JP2011022117A - Device for visualizing radio wave emission source - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device for visualizing a radio wave emission source for maintaining excellent position precision even when specifying the radio wave emission source of a short distance from camera images in particular in the device for visualizing the radio wave emission source. <P>SOLUTION: The device for visualizing the radio wave emission source includes: irradiating a laser beam forward along the center axis of an array antenna part 11; and superposing a two-dimensional wave source image estimating a radio wave incoming direction and a camera image to obtain a radio wave emission source visualization image after adjusting an imaging direction of a camera part 13 so as to make a position irradiated with the laser beam center an imaging visual field of the camera image to perform axis alignment of both. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a radio wave emission source visualization device that visualizes and displays the direction of arrival of radio waves on a camera image, and more particularly to a radio wave emission source visualization device that visualizes radio wave emission sources existing at a short distance with good positional accuracy.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a radio wave emission source visualization device that can easily identify a target radio wave emission source by estimating the arrival direction of a radio wave and displaying the result together with a camera image is known (for example, a patent) Reference 1). In the case disclosed in Patent Document 1, an antenna device having a plurality of antenna elements arranged on a plane is used to receive incoming radio waves while sequentially switching these antenna elements, and these radio waves are received by radio holography. The direction of arrival of the received radio wave is visualized as a two-dimensional image of the azimuth / elevation angle, and at the same time, a two-dimensional camera image obtained by capturing the directional direction of the antenna device with a camera is acquired, and the azimuth / elevation angle of these two images coincides In such a manner, the images are combined and displayed.

  In such a radio wave emission source visualization device, the antenna device and the camera are often configured differently and spaced apart from each other so as not to affect the reception of incoming radio waves. However, in the case of such an installation method, the central axis of the antenna device and the central axis of the camera do not necessarily coincide with each other, and it is particularly close when specifying the location of the radio wave emission source from the image obtained by superimposing both images. The accuracy may deteriorate at a distance. For this reason, for example, it is necessary to reduce the error at the time of image superimposition by performing fine adjustment of the camera mounting direction by an operator of the apparatus, manual setting of a correction value corresponding to the distance from the superposition reference position, or the like. there were.

  Further, as a method for matching the azimuth / elevation angle of both images with a smaller error, a method of correcting parallax of camera images caused by the respective positional relationships at the time of composition processing is disclosed (for example, Patent Document 2). reference.). In the example disclosed in Patent Document 2, an offset angle as a parallax angle between the central axis of the antenna device and the central axis of the camera is calculated based on the distance between the antenna device and the camera and the distance between the antenna device and the reference position. Then, the camera image is overlaid after correction for the offset angle.

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2007-212229 (6th page, FIG. 1) JP 2007-17272 A (7th page, FIG. 4)

  However, as described above, it is difficult to grasp the distance information with respect to the reference position quickly and accurately while corresponding to the operation status of the apparatus. In addition, when the reference position is a long distance, the above-described change in the parallax angle does not become large with respect to the change in the distance from the reference position, but especially when the reference position is frequently changed at a short distance. The impact is large, and the workload of the operator for acquiring / updating distance information increases. For this reason, there is a possibility that an error occurs when these are superimposed due to the parallax between the visualized image of the incoming radio wave and the camera image, and the accuracy in specifying the position of the radio wave emission source may be deteriorated.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described circumstances, and in the radio wave emission source visualization apparatus, the center axis of the antenna device that receives the incoming radio wave is aligned with the central axis of the camera that images the direction of the antenna. An object of the present invention is to provide a radio wave emission source visualization device that superimposes each acquired image after being performed and identifies the position of the radio wave emission source in the camera image with good accuracy.

  In order to achieve the above object, the radio wave emission source visualizing device of the present invention receives incoming radio waves with an array antenna in which a plurality of antenna elements are arranged, estimates the direction of arrival, forms a two-dimensional image, and In a radio wave emission source visualization apparatus that displays a superimposed image with a two-dimensional camera image captured by a camera that includes an estimated direction of arrival within an imaging field of view, a laser that irradiates laser light forward along the central axis of the array antenna The irradiation position of the laser pointer is detected from the camera image including the pointer and the irradiation position of the laser pointer captured by the camera in the imaging field of view, and the detected irradiation position of the laser pointer is It has visual axis control means for controlling the imaging direction of the camera so that it is imaged at the center.

