KR101180331B1 - Apparatus for measuring position of underwater robot - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is an apparatus for measuring the position of an underwater robot working on the sea bottom.
Underwater robot position measuring apparatus of the present invention is attached to a plurality of positions corresponding to the bottom shape of the ship, a plurality of first sound wave generating unit for generating sound waves respectively in accordance with the sound wave generation signal received from the outside, and the bottom A second sound wave generation unit attached to the underwater robot to work to generate sound waves in the water and the sound wave generated in the water from the first and second sound wave generation unit is installed away from the bottom by a certain distance in the water The sound wave generation signals are output to three sound wave receivers and the first and second sound wave generators, respectively, and the first and second sound waves are received using the sound wave reception times of the first and second sound wave generators received from the three sound wave receivers. And a control unit for calculating the positions of the two sound wave generators, respectively.

Description

Position measuring device of underwater robot {APPARATUS FOR MEASURING POSITION OF UNDERWATER ROBOT}

The present invention relates to the position measurement of an underwater robot, and more particularly, to a position measuring apparatus for an underwater robot capable of accurately measuring the position of the underwater robot working while moving near the bottom of the underwater.

Since the bottom part of the ship is usually located in the water, foreign matters such as moss, adherents, etc. can often get caught in the bottom part of the propeller. In this case, there is a problem in that the operation of the ship is hindered, the ship's speed decreases, and the fuel consumption increases. Therefore, the bottom is usually checked and cleaned regularly. Conventionally, divers go directly into the water and do the necessary work on the bottom. In this case, it is difficult to work for a long time due to respiratory problems, there is a problem that the float is generated in the water as the foreign matter is removed, the clock is not good, and it is difficult to work in the algae severe place.

Underwater robots have been introduced to solve these problems. Underwater robots are developed for underwater exploration and can perform various tasks such as collecting various information in underwater, exploring paths and resources. In this case, it is most important to know the position of the underwater robot in real time.

A conventional underwater robot positioning technique known as SBL (Short Base Line) position recognition method. This technique attaches the sound wave sensor to the edge of the ship and measures the position of the underwater robot by receiving the sound wave signal transmitted from the underwater robot when the underwater robot located at the sea bottom is over a certain distance from the ship. However, in this technique, the underwater robot moves while moving the seabed, so when the underwater robot approaches the bottom, the curved surface of the bottom is located between the sound wave receiving sensor and the underwater robot, so that the sound wave signal of the underwater robot is on the opposite side. There is a problem that accurate position measurement is impossible because it is not detected.

In addition, another conventional technique is the SSBL (Super Short Base Line) technique. This technique uses a transponder with a number of acoustic wave sensors and transducers within 30 cm of the ship's side. This method can be structurally miniaturized but lacks accuracy compared to the SBL system described above, and is poor when the underwater robot approaches a large ship's bottom.

The two methods of SBL and SSBL described above have a problem in that the acoustic wave sensor is shaken by waves when the acoustic wave sensor is hanged on the side of the ship. To compensate for the shake of the sensor, the motion of the sensor is measured to analyze the acoustic signal. When the sensor is not fixed to the ship, accuracy is fundamentally difficult to secure. In addition, in order to minimize the shaking of the sensor, when the sensor is fixed to the watership, it is cumbersome to add an additional fixing device to the outside of the vessel in operation.

Furthermore, in the prior arts developed to date, including the above two techniques, the underwater robot is located on the seabed and the water, and the sound wave receiving sensor is disposed on the bottom of the ship to measure the position of the underwater robot on the seabed. There is a problem that does not measure accurately. In other words, all of the underwater robot positioning techniques developed so far have been developed to measure the position of the underwater robot when it is located a certain distance away from the ship's bottom. When the underwater robot is attached to the ship bottom or near the bottom, There is a problem that the accuracy of the measurement is significantly reduced.

Therefore, there has been a need in the art for the development of a technology that can accurately measure the position of the underwater robot attached to the bottom surface or working near the bottom.

The present invention has been proposed to solve the above problems of the prior art, the position measuring apparatus of the underwater robot to be able to accurately and quickly measure the position of the underwater robot attached to the bottom of the ship or working near the bottom of the ship The purpose is to provide.

In addition, the present invention is to provide a position measuring device of the underwater robot that can be installed on the bottom surface of the ship to measure the position of the underwater robot on the bottom through the positional relationship with a plurality of sound wave reception sensors known in position. There is a purpose.

Furthermore, the present invention has an additional object to provide an underwater robot positioning device that can easily install the device and improve the positioning accuracy of the underwater robot even when the ship is shaken due to waves.

