mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

SonarSplat: Novel View Synthesis of Imaging Sonar via Gaussian Splatting

arXiv 2504.00159 ↗First posted 31 Mar 2025cs.CVcited by 5

Not on the map. Why?

Abstract (arXiv)

In this paper, we present SonarSplat, a novel Gaussian splatting framework for imaging sonar that demonstrates realistic novel view synthesis and models acoustic streaking phenomena. Our method represents the scene as a set of 3D Gaussians with acoustic reflectance and saturation properties. We develop a novel method to efficiently rasterize Gaussians to produce a range/azimuth image that is faithful to the acoustic image formation model of imaging sonar. In particular, we develop a novel approach to model azimuth streaking in a Gaussian splatting framework. We evaluate SonarSplat using real-world datasets of sonar images collected from an underwater robotic platform in a controlled test tank and in a real-world river environment. Compared to the state-of-the-art, SonarSplat offers improved image synthesis capabilities (+3.2 dB PSNR) and more accurate 3D reconstruction (77% lower Chamfer Distance). We also demonstrate that SonarSplat can be leveraged for azimuth streak removal.

Key facts. Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 38 of its 63 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 31 Mar 2025.

Builds on

38 of 63 references.

References · 38

  1. 20233D Gaussian Splatting for Real-Time Radiance Field Renderingcited by 6,226
  2. 2022Instant Neural Graphics Primitives with a Multiresolution Hash Encodingcited by 3,723
  3. 2021Mip-NeRF: A Multiscale Representation for Anti-Aliasing Neural Radiance Fieldscited by 1,964
  4. 2021NeuS: Learning Neural Implicit Surfaces by Volume Rendering for Multi-view Reconstructioncited by 1,712
  5. 2024Grounding Image Matching in 3D with MASt3Rcited by 983
  6. 2023Dynamic 3D Gaussians: Tracking by Persistent Dynamic View Synthesiscited by 737
  7. 2023Gaussian Splatting SLAMcited by 415
  8. 2023SplaTAM: Splat, Track & Map 3D Gaussians for Dense RGB-D SLAMcited by 388
  9. 2021Neural RGB-D Surface Reconstructioncited by 313
  10. 2024gsplat: An Open-Source Library for Gaussian Splattingcited by 285
  11. 2021Neural Descriptor Fields: SE(3)-Equivariant Object Representations for Manipulationcited by 209
  12. 2022NeRF-SLAM: Real-Time Dense Monocular SLAM with Neural Radiance Fieldscited by 188
26 more
  1. 2021Vision-Only Robot Navigation in a Neural Radiance Worldcited by 155
  2. 2023SeaThru-NeRF: Neural Radiance Fields in Scattering Mediacited by 75
  3. 2022NAN: Noise-Aware NeRFs for Burst-Denoisingcited by 48
  4. 2024WaterSplatting: Fast Underwater 3D Scene Reconstruction Using Gaussian Splattingcited by 41
  5. 2024SeaSplat: Representing Underwater Scenes with 3D Gaussian Splatting and a Physically Grounded Image Formation Modelcited by 36
  6. 2022WaterNeRF: Neural Radiance Fields for Underwater Scenescited by 29
  7. 2022Neural-Sim: Learning to Generate Training Data with NeRFcited by 27
  8. 2022Neural Implicit Surface Reconstruction using Imaging Sonarcited by 19
  9. 2024DART: Implicit Doppler Tomography for Radar Novel View Synthesiscited by 19
  10. 2024Radar Fields: Frequency-Space Neural Scene Representations for FMCW Radarcited by 18
  11. 2024Z-Splat: Z-Axis Gaussian Splatting for Camera-Sonar Fusioncited by 17
  12. 2023LONER: LiDAR Only Neural Representations for Real-Time SLAMcited by 15
  13. 2022CLONeR: Camera-Lidar Fusion for Occupancy Grid-aided Neural Representationscited by 13
  14. 2024Machine Learning for Shipwreck Segmentation from Side Scan Sonar Imagery: Dataset and Benchmarkcited by 13
  15. 2024AONeuS: A Neural Rendering Framework for Acoustic-Optical Sensor Fusioncited by 13
  16. 2024ThermalNeRF: Thermal Radiance Fieldscited by 13
  17. 2023DehazeNeRF: Multiple Image Haze Removal and 3D Shape Reconstruction using Neural Radiance Fieldscited by 10
  18. 2024LiHi-GS: LiDAR-Supervised Gaussian Splatting for Highway Driving Scene Reconstructioncited by 8
  19. 2024Gaussian Splashing: Direct Volumetric Rendering Underwatercited by 7
  20. 2020Fusing Concurrent Orthogonal Wide-aperture Sonar Images for Dense Underwater 3D Reconstructioncited by 6
  21. 2024Bathymetric Surveying with Imaging Sonar Using Neural Volume Renderingcited by 6
  22. 2024Let's Make a Splan: Risk-Aware Trajectory Optimization in a Normalized Gaussian Splatcited by 5
  23. 20232D Forward Looking Sonar Simulation with Ground Echo Modelingcited by 4
  24. 2023STARS: Zero-shot Sim-to-Real Transfer for Segmentation of Shipwrecks in Sonar Imagerycited by 4
  25. 2022Virtual Maps for Autonomous Exploration of Cluttered Underwater Environmentscited by 2
  26. 2024Learning Which Side to Scan: Multi-View Informed Active Perception with Side Scan Sonar for Autonomous Underwater Vehiclescited by 1

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 1; 2026: 4.

5 papers.

  1. 2025RadarSplat: Radar Gaussian Splatting for High-Fidelity Data Synthesis and 3D Reconstruction of Autonomous Driving Scenescited by 15
  2. 2026NAS-GS: Noise-Aware Sonar Gaussian Splattingcited by 1
  3. 2026Non-line-of-sight imaging with arbitrary relay surface geometries via 3D Gaussian Transient Renderingcited by 0
  4. 2026Adapting Vision Foundation Models to Acoustics for Pose-Free 3D Sonar Reconstructioncited by 0
  5. 20263D Point Splatting for mmWave Radar Novel View Synthesiscited by 0