JPH0763852A - Equipment for hydrospace detection - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To display the seabed and an underwater object in a wide range around a searcher's ship as a plane picture in one picture frame. CONSTITUTION:An array transducer 1, a transducer driving part 2a turning the transducer l stepwise, a receiver part 4 forming a reception beam for a sectorial vertical section on the basis of a reception signal from the transducer 1, a vertical section picture memory 9 storing data on a reception signal based on the reception beam with the horizontal direction and the depth from a searcher's ship used as addresses, a sampling circuit 10 reading out the data from the memory 9 by one line along the depth direction and detecting the depth of the seabed from a peak value of the data, a seabed data memory 11 storing the depth of the seabed, and a PPI picture drawing part 14 displaying the seabed as a partial PPI picture in a display unit 19 on the basis of the depth of the seabed obtained from the memory 11, are provided. According to this constitution, the result of search for a wide-range area around the searcher's ship can be displayed as a plane picture.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an underwater detection device,
In particular, the present invention relates to a device capable of displaying a search result in a wide area centering on the ship itself as a plane image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there are scanning sonar and searchlight sonar as a device for viewing an underwater object mainly in the horizontal direction of the ship. FIG. 1 shows a transducer used in this scanning sonar, and the beam forming by this transducer will be described. This wave transmitter / receiver T forms a cylindrical body in which n transducers T ₁ , T ₂ , T ₃ , ... During transmission, ultrasonic waves are transmitted in all azimuth directions by exciting all transducers, and when echoes are received by the ultrasonic waves, a row of transducers T in the vertical direction is transmitted.
A received beam having a desired tilt angle θ is formed by adding a predetermined amount of delay to each transducer Txx, with x ₁ , Tx ₂ , Tx ₃ , ... Txm as a group, and further, for example, 7 sets of each As shown in FIG. 2, by synthesizing phases of the receiving beams having the same depression angle formed by the transducer rows, as shown in FIG. 2, one receiving wave having a sharp directivity in the radial direction of the transducer row. Beam B is formed. By sequentially shifting the seven rows of transducers one by one, the received beam B is continuously formed along the surface of the conical body as shown in FIG.

[0003]

FIG. 4 shows a vertical cross-sectional view of the received beam in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 shows the seabed exploration region at this time, which is a donut shape centered on the ship Q. The area S is searched. The beam angle τ in FIG. 4 is
Usually, it is as narrow as about 10 °, and therefore, a search leak occurs in an area outside the beam. If the beam angle is widened as shown in FIG. 6 to avoid this inconvenience, since there is no angular resolution for the echo within the beam width, the objects A and B existing on the same radius circle centering on the own ship are present. Is PPI (plane)
They are displayed overlapping on the screen, so the horizontal distances ha and hb from the ship are unknown. Further, the object C located at a distance longer than the distance to the seabed directly below the ship is buried in the strong echo from the seabed directly below and cannot be recognized.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7, a semi-circular region S ₂ is searched for by scanning a vertical cross section passing directly below the ship Q using a transducer array. There is a type scanning sonar, a sector scanning sonar that scans a wide area in the vertical direction, and a searchlight sonar. According to this, a wide range of vertical cross-sections can be obtained, and the horizontal and vertical distances of objects located on the vertical cross-sections can be known, but only one specific direction is displayed on the display and the entire circumference of the ship. Is not meant to be displayed.

The "underwater detector" of Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 59-4674 makes it possible to search in all directions by turning the transducer used in FIG. 7 every time one vertical cross section is searched. However, the purpose was to display the object to be probed three-dimensionally and not to recognize all directions at a glance.

[0006] The "Underwater object display device" of Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-26876 can change the tilt angle of the scanning sonar and the searchlight sonar by sequentially changing the tilt angle each time the probe is searched along the surface of the cone. , Which is a sequential search in concentric circles centered on the ship itself.
In order to change the tilt angle by an electric circuit in the transmitter / receiver T shown in Fig. 3, the circuit configuration is complicated, and the tilt angle can be changed only in steps, so the azimuth resolution is not good. Due to the configuration of the above, it is not possible to search directly below. Moreover, although a wide area is searched, as shown in FIG. 8, what can be displayed on one screen is the "flat display section" S ₄
When is any "cross display unit" S ₅ through the object included in the display unit, also in this case, it was not able to confirm the wide area at a glance.

[0007] In addition, as a device for making a topographical map of a wide range of the seabed, there is a device for displaying the depth of the seabed topography of Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 64-30467, which scans in the course of the own ship's navigation. According to the above, the echo from the seabed is detected in the direction orthogonal to the navigation direction and only the seabed is displayed, but it is not possible to display the school of fish, etc., and the own ship (preferably stopped) is displayed. It was not possible to obtain information in all azimuth directions around the center.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an underwater detecting apparatus capable of displaying a wide range of depths of the seabed centering on the own ship and an underwater object as a PPI (planar) image.

[0009]

The first aspect of the present invention is the claim 1.
As described in 1., it is an underwater detection device that searches a wide area centering on its own ship and displays it as a plane image on the display, and an ultrasonic signal is transmitted to search an underwater cross section in an arbitrary direction. A wave transmitter / receiver (X ₁ ) for transmitting and receiving a wave, and a wave receiver / transmitter drive unit (X ₂ ) for intermittently rotating the wave transmitter / receiver at a predetermined step angle with the wave receiving / transmitting surface of the wave transmitter / receiver facing the bottom direction.
And a storage unit that stores a reception signal representing each underwater cross section captured by the wave transmitter / receiver, and the plane image is created based on the reception signal stored in the storage unit.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided:
It is an underwater detector that displays the exploration result for a wide area centering on its own ship on the display as a plane image on the display.It transmits ultrasonic waves in all directions and echoes it to the desired tilt. The transducer (Y ₁ ) that forms a receiving beam that swivels in all directions at an angle θ, and the tilt angles θ ₁ and θ ₂ each time the receiving beam swivels to search in the depth direction.
When the water is three-dimensionally explored by sequentially increasing θ ₃ , ... θn and repeating this, the first tilt angle (θ ₁ , θ
₂ , θ ₃ , ... θn), so that the same depth is searched for in the same azimuth φ at each tilt angle θ after the second time.
(θ ₁ ', θ ₂ ', θ ₃ ', ... θ n'), (θ ₁ ″, θ ₂ ″, θ ₃ ″,
... .theta.n "), and a tilt angle setting data generator for generating a data ... tilt angle of (Y _2), characterized in that to create the plane image according to each depth of the data obtained thereby.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention described in claim 1, as will be described in detail in the following embodiments, an array type transducer is used, and as shown in FIG. By scanning the received beam passing below Q and in the transducer array direction (arrow A) of the wave transmitter / receiver, a band-shaped region S ₁ (actually shown in FIG. 10 because the beam spreads laterally). For example, the depth of the water bottom is detected. Next, the transducer is slightly swirled (the transducer array direction of the transducer is changed), the exploration region is swiveled in the direction of arrow B, and then, as shown in FIG. The water bottom depth is detected for the region S ₂ . Every time a fan-shaped area is detected in this way, the water depth for the detection area is displayed on the display CRT as in FIG.
At the time when the transducer was turned 180 °, a circular search area S ₀ centered on the ship Q was detected all over, and as a result, as shown in FIG. A depth map of the water bottom Z is completed with a PPI image as if you were looking at.

As shown in FIG. 12, if the receiving / receiving beam of the wave transmitter / receiver is to be scanned from directly below to one side, the wave transmitter / receiver must be rotated 360 °.

Here, the water bottom is captured by simply detecting the maximum echo. However, as described in claim 2, a means for discriminating the data between the underwater object and the water bottom (specifically, the claim). (Set the data read range as described in 9.)
If it is provided, it is possible to display only the underwater object G as shown in FIG. 13, or to display the water bottom Z on the background portion outside the display area of the underwater object G as shown in FIG. it can.

The bottom Z of FIG. 11 and the underwater object G of FIG.
Can be displayed for each color according to the signal level or the depth information included in the signal, or can be displayed as a single shade of light and shade. H shown at the lower right of the display CRT in FIGS. 11 and 13 is a color bar indicating depth or echo level.

Further, as shown in FIG. 14, if the underwater object G and the water bottom W are displayed at the same time, the underwater object is color-coded according to its signal level, and the water bottom is displayed. Is easy to see if it is displayed in a different color depending on the depth information included in the signal.

Further, as described in claim 6, if the vertical sectional view F in the direction passing through the underwater object G is displayed together with the display E on the display CRT as shown in FIG. The depth relationship with the underwater object G can be easily grasped.

In the second invention described in claim 11, the ultrasonic transducer of the type shown in FIG. 1 is used, and as shown in FIG. Each time the received beam B makes one turn along the line, the tilt angle θ is sequentially increased to search in the vertical direction, and by repeating this, the water is searched three-dimensionally. The loci of exploration points on the underwater section in the direction of the arrow in the figure are shown by broken lines.

FIG. 16 is a detailed view of the search locus in the vertical cross section in FIG. 15. However, in order to simplify the explanation, here, the tilt angle is simply changed to two stages of θ ₁ and θ ₂ . . Probing points at the tilt angles θ ₁ and θ _{2 of the} received beam B are shown by P ₁₁ and P ₁₂ . Compared to QP ₁₁ length
The length of QP ₁₂ is long because of the time required for one turn of the received beam B. If the point P ₁₂ is searched, the tilt angle is returned to θ ₁ and then the point P ₂₁ is searched. At the tilt angle θ ₂ , the point P ₂₂ is searched.

As can be seen from this figure, even if the tilt angle is constant, the depths of the search points P ₁₁ and P ₁₂ are different, and it is inconvenient to use these detection data for three-dimensional display as they are. Is. Therefore, in the second invention, the tilt angle is changed from θ ₁ to θ ₁ ′ so that the point P ₂₁ ′ having the same depth as the point P ₁₁ is searched during the second vertical search. It is changing. Here, Q−P ₂₁ = Q−P ₂₁ ′ . Similarly,
The tilt angle is changed from θ ₂ to θ so that a point P ₂₂ ′ having the same depth as the point P ₁₂ is searched as the next search point.
It changes to ₂ '. Here is a _{Q-P 22 = Q-P} 22 '. Here, as described in claim 16, the data of the points P ₁₁ and P ₂₁ ′ at the same depth are stored in one iso-depth memory (52
-1), and the points P ₁₂ and P ₂₂ 'of the same depth store the data in another isobaric memory (52-2), and the points P ₁₁ and P ₁₂ are located above and below. , These data are stored at the same address in the memories (52-1) and (52-2), and the data at the points P ₂₁ 'and P ₂₂ ' are also stored in the memory (5
It is convenient for three-dimensional display if 2-1) and (52-2) are stored at the same address. The method of displaying the data stored in these isobaric memories will be described in detail in the following embodiments.

