# SonarSplat: Novel View Synthesis of Imaging Sonar via Gaussian Splatting

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.00159 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.00159/

## 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 (most cited first, 30 of 38)

- [3D Gaussian Splatting for Real-Time Radiance Field Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.04079/) (2023)
- [Instant Neural Graphics Primitives with a Multiresolution Hash Encoding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.05989/) (2022)
- [Mip-NeRF: A Multiscale Representation for Anti-Aliasing Neural Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.13415/) (2021)
- [NeuS: Learning Neural Implicit Surfaces by Volume Rendering for Multi-view Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.10689/) (2021)
- [Grounding Image Matching in 3D with MASt3R](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.09756/) (2024)
- [Dynamic 3D Gaussians: Tracking by Persistent Dynamic View Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.09713/) (2023)
- [Gaussian Splatting SLAM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.06741/) (2023)
- [SplaTAM: Splat, Track & Map 3D Gaussians for Dense RGB-D SLAM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.02126/) (2023)
- [Neural RGB-D Surface Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.04532/) (2021)
- [gsplat: An Open-Source Library for Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.06765/) (2024)
- [Neural Descriptor Fields: SE(3)-Equivariant Object Representations for Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.05124/) (2021)
- [NeRF-SLAM: Real-Time Dense Monocular SLAM with Neural Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.13641/) (2022)
- [Vision-Only Robot Navigation in a Neural Radiance World](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.00168/) (2021)
- [SeaThru-NeRF: Neural Radiance Fields in Scattering Media](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.07743/) (2023)
- [NAN: Noise-Aware NeRFs for Burst-Denoising](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.04668/) (2022)
- [WaterSplatting: Fast Underwater 3D Scene Reconstruction Using Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.08206/) (2024)
- [SeaSplat: Representing Underwater Scenes with 3D Gaussian Splatting and a Physically Grounded Image Formation Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.17345/) (2024)
- [WaterNeRF: Neural Radiance Fields for Underwater Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.13091/) (2022)
- [Neural-Sim: Learning to Generate Training Data with NeRF](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.11368/) (2022)
- [Neural Implicit Surface Reconstruction using Imaging Sonar](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.08221/) (2022)
- [DART: Implicit Doppler Tomography for Radar Novel View Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.03896/) (2024)
- [Radar Fields: Frequency-Space Neural Scene Representations for FMCW Radar](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.04662/) (2024)
- [Z-Splat: Z-Axis Gaussian Splatting for Camera-Sonar Fusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.04687/) (2024)
- [LONER: LiDAR Only Neural Representations for Real-Time SLAM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.04937/) (2023)
- [CLONeR: Camera-Lidar Fusion for Occupancy Grid-aided Neural Representations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.01194/) (2022)
- [Machine Learning for Shipwreck Segmentation from Side Scan Sonar Imagery: Dataset and Benchmark](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.14546/) (2024)
- [AONeuS: A Neural Rendering Framework for Acoustic-Optical Sensor Fusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.03309/) (2024)
- [ThermalNeRF: Thermal Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.15337/) (2024)
- [DehazeNeRF: Multiple Image Haze Removal and 3D Shape Reconstruction using Neural Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.11364/) (2023)
- [LiHi-GS: LiDAR-Supervised Gaussian Splatting for Highway Driving Scene Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.15447/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [RadarSplat: Radar Gaussian Splatting for High-Fidelity Data Synthesis and 3D Reconstruction of Autonomous Driving Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.01379/) (2025)
- [NAS-GS: Noise-Aware Sonar Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.06285/) (2026)
- [Non-line-of-sight imaging with arbitrary relay surface geometries via 3D Gaussian Transient Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.21270/) (2026)
- [Adapting Vision Foundation Models to Acoustics for Pose-Free 3D Sonar Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.06261/) (2026)
- [3D Point Splatting for mmWave Radar Novel View Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.11894/) (2026)

## 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.