JPH04268478A - Monitoring apparatus of target - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to track a plurality of targets automatically and also to execute information detection and/or information transmission as to some selected target by means other than a radar, by using an automatic radar plotting apparatus(ARPA). CONSTITUTION:ARPA 40 determines the state of the own ship on the basis of the data of a navigation device 43, a ship velocity measuring device 47 and a bearing angle measuring device 48 and conducts acquisition and automatic tracking of a target on the basis of a signal from a radar transmission-reception element 42. Besides, the ARPA 40 gives a direction control element 46 the bearing angle of and the distance to the target to be tracked which is selected by an operation of a keyboard 44 or a trackball 45. Based on these signals and each bearing angle of the own ship, the direction control element 46 directs a TV camera 49 and a light 54 to the selected target.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a target object monitoring apparatus for capturing and tracking a target object from radar echo signals.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a so-called ARPA (automatic radar plotting device) has been used as a navigational aid device or a device for monitoring other ships.

[0003] Conventional automatic radar plotting devices manually or automatically capture targets (ships, buoys, islands, etc.) detected by radar, and then automatically track and record the target's identification code, position, ship speed, etc. Display the course and track graphically or in characters.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, conventional automatic radar plotting devices only use radar to automatically track a target, and identify the target's identification code, position, ship speed, course, and wake. It is only that
It was not possible to perform detection using detection equipment other than radar, or to transmit information with other ships that were targets.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to automatically display a camera image of a selected target among a plurality of automatically tracked targets, or to display a camera image of the selected target using a light or a horn. The object of the present invention is to provide a target monitoring device capable of issuing a warning to other ships that are targets.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The target object monitoring device of the present invention includes a target object extracting means for extracting a target object to be tracked from a radar echo signal, and a target object monitoring device that predicts the position of the target object and continues tracking the same target object. target tracking means for identifying one target from among a plurality of tracked targets;
The present invention is characterized by comprising: a transmission means; and a pointing direction control means for directing the pointing direction of the information detection/transmission means in the direction of the selected target object.

[0007]

[Operation] In the target object monitoring device of the present invention, the target object extraction means extracts the target object to be tracked from the radar echo signal, and the target object tracking means predicts the position of the target object and continuously searches the same target object. Tracking is performed by identification. Then, one target among the plurality of targets being tracked is selected by the target selecting means. The pointing direction control means adjusts the pointing direction of the information detection/transmission means to the direction of the selected target. Thereby, the information detection/transmission means performs information detection of the selected target by a method other than radar and/or information transmission to/from the selected target.

[0008] As the information detection/transmission means, a TV camera that images the entire selected target, an infrared camera, a selected target (
Sensors that detect the lights of other ships), wireless antennas that detect the movements of other ships, lights that issue warnings and messages to other ships, speakers, vibrators, or wireless antennas can be used.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the overall configuration of a target object monitoring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 40 in Figure 1
is an automatic radar plotting apparatus (ARPA). The radar transmitting/receiving section 42 uses the antenna section 41 to provide radar echo signals to the ARPA 40 . The navigation device 43 is GPS
, Loran C, etc. to measure own ship's position and provide it to ARPA40. The keyboard 44 and trackball 45 are used to select a target to be captured from among the targets detected by the radar, and to select one target from a plurality of targets to be tracked. The ship speed measurement device 47 measures the ship speed of own ship and calculates ARPA4.
Give to 0.

The azimuth measuring device 48 measures the heading of the own ship and provides it to the ARPA 40 and the direction control unit 46. The direction control unit 46 controls the pointing directions of the TV camera 49 and the light 54 according to the output signals of the ARPA 40 and the azimuth measuring device 48. The signal processing unit 50 is a TV camera 49
A certain signal processing is performed on the imaged video signal, and the monitor 51 displays this as an image. The operation unit 52 has a light 54
The signal processing section 53 controls the light 54 according to the operation details of the operation section 52.

