JPH06118170A - Acoustic position measuring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an acoustic position measuring device which can measure the position of a cruising body also by the wave received from two transponders. CONSTITUTION:This measuring device consists of a cruising body 3 which sends acoustic interrogation signals and receives acoustic response signals, a plurality of transponders sending the above acoustic response signals with different frequencies to the acoustic interrogation signals, a depth sensor 10 obtaining the depth information of the cruising body, and position selection means 12 and 13. The position coordinates of the cruising body are obtained according to two direct distances and the depth information obtained from at least two acoustic response signals and the position coordinates of the cruising body 3 are selected by the position selection means 12 and 13.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a positioning calculation process of an acoustic positioning device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional acoustic positioning will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a conventional acoustic positioning device, and FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram of the conventional acoustic positioning device. In FIGS. 11 and 12, 41 is underwater, 42
-1 to 42-3 are first to third installed on the seabed, respectively
Transponder, 43 is a vehicle that sails underwater, 44A
Is a wave receiver attached to the vehicle, 44B is a wave transmitter, 4
5-1 to 45-3 are first to third installed inside the vehicle.
Long Base Line (hereinafter referred to as “LBL”) receiver, 46 is a transmitter, 47 is a calculation control unit, 48
Is a display and 49 is a reference clock.

The operation of the conventional acoustic positioning device having the above structure will be described below. The transmitter 46 is given a transmission command from the arithmetic and control unit 47 at regular intervals from a certain reference time according to the timing signal from the reference clock 49, and transmits the transmission signal to the wave transmitter 44B. The transmitter 44B is driven by the transmission signal and transmits an ultrasonic pulse having a frequency f ₀ to the underwater 1.

This ultrasonic pulse is used as the acoustic interrogation signal.
In the first to third transponders 42-1 to 42-3
Once delivered, each transponder will have a different frequency.
Number f ₁, F₂, F₃(For example, f₁= 15 kHz, f₂
= 16 kHz, f₃= 17kHz) acoustic response signal
Believe. First to third transponders 42-1 to 42-3
From each of the acoustic response signals transmitted from the receiver 44A
After being received by and converted into an electric signal,
The first to third LBL receivers 45-1 to 45-3
Be received.

In each of the LBL receivers 45-1 to 45-3, the time from when the arithmetic control unit 47 outputs the transmission command to when the acoustic response signals of the transponders 42-1 to 42-3 are detected (that is, Propagation time for the ultrasonic pulse to travel back and forth between the vehicle 43 and the transponders 42-1 to 42-3)
To the transponders 42-1 to 42-3 (generally called slant range) are measured.

That is, the first LBL receiver 45-1 receives the acoustic response signal of frequency f ₁ transmitted from the first transponder 42-1 and measures its direct distance r ₁ . Further, the second LBL receiver receives the acoustic response signal of frequency f ₂ transmitted from the second transponder 42-2, and measures its direct distance r ₂ . Similarly, the third LBL receiver receives the acoustic response signal of frequency f ₃ transmitted from the third transponder 42-3, and measures its direct distance r ₃ . The data of these measured direct distances r _{1 to} r ₃ is used for each LB.
The L receivers 45-1 to 45-3 supply the arithmetic control unit 47. In advance, the first to third transponders 42-1
If the positions of ~ 42-3 are fixed by a work called calibration, the position of the running body 43 is determined by direct distances r _{1 to} r ₃ from the first to third transponders 42-1 to 42-3.
Calculated as the intersection of

The position coordinates of the flying body 43 calculated by the arithmetic control unit 47 are displayed on the display 48.

[0008]

However, the acoustic positioning device having the above-mentioned conventional configuration has the following problems. (1) Direct distance r ₁ from the positions of the first to third transponders
Calculation is performed to obtain the intersection point of r ₃ but if even one of the received waves from the three transponders cannot be received, positioning calculation cannot be performed and the position of the vehicle cannot be obtained.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an acoustic positioning device capable of measuring the position of a running body by using received waves from two transponders.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a running body that transmits an acoustic interrogation signal and receives an acoustic response signal, and an acoustic response signal of a different frequency for the acoustic interrogation signal are provided. Multiple transponders to send,
A depth sensor for obtaining depth information of the vehicle and a position selection means, and the position coordinate of the vehicle is obtained from the position coordinates of the vehicle based on the two direct distances and the depth information obtained from at least two acoustic response signals. The position coordinates of the vehicle are selected by.

