JP3494066B2 - Radar system - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a radar system such as an airport surface detection radar system used for the purpose of controlling the takeoff and landing of aircraft at the airport surface.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an airport surface detection radar (ASDE) has been used to control an aircraft at an airport surface.
This ASDE detects a plane of an airport by rotating a plurality of adjacent antennas, and as one method of rotating the plurality of antennas synchronously, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-19768.
There is a multiple radar operation method described in Japanese Patent No. 5 publication.

FIG. 7 is a system diagram showing an embodiment of a synchronous rotation system of a plurality of adjacent antennas as a conventional radar system disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-197685. The system shown in the figure includes antennas 1a and 1b, servo motors 113a and 113b, and an antenna control device 11.
1a, 111b, and an angle command generator 116. Among these, the angle command generator 116 generates angle commands 115a and 115b for controlling the antenna control devices 111a and 111b, and the antenna control devices 111a and 111b receive these commands. , Control signals 112a and 112b are output.

The servo motors 113a and 113b are controlled by the control signals 112 from the antenna control devices 111a and 111b.
The antennas 1a and 1b are driven based on a and 112b.
At that time, the servo motors 113a and 113b are connected to the antennas 1a and 1b via the drive shafts 114a and 114b, respectively.
The driving force is transmitted to b.

The operation of the system according to this conventional synchronous rotation system will be described in detail below. The angle command generator 116 generates an angle signal synchronized with the rotation of the antennas 1a and 1b,
Angle commands 115a and 11 are provided to antenna control devices 111a and 111b, which are two radar systems of this system, respectively.
Give 5b. And each radar system
Upon receiving this angle command, the antennas 1a and 1b are rotated synchronously.

Here, the antenna control devices 111a and 11a
Since 1b to antennas 1a and 1b form a servo loop, the angle command and the antennas 1a and 1a,
There is almost no error from the actual angle of 1b. Therefore, as long as the antenna control devices 111a and 111b generate the synchronized angle command, the synchronous rotation of the antennas is performed.

Regarding the angle commands 115a and 115b, which are signals generated by the angle command generator 116, since the antennas of the two radar systems have the same rotation speed, the angle commands 115a and 115b have the same rotation speed. And signals having different phase differences. Therefore, for the purpose of preventing mutual interference of the radar systems, as an example thereof, these signals may have a phase difference of 90 °. Even when there are three or more radar systems, mutual interference can be prevented by appropriately selecting the phase difference between the signals generated by the angle command generator 116.

Further, in the conventional ASDE, the control of the aircraft at the airport surface is performed by using one sensor. However, due to the recent expansion of airport facilities, runways, etc., the monitoring area of one sensor is widened. In the direction. Then, as a countermeasure against such a situation, a method of partially performing visual control in consideration of the equipment position of the sensor is adopted.

[0009]

However, since the above-mentioned conventional radar system has a structure to prevent mutual interference by shifting the rotation angle of the antenna, when operating a plurality of radar systems at the same time, There is a problem that the radar is easily affected by side lobes and multipaths.

Further, in the above-mentioned conventional radar system, the monitoring area of the sensor is limited, and an area where the single antenna cannot see is generated. Therefore, control using a plurality of radar systems is performed in accordance with the expansion of the monitoring area. However, there is a problem that mutual interference cannot be avoided.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a radar system which is less susceptible to mutual interference even when a plurality of radars are operated simultaneously.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a radar system capable of controlling the entire airport even in a large-scale airport which cannot be controlled by a single radar.

[0013]

In order to achieve the above object, the first invention is a radar system for rotating a plurality of antennas for radar detection to rotate the plurality of antennas in the same direction synchronously. And a means for determining whether the directions of the plurality of antennas that are rotating synchronously match a plurality of preset monitoring ranges, and based on the determination result, divide into a plurality of time zones. There is provided a radar system provided with a transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving radar radio waves, a synthesizing means for synthesizing a plurality of received echoes obtained by the transmitting / receiving, and a means for visually displaying the synthesized echo.