  According to the present invention, the center axis of the antenna device that receives the incoming radio wave is aligned with the center axis of the camera that captures the direction of the directivity, and then the respective acquired images are superimposed. It is possible to obtain a radio wave emission source visualization device that can specify the position of the radio wave emission source in the camera image with good accuracy.

The block diagram which shows the structure of one Example of the radio wave emission source visualization apparatus which concerns on this invention. The flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of the radio wave emission source visualization apparatus illustrated in FIG.

  The best mode for carrying out the radio wave emission source visualization apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a radio wave emission source visualization device according to the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the radio wave emission source visualization device includes an array antenna unit 11, an arrival direction estimation unit 12, a camera unit 13, an image composition processing unit 14, a display unit 15, a laser pointer unit 16, and a camera direction adjustment mechanism. 17, a visual axis control unit 18, and an operation indicator 19.

  The array antenna 11 has, for example, half-wavelength dipole antennas arranged in a two-dimensional array of M × N (M and N are positive integers) as an antenna element. For example, the antenna element located at the center of the two-dimensional array is used as a reference, and the incoming radio wave is received while sequentially switching other antenna elements. Further, a laser pointer portion 16 to be described later is attached to the central axis of the array antenna portion 11. The arrival direction estimation processing unit 12 estimates the arrival direction of the incoming radio wave received by the array antenna unit 11, and acquires a wave source image obtained by imaging the result on a two-dimensional plane composed of the azimuth and elevation directions. The camera unit 13 captures the arrival direction of the radio wave received by the array antenna unit 11 and acquires a two-dimensional camera image. The camera unit 13 is attached to a camera direction adjusting mechanism 17 described later. The image composition processing unit 14 matches the azimuth and elevation angle scales of the wave source image (two-dimensional image of the radio wave arrival direction) acquired by the arrival direction estimation processing unit 12 and the camera image captured by the camera unit 13. And combine them so that they overlap. The display unit 15 displays the image synthesized by the image synthesis processing unit 14.

  The laser pointer unit 16 is attached and fixed to the central portion of the antenna element array in the array antenna unit 11 so that the direction of the emitted laser light is the forward direction along the central axis of the array antenna unit 11. Then, laser light is emitted toward the front of the array antenna unit 11 under the control of the visual axis control unit 18 described later. The laser beam to be issued is, for example, an eye-safe laser beam. The camera direction adjustment mechanism 17 sets the imaging direction of the camera image captured by the camera unit 13 based on the drive signal from the visual axis control unit 18. The visual axis control unit 18 detects the irradiation position from the camera image from the camera unit 13 including the irradiation position of the laser light of the laser pointer unit 16 in the imaging field of view, and the irradiation position is the field of view of the camera image. A driving signal for driving the camera direction adjusting mechanism 17 is generated so as to be imaged at the center of the image and sent to the camera direction adjusting mechanism 17. Further, a similar drive signal to the camera direction adjusting mechanism 17 is generated and transmitted in accordance with an imaging direction designation instruction operation from an operation display 19 described later. The operation indicator 19 displays a camera image picked up by the camera unit 13 and receives an instruction for specifying an image pickup direction of the camera unit 13 input by an operator or the like based on the display, and the visual axis control unit 18. To send.

  Next, the operation of the radio wave emission source visualization apparatus of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIG. 1 and FIG. In the following description, as a preparation stage for starting the operation of the radio wave emission source visualization device, the central axis of the array antenna unit 11 serving as the center of the wave source image in which the radio wave arrival direction is two-dimensionally imaged and the camera unit 13 are used. A scene where the axis alignment with the central axis of the field of view of the captured camera image is taken up will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the radio wave emission source visualization apparatus illustrated in FIG.

  First, when the apparatus power is turned on, the laser pointer unit 16 attached to the array antenna unit 11 emits laser light under the control of the visual axis control unit 18. Since the laser pointer unit 16 is attached and fixed to the array antenna unit 11 so that the emitted laser light is in the forward direction along the central axis of the array antenna unit 11 directed in the target radio wave arrival direction, The irradiation direction of the laser light corresponds to the center of the wave source image acquired by the arrival direction estimation processing unit 12 at the subsequent stage. The laser beam is irradiated onto the object in the irradiation direction, and the irradiation position on the object at that time coincides with the direction of the central axis of the array antenna 11 (ST21).

