JPH045032Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a sonar device that displays detected echoes in all directions.

[Conventional technology]

This type of device displays the own ship's track on a raster scanning screen, displays the own ship's position on the track, and displays the sonar detection echo centered on the own ship's position. A configuration in which detection echoes in a fan-shaped range are formed in all directions by a memory circuit is described in the literature, INSTITUTION OF
ELECT RONIC AND RADIO ENGINEERS
Published by BIRMINGHAM/8-10
SEPTEMBER 1981, PROCEEDINGS NO.51
“ELECTR ONICS FOR OCEAN
“A NULTIBEAM” of “TECHNOLOGY” magazine
SONAR WITH COLOR DISPLAY” (No. 283)
~290 pages) and others.

In addition, there are devices that display echoes obtained by receiving and scanning various fan-shaped areas underwater, that is, sectors, using elements arranged in an arc shape. Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication 1987-
31666, etc., and JP-A No. 48-6986 and the above-mentioned documents disclose an apparatus in which an underwater sector is received and scanned by elements arranged in a planar manner.

Furthermore, a configuration for converting detection information into raster scanning information by other scanning such as spiral scanning is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 101570/1983.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

For fishing vessels that wish to be equipped with such equipment,
Rather, many of them are very small, around 5 tons.
It would be convenient if something simpler and cheaper could be provided instead of the complicated structure described above.

[Means to solve the problem]

This invention transmits sound waves underwater, scans the receiving beam by scanning the underwater sector with a much faster direction change than the change in distance, and converts the obtained echo signal into a digital signal. At the same time, coordinates are converted and stored in a memory circuit to obtain display signals of echo signals in all directions, and a display image based on this display signal is displayed on a display screen of a display device having rectangular raster scanning. In an omnidirectional sonar device, a certain circular display area is provided in the above display screen in which the outer periphery of the display is made up of arc-shaped sectors that are consecutively adjacent to each other in multiple directions, and the above-mentioned display area corresponding to this display area is provided. A storage means for storing the above-mentioned digital signal in a storage position of a storage circuit; receiving and scanning the underwater sector corresponding to the sector shown above to obtain an echo signal; A rotating exploration means that rotates in the direction of each underwater sector corresponding to The above problem can be solved by providing a control means based on control by a circuit.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings in which the elements are arranged in an arc shape and the wave reception is scanned.

1 is an array of elements that converts the electric power and sound waves used for receiving waves, and as shown in the figure, several dozen elements are assembled in an arc shape.Although not shown, it is housed in a waterproof case called a sona dome. be.

When transmitting sound waves, power at the sound wave frequency is sent to the required portions of the element array 1 from the transmitting circuit shown in 5.

The reason why the element row 1 is not completely circumferential as shown in the figure and is partially missing is because the missing space above accommodates a mechanism for tilting the direction of transmission and reception of the sound wave beam (referred to as inclination adjustment). It is.

The range of the sound wave beam generated by such an arc-shaped element row 1 cannot include the area where the element row 1 is missing, but by adjusting the inclination angle described above, the sound wave beam can be moved from the water surface to the water bottom. It is possible to change direction up to the direction of

The dimensions, number, etc. of the element row 1 are determined depending on the sharpness, intensity, etc. of the target acoustic beam.

For example, if the sound wave frequency is 75 kHz, the receiving beam width is 10 degrees, and the transmitting power is 10 kW, the diameter of the element array is 25 cm.
It is 20 centimeters long, has 40 elements, and is made of barium titanate.

2 is the rotation shaft of element row 1, 201
The sector for transmitting and receiving waves is changed using the turning motor shown in .

The tilt angle shaft shown in 3 is element row 1.
The inclination of the element row 1 is changed by the inclination angle motor shown at 301.

The turning motor 201 and the dip angle motor 301 are started and stopped by electric power supplied from an angle control circuit consisting of a swing control section and a dip angle control section shown in 4, but the operation of the angle control circuit 4 is controlled by a transmission/reception control circuit shown at 7.

