IMPLEMENTATION OF FILTERING BEAMFORMING ALGORITHMS FOR SONAR DEVICES USING GPU

Abstract

Beamforming is a signal processing technique used in sensor arrays to direct signal transmission or reception. Beamformer combines input signals in the array to achieve constructive interference at particular angles (beams) and destructive interference for other angles. According to the following facts: 1- Beamforming can be computationally intensive, so real-time sonar beamforming algorithms in sonar devices is important. 2- Parallel computing has become a critical component of computing technology of the 1990s, and it is likely to have as much impact over the next 20 years as microprocessors have had over the past 20 [5]. 3- The high-performance computing community has been developing parallel programs for decades. These programs run on large scale, expensive computers. Only a few elite applications can justify the use of these expensive computers [2]. 4- GPU computing has the ability of parallel computing and it could be available on the personal computers. The objective of this thesis is to use Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) as real-time digital beamformer to accelerate the intensive signal processing.