JPS62261595A - Navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a point of time once navigated to be navigated again with excellent repeatability by having an auto-pilot means which performs automatic steerage by comparing one's own vessel position data sought by a position-measuring means with a sea route information memorized as a time series of a position data. CONSTITUTION:Automatic steerage is performed by memorizing as terminal point memory pointers a starting point memory pointer once memorized and the address of a wake memory searched and according to the data of a route designated from the starting point to the terminal point. Now, when a vessel lies at a position S1 and starts navigating along a route P1-Pm, a circle with a radius of Err-max is drawn at the position S1, and out of the points forming the route, a point P4 which is in the circle and also nearest the terminal point is sought. The point thus sought is made to be a present target and a target course theta1 is calculated based on the relation between one's own vessel position S1 and the point P4, and is outputted to an auto-pilot device. Next, after a given time or a given distance of navigation, when the vessel has reached a position S2, a present target is sought and a target course theta2 is calculated as in the case of the position S1, and thereafter the same calculations are repeated until the vessel is navigated to the route terminal.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a navigation device that automatically steers along a pre-designated route.

(b1 Summary of the Invention The navigation device according to the present invention is a navigation device that automatically steers a ship along a pre-designated route, and uses data in which a large number of position data are stored in a time series as route information, and uses, for example, a video This allows data stored in a track recording device such as a plotter to be used as route information.

FC + Conventional technology and its disadvantages Conventionally, as a navigation device equipped with own ship positioning device such as Loran receiver and autopilot means, it is a device that determines the starting point and destination position and automatically steers along between those two points. There is. By using such a navigation device, it is possible to automatically navigate to a destination. however,
If there are multiple destinations and the vehicle is to be navigated in a predetermined order, it is necessary to set the data of the multiple destinations as latitude and longitude data in the order of navigation. With this method, there is a limit to the number of destinations that can be input, and it is difficult to create a smooth course line. Even if a large amount of location data can be input,
Setting multiple destinations in the order of navigation using latitude and longitude data requires a great deal of effort. Moreover, in this method of manually inputting latitude and longitude information, there is a risk that incorrect data may be input manually due to a manual error.

(d1 Purpose of the invention The purpose of the invention is to collect latitude and longitude information of multiple destinations,
To provide a navigation device capable of automatically steering along a route based on route information stored as a time series of position data without setting destinations in the order of navigation.

(e) Structure and effect of the invention This invention provides a chart information storage means for storing chart information;
A route information storage means for storing route information as a time series of position data, a display means for displaying a nautical chart and a route based on the nautical chart information and route information, a positioning means for positioning the own ship, and this positioning means. The present invention is characterized by comprising an autopilot unit that performs automatic steering by comparing own ship position data determined by the method with the route information.

With the above configuration, for example, it is possible to directly use the track data stored in the video block as the route information storage means, and it is possible to sail again with good reproducibility at the point in time when the ship has sailed once. For this reason, for example, in the case of crab fishing boats using drop-cage fishing methods,
It is necessary to drop a basket at certain intervals and return to the same point several hours later to pick it up, but by using the track data directly as route information, it is possible to accurately trace the location where the basket was dropped.

In this way, a route can be set more efficiently without setting several destinations. (f) Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a navigation device that is an embodiment of the present invention. The entire control is done by a CP consisting of a microprocessor.
It is controlled by U1, and a control program is written in the ROM2 in advance. RAM 3 is a memory used as a working area when executing this control program, and stores, for example, various flags, buffers, route information to be described later, and the like. CR as a display device
Display is performed by writing the content to be displayed into the video RAM 5. Specifically this video RA
M is controlled by Graph Ink Display Controller I-Roller 4
performs succession control according to instructions from the CPUI. Reference numeral 6 denotes a parallel-to-serial conversion circuit, which generates a video signal to be displayed on the CRT from the data read out from the video RAM 5. Reference numeral 8 denotes Ilo for inputting and outputting data with an external input/output device. As an external input/output device, the measuring device 9 includes a positioning device such as a Loran receiver, a direction measuring device such as a gyro compass, and the like. By requesting the measurement device 9 to output data, the CPUI requests the measurement device 9 to output data.
The system reads latitude and longitude information representing the ship's position, as well as data representing the ship's direction of travel. The external memory 10 is a memory that stores chart information and route information, and is composed of, for example, a magnetic tape or a ROM. Reference numeral 11 denotes a key manual device that includes keys for manually setting a route in advance and keys for displaying a cursor on a display screen and moving the position of the cursor. In response to this instruction, the CPU
Corresponding chart information is read from the nautical chart information, and information to be displayed is written into the video RAM 5 via the graphic display controller 4.

13 is a coordinate input device such as a joystick;
2 is its interface circuit. By operating the joystick 13, the position of the cursor displayed on the screen can be freely moved north, south, east, and west. The autopilot device engineer 5 performs steering based on azimuth data given from the CPU via 11014.

FIG. 2 is a diagram representing route information stored in the RAM. In the figure, the track memory is saved when you navigated previously.
This is a memory in which the track is recorded tα, and a designated portion of the track can be used as a route (hereinafter referred to as route). The route storage memory is a memory that stores which point is to be used as a route among the points stored in the track memory. In the example shown in the figure, for example, route 1 is stored from 22 to 22 in the track memory. 25
up to. That is, the start point memory pointer of route 1 stores the address of P2, and the end point memory pointer stores the address of P5. Further, for example, the starting point memory pointer of route 2 stores the address of P4, and the ending point memory pointer stores the address of Pi. In this way, the route storage memory stores each route as a table in the track memory. The track memory stores latitude and longitude information for each point and a flag indicating that the data for that point is used as a route. For example, when route 1 is specified, flags for data P2 to P5 in the track memory are set. This flag is used to prevent the data used as the route from being deleted when the track is deleted.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the control section, and shows the processing procedure when a route is set based on some already stored track data. First, the chart information stored in the external memory and the track data stored in the track memory are read out and displayed on the CRT (n10). FIG. 4 (Al represents a display example in this case, in which a plurality of tracks are displayed along with a nautical chart such as a sea t-d line.

A necessary portion of the track displayed in this way can be stored as a route. The starting point of this route is indicated by placing the cursor on the desired trajectory using the cursor movement keys of the human-powered device or the joystick (nil). When the route starting point is designated in this way, the latitude and longitude values corresponding to the coordinates are calculated, and the contents of the track memory are searched (n12). As a result, if data with the same latitude and longitude exists in the track memory, that point will be temporarily stored as the starting point memory pointer 9.
(n14). Next, when the cursor is moved by key operation or joystick operation and the position that should be the end point of route "C" is specified, a search is performed in the same way to see if the corresponding data exists from the trail memory (
n15→n16). If corresponding data exists, then it is determined whether the starting point and ending point stored in the track memory are continuous (n18). If they are continuous, the route between those two points is memorized. That is, the step n
The start point memory pointer temporarily stored in step 14 is stored, and n1
The address of the track memory searched in step 6 is stored as the end point memory pointer (n19--n20). Furthermore, a flag between the starting point and the ending point is set, and the fact that it has been designated as a route is stored (n21). After that, see Figure 4 (
8) Only the specified route is displayed (n
22).

In addition, if you specify a location other than the trail due to a mistake in specifying the cursor, or if the end point and start point are not consecutive, an error message will be displayed to warn you (n'23).
．． n24).

Automatic steering is performed as follows according to the route data specified as described above.

FIG. 5 shows the relationship between the position of each point from the starting point P1 of the route to its ending point Pm and the position of the own ship. The ship is currently on 31,
To start sailing along route P1 to Pm, draw a circle with radius IErr-max from Sl, enter within this circle among the points that make up the route, and find the point closest to the end point (in the figure, P4 ). Using the point obtained in this manner as the current target, a target course θl is calculated from the relationship between own ship positions S1 and P4, and is output to the autopilot device. After a certain period of time or after sailing a certain distance, the ship
2, the current target is determined in the same way as Sl, and the target course θ2 is calculated. After that, the same calculation is repeated and the ship sails towards the end of the route.

The basic procedure is as described above, but it is also possible to set a new target by updating the target point when the next point in the route data falls within the allowable error range. It is.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a procedure for automatically steering the vehicle according to a set route. First, by moving the cursor, the starting point of the route to be navigated is indicated, and the tolerance between the route and the own ship's position is specified (n30-n31).
. Based on this designation, the own ship's position determined by the positioning device is compared with the route data, and it is determined whether the own ship's position is within the allowable error range (n32-=n33). If it is within the error range, extract the target point from the route data and judge whether that point is the end point (n 34-
=n 35). If the end point has not been reached, calculate the course direction and output the value to the autopyro 7) device (n3
6). Thereafter, it is determined whether the next target point is within the error range. When the point falls within the error range, that point is updated as the target point (n3B). The above process is repeated and automatic steering is performed until the target point becomes the end point. Note that when the starting point of the route and the allowable error are specified and the own ship's position is not within the error range from the starting point of the route, a message to that effect is displayed (n39).

In addition, although the example was an example in which a part of the track data stored during a previous navigation was selectively used as route information, it is also possible to newly input the route to be navigated using a joystick or key human power device. However, after setting, it is also possible to automatically steer the vehicle.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1' is a block diagram of the control unit of the navigation device which is an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between the memory contents and the route, and Fig. 3 is the procedure for specifying the route from the track data. Flowchart representing the fourth position, (B) is a diagram representing a display example of CRT, FIG. 5 is a diagram explaining the automatic steering method,
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the procedure for performing automatic steering according to a designated route.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) a chart information storage means for storing chart information, a route information storage means for storing route information as a time series of position data, and a display means for displaying a chart and route based on the chart information and route information; A navigation device comprising: a positioning means for positioning the own ship; and an autopilot means for performing automatic steering by comparing own ship position data obtained by the positioning means with the route information.