6 is a receiving circuit that amplifies the echo signal induced in element row 1, converts the analog signal into a digital value (referred to as A-D conversion), and amplifies the echo signal induced in all or some elements of element row 1. The amplitude and phase of the received echo signals are processed and synthesized so that the received beam becomes as sharp as possible, and the received beam is processed within a predetermined sector range based on instructions from the transmission/reception control circuit 7. Scan in a spiral pattern.

This scanning method, similar to conventional scanning sonar, processes and synthesizes the amplitude and phase of the echo signals of multiple elements in element row 1, so that a sharp receiving beam can be obtained. In the circuit configuration, the plurality of elements described above are sequentially advanced electronically within a predetermined sector range, and a sharp reception beam is scanned in a partial spiral shape at high speed within the sector range. It is.

In other words, in this reception scanning, the reception beam is scanned by a scan in which the direction changes much faster than the distance changes.

The scanned echo signal obtained through such a procedure is A/D converted and stored in the main memory circuit shown at 10, and this operation will be explained later.

The writing address control circuit 8 determines the display location (hereinafter referred to as "display location") for displaying on the color cathode ray tube shown at 14 so that the received echo is in the relative position of the underwater target from which the echo was obtained. , address).

In order to use this address control as a reference, the transmission/reception control circuit 7 sends a write address control circuit 8 specifying sectors for transmitting and receiving sound waves, trigger signals for transmitting waves from the transmitting circuit 5, A signal instructing the receiving circuit 6 to scan the receiving beam is added to correctly set the above address.

As already explained, the echo signal obtained when the sharp receiving beam scans in response to a scanning command is
The data is A-D converted and stored in the main memory circuit 10.

The write address control circuit 8 has a coordinate conversion function. In the present invention, a sharp reception beam is scanned in a spiral manner within a predetermined sector to obtain an echo signal containing information about the distance and direction of the echo signal.

Therefore, if the image format of the electron beam of the color cathode ray tube 14 is a collection of bright spots on the vertical and horizontal sweep lines, as in a general television, then the echo signal captured in the spiral shape described above can be When visualizing it, it is necessary to convert it to a vertical and horizontal sweep line (hereinafter referred to as a raster).

This transfer operation is called coordinate transformation.
Write address control circuit 8 that operates as described above
The information on the raster position of the echo signal that has undergone coordinate transformation is added to the stored address switching circuit shown at 9. Here, the information on the position of the color cathode ray tube 14 created by the address control circuit shown at 12 is added. A signal serving as a reference for the raster is added, and the signals at the coordinate-converted positions are arranged so as to appear at the correct position on the raster, thereby setting the position in the main memory circuit 10 where the echo signal is stored.

A part of the output of the display address control circuit 12 is
The electron beam is applied to the deflection circuit of the color cathode ray tube shown at 13, and is waveform-shaped and amplified to sweep the electron beam of the color cathode ray tube 14 in a raster pattern.

The raster created in this way corresponds to the position of the echo signal obtained by scanning with a sharp receiving beam by the receiving circuit 6 in accordance with a command from the transmitting/receiving control circuit 7.

As explained above, in the main memory circuit 10 in which the address for storing the echo signal is set,
The A-D converted echo signal from the receiving circuit 6 is added and stored, and the three primary color electrons of the color cathode ray tube 14 are sent to the color cathode ray tube 14 via the color output circuit shown at 11 according to a command from the storage address switching circuit 9. Density modulate the beam.

The color output circuit 11 converts the digital value output from the main memory circuit 10 into an analog value (hereinafter referred to as D-A).
A circuit (called a color matrix) that separates the D-A converted analog value into three primary color components (red, green, blue).
Contains.

Then, the color of the echo signal that is D-A converted and passed through a color matrix and appears in the image of the color cathode ray tube 14 corresponds to the characteristics of the A-D conversion of the receiving circuit 6.