Further, the depth sensor can be installed in the running body, and the position selecting means can select the position by the position information of the running body transmitted from the mother ship or the accumulated position information of the running body.

[0012]

According to the present invention, the position coordinates of the running body are obtained by inputting the two direct distances obtained from the two transponders and the depth of the running body from the depth sensor, and the running coordinate is obtained from the position coordinates. One position coordinate is selected by the switch means for inputting the estimated position of the body, whereby the position coordinate of the running body can be obtained by the two transponders.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an acoustic positioning device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of the acoustic positioning device of the present invention. In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, 1 is water, 2-1.
Reference numeral 2-2 is first and second transponders respectively installed on the seabed, 3 is a traveling body that travels underwater 1, 4A and 4B are wave receivers and transmitters attached to the traveling body 3, and 5- 1-5
-2 is the first to second LBL receivers installed inside the vehicle 3, 6 is a transmitter, 7 is an arithmetic control unit, 8 is a display, 9 is a reference clock, 10 is a depth sensor, 11 is an analog The digital converter 12 is a switch input circuit.

The operation of the acoustic positioning device of the present invention having the above configuration will be described below. The transmitter 6 is given a transmission command from the arithmetic and control unit 7 at regular intervals from a certain reference time according to the input from the reference clock 9, and transmits a transmission signal to the wave transmitter 4B.
Send to. The wave transmitter 4B is driven by the transmission signal and transmits an ultrasonic pulse having a frequency f ₀ to the underwater 1.

This ultrasonic pulse serves as an acoustic interrogation signal for the first transponder 2-1 and the second transponder 2-2.
When received by the transponders, the transponders have different frequencies f ₁ and f ₂ (for example, f ₁ = 15 kHz, f ₂ =
16 kHz) acoustic response signal is transmitted. The acoustic response signals respectively transmitted from the first transponder 2-1 and the second transponder 2-2 are received by the wave receiver 4A and converted into electric signals, and then the first LBL receiver 5-1 and the second LBL reception, respectively. Machine 5-2.

In the first LBL receiver 5-1 and the second LBL receiver 5-2, the first transponder 2-1 and the second transponder 2- after the arithmetic control unit 7 outputs the transmission command.
2 until the acoustic response signal of 2 is detected (ie,
The propagation time that the ultrasonic pulse travels back and forth between the vehicle 3 and the first transponder 2-1 and the second transponder 2-2) is measured, and the first transponder 2 is measured from the measured time.
-1 and the direct distance to the second transponder 2-2 (generally called slant range) are measured.

That is, the first LBL receiver 5-1 is the first
The acoustic response signal of the frequency f ₁ transmitted from the transponder 2-1 is received, and its direct distance r ₁ is measured. Also,
The second LBL receiver receives the acoustic response signal of frequency f ₂ transmitted from the second transponder 2-2, and measures its direct distance r ₂ . FIG. 3 is a time chart for obtaining the direct distance.

One of the acoustic interrogation signals a from the wave transmitter 4B is received by the first transponder 2-1, and a transmission signal c is emitted based on the reception signal b. Also, in the other second transponder 2-2, the wave transmitter 4 is also used.
The acoustic interrogation signal a from B is received, and the transmission signal e is emitted based on the reception signal d. The wave receiver 4A of the vehicle 3 is
The transmission signal c from the first transponder 2-1 is received as a reception signal f. The received signal f and the acoustic inquiry signal a
The time interval between and is the spacecraft 3 and the first transponder 2-
This is the time required to propagate a distance twice the distance r _{1 from 1} .

In addition, similarly to the above, the wave receiver 4 of the navigation vehicle 3
A receives the transmission signal e from the second transponder 2-2 as a reception signal g. The time interval between the reception signal g and the acoustic interrogation signal a is a time for propagating a distance twice the distance r ₂ between the vehicle 3 and the second transponder 2-2. The data of the measured direct distances r ₁ and r ₂ are used for the first LBL receiver 5-1 and the second LBL receiver 5 respectively.
-2 to the arithmetic control unit 7. When the positions of the first transponder 2-1 and the second transponder 2-2 are determined in advance by a work called calibration, the position of the navigation vehicle 3 is directly determined from the first transponder 2-1 and the second transponder 2-2. It is calculated as the intersection of the distances r ₁ -r ₂ .