[0011] The direction control section 46 and the TV camera 49
Figure 2 shows the configuration of the mechanical parts. As shown in the figure, the TV camera 49 has a holding part 31 and a holding part 31 that holds the TV camera 49 freely in elevation and elevation.
It is supported by a rotating shaft 32 that rotates the whole in a horizontal plane. The holding part 31 is provided with a motor 29 for controlling the angle of elevation of the TV camera 49 and a potentiometer 30 for measuring the angle of elevation, and the rotating shaft 32 is provided with a motor 23 for controlling the azimuth angle, a potentiometer 24 for measuring the azimuth angle, and a gear connecting these. has been established. With this configuration, the depression angle or elevation angle of the TV camera 49 is controlled by driving the depression angle control motor 29, and the angle is controlled by the potentiometer 3.
Measured by 0. Further, the horizontal orientation angle of the TV camera 49 is controlled by the azimuth angle control motor 23,
The azimuth angle is measured by potentiometer 24. Note that in FIG. 2, the mechanism portion for controlling the direction of the light is omitted.

The basic operation of the target object monitoring device shown in FIG. 1 is as follows. First, the ARPA tracks and displays a plurality of targets (other ships, floating objects, islands, etc.) (the display is provided within the ARPA). When one of the displayed tracking targets is selected using the keyboard 44, the ARPA 40 controls the direction control unit 46 to
The pointing directions of the camera 49 and the light 54 are set to the azimuth and angle of depression or elevation of the selected target. As a result, an image of the selected target object is displayed on the monitor 51, and by operating the operation unit 52, it is possible to issue a warning etc. with a light to the selected target object (another ship).

Next, FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the ARPA 40 as a block diagram. First, the scale, vector length (time corresponding to the vector length), and values indicating the latitude and longitude of the center of the screen, which are set by operating the keyboard, are input to the ship's track processing section 1, respectively. The own ship's track processing unit 1 uses information for character displaying scale, vector length, and own ship position (described later) to display latitude lines and longitude lines created based on scale and screen center values as characters and graphics. The nautical chart information (coastline in the following explanation) stored in the internal memory of the ship's track processing unit 1 in advance is converted into information that is displayed graphically based on the value at the center of the screen and the scale, and the respective tracks are calculated. It is sent to the processing section 2.

[0014] Also, the ship's track processing unit 1 also uses GPS
, Loran C, etc. The position information indicating the latitude and longitude of the ship sent from a navigation device that measures the own ship's position is sequentially stored and accumulated in the internal memory, and the ship's track and track are displayed on the generated nautical chart. It is converted into information for graphical display as an own ship mark, and is sent to the track processing unit 2 every time position information is sent from the navigation device.

[0015] In addition, ship's own azimuth (course) information sent from an azimuth measuring device such as a gyro compass or magnetic compass that measures the azimuth (angle with respect to north), electromagnetic logs, Doppler logs, etc. The ship's own ship speed information, vector length, and scale sent from the ship speed measurement device that measures the ship's speed are converted into graphic display information of the own ship's vector, and this is sent to the track processing section 2. Furthermore, the input trackball value (indicating the position on the screen) is converted into latitude and longitude values based on the value at the center of the screen and the scale, and the value and mark (+) are converted into character and graphic display information. and sends it to the wake processing section 2.

In addition, the own ship's track processing section 1 sends the scale, vector length, screen center value, and own ship information (own ship's position, ship speed, course) to the control section 5 at all times or at regular intervals. supply. Furthermore, the own ship's track processing unit 1 sends the relative position of a trackball mark from the own ship for manual acquisition, which will be described later, to the target tracking unit 8 through the control unit 5 and an identification code set by operating a keyboard. . Further, the own ship's track processing section 1 sends an identification code designated by a keyboard operation for selecting another ship to be photographed, which will be described later, to the other ship's track processing section 9 through the control section 5. The relative position of the trackball mark from the own ship is determined by the control unit 5 from the latitude and longitude values of the trackball mark and the latitude and longitude values of the own ship.

The track processing section 2 has a refresh memory for storing color CRT screen information, and displays the information from the ship's track processing section 1 in predetermined colors and marks on the CRT of the color display 4. The video signal is converted into color CRT screen information and written into the refresh memory, and the signal is read out from the refresh memory using the synchronization signal from the synchronization signal generator 11, and the video signal is sent to the mixer 3. Further, the synchronization signal generator 11 also sends synchronization signals to the display section 10 and the color display 4.

