Scattering noise estimation of range-gated imaging system in turbid condition.

The range-gated imaging systems are reliable underwater imaging system with the capability to minimize backscattering effect from turbid media. The tail-gating technique has been developed to fine tune the signal to backscattering ratio and hence improve the gated image quality. However, the tail-gating technique has limited image quality enhancement in high turbidity levels. In this paper, we developed a numerical model of range-gated underwater imaging system for near target in turbid medium. The simulation results matched the experimental work favorably. Further investigation using this numerical model shows that the multiple scattering components of the backscattering noise dominate for propagation length larger than 4.2 Attenuation Length (AL). This has limited the enhancement of tail-gating technique in high turbidity conditions.