Also in the second invention, as described in claims 12 to 14, as in the first invention, the water bottom and the underwater object are displayed in different colors or shades according to the signal level and the depth information. You can

The wave transmitter / receiver (X ₁ ) and the wave transmitter / receiver driving object (X ₂ ) according to claim 1 of the first invention, and the wave transmitter / receiver (Y ₁ ) and tilt angle setting data according to claim 11 of the second invention. As a result, the same function as that of the generation unit (Y ₂ ) is performed. That is, as described in claim 17, it functions as a wave transmitting / receiving means for exploring a conical region having the wave transmitter / receiver underwater as the apex.

[0022]

FIG. 17 is a control block diagram showing an embodiment of the device according to the first invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes a wave transmitter / receiver for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, and FIG. 18 shows the wave transmitter / receiver 1 and its swivel mechanism 2. In FIG. 18, the wave transmitter / receiver 1 has a rectangular shape as shown in FIG. 19 of a plan view, and a plurality of transducers 1A are arranged in an array. The transducer 1 is driven by the motor M via the reduction gear G,
It is possible to turn. In this transmitter / receiver 1, by giving a constant delay amount or phase shift amount between the adjacent transducers to the received signal of each transducer 1A, the echo signal from the specific direction As a result of the phases of the received signals of the transducers 1A being aligned, a received beam is formed in that specific direction. Therefore, by continuously changing the delay amount, the received beam is scanned over the fan-shaped region that passes through the direction directly below the transducer 1 and extends in the transducer array direction of the transducer 1. You can

Reference numeral 2a is a wave transmitter / receiver drive unit for driving the motor M. 3 is each transducer 1A of the wave transmitter / receiver 1.
Is a transmission unit that supplies a drive signal for ultrasonic transmission, and supplies a drive signal that can obtain a wide range of directivity. Reference numeral 4 is a receiver for amplifying / detecting the signal received by the transmitter / receiver 1 and for giving a predetermined delay amount to each detection signal from each transducer 1A in order to scan the reception beam as described above. It is a department. Reference numeral 5 denotes a transmission / reception system control unit that controls the transmission unit 3 and controls the above-described reception unit.

Reference numeral 6 is an A / D converter for converting the received signal obtained from the receiving section 4 from analog to digital, and the converted digital signal is stored in the buffer memory 7. Reference numeral 8 denotes a coordinate conversion unit for converting the polar coordinate system data D (r, θ) into the Cartesian coordinate system data D (X, Y). The converted data is a two-dimensional array vertical section memory. 9 and the vertical section video memory 9a.
These A / D converter 6, buffer memory 7 and coordinate converter 8 operate in synchronization with the clock from the transmission / reception system controller 5.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a sampling circuit. When data for one vertical section is stored in the vertical section image memory 9, data is read from the vertical section image memory 9 line by line in the depth direction, and each line is read. Peak value of data for each
(Echo from the sea floor) is detected. Reference numeral 11 is a seabed data memory that stores a depth address when the sampling circuit 10 detects a peak value.

Reference numeral 12 is a display system control unit, which is an operation unit 13.
Based on various display data set and input by the above, setting data such as turning range and depth are supplied to the transmission / reception system control unit 5, and sampling range (depth) is supplied to the sampling circuit 10, respectively. Further, the depth data received from the seabed data memory 11 is supplied to the PPI image drawing unit 14, and the character / symbol drawing unit 15 is sent a signal for a character or a symbol to be displayed on the display 19 described later. Further, the display system control unit 12 is provided with a memory 12a for storing the setting data. Reference numeral 16 denotes a P that stores the display data of the PPI image created by the PPI drawing unit 14.
Reference numeral 17 is a PI image video memory, and 17 is a character / symbol image video memory for storing character and symbol image data created by the character / symbol drawing unit.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a video signal conversion unit which converts the video data from the video memories 9a, 16 and 17 into color data or grayscale data for each depth. Reference numeral 20 denotes each of the video memories 9a, 16 and 17 and the video signal converter 18
Is a video clock unit that supplies a clock to the.

The operation of the apparatus having the above structure will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, as an initial setting, in step S1, the operation unit 13 sets L ₁ to L ₂ in the depth range to be searched, the step turning angle of the wave transceiver 1, and the like. Here, if the seabed is to be detected, FIG.
As shown in 1, the L _2, using a larger value L ₂ than the depth L ₀ of the seabed Z and Oyowaka'. In the next step S3, ultrasonic waves are transmitted over a wide range from the transducer 1. In step S4, as shown in FIG. 21, the received beam is scanned with respect to the fan-shaped region that passes directly below the ship Q, so that the echo in this fan-shaped region is received. The detection data D received one after another by such scanning is converted from the polar coordinate system (r, θ) to the orthogonal coordinate system (X, Y) by the coordinate conversion unit 8, and the vertical cross section memory 9 and the vertical cross section It is stored in the image video memory 9a.
When the data for one vertical section is stored in the vertical section image memory 9, the process proceeds from step S5 to step S6.