The mixer 3 combines a plurality of video signals, and combines video signals such as own ship information and nautical chart information from the track processing section 2 with radar images and other ship information (described later) from the display section 10. Video signals such as the absolute position, absolute speed, absolute course, track, and identification code of other ships are combined and sent to the color display 4.

The color display 4 is a raster scan type display, receives the video signal from the mixer 3, and is connected to a CRT.
It displays nautical chart information, graphic characters of own ship and other ships coded in several different colors, and radar images.

[0020] The above has described the display method mainly for the own ship.Next, the display method for radar images will be described.

The radar echo, the bow marker, the directivity angle of the radar antenna, and the transmission trigger signals sent from the radar are all received by the radar interface 6.

The radar interface 6 performs preprocessing such as interference removal, sea surface reflection suppression, and rain/snow reflection suppression on the radar echoes, and then performs preprocessing on the radar echoes at a predetermined period (
The period is constant without being linked to the scale) and is quantized and stored in the internal buffer memory for one sweep. Further, the preprocessed radar echo is read out at an appropriate timing and sent to the radar image processing section 7 and the target tracking section 8. Also,
At the same time, the directivity angle of the radar antenna with respect to the bow of the ship is also converted into a digital value, for example, and sent to the radar image processing section 7 and the target tracking section 8.

[0023] When calculating the position of an object, such as another ship, from radar echoes, it is normally displayed in a polar coordinate system of the distance from the own ship and the directivity angle of the radar antenna with respect to the bow of the ship. Since it is displayed in a north-up manner on the raster scan type display 4, it is necessary to convert it to an orthogonal coordinate system with north as the reference. Also, when displaying normal radar images, simply set the bow direction or due north direction at the top of the screen, set the own ship's position (center of the radar image) at the center of the display screen, and convert the polar coordinate system to a rectangular coordinate system. However, in this device, own ship's track processing section 1
It is necessary to display it superimposed on the nautical chart generated by
It is necessary to correct the screen position to match this chart. In other words, if a nautical chart is drawn using the Mercator projection, it is necessary to correct the length in the latitude and longitude directions according to the latitude and longitude of the own ship's position. This is performed by the control section 5 and the radar image processing section 7. That is, since the control unit 5 receives the own ship's position from the own ship's track processing unit 1 at all times or at regular intervals, based on this, it calculates the latitude line direction and the correction value for the current own ship position. The center point of the CRT display screen and the center point of the radar image based on the length ratio in the longitude direction and the scale value of the generated nautical chart (
Both the deviation in the latitude line direction and the deviation in the longitude line direction (center offset amount), which are deviations from the own ship position (same as own ship position), are calculated and sent to the radar image processing section 7.

The radar image processing unit 7 determines the azimuth angle of the radar antenna (angle with respect to north) based on the own ship's heading angle from the control unit 5 and the directivity angle of the radar antenna with respect to the bow sent from the radar interface 6. ), converting it from a polar coordinate system to a rectangular coordinate system taking into account the scale value, and then calculating the latitude line/longitude line direction based on the ratio of the center offset amount from the control unit 5 and the length in the latitude line/longitude line direction. The write address of the refresh memory of the display section 10 is calculated. Additionally, the radar image processing unit 7 converts the radar echo sent from the radar interface 6 into CRT screen information with one color density depending on its intensity, and displays this CRT screen information and the above-mentioned write address information. Part 1
0 and write it into the refresh memory of the display unit 10.

Next, a method of displaying the tracks of other ships will be described.

[0026] In the same way as displaying the radar image described above,
Preparations for displaying the tracks of other ships are made in the control unit 5. That is, the control section 5 sends the own ship's heading angle from the own ship's track processing section 1 to the target tracking section 8, and also sends the own ship's heading angle generated by the own ship's track processing section 1 to the other ship's track processing section 9. Send own ship information and vector length as parameters for displaying other ship's track marks and vectors on the nautical chart.

The target tracking unit 8 stores the preprocessed radar echo information from the radar interface 6 described above for multiple sweeps in an internal buffer memory, reads out the radar echo from this buffer memory at an appropriate timing, and eliminates noise. Remove echoes such as Then, the position of the extracted radar echo is stored in another memory as the distance and azimuth from the own ship. However, it does not extract all echoes after noise and other echoes have been removed, but only those specified by the monitor.