For example, if you want to display the strongest expected echo in red, the mid-strength echo in yellow, and the weakest echo in blue, you can display only the red electron beam for the strongest echo, and only the red electron beam for the mid-strength echo. , an output that mixes appropriate amounts of three color electron beams is applied from the color output circuit 11 to the control electrodes of the three primary color electron beams of the color cathode ray tube 14.

15 is a numerical value insertion circuit, in order to insert digital numerical values such as the scanning range of the receiving beam's echo (sector, distance, angle, etc.), the area of water and water temperature, etc., the transmitting/receiving control circuit controls the raster position of these digital numerical values. The circuit set by the command of 7, the shape of the numerical value,
It includes a circuit for determining dimensions, and its output is added to the color output circuit 11, and the echo image and digital numerical values are superposed and displayed.

Figure 2 shows the case where the sector is set to 120 degrees, and the outer shape of the display is arcuate within the rectangular display screen.
By setting a fixed display area in the shape of consecutively adjacent sectors facing in multiple directions.
In an embodiment of the present invention in which 360 degree echoes are simultaneously displayed on a cathode ray tube, three sectors of images shown at 21, 22 and 23 are displayed on the display surface of a color cathode ray tube shown at 20, and 26, The angle of inclination shown at 27 and the digital numerical value indicating the distance indicating the display range of the image are illustrated.

If the repetition rate of the signal read out from the main memory circuit 10 is several dozen times per second or more, as in normal color television, these images appear to our eyes as continuously shining images. However, in this embodiment, after the image of sector 21 appears, the image of sector 22 appears,
Next, 23 sectors of images appear to complete a 360-degree image, and this operation is repeated several dozen times per second.

For example, when storing received wave echoes in the responsible range of sector 21 in the main memory circuit 10 and then store received wave echoes in the responsible range of sector 22 in the main memory circuit 10, the rotation motor 201 rotates the element array. 1 must be swiveled to point towards sector 22.

Therefore, it takes several seconds to several tens of seconds to complete storing the received echoes in the coverage area of all sectors.
Seconds are required.

In the present invention, the contents of the main memory circuit 10 are retained until the scanning of the assigned range of each sector is completed and the next scanning is repeated, so that the contents of the received wave echoes of all sectors are stored every second. By reading out the image several dozen times, a clear 360-degree image can be obtained.

In these sectors, there are echo images indicated by A, B, C, and D, and as already explained, these echo images have colors according to their intensities.

25 is a mark indicating a reference direction such as the bow of a ship equipped with the device of the present invention, and the pointing direction of each sector is read based on this mark.

24 are echoes of noise returned from waters near the ship, echoes of waves, etc.

28 is near the boundary of the sector, and due to the time difference between the completion of scanning of the receiving beam of sector 21 and the scanning of the receiving beam of sector 22,
If there is a fluctuation in the echoes, the positions of image examples B and C may be displayed discontinuously even if the echoes are from the same target object.

In order to reduce such discontinuity between sectors, the time required to change the direction of element row 1 to the adjacent sector can be shortened by narrowing the range of each sector. Select a range of 60 degrees.

In addition, in order to reduce the visual discontinuity of the video near the sector boundaries 28 mentioned above, it is sufficient to display the areas near the boundaries of each sector so as to overlap the adjacent sectors. The operations of the address control circuit 12 and the memory address switching circuit 9 may be set so that the output of the main memory circuit 10 serves the above purpose.

As is well known, the speed at which sound waves propagate through water is
approximately 1500 meters per second, so if the target for which echo detection is required is at a distance of 1500 meters, the time required to detect an echo in such a sector would be approximately 2 seconds.

Therefore, the time required to detect echoes in a 360 degree range using the three sectors illustrated in FIG. 2 is about 6 seconds.

If we were to display the same sector images as above using a conventional display device, the echo images would disappear after the cathode ray tube's afterglow time, so we would have to observe all sectors at the same time. It is impossible.

