JPS63172980A - Target monitoring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To display a target in a display image plane on an ITV monitor automatically and continuously by controlling an ITV camera according to a target tracking signal from a radar equipment with an automatic tracking function and the azimuth signal of the target obtained from the image information of the ITV camera. CONSTITUTION:The radar equipment 1 sends out the distance and azimuth signal of the specified tracked target 6 to be displayed on the ITV monitor 4 among plural tracked targets to an ITV camera controller 2 on every turn of an antenna the the ITV camera controller 2 adjusts the direction and focus of the ITV camera to the tracked target 6 according to the distance and azimuth signal from the radar equipment, thereby obtaining image information on the tracked target and its periphery from the ITV camera 3. This operation is repeated on every antenna turn, but the ITV camera controller 2 controls the ITV camera with the azimuth signal of the tracked target outputted by a target detection part 10 until the distance and azimuth signal of a next tracked target is sent from the radar equipment.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is applicable to radar and industrial television (rITV).
The present invention relates to a target object monitoring device that monitors a target object using a camera (referred to as J).

(Prior art) Radar equipment has traditionally been used when monitoring targets such as ships in a designated sea area, such as port surveillance, or when a navigating ship monitors obstacles such as other ships or land in the surrounding sea area. It is used.

In addition, in recent years, the burden on radar monitors has been reduced,
In addition, in order to perform effective target monitoring, radar devices that have the function of automatically tracking targets that have been manually or automatically captured are also used. Are known.

Furthermore, an ITV is used to obtain information such as the shape and name of a target that is difficult to identify using a radar device alone, and a method of monitoring a target using a device in which a radar device and an ITV are installed side by side has also been adopted.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in such a conventional device in which a radar device and an ITV are installed side by side, the radar device and the ITV are independent, and the radar display screen and the ITV monitor screen are Supervisors had to handle the situation. That is,
In order to display a predetermined target on the radar display screen on the ITV monitor, the observer had to operate the ITV camera.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and is a method for automatically and continuously displaying a predetermined target on a radar display screen on an ITV monitor. It is an object of the present invention to provide a target object monitoring device that reduces the burden on the observer and enables more effective target object monitoring.

In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides a radar device having a target tracking function and an I/O device for tracking a monitored target.
A TV 7J camera, an ITV monitor that displays images captured by the ITV camera, a target detection unit that detects targets from image information obtained from the ITV camera, and a target tracking signal and target detection output from the radar device. and an ITV camera control device that controls an ITV camera to display a predetermined target on a radar display screen on an ITV monitor based on a direction signal of the target output from the target object monitoring device. This is what I did.

(Function) According to the target object monitoring device of the present invention configured as described above,
A radar device having a target tracking function automatically tracks a manually or automatically captured target, and measures the distance and direction of the tracked target each time the antenna rotates. Generally, there are multiple tracking targets, and the radar device sends the distance and direction signals of the tracking target identified from among the multiple tracking targets to be displayed on the ITV monitor to the ITV camera control device every time the antenna rotates. The ITV camera control device adjusts the direction and focus of the ITV camera to the tracking target based on the distance and direction signals from the radar device, thereby obtaining image information of the tracking target and its surroundings from the ITV camera. The image is displayed on the ITV monitor. This operation is repeated every time the antenna rotates, but the ITV
The camera control device controls the ITV camera based on the direction signal of the tracked target output from the target detection unit.

That is, the target detection unit detects the tracked target from the image information of the tracked target and its surroundings obtained from the ITV′jJ camera, and outputs the direction signal of the tracked target, and the ITV camera control device ITV by controlling the ITV camera based on the signal
The camera is directed to the tracked target, and as a result, image information of the new tracked target and its surroundings is displayed on the ITV monitor.

