JPH07181255A - Ship collision ground-hitting prevention system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a ship collision ground-hitting prevention system for preventing collision against the reef by detecting the depth and distance to a hazardous material such as unknown reef existing under water in the advancing direction rapidly, easily, and from far away. CONSTITUTION:An unmanned helicopter 2 mounted at a large transport ship 1 is allowed to fly remotely by a helicopter controller 1b, the depth to the water surface and to the bottom of the water and a current flight position based on the reflection of laser beams from the unmanned helicopter 2 are received on a ship, and then a sea-bottom information extraction means 1 receives the depth from the unmanned helicopter 2 and the current flight position and then displays them on CRT 1d. Then, when it is judged that the reef exists according to the depth, a cruising body 3 is allowed to cruise near the reef, the detailed information on the sea bottom or reel is obtained by ultrasonic waves, and then a sea-bottom shape calculation means 1g displays the reel or the sea bottom three-dimensionally based on the detailed information.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ship collision and grounding prevention system, and more particularly to a ship collision and grounding prevention system which can detect the shape of the seabed faster in order to safely navigate a reef or a narrow sea area.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a large vessel passes through a shallow sea with narrow reefs or a narrow waterway, experienced sailors steer the vessel while navigating it or when a large vessel enters or leaves a port. Since the seabed topography in the bay varies from port to port, pilots steer to prevent collisions with reefs, or when large ships pass through shallow waters with narrow reefs or narrow waterways.
A sonar installed near the bottom of the bow was used to detect reefs and prevent collisions with reefs. FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional ship collision grounding prevention device. In the figure, a ship collision grounding prevention device using sonar is illustrated. In the figure, reference numeral 40 denotes a control processing unit that outputs a pulse for emitting an ultrasonic wave, and obtains the distance between the ship and a reflecting object from the reflected sound wave, and 41 indicates when the pulse from the control processing unit 40 is output. An ultrasonic wave transmission circuit that transmits only the time corresponding to the pulse width, and 42 is an ultrasonic wave transmission circuit 42.
A power amplifier for amplifying a transmission signal from the power amplifier 43, a transmitter for emitting a sound wave based on the transmission signal from the power amplifier 42, a receiver 44 for receiving the sound wave, and a reference numeral 45 for receiving from the receiver 44 An amplifier that amplifies the signal, and a filter 46 that extracts a necessary signal from the reception signal output from the amplifier 45 and outputs the signal to the control processing unit 40. The wave receiver 44, the wave transmitter 43, the amplifier 45, the filter 46, and the power amplifier circuit 4
2. A sonar composed of an ultrasonic wave transmission circuit 41 and the like is attached near the bottom of the bow of the ship.

The operation of the conventional ship collision grounding preventive apparatus configured as described above will be described below. When the control processing unit 40 arranged in the steering room or the like of the ship outputs a pulse, the ultrasonic wave transmission circuit 41 transmits at a time corresponding to the pulse width, for example, at several tens of KHz, and the transmission signal is the power amplification circuit. To 42. The power amplifier circuit 42 amplifies the power of the transmitted signal and outputs it to the wave transmitter 43 mounted near the bottom of the bow, and the wave transmitter 43 outputs the power amplifier circuit 4.
Ultrasonic waves based on the transmission signal from 2 are emitted into the water.

When this ultrasonic wave propagates in water and hits a reflector such as a reef, the reflected sound wave generated thereby is captured by a wave receiver 44 mounted near the bottom of the bow. The reflected sound wave is converted into an electric signal by the wave receiver 44, is amplified by the amplifier 45, and is transmitted to the filter 4
At 6, only the necessary signals are taken out and sent to the control processing unit 40. The control processing unit 40 measures the time T from when the ultrasonic wave is emitted from the wave transmitter 43 to when it is received by the wave receiver 44, and based on this measured value, as shown in the following formula (1), I was looking for the distance between the ship and the reflector in the water. L = (C × T) / 2 ………………………… (1) L: Distance C: Speed of sound T: Transmission time

[0005]

