EP0450191A2 - Arrangement de transducteurs - Google Patents

Arrangement de transducteurs Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0450191A2
EP0450191A2 EP90125415A EP90125415A EP0450191A2 EP 0450191 A2 EP0450191 A2 EP 0450191A2 EP 90125415 A EP90125415 A EP 90125415A EP 90125415 A EP90125415 A EP 90125415A EP 0450191 A2 EP0450191 A2 EP 0450191A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
transducer
groups
transducer elements
grating
group
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
EP90125415A
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German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0450191A3 (en
EP0450191B1 (fr
Inventor
Wilfried Dipl.-Ing. Meuser
Werner Dipl.-Ing. Loges
Thomas Dipl.-Ing. Reipschläger
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Atlas Elektronik GmbH
Original Assignee
STN Atlas Elektronik GmbH
Krupp Atlas Elektronik GmbH
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
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Publication date
Application filed by STN Atlas Elektronik GmbH, Krupp Atlas Elektronik GmbH filed Critical STN Atlas Elektronik GmbH
Publication of EP0450191A2 publication Critical patent/EP0450191A2/fr
Publication of EP0450191A3 publication Critical patent/EP0450191A3/de
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0450191B1 publication Critical patent/EP0450191B1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
    • H01Q1/04—Adaptation for subterranean or subaqueous use
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q21/00—Antenna arrays or systems
    • H01Q21/06—Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart
    • H01Q21/22—Antenna units of the array energised non-uniformly in amplitude or phase, e.g. tapered array or binomial array

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a transducer arrangement with a plurality of transducer elements for a pivotable directional characteristic of the type mentioned in the preamble.
  • transducer arrangements or antennas are required to form directional characteristics in order to determine the direction and distance of wave-emitting or reflecting targets.
  • the opening angle of a directional characteristic determines the accuracy of the direction determination or bearing to the target and is determined by the length dimension of the transducer arrangement.
  • a clear determination of the direction is only possible, however, if a plurality of transducer elements are arranged equidistantly over the length of the transducer arrangement at a distance from the smallest half wavelength to be received. Then the directional characteristic consists of a main lobe of maximum sensitivity and damped side lobes.
  • the grating praise is suppressed or damped, for example, by constructing the transducer arrangement from transducer elements arranged statistically with respect to one another, as described, for example, in US Pat. No. 3,553,703.
  • PCT application WO 88/10523 corresponding to EP application 0315689 discloses a flat transducer arrangement for transmitting electromagnetic waves, which is composed of transducer elements arranged on concentric circles. Transducer elements of different sizes are used per circle, so that the distances of the transducer elements in the radial direction are different due to the different transducer element sizes.
  • the number of identical transducer elements per circle is determined by the transducer element size.
  • the length of the radii of the concentric circles does not increase periodically.
  • the transducer element size increases from the center and decreases towards the edge of the transducer arrangement, the smallest transducer elements are in the middle.
  • grating praise due to the amplitude evaluation of the emitted wave due to the different sizes of the transducer elements, is attenuated, the antenna gain being the same as for a Transducer arrangement with transducer elements of the same size.
  • a plurality of directional characteristics pointing in different directions or a pivotable directional characteristic can be formed by phase control of the transducer arrangement.
  • a special phase control of the irregularly arranged transducer elements is necessary for each spatial direction, so that the expenditure on phase rotating elements for direction formation is considerably greater, especially in the case of a continuously monitored spatial area, than in the case of a regularly configured antenna configuration.
  • transducer arrangement according to claim 1 is that the manufacture is particularly simple, since the transducer arrangement is based on a halftone spacing of the transducer elements from one another and thus a periodicity.
  • This rasterization is also advantageous for the dimensioning of the directional element, so that when a directional characteristic is swiveled or a plurality of directional characteristics pointing in different directions are formed simultaneously
  • Converter elements can be assigned multiples of phase rotation or transit time increments and a special delay or phase value for time compensation of their received signals does not have to be calculated and provided for each converter element.
  • the transducer elements within a group have the same distance and from group to group 1.5 times the value of this distance. This measure ensures that at a distance greater than half the wavelength of the associated operating frequency, an incident of waves from the grating-lobe direction does not lead to incorrect bearing, since transducer elements of adjacent groups do not use the distance d, but 1.5 ⁇ d and waves received at the grating-lobe angle are shifted from group to group by half a wavelength and their received signals are thus extinguished.
  • the energy received with an equidistant arrangement of the converter elements from the grating lobe direction is split and distributed into adjacent angular ranges in the converter arrangement according to the invention. For groups with the same number of transducers, this results in a directional characteristic with a main lobe and a zero at the associated grating lobe angle for each swivel angle.
  • the grating-lobe angle is, apart from the swivel angle into which the directional characteristic points, dependent on the frequency and the spacing of equidistant transducer elements.
  • the offset of the groups by 1.5 times the distance gives the advantage that the suppression of the grating praise is guaranteed for each swivel angle of the directional characteristic and each frequency.
  • the converter arrangement according to the invention is not only for Narrow-band, but also particularly useful for broadband reception, for example in waterborne sound technology for trailing antennas for direction finding of watercraft in the low-frequency range, because the configuration of the transducer arrangement saves transducer elements and thus a price reduction without reducing the bearing accuracy.
  • the size of the transducer elements cannot be arranged at a distance smaller than half the wavelength of the received sound waves
  • good bundling can be achieved in a particularly cost-saving and advantageous manner in terms of production technology, since the large number of transducer elements is also possible large dimensions of the transducer arrangement can be reduced and costs and weight can be saved with the same output.
  • the transducer arrangement according to claim 1 can thus advantageously be used in mine hunting and mine avoidance systems in which incorrect direction finding would be particularly harmful.
  • the directional generator is realized by multiples of phase or transit time increments, which means that the outlay on circuit technology can be kept low.
  • the large number of transducer elements can, however, not only be arranged along a straight line, but also along a curved line which follows, for example, a vehicle wall, one then speaks of a so-called conformed array.
  • the converter arrangement according to the invention can also be implemented for a cylinder base.
  • the directional characteristics are formed by compensating the transit time or phases of the received signals from the installation location to a straight line perpendicular to the direction of incidence of the wave and summation. Starting from this straight line, the dimensioning of the transducer arrangement is to be carried out according to claim 1.
  • the individual transducer element locations are obtained by vertically shifting from the virtual location on the straight line to the geometric location on the installation line, which is canceled again by the direction generator.
  • the surface is divided by lines crossing each other in the middle and the transducer elements arranged in groups along the lines.
  • the plurality of transducer elements is arranged along a straight line according to the advantageous development of the transducer arrangement according to the invention and its number of groups along the straight line is selected according to the advantageous further development according to claim 3 so that a required damping distance between the main lobe and fragmented grating praise in The area around the grating lobe angle is maintained.
  • Receiving energy that would be received from the grating-lobe direction in an equidistantly arranged transducer arrangement is distributed by the transducer arrangement according to the invention into adjacent angular ranges between the grating-lobe angle and the swivel angle.
  • the angular ranges are from the Number of groups dependent.
  • the individual transducer elements per group move closer together, since the group spacings are equal to 1.5 times the value of the transducer spacings within the group.
  • the directional characteristic results in lobes that are significantly less sensitive than the main lobe.
  • the lobes are fragmented grating lobes that are symmetrical to the grating-lobe angle, in the remaining angular range up to the main lobe periodically occurring lobes that can be understood as pseudo-grating lobes. Their sensitivity decreases towards the main club.
  • the groups have different numbers of transducers, wherein the groups are arranged symmetrically to the center of the transducer arrangement.
  • a converter arrangement is particularly advantageous in which the number of converters of the groups closest to the center is greatest and decreases towards the edge of the converter arrangement. This measure also splinters the pseudo-grating praise and, apart from the main lobe, the directional characteristic is continuously attenuated over all angular ranges to approximately the same level, which is lower the larger the number of groups.
  • the transducer arrangement consists of two identical sub-bases which are arranged nested one inside the other and are mirror-inverted side-to-side.
  • Each of the two sub-bases has a grid that is equal to the distance between the transducers.
  • the two sub-bases are shifted from each other by 1.5 times the distance.
  • the reduction in the angular range between the grating lobe angle and the direction in which the main lobe points is the same if the number of converters in the groups is not the same.
  • the fragmented grating lobes symmetrically around the grating lobe angle level off in particular to the same low level when the number of transducers decreases from the center to the outside.
  • the specified regulation is comparable to the Leverage Act. It will the distance between the center of the transducer arrangement and each individual transducer element of the groups belonging to a sub-base added up to the right and left of the center of the transducer arrangement. A directional characteristic with maximum sensitivity in the main lobe at maximum swivel angle and uniform damping in the other angular range is ensured in that the sum of the distances to the right of the center is equal to the sum of the distances to the left of the center. As a result, the focus of each sub-base is almost on the middle of the transducer arrangement. With this dimensioning, it is assumed that the received signals of the transducer elements are added in the directional generator after an amplitude evaluation of "1".
  • the product is formed from the respective distance and the amplitude evaluation factor and the sum of the products for each sub-base taking into account the position of the transducer with respect to the center "Zero".
  • the damping by the grating-lobe angle in an angular range of approximately 10 ° is more than 35 dB compared to the sensitivity of the main lobe.
  • the fragmented grating praise that limits this angular range has an attenuation of a good 10 dB.
  • the attenuation in the angular range up to the swivel angle of the main lobe increases continuously up to values of 30 dB.
  • the dimensioning of the number of transducers in the groups depends on the application of the transducer arrangement and is different, for example, in the case of a broadband operation, as is necessary for monitoring a sea area in a trailing antenna, than in the case of narrowband operation, as is e.g. is common in actively working sonar systems, where a high degree of selectivity with regard to echoes from a wide-range, irradiated sector is necessary.
  • the transducer arrangement for reception according to claim 7 in which the average number of transducers in the groups is selected so that echoes from directions other than the direction of the main lobe are received with significantly less sensitivity.
  • the measure according to claim 8 ensures that the same number of transducer elements always have received signals that cancel each other out while the pulse sweeps across the transducer arrangement.
  • the transducer arrangements described for the reception case are also suitable for transmission.
  • FIG. 1 shows a transducer arrangement for a waterborne sound system with a large number N of transducer elements which are arranged along a straight line 10.
  • the transducer elements are followed by a direction generator (not shown here), which consists of phase shifters with monochromatic reception or from delay elements with broadband reception.
  • the received signals of the transducer elements are added instantaneously when sound waves are received from the vertical to the center 11 of the transducer arrangement and form a directional characteristic with a main lobe in the direction of the perpendicular and secondary lobes.
  • the larger the extension L of the transducer arrangement the smaller its opening angle.
  • the directional characteristic can be swiveled from the perpendicular to the center by angle ⁇ by running time or phase control, whereby the maximum swivel angle is the drawn angle ⁇ max .
  • several directional characteristics can be formed, the main lobes of which point at different swivel angles.
  • the transducer elements are at a distance d from one another, between groups 21 and 22 or 22 and 23 or 23 and 24 1.5 times the value of the distance d.
  • the distance d between the transducer elements is greater than ⁇ / 2, where ⁇ is the smallest wavelength of the received sound wave.
  • a swivel angle ⁇ max of the directional characteristic in addition to side lobes, another lobe with the same sensitivity as the main lobe, the so-called grating lobe, occurs at a grating lobe angle ⁇ , as for example in "Microwave Scanning Antennas" from RC Hansen, Academic Press, New York and London, 1964, shown on page 203.
  • the relationship sin ⁇ sin ⁇ - n ⁇ / d applies.
  • the number of grating-lobe angles ⁇ and their size depend on the distance d of the transducer elements with respect to the wavelength ⁇ of the received wave and on the swivel angle ⁇ . For each swivel angle ⁇ and each frequency f, different grating lobe angles ⁇ are set.
  • phase signals are added: If a sound wave occurs from the grating-lobe angle ⁇ during this direction formation, the received sound wave has a transit time difference t m at the transducer element at position D compared to the transducer element at position E, which each form the outer transducer elements of group 23 whose sign is negative compared to the delay times ⁇ .
  • the transit time difference t m + 1 between the converter element at position E and the converter element at position A is calculated as follows: These runtime differences t m and t m + 1 always arise between the transducer elements at the borders of neighboring groups 24/23, 23/22 and 22/21. Positions F, E, D correspond to positions D, A, B etc.
  • the result at reception under the grating-lobe angle ⁇ is: at position E the received signal U ⁇ e j ⁇ (t + ⁇ ⁇ ) , where ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ is any initial phase.
  • This reception signal at position E is not delayed, at position D the received signal U ⁇ e j ⁇ (t + ⁇ ⁇ + t m ) , the un ⁇ m is delayed, and after the onset of (1) and (3) the delayed signal U ⁇ e j ⁇ (t + ⁇ ⁇ + m ⁇ / c) , at position A the receive signal U ⁇ e j ⁇ (t + ⁇ ⁇ + t m + 1 ) , which is delayed by the delay time ⁇ m + 1 , and after the onset of (2) and (4) the delayed signal U ⁇ e j ⁇ (t + ⁇ ⁇ + m ⁇ / c + 3 ⁇ / 2c) , at position B the receive signal U ⁇ e j ⁇ (t + ⁇ ⁇ + t m + 1 + t m), which is delayed by ⁇ m + 1 + ⁇ m , and after the onset of (1), (2), (3) and (4) the delayed signal U ⁇
  • the 1.5 times the distance d causes a phase shift between the received signals at D and A by 180 ° or ⁇ / 2.
  • the delayed signals are added in phase, but shifted by half a wavelength from group 21/22 or 22/23 or 23/34, so that the delayed received signals add up even number of groups 22, ..., 24, zero results.
  • a compensation of the received signals is achieved by compensation in the directional generator when sound is incident from the swivel angle ⁇ .
  • the direction generator is set so that its main lobe 30 points to the maximum swivel angle ⁇ max .
  • the grating-lobe angle ⁇ is located in an angular range 31, which is limited by the two highest fragmented grating praise 32, 33, which have an attenuation of R1 in relation to the directional sensitivity R of the main lobe 30.
  • N 100 of converter elements are accommodated with the same extension of the converter arrangement as in FIG. 2.
  • their distances from one another are stochastic or noisy.
  • the secondary level attenuation is almost constant over the entire angular range and is somewhat less than the fragmented grating praise 32 and 33 in FIG Grating lobe angle ⁇ itself is not as high a damping R2 as achieved with the converter arrangement according to the invention.
  • the damping is comparable over the entire angular range.
  • the number of converters z of the q groups is varied.
  • the individual transducer elements in each group are spaced 0.75 ⁇ apart, the groups are spaced 1.5.0.75 ⁇ apart.
  • the first group 110 located on the left outer edge has only one transducer element, the adjacent group 111 has two, the group 112 three transducer elements, the group 113 four transducer elements, the group 114 five transducer elements, the groups 115 and 116 six transducer elements, the group 117 seven transducer elements and groups 118 and 119 each have eight transducer elements.
  • the number of transducers z in the following groups have the same size symmetrically with respect to the center 11.
  • the groups with the even numbers 110, 112, ..., 128 form a sub-base 200
  • the groups 111, 113, ..., 129 with odd numbers form a second sub-base 300.
  • the sub-bases 200, 300 are nested one inside the other and reversed mirror-symmetrically. Each sub-base 200, 300 has a grid of d, which is shifted from one another by d / 2.
  • the number of transducers z of the q groups are selected such that a directional characteristic according to FIG. 5 is achieved with a corresponding directional element when swiveling by the maximum swivel angle max .
  • This directional characteristic is characterized by the fact that a maximum attenuation is achieved around the grating-lobe angle ⁇ and that no further periodic components are recorded in the directional characteristic.
  • the secondary levels in the area of the main lobe 30 are also particularly strongly damped.
  • subgroup 200 ie for groups 110, 112, ., 128 must apply: The focus of subgroup 200 is thus in the middle 11 of the transducer arrangement. The same applies to the sub-base 300.
  • Fig. 6 shows a diagram in which the standard dimension R in dB for a different number q of groups is entered over the angle ⁇ .
  • the sensitivities are the same if the transducer arrangement has equidistantly distributed transducer elements whose spacing is greater than half the wavelength.
  • the curves r and s indicate limit values for the damping of the fragmented grating praise for the different number q of groups.
  • R0 the limit value which corresponds to the damping if the transducer distances are statistically distributed. 6
  • the number q of groups is to be dimensioned depending on the task of the entire sonar system.

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  • Measurement Of Velocity Or Position Using Acoustic Or Ultrasonic Waves (AREA)
EP90125415A 1990-04-02 1990-12-24 Arrangement de transducteurs Expired - Lifetime EP0450191B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DE4010502 1990-04-02
DE4010502A DE4010502A1 (de) 1990-04-02 1990-04-02 Wandleranordnung

Publications (3)

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EP0450191A2 true EP0450191A2 (fr) 1991-10-09
EP0450191A3 EP0450191A3 (en) 1992-01-29
EP0450191B1 EP0450191B1 (fr) 1995-05-24

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EP90125415A Expired - Lifetime EP0450191B1 (fr) 1990-04-02 1990-12-24 Arrangement de transducteurs

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DE (2) DE4010502A1 (fr)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2686457A1 (fr) * 1992-01-17 1993-07-23 Thomson Csf Antenne a balayage electronique.

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP2001305222A (ja) * 2000-04-26 2001-10-31 Yazaki Corp 電子走査式超音波物体検出装置及びその方法
JP2001318145A (ja) * 2000-05-01 2001-11-16 Yazaki Corp 電子走査式超音波物体検出装置及びその方法
DE102005031973B3 (de) * 2005-07-08 2006-08-31 Atlas Elektronik Gmbh Vorrichtung zum Bestimmen der Eigengeschwindigkeit eines Wasserfahrzeugs

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4580141A (en) * 1983-09-19 1986-04-01 The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Army Linear array antenna employing the summation of subarrays
DE3839945A1 (de) * 1988-11-26 1990-05-31 Telefunken Systemtechnik Phasengesteuerte gruppenantenne

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4580141A (en) * 1983-09-19 1986-04-01 The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Army Linear array antenna employing the summation of subarrays
DE3839945A1 (de) * 1988-11-26 1990-05-31 Telefunken Systemtechnik Phasengesteuerte gruppenantenne

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
R.E.WILLEY, '"SUBARRAY ANALYSIS", RADC-TN-60-248; AN/FPS-46 (XW-1); AD No.248463', 30. September 1960, ROME AIR DEVELOPMENT CENTER US AIR FORCE, NEW YORK, US. *

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2686457A1 (fr) * 1992-01-17 1993-07-23 Thomson Csf Antenne a balayage electronique.

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0450191A3 (en) 1992-01-29
DE59009149D1 (de) 1995-06-29
EP0450191B1 (fr) 1995-05-24
DE4010502A1 (de) 1991-10-10

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