Preferably, the radar system according to the present invention is provided with a plurality of the transmitting / receiving means corresponding to the plurality of antennas. Further, preferably, the radar system according to the present invention further includes a plurality of switching means corresponding to the plurality of antennas, and the switching means switches connection between a single transmission / reception means and the plurality of antennas. I do.

Preferably, the synthesizing means transforms the coordinates of the received echo with reference to one of the plurality of antennas. Further, preferably, the plurality of antennas and the plurality of monitoring ranges correspond to each other on a one-to-one basis.

[0016] Preferably, in the radar system according to the present invention, the plurality of antennas are four antennas located at four apexes of a quadrangle, and the plurality of monitoring ranges include the quadrangle into four quadrilaterals. It corresponds to the four regions obtained by dividing.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiment 1. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a radar system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The system shown in the figure is an antenna 1 that transmits and receives radar signals.
a, 1b, 1c, 1d, an antenna drive control device 2 for outputting drive control and rotation signals of these antennas to a signal processing unit 6 described later, and circulators 3a, 3b, 3
c, 3d and radars 8a, 8 for transmitting and receiving radio waves corresponding to the antennas 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, respectively.
b, 8c, 8d, and a display device 7 for displaying echoes and the like processed (digitally processed) from the signal processing unit 6.

The radar transmitter / receivers 8a, 8b, 8
c and 8d are radar transmitters 4a, 4b, 4c, and
4d and radar receivers 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d are provided, but since the respective transmitter / receivers have the same configuration, in FIG. 1, only the radar transmitter / receiver 8a is included in the radar transmitter 4a and the radar receiver 4a. 5a is shown. The signal processing unit 6 also creates transmission timing and digitally processes received signals.

The monitoring range of a radar system for controlling the takeoff and landing of an aircraft is generally about 3 to 5 kilometers. This is a range determined by the length of the runway (about 3 kilometers), but at a large airport with two or more runways, control by one radar system is not possible, and multiple radars are required. It is necessary to take the configuration using the system.

In particular, in an airport where there are parallel runways, there may be a case where a building such as a control tower is hidden behind a building, which hinders monitoring of the entire airport. For this reason, it is necessary to provide a plurality of radars or to have a function of compensating for deficiencies and weak points in performance.

Therefore, the operation of the radar system according to the present embodiment which solves the above problems will be described. Figure 1
The radar system shown in (1) adopts a method of synchronously rotating the antennas 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d in order to avoid mutual interference. That is, the antenna drive control device 2 of the radar system according to the present embodiment performs synchronous control so that all four antennas 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d rotate in the same direction.

FIG. 2 shows antennas 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d.
Of the antennas 1 and their surveillance areas are shown.
a is the area a, antenna 1b is the area b, and antenna 1c
Is monitoring the area c, and the antenna 1d is monitoring the area d. That is, the radar transmitter / receiver 8a can be used only when the rotation direction of the antenna 1a is within the range of the area a.
Radio waves are transmitted from the radar transmitter 4a via the antenna 1a, and at the same time, echoes of the radio waves are received by the radar receiver 5a.

Next, when the direction of rotation of the antenna 1b reaches the range of the area b, the radar transmitter / receiver 8b transmits radio waves and receives echoes via the antenna 1b. After that, similarly, the radar transmission / reception device 8c performs radio wave transmission and echo reception (transmission / reception control) via the antenna 1c and the radar transmission / reception device 8d via the antenna 1d. That is, in the system according to the present embodiment, the time zones in which radio waves are transmitted and received by the four antennas 1a to 1d are divided, and the simultaneous transmission of radio waves is avoided.

As a result of the time division transmission / reception control, the echoes received by the radar transmission / reception devices 8a-8d are
The received echo signal is input to the signal processing unit 6. Then, the signal processing unit 6 uses the radar transceivers 8a, 8b,
When the received echoes from 8c and 8d are displayed on the display device 7, the following processing is performed.

