JP2556665B2 - Underwater vehicle guidance device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This patent relates to an underwater vehicle guidance device for tracking a target by detecting air bubbles in the water generated by the target in the underwater vehicle by sound waves.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a conventional underwater vehicle guidance system.

A conventional underwater vehicle guidance device (hereinafter abbreviated as a guidance device) sends a sound wave into the water in order to detect air bubbles generated by the target in the water as shown in FIG. The wave transmitter (A) 1 and the wave transmitter (A) 2 which outputs a pulse-modulated signal of frequency F1 to the wave transmitter (A) 1 and the sound waves radiated in the water are reflected and scattered by the air bubbles and come back. The wave receiver (A) 3 for receiving the reflected sound wave, the amplifier circuit 4 for inputting the received signal, the band filter (A) 5 for inputting the output thereof, and the output of the band filter (A) 5 are converted into levels. A level detection circuit 6 and a blanking circuit 7 to which the output of the level detection circuit 6 is inputted, and a threshold detection circuit 8 and a level detection circuit 6 for judging whether or not a set threshold value is exceeded during the output of the blanking circuit 7. The threshold value setting circuit 9 for setting the threshold value, the timing circuit 14 for outputting the timing in the detecting section 21 of the transmitting circuit (A) 2 and the blanking circuit 7, the depth information, etc. to the timing circuit 14. Including the whole It controls the timing has a decision circuit (B) 22 to set the threshold to receive a detection signal of the control circuit 19 and the detection unit 21 that controls outputting a Hashikaji control signal.

The following operation will be described.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of conventional induction by one frequency.

The principle of the guiding device is that, as shown in the generation of FIG. 6, when a surface ship or the like is traveling, the presence or absence of bubbles generated behind is detected by the reflection and scattering of sound waves radiated in the water, and the bubbles are always present. The target is tracked by proceeding in the direction of.

In FIG. 5, the transmission circuit (A) 2 has a frequency F
The pulse modulated signal of No. 1 is output to the wave transmitter (A) 1. The wave transmitter (A) 1 converts this transmission signal from an electric signal into an acoustic signal and radiates it into water. The wave receiver (A) 3 receives the reflected wave from the bubble, converts the acoustic signal into an electric signal, and outputs the electric signal. The amplifier circuit 4 amplifies the output of the wave receiver (A) 3 and outputs it to the band filter (A) 5. The band filter (A) 5 is a band limiting filter that uses a frequency component of a reflected wave from a bubble as a pass band. The level detection circuit 6 detects the signal level of the output of the band filter (A) 5 and outputs it to the blanking circuit 7 and the threshold value setting circuit 9.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a conventional blanking operation.

The blanking circuit 7 prohibits the output of the level detection circuit from being output to the threshold value detection circuit for a certain period of time immediately after the transmission as shown in FIG. The output of the threshold detection circuit 6 is blanked during the period when the reception level is very high and the presence / absence of bubbles cannot be determined to prevent malfunction of the threshold detection circuit 8.
The threshold value setting circuit 9 is a circuit for setting a threshold value for bubble detection according to the level of the reflected wave from the water immediately after the underwater vehicle is launched and before encountering the bubble.
It can also be changed by a control signal from. The threshold detection circuit 8 determines whether or not the level signal coming through the blanking circuit 7 exceeds the threshold set by the threshold setting circuit 9, and the detection signal is used as the determination circuit (B). 22 is output. The determination circuit (B) 22 determines the presence or absence of bubbles based on the state of the detection signal, information from the control circuit 19 and the like, and outputs a steering control signal based on the determination result. The control circuit 19 outputs a control signal to the timing circuit 14 and the threshold value setting circuit 9 based on the depth information and the information from the determination circuit (D) 22.

[0010]

This conventional underwater vehicle guidance system uses a single frequency to detect bubbles generated by a target by a single transmitter and receiver. When entering the track, whether or not the vehicle is traveling toward the target as shown in the guidance of FIG. 6 was unknown until it was not detected and could not be detected from the bubble track. Therefore, after searching for the bubbles, the steering would return to the track of the bubbles, and it was impossible to steer and follow the bubbles while continuously detecting the bubbles. Moreover, since there is only a single transmitter and receiver and only one direction of the underwater vehicle is seen, if the detection range is narrow and the distribution of bubbles in water is biased, the undetectable state in FIG. Depending on the depth and position of the underwater vehicle,
There was a problem that the bubble could not be detected and it could not be guided in the direction of the bubble.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the present invention, and an object thereof is to obtain an underwater vehicle guidance system capable of detecting bubbles in a wide range and performing more accurate tracking. .