FIG. 22 shows the memory contents of the two-dimensional array vertical section memory 9. In step S6, the sampling circuit 10 sequentially reads data line by line in the depth direction (vertical direction in the drawing) from the address 1 in the memory 9, and in step S7, the depth is detected from the echo peak value detection timing in each line. To be detected. At the addresses 1 to 10, only the seabed Z is detected as a peak value. At the address 11, echo data D _{2 of the} school of fish is also detected, but the echo from the seabed Z has a stronger level. An echo from the seabed Z is detected as a peak value. In step S8, the seabed depth detected in this way is stored in the seabed data memory 11.

When all the lines of data are read from the vertical section image memory 9, the process proceeds from step S9 to step S10, and the display unit 19 is drawn by a drawing method in which the seabed in one vertical section image is displayed by color (or shade) by depth. Is displayed in. If the region S _{1 in} FIG. 10 is detected this time, the depth in this region S ₁ is displayed on the display 19 in the shape of an elongated fan as in FIG. 10.

When the seabed for one vertical cross-section image is displayed in this way, the process returns to step S2, and the transducer 1
Is rotated by a predetermined step angle, the same operation as described above is performed on the area S ₂ shown in FIG. 10, and this operation is repeated, so that the display 19 shown in FIG. In this way, the PPI image of the seabed Z, which looks like when the wide-area seabed is viewed from the ship Q, is completed.

However, in this display, only the seabed Z is displayed, and the existence of a school of fish cannot be known. Therefore, if the image F of one vertical cross-section, which is directly supplied from the vertical cross-section video memory 9a to the video signal conversion unit 18, is displayed together with the PPI display E as shown in FIG.
You can grasp the positional relationship with. The echo level of the school of fish G in this one vertical sectional image F is displayed by the color indicated by the color bar H '. In addition, this 1 vertical section image F is
It may be the direction of the desired direction, or may be the latest data detected at the end.

In the above embodiment, the depth L is set in step S1.
With deeper than seabed depth L ₀ as _2, has been displaying the depth by detecting the seabed, as L _2, FIG. 21
L ₂ shown in 'as, if shallower than seabed depth L _0, during a memory read in FIG. 22, L ₁ -L _2'
Since only the data up to is read out, only the echo from the underwater fish school is detected as the peak value of the detected echo,
Therefore, the depth data of the school of fish is stored in the seabed data memory 11, and therefore, the school of fish G is displayed as a PPI image on the display 19 in color (or shade) as shown in FIG. . The sea level data memory 11 stores the echo level at the time of peak detection so that the fish school G
May be displayed in color (or shade) according to the strength of the echo level.

Also, since only the fish school G is displayed in FIG. 13, the positional relationship with the seabed cannot be understood. Therefore,
Also in this case, the positional relationship between the school of fish and the seabed can be known by additionally writing the one vertical sectional view F as shown in FIG. 14 in the display of FIG.

In order to display only the school of fish with the device of FIG. 17, it was necessary to know the seabed depth L ₀ in advance, but the school of fish and the seabed were automatically identified, and therefore only the seabed, only the school of fish,
FIG. 23 shows a control block diagram of a device that enables the display of and (seabed + fish school). In FIG. 23, in place of the seabed data memory 11, the seabed data memory 11A for storing the depth of the data peak value and the underwater data memory 11B for storing the data peak value are provided.

When only the seabed is displayed in the apparatus of FIG. 24, the flow of FIG. 20 may be executed. Here, the control operation for displaying only the school of fish will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 24 and 25. As an initial setting, in step S21, the operation unit 13 is used to search for a depth range L.
₁ to L _2, and inputs information such as steps pivot angle of the transducer 1. In step S22, it is determined whether or not the seafloor depth L ₀ has been recognized. If not, the seafloor depth is detected in step S23. The details are shown in the flow of FIG.

In FIG. 25, if the wave is transmitted in step S41 and the data for one vertical section received in step S42 is stored in the vertical section image memory 9, the process proceeds from step S43 to step S44. , Is read from the memory 9 according to the depth range L ₁ to L ₂ , the depth of the data peak value is detected for each line in the depth direction, and is stored in the seabed data memory 11A in step S46. When the data reading of all lines is completed in this way, the process proceeds from step S47 to step S48, and the seafloor depth L ₀ immediately below the own ship Q is recognized. In the next step S49, L ₂ = L ₀ −α = L ₂ ′ is adopted as the depth L ₂ . Here, α is a value set so that the seabed Z spreading in the depth direction on both sides is not read as shown in FIG.
In this way, the divergence in the depth direction on both sides is that even if the angle of the receiving beam is constant, the divergence of the receiving beam at both sides where the incident angle to the seabed becomes shallower than the true depth. This is because there is an echo on the top.

From step S49, the process proceeds to step S28 in FIG. Here, again, one line at a time is read from the vertical sectional image memory 9 in the depth direction. However, since the depth range at that time is L ₁ to L ₂ ′, the echo data of the seabed Z is excluded so that the underwater object is extracted. Is read out, and the data peak value is stored in the underwater data memory 11B in step S29.

When data reading is completed for all lines in this way, steps S31 to S32
The echo level of the school of fish included in one vertical cross-sectional image is drawn by PPI on the display device 19 by using a shading method by color or by a single color, and then the process returns to step S24, and the transducer 1 performs steps. It is turned by an angle, and the same operation as described above is executed for the next one vertical sectional view, thus completing the PPI drawing.