In general, a sonar mounted on a ship has the following features:
Propagating while diffusing, reflection occurs on the shore, the sea surface, the seabed,
Since the complex propagation is repeated, the reverberation amount increases and it becomes impossible to distinguish whether the wave is a reflected wave from a reef. For this reason, the sonar is attached near the bottom of the bow as described above, and the directivity of the wave transmitter and the wave receiver is set to a direction toward the sea bottom with a predetermined angle. However, since the directivity of the wave transmitter and the wave receiver is set so as to be directed toward the seabed at a predetermined angle, the reflection object cannot be detected unless it approaches the reflection object such as a reef to some extent. That is, when a reef or the like is detected, the ship is approaching the reef and the distance between the reflector and the ship is short. In particular, when a large transport ship navigates in a place where the width of the waterway (route) is narrow or where there is a reef or the like and the water depth is shallow, even if the ship is stopped, it will move several tens of times the length. Therefore, there is a problem in that even if an attempt is made to stop due to the detection of a reef, it may not be in time. Further, a sound wave travels in water along a transmission path based on the water temperature and the like. For this reason, if the sonar's radiation axis is installed in front of the bow so that it is in the direction of travel of the vessel, the ultrasonic waves from that sonar will transmit where the water depth near the water surface is shallow, and will be complicated on the shore, sea surface, or seabed. However, there was a problem that it was difficult to distinguish whether it was a reef or a sea surface reflection. Furthermore, even if it is found that the reef is a reef, it travels in shallow water with a complicated transmission path, so it is not possible to know the route of the echo received. There was a problem that it was difficult. The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and during navigation of a ship, the depth and distance to a dangerous material such as a reef existing in the water in the traveling direction can be detected easily from a farther distance. The aim is to obtain a ship collision grounding prevention system that prevents collisions on reefs.

[0006]

A ship collision grounding prevention system according to the present invention flies by remote control to emit laser light, and based on the intensity of reflected light of the laser light, the first and second water surfaces. The depth of 1 is obtained, and an unmanned helicopter that transmits the first depth together with the current flight position and a remote control signal based on an operation signal for operating the unmanned helicopter are transmitted to the unmanned helicopter,
It is equipped with a first submarine search unit that receives and displays the first depth and current flight position transmitted from an unmanned helicopter, and a cross-shaped transducer array at the bottom to navigate underwater by remote control and cross-character transmission / reception. Driving a sound array to emit ultrasonic waves, determine the distance to the bottom of the water based on the received sound level of the reflected sound, and output this distance, the underwater current position, and the current self depth together. Body and a remote control signal based on an operation signal for operating the underwater vehicle, and sends to the vehicle the remote control signal, and receives the depth and current underwater position of the vehicle sent from the vehicle, A second seabed search unit that obtains and displays a second depth from the water surface to the seabed based on the depth and the distance, and obtains and displays the tertiary shape of the seabed based on the second depth and the current underwater position. It is equipped with and.

[0007]

In the present invention, an unmanned helicopter mounted on a ship is caused to fly by remote control, and the first depth to the water surface and bottom based on the reflected light of the laser light from this unmanned helicopter and the current flight position are set. Received above and received and displayed the first depth and current flight position from this unmanned helicopter. In addition, by launching a vehicle onboard the ship into the water and driving the array of cross-shaped transducers while the vehicle is navigating, the distance to the vehicle and the bottom of the water, the current position in water and the running In consideration of the depth of the body, the second depth from the water surface to the bottom of the sea is obtained based on the depth of the navigation body and the current position in water and the distance, and the second depth and the current position in water are obtained. The 3D shape of the seabed is calculated and displayed.

[0008]

1 is a conceptual diagram of a ship grounding collision prevention system of the present invention. In this case, the sea will be described as an example. In the figure, 1 is a large transport ship, 1a is a radio mounted on the large transport ship 1, 1b is a helicopter controller connected to the radio 1a, 1c is a helicopter position signal and a seabed from a received signal from the radio 1a. It is a seabed information extracting means for extracting the depth signal of and displaying it on the CRT 1d in a predetermined display format. These 1a to 1c are called the first seabed search unit.

Reference numeral 1e is a running body controller for controlling a running body, which will be described later, based on an operation signal, and 1f is a transmission means for outputting a control signal to the running body and receiving and outputting information from the running body. 1g is a seabed shape calculation means for three-dimensionally calculating the seabed shape from the information from the transmission means 1f and displaying it on the CRT 1d. 1h is a predetermined display format for extracting the position signal of the vehicle from the information from the transmission means 1f. And CRT1
It is a vehicle position display means to be displayed in d. This 1e
1h is called the second seabed search unit. 2 is an unmanned helicopter and 3 is an underwater remote control vehicle. In the figure, when the large transport ship 1 passes through a narrow waterway (or channel) or a place with shallow water, the unmanned helicopter 2 is flown above the channel so as not to stranded on a reef. A laser is emitted from the helicopter 2 to perform a primary wide-area search in the sea, and a remote-controlled underwater vehicle 3 is run in front of or in the sea of the route to use ultrasonic waves in the sea to perform a secondary search in the sea. It is a thing. First, the primary wide area search will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an unmanned helicopter. In the figure, 4 is a laser oscillator, 5 and 6 are concave and convex lenses that control the divergence angle of the laser beam from the laser oscillator 4, and 7 is a mirror that reflects the laser beam from the convex lens 6. Reference numeral 8 includes a mirror 9 that reflects the laser beam from the mirror 7, and a scanning unit that widens the search area by swinging the mirror 9 left and right, 13 is a laser condenser, 14 is a diaphragm mechanism, 15 is a convex lens, and 16 is An optical shutter, 17 is an interference filter, 18 is a photodetector that converts the reflected light from the interference filter 17 into an electric signal, 19 is a wireless device, and 20 is the sea surface to the seabed based on the intensity of the received signal from the photodetector 18. To a GPS (Gl
It is a global positioning system) receiver. The operation will be described below based on the above configuration. When the large-sized transport ship 1 enters a route that requires a seabed condition (for example, in a sea area where a reef or the like exists), the crew member of the large-sized transport ship 1 operates the helicopter controller 1b to fly the unmanned helicopter 2 via the radio 1a. And the sailor is the helicopter controller 1b
To fly in the traveling direction of the large transport ship 1 by wireless guidance through the wireless device 1a, and at least,
Fly in a sea area that is wider than the width of the large transport ship 1 while meandering.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of meandering flight of an unmanned helicopter. As shown in the figure, the unmanned helicopter 2 is flown in the traveling direction of the large-scale transport ship 1, and when it reaches a predetermined point, it is meandered and the helicopter controller 1b is operated to operate the unmanned helicopter 2 via the radio 1a. To send a measurement command signal. The unmanned helicopter 2 receives this measurement command signal by the wireless device 19, and outputs a trigger signal to the laser oscillator 4 when the wireless device 19 receives the measurement command signal. The laser oscillator 4 emits in response to a trigger signal, and repeatedly emits a blue-green laser to the sea area at high speed through the lens 5, the lens 6, the mirror 7, and the mirror 9 of the scanning unit 8. That is, the blue-green laser controls the divergence angle of the beam by the combination of the concave lens 5 and the convex lens 6, reflects it by the mirror 7, and emits it toward the sea from the mirror 9 of the scanning unit 8. Further, the scanning unit 8 widens the search sea area by swinging the mirror 9 left and right.

As a result, the blue-green laser light emitted from the unmanned helicopter 2 propagates in the air, part of the light is reflected on the sea surface, and most of the light is transmitted into the sea. Light transmitted through the sea is reflected by the seabed or a reef. Further, the laser beam has a small spot diameter on the sea surface, but is refracted when entering the sea, and is dispersed and spread in a funnel state. Then, the reflected laser light travels along the original optical path, exits from the sea, travels in the air, and enters the scanning unit 8 of the unmanned helicopter 2 due to the principle of reversibility of light. The reflected laser light from the scanning unit 8 enters the laser condenser 13, where the laser condenser 13 is condensed by the concave mirror, passes through the diaphragm mechanism 14, and unnecessary light from the outside is cut.
The convex lens 15 converts the light into parallel light, and the optical shutter 14 cuts the strong backscattered light. Subsequently, the interference filter 17 cuts light having an unnecessary wavelength, and only the reflected laser light from the laser light is detected by the light detection unit 18.
Enters and is converted into an electrical signal. Next, the depth calculator 20
Determines the height from the unmanned helicopter 2 to the seabed or a reef according to the level of this electric signal, performs a predetermined calculation to obtain the depth from the sea surface to the seabed or a reef, and outputs the result to the radio device 19. .

The radio device 19 is a GPS (Global Po
(positioning) The transmission data, which is a set of the position obtained by the receiver 22 and this depth, is transmitted to the large transport vessel 1.
Next, the radio 1a of the large transport ship 1 receives the transmission data from the unmanned helicopter 2 and outputs it to the seabed information extracting means 1c.
When the transmission data is input, the seabed information extraction means 1c corrects the change in the reception level due to the distance between the unmanned helicopter 2 and the large transport ship 1, and the S / N correction by high-speed return measurement to determine the depth to the seabed or a reef. And the position are extracted and displayed on the CRT 1d in a predetermined display format. For example, the present earth coordinates of the unmanned helicopter 2 are sequentially set as the position of the seabed or the reef at that time, and the depths at that time are set as a set and displayed numerically or graphically. Alternatively, the distance and direction between the large-sized transport ship 1 and the unmanned helicopter 2 may be obtained and the value may be displayed as the position. As a result, even if the operator sails in the sea area for the first time, the navigator of the large transport vessel 1 can three-dimensionally understand the sea floor of the sea area where there are reefs and the like.