Underwater robot position measuring apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above object,

A plurality of first sound wave generators attached to a plurality of positions corresponding to the bottom shape of the ship and generating sound waves underwater according to sound wave generation signals received from the outside; A second sound wave generator attached to the underwater robot working on the bottom to generate sound waves underwater; Three sound wave receivers installed at a distance from the bottom of the ship and receiving sound waves generated underwater from the first and second sound wave generators; And outputting the sound wave generation signals to the first and second sound wave generation units, respectively, and using the sound wave reception times of the first and second sound wave generation units received by the three sound wave receivers, respectively. It includes a control unit for calculating each.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the control unit measures the relative position of the underwater robot relative to the ship bottom using the calculated positions of the first and second sound wave units, respectively.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the controller may perform bidirectional communication with the first and second sound wave generators to transmit sound wave generation signals to the first and second sound wave generators, and to generate the first and second sound waves. A first bidirectional communication module for receiving a sound wave generation time from the unit; A first timer for counting a transmission time of the sound wave generation signal; A transmission / reception module for transmitting a control signal to the three sound wave receivers and receiving a sound wave reception time from each of the sound wave receivers; And a position calculator configured to calculate positions of the first and second sound wave generators using the sound wave generation time and the sound wave reception time respectively received from the first bidirectional communication module and the respective sound wave receivers.

The first and second sound wave generation times received from the first and second sound wave generation units and the delay time difference between the sound wave reception times of the first and second sound wave generation units received by the three sound wave receivers may be used. The position of the second sound wave generator is calculated.

Here, the position calculator calculates distances between the underwater robots from the plurality of first sound wave generators using the calculated positions of the first and second sound wave generators.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the display apparatus may further include a display unit for visually displaying the positions of the plurality of first sound wave generators and the underwater robot.

The display unit further displays relative coordinates of the underwater robot with respect to the plurality of first sound wave generators.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the first sound wave generator is attached to the bottom by a magnet formed on one side.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first and second sound wave generators may perform bidirectional communication with the control unit to receive the sound wave generation signal from the control unit and transmit the sound wave generation time to the control unit when sound waves are generated. module; A sound wave oscillation module for generating sound waves underwater according to sound wave generation signals received through the bidirectional communication module; And a second timer for counting the sound wave generation time.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the sound wave receiving unit includes: a sound wave receiving module for receiving sound waves generated underwater from the first and second sound wave generating units; A third timer for counting reception times of the received sound waves, respectively; A memory for storing the counted sound wave reception time; It includes a communication unit for transmitting the sound wave reception time to the control unit.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the three sound wave receivers are preferably fixed to the bottom of the sea.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the three sound wave receivers are connected to each other so as to be an equilateral triangle by using a connection member and are integrally formed.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the apparatus may further include a depth sensor for detecting the depths of the three sound wave receivers, and transmits the depth information detected by the depth sensor to the controller.

Here, the depth sensor is preferably attached to or embedded in at least one of the three sound wave receivers.

In the apparatus and method for measuring the position of the underwater robot according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

First, in the present invention, the position of the underwater robot can be measured when the robot is attached to the bottom of the ship or is working near the bottom of the ship.

In addition, in the present invention, since it is possible to receive the acoustic wave signal without receiving the obstacle of the bottom surface protruding portion of the ship, accurate position measurement is possible.

In addition, in the present invention, since the underwater sound wave receiving device is fixed to the sea floor, there is an advantage that accurate sound wave reception is possible even when the ship is shaken due to waves.

In addition, the present invention has an effect that can easily perform the position measurement because the easy removal and fixing of the measuring device using a magnet.

Furthermore, in the present invention, a plurality of sound wave receivers are fixedly attached to the bottom to grasp the position of the bottom in advance, and by using the relationship between each position of the bottom and the underwater robot, the position of the underwater robot on the bottom is more accurately. It can be measured.

1 is a configuration diagram of an apparatus for measuring the position of an underwater robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2 is an implementation example of the position measuring device of the underwater robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a diagram schematically illustrating a communication state of a control unit, first and second sound wave generators, and a sound wave receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 4 is an illustration of a time chart for the sound wave generation signal, sound wave generation time and sound wave reception time according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is an exemplary diagram illustrating a concept of calculating a position of a sound wave generator according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear.

1 is a block diagram of an apparatus for measuring position of an underwater robot according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the apparatus 100 for measuring position of an underwater robot according to the present invention includes a plurality of first sound wave generators 110, second sound wave generators 120, sound wave receivers 130, and a controller 140. It is configured to include. In addition, in another embodiment of the present invention, the position measuring apparatus 100 of the underwater robot may further include a display unit 150 and / or a depth sensor 160.

A plurality of first sound wave generation unit 110 is attached to the bottom 11 of the vessel 10. Specifically, they are attached to a plurality of positions respectively corresponding to the shape of the bottