JP2011237059A - Space communication device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a space communication device having high discriminability even when positions of two or more targets mutually get near, and also having the responsiveness to a modulation signal of a pulse train etc.SOLUTION: The space communication device includes: an interrogator (10) that has a radio wave signal transmission section (12), a scanner (13), a scanner control section (14), a light receiving section (17), and a signal processing section (18); and one or more responders (20) that have a radio wave signal receiving section (21), a responder information generating section (23), a modulating signal generator (24), and a light source (25). The light receiving section is composed of a light receiving element of a single element, the scanner control section controls the scanner to scan a receiving field of view two-dimensionally and transmits angular information on the scanner, and the signal processing section identifies the responder based on individual information included in a signal after demodulation and specifies the direction of the identified responder based on the angular information.

Description

  The present invention relates to a spatial communication device for the purpose of identifying a target within an imaging field of view.

  As a conventional device of this type, for example, the following spatial communication device including an interrogator and a responder is known (for example, see Patent Document 1). In the spatial communication device in Patent Document 1, first, a radio wave or light wave interrogation signal is transmitted from an interrogator. On the other hand, the responder receives the interrogation signal transmitted from the interrogator and transmits the response signal by the light wave toward the interrogator.

  Then, the interrogator receives the response signal returned from the responder and identifies the target. Here, on the interrogator side, a camera that receives the response signal returned from the responder is provided with an optical filter that transmits only the light wave of the response signal, and is distinguished from the background light.

JP 2008-157479 A

However, such a conventional space communication device has the following problems.
When the positions of a plurality of targets are approaching, it is considered that the response signal is transmitted from the same position. For this reason, there is a problem that it is difficult to discriminate each position of a plurality of targets from an image captured by the receiving camera.

  At this time, if the modulation signal such as a pulse train is applied to the response signal transmitted from the responder side and the modulation signal can be received by the reception camera on the interrogator side, the positions of the plurality of targets can be discriminated. It becomes possible. However, a general receiving camera has a problem that the response is low and it is difficult to identify the response signal.

  If there is background light having the same wavelength as the response signal, the reception camera on the interrogator side receives the background light in the same manner as the response signal transmitted from the responder side. Therefore, there has been a problem that the reception SN ratio, which is the ratio of the signal component due to the response signal and the noise component due to the background light, is deteriorated, making it difficult to identify the target.

  For such a problem of degradation of the reception S / N ratio, the reception S / N ratio can be improved if the transmission power of the response signal can be increased. However, increasing the transmission power has a problem that the transmitter for the response signal becomes large, and further, there is a problem that the limit of the transmission power safe for human eyes is exceeded.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and has high discrimination even when the positions of a plurality of targets are close to each other, and also has responsiveness to a modulated signal such as a pulse train. An object is to obtain a spatial communication device.

  The spatial communication device according to the present invention is a spatial communication device including one interrogator and one or more responders, and the interrogator includes a radio signal transmission unit that transmits a query signal using a radio signal, and a radio signal. As a response to the above, in order to receive a response signal that is a laser beam from the responder, a scanner that scans the reception field of view, a scanner control unit that controls the scanner, and a response signal scanned by the scanner, the receiving lens Each of the one or more responders includes: an optical receiver that receives the signal via the optical signal; and a signal processor that performs a demodulation process after the response signal received by the optical receiver is converted into an electrical signal. A radio signal receiving unit that receives a query signal transmitted from the interrogator as a radio signal, generates a trigger signal to notify the reception, a responder information generation unit that generates individual information of the responder, and a radio signal Based on the modulation signal generated by the modulation signal generator and the modulation signal generator that generates the modulation signal based on the personal information generated by the responder information generator at the timing of the trigger signal generated by the receiver And a light source that generates a modulated transmission laser beam. The optical receiver in the interrogator is composed of a single light receiving element. The scanner in the interrogator has a two-dimensional scan function. The scanner control unit controls the scanner to two-dimensionally scan the reception field of view and transmits the angle information of the scanner to the signal processing unit. The signal processing unit in the interrogator is included in the demodulated signal. The response signal from one or more responders is identified based on the personal information, and the identified responder is identified based on the angle information received from the scanner control unit. It is intended to identify direction.

