JP2013217698A - Rader system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify a structure and to improve operability.SOLUTION: A rader system transmits a signal via a transmitter and receives a signal responding to the transmitted signal via a receiver, and is provided with a signal processing part, a converter, storage means, and correction means. The signal processing part generates a transmission signal and analyzes a reception signal. The converter converts the transmission signal generated by the signal processing part into a format for transmission and outputs it to the receiver, converts the reception signal received by the receiver into a format processable by the signal processing part, and outputs it to the signal processing part. The storage means stores a gain value for specifying gain of the transmission signal and the reception signal outputted by the converter. The correction means corrects the transmission signal and reception signal outputted by the converter according to the gain value stored by the storage means.

Description

  The present invention relates to a radar device that transmits and receives signals.

  Radar devices such as air traffic control radar, marine radar, and weather radar are generally configured by combining a plurality of substrates, but each substrate has a gain for each substrate. These gains are generally corrected for each substrate.

  However, if each substrate has a correction means for adjusting the gain, the configuration of each substrate becomes complicated and the scale increases. Specifically, it is necessary to add an attenuator, a gain adjustment function, and the like.

Special Table 2005-538655 Publication

  As described above, in general, it is necessary to adjust the entire apparatus for each substrate, the scale is increased, and considerable human work is required.

  A radar apparatus that transmits a signal through a transmitter and receives a signal that is responsive to the signal transmitted through the receiver, and includes a signal processing unit, a converter, a storage unit, and a correction unit. The signal processing unit generates a transmission signal and analyzes the reception signal. The converter converts the transmission signal generated by the signal processing unit into a transmission format and outputs it to the transmitter, and converts the received signal received by the receiver into a format that can be processed by the signal processing unit. Output to the processing unit. The storage means stores gain values that specify the gains of the transmission signal and the reception signal output from the converter. The correction unit corrects the transmission signal and the reception signal output from the converter according to the gain value stored in the storage unit.

It is a functional block diagram explaining the structure of the radar apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

  A radar apparatus 1 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The radar apparatus 1 is a general radar apparatus such as an aviation radar, a marine radar, or a weather radar.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a radar apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a signal processing unit 11 that generates a transmission signal and analyzes the received signal, and a DA that converts the transmission signal from DA to AD / AD converter 12, IF converter 13 which IF-converts a transmission signal and a reception signal, and RF converter 14 which carries out RF conversion of a transmission signal and a reception signal are provided.

  Here, in the signal processing unit 11, the DA / AD converter 12, the IF converter 13, and the RF converter 14 are separately manufactured and combined. At this time, the signal processing unit 11 includes a transmission signal processing unit 111 that executes processing for generating and transmitting a transmission signal, and a reception signal processing unit 112 that analyzes the reception signal.

  Each converter 12-14 is provided with the conversion means 121-141 which each converts the signal input. When each of the converting means 121 to 141 converts a signal, an inherent error occurs. Therefore, each converter 12-14 is provided with gain value storage means 122-142 which memorize | stores the gain value which specifies the gain of each converter, respectively. This gain value is measured at the time of manufacture of each converter 12-14, and is memorize | stored in each gain value memory | storage means 122-142. Specifically, each gain value is a “signal gain”, “a gain when converting and outputting a transmission signal (transmission gain value)” and “a gain when converting and outputting a received signal ( Received gain value) ”. Furthermore, when the gain changes due to the influence of temperature, each converter 12-14 has temperature sensors 123-143 that measure the temperature in each converter 12-14.

  In addition, the signal processing unit 11 uses the gain values stored in the gain value storage units 122 to 142 and the temperatures measured by the temperature sensors 123 to 143 to generate errors generated in the converters 12 to 14. Computation means 113 for obtaining a correction value to be controlled is provided. The signal processing unit 11 can output the correction value obtained by the calculation means 113 of each converter 12 to 14 to an external device such as a monitor device (not shown) in order to grasp the performance of the radar device 1. .

  Further, the DA / AD converter 12 includes a correction unit 124 that corrects the level of a signal to be output using the correction value calculated by the calculation unit 113.

