0 Short
18-19 Diagnostics ADC 1 Short
20-21 Diagnostics ADC 2 Short
22-23 Diagnostics ADC 3 Short
24-25 Diagnostics ADC 4 Short
26-27 Diagnostics ADC 5 Short
28-29 Diagnostics ADC 6 Short
30-31 Diagnostics ADC 7 Short
32-47 Reserved
time_4021 48-51 Time in units of seconds since Long
1970.
tmil_4021 52-55 Milliseconds within the current Long
second
ping_num 56-59 Ping Number Long
rec_samp_4021 60-63 Sample rate in Hz Float32
64-67 Discard samples Long
68-69 Event mark number Long
70-71 Format of data: 0-BOSS 252 Short
channel, 1-BOSS 40-channel, 2-
BOSS 160-channel.
72-111 Reserved.
112-end ADC Data Frames (Raw Data)

ADC Data Frame Format 1: BOSS 40-channel

112-117 Reserved.
118-119 Options bit. If bit 6 is set then Short
this is a special diagnostic data
frame that should be ignored.
The third sample in every ping
should be a diagnostic frame.
120-127 Reserved.
data 128-207 ADC Channel Data. There are Short
40 short integer values in this
array, one for each ADC
converter/hydrophone in the
system.

Message Code 4023: Blue Fin AUV Message

This message consists of a single NMEA string from the AUV. The formats are defined in the Blue
Fin interface document. The string consists of a time stamp (acquisition time) and the NMEA string.

MATLAB Byte offset Purpose/Value Format

Variable
nmea_time 16-19 Time in units of seconds since Long
1970.
nmea_tmil 20-23 Milliseconds within the current Long
second
24-27 Reserved Long
28-end NMEA string Char
Message Code 4013: Estimated Pitch, Roll Yaw, Heading Message

This message consists of a single reading set of pitch/roll/yaw.

MATLAB Byte offset Purpose/Value Format

Variable
prd_time 16-19 Time in units of seconds since Long
1970.
prd_tmil 20-23 Milliseconds within the current Long
second
24-31 Reserved
pitch 32-35 Pitch in degrees Float32
roll 36-39 Roll in degrees Float32
yaw 40-43 Yaw in degrees Float32
heading 44-47 Heading in degrees Float32
48-51 Reserved

There are two Matlab programs that will read the *.jsf files. The bossReadData.m program will not
only read the *.jsf data file but it will also correct for the XYZ location of the hydrophones. The
*.jsf files contain many pings so one has to build a data array in order to perform any synthetic
aperture array processing scheme. The reference layout of the hydrophones is shown in Figure 6.
The mapping of the data array indices to the hydrophones in the ADC Channel data (message 4021)
is as follows:

Segment A, Hydrophones 1-20

1, 21, 3, 23, 5, 25, 7, 27, 9, 29, 11, 31, 13, 33, 15, 35, 17, 37, 19, 39

Segment H, Hydrophones 1-20

2, 22, 4, 24, 6, 26, 8, 28, 10, 30, 12, 32, 14, 34, 16, 36, 18, 38, 20, 40

When one ping is read, a data array {data ([1-40],:) }will be generated. The data from hydrophone
H5, will be the data in the data array { data (6,:) }. The data from hydrophone A14 will be in the
data array { data (33,:) }.
 Port
A20,………A2, A1

Starboard
H1, H2,…..……,H20

Figure 6. Hydrophone layout in the UUV wings.

The BOSS SAS processing scheme is depicted in Figure 7. Employing the data into the equation for
many spatial points, an image can be formed.
Figure 8. BOSS SAS processing scheme.
Listed below are some references associated with the BOSS systems.

1. “Buried object scanning sonar,” IEEE J. of Oceanic Eng., vol. 26, No. 4, October 2001, pp.
667-689.
2. “Sonar for Multi-Aspect Buried Mine Imaging,” Proceedings, Oceans 2002, October 2002.
3. “Buried Object Scanning Sonar for AUVs”, Proceedings, Oceans 2003, September 2003.