The underwater vehicle guidance system according to the present invention includes two or more transmission circuits that output pulse-modulated transmission signals for transmission and reception of two or more frequencies, and the transmission circuits. Two or more wave transmitters that convert a transmission signal into an acoustic signal and launch it into the water, and receive a reflected wave from the water of the acoustic signal emitted from the wave transmitter corresponding to each transmitted frequency. Two or more wave receivers corresponding to the respective wave transmitters for converting into electric signals, respective amplification circuits for amplifying the outputs of the respective wave receivers, and a band corresponding to each frequency for the output of the amplification circuit. Each band filter to be limited, each level detection circuit to detect the output level of each band filter, and each blanking circuit to blank each level output,
Each threshold detection circuit that detects whether the output of each blanking circuit exceeds a set threshold value, and each threshold detection circuit based on the output of each level detection circuit and the control signal of the control circuit In two or more directions, each of which has a threshold value setting circuit corresponding to each of the threshold values, and a timing circuit for controlling the timing of each of the transmission circuits and each of the blanking circuits by a control signal from the control circuit. A plurality of detection units for responding, a control circuit that receives depth information and the like from the outside in the timing circuit and threshold detection circuit of each detection unit and outputs a control signal based on the information, and from each detection unit Receives the output of all threshold detection circuits corresponding to each frequency of and outputs the steering control signal to the outside and the judgment information to the control circuit according to the state and information from the control circuit. Provided with a constant circuit.

[0013]

According to the above construction, two or more frequencies are converted into acoustic signals by the wave transmitter and are radiated into the water, and the reflected waves from the water are received corresponding to the wave transmitter. The electric wave signal converted from the wave receiver is compared with the set threshold value and is output as a detection signal. The detection section detects the reflected waves from two or more directions such as up, down, left and right. As shown in the figure, the judgment circuit makes a judgment by controlling the control circuit from the detection signal of the detection unit in each direction and outputs the steering control signal, so it is possible to detect the reflected wave in a wide range and accurately track the target. can do.

[0014]

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an underwater vehicle guidance system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an array of transmitters / receivers in the underwater vehicle guidance system of the present invention.

The detector shown in FIG. 1 has a rudder 2 as shown in FIG.
4 and the propulsion device 25 on the circumference of the spacecraft 23, up, down, left,
A detection unit (left) 15, a detection unit (right) 16, a detection unit (upper) corresponding to each of the transmitters and receivers arranged in the right four directions.
It is composed of four detection units (lower) 18, and the content of each detection unit is the same (note that the same components as those in the conventional example are denoted by the same reference numerals). From each detector, the two frequencies F being used
Detection signals of the threshold detection circuit 8 corresponding to 1 and F2 are output to the determination circuit 20. The determination circuit 20 determines the presence / absence of bubbles based on the state of the detection signal, information from the control circuit 19, and the like, and outputs a steering control signal based on the determination result. The control circuit 19 also outputs a control signal to the timing circuit 14 and the threshold value setting circuit 9 based on the depth information and the information from the determination circuit 20. Next, the content of the detection unit is detected (left) 1
Use 5 to explain. The detection section uses two frequencies, F1 and F2, and detects bubbles at each frequency. Although the frequencies of F1 and F2 are different, the processing is the same, so F1 will be described. First, the transmission circuit (A) 2 generates a pulse modulation signal (transmission signal) of frequency F1 and outputs it to the wave transmitter (A) 1. The wave transmitter (A) 1 converts a transmission signal into an acoustic signal and radiates it into water. The wave receiver (A) 3 receives the reflected wave reflected and scattered from the bubbles and returned, converts the reflected wave into an electric signal, and outputs the electric signal to the amplifier circuit 4 as a received signal.
The amplifier circuit 4 amplifies the received signal and outputs it to the band filter (A) 5. The band filter (A) 5 band-limits the output of the amplifier circuit 4 near the frequency F1 and outputs a signal in the target band to the level detection circuit 6. The level detection circuit 6 converts the output of the band filter (A) 5 into a level and outputs it to the blanking circuit 7 and the threshold value setting circuit 9. The blanking circuit 7, under the control of the timing circuit 14, performs the above-described upper-wave blanking process of FIG. 7 on the output of the level detection circuit 6 and outputs it to the threshold value detection circuit 8. The threshold detection circuit 8 detects whether the output of the blanking circuit 7 exceeds the threshold value and outputs a detection signal to the determination circuit 20. A total of eight pieces of detection data from each detection unit are input to the determination circuit 20. The threshold value setting circuit 9 sets a threshold value according to the level output of the level detection circuit 6 and the control signal of the control circuit 19. Further, the timing circuit 14 receives the control signal of the control circuit 19 and outputs the timing signal of the transmission circuit (A) 2 and the blanking circuit 7.

The same applies to the case where the frequency is F2. The transmission circuit (B) 11 is connected to the transmission circuit (A) 2 and the wave transmitter (B) is used.
Reference numeral 10 and the wave receiver (B) 12 and the band filter (B) 13 correspond to the wave transmitter (A) 1, the wave receiver (A) 3, and the band filter (A) 5, respectively.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

The four components of the detection unit (left) 15, the detection unit (right) 16, the detection unit (upper) 17, and the detection unit (lower) 18 have exactly the same contents, and the frequencies F1 and F are independent of each other.
2 is used to detect bubbles in the water and the detection signal is judged circuit 2
Output to 0. The determination circuit 20 determines the presence / absence of bubbles based on the state of these detection signals and information from the control circuit 19 and outputs a steering control signal based on the determination result.

The detectors 15, 16, 17, 18 will be described using the detector (left) 15. The frequency F1 is for detecting bubbles having a long life, F2 is for bubbles having a relatively short life, and has a relationship of F1 <F2 (for example, F1: several + kHz, F2: hundred + kHz). The transmission circuit (A) 2 generates a pulse modulation signal (transmission signal) of frequency F1 and outputs it to the wave transmitter (A) 1. The wave transmitter (A) 1 converts a transmission signal into an acoustic signal and radiates it into water. The wave receiver (A) 3 is
Receives the sound that is reflected and scattered from the long-lived bubbles whose resonance frequency is F1 (F1 <F2, whose resonance frequency is high, and whose bubbles have a small radius have a shorter lifespan). It is converted into an electric signal and output to the amplifier circuit 4 as a received signal. The amplifier circuit 4 amplifies the received signal having a low signal level and outputs it to the band filter (A) 5. The band filter (A) 5 is a band limiting filter having a pass band in consideration of the frequency band of the reflected wave at the frequency F1, and unnecessary noise components and signal components of F2 are removed by this filter. The level detection circuit 6 converts the output of the band filter (A) 5 into a signal level and outputs it to the blanking circuit 7 and the threshold value setting circuit 9. The blanking circuit 7 receives the control of the timing circuit 14 and blanks the output of the level detection circuit 6 as shown in FIG.
This blanking to be output to is to prevent the malfunction including the leakage of F2 when the transmission signal and the reception level immediately after the transmission are very large, and after detecting the reflected wave, perform the blanking to the appropriate timing. It also serves the purpose of masking the operation level signal and detecting the threshold value at a subsequent level. The threshold value detection circuit 8 detects whether or not the output of the blanking circuit 7 which has been subjected to the blanking process exceeds the threshold value, and outputs a detection signal of ON when it exceeds the threshold value and OFF when it does not exceed it to the determination circuit 20. In addition, the threshold value setting circuit 9 uses the level output of the level detection circuit 6 and the control signal of the control circuit 19 to determine the level of the reflected wave from the water before the underwater vehicle starts traveling and reaches the track of the bubbles. Set the optimal threshold. Further, the timing circuit 14 receives the control signal of the control circuit 19 and transmits the signal to the transmission circuit (A).
2 and the timing signal of the blanking circuit 7 are output.