The same operation of the target object detection unit and the ITV camera control device is repeated until the distance and direction signal of the tracked target is sent from the radar device. When the signal is sent, the IT
The V camera control device adjusts the direction and focus of the ITV camera to the tracked target based on the distance and azimuth signals from the radar device. As a result, the ITV camera will now capture the predetermined tracked target and display it on the ITV monitor, and the observer will be able to automatically track the predetermined target on the radar display screen and even if the target moves. It becomes possible to continue monitoring on the TV monitor screen.

(Example) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

First, to explain the configuration, 1 is a radar device with a target tracking function, 2 is an ITV camera control head, 3 is an ITV camera for capturing images of surveillance targets, and 4 is an ITV camera 3 that captures images. Display the image on -1-I T■monitor, 10 is I
This is a target detection unit that detects a target from the image information received from the TV camera 3.

Here, the radar device 1 having a target tracking function automatically tracks a target that is automatically or manually captured, and measures the distance and direction of the tracked target every time the antenna rotates. Such radar devices are well known, such as automatic collision prevention assistance (ARPA). For Automatic Collision Prevention Assistance System (ARPA), for example, A, G, BO
L.E., K.

Co-authored by D. JONES rALJTOMATIc RAD
ARPLOTTING AIDS MANUALJ
(To1e i nemann: 1-ond
on) (published in 1981).

On the other hand, the ITV camera control device 2 controls the focus and direction of the ITV camera 3 based on the distance and direction signals of a predetermined tracking target output from the radar device 1 having a target tracking function every time the antenna rotates. 1 geometry.

Furthermore, the target object detection unit 10 detects a target object from image information obtained from the ITV camera 3, for example, from images of a predetermined tracked target and its surroundings, using contrast differences between the tracked target and its surroundings. A tracked target is detected, and a direction signal of the tracked target is output to the ITV camera control device 2. For this reason, IT
The V camera control device 2 determines the distance of the tracked target from the radar device 1.
1 and direction signals are received, the focus and direction of the ITV camera 3 are controlled to match the tracking target based on these distance and direction signals, but the distance and direction signals from the radar device 1 are then obtained. During the antenna rotation, the direction of the ITV camera 3 is controlled based on the azimuth signal obtained from the target object detection unit 10.

Next, the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 will be explained.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the display screen 5 of the radar device 1. On the display screen 5, 5a, 5b.

6C is a tracked target that is automatically tracked, 7a and 7b.

7C is a non-tracked target that is not automatically tracked, and 8 is a cursor for specifying a tracked target to be displayed on the ITV monitor 4.

Now, when the observer wants to display the tracked target 6a on the ITV monitor 4, for example, the monitor moves the cursor 8 onto the tracked target 6a using an operating means (not shown) such as a joystick or trackball. Specify. The radar device 1 sends distance and direction signals of the specified tracking target 6a to the ITV camera control device 2 every time the antenna rotates.
-r-V camera control device 2 adjusts the direction and focus of ITV camera 3 to tracking target 6a based on the distance and azimuth signals sent from radar device 1, and the ITV camera 3 adjusts the direction and focus of tracking target 6a and Image information of the surrounding area can be obtained.

On the other hand, until the distance and azimuth signals of the 638-tail target 6a are sent from the radar device 1, the ITV camera control device 2 receives the azimuth signal of the 638-tail target 6a output from the target detection unit 10. The ITV camera 3 is controlled by. That is, the target detection unit 10 first detects the tracked target 6a from the image information of the tracked target 6a and its surroundings, for example by using the contrast difference between the tracked target 6a and the surroundings, and determines the direction of the tracked target 6a. Output a signal. The ITV camera control device 2 includes a target detection unit 1
Based on the direction signal from 0, the JTV camera 3 is controlled and directed to the tracking target 6a. As a result, the target detection unit 10 and the ITV camera control device 2 operate in the same manner regarding the image information of the new tracking target 6a and its surroundings, and by repeating this, the ITV camera 3 is directed to the tracking target 6a. controlled at any time.

When the distance and direction signals of the tracking target 6a are sent again from the radar device 1, the ITV camera control device 2 changes the direction and focus of the ITV camera 3 to the tracking target 6a based on the distance and direction signals. match.

Therefore, the ITV camera 3 always tracks the object P! 6a, and the specified tracking target 6a is displayed on the ITV monitor 4. At this time, even if the tracking target 6a moves, the radar device 1
The tracking target 6a is automatically tracked, and the target detection unit 1
0 and ITV camera i, ITV by DialI device 2
Since the camera 3 is controlled at any time to move toward the tracked target 6a, the tracked target 6a is continuously displayed on the ITV monitor 4.

Next, if you want to change the target displayed on the TTV monitor 4 and display the tracked target 6b, for example, move the cursor 8 over the tracked target 6b and specify it, as in the case of the tracked target 6a. For example, if you want to display the non-tracking target 7a, after manually or automatically capturing the non-tracking target 7a in the radar device 1 and starting automatic tracking, similarly move the cursor 8. All you have to do is move over the target 7a and specify it.

In this way, the observer can automatically and continuously monitor a desired target on the display screen 5 of the radar device 1 on the IT monitor 4.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the observer specified and covered the target displayed on the ITV 7-screen monitor 4, but in another embodiment, the target object displayed on the ITV-E screen 4 was displayed on the radar device 1. The target may be automatically selected.

That is, in a situation where the target object monitoring device according to the present invention is installed on a navigating ship, the radar device 1 having a target tracking function can detect, for example, the automatic collision prevention assistance system (ARPA), the distance of the tracked target, and the Not only the direction, but also the course and speed of the tracked target, as well as the predicted closest approach distance between the tracked target and your ship (
CPA) and predicted time to closest approach (T CP A
), it automatically determines which of the tracked targets has the greatest risk of collision, and uses the distance and direction signals of the determined tracked targets in the embodiment shown in Figure 1. By similarly sending the information to the ITV camera control device 2, the automatically determined tracking target can be displayed on the ITV monitor 4. Here, as a method for determining the tracked target with the greatest risk of collision, for example, among the tracked targets whose closest predicted approach distance (CPA) is smaller than a preset specified value d,
The target with the shortest predicted time to approach (TCPA) is determined as the tracked target with the greatest risk of collision.

By automatically displaying the tracked target with the greatest risk of collision on the ITV monitor 4 in this way, it is possible to greatly contribute to the prevention of collisions.

Incidentally, in the above embodiment, the direction and focus of the ITV camera are controlled using the distance and azimuth signals as the control of the ITV camera by the target tracking signal from the radar device.
When a V camera with an automatic focus function is used, the ITV camera can be controlled only by direction control based on direction signals.

Moreover, as the ITV camera 3 in the above embodiment,
In addition to a normal 11-V camera, an infrared camera or the like may be used.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, the target tracking signal from the radar device that performs the automatic tracking function, and even the ITV
Radar display screen by controlling the ITV camera based on the target direction signal obtained from the camera image information.
Since it is possible to automatically and continuously display the specified targets of ITV on the ITV monitor, the Information such as the form and name of the target can be easily obtained from the TV-E monitor, and the observer does not need to operate the ITV camera, reducing the burden on the observer.
Since the user can concentrate on target object monitoring accordingly, it has an extremely large effect of enabling more effective target object monitoring.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a radar display screen. 1: Radar device 2: ITV camera control device 3: ITV camera 4: ITV monitor 5: Radar display screen 6a to 6C: Tracked target 7a to 7C: Non-tracked target 8: Cursor 10: Target detection unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] A radar device having a target tracking function, a television camera for photographing a monitored target, a monitor television for displaying an image taken by the television camera, and detecting a target from image information obtained from the television camera. a target object detection unit that monitors a predetermined target on a display screen of the radar device based on a target tracking signal output from the radar device and a target direction signal output from the target object detection unit; A target object monitoring device comprising: a camera control device that controls the television camera so as to display an image on a television.