That is, the signal processing unit 6 responds to the azimuth angle signal from the antenna drive control device 2 in accordance with the antenna 1a.
The received echo for each transmission timing received by the radar receiver 5a via the
[Deg.] (That is, the amount corresponding to the area a) is accumulated and output to the display device 7.

Thereafter, similarly, the signal processing section 6 outputs the received echoes received by the antenna 1b and the radar receiver 5b and the azimuth information at that time by 90 ° (corresponding to the area b).
The reception echo received by the antenna 1c and the radar receiver 5c and the azimuth information at that time by 90 ° (corresponding to the area c), the reception echo received by the antenna 1d and the radar receiver 5d, and the azimuth at that time Information of 90 ° (corresponding to the area d) is accumulated, and these are sequentially output to the display device 7.

Finally, echoes for one screen (360 °) are input to the signal processing unit 6, and the display device 7 is also operated by the signal processing unit 6 in accordance with the previously assigned azimuth and distance. Based on the antenna angle information (direction information) of
Visual display of received echo. The antenna angle information is attached to the received echo signal and sent to the display device 7.

FIG. 3 shows a display method for displaying the reception echo of each antenna input from the signal processing unit 6. In the system according to the present embodiment, the reception echo Ta from the antenna 1a is input in polar coordinates of R-θ, so it is converted into XY coordinates with the antenna 1a as the reference. That is, the position of Ta is represented by ΔXa = Ra · cos θa ΔYa = Ra · sin θa.

Similarly, the reception echo T from the antenna 1b is obtained.
b, reception echo Tc from antenna 1c, antenna 1d
As for the reception echo Td from, the reception echo based on the respective antennas 1b, 1c, 1d is converted into XY coordinates.

Since the result of the coordinate conversion is the coordinates with respect to each antenna, in order to display these as one display screen, the coordinate system in which the echoes received from each antenna are combined with the actual coordinates is used. Need to be converted to. Therefore, the basic origin of the display is the antenna 1a,
When the coordinate conversion is performed on the received echo from each antenna,
It looks like this:

Received echo Ta: Xa = ΔXa, Ya = ΔYa Received echo Tb: Xb = X−ΔXb, Yb = ΔYb Received echo Tc: Xc = X−ΔXc, Yc = Y−ΔYc Received echo Td: Xd = ΔXd, Yd = Y−ΔYd As described above, the reception echo from each antenna is represented by the coordinate system with the antenna 1a as a reference.

FIG. 4 shows a display example of the radar echo on the display device 7, that is, a case where the radar echo is displayed in the composite coordinate system. As shown in the figure, in the system according to the present embodiment, the echo of the coordinate system converted by the method described above is displayed at any of the coordinates indicated by X1 to Xn and Y1 to Yn. Then, the reception echo of each antenna input from the signal processing unit 6 to the display device 7 is displayed as a combined image on the display screen (not shown) of the display device 7.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the four antennas are synchronously controlled so as to rotate in the same direction, and at the same time, the monitoring area is determined for each antenna, and the time is set. By configuring the transmission / reception control for the reception echo at each transmission timing of the radio wave divided into bands, it is possible to sufficiently monitor the area that cannot be monitored by a single antenna, and there is no interference from each antenna. Radar echo display can be obtained.

Further, when the radar system according to the present embodiment is used as an airport surface detection radar, one antenna can cover the entire area of the airport surface, including the area where the line of sight cannot be seen, and the integration based on the received echo is performed. Based on the image display
More precise control can be performed.

Embodiment 2. The second embodiment of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of the radar system according to the present embodiment. In the system shown in the figure, the same components as those of the system according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted here.

The operation of the radar system according to this embodiment will be described below. As shown in FIG. 1, the system according to the first embodiment has the antennas 1a, 1b, 1
radar transmission / reception devices 8a, 8b, 8c, 8 for every c, 1d
Although the configuration is such that d is connected, the radar system according to the present embodiment has a simplified configuration.