The circuit for frequency F2 is similar to F1,
The transmission circuit (B) 11 generates a pulse modulation signal (transmission signal) of frequency F2 and outputs it to the wave transmitter (B) 10.
The wave transmitter (B) 10 converts a transmission signal into an acoustic signal and radiates it into water. The resonance frequency of the wave receiver (B) 12 is F2.
The sound reflected and scattered from the short-lived bubbles is received, converted into an electrical signal, and output to the amplifier circuit 4 as a received signal. The amplifier circuit 4 amplifies the received signal having a low signal level and outputs it to the band filter (B) 13. The band filter (B) 13 is a band limiting filter having a pass band in consideration of the frequency band of the reflected wave at the frequency F2, and the filter removes unnecessary noise components and F1 signal components. A level detection circuit 6, a blanking circuit 7, a threshold value detection circuit 8 after the band filter (B) 13,
The operation of the threshold setting circuit 9 is the same as that when the frequency is F1.

As described above, each detection unit has a pair of detection circuits F1 and F2, and the detection units 15 and 1 are provided.
As shown in FIG. 2, four units 6, 17, and 18 are arranged on the circumference of the underwater vehicle as upper, lower, left, and right. These four detection units (left) 15 and detection units ( Right) 16, detector (top)
The detection signals of F1 and F2 of the detector 17 (lower) 18 are input to the determination circuit 20. The determination circuit 20 makes a determination based on the state of these detection signals and the depth information from the control circuit 19 and outputs a steering control signal.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of dual frequency guidance in the underwater vehicle guidance system of the present invention.

The outline of the determination will be described below with reference to FIG. The recognition of FIG. 3 is that the underwater vehicle 2 crosses the wake of bubbles.
3 is when encountering a wake. The output of any detector is F1: OFF, F2: OFF until it meets the track, and when it enters the track, it becomes F1: ON, F2: ON. At this time, the judgment circuit turns to a preset angle. And perform tracking.

When turning to the left and starting tracking, F
1: ON, F2: ON and tracking continues, but
When turning to the right, after traveling for a while, bubbles with a relatively short life do not exist in the downstream of the track, so the output of any detector becomes F1: ON, F2: OFF. It is judged that it is about to come off, and it reverses and restarts tracking toward the upstream of the wake. in this case,
F1: It remains ON and it can be detected that it is not out of the track.

The outer correction shown in FIG. 3 travels outside the track of bubbles, and the detection unit (right) 16 detects bubbles of F1 having a long life at the outer edge of the track, and F1: ON, F2: OFF. Become. At this time, the detection unit (left) 15 on the left side is on the opposite side of the target track, that is, F1: OFF and F2: OFF, and the determination circuit determines that there is a bubble track on the right side and corrects the course to the right.

Alternatively, as in the case of the inside correction in FIG. 3, the underwater vehicle 23 is located inside the track of bubbles and at the outer edge of the track.
When is located, there is a bubble corresponding to F1 having a long life, but no bubble corresponding to F2 having a relatively short life, and no F2 reflection is detected. Therefore, as in the case of the inner correction in FIG. 3, the detection unit 16 on the right is directed toward the center of the track of the bubbles, and F1 and F2 can be detected as F1: ON and F2: ON, but the detection unit 15 on the opposite side is Bubbles corresponding to F1 with a long life can be detected, but F2 with a relatively short life is detected.
Bubble corresponding to is not detected (F1: ON, F2: O
FF), therefore, in this case, the course can be corrected to the right and guidance can be made so as not to deviate from the track while detecting the track of bubbles in F1. If the guiding device 23 is located on the right side of the track of the bubbles by tracing the opposite direction, the left and right detecting units 15 and 16 are detected.
The ON and OFF detections of F1 and F2 are reversed, and the opposite control is performed.

As described above, by incorporating the logic for the state of the detection signal of the detection unit in the determination circuit in advance, F
It is possible to perform complicated guidance control so as to follow the direction in which the number of detected F1 and F2ON is large.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an underwater vehicle guidance system according to another embodiment of the present invention. The difference between the second embodiment and the first embodiment of FIG. 1 is that the wave transmitter (A) 1 and the wave receiver (A) 3 of FIG. 1 are the same as the wave transmitter / receiver (A) of the second embodiment. 26, and the wave transmitter (B) 10 and the wave receiver (B) 12 of FIG. 1 become a wave receiver / transmitter (B) 27 in the second embodiment. Other than this, the first and second embodiments are exactly the same. Therefore, the second embodiment will explain only this difference. The transducer (A) 26 converts the output of the transmission circuit (A) 2 into an acoustic signal and radiates it into water. (At this time, the output of the transmission circuit (A) 2 is cut off so as not to leak into the amplification circuit 4.) When the transmission into water is completed, the transducer (A) 26 is reflected and scattered. The received sound is received, converted into an electrical signal, and output to the amplifier circuit 4 as a received signal. As described above, the wave transmitter / receiver (A) 26 operates as the wave transmitter (A) 1 of FIG. 1 during transmission, and operates as the wave receiver (A) 3 during reception. Similarly, the transducer (B) 27 also converts the output of the transmission circuit (B) 11 into an acoustic signal and radiates it into water. (At this time, again, the output of the transmission circuit (B) 11 is cut off so as not to leak into the amplification circuit 4.) When the transmission into water is completed, the transducer (B) 27 also returns. The sound is received, converted into an electric signal, and output to the amplifier circuit 4 as a received signal. Therefore, the wave transmitter / receiver (B) 27 also operates as the wave transmitter (B) 10 and the wave receiver (B) 12 of FIG.

When finer detection data is required, the detection unit and frequency are detected by the detection units 15, 16, 17, and 18.
... n and frequency are expanded to F1, F2, ... Fn.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, by using two or more frequencies, it is possible to detect the air bubbles having different lifespans separately from each other by using the detection unit of two or more of the underwater vehicles. Since a plurality of bubbles are used so that they can be detected in each direction and the detection circuit receives the detection signals to control the traveling direction of the underwater vehicle, bubbles in a wide range of two or more directions can be detected. In addition to being able to detect, it has the effect of enabling tracking while maintaining the detection of the track of the bubble, and enabling the underwater vehicle to be guided in the direction in which the bubble exists.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an underwater vehicle guidance device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a wave transmitter in the underwater vehicle guidance device of the present invention,
It is a figure which shows the arrangement row of a wave receiver.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of dual frequency guidance in the underwater vehicle guidance device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an underwater vehicle guidance device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a conventional underwater vehicle guidance device.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of conventional one-frequency induction.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a conventional blanking operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 wave transmitter (A) 2 transmitter circuit (A) 3 wave receiver (A) 4 amplifier circuit 5 band filter (A) 6 level detection circuit 7 blanking circuit 8 threshold value detection circuit 9 threshold value setting circuit 10 Wave transmitter (B) 11 Transmission circuit (B) 12 Wave receiver (B) 13 Band filter 14 Timing circuit 15 Detector (left) 16 Detector (right) 17 Detector (top) 18 Detector (bottom) 19 Control circuit 20 Judgment circuit 21 Detection unit 23 Underwater vehicle 24 Rudder 25 Propulsion device 26 Transducer (A) 27 Transducer (B)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. Two or more transmission circuits that output a pulse-modulated transmission signal to support transmission and reception of two or more frequencies, and a transmission signal generated by the transmission circuit is converted into an acoustic signal. And two or more wave transmitters that radiate into the water, and each wave that receives the reflected wave from the water of the acoustic signal radiated from the wave wave generator corresponding to each transmitted frequency and converts it into an electric signal Two or more wave receivers corresponding to wave filters, amplifier circuits for amplifying the outputs of the wave receivers, and band filters for band-limiting the output of the amplifier circuits corresponding to the frequencies. Each level detection circuit that detects the output level of each band filter, each blanking circuit that blanks each level output, and whether the output of each blanking circuit exceeds a set threshold value Each threshold value detection circuit, Threshold setting circuits corresponding to the thresholds of the threshold detection circuits set from the outputs of the level detection circuits and the control signals of the control circuits, and the timings of the transmission circuits and the blanking circuits A plurality of detectors for responding to two or more directions, and a timing circuit for controlling each of the detectors by a control signal from a control circuit; Steering control by receiving the output of a control circuit that receives and outputs a control signal based on that information and the output of all the threshold value detection circuits corresponding to each frequency from each of the detection units and the state and information from the control circuit An underwater vehicle guidance device comprising a determination circuit that outputs a signal to the outside and determination information to a control circuit.