  According to the spatial communication device of the present invention, the interrogation signal is a radio wave signal, the response signal is a laser light signal, and the optical receiving unit is configured as a single element type to sequentially receive a reception field that is two-dimensionally scanned. By providing the configuration, it is possible to obtain a spatial communication device that has high identification even when the positions of a plurality of targets are close to each other and also has responsiveness to a modulated signal such as a pulse train.

It is a block diagram of the spatial communication apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention.

  Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a spatial communication device of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a spatial communication apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The spatial communication apparatus according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 includes an interrogator 10 and a responder 20. The interrogator 10 has a function of transmitting an interrogation signal composed of a radio wave signal to a predetermined space area. On the other hand, the responder 20 has a function of responding to an interrogation signal from the interrogator 10 with an optical signal.

  Here, the interrogator 10 includes a transmission position detection unit 11, a radio signal transmission unit 12, a scanner 13, a scanner control unit 14, an optical filter 15, a reception lens 16, an optical reception unit 17, and a signal processing unit 18. Yes. As such an interrogator 10, for example, it is conceivable to use a MEMS scanner as the scanner 13 and an InGaAs APD with a high-speed transimpedance amplifier as the optical receiver 17.

  On the other hand, the responder 20 includes a radio signal receiver 21, a reception position detector 22, a responder information generator 23, a modulation signal generator 24, a light source 25, an attitude detector 26, and an irradiation direction setting unit 27. Yes. As such a responder 20, for example, a light source 25 having a wavelength of 1.5 μm band semiconductor laser diode may be used.

Next, the function of each component of the spatial communication device according to the first embodiment will be described.
In FIG. 1, a transmission position detector 11 in the interrogator 10 is a so-called GPS, and detects the spatial position of the interrogator 10 itself. Then, the radio signal transmission unit 12 encodes information including the position information detected by the transmission position detection unit 11, and transmits the radio signal modulated by this code as a question signal in a prescribed direction in a prescribed direction. To do.

  On the other hand, the radio signal receiver 21 in the responder 20 receives the radio signal transmitted from the radio signal transmitter 12. The radio signal receiver 21 then sends a trigger signal to the modulation signal generator 24 after a predetermined delay time synchronized with the timing of receiving this signal. In parallel, the radio signal receiver 21 informs the irradiation direction setting unit 27 of the position of the interrogator 10 based on the position information included in the received radio signal.

  The reception position detection unit 22 is a so-called GPS, detects the spatial position of the responder itself, and generates this position information signal. The responder information generator 23 generates individual information including the responder's serial number as a responder information signal.

  Also, the modulation signal generator 24 synchronizes with the trigger signal received from the radio signal receiver 21, and the position information of the responder 20 obtained from the reception position detector 22 and the response obtained from the responder information generator 23. A modulation signal in which machine information is encoded is generated. Then, the modulation signal generator 24 applies intensity modulation to the output of the light source 25 based on the modulation signal.

  The light source 25 outputs the transmission laser light that has been modulated by the modulation signal generator 24. Further, the posture detection unit 26 detects the posture state in the space of the responder 20 and sends this posture information to the irradiation direction setting unit 27. Then, the irradiation direction setting unit 27 uses the transmission laser light obtained from the light source 25, the position information of the interrogator 10 obtained from the radio signal reception unit 21, the position information of the responder 20 obtained from the reception position detection unit 22, and It transmits to the space of the direction set based on the attitude | position information obtained from the attitude | position detection part 26. FIG.

  On the other hand, the scanner 13 in the interrogator 10 is two-dimensionally scanned at a predetermined angle by the scanner control unit 14, and two-dimensionally scans the reception visual field determined by the receiving lens 16 and the light receiving unit 17. The scanner control unit 14 controls the movement of the scanner 13 and sequentially sends angle information of the scanner 13 to the signal processing unit 18. The optical filter 15 transmits only a predetermined wavelength component of the optical signal incident on the receiving lens 16 and removes other wavelength components.

  The light receiving unit 17 converts the received light received through the scanner 13, the optical filter 15, and the receiving lens 16 into a received signal composed of an electric region by direct detection, and the received signal is sent to the signal processing unit 18. send.

  Then, the signal processing unit 18 converts the received signal from the optical receiving unit 17 into an electric signal, performs demodulation, and identifies whether the demodulated signal is a signal from the responder 20. Further, the signal processing unit 18 associates this identification result with the scanner angle information obtained from the scanner control unit 14 and identifies the presence / absence of the responder 20 in each angular direction.

Next, a series of operations of the spatial communication apparatus according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 will be described.
First, the interrogator 10 transmits an interrogation signal composed of a radio wave signal to a certain predetermined space area. At this time, the transmission position detection unit 11 detects the spatial position of the interrogator 10 itself, encodes this position information with, for example, 0 or 1 bit, and converts the radio wave signal modulated with this code, Transmission from the radio signal transmitter 12 in a specified direction in a specified direction.

  Next, when the responder 20 exists within the spread range of the modulated radio signal, the radio signal receiver 21 receives the radio signal, demodulates the code, and synchronizes the demodulated signal with the reception timing. As a synchronized signal, it is sent to the modulation signal generator 24. In parallel, the radio signal receiver 21 sends the position information signal of the interrogator 10 obtained by demodulation to the irradiation direction setting unit 27.

  Further, the reception position detector 22 detects the spatial position of the responder 20 itself, and generates this position information signal. The responder information generator 23 generates a responder information signal including the name of the responder. Then, the modulation signal generation unit 24 generates a modulation signal in which the position information of the responder 20 and the responder information are encoded with 0 or 1 bits.

  The modulation signal generator 24 applies ON / OFF intensity modulation corresponding to the bit to the output of the light source 25 based on the modulation signal. In addition, the posture detection unit 26 detects the posture state in the space of the responder 20 itself and sends this posture information to the irradiation direction setting unit 27.

  Next, the light source 25 generates transmission light modulated by the modulation signal generation unit 24 as a response signal, and sends it to the irradiation direction setting unit 27. Then, the irradiation direction setting unit 27 transmits the interrogator 10 included in the range of the spread angle of the transmission light from the position information of the interrogator 10, the position information of the responder 20, and the attitude information of the responder 20. A light irradiation direction is obtained, and transmission light is irradiated in this direction.

  The transmitted light propagates while spreading at a predetermined angle. At this time, the transmitted light is irradiated so that the interrogator 10 falls within the range of the spread angle. As a result, the response signal transmitted from the responder 20 is received by the interrogator 10 in a state where the transmission location of the irradiation direction setting unit 27 is included in the reception field of view of the interrogator 10.

  In parallel with the transmission of the interrogation signal described above, the interrogator 10 scans the scanner 13 two-dimensionally at a predetermined angle by the scanner control unit 14, and two-dimensionally scans the reception field of view determined by the receiving lens 16 and the light receiving unit 17. To do.

  In this scan, when the transmission location of the irradiation direction setting unit 27 is included in the reception field of view of the interrogator 10, the light reception unit 17 receives the reception received via the scanner 13, the optical filter 15, and the reception lens 16. Light is converted into a received signal composed of an electric domain by direct detection. Then, the optical receiving unit 17 sends the converted received signal to the signal processing unit 18. On the other hand, the scanner control unit 14 controls the movement of the scanner 13 and sequentially sends angle information of the scanner 13 to the signal processing unit 18.

  Then, the signal processing unit 18 demodulates the reception signal from the optical reception unit 17 and identifies whether the demodulated signal is a signal from the responder 20. Further, the signal processing unit 18 associates this identification result with the scanner angle information from the scanner control unit 14 and identifies the presence / absence of the responder 20 in each angle direction.

  Thus, according to the first embodiment, the interrogation signal is a radio wave signal. As a result, a relatively wide transmission directivity can be realized, and a question signal can be transmitted to a wide area at a time. On the other hand, the response signal is a laser light signal. Thereby, the directivity of the response signal can be increased, and the confidentiality of communication can be increased.

  Furthermore, it has a configuration for two-dimensional scanning of a single reception field of view. Thereby, the presence / absence of a response signal can be discriminated with respect to each angular direction as in the case where a two-dimensional camera is used in the receiving system.

  Further, unlike the two-dimensional array element type camera, the optical receiver 17 is configured as a single element type. As a result, with respect to the electric circuit included in the optical receiving unit 17, it is possible to increase the response speed with respect to modulation with 0 or 1 bits.

  For example, in the case of a two-dimensional camera, the response speed is at most about 30 Hz. Further, in order to increase the response speed of 30 Hz, a high-speed electric circuit formed into a two-dimensional array is necessary, which is very expensive. On the other hand, if the single-element type optical receiver 17 is used as in the present invention, it is easy to increase the speed of the electric circuit.

  For example, the response speed to the bit of the single-element type optical receiver 17 used for optical fiber communication has already exceeded 1 GHz even at a commercial level. Therefore, the spatial communication device according to the first embodiment of the present invention including the single-element type light receiving unit 17 can send a response signal including large-capacity information that is difficult with a two-dimensional camera.

  In addition, in the case of a two-dimensional array element type camera, if the light receiving element is a highly sensitive APD, there is a problem that the price is significantly increased due to the yield. On the other hand, in the present invention, since the optical receiver 17 is a single element type, it is possible to use a highly sensitive APD as a light receiving element while suppressing an increase in price. Can also be increased.

  In the case of a two-dimensional array element type camera, if one pixel in the array fails, that pixel becomes a non-sensing area, and all elements of the array must operate normally. On the other hand, by using the single-element type optical receiver 17 as in the present invention, it is sufficient that this one element is normal, and it becomes easy to eliminate the non-sensing area.

  Further, in the case of a two-dimensional array element type camera, the search rate of the entire search range is limited to the video rate of 30 Hz. On the other hand, by using the single-element type optical receiver 17 as in the present invention, it becomes possible to increase the search rate by increasing the scanning speed, and the response speed of the optical receiver 17 is also very high. Can be fast. As a result, even if the time for the response signal to enter the reception field of view is shortened by increasing the scan rate, it is possible to obtain an effect that the large-capacity communication is not so limited.

  If the scanning speed is increased as described above, the scanner control unit 14 becomes large and expensive, and there may be a problem in the life of the scanner 13. However, with respect to such a problem, as shown in FIG. 1, by using a two-dimensional MEMS scanner as the scanner 13, high-speed scanning can be realized with a long life.

  Further, by using the passing wavelength of the optical filter 15 as one of the code information and making the code information known only in the two of the interrogator 10 and the responder 20, the confidentiality of communication can be further improved. it can. That is, even if there is an object that emits an unnecessary optical signal within the scan range as viewed from the interrogator 10, the object that emits the unnecessary optical signal has no way of knowing the passing wavelength, and therefore the unnecessary light The possibility that the signal matches the pass wavelength of the filter is very low. Therefore, by using such an optical filter 15, it is possible to further enhance the confidentiality of communication.

  Further, in the spatial communication apparatus according to the present invention, a series of signals are transmitted such that the interrogator 10 transmits an interrogation signal, is received by the responder 20, is transmitted from the responder 20, and is received by the interrogator 10. The flow is synchronized. Therefore, this synchronization timing can be used as code information.

  For example, the delay time when the trigger signal is sent from the radio wave signal receiving unit 21 to the modulation signal generating unit 24 is set to a certain predetermined value, and the interrogator 10 side delays more than this value after transmitting the interrogation signal. Only the received signal is identified as a response signal. Such identification processing can further improve the identification accuracy of whether or not the detected signal is desired.

  In the above-described first embodiment, the case where one-to-one communication is performed in the case where the answering machine 20 is one for the interrogator 10 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to such one-to-one communication. In the spatial communication device of the present invention, the presence / absence of the responder 20 in each angular direction is determined, and the responder information of the responder 20 is obtained.

  Therefore, if the responder information is changed in each, even when there are a large number of responders 20 in a plurality of directions, it is possible to distinguish them. That is, the present invention can be applied to the case where one-to-many communication is performed when the number of responders 20 is two or more.

  Further, in the first embodiment described above, the position information of the interrogator 10 obtained by the transmission position detection unit 11, the posture information from the posture detection unit 26, and the position information of the responder 20 from the reception position detection unit 22. The irradiation direction setting unit 27 sets the irradiation direction of the laser beam. However, the present invention is not limited to such setting of the irradiation direction.

