EP1266823B1 - Submarine - Google Patents

Abstract

The submarine has a hull (10) provided with an outer skin (12) having a number of omnidirectional reception hydrophones (16), coupled to a signal processing device (17) for location of a torpedo from the sound pulses emitted by the latter. The hydrophones are directly attached to the outer skin in a defined pattern across the hull, with location of the torpedo from the propagation time differences between the received signals.

Description

The invention relates to a submarine with a device for detecting sound pulses emitting torpedoes according to the preamble of claim 1.

The modern, high-speed, actively-located torpedo poses the greatest threat to submarines. This is particularly the case for air-ridden torpedoes shot down by surface ships in a ballistic range or dropped into the water by helicopters or airplanes at short range. For a submarine, it is therefore essential to survive to detect such torpedoes very quickly even at a short distance and to determine the torpedo data, such as bearing and / or distance, to immediately initiate defensive maneuvers and effective use of defense weapons.

A well-known submarine of this type (L. Kuhnle "Classification and Identification - CAI - by Submarine Sonar" Naval Forces No VII 1987, page 28) has for this purpose a so-called intercept panoramic sonar (IPS) with an intercept basis, the in addition to the detection and bearing of the sound pulses emitting targets, such as torpedoes, and the sound pulses with respect to their frequency range, their modulation type, the pulse length and pulse repetition rate analyzed to an approaching target classify and identify. The intercept base is located in the bow section of the submarine on the top of the hull and the outer skin.

An example of the structure of the Interceptbasis is described in DE 196 12 503 C2. There, the intercept base has e.g. an outer contour in the form of a barrel or a barrel which is internally provided by star-shaped partitions of rubber-coated sheet metal in e.g. six sectors each with 60 ° opening angle is divided. In each sector, a plurality of hydrophones are arranged, which are glued in rows and columns in a matrix of rigid polyurethane foam. The individual hydrophones designed for the high-frequency transmission frequency range of torpedo-sons are connected to the signal processing unit by signal lines routed in a centrally arranged, tubular passage.

Such from a single module with a plurality of hydrophones existing receiving base is very expensive to manufacture and correspondingly expensive. In addition, a starting torpedo can only be detected with sufficient accuracy with this reception base if it moves approximately in the plane in which the reception base is arranged. On the other hand, a larger offset of the start plane of the torpedo in elevation leads to inaccurate bearing angles. In addition, the reception base is "blind" against steeply from above the submarine approaching torpedoes.

The invention is based on the object at a equipped with a device for torpedo detection submarine, the required reception base cost-effective and so that attacking from large elevation angles Torpedoes detected and the torpedo data can be detected with sufficient accuracy.

The object is achieved by the features in claim 1.

The submarine according to the invention has the advantage that the required hydrophones for forming a reception base, which is designed for the transmission frequency range of torpedo-sonar, are commercially available and even with integrated amplifiers still have a very small volume. These miniature hydrophones can be mounted anywhere on the surface of the submarine at particularly suitable locations directly on the outer skin. The hydrophones are arranged both in the bow and stern of the boat body as well as in the tower area, so that either a linear or planar reception base can be formed by a suitable selection of spatially favorably placed hydrophones. Unlike known receiving bases while maintaining predetermined distances between the hydrophones or hydrophone groups and a highly accurate alignment is not required. The installation of the hydrophones on the hull and tower is very simple and can be done in a short time. The necessary measurement of the locations of the attached hydrophones is carried out acoustically and can be accomplished with suitable software in a short time.

Due to the specified type of embodiment of the signal processing unit not only an arbitrary distribution of the hydrophones over the surface of the submarine under consideration of technically particularly favorable surface areas is possible, but it is already with Obtaining accurate azimuth and elevation azimuth angles to a two-dimensional array of hydrophones on the curved surface of the submarine. The more hydrophones are used, the more accurate the bearing result. If more hydrophones are involved than degrees of freedom are to be measured, the use of a least squares estimation method is necessary to determine the bearing angles. Distance measurements can be achieved by cross-polling with hydrophones or hydrophone groups that are as far apart as possible, eg at the front and rear of the hull.

Advantageous embodiments of the inventive U-boat with advantageous developments and refinements of the invention will become apparent from the other claims.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, a number of hydrophones are strung together to form a belt of spaced-apart hydrophones and a plurality of such hydrophone belts are distributed on the surface of the submarine. As a result of this ordered arrangement of the hydrophones, the computational effort for determining the torpedo data in azimuth and elevation is reduced, in particular when the belt-like juxtaposition of the hydrophones is carried out equidistantly. The vertically oriented closed-loop hydrofoils in the bow and stern sections are selected to obtain the torpedo data in elevation, and the horizontally oriented open hydrofoil belts on the sides of the hull to obtain the torpedo data in azimuth.

The invention is illustrated by an illustrated in the drawing Embodiment described in more detail below. The drawing shows a perspective view of a submarine, schematized, in conjunction with a device for the detection of actively locating torpedoes.

The submarine schematically illustrated in the drawing has an elongated, cylinder-like hull 10 provided with an access tower 11 and an outer skin 12, at the rear of which a propeller 13 for driving the submarine is arranged. At the rear and side of the entrance tower 11 rudders 14, 15 are arranged.

The submarine is equipped with a device for the detection and location of so-called actively located torpedoes, which emit high-frequency sound impulses by means of a so-called torpedo-sonar. The device has a multiplicity of omnidirectionally receiving hydrophones 16 as well as a signal processing unit 17 which determines at least their bearing from the output signals of the hydrophones 16 for obtaining torpedo data. The hydrophones 16 are designed for the typical transmission frequency range of torpedosons and preferably have integrated amplifiers. Such hydrophones 16 are available on the market and are characterized by a quite volumenkleine design. The hydrophones 16 are distributed over the surface of the submarine and attached directly to the outer skin 12 of the submarine structure-sound decoupled. The electrical output signals of the hydrophones 16 are connected to the signal processing unit 17 installed in the interior of the hull 10 by signal lines 18, which are indicated only symbolically here and which pass through the outer skin 12 into the submarine interior. Only the simplified representation is half in the drawing Signal processing unit 17 shown outside of the submarine.

In the drawing, the hydrophones 16 and their arrangement are shown only schematically. As seen therein, a number of hydrophones 16 are juxtaposed to a belt of spaced-apart hydrophones 16 and multiple such hydrophone belts are distributed on the surface. In this case, two closed hydrofoil belts 19 are arranged in the bow region and two closed hydrofoils 19 in the rear region of the hull 10, wherein the hydrophone belts 19 completely circumnavigate the hull 10 transversely to the longitudinal axis of the boat. Furthermore, an open hydrophone belt 20 is arranged in each case on the control and port side of the hull 10 parallel to the boat's longitudinal axis. Of these two hydrofoil belts 20 only the starboard side hydrophone belt 20 can be seen in the drawing. In this case, each hydrophone belt 20 can be arranged so that hydrophones 16 extend from the four closed Hydrofongürteln 19 the hydraulic belt 20 end. Another two open hydrophone belt 21 are arranged on the side walls of the Einstiegturms 11 parallel to the boat's longitudinal axis. In the drawing, in turn, only the two arranged on the starboard wall of the insertion tower 11 Hydrofongürtel 21, which are aligned at a parallel distance from each other to see. Between the hydrofoil belts 21 individual hydrophones 16 can still be arranged so that they form a vertical row with selected hydrophones 16 from the hydrofoil belts 21.

As already mentioned, the ordered, belt-like sequence of the hydrophones 16, preferably with a constant spacing between the hydrophones 16, is only one possible embodiment of the hydroforming of the outer skin 12 of the submarine.

In principle, and for the assembly advantageous, the Hydrofonbestückung can be made arbitrarily, with those areas of the submarine are selected that are not in the inspection area, so that the hydrophones 16 can not be mechanically damaged. The distances of the hydrophones 16 from each other must be neither periodic nor regular and are also not subject to conditions such. smaller λ / 2, where λ is the wavelength of the received signals.

Hydros 16 may also be provided on the face 22 of the bow of the hull 10 so as to provide a total of a linear hydrophone arrangement through the hydrophone belts 20 and 21, a two-dimensional hydrophone arrangement through the hydrophone belts 19 on the cylindrically curved surface of the hull 10 and a hydrophone assembly on the front of the bug are present.

After fitting the outer skin 12 of the submarine with the hydrophones 16, the location of the individual hydrophones 16 relative to a boat-fixed coordinate system is acoustically measured, and the location coordinates are stored in the signal processing unit 17.

, und der Maximum Likelihood Estimator 24 bestimmt daraus einen Schätzwert für den Einfallsvektor $\overrightarrow{\mathrm{k}}$

und somit den Azimutwinkel ϑ und den Elevationswinkel ε der einfallenden Wellenfront, die als Peilung des Torpedos in einer Anzeigeeinheit 25 dargestellt werden. Mit von verschiedenen Hydrofongruppen, die vorzugsweise weit am Bootskörper 10 voneinander entfernt liegen, ermittelten Peilwinkeln kann durch geometrische Berechnung die Entfernung des Torpedos ermittelt werden, was allgemein unter dem Begriff "Kreuzpeilung" bekannt ist.The symbolized in the drawing by a block diagram signal processing unit 17 is designed so that it makes the determination of torpedo data, namely the bearing angle, from the transit time differences between the output signals corresponding to selected hydrophones 16. Depending on the arrangement of the selected hydrophones 16, the bearing angles are determined only in the azimuth, only in elevation or both in the azimuth and in elevation. A signal processing method that uses the bearing in azimuth and elevation from the transit time differences between the The output signals of a multisensor array are reported in Berdugo, Doron Rosenhouse, Azhari, The Journal of the Acoustic Society of America, Vol. 6, June 1999, pages 3355-3363. In short, the algorithm described there is based on an extension of a maximum likelihood estimator 24 by an algorithm for determining the signal delay times (Time Delay Estimator) between combinations of the hydrophones 16 to be selected according to the geometry. The time delay estimator 23 calculates from the electrical output signals S _i Hydrophones 16 the vector of signal delays $\overrightarrow{\mathrm{\tau }}.$

and the maximum likelihood estimator 24 determines therefrom an estimated value for the incident vector $\overrightarrow{\mathrm{k}}$

and thus the azimuth angle θ and the elevation angle ε of the incident wavefront, which are represented as a bearing of the torpedo in a display unit 25. With determined by different hydrophone groups, which are preferably far away from the boat body 10, bearing angles can be determined by geometric calculation, the distance of the torpedo, which is generally known by the term "cross-bearing".

Claims (9)

1. Submarine having a submarine hull (10) which has an outer skin (12), and having a device for identification of torpedoes which are emitting sound pulses, which device has a large number of omnidirectionally receiving hydrophones (16) as well as a signal processing unit (17) for determination of torpedo data from the output signals from the hydrophones (16), characterized in that the hydrophones (16) are distributed as required over the surface of the submarine hull (10) and are mounted directly on its outer skin (12), and in that the signal processing unit (17) is designed such that, in order to determine the torpedo data, it determines the bearing of the torpedo from the delay-time differences between the output signals from selected hydrophones (16).
2. Submarine according to Claim 1 having an entry fin (11), which is placed on the submarine hull (10), characterized in that a number of hydrophones (16) are distributed as required on the entry fin (11) and are attached directly to the fin wall.
3. Submarine according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a number of hydrophones (16) are in each case arranged in rows to form belts (19 - 21) of hydrophones (16) which are separated from one another.
4. Submarine according to Claim 3, characterized in that at least one closed hydrophone belt (19) is arranged in the bow area and at least one closed hydrophone belt (19) is arranged in the stern area of the submarine hull (10), surrounding the submarine hull (10) transversely with respect to the submarine longitudinal axis.
5. Submarine according to Claim 3 or 4, characterized in that at least one open hydrophone belt (21) is in each case arranged approximately parallel to the submarine longitudinal axis on the starboard side and port side of the entry fin (11).
6. Submarine according to one of Claims 3 - 5, characterized in that at least one open hydrophone belt (20) is arranged parallel to the submarine longitudinal axis on the starboard side and port side of the submarine hull (10).
7. Submarine according to one of Claims 1 - 6, characterized in that a number of hydrophones (16) are arranged at the end (22) of the bow of the submarine hull (10).
8. Submarine according to one of Claims 1 - 7, characterized in that the attachment of the hydrophones (16) is designed to decouple structure-borne sound.
9. Submarine according to one of Claims 1 - 8, characterized in that the locations, which are surveyed preferably acoustically with respect to a vehicle-fixed coordinate system, of the hydrophones (16) which are distributed over the surface of the submarine are stored in the signal processing unit (17).

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