When displaying a school of fish with an echo level, the depth of the school of fish is unknown, and in that case, a vertical cross-sectional view F of a direction crossing the school of fish as shown in FIG. 14 is also shown. do it. If the depth of the data peak value is stored in the underwater data memory 11B, the school of fish can be displayed with the depth information.

Next, the control operation for simultaneously displaying the seabed and the school of fish will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
As an initial setting, in step S51, the operation unit 13 inputs information such as the depth range L ₁ to L ₂ to be searched and the step turning angle of the wave transmitter / receiver 1. If the data is transmitted in the next step 53 and the data for one vertical section received in step S54 is stored in the vertical section image memory 9, the process proceeds from step S55 to step S56 and the depth range L ₁
To L ₂ are read from the memory 9 and the depth of the data peak value is detected for each line in the depth direction and stored in the seabed data memory 11A in step S58.

When the data reading of all the lines is completed in this way, the process proceeds from step S59 to step S60, and the depth of the seabed included in one vertical cross-section on the display 19 based on the data of the seabed data memory 11A. Thus, the PPI drawing is performed, and in step S61, the seabed depth L ₀ immediately below the own ship Q is recognized from this seabed data. In the next step S62, the depth L2 is L ₂ =
L ₀ −α = L ₂ ′ is adopted. In the next step S63, the lines are read from the vertical sectional image memory 9 line by line again in the depth direction, and the depth range at that time is L ₁ to L ₂
Since (= L ₀ −α), only the echo data from the underwater object is read, and its peak value is stored in the underwater data memory 11B in step S65.

When the data reading for all lines is completed in this way, steps S66 to S67 are performed.
Then, the echo level information of the school of fish is preferentially displayed so that the PPI image on the seabed corresponding to one vertical sectional image drawn on the display 19 is filled from above. After that, the process returns from step S68 to step S52, the transducer 1 is swung by the step angle, the same operation as described above is executed for the next one vertical section, and this operation is repeated until the entire PPU drawing is completed. Be done.

Here, in order to clearly distinguish the display of the school of fish and the seabed from each other, for example, the school of fish is displayed in different colors according to the echo level thereof, and the seabed is displayed in white depending on its depth.
It is recommended to display the change in gray-black density.

FIG. 27 shows an embodiment of the control block of the device according to the second invention. Reference numeral 30 denotes a control unit that controls the apparatus as a whole. 31 is a transducer of the type shown in FIG. 1, and 32a, 32b, ... 32n are
The vertical row of transducers is shown, and these are arranged in an annular shape. 33 is a trigger signal T supplied from the control unit 30.
In response to the above, it is a transmitter that gives a drive signal for ultrasonic transmission to each transducer. 34a to 34n form a received beam having a desired tilt angle by aligning the phases by giving a predetermined delay amount or phase shift amount to the received signals from the individual oscillators constituting each oscillator row 32. This is a vertical phase synthesizing circuit.

By each of these vertical phase synthesizing circuits 34,
Received beams traveling in the normal direction are formed at desired tilt angles, and phase synthesis is performed for each desired azimuth in order to synthesize these n received beams into a received beam in a desired azimuth. M consecutive vertical phase synthesizing circuits 3 of interest
The switching circuit 35 sequentially selects the signals from No. 4 and No. 4. Reference numeral 36 is a horizontal phase synthesizing circuit that forms a received beam having a desired azimuth and a desired tilt angle by aligning the phases of the m received signals selected by the switching circuit 35.

Reference numeral 37 denotes a distance clock counter, which counts up each time it receives a turning end signal S output from the control unit 30 each time the received beam turns, and outputs a count value R thereof. The count value of the trigger signal T is reset by inputting the reset signal. This count value R is proportional to the distance to the detection point. 38
Is a tilt angle setting data generation unit, and as described with reference to FIG. 16, the tilt angle θ of the received beam is set so that the reception beam tip (detection point) has a desired depth with respect to the count value R. 3 is a tilt angle setting data generating unit that generates the data of 1. Reference numeral 39 denotes a phase correction signal generation unit, which is based on the tilt angle setting data θ and is used for each vertical phase synthesizing circuit 3
4 is given a predetermined delay amount.

Reference numeral 40 is a detection circuit for detecting the signal of the received beam obtained by the horizontal phase synthesizing circuit 36, and 41 is
It is a comparator that outputs 1 or 0 depending on whether or not the detected signal is larger than a specified value. The output of the comparator 41 is the depth switch 5 shown in FIG.
Sent to 1.

In FIG. 28, a changeover switch 51
Is composed of N sets of switches, and each switch is connected to the equi-depth layer memories 52-1 to 52-N. 53 is
It is a data writing circuit for each iso-depth layer memory 52. The tilt angle setting data generation unit 3 and R, which is output from the distance counter 37 in FIG. 27 and indicates the distance to the detection point,
The tilt angle θ output from 8 indicates the depth D at the current detection point by D = Rsin θ, but the depth select 54 determines that one of the equi-depth layer memories 52 of the corresponding depth is based on this depth D. The switching switch 51 is driven so as to be selected. Reference numeral 55 is a horizontal distance calculation unit that obtains the horizontal distance L from the distance signal R to the detection point by L = Rcos θ / r ₀ . Here, r ₀ is for normalizing the horizontal distance L to a desired value. The horizontal distance L and the azimuth signal φ output from the control unit 30 in FIG. 28 are given as a write address to the equi-depth layer memory 52.

