JP2810768B2 - Acoustic positioning device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an acoustic positioning device that performs positioning over a wide area using a plurality of transponders arranged underwater.

[Prior art] Conventionally known acoustic positioning devices for measuring the position of a ship on the water or a moving object in the water using underwater ultrasonic waves include:
For example, there is “Ocean acoustics (basic and applied)”, pp. 209-214, edited and published by the Ocean Acoustics Research Society, March 1984.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a conventional acoustic positioning device. In the figure, 1A is an arithmetic control unit, 2 is a transmission controller, 3
Is a power amplifier, 4 is a transmission / reception switch, 5 is an ultrasonic transducer which is connected to this device on board by a cable and is provided in the sea, and 6-1 to 6-3 are respectively installed on the sea floor.
# 3 transponder, 7 is a preamplifier, 8-1 to 8-3
Are # 1 to # 3 mixers (also called frequency mixers), 9-1
9-3 are # 1 to # 3 local oscillators, 10-1 to 10-3 are # 1 to # 3 band-pass filters (band pass filters, hereinafter referred to as BPFs), and 11-1 to 11-3 are # 1 to # 3 amplifiers, 12-1 to 12-3 are # 1 to # 3 detectors, 13-1 to 13-
Reference numeral 3 is a counter for # 1 to # 3, and 14 is a display.

The conventional acoustic positioning device is configured as described above. First, the arithmetic control unit 1A sends a timing signal for starting measurement to the transmission control unit 2A.
Send to The transmission control unit 2 determines the transmission frequency, generates a transmission pulse, outputs the transmission pulse to the power amplifier 3, and starts the counting operation of the # 1 to # 3 counters 13-1 to 13-3. The power amplifier 3 power-amplifies the transmission pulse, and amplifies the transmission pulse via a transmission / reception switch 4 to a transmitter / receiver 5 disposed underwater.
Is applied. The transducer 5 transmits an ultrasonic pulse into the sea. # 1 to # 3 transponders 6-1 located on the sea floor
～6-3 receives the ultrasonic pulses are transmitted interrogation signal from the transducer 5, the frequency f ₁ that is specified in advance respectively, f _2, f ₃ (e.g. f ₁ = 15 kHz, f ₂ = 16kHz,
and it sends a response signal f ₃ = 17kHz). These response signals propagate through the sea again, and are converted into electric signals received by the transducer 5. The electric signal from the transducer 5 is amplified by the preamplifier 7 via the transmission / reception switch 4 and supplied to the # 1 to # 3 mixers 8-1 to 8-3, respectively. #
1 to # 3 local oscillators 9-1 to 9-3 are respectively higher or lower frequencies f ₁ ± f _IF than the response frequencies f ₁ , f ₂ , f _{3 of the} transponder by an intermediate frequency f _IF used in the present apparatus. , F ₂
The oscillator oscillates a frequency on either the positive side or the negative side of ± f _IF and f ₃ ± f _IF , and supplies this to the corresponding # 1 to # 3 mixers 8-1 to 8-3. Therefore # 1 mixer 8-1 outputs the intermediate frequency f _IF of the signal after frequency conversion on the input signal of the frequency f ₁ but intermediate frequency f _IF is the input signal of the frequency f ₂ and f ₃ Is not output. Similarly, # 2 mixer 8-2
It is the input signal of the frequency f _2, # 3 mixer 8-3 with respect to the input signal of the frequency f _3, respectively and outputs the intermediate frequency f _IF of the signal after frequency conversion. # 1 to # 3 BPF10-1 to 10
Reference numerals -3 denote bandpass filters which pass the required band by centering the intermediate frequency _fIF . Therefore, response signals are selected by these three BPFs at different frequencies f ₁ , f ₂ and f ₃ . # 1 to # 3 amplifier 11-
1 to 11-3 amplify the output signals from the # 1 to # 3 BPFs 10-1 to 10-3 to a certain level. These amplified received signals are respectively used as # 1 to # 3 detectors.
According to 12-1 to 12-3, the signal is compared with a preset reference level, and when the received signal exceeds this reference level, a reception pulse is output. # 1 to # 3 counters 13-1
13-3 starts counting at the time of transmission, respectively,
The counting is stopped when the received pulses from the # 1 to # 3 detectors 12-1 to 12-3 are input. As a result, the # 1 to # 3 counters 13-1 to 13-3 respectively output the # 1 to # 3
# 3 Direct distance from the transponders 6-1 to 6-3 (generally called a slant range, which is exactly the propagation time of the ultrasonic pulse reciprocating, but the direct distance is calculated from the underwater sound velocity of the ultrasonic wave) Has been measured. Now # 1 counter r ₁ a straight distance to # 1 transponder 6-1 measured by 13-1, # 2 counter 13-2 r ₂ straight distance to the # 2 transponders 6-2 measured by, # # 3 transponder 6-3 measured by 3 counter 13-3
The direct distance to is r ₃ . These direct distance data r ₁ , r ₂ ,
r ₃ is supplied to the arithmetic control unit 1A. Now, it is assumed that the transponders # 1 to # 3 are installed at positions where a triangle is formed, and the relative positional relationship between the transponders is determined by an operation called calibration. Assuming that the transducer 5 is within the area of the triangle, an arithmetic control unit is used based on the direct distance data r ₁ , r ₂ , r _3.
1A can calculate the position of the transducer 5 by calculation. Therefore, it is possible to measure the position of the ship on which the present device is mounted. The measured position of the ship is displayed on the display 14.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the conventional acoustic positioning device as described above, since each transponder is usually arranged so as to form a triangle,
Positioning can be performed only within the triangle formed by these transponders. Therefore, to expand the range of acoustic positioning, the number of transponders must be increased, and an additional receiving circuit must be provided in the acoustic positioning device.
This is because each of the plurality of transponders transmits response signals at different frequencies, so that the number of receiving circuits corresponding to the number of additional transponders, that is,
There has been a problem that a receiving circuit for distance measurement constituted by a local oscillator, a mixer, a filter, an amplifier, a detector and a counter must be added.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and it is not necessary to provide a number of receiving circuits for distance measurement corresponding to a plurality of transponders in an acoustic positioning device on a ship. It is an object of the present invention to obtain an acoustic positioning device capable of performing positioning in the above manner.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The acoustic positioning apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention arranges a plurality of transponders for transmitting acoustic response signals of different frequencies to acoustic interrogation signals in a wide range of underwater positioning area. An acoustic response signal transmitted from the plurality of transponders, wherein at least three transponders forming a triangular positioning area are selected from among the transponders and the position of the ship is measured. And a local signal oscillating means for oscillating a plurality of local signals having different frequencies respectively, and selecting a local signal of an oscillating frequency corresponding to three transponders selected for performing positioning from the local signal oscillating means, Local signal selection and supply means for respectively supplying these to three frequency mixers incorporated in the transponder receiving circuit. Things.