That is, the radar system according to the present embodiment is provided with a transmission / reception switch 10 and a switching control section 9 incorporated therein, and the input / output of one radar transmission / reception device 8 is
The switching control unit 9 performs transmission / reception switching corresponding to the antenna rotation direction from the antenna drive control device 2. More specifically, the changeover control unit 9 inputs an azimuth angle signal from the antenna drive control device 2, and controls the following changeover switch on / off in accordance with the signal.

For example, when radio waves are transmitted from the antenna 1a, the changeover control unit 9 controls to close (turn on) the changeover switch 11s so that the radar transmitter 4 transmits the radio waves via the antenna 1a. When the echo is received by the antenna 1a, the changeover switch 11r is closed and the radar receiver 5 receives the echo of the radio wave.

As for the antennas 1b, 1c, and 1d, the changeover control unit 9 is similar to the case of the antenna 1a.
s, 12r, changeover switches 13s, 13r, and changeover switches 14s, 14r are turned on / off. as a result,
The signal processing unit 6 and the display device 7 obtain a predetermined received echo signal.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the switch for switching between the radar transmitter and the radar receiver, which is provided corresponding to each antenna, and the antenna is controlled in accordance with the antenna rotation direction. As a result, a radar system can be assembled with a single radar transmission / reception device, and the system configuration can be simplified.

Embodiment 3. The third embodiment of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of the radar system according to the present embodiment. In the system shown in the figure, the same components as those of the system according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted here.

The system according to the present embodiment shown in FIG. 6 has a configuration in which the number of antennas is increased as compared with the system according to the first embodiment, and is composed of a plurality (n) of antennas. It That is, in the radar system shown in FIG. 6, the antennas 1a to 1n are synchronously rotated to avoid mutual interference. At this time, the antenna drive control device 2 synchronously controls the n antennas 1a to 1n so that they rotate in the same direction.

In the system according to the present embodiment, for example, n monitoring areas corresponding to antennas are provided, and each antenna transmits and receives radio waves at a predetermined angle. That is, the radar transmitter / receivers 8a-8n are connected to the antennas 1a-1
The respective radio waves are transmitted and echoes are received (transmission / reception control) via n, and as a result of this transmission / reception control, the echoes received by the radar transceivers 8a to 8n are input to the signal processing unit 6 as reception echo signals.

With such a configuration, in the system according to the present embodiment, the monitoring areas are subdivided, the antennas corresponding to the respective areas are provided, and the radio wave transmission and the echo reception are executed. Can be monitored.

The system configuration according to the second embodiment shown in FIG. 5 is applied to the system according to the present embodiment, and the radar transmitter and the radar receiver are connected to the antennas in correspondence with the respective antennas. A changeover switch may be provided. With this configuration, the same effect as that of the system according to the second embodiment can be obtained, but the illustration of the system configuration is omitted here.

[0046]

As described above, according to the radar system of the first aspect of the present invention, in a radar system for rotating a plurality of antennas for radar detection, a means for synchronously rotating the plurality of antennas in the same direction. And a means for determining whether the directions of the plurality of antennas that are rotating synchronously match a plurality of preset monitoring ranges, and based on the determination result, divide into a plurality of time zones. It is not possible to monitor with a single antenna by providing a transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving radar radio waves, a synthesizing means for synthesizing a plurality of received echoes obtained by the transmitting / receiving, and a means for visually displaying the echo after the synthesizing. Also, it is possible to sufficiently monitor a so-called blind spot area, and at the same time, it is possible to obtain a high-quality echo display without interference from each antenna.

Further, by providing a plurality of transmission / reception means corresponding to a plurality of antennas, it is possible to smoothly proceed the transmission / reception processing of radar radio waves. Further, a plurality of switching means corresponding to a plurality of antennas are further provided, and these switching means perform connection switching between the single transmitting / receiving means and the plurality of antennas, thereby greatly simplifying the system configuration. Can be converted.