[0028] The above-mentioned designation by the supervisor is carried out as follows. First, the observer enters the identification code of the other ship he wants to monitor, then operates the trackball to place the trackball mark on the radar echo of that ship on the screen, and presses the code input key. As a result, the code setting signal is sent to the target tracking section 8 through the ship's track processing section 1 and the control section 5. When this code setting signal is input, the target tracking unit 8 extracts radar echoes near the trackball mark based on the relative position of the trackball mark, and stores other ship identification codes.

The extraction of the radar echoes described above is repeated in synchronization with the sending timing from the radar interface 6 to obtain information for one scan's worth of echoes. Furthermore, this process is performed for multiple scans, and for each scan, the position of the echo indicating the relative position to the own ship's position in the past scan stored in the memory and the relative position of the echo in the current scan are calculated for each echo. The position (relative position) of other ships is extracted by comparing with the other ships, and the relative speed and relative course of each other ship is calculated. The relative position of each other ship in the future is estimated from the calculated relative speed and relative course, the radar echoes in the vicinity are sampled, a more accurate position is extracted, and the relative speed and relative course are calculated again. At this time, if there is no radar echo in the vicinity, it is considered a tracking error. Thereafter, this process is repeated to track the position of each other ship. Furthermore, the target tracking unit 8 adds individual identification codes to the relative position information of each other ship being tracked through the above-mentioned processing, and sends the information to the other ship track processing unit 9 at each scan or every fixed scan. do.

The other ship track processing unit 9 receives the relative position, relative speed, relative course, identification code, presence or absence of tracking errors of each other ship from the target tracking unit 8, and the own ship information, scale value, and information from the control unit 5. The latitude, longitude, absolute speed, absolute course, and vector of each other ship are calculated based on the vector length, and are sequentially stored in an internal memory in a format that can be classified for each other ship. Furthermore, in order to display the information of other ships in graphics and characters as individual other ship information on the chart generated by own ship's track processing unit 1, it is compatible with the CRT of the color display 4 using predetermined colors and marks. The information is converted into color CRT screen information and sent to the display unit 10.

The display section 10 stores the CRT screen information of the radar image from the radar image processing section 7 and the other ship information from the other ship track processing section 9 at the corresponding address of the refresh memory, and synchronizes the stored contents. It is read out in synchronization with the synchronization signal from the signal generator 11 and sent to the mixer 3 as a video signal of radar images and other ship information.

As described above, the mixer 3 combines video signals such as own ship information and chart information with video signals such as radar images and other ship information. As a result, the CRT of the color display 4 displays nautical chart information, information about the own ship and other ships that are coded in several colors, and radar images.

A display example of the color display 4 is shown in FIG. This figure shows a case in which all images of nautical chart information, own ship information, information of other ships, and radar images are superimposed in a north-up true motion display. As shown in the figure, the own ship's track, own ship mark, and own ship vector are each displayed in white as a graphic display of own ship information. The own ship vector indicates the course and speed of the own ship, and the vertex of the vector indicates the position 3 minutes later when the current ship speed and course are maintained, for example, when the vector length is 3 minutes. The latitude and longitude of the own ship's position are displayed in the upper right corner of the screen as characters for own ship information. As a graphic display of other ship information, the other ship's track, other ship mark, and other ship vector are each displayed in orange, and as a character display of other ship information, identification codes (A1, B6, S6) are displayed near the other ship mark. Ru. Note that another ship (B6) to which the TV camera, which will be described later, is directed is displayed in yellow. Nautical chart information is displayed graphically using solid light blue lines. In addition, the latitude lines and longitude lines are each graphically displayed in blue, and the value of each line is displayed in characters at the periphery of the screen. Additionally, the trackball mark is graphically displayed in yellow, and its value is displayed in characters at the bottom right of the screen. In addition, vector length, scale, etc. are displayed in characters. In addition to these information displays, radar images of coastlines and ships are superimposed in green.

[0034] In the example shown above, manual capture is used in which the target to be tracked is manually extracted, but automatic capture may also be used. The processing content of each part shown in FIG. 3 differs as follows depending on whether manual acquisition is performed or automatic acquisition is performed.