When there are two transponders, that is, the first transponder 2-1 and the second transponder 2-2 as described above, the intersection of the straight distances r _{1 to} r ₂ cannot be specified as one, It becomes a locus of arc-shaped intersections. FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are intersection diagrams of two transponders at a direct distance. FIG. 4 is a diagram when a base line connecting the first transponder 2-1 and the second transponder 2-2 is viewed on a plane, and FIG. 5 is a diagram when FIG. 4 is viewed from the direction A.

In FIG. 4, the trajectory of the direct distance r ₁ is on a sphere centered on the first transponder 2-1 and having a radius of r ₁ , while the trajectory of the direct distance r ₂ is the second transponder 2-2. It is on a sphere with radius r ₂ as the center. The intersection of the straight distances r _{1 to} r ₂ is the locus of a circle where the two spheres intersect, and is represented by a chain line in the figure.

As shown in FIG. 5, when FIG. 4 is viewed from the direction A, the intersection of the straight distances r _{1 to} r ₂ is represented by the locus of a circle represented by the one-dot chain line. Therefore, the position of the vehicle 3 cannot be specified only from the data of the two transponders. Therefore, in the acoustic positioning device of the present invention, the coordinate position of the vehicle is determined based on the depth information in addition to the data from the two transponders.

4 and 5, the depth d and the direct distance r
The coordinate position of the vehicle can be determined by finding the intersection with the circle, which is the intersection of _{1 to} r ₂ . First
And the direct distances r _{1 to} r ₂ are measured by the signals from the first and second transponders 2-1 and 2-2 received by the second and second LBL receivers 5-1 and 5-2, and the first and second transponders are measured. Direct distances r _{1 to} r ₂ from positions 2-1 and 2-2
When the calculation of the intersection point is performed, the solution of the position of the vehicle is obtained as a circle above and below the plane connecting the first and second transponders 2-1 and 2-2. To specify the position of the vehicle on this circle, input from the depth sensor 7
Using the depth information input by the digital converter 11, the calculation control unit 7 obtains an intersection with the depth as a solution.

The depth information is obtained by the depth sensor 10. The depth sensor 10 is attached to the outside of the running body 3 to sense water pressure, change the resistance of the sensor itself, etc., and as a result, output as a change in output voltage. In addition, the analog-digital converter 11 is the depth sensor 10
Converts the voltage corresponding to the depth input from to a digital value,
Input to the arithmetic control unit 7.

Further, the determination of the coordinate position of the vehicle based on the depth information will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. Figure 6
Is a direct distance intersection diagram of two transponders,
First transponder 2-1 and second transponder 2-2
It shows the positional relationship of the two intersections with respect to the plane connecting them. Further, FIG. 7 is a view seen from the X-axis side of FIG.

In the figure, points at a distance of r ₁ from the first transponder 2-1 and a distance of r ₂ from the second transponder 2-2 are on a circle indicated by a broken line, and an intersection of the depth d and the circle is defined. By obtaining, the first intersection and the second intersection can be obtained. The first intersection and the second intersection are located on both sides of the base line connecting the first transponder 2-1 and the second transponder 2-2. Also, FIG. 4 and FIG.
Looking at, the intersection of the depth d and the circle indicated by the alternate long and short dash line can be specified as one point depending on the depth.
Usually 2 points.

Which of the two solutions existing for the base line connecting the first transponder 2-1 and the second transponder 2-2 is selected depends on which of the left and right sides of the base line is operated by another positioning device in advance. This can be done by deciding and selecting either left or right with the switch 13 of the switch input circuit 12, and the solution thus selected is used as the position coordinate of the vehicle.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 8 for determining the position coordinates of the vehicle by the acoustic positioning system of the present invention. First, in steps S1 and S2, the distance r ₁ between the first transponder 2-1 and the vehicle 3 and the distance r between the second transponder 2-2 and the vehicle 3 are determined by the LBL receiver as described above. Ask for ₂ .

Next, in step S5, the distance r ₁ and the distance r obtained in step 1 and step S2 are determined.
Find the position coordinates of the locus where ₂ intersects. On the other hand, step S
3, the depth data d is obtained by the depth sensor 10 of the navigation body 3. Then, in step S6,
Two intersection point coordinates are obtained by obtaining the coordinates at which the position coordinates obtained at step S5 and the depth d intersect.