Further, since the synthesizing means transforms the coordinates of the received echo with reference to one of the plurality of antennas, it is possible to display an image with a specific antenna as a basic origin of display. Further, the reliability of the radar detection result is improved by making the plurality of antennas and the plurality of monitoring ranges correspond one-to-one and determining the monitoring area.

Further, in the radar system according to the present invention, the plurality of antennas are four antennas located at four apexes of a quadrangle, and the plurality of monitoring ranges are
By making this quadrangle correspond to four regions obtained by equally dividing it into four quadrangles, highly reliable radar detection can be realized with a small number of antennas.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a radar system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an antenna arrangement and a monitoring area in the system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a method of displaying a received echo according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of radar echo in the display device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a radar system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a radar system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional radar system.

[Explanation of symbols]

1a, 1b, 1c, 1d ... Antenna, 2 ... Antenna drive control device, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d ... Circulator,
4a, 4b, 4c, 4d ... Radar transmitter, 5a, 5b,
5c, 5d ... Radar receiver, 6 ... Signal processing unit, 7 ... Display device, 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d ... Radar transceiver device, 9
... switch control unit, 10 ... transmission / reception switch, 11s, 11r,
12s, 12r, 13s, 13r, 14s, 14r ... Changeover switch

Continuation of front page (56) Reference JP-A-3-233382 (JP, A) JP-A-7-92251 (JP, A) JP-A-61-104275 (JP, A) JP-A-10-115680 (JP , A) JP-A-62-170862 (JP, A) JP-A-1-148986 (JP, A) JP-A-1-197685 (JP, A) JP-A-9-166662 (JP, A) JP-B 7-54354 (JP, B2) Japanese Patent Publication 6-93027 (JP, B2) Patent 2791929 (JP, B2) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01S ^7/ 00-7/42 G01S 13/00-13/95

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. The first antenna is provided between the first and second antennas.
First monitoring that radar waves are transmitted and received by the antenna of
Radar radio waves are transmitted and received by the range and the second antenna.
The second monitoring range to be received is preset and the first monitoring range is set.
In the direction of the first surveillance range from the antenna of
Radar having a monitoring range and the second antenna
In the system, the means for synchronously rotating the first and second antennas in the same direction so that mutual interference does not occur, and the directions of the synchronously rotating first and second antennas respectively, Means for determining whether or not the directions of the first and second monitoring ranges set in advance correspond to the first and second antennas, and based on the determination result, from the first antenna The first monitoring range
Timing of transmission and reception of radar radio waves to and from the second antenna
From the radar to the second monitoring range
The first and second antennas so that they are different from each other.
A plurality of transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving radar radio waves from the antenna, a combining means for combining a plurality of received echoes obtained from the plurality of transmitting / receiving means, and a means for visually displaying the combined echo. Characteristic radar system. 2. Further, it is provided with first and second switching means corresponding to the first and second antennas, wherein the switching means is a single transmission / reception means and the first and second switching means .
The radar system according to claim 1, wherein connection switching with the two antennas is performed. 3. The radar system according to claim 1, wherein the synthesizing unit transforms the coordinates of the received echo with reference to one of the first and second antennas. 4. The first to fourth antennas each have a rectangular shape.
Are placed at the four vertices of the area of
The 1st to 4th monitoring ranges, which are equally divided into the rectangular monitoring area
The synchronous rotation means is set in advance, and the synchronous rotation means
Two or more of the antennas are
The determination means is rotated synchronously so as not to turn into the area.
Is the direction of each of the first to fourth antennas that are rotating in synchronization
, It is determined whether it matches the first to fourth monitoring range
However, the transmitting / receiving means determines the first to fourth based on the determination result.
Select any one of the antennas
Characterized by transmitting and receiving radar radio waves from
The radar system according to claim 1, wherein: