JPH10221463A - Searching device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make an unseeable state recognizable in the form of a picture by moving an electromagnetic wave sensor in a two-dimensional plane and displaying the received information and positional information of the sensor as input information after converting the information into two-dimensional picture information at every searching depth. SOLUTION: The information collected by means of the receiving section of an electromagnetic wave sensor 1, the information from an encoder 11 which detects the positional information of the sensor 1 in the X-direction, and the output of a pulse counter 12 which detects the driving pulse of a pulse motor for obtaining the positional information of the sensor 1 in the Y-direction are inputted to a data fetching section 3 through the A/D converter of a processor 2 and stored in a memory 4 as the data corresponding to the X-Y position of the sensor 1. When a prescribed area is scanned with the sensor 1, a data correcting section 5 corrects all data stored in the memory 4. The corrected data are displayed on a displaying section 9 as a two-dimensional picture at each depth after an ABI processing section 7 performs multilevel processing for processing the data and a display data processing 8 processes the processed data for display.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an exploration apparatus capable of visualizing a situation in the ground and a situation in a concrete wall surface using electromagnetic waves, and recognizing a situation under the invisible condition.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The situation in a relatively shallow area in the ground,
For example, a system using an electromagnetic wave sensor has been proposed as a system for detecting the presence or absence of a cavity, the state of a pipe such as a water pipe or a gas pipe, or finding a buried object.

[0003] This electromagnetic wave sensor is known as a so-called underground radar, and includes an oscillation unit that oscillates an electromagnetic wave pulse substantially vertically toward the ground and a reception unit that receives a reflected wave as one unit. by rapid advances in semiconductor technology in recent years, those capable of oscillating in a wide band of approximately 2GH _Z ~ substantially 10GH _Z is adapted to be provided.
For this reason, the transmitting and receiving antenna can be drastically reduced in size, and the power supply can be driven by a battery of several volts. For example, the external shape can be formed in the size of a cigarette box. .

A conventional underground radar is, for example, 30
In 0MH _Z ~700MH _Z about frequency bands, the maximum only not been realized that up to about 1GH _Z in, also becomes in the longitudinal direction, for example 1m front and rear antenna Therefore transceiver.

[0005]

The conventional search method using an underground radar is information on one side line which is information on an underground cross section along a search direction, and the state of the underground is underground. Analog data output as a waveform diagram from a radar is analyzed based on experience, and, for example, whether or not a cavity is generated in the ground is grasped in a fragmentary manner.

However, in order to grasp the situation in the ground, it is certain that the situation in a predetermined range can be visually observed at least two-dimensionally, and no experience is required.

An object of the invention according to the present application is to make effective use of such an ultra-small electromagnetic wave sensor, and to make it impossible to see through a situation in the ground, a situation in a concrete wall, etc., which cannot be realized by a conventional electromagnetic wave sensor. An object of the present invention is to provide an exploration device capable of recognizing the following situations.

[0008]

Means for achieving the object of the present invention include an electromagnetic wave sensor, a moving mechanism for moving the electromagnetic wave sensor in a two-dimensional plane, and the electromagnetic wave sensor moving by the moving mechanism. Position detecting means for detecting the position of the information, image processing means for converting the received information received by the electromagnetic wave sensor and the position information detected by the position detecting means as input information into two-dimensional image information for each search depth, Display means for displaying the image information converted by the image processing means.

According to this configuration, since the electromagnetic wave sensor is moved within a predetermined area to collect information, high-density information can be obtained, and a liquid crystal display screen, a CRT, or the like is obtained as a two-dimensional plane image at each depth. Can be immediately displayed on the display means, so that the situation in the concrete such as underground, concrete wall surfaces, concrete piers, etc. can be immediately grasped.

In addition, since it is possible to recognize not only the existence of a cavity, a buried object, a reinforcing bar, and the like in the ground or in concrete but also to know the situation at each depth, various types of information based on the depth information can be obtained. Consideration is possible.

Further, as another configuration for realizing the object of the invention according to the present application, the image processing means performs three-dimensional plane image processing based on a two-dimensional plane image, and the electromagnetic wave sensor has a substantially and outputs a broadband electromagnetic wave 2GH _Z ~ substantially 10GH _Z, said image processing means,
The image processing unit includes a data correction unit that corrects a shift of received data due to movement of the electromagnetic wave sensor, and the image processing unit changes boundary information of the detected information.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is an electric block diagram schematically showing an exploration apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a moving mechanism of an electromagnetic wave sensor 1.

[0013] 1 is an electromagnetic wave sensor of the ultra-small, 2GH _Z ~
An oscillator 1b for outputting an impulse by step waveform in a wide range of 10GH _Z, oscillated from emitting Fubu 1b,
A receiving unit 1c for receiving a reflected wave from a search target or the like, a circuit 1a incorporated on a substrate, a battery (not shown), and the like are provided. By selecting an antenna of the receiving unit 1c, a desired frequency and its Data of the preceding and following frequencies can be obtained.

The ultra-small electromagnetic wave sensor 1 is motor-driven along a fixed rail 13 provided in the X direction which is the main scanning direction, and the fixed rail 13 is in a sub scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction. The motor is driven along a pair of fixed rails 14 extending in the Y direction. Further, the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 is supported by a rotation drive mechanism (not shown) and can rotate between 0 degree and 90 degrees. This is to make the direction of the length of the search object coincide with the direction of the transmitting / receiving antenna of the electromagnetic wave sensor, that is, the polarization plane.

The electromagnetic wave sensor 1 is provided with an encoder (not shown), and the encoder outputs a moving position when the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 moves along the fixed rail 13. Also, fixed rail 1
The position of the fixed rail 13 in the Y direction may be detected by providing an encoder. However, in this embodiment, the motor of the moving mechanism for moving the fixed rail 13 in the Y direction is a step motor, and the number of steps is controlled by controlling the number of steps. The moving position can be detected.

When the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 moves to one end in the X direction, a position sensor (not shown) detects this, the step motor rotates by a predetermined pulse, and moves the fixed rail 10 through a transmission mechanism (not shown) to a predetermined position. By moving the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 in the X direction from one end to the other end by moving the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 by a distance, and repeating this operation, the search for the predetermined plane area is completed.

When the series of scanning is completed, the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 is rotated by 90 degrees, and the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 is rotated.
Transmission / reception antenna (the direction of the transmission / reception antenna is the same direction)
Is rotated 90 degrees. Then, similarly, scanning may be performed in the same manner with the Y direction as the main scanning direction and the X direction as the sub scanning direction, and a predetermined investigation target area may be examined in a mesh shape. Thus, a long object such as a reinforcing bar buried underground or in concrete can be effectively detected. At this time, if the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 is rotated between 0 degrees and 90 degrees and the angle at which the received data becomes large is checked, it is possible to clearly grasp the oblique reinforcing bars and the like.

Here, the amount of movement in the Y direction can be changed by adjusting the number of revolutions of the stepping motor to change the pitch of the measurement. The necessary optimal data amount can be collected. That is, the resolution in the sub-scanning direction can be changed.

Since the directivity of the electromagnetic wave pulse oscillated from the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 is very strong, when the electromagnetic wave pulse is oscillated while moving the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 in the X direction of the main scanning direction, the reception unit of the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 receives the pulse. Information along the X direction is obtained at high density, and the resolution of the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 is dramatically improved. For example, if a water pipe is buried in the ground along the X direction, if the water pipe is buried in the X direction, Will be obtained at intervals. On the other hand, since the conventional electromagnetic wave sensor is large, the mechanism for movement in the X-Y direction is large, and because of its heavy weight, movement and stopping in the main scanning direction and sub-scanning direction are difficult. Not enough.

However, in this embodiment, since the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 is ultra-compact and lightweight, the mechanism for moving in the XY direction is not limited, and the inertia force is small, so that the mechanism is smooth. Moving and stopping can be performed repeatedly.

[0021] On the other hand, the oscillation frequency of the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 of this embodiment is the broadband 2GH _Z ~10GH _Z, wavelength is very short. For this reason, even if the interval between objects with high reflectivity is very small, the object passes through the space, so that the performance of collecting data at each depth is dramatically improved. The depth is obtained based on time.

Next, processing of data collected by the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 will be described below with reference to FIG.

Information collected by the receiving unit of the electromagnetic wave sensor 1;
The processing device 2 processes the information from the encoder 11 for detecting the position information of the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 in the X direction and the output from the pulse counter 12 for detecting the drive pulse of the pulse motor for obtaining the position information of the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 in the Y direction. A / D
The data is input to the data capturing unit 3 via the converter, and is stored in the memory 4 as data corresponding to the XY position. Note that the memory 4 has a memory unit for storing data in the X direction and Y
And a memory unit for storing direction data.

The memory 4 stores all data in a predetermined area in the X and Y directions. When the scanning of the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 in the predetermined area is completed, all the data in the memory 4 is deleted by the data correction unit. At 5 the data is corrected.

In this embodiment, since the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 receives the reflected wave while moving in the X direction, when the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 moves a distance Δx from the position where the electromagnetic wave was oscillated,
Since a reflected wave from the depth Δd is received, √ (Δ
This means that the reflected wave arriving after a distance of (x ² + Δd ² ) has been received, which affects the displacement, the conversion of the depth, and the like. Therefore, a process for correcting this is performed.