Further, in step S7, one point is selected from the two intersection coordinates in step S6 by using the position information with respect to the base line obtained in step S4. next,
The position information of the running body 3 with respect to the base line for selecting the right or left with the switch 13 of the switch input circuit 12 will be described. As means for determining on which side the traveling body 3 exists with respect to the base line connecting the first transponder 2-1 and the first transponder 2-2, (1) the traveling body 3 sequentially outputs its position information. There are a method of accumulating and estimating a position at the time of measurement based on the position information, and a method of (2) transmitting general position information of the traveling body 3 from the mother ship to the traveling body 3.

First, an example of the means (1) will be described. FIG. 9 is a block diagram for determining the position of the vehicle with respect to the baseline. In the figure, 7 is a calculation control unit, 21 is a determination device, 22 is baseline position information, 23 is a speed, acceleration and time information measurement device, and 24 is a current position estimation device.
The determination device 21 determines the position of the vehicle 3 with respect to the baseline by comparing the estimated position from the current position estimation device 24 with the position information from the baseline position information 22, and outputs the output to the switch of the switch input circuit 12. Select 13.

The current position estimation device 24 outputs the position information of the running body 3 at the time of the previous positioning, which is the output from the arithmetic and control unit 7, and the speed, the acceleration, and the time between the previous positioning and the current positioning. The current position of the vehicle is estimated from information such as the distance. Next, an example of the means (2) will be described. FIG. 10 is another block diagram for determining the position of the vehicle with respect to the baseline.

In the figure, 31 is a determination device, 32 is baseline position information, and 33 is position information from the mother ship. The determination device 31 determines the position of the vehicle 3 with respect to the baseline by comparing the position information 33 from the mother ship with the position information from the baseline position information 32, and outputs the output to the switch input circuit 1
2 switch 13 is selected.

The position information 33 is transmitted from the mother ship to the running body 3. The mother ship measures the approximate position of the running body 3 on which side it is with respect to the reference line. Is transmitted to the vehicle 3. Vessel 3 for the baseline
The position determining means can be selected according to the situation.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention, and these modifications are not excluded from the scope of the present invention.

[0036]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, two positions of the vehicle can be obtained simultaneously from the direct distances from the two transponders and the depth data,
One of them can be selected by a switch, which enables positioning that was not possible with two transponders as in the related art, and positioning can be performed with high accuracy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an acoustic positioning device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an acoustic positioning device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a time chart for obtaining a direct distance.

FIG. 4 is a direct distance intersection diagram of two transponders.

FIG. 5 is a direct distance intersection diagram of two transponders.

FIG. 6 is a direct distance intersection diagram of two transponders.

FIG. 7 is a diagram viewed from the X-axis side of a direct distance intersection diagram of two transponders.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for determining the position coordinates of a vehicle by the acoustic positioning device of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram for determining a position of a vehicle with respect to a baseline.

FIG. 10 is another configuration diagram for determining the position of the vehicle with respect to the baseline.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a conventional acoustic positioning device.

FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram of a conventional acoustic positioning device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Underwater 2-1 1st transponder 2-2 2nd transponder 3 Navigation body which sails underwater 1 4A Wave receiver 4B Wave transmitter 5-1 1st LBL receiver 5-2 2nd LBL receiver 6 Transmitter 7 Calculation Control unit 8 Display 9 Reference clock 10 Depth sensor 11 Analog / digital converter 12 Switch input circuit

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Satoshi Murayama 4-10-3 Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo Oki Systech Tokai Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor ▲ Hideyuki Takahashi 1-12 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A running body that transmits (a) an acoustic inquiry signal and receives an acoustic response signal, and (b) a plurality of vehicles that transmit the acoustic response signals of different frequencies with respect to the acoustic inquiry signal. A transponder, (c) a depth sensor for obtaining depth information of the running body, and (d) position selecting means, and (e) two direct distances and depth information obtained from at least two acoustic response signals. An acoustic positioning device, wherein the position coordinates of the running body are obtained by (f) and the position coordinates of the running body are selected by the position selecting means. 2. The acoustic positioning device according to claim 1, wherein the depth sensor is installed in the navigation vehicle. 3. The acoustic positioning device according to claim 1, wherein the position selecting means is selected based on position information of the navigation vehicle transmitted from a mother ship. 4. The acoustic positioning device according to claim 1, wherein the position selection means is selected based on accumulated position information of the navigation vehicle.