Reference numeral 56 is a data read circuit for reading data from the equi-depth layer memory 52 for each equi-depth, and depth selection for driving the changeover switch 57 so as to read data sequentially from the equi-depth layer memory 52-N having the maximum depth. 58
And a read address circuit 59 for generating a read address of the azimuth φ and the horizontal distance L for each selected iso-depth layer memory 52. Reference numeral 60 denotes the equi-depth layer memory 5
2 is a video signal conversion unit that converts the data read from No. 2 into color data for each depth and supplies the color data to the display 61.

Here, the tilt angle θ generated by the tilt angle setting data generating section 38 will be described. P shown in FIG.
FIG. 29 shows the output of the tilt angle setting data generating section 38 when searching as ₁₁ (tilt angle θ ₁ ) → P ₁₂ (θ ₂ ) → P ₂₁ (θ ₁ ) → P ₂₂ (θ ₂ ). . In FIG. 29, the tilt angles θ are θ ₁ , θ ₂ , ... While turning the received beam B n times.
The exploration point moves in the depth direction by stepping up stepwise with θn (this series of exploration is called one vertical exploration cycle). The same operation is repeated in each subsequent vertical search cycle.

On the other hand, P ₁₁ (tilt angle θ ₁ ) → P ₁₂ (θ ₂ ) → P
The _{21 '(θ 1') →} P 22 '(θ 2') present invention to probe as described,
As shown in FIG. 30, although the data of the tilt angle θ to be stepped up is output for each vertical exploration cycle, each vertical exploration cycle elapses so that the exploration points have the same depth in each vertical exploration cycle. Moreover, the amount of step-up is gradually decreasing.

According to the tilt angle θ thus output,
Exploration points P ₁₁ , P ₂₁ 'of the same depth shown in FIG. 16 ...
Survey data D _11, D ₂₁ '... are stored in an equal depth layer memory 52-1 also search point P ₁₂ of the same depth under the first layer, P _22' in the search data D ₁₂ in ..., D ₂₂ ' …
It is stored in the equi-depth layer memory 52-2, and the search points P ₁₁ and P ₁₂ are stored as a same point in the vertical direction at a common address (that is, horizontal distance L and azimuth φ). The same is true for points P ₂₁ 'and P ₂₂ '.

Therefore, in this way, the equi-depth layer memory 5 is
The exploration data stored in No. 2 is sequentially read from the equi-depth layer memory 52-N by the changeover switch 57, and the color display according to the depth is displayed as the seabed depth map as shown in FIG. If the data of the school of fish is stored in the mid-depth layer memory 52-X on the way, the school of fish is overlaid on the seabed display of FIG. At that time, the display of the school of fish is
Color display or gray scale display can be performed according to the echo level or depth.

[0055]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, every time the array type transducer is sequentially turned by a predetermined angle, the fan-shaped vertical cross-sectional area is searched below the ship. Since a wide area around the ship is explored and the depth of the water bottom obtained by this is displayed as a PPI image, it is possible to recognize the wide depth of the water bottom centered on the ship at a glance. . If the underwater data and the water bottom data are separately read from the detection data for the exploration information in the first aspect of the invention, the depth of the water bottom and the underwater object such as a school of fish can be simultaneously PPI-displayed on one display. You can In the second invention, a cylindrical transducer is used,
When the tilt angle is increased each time the received beam is swung to search in the vertical direction, the tilt angles are set so that the depth is equal in each vertical search. Separately, the seabed and underwater data can be stored, and based on this data, the progress of the seabed can be displayed or the depth of the seabed and underwater objects such as a school of fish can be simultaneously displayed on one display, as in the first invention. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a cylindrical transducer used in the third invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a receiving beam formed by each transducer row in the vertical direction of the transducer of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a region of a surface of a cone which is probed by the transducer of FIG.

4 is a diagram showing a vertical section in the exploration of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an exploration region on the seabed in the exploration of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing that an underwater object cannot be separated or discriminated when a receiving beam having a wide beam width is used.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an exploration area of a vertical cross section by a transducer.

FIG. 8 is a display diagram showing an example of simultaneously displaying a conventional planar display and a cross-sectional display.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a search area by the linear array type transducer used in the first invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a search area when the transducer used in FIG. 9 is turned.

FIG. 11 is a display diagram showing a display example of the seabed obtained by the device of the first invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a modification of the exploration method of FIG. 9.

FIG. 13 is a display diagram showing a display example of a school of fish obtained by the device of the first invention.

FIG. 14 is a display example in which one vertical cross-section is also shown in addition to the PPI display of the seabed and fish school.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing scanning of a received beam in the second invention.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a vertical cross section of an exploration region made by receiving beam scanning in FIG.

FIG. 17 is a control block diagram showing one embodiment of the underwater detection apparatus of the first invention.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a wave transmitter / receiver used in the apparatus of FIG. 17 and a drive unit thereof.

FIG. 19 is a plan view of the transducer of FIG.

20 is a flowchart showing the control operation of the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a state in water which is searched by one scanning by the transducer of FIG.

22 is a diagram showing reading of data stored in the vertical sectional image memory of FIG.

FIG. 23 is a control block diagram showing a second embodiment of the underwater detection apparatus of the first invention.

FIG. 24 is a flow chart showing a control operation when PPI display is performed only on a school of fish with the device of FIG. 23.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart showing details of seabed depth detection in the flowchart of FIG. 24.

FIG. 26 shows a PPI of the seabed and a school of fish with the device of FIG.
Flow chart showing the control operation when displaying

FIG. 27 is a control block diagram showing one embodiment of the underwater detection apparatus of the second invention.

FIG. 28 is a control block diagram showing one embodiment of the underwater detection device of the second invention.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing a tilt setting angle when searching P ₁₁ , P ₁₂ , P ₂₁ ... Shown in FIG. 16 with the apparatus of FIGS. 27 and 28.

30 is a diagram showing tilt set angles when P ₁₁ , P ₁₂ ′, P ₂₁ ′ shown in FIG. 16 are searched by the apparatus of FIGS. 27 and 28.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 wave transmitter / receiver 2 wave transmitter / receiver swivel mechanism 2a wave transmitter / receiver drive unit 3 transmitter 4 receiver 5 transmitter / receiver control unit 6 A / D converter 7 buffer memory 8 coordinate converter 9 vertical cross section memory 9a vertical cross section Video memory 10 Sampling circuit 11 Seabed data memory 11A Seabed data memory 11B Underwater data memory 12 Display system control unit 13 Scanning unit 14 PPI image drawing unit 15 Character / symbol drawing unit 16 PPI image video memory 17 Character / symbol image video memory 18 Video Memory signal conversion unit 19 Display device 20 Video clock unit 32 Transducer array 33 Transmission unit 34 Vertical phase synthesis circuit 35 Switching circuit 36 Horizontal phase synthesis circuit 37 Distance counter 38 Tilt angle setting data generation unit 39 Phase correction signal generation unit 40 Detection circuit 41 Comparator 51 Changeover switch 52 Depth layer memory 53 the data write circuit 54 depth select 55 horizontal distance calculator 56 the data read circuit 57 the changeover switch 58 depth selector 59 address circuitry

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location 9382-5J G01S 7/62 Z 8113-5J 15/96 (72) Inventor Genji Mori Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture Furano Electric Co., Ltd. 9-52, Ashihara-cho, Yokohama (72) Inventor Hiroyasu Fujimoto 9-52 Ashihara-cho, Nishinomiya-shi, Hyogo Prefecture Furuno Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoshinaga Tominaga 9 Awara-cho, Nishinomiya-shi, Hyogo No. 52 Inside Furuno Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tatsuo Hayashi 9-52 Ashihara-cho, Nishinomiya-shi, Hyogo Inside Furuno Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (17)