However, the laser light from the unmanned helicopter 2 is attenuated by various factors when it enters the sea. Therefore, even if the convex portion of the reef can be detected, the state of the ridge line deeper than that may not be detected. Therefore, when a reef is detected by the unmanned helicopter 2 in the traveling direction of the large transport ship 1, the underwater remote control vehicle 3 is launched from the bow to perform a secondary search. The undersea remote control vehicle 3 is provided with an ultrasonic wave transmitter array (hereinafter simply referred to as a wave transmitter array) and an ultrasonic wave receiver array (hereinafter simply referred to as a wave receiver array) described below. Therefore, the wave transmitter array and the wave receiver array are collectively referred to as a wave transmitter / receiver array.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the directional characteristics of the handset array of the undersea remote control vehicle. As shown in the figure, the transducer array is provided at the bottom of the underwater remote control vehicle 3, and the transducer array and the transducer array have a cross-shaped structure in which they are offset from each other by 90 degrees. In addition, the transmitter array is
Consists of n transmitters in the direction in which the
Is composed of m wave receivers in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the navigation body 3 advances. Therefore, the ultrasonic transmission pulse is emitted as a fan-shaped transmission beam that is thin in the traveling direction and has a wide directivity in the direction orthogonal to the traveling direction. The wave receiving directivity of the wave receiver array is a fan-shaped directivity with a thick directivity in the traveling direction and a thin directivity in the direction orthogonal to the traveling direction.As shown in the figure, the shaded area where the transmitting wave and the receiving wave cross. The ultrasonic waves reflected by are received. FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of an undersea remote control vehicle. In the figure, 26 is a transmission unit in the undersea remote control vehicle 3, 27 is an arithmetic control unit, 28 is a transmission signal generator, and 29 is a signal from the transmission signal generator 28 divided into n channels. A power amplifier circuit for outputting to the wave transmitter array 30, 33 is an m channel receiver array, 34 is an amplifier for amplifying m channel received signals from the wave receiver array 33, 35 is an electronic scanning circuit, and 36 is A water pressure gauge, 37 is a depth detector, 38 is an INS (inertial navigation) device, and 39 is a position detection circuit.

The underwater remote control vehicle 3 as described above is launched from the bow based on an instruction from the large transport ship 1.
For example, when the unmanned helicopter 2 finds out where the reef is, it is fired to search the reef in detail, and when it reaches the vicinity of the reef, the seafarer makes a meandering and traveling direction by the navigation controller 1e. And the search instruction is input. This instruction is output to the transmission unit 1f. Transmission unit 1
f transmits a control signal in a predetermined format to the undersea remote control vehicle 3 via the connection cable 23. The transmission unit 26 passes a meandering instruction and a drive control signal such as a traveling direction to a steering control unit (not shown), and passes a search instruction to the arithmetic control unit 27. Also,
At this time, electric power for driving the motor is also sent from the large transport ship 1. The course of the vehicle is meandering in a range that covers the width of large transport vessels. The arithmetic control unit 27 outputs the search instruction to the transmission signal generator 28. Transmit signal generator 2
Each time the search instruction is input, the reference numeral 8 outputs the oscillation signal of the high frequency f1 to the amplifier 29 for a predetermined time. This transmission signal is power-amplified by the amplifier group 29 and output to the ultrasonic wave transmitter array 30.

The wave transmitter array 30 converts the electric energy of the electric signal of this signal into acoustic energy, and radiates it as an ultrasonic pulse into the sea with a fan-shaped directivity in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction. At this time, the electronic scanning circuit 35 changes the delay time to be added to the received signals electrically received by the m number of wave receivers 3 to swing the directivity of the wave receiver array 33 from left A1 to right Az, and , A2, ... Az The received wave shape at each point is stored in a memory (not shown). Next, the arithmetic control unit 27 determines that the ultrasonic wave radiated from the wave transmitter array 30 is reflected by the seabed or a reef, so that the wave receiver array 3
The distance L between the vehicle 3 and the seabed or reef is calculated by dividing the time t until the vehicle 3 is received by the sound velocity, and the depth detection circuit 37 determines the depth H of the vehicle 3 from the sea surface based on the output of the water pressure gauge 36. Ask for. Then, the arithmetic control unit 27 obtains the depth (depth) from the sea surface to the seabed or the reef based on the depth H of the navigation body 3 and the distance L to the seabed or the reef. For example, the depth H + the distance L = the depth from the sea surface to the sea bottom or a reef are obtained.