Target Tracking Unit 8 <During manual acquisition> Tracks only radar echoes of other ships designated by the observer. At that time, the observer attaches an identification code to each tracked target. Therefore, the trackball relative position, identification code, and code setting signal from the control unit 5 are required.

<At the time of automatic acquisition> Track radar echoes of other ships at all points or within a predetermined range (for example, within 50 miles from the own ship). At that time, for example, information that can be classified by a series of numbers on the extracted echo (unrelated to the identification code)
is automatically attached. No identification code is attached at the time of automatic capture (it is attached by the other ship's track processing section 9). Therefore, the control section 5
Trackball relative position, identification code, and code setting signals from the trackball are not required.

Other ship track processing unit 9 <When manually capturing> Displays all other ships being tracked on the display 4 with their tracks, marks, vectors, and identification codes. Since the identification code is already attached, the trackball relative position, identification code, and code setting signal from the control unit 5 are not required.

<At the time of automatic capture> All other ships being tracked are displayed with their tracks, marks, and vectors. Identification codes will be displayed on other vessels designated by the watchdog with trackball marks. At this time, the "classifiable information" of other ships is replaced with the identification code set by the observer. "Classifiable information"
shall be displayed. Further, in order for the observer to attach an identification code, the trackball relative position, identification code, and code setting signal from the control unit 5 are required.

Next, FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the direction control section 46 shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 4, an adder 20 calculates the direction of another ship with respect to the bow direction of the own ship, and an adder 21 and an amplifier 22
, the potentiometer 24, the azimuth angle control motor 23, and the gear constitute an azimuth angle control servo system, which directs the TV camera and the light in a direction according to the output of the adder 20. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the relationship between the horizontal distance R to the target object and the elevation angle φ from the height H of the TV camera and light above the sea surface is written in the ROM 25 in advance as a table. Therefore, the ROM 25 outputs a signal of the depression/elevation angle φ corresponding to the distance R to the other ship. The adder 27, the amplifier 28, the potentiometer 30, the elevation angle control motor 29, and the gear constitute an elevation angle control servo system, which directs the depression angle or elevation angle of the TV camera and the light in the direction of φ.

Next, FIG. 3 shows the operation of selecting one of the other ships being followed and directing the TV camera 49 and light 54 in that direction.
Based on this.

First, use the keyboard to select the identification code or "classifiable information" of another ship to which the TV camera 49 and light 54 should be directed, and then press the selection key. As a result, the identification code or "classifiable information" and selection signal are sent to the other ship's track processing section 9 through the own ship's track processing section 1 and the control section 5.

When the selection signal is input, the other ship track processing unit 9 displays the selected other ship in yellow, and also displays the azimuth angle and other ship distance (distance from own ship) of the other ship every time it scans. It is output to the direction control section shown in FIG. In addition, instead of entering the identification code or "classifiable information" on the keyboard to select another ship, you can use the trackball to select it.
The cursor may be aligned with the other ship to be selected, and the selection key may be operated in this state.

[0043] In the above embodiment, a TV camera was used as a means for detecting information about targets (other ships), but an infrared camera, a sensor that detects the lights of other ships, or a wireless antenna may also be used. . In addition to lights, speakers, vibrators, or wireless antennas can also be used as means for transmitting information with other ships.

[0044]

Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, in addition to tracking a target using radar echo, information on the selected target is detected by other means and/or information on the selected target is detected and communicated with the selected target. Since information can be transmitted, multifaceted and accurate target monitoring becomes possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a target monitoring device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a direction control mechanism of a TV camera according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of ARPA according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a direction control section according to the embodiment.

5 is an explanatory diagram of data stored in the ROM 25 in FIG. 4. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a display example of the entire display device according to the embodiment.

Claims (1)

[Claims] [Claim 1] Target extraction means for extracting a target to be tracked from a radar echo signal; target tracking means for predicting the position of the target and continuously identifying the same target; and a plurality of tracked objects. a target selection means for selecting one of the targets; an information detection/transmission means for detecting and/or transmitting information between the targets; and selecting a pointing direction of the information detection/transmission means. A target object monitoring device comprising: pointing direction control means for pointing in the direction of the target object.