[Claims] 1. An underwater detection apparatus for exploring a wide area centering on the ship and displaying it as a plane image on a display, wherein an ultrasonic signal is transmitted so as to explore an underwater cross section in an arbitrary direction. A transducer (X ₁ ) for transmitting and receiving, and a transducer driving unit (X ₂ ) for intermittently turning the transducer at a predetermined step angle with the transmitting and receiving surface of the transducer facing the bottom of the water. And a storage unit that stores a reception signal representing each underwater cross section captured by the transducer, and the above-mentioned plan view is created based on the reception signal stored in the storage unit. Detection device. 2. A means for identifying data of an underwater object and a water bottom included in a signal captured by the transmitter / receiver from each other, thereby displaying only the water bottom, displaying only the underwater object, or displaying the underwater object. The underwater detecting device according to claim 1, wherein the bottom of the water is displayed on the background. 3. The underwater detection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein only the bottom of the water or only the underwater object is displayed in different colors or in shades according to the signal level based on the captured signal. 4. The underwater detection device according to claim 2, wherein only the bottom of the water or only the underwater object is displayed in different colors or in shades based on the depth information included in the signal based on the captured signal. 5. When displaying a water bottom and an underwater object based on the captured signal, the underwater object is displayed in different colors according to its signal level, and the water bottom is displayed in different colors according to depth information included in the signal. The underwater detection device according to claim 2, wherein the light and shade are displayed by color. 6. The underwater detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one vertical sectional view in an arbitrary direction is additionally shown on the display of the plan view in order to know the positional relationship between the water bottom and the underwater object. 7. The underwater detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wave transmitter / receiver is mounted on a moving object. 8. An underwater detection device for exploring a wide area centering on the ship and displaying it as a plane image on a display, wherein a plurality of transducers are arranged in an array to transmit and receive waves. Bowl (1)
And a wave transceiver rotating mechanism part (2) for rotating the wave transceiver (1) so as to change the direction of the wave transceiver (1), and an ultrasonic signal transmitted by the wave transceiver (1). By giving a predetermined delay amount or phase shift amount to the received signal,
A receiving unit (4) that forms a receiving beam with respect to a fan-shaped vertical section that passes below the own ship, and the data of the received signal obtained by the receiving beam is addressed in the horizontal direction and depth from the own ship. And a vertical cross-section memory (9) for storing the data, and the sea bottom depth from the read timing of the data peak value in each line when data is read line by line from the vertical cross-section memory (9) along the depth direction. Sampling circuit (10) for detection and seabed data memory (11) for storing the detected seabed depth
And a PPI image drawing unit (14) for displaying the seabed as a partial PPI image on the display unit (19) based on the seabed depth read from the seabed data memory (11). An underwater detection apparatus characterized in that a PPI image is completed by drawing a partial PPI image each time the vehicle turns. 9. When reading data from the vertical sectional image memory (9), a read depth range is designated,
The underwater detecting apparatus according to claim 8, wherein data of an underwater object other than the seabed is sampled and stored in the seabed data memory (11). 10. An underwater detection device for exploring a wide area centering on a ship of interest and displaying it on a display as a plane image, wherein a plurality of transducers are arranged in an array to transmit and receive waves. Bowl (1)
And a wave transceiver rotating mechanism part (2) for rotating the wave transceiver (1) so as to change the direction of the wave transceiver (1), and an ultrasonic signal transmitted by the wave transceiver (1). By giving a predetermined delay amount or phase shift amount to the received signal,
A receiving unit (4) that forms a receiving beam with respect to a fan-shaped vertical section that passes below the own ship, and the data of the received signal obtained by the receiving beam is addressed in the horizontal direction and depth from the own ship. And a vertical cross-section memory (9) for storing the data, and the sea bottom depth from the read timing of the data peak value in each line when data is read line by line from the vertical cross-section memory (9) along the depth direction. A sampling circuit (10) for detection and a seabed data memory (11) for storing the detected seabed depth.
A) and a sampling circuit based on the seabed depth stored in the seabed data memory (11A) so as not to read the seabed.
The underwater data memory (11B) that stores the depth or peak value of the underwater object obtained by reading it again from the vertical sectional image memory (9) by (10) and the underwater data read from the underwater data memory (11B). Partial PPI on the display (19) based on depth or peak value
An underwater object is displayed as an image, and a background outside the display area of the underwater object is displayed as a partial PPI image based on the seabed depth read from the seabed data memory (11). 14), and an underwater detection device characterized by completing a PPI image by drawing a partial PPI image every time the transducer (1) is turned. 11. An underwater detection apparatus which displays a search result for a wide area centering on its own ship on the display as a plane image on the display, which transmits ultrasonic waves in all directions, A transducer (Y ₁ ) that forms a received beam that turns in all directions with an echo having a desired tilt angle θ, and every time the received beam turns once to search in the depth direction,
When the tilt angle is sequentially increased to θ ₁ , θ ₂ , θ ₃ , ... θn, and this is repeated to search the water three-dimensionally, the first tilt angle (θ ₁ , θ ₂ , θ ₃ , ... θn ), At each tilt angle θ from the second time onward, (θ ₁ ′, θ ₂ ′, θ ₃ ′, ... θn ′), so that the same depth is searched in the same azimuth φ.
(θ ₁ ″, θ ₂ ″, θ ₃ ″, ... θn ″), and a tilt angle setting data generating section (Y ₂ ) for generating tilt angle data of ..., According to the data for each depth obtained by this An underwater detection apparatus for creating the above-mentioned plane drawing. 12. The underwater detection apparatus according to claim 11, wherein only the bottom of the water or only the underwater object is displayed in different colors or shades according to the signal level by designating the depth range. 13. The underwater detection apparatus according to claim 11, wherein only the bottom of the water or only the underwater object is displayed in different colors or shades according to the depth information included in the signal by designating the depth range. 14. An underwater object is displayed in different colors according to its signal level by designating a depth range, and the bottom of the water is shaded in different colors with respect to the background portion other than the display area. The underwater detection device according to claim 11, which is displayed. 15. The underwater detection apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the wave transmitter / receiver is mounted on a moving object. 16. A transducer having a cylindrical shape in which a plurality of ring-shaped transducers, each of which is formed by arranging a plurality of transducers in an annular shape, are stacked, and a transducer from each transducer in a longitudinal transducer block. A vertical phase synthesizing circuit (34) that forms a received beam having a desired tilt angle θ by giving a predetermined delay amount or phase shift amount to the wave signal and each vertical phase synthesizing circuit (34) A switching circuit (35) that selects a signal necessary for forming a receiving beam in a desired direction from the signals of the receiving beam, and gives a predetermined delay amount or phase shift amount to the signal from the switching circuit (35) Thus, a horizontal phase synthesizing circuit that forms a received beam having a desired azimuth φ and the tilt angle θ
(36), which is a submersible detection device for three-dimensionally exploring underwater by sequentially increasing the tilt angle each time the received beam makes one turn, wherein the first tilt angle (θ ₁ , For θ ₂ , θ ₃ , ... θn), at each tilt angle θ from the second time onward, (θ ₁ ′, θ ₂ ′, θ ₃ ′, ... '),
(θ ₁ ″, θ ₂ ″, θ ₃ ″, ... θn ″), and a tilt angle setting data generating section (38) for generating tilt angle data, and thereby the horizontal phase synthesizing circuit (36) Depth layer memory (52) for storing received signals by depth
And an underwater detection apparatus, wherein the plane image is created based on the data stored in the equi-depth layer memory (52). 17. An underwater detection device for exploring a wide area centering on the own ship and displaying it as a plane image on a display, which transmits and receives an ultrasonic signal using a transducer. Transducing means for exploring a conical area with an underwater transducer as the apex
(X ₁ , X ₂ or Y ₁ , Y ₂ ) and storage means for storing a reception signal representing each underwater cross section captured by the transmitting / receiving means, and based on the reception signal stored in the storage means. An underwater detection device characterized by creating the above-mentioned plane drawing.