In this manner, the running body 3 meanders while advancing, and the depth from the sea surface to the sea bottom or a reef is obtained while performing the same measurement. In addition, the position detection circuit 39 of the navigation body 3
Detects the position obtained by the INS navigation from the INS device 38 and outputs it to the arithmetic control unit 27. The arithmetic control unit 27 sends out the position of the running body 3 to the large-sized transport ship 1 via the transmission unit 26 together with the depth from the sea surface to the seabed or the reef. The seafloor shape calculation unit 1g of the large transport ship 1 accumulates the depth to the seabed or a reef to create and display a three-dimensional shape of the seabed described below, and the officer can tell the It tells you in three dimensions whether it is in such a position. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a display screen displayed by the vehicle. As shown in the figure,
Since the reef or seabed is displayed in detail in three dimensions and is based on the distance axis, direction axis and depth axis, the situation of the reef or seabed with respect to the ship can be understood in detail, so the navigator can refer to this screen. When the large-sized transport ship 1 is made to travel, it is possible to safely navigate even if there is a reef or the like.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram for obtaining information on the seabed or a reef by wireless guidance. As shown in the figure,
Even if the large transport vessel 1 and the vehicle 3 are not connected by wire, if the vehicle is provided with a transmitter / receiver instead of a transmitter and an antenna on the back side, the large vehicle is wirelessly guided to the seabed or a reef. Information can be obtained. By doing so, no cable is required, and it is not necessary to equip the launching portion of the large-sized transport ship with a motor for winding the cable or the like, so that the system is inexpensive.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, an unmanned helicopter mounted on a ship is caused to fly by remote control, and the depth and flight to the water surface and the bottom of the water based on the reflected light of the laser light from this unmanned helicopter. When the current position is received on the ship, the depth from this unmanned helicopter and the current flight position are received and displayed, and when it is determined that the reef is a reef from that depth, a vehicle is placed near the reef. By navigating and obtaining detailed information on the seabed or reef by ultrasonic waves, and displaying the reef or seabed in three dimensions based on this detailed information, for example, a ship navigates in a narrow or reef water area. sometimes,
If the unmanned helicopter determines the location of a reef in advance and runs a vehicle in the vicinity of the reef, the navigator can inform the seabed or reef shape quickly and in detail. Since it is possible to know the position of the reef, it is possible to prevent the reef collision from occurring.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a ship grounding collision prevention system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an unmanned helicopter.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of meandering flight of an unmanned helicopter.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of directional characteristics of a transducer array of an undersea remote control vehicle.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of an undersea remote control vehicle.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a display screen displayed by the vehicle.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram for obtaining information on a seabed or a reef by wireless guidance.

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional ship collision grounding prevention device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Large Transport Ship 1a Radio 1b Helicopter Controller 1c Seabed Information Extraction Means 1e Vehicle Controller 1f Transmission Means 1g Seafloor Shape Calculation Means 1h Vehicle Position Display Means 2 Unmanned Helicopter 3 Underwater Remote Control Vehicle

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Flying under remote control to emit a laser beam, obtain a first depth to a water surface and a water bottom based on an intensity of a reflected light of the laser beam, and determine the first depth together with the current flight position. And a remote control signal based on an operation signal for operating the unmanned helicopter, the first depth and the current flight position transmitted from the unmanned helicopter. It is equipped with a first submarine search unit for receiving and displaying, and a cross-shaped transducer array at the bottom. It sails underwater by remote control, drives the cross-shaped transducer array to emit ultrasonic waves, and reflect it. Based on the sound receiving level of the sound, the distance to the bottom of the water is obtained, and based on an operation signal for operating the underwater vehicle, which outputs the distance and the current underwater position and the current depth of the self. Remote control signal to the above-mentioned vehicle Then, the depth of the vehicle and the current position in water sent from the vehicle are received, and the second depth from the water surface to the seabed is received based on the depth of the vehicle and the distance. And a second seabed search unit for determining and displaying the third shape of the seabed based on the second depth and the current underwater position, and the second seabed searching unit is mounted on the ship. .