  At the same time, the camera unit 13 captures a two-dimensional camera image with the same direction as the array antenna unit 11 as the field of view, and the irradiation position of the laser beam irradiated by the laser pointer unit 16 is the position of the camera unit 13. Captured within the imaging field of view (ST22). The camera image capturing the laser light irradiation position within the field of view is sent from the camera unit 13 to the visual axis control unit 18 and the operation display 19 and displayed on the operation display 19 (ST23).

  Next, the visual axis control unit 18 detects the irradiation position of the laser light captured in the camera image, and specifies the two-dimensional position in the camera image (ST24). And the imaging direction of the camera part 13 is set so that the irradiation position of a laser beam may be imaged in the center of the imaging visual field of a camera image. That is, a drive signal for driving the camera direction adjusting mechanism 17 is generated based on the deviation between the irradiation position of the laser light specified in the camera image and the center point of the imaging field of view (ST25), and the visual axis control unit 18 is sent to the camera direction adjusting mechanism 17 (ST26).

  With this drive signal, the camera direction adjustment mechanism 17 is driven, and the camera unit 13 captures a camera image in which the irradiation position of the laser beam emitted from the laser pointer unit 16 is captured at the center of the visual field. In the operation step of ST23 described above, since a camera image is displayed on the operation indicator 19, an operator or the like can pick up the imaging direction of the camera unit 13, that is, the center of the visual field by using a point marker or the like on the displayed camera image. The visual axis control unit 18 can also be configured to execute the operation steps of ST25 and ST26 according to the operation result. In this way, the central axis of the array antenna unit 11 and the central axis of the field of view of the camera image captured by the camera unit 13 are aligned (ST27).

  After the alignment in the preparation stage, when the incoming radio waves are received by the array antenna unit 11 directed in the target direction, these incoming radio waves are sent to the arrival direction estimation processing unit 12 to estimate the arrival direction. And the result is visualized in a two-dimensional image. On the other hand, the aligned camera unit 13 acquires a two-dimensional camera image with the central axis of the array antenna unit 11 as the center of the imaging field of view. The wave source image and the camera image are combined so as to be overlapped by the image combining unit 14, and are displayed on the display unit 15 as a radio wave emission source visualized image capable of accurately specifying the position of the radio wave emission source.

  Thereafter, when the direction of the object is changed (Y in ST28), the above-described operation steps from ST21 are repeated, and the above-described operation steps are repeated until an operation end is instructed (ST29).

  As described above, in the present embodiment, laser light is irradiated forward along the central axis of the array antenna unit 11, and the position irradiated with this laser light becomes the center of the imaging field of the camera image. After adjusting the imaging direction of the camera unit 13 and aligning both axes, the two-dimensional wave source image in which the radio wave arrival direction is estimated and the camera image are superimposed to obtain a visualized image of the radio wave emission source. This makes it possible to reduce the error caused by the parallax between the wave source image and the camera image, which has a large effect when the two images are superposed, especially at a short distance, so that the position of the radio wave emission source can be accurately determined. Can be specified. Further, since the setting can be performed quickly and accurately by a simple method using a laser pointer, the influence on the operation of the apparatus can be kept to a minimum even during the alignment.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments as they are, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Further, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, you may combine suitably the component covering different embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Array antenna part 12 Arrival direction estimation part 13 Camera part 14 Image composition process part 15 Display part 16 Laser pointer part 17 Camera direction adjustment mechanism 18 Visual axis control part 19 Operation indicator

Claims (2)

A two-dimensional image obtained by receiving an incoming radio wave with an array antenna in which a plurality of antenna elements are arranged, estimating the direction of arrival, and forming a two-dimensional image, and capturing the estimated direction of arrival within a field of view. In the radio wave emission source visualization device that superimposes and displays the camera image,
A laser pointer that irradiates laser light forward along the central axis of the array antenna;
The irradiation position of the laser pointer is detected from the camera image captured by the camera and including the irradiation position of the laser pointer in the imaging field of view, and the detected irradiation position of the laser pointer is captured at the center of the camera image. And a visual axis control means for controlling the imaging direction of the camera.   Furthermore, an operation / display means for displaying a camera image captured by the camera and including an irradiation position of the laser pointer in an imaging field of view, and receiving an operation for specifying the imaging direction of the camera input based on the display. The radio wave emission source visualization device according to claim 1, comprising:

Images