Sonar Data Compression using Non-Uniform Quantization and Noise Shaping

Sonar sensor arrays potentially produce huge amounts of data to be recorded or transmitted over a telemetry system. Compression can reduce the required storage or transmission bandwidth, or allow a larger or higher fidelity array. We use a dataset for a sonar array receiving acoustic communication signals from a transmitter in a lake test. We compress the received signals to evaluate the effect of compression on performance. Based on analysis of the dataset, we use non-uniform quantization with a Laplace distribution along with noise-shaped feedback coding. We demonstrate that this sonar data can be compressed from 16-bit to five-bit values with little or no change in performance using our technique.