The acoustic positioning apparatus according to claim 2 of the present invention automatically selects at least three or more transponders that form a triangular positioning area suitable for positioning of the own ship from among the plurality of transponders, and controls the movement of the own ship. Accordingly, a transponder automatic selecting means for automatically changing the selection of a combination of transponders suitable for positioning is added to the acoustic positioning apparatus according to the first aspect.

[Operation] In the present invention, a plurality of transponders for transmitting acoustic response signals having different frequencies with respect to the acoustic interrogation signal are arranged in a wide range of positioning area in water, and a triangular positioning area is selected from among the plurality of transponders. In the acoustic positioning device for measuring the position of the ship by selecting at least three transponders forming a plurality of transponders, the local signal oscillating means includes a plurality of transponders having different frequencies corresponding to acoustic response signals transmitted from the plurality of transponders. Oscillates a local signal,
The local signal selection and supply means selects local signals having oscillation frequencies corresponding to the three transponders selected for performing positioning from the local signal oscillating means, and supplies these to three frequency mixers built in the transponder receiving circuit. Supply each.

Also, in the present invention, the transponder automatic selection means automatically selects at least three or more transponders forming a triangular positioning area suitable for positioning of the own ship from among the plurality of transponders, and according to the movement of the own ship. Automatically change the selection of the transponder combination suitable for the positioning in sequence.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an acoustic positioning device showing an embodiment of the present invention, and includes 2-6-3, 7-9-3, and 10-1.
14 is the same as the above-mentioned conventional device. 1 is an arithmetic control unit according to the present invention, 6-4 to 6-6 are # 4 to # 6 transponders, 9-4 to 9-6 are # 4 to # 6 local oscillators, and 15 is a selector. In the example, three input signals are selected and output from the six input signals based on the external control signal. 16-1 to 16-3 are # 1 to # 3 reduced-pass filters (low-pass filters, hereinafter referred to as LPEs).

3 (a) and 3 (b) are diagrams showing an example of the arrangement of the transponder according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 (a) is an example of an arrangement in which triangles are combined to form a parallelogram. ~ #
The positioning within the range of the triangle formed by the three transponders was performed, but this is described as # 1 to # 3, # 2 to # 4, and # 3.
# 5 and # 4 to # 6 are expanded to the positioning within the range of four triangles respectively formed by the transponders. FIG. 3 (b) shows an arrangement example in which triangles are combined to form a hexagon, and is expanded from a range of one triangle formed by conventional # 1 to # 3 transponders to a range formed by six triangles. doing.

The operation of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b). The essence of the present invention is that the apparatus is provided inside a triangle formed by three transponders sequentially or automatically selected from a large number of transponders arranged as shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b). The transponder used for the reception measurement is selected and switched so as to include the transmitter / receiver 5 of, and positioning in a wide area is performed.

Now, six different response frequencies assigned to each of the # 1 to # 6 transponders 6-1 to 6-6 are represented by f ₁ , f ₂ ,
f ₃ , f ₄ , f ₅ , f ₆ (for example, f ₁ = 15 kHz, f ₂ = 16 kHz, f ₃ = 17 kHz, f
_{4 = 18kHz, f 5 = 19kHz} , f 6 = 20kHz) to. Moreover, the intermediate frequency used in the receiving circuit of the apparatus and f _IF, # 1~ # 3
BPF10-1~10-3 is a band pass filter which passes the required bandwidth as the center frequency the intermediate frequency f _IF.
In this case # 1 to # 6 local oscillator 9-1 to 9-6 is to _{f L1, f L2, f L3} , f L4, f L5, f L6 each frequency oscillated, Becomes Here, either the + side or the − side frequency in the above equations (1) to (6) is the # 1 to # 6 local oscillator 9-1.
It is oscillated by .about.9-6 and supplied to the selector 15.

In order to operate this apparatus, the transponders 6 to 6 are called in advance by an operation called calibration.
The relative positional relationships of -1 to 6-6 are determined, and these positional relationship data are stored in the arithmetic and control unit 1. Next, as an initial operation, first position data (rough position data may be used, if not accurate position data) of a ship on which the apparatus is mounted is input to the arithmetic and control unit 1 (for example, manual input using a keyboard (not shown)).

The arithmetic and control unit 1 selects three transponders to be used for the first measurement from the positional relationship between the position of the ship and the transponder. When the three transponders to be used are determined, the arithmetic control unit 1 supplies a selection control signal for selecting three local oscillators corresponding to the three transponders to the selector 15. Based on the selection control signal, the selector 15 converts signals of three frequencies selected from the input oscillation frequencies f _{L1 to} f _L6 of the # 1 to # 6 local oscillators 9-1 to 9-6 into # 1 to # 6, respectively. # 3 LPF16-1 to 16-3 are supplied. The LPFs 16-1 to 16-3 remove the high-frequency components of the input signal and shape the waveform into a sine wave, and output the sine wave output signals of the local oscillators # 1 to # 3, respectively.
It is supplied to the mixers 16-1 to 16-3. # 1 to # 3 mixer 8
-1～8-3, and outputs the converted only signal response frequency from the transponder corresponding to the signal of the oscillation frequency supplied are respectively selected to an intermediate frequency f _IF. When the selection of the transponder to be used and the setting of the corresponding reception channel circuit are completed as described above, acoustic positioning can be performed in exactly the same manner as in the conventional device.

That is, in response to the measurement start timing signal from the arithmetic control unit 1, the transmission control unit 2 determines the transmission frequency and generates a transmission pulse, and the power amplifier 3 drives the transmission / reception unit 5 via the transmission / reception switching unit 4 and Causes a sound pulse to be transmitted into the sea. Response signals from a plurality of transponders are supplied to # 1 to # 3 mixers 8-1 to 8-3 via a transmitter / receiver 5, a transmission / reception switch 4 and a preamplifier 7, and are output from the selected transponders. Since only the response signal is converted into the intermediate frequency _fIF and output, the # 1 to # 3 counters 13-1 to 13-3 operate in a direct distance from the selected transponder to the transducer 5.
r _{1 to} r ₃ are supplied to the arithmetic and control unit 1, and the arithmetic and control unit 1 can obtain the position of the ship equipped with the present apparatus.

When the arithmetic control unit 1 determines that the ship has moved and is about to deviate from the triangular area formed by the three transponders currently in use, the arithmetic control unit 1 switches to the next positioning area to use the next positioning area. The selection control signal for automatically selecting the three transponders to be switched and selecting the local oscillator corresponding to the transponder to be switched to the appropriate timing is supplied to the selector 15. In this way, three transponders determined to be optimal for positioning can be sequentially selected and switched to continue positioning over a wide range.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which the first position data of the own ship is manually input to the arithmetic and control unit 1 when starting positioning, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is not limited to this. The operation control unit 1 does not need to input the first position data.
It is also possible to sequentially switch the positioning area and automatically search for the optimum area from among a plurality of positioning areas to perform positioning.

Furthermore, various initial operations can be performed, such as an operator manually setting only the first positioning area.

In FIG. 3 (a), when the own ship is positioned on a straight line connecting the # 2 transponder and the # 3 transponder, the combination of the transponders includes three transponders # 1 to # 3, # 2 to # 4. Three transponders, #
Three transponders # 1, # 2, # 4, three # 1, # 3, # 4
There are four types of transponders, and the arithmetic and control unit 1 determines the optimum combination according to the position of the ship and the reception state of the response signal. Therefore, at least three transponders are to be selected. In some cases, three or more transponders are selected.
The arithmetic and control unit 1 can perform operations such as comparison of positioning data and adoption of data with higher accuracy.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of transponders each transmitting an acoustic response signal having a different frequency to an acoustic interrogation signal are arranged in a wide positioning area in water, and the plurality of transponders are arranged. In the acoustic positioning device for measuring the position of the ship by selecting at least three transponders forming a triangular positioning area from among them, a local signal oscillating means corresponds to an acoustic response signal transmitted from the plurality of transponders. And oscillates a plurality of local signals, each having a different frequency, and the local signal selection / supply means selects local signals having oscillating frequencies corresponding to the three transponders selected for performing positioning from the local signal oscillating means. Since the power is supplied to each of the three frequency mixers incorporated in the transponder receiving circuit, a plurality of installed It is not necessary to provide the number of receiving circuits for distance measurement corresponding to the number of ransponders in the device, and the size and cost of the acoustic positioning device can be reduced.

According to the present invention, the transponder automatic selecting means automatically selects at least three or more transponders forming a triangular positioning area suitable for positioning of the own ship from the plurality of transponders, and Thus, the selection of the combination of transponders suitable for positioning is automatically changed, so that there is no need to manually select the combination of transponders suitable for positioning, and the effect of saving the operation of the present apparatus can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an acoustic positioning device showing one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a conventional acoustic positioning device, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of arrangement of a transponder according to the present invention. is there. In the figure, 1, 1A is an arithmetic control unit, 2 is a transmission controller, 3 is a power amplifier, 4 is a transmission / reception switch, 5 is a transducer, 6-1.
6-6 are transponders # 1 to # 6, 7 is a preamplifier, 8-1 to 8-3 are mixers, and 9-1 to 9-6 are # 1 to # 1 transponders.
# 6 local oscillator, 10-1 to 10-3 are # 1 to # 3 BPF, 11-
1 to 11-3 are # 1 to # 3 amplifiers, 12-1 to 12-3 are # 1
To # 3 detectors, 13-1 to 13-3 are # 1 to # 3 counters,
14 is a display, 15 is a selector, 16-1 to 16-3 are # 1 to # 3L
PF.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G01S 5/18-5/30 G01S 7/52-7/64 G01S 15/00-15/96

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A plurality of transponders for transmitting acoustic response signals of different frequencies to an acoustic interrogation signal are disposed in a wide range of positioning area in water, and a triangular positioning area is formed from the plurality of transponders. An acoustic positioning device for selecting at least three transponders and measuring a position of a ship, comprising: a local signal oscillator that oscillates a plurality of local signals having different frequencies in response to acoustic response signals transmitted from the plurality of transponders. Means for selecting local signals having oscillation frequencies corresponding to the three transponders selected for performing positioning from the local signal oscillating means, and supplying them to three frequency mixers incorporated in the transponder receiving circuit, respectively. An acoustic positioning device comprising: a local signal selection / supply unit. 2. A transponder which automatically selects at least three or more transponders forming a triangular positioning area suitable for positioning of the ship from among the plurality of transponders, and which are sequentially suitable for positioning according to the movement of the ship. 2. The acoustic positioning device according to claim 1, further comprising a transponder automatic selection means for automatically changing a combination of the two.