JPH05312940A - Target tracking apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To decrease the number of signal lines for connecting a radar and ARPA. CONSTITUTION:As a display device 10, a raster scanning type display device is used. In correspondence with the display device, video, HS, VS and CLK are inputted from a radar 1. A target detecting circuit 11 detects the position and the size of a target based on the video by the counting operation of the CLK and the like. In comparison with the case wherein the polar-coordinate-type video is inputted from the radar 1, converted into the rectangular coordinate type and displayed on the screen of the display device 10, the number of the signal lines is decreased.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a collision prevention device (Automatic Radar Plotting Aid) mounted on a moving body such as that of the past.
: Hereinafter referred to as ARPA), and particularly to its target tracking device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to ensure the safe operation of a ship or the like and avoid a collision or the like, a target (another ship or the like) existing around the ship itself.
Is preferably detected, captured and tracked, and displayed on the display screen. By doing so, the operator can know that a dangerous target exists around the ship by looking at the screen of the display. ARPA has been conventionally known as a device that enables such warning.

FIG. 4 shows the structure of an ARPA according to a conventional example. The ARPA shown in this figure has a configuration in which the target course / speed table is omitted from the device disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-57426.

The ARPA shown in this figure inputs a video, a trigger, an azimuth signal and a bow signal from the radar 1. Of these, the video is a signal that is obtained by the radar 1 and represents the information related to the target. Further, the trigger is a signal indicating the transmission timing of the radio wave by the antenna, the azimuth signal is a signal indicating the azimuth of the antenna at the time of transmission and reception with reference to the heading or true north, and the bow signal is a signal indicating the heading with, for example, the true north reference. .. In the radar 1, an antenna (not shown) is installed at a place with a good view on the ship,
Radio waves are transmitted and received by this antenna. If the antenna transmits at a certain point and then the reflected wave from the target is received by the antenna, the time elapsed from transmission to reception represents the distance to the target, and when the radio wave is transmitted and received. , The azimuth of the antenna based on true north represents the true azimuth of the target. Therefore, the video is a signal that represents information about the target in polar coordinate format, and it is possible to display a radar image and perform target detection using this signal.

The video, trigger, heading signal and bow signal are input to the target detection circuit 2. Target detection circuit 2
Detects a target for which a significant reflected signal is obtained, based on the input signal. The target detection circuit 2 quantizes the video input from the radar 1, and when it is "H", detects it as a "hit". The target detection circuit 2 counts the number of hits in the video radial direction with reference to the transmission trigger, and also detects the number of hits in the azimuth direction. The target detection circuit 2 detects a target having a size equal to or larger than a predetermined value by determining the number of hits. Furthermore, the target detection circuit 2
Also performs noise removal and the like.

The target selection circuit 3 selects any one of the detected targets and sets it as a target for acquisition and tracking. For example, a significant target is automatically selected from the targets detected by the target detection circuit 2, or a target manually selected by the input device 6 such as a joystick or a trackball is instructed as a target for tracking. The acquisition and tracking circuit 4 acquires and tracks the target according to this selection, and the target course speed calculation circuit 5 connected to the subsequent stage calculates the target course and speed of the target being tracked.

On the other hand, in this conventional example, a display device 10 for displaying a radar image is provided. Video, direction signals and bow signals are input to the display 10 via the amplifier and level control circuit 9. The display 10 is
It is a display device capable of PPI display, and displays a radar image on the screen based on an input signal. Further, the target vector generation circuit 8 is connected to the display 10.

The target vector generation circuit 8 generates an image such as a vector based on the target course and speed calculated by the target course speed calculation circuit 5. That is, an image such as a vector is displayed on the screen of the display 10 based on the data obtained by the target course speed calculation circuit 5. Therefore, the ship operator or the like can know the information relating to the target course, speed, etc. by looking at the screen of the display device 10. In the figure, 7 is an operation panel operated by a ship operator or the like.

[0009]

However, the ARPA having the conventional structure has a problem that it is difficult to simplify the structure of the device and reduce the cost because many signal lines are related to the input from the radar. It was That is, in recent years, it has become common to use a raster scan type CRT or the like as a display device, but in order to use such a type of display device, in addition to the signals shown in FIG. (HS), vertical sync signal (VS), display clock (C
LK) etc. are required. Therefore, the number of signal lines is increased, and a module for that is also required. Further, a terminal board for that purpose is also required on the radar side.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and it is a radar and ARPA.
It is an object of the present invention to realize a simpler and lower cost ARPA by reducing the number of signal lines that connect to each other.

[0011]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a target detection circuit for inputting a raster scan type video from a radar, as well as HS, VS.
And CLK are input, and a target based on these input signals is detected. In addition, claim 2 of the present invention
The target detection circuit forms the HS based on the vertical synchronization timing as a reference to determine the target vertical position and size, and the horizontal synchronization timing as a reference to count CLK to determine the target horizontal position and size. Size,
Each is characterized by being detected.

[0012]

In the present invention, the raster scan type video is input from the radar to the target detection circuit. Further, together with this, HS, VS and CLK are input. HS is
Since the horizontal sync timing of the video, VS the vertical sync timing of the video, and CLK the dot timing, respectively, the target can be detected from the video based on these input signals. Further, at that time, it is not necessary to supply signals such as a trigger, an azimuth signal, and a bow signal from the radar to the target detection circuit. As a result, the number of signal lines connecting the radar and the target detection circuit decreases,
Along with this, a terminal board and the like are also unnecessary.

In the second aspect of the present invention, the target detection circuit detects the target position and size. At that time, the position and size in the vertical direction are detected by counting HS based on the vertical synchronization timing, and the position and size in the horizontal direction are CL based on the horizontal synchronization timing.
Detected by counting K. Therefore, in the present claim, the target is detected by the counting operation.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that the same components as those of the conventional example shown in FIG.

FIG. 1 shows an AR according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
The PA configuration is shown. As shown in this figure,
The present embodiment is different from the above-described conventional example in that the target detection circuit 11 inputs video, HS, VS, CLK and screen data from the radar 1. Further, instead of the target vector generation circuit 8, a target symbol, vector, and character data generation circuit 12 is used, and other symbols such as vectors, character data, etc. are displayed on the screen of the display 10.

The target detection circuit 11 has a quantization circuit 13 for inputting and quantizing video from a radar, as shown in FIG. 2, for example. A hit number counting circuit 14 is provided at the subsequent stage of the quantizing circuit 13, and the hit number counting circuit 14 counts the number of “hits” based on the output of the quantizing circuit 13 so that the target selecting circuit 3 The position and size of the target that is a candidate for selection are detected. This detection operation is executed by counting HS, VS and CLK.

That is, the horizontal position and size of the target are C from the horizontal synchronization timing represented by HS.
By counting the number of LKs, the target vertical position and size are detected by counting the number of scanning lines from the vertical synchronization timing represented by VS. The number of scanning lines can be obtained from the number of horizontal sync signals generated.

An interrupt control circuit 15 is provided after the hit number counting circuit 14. Interrupt control circuit 15
Is a processor 16 connected to the subsequent stage when the result of counting by the hit number counting circuit 14 satisfies a predetermined condition.
Is a circuit for generating an interrupt to the. Processor 1
Reference numeral 6 is a processor that incorporates the target selection circuit 3, the capture tracking circuit 4, the target course speed calculation circuit 5 and the like described above. In response to this interrupt, the processor 16 reads data from the buffer 17 provided in the subsequent stage of the hit number counting circuit 14 and performs processing such as target selection, acquisition and tracking, course and speed calculation. The buffer 17 is a buffer that stores the target video detected by the hit number counting circuit 14.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the number of signals supplied from the radar 1 to the ARPA target detection circuit 11 is
This is reduced despite the use of the raster scan type display 10. That is, signals such as a trigger, an azimuth signal, and a bow signal are unnecessary. Also on the radar 1 side, A
On the RPA side as well, connection terminals for these signals are targeted, and on the radar 1 side, the ARPA interface is also unnecessary. This is effective in that ARPA can be connected to any type of radar.

Further, on the ARPA side, the process of converting the video from polar coordinates to Cartesian coordinates becomes unnecessary. That is, when the polar coordinate format video is input as in the conventional example, the raster scan type display 10 of the raster scan type display 10 is required unless it is converted into the rectangular coordinate format using the trigger, the azimuth signal and the bow signal. Could not be displayed on the surface. However, in this embodiment, since the video in the rectangular coordinate format is input from the radar 1, this is not necessary. Normal,
In the radar 1, a video of a Cartesian coordinate type is generated in order to display a radar image, and in the present embodiment, this video is effectively used to realize the above effect. In addition, in the present embodiment, particularly when the video range is the short range, the effect of improving the resolution can be obtained.

FIG. 3 shows an AR according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
The internal structure of the PA, and in particular its target detection circuit 11, is shown. The target detection circuit 11 shown in this figure has a configuration in which the quantization circuit 13 is removed from the target detection circuit shown in FIG. That is, the quantization process is omitted by inputting digital data as video from the radar 1. Normally, the radar 1 has a frame memory for polar-orthogonal coordinate conversion. In this embodiment, data is directly read from the frame memory and handled as a video. Even in this case, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the Cartesian coordinate type video is input from the radar and the target is detected using this, the number of signal lines from the radar is reduced even though the raster scan type display is used, and the device configuration is reduced. It is possible to obtain effects such as simplification, cost reduction, and easy compatibility with various radars.

According to the second aspect, such an effect can be realized by the counting operation.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a target detection circuit in this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an ARPA according to a second embodiment of the present invention, particularly a target detection circuit thereof.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of ARPA according to a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Radar 3 Target Selection Circuit 4 Capture Tracking Circuit 5 Target Course Speed Calculation Circuit 6 Input Device 7 Operation Panel 10 Display 11 Target Detection Circuit 12 Target Symbol, Vector, Character Data Generation Circuit 13 Quantization Circuit 14 Hit Count Circuit 15 Interrupt Control circuit 16 Processor 17 Buffer

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A target detection circuit for detecting a target from a video input from a radar, a means for selectively capturing and tracking the detected target, and information about the target being captured and tracked is displayed on a display as an image. In the target tracking device, the target detection circuit inputs a raster scan format video from the radar, and outputs a horizontal synchronization signal indicating a horizontal synchronization timing of the video, a vertical synchronization signal indicating a vertical synchronization timing, and a dot. A target tracking device characterized by inputting a display clock indicating timing and detecting a target based on these input signals. 2. The target tracking device according to claim 1, wherein the target detection circuit counts the horizontal synchronization signal with reference to the vertical synchronization timing to determine the vertical position and size of the target with reference to the horizontal synchronization timing. The target tracking device is characterized by detecting the horizontal position and the size of the target by counting the display clocks.