<Preprocessing>
First, as pre-processing, processing for calculating correction values in the radar apparatus 1 will be described. As the timing for performing the preprocessing, for example, the timing at which the signal processing unit 11, the DA / AD converter 12, the IF converter 13, the RF converter 14, and the like, which are necessary for the radar apparatus 1, are prepared, any one of the conversions is performed. The timing when the devices 12 to 14 are replaced, the regular timing, and the like. Alternatively, when the radar apparatus 1 includes the temperature sensors 123 to 143, the temperature of the temperature sensors 123 to 143 may be changed outside a predetermined range.

  The calculation means 113 obtains a correction value for correcting the signal level by the gain value stored in each of the gain value storage means 122 to 142 at the timing of performing the preprocessing. Note that the arithmetic unit 113 may receive the gain value from each of the gain value storage units 122 to 142 at the timing of performing the preprocessing, or the gain at the timing at which each of the converters 12 to 14 is connected to the signal processing unit 11. The value may be received and stored in a memory (not shown) in the signal processing unit 11.

  Here, the “transmission gain value a1” of the DA / AD converter 12 is “0.5 [dB]”, the “reception gain value a2” is “−0.2 [dB]”, and the IF converter 13 "transmission gain value b1" is "0.8 [dB]", "reception gain value b2" is "1.0 [dB]", and "transmission gain value c1" of the RF converter 14 is An example in which “−0.5 [dB]” and “reception gain value c2” is “−1.0 [dB]” will be described.

  The calculating means 113 calculates a1 + b1 + c1 as the gain of the transmission signal, and sets a value for correcting this gain as the transmission correction value. Accordingly, since the gain of the transmission signal is 0.5 + 0.8−0.5 = 0.8 [dB], the calculation unit 113 obtains −0.8 [dB] as the transmission correction value.

  Also, the calculation means 113 obtains a2 + b2 + c2 as the gain of the received signal, and sets a value for correcting this gain as the reception correction value. Therefore, since the gain of the received signal is −0.2 + 1.0−1.0 = 0.2 [dB], the calculation unit 113 obtains 0.2 [dB] as the reception correction value.

  Here, when the temperature measured from each of the temperature sensors 123 to 143 is input, the calculation unit 113 obtains the gain of the transmission signal using the transmission gain values a1, b1, and c1 adjusted according to the input temperature. it can. Further, the calculation means 113 can obtain the gain of the reception signal using the reception gain values a2, b2, and c2 adjusted according to the input temperature. For example, the computing means 113 is previously provided with a table for associating the temperature with the adjustment value for adjusting the transmission gain or the reception gain, and the correction value is obtained with the gain adjusted using the adjustment value corresponding to the temperature input in this table. Ask.

  The arithmetic means 113 outputs the correction values (transmission correction value and reception correction value) obtained in the preprocessing to the correction means 124 of the DA / AD converter 12. The correction unit 124 stores the correction value input from the calculation unit 113 in a memory (not shown) in the calculation unit 113 and uses it in transmission processing or reception processing.

<Transmission processing>
Next, processing of the radar apparatus 1 will be described.

  In order to generate a signal to be transmitted, the signal processing unit 11 generates a transmission signal in the transmission signal processing unit 111 according to the transmission schedule. Since the transmission signal generated here is a digital signal, the signal processing unit 11 outputs the generated transmission signal to the DA / AD converter 12.

  The conversion means 121 of the DA / AD converter 12 converts the transmission signal input from the signal processing unit 11 into an analog signal. At this time, the correction unit 124 uses the correction value input from the calculation unit 113 of the signal processing unit 11 to set the level of the transmission signal. That is, when the transmission correction value is −0.8 [dB], the gain of the converted analog signal is reduced by 0.8 [dB]. As a result, errors given to the received signal by the DA / AD converter 12, the IF converter 13, and the RF converter 14 can be collectively corrected by the correction unit 124. Moreover, the conversion means 121 outputs the transmission signal converted into analog to the IF converter 13.

  The conversion means 131 of the IF converter 13 converts the frequency of the transmission signal input from the DA / AD converter 12 into a predetermined frequency and outputs it to the RF converter 14. Moreover, the conversion means 141 of the RF converter 14 converts the frequency of the transmission signal input from the IF converter 13 into a frequency for transmission and outputs it to a transmitter (not shown). Thereby, the transmission signal is transmitted by the transmitter.