  When the relative positional relationship between the interrogator 10 and the responder 20 is known to some extent in advance, the transmission position detection unit 11, the reception position detection unit 22, the posture detection unit 26, and the irradiation direction setting unit 27 are removed, and the laser It is also possible to fix the light irradiation direction in a certain predetermined direction. Thereby, the apparatus configuration can be simplified and the apparatus can be made inexpensive.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the interrogation signal is a radio wave signal and the response signal is a laser light signal. As a result, the compatibility of relatively wide transmission directivity and response signal directivity is improved, and even when the positions of a plurality of targets are close to each other, individual response signals are received and discriminated. Can be identified. Furthermore, it is possible to reduce the amount of light that receives the background light, reduce the noise component due to the background light, and realize a reduction in the size of the response signal transmitter.

  Furthermore, according to the first embodiment, the optical receiver is configured as a single element type. As a result, the response speed can be increased, and the probability of occurrence of the non-sensing area can be reduced, thereby improving the reliability of the apparatus.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Interrogator, 11 Transmission position detection part, 12 Radio wave signal transmission part, 13 Scanner, 14 Scanner control part, 15 Optical filter, 16 Receiving lens, 17 Optical reception part, 18 Signal processing part, 20 Response machine, 21 Radio wave signal reception Unit, 22 reception position detection unit, 23 transponder information generation unit, 24 modulation signal generation unit, 25 light source, 26 attitude detection unit, 27 irradiation direction setting unit.

Claims (4)

A spatial communication device comprising one interrogator and one or more responders,
The interrogator is
A radio signal transmitter that transmits the interrogation signal by radio signal;
As a response to the radio signal, a scanner that scans a reception field in order to receive a response signal that is a laser beam from the responder;
A scanner control unit for controlling the scanner;
An optical receiver that receives the response signal scanned by the scanner via a receiving lens;
A signal processing unit that performs demodulation processing after converting the response signal received by the optical receiving unit into an electrical signal, and
Each of the one or more responders is
A radio signal receiver that receives the interrogation signal transmitted from the interrogator as a radio signal and generates a trigger signal that informs the reception;
A responder information generating unit for generating individual information of the responder;
A modulation signal generator for generating a modulation signal based on the personal information generated by the responder information generator at the timing of the trigger signal generated by the radio signal receiver;
A light source that generates transmission laser light modulated based on the modulation signal generated by the modulation signal generation unit, and
The optical receiver in the interrogator is composed of a single light receiving element,
The scanner in the interrogator has a two-dimensional scanning function,
The scanner control unit in the interrogator controls the scanner to scan the reception field of view two-dimensionally and transmits angle information of the scanner to the signal processing unit,
The signal processing unit in the interrogator identifies which one of the one or more responders is a response signal based on the personal information included in the demodulated signal. In addition, the direction of the identified responder is specified based on the angle information received from the scanner control unit. The spatial communication device according to claim 1,
The interrogator is
A transmission position detector for detecting the spatial position of the interrogator itself as interrogator side position information;
The radio signal transmitter in the interrogator transmits a radio signal with the interrogator side position information added thereto,
Each of the one or more responders is
A reception position detector that detects the spatial position of the responder itself as responder side position information;
An attitude detector that detects attitude information in the space of the responder itself;
An irradiation direction setting unit that transmits the transmission laser light obtained from the light source in a specific direction in space, and
The radio signal receiver in the responder extracts the interrogator side position information from the received radio signal,
The irradiation direction setting unit in the responder is obtained from the interrogator side position information obtained from the radio wave signal reception unit 21, the responder side position information obtained from the reception position detection unit 22, and the attitude detection unit. Further, the specific direction in which the transmission laser light is to be transmitted is specified based on the posture information. The spatial communication apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The interrogator is
An optical filter that transmits only a predetermined wavelength component of the response signal incident on the receiving lens and removes other wavelength components;
The spatial light communication apparatus, wherein the light source in the responder generates a transmission laser beam having a wavelength component that passes through the optical filter. The spatial communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The radio signal reception unit in the responder generates the trigger signal at a timing delayed by a predetermined time after receiving the interrogation signal from the interrogator,
The said signal processing part in the said interrogator identifies the signal received after the said predetermined time passed after transmitting the said interrogation signal as a response signal. The spatial communication apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.

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