The present invention stores the echo signals of each sector in the main memory circuit 10 and reads them out repeatedly later for display, so even cathode ray tubes with a short afterglow time of several tenths of a second, such as cathode ray tubes for color television, can be used. A clear display can be obtained.

The above explanation has shown an example in which the display area is divided into the first to third fan-shaped sectors.
It is also possible to provide a display area divided into 1st to Nth fan-shaped sectors.

Although not shown, in the numerical value insertion circuit 15,
In addition to numerical values, a function is added to generate marks for measuring the distance and angle of the echo image, and numerical values corresponding to these marks can be displayed at appropriate locations on the display surface 20 of the cathode ray tube.

[Effect of idea]

As described above, the present invention provides a fixed circular display area on the display screen in which the outer periphery of the display is made up of arcuate sectors facing in multiple directions and adjacent to each other, and a display area corresponding to this display area. Since the digital signal of the echo signal is stored in the storage position of the storage circuit, the display position and the storage position are constant, so the configuration of the storage circuit and display circuit can be fixed. The rotating mechanism of the wave transmitting/receiving element row only needs to rotate in correspondence with the sectors mentioned above, so the rotating mechanism can be configured with fixed steps, and it can also control changes in the wave transmitting/receiving sector, control of scanning,
Because the configuration allows storage control, including coordinate transformation, to be performed based on control by a single control circuit, despite the device having complex functions,
Since the control configuration can be simplified, the device can be provided simply and at low cost.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the main parts of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a display example of the present invention in which the number of sectors is set to three. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Element row of transducer, 2... Swivel shaft of element row, 3... Inclination shaft of element row, 201... Turning motor, 301...
...Inclination motor, 4... Angle control circuit, 5... Transmission circuit, 6... Receiving circuit including scanning circuit, 7...
Transmission/reception control circuit, 8...Writing address control circuit,
9... Memory address switching circuit, 10... Main memory circuit, 11... Color output circuit, 12... Display address control circuit, 13... Braun tube deflection circuit, 14... Color cathode ray tube, 15... Numerical value Insertion circuit, 20...Display surface of cathode ray tube, 21...
sector in which an echo signal is being written, 22... sector waiting to be written, 23... sector waiting to be written,
24... Image of noise in the water area near the element row, 25... Mark of reference direction such as the bow, 26
...Angle of inclination of element row, 27...Distance indicating the display range of the image, 28...Near the boundary of the sector, A...Example of echo image (in sector 21),
B... Echo image (inside sector 21), C
...Echo video example (in sector 22), D...
...Example of echo video (in sector 23).

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] An array of elements in which ultrasonic transducers are arranged for scanning a fan-shaped area, a rotation control unit that rotates the array of elements, a transmitting circuit that transmits data to the array of elements, and an array of elements that rotates the array of elements. A receiving circuit that converts the received echo into a digital echo signal, an address control circuit that converts the echo signal into a display signal for raster scanning, a memory circuit that stores the display signal, a rotation control section, a transmitting circuit, and a receiving circuit. A main control circuit that controls the circuit, an address control circuit, and a memory circuit, and a display device that receives a display signal and performs rectangular raster scanning to display an echo image on a display screen, the display screen having: A display area having a circular overall shape and divided into 1st to Nth fan-shaped sectors having the same center angle as the element row is provided, and the element row is scanned in a spiral shape at the 1st position. A first display signal corresponding to the Nth sector is stored in the storage circuit, and the element row is sequentially and intermittently rotated to the Nth position corresponding to the Nth sector to obtain display signals up to the Nth sector. is stored in the memory circuit, and when the vehicle turns and locates at the same position again, the previous display signal is updated and stored, and the display displays the first to Nth display signals from the memory circuit. The omnidirectional display sonar device is capable of simultaneously displaying echo images in all directions in the display area by reading signals and displaying them in the first to Nth sectors.