<Reception processing>
Next, the reception process of the radar apparatus 1 will be described. The conversion means 141 of the RF converter 14 converts the frequency of the received signal input via the receiver (not shown) into a predetermined frequency and outputs the frequency to the IF converter 13. The conversion means 131 of the IF converter 13 converts the frequency of the received signal input from the RF converter 14 into a frequency that can be AD converted, and outputs the frequency to the DA / AD converter 12.

  The conversion means 121 of the DA / AD converter 12 converts the analog reception signal input from the IF converter 13 into a digital signal. At this time, the correction unit 124 corrects the level of the received signal using the correction value input from the calculation unit 113 of the signal processing unit 11. That is, when the reception correction value is 0.2 [dB], the gain is increased by 0.2 [dB] when the reception signal is converted to a digital signal. As a result, errors given to the received signal by the DA / AD converter 12, the IF converter 13, and the RF converter 14 can be collectively corrected by the correction unit 124. Further, the conversion means 121 outputs the received signal converted to digital to the received signal processing means 112. Thereby, the received signal processing means 112 analyzes the received signal from the DA / AD converter 12 and outputs the result to a storage device, a display device or the like (not shown).

  As described above, according to the radar device 1 according to the embodiment, errors caused by the gains specific to each substrate such as the converters 12 to 14 can be collectively corrected with the correction value obtained by the calculation unit 113. . Therefore, in the radar apparatus 1 according to the embodiment, the correction data can be stored for each substrate and the function of automatically adjusting the entire apparatus is provided, thereby reducing the scale and the need for human work. Is kept to a minimum.

[Modification]
In the example described above with reference to FIG. 1, the DA / AD converter 12 has been described as having the correcting unit 124. However, the signal processing unit 11 has the correcting unit, and the level is corrected in the signal processing unit 11. The same applies to the configuration in which the signal thus output is output to the DA / AD converter 12.

  Further, in the above description, the converters 12 to 14 are described as being configured by different substrates. However, when the converters 12 to 14 are on the same substrate, one gain value storage unit and temperature are respectively provided for the one substrate. What is necessary is just to provide a sensor. For example, when the RF converter and the IF converter are configured by one substrate, on this substrate, gain value storage means for storing a gain value for adjusting a gain for the RF converter and the IF converter, What is necessary is just to provide the one temperature sensor which measures temperature.

  Furthermore, in the example illustrated in FIG. 1, the radar apparatus 1 has been described as including the converters 12 to 14 as a configuration that requires gain adjustment. However, in addition to the converters 12 to 14, gain adjustment is necessary. The same applies when a simple substrate is provided. In the example described above with reference to FIG. 1, the transmission signal and the reception signal are provided with the same converters 12 to 14, but the transmission signal and the reception signal may be converted by different converters. It is the same. That is, each substrate has a storage means for storing the gain value and a temperature sensor for measuring the temperature, and the stored gain value and the measured temperature are output to the calculation means 113, and the calculation means 113 outputs these gain values and It is sufficient that the correction value can be obtained in consideration of the above.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was described by each embodiment, it should not be understood that the description and drawing which form a part of this indication limit this invention. From this disclosure, various alternative embodiments, examples and operational techniques will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Further, the present invention naturally includes various embodiments not described herein.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Radar apparatus 11 ... Signal processing part 111 ... Transmission signal processing means 112 ... Reception signal processing means 113 ... Calculation means 12 ... DA / AD converter 13 ... IF converter 14 ... RF converter 121 ... Conversion means 121-141 ... Conversion means 122-142 ... Gain value storage means 123-143 ... Temperature sensor 124 ... Correction means

Claims (2)

A radar device that transmits a signal through a transmitter and receives a signal in response to the signal transmitted through the receiver,
A signal processing unit for generating a transmission signal and analyzing the reception signal;
The transmission signal generated by the signal processing unit is converted into a transmission format and output to the transmitter, and the reception signal received by the receiver is converted into a format that can be processed by the signal processing unit. A converter for outputting to the signal processing unit;
Storage means for storing gain values for specifying gains of transmission signals and reception signals output from the converter;
Correction means for correcting the transmission signal and the reception signal output from the converter according to the gain value stored in the storage means;
A radar apparatus comprising: The converter is composed of a plurality of conversion means for converting an input signal and outputting it to a subsequent stage,
The storage means stores a gain value that is provided in each of the plurality of conversion means and corrects a gain generated in each conversion means,
The radar apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the correction unit corrects the signal with a correction value obtained by adding a plurality of gain values.

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