The data corrected by the data correction unit 5 is subjected to a process for removing a surface reflected wave (reflection from underground from underground) by a background processing unit 6. The oscillated one-pulse electromagnetic wave is strongly reflected on the surface of the ground, and the intensity of the reflected wave varies depending on the situation in the ground. Electromagnetic sensor 1
The receiving unit receives the reflected wave with the depth direction in the ground as a time axis and outputs it as detection information. Therefore, the background processing unit 6 calculates the total sum of the received information for each pulse, compares the averaged value with each data, and outputs only different portions. That is, since the surface reflected waves have almost the same waveform, the surface reflected waves are canceled out, and only various reflected waves in the ground are extracted. As a result, the following 2
The speed of two-dimensional and three-dimensional image processing will be greatly reduced.

All information in a predetermined area processed by the background processing unit 6 is subjected to multi-tone processing (256 gradations in the present embodiment) for image processing by the ABI processing unit 7, and The data processing unit 8 performs a process for outputting the image information as image information, and displays a two-dimensional image at each depth as a three-dimensional image on the display unit 9 according to an instruction from the display selection unit 8a, or hard copy to the printer 10. Output is possible.

In the display data processing section 8, in the present embodiment, the received information of the reflected wave is divided into the above-mentioned 256 gradations according to the intensity, and the 256 gradations are further divided into four layers. The display colors are different.

Therefore, if the situation is underground, for example, if a cavity is present, the intensity of the reflected wave from the cavity is substantially the same, so that 2
The cavities at the respective depths on the dimensional plane are displayed in the same color, and when displayed on the three-dimensional image, the entire cavities are displayed as images.

In the underground, various objects are buried. For example, a non-metallic object cannot be detected by a conventional metal detector. Then, the external shape can be displayed on the display unit 9 such as a liquid crystal screen. For example, if the burial depth of the buried object to be detected can be roughly grasped, the two-dimensional plane image displayed at that depth is checked and displayed. By observing the planar image, a specific buried object can be found in a short time in the ground in a wide area.

The threshold level of each layer can be changed by adjusting the display brightness. That is, when the display luminance is adjusted, the degree of the color strength of the display image is changed, so that the display image with a weak color tone is strong and the display image with a strong color tone is weak. This eliminates a situation in which it is difficult to display an image due to the strength of the received signal, and a weak display luminance is represented by a strong display luminance so that an external shape that is difficult to display can be clearly represented.

Further, when the contrast is adjusted, the color tone is changed, the boundary of the display image is clarified, and the outline of the object to be searched can be clearly displayed.

In the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which a search is made for a hollow space or a buried object in the ground, but the present invention is not limited to this. Can be searched and displayed as a two-dimensional or three-dimensional image.

Further, as a moving mechanism for moving the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 in a two-dimensional plane, the electromagnetic wave sensor 1 may be attached to the tip of the articulated arm.

[0035]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, information is collected by moving the electromagnetic wave sensor within a predetermined area.
Since high-density information can be obtained and displayed on a liquid crystal display screen or a display device such as a CRT as a two-dimensional plane image at each depth, it can be used immediately in the ground, in concrete walls, concrete piers, etc. You can grasp the situation.

In addition to being able to recognize not only the existence of cavities, buried objects, reinforcing bars, etc. in the ground or in concrete, but also the situation at each depth, various types of information based on depth information can be obtained. Consideration is possible.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the three-dimensional plane image processing is performed based on the two-dimensional plane image, the situation in the ground or in concrete can be grasped as a whole.

[0038] According to the invention of claim 3, the electromagnetic sensor, from and outputs a broadband electromagnetic wave substantially 2GH _Z ~ substantially 10GH _Z, can be electromagnetic sensor miniaturization, scanning electromagnetic sensor The operation can be performed smoothly.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the image processing means has the data correction section for correcting the shift of the received data due to the movement of the electromagnetic wave sensor, accurate display can be performed.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the image processing means makes the boundary information of the detected information variable.
The boundaries of the search target can be clearly displayed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an electric block diagram of an exploration apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing a moving mechanism of the electromagnetic wave sensor of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electromagnetic wave sensor 2 Processing unit 3 Data acquisition unit 4 Memory 5 Data correction unit 6 Background processing unit 7 ABI processing unit 8 Display data processing unit 8a Display selection unit 9 Display unit 10 Printer 11 Encoder 12 Pulse counter

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An electromagnetic wave sensor, comprising: an electromagnetic wave sensor;
A moving mechanism for moving in a three-dimensional plane, position detecting means for detecting a position of the electromagnetic wave sensor moved by the moving mechanism, and input information for receiving information received by the electromagnetic wave sensor and position information detected by the position detecting means. And a display device for displaying the image information converted by the image processing device. 2. An exploration apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image processing means performs three-dimensional plane image processing based on a two-dimensional plane image. 3. An apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the electromagnetic wave sensor, exploration device and outputs a broadband electromagnetic wave substantially 2GH _Z ~ substantially 10GH _Z. 4. The exploration apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing means has a data correction unit for correcting a shift of received data due to the movement of the electromagnetic wave sensor. 5. An exploration apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image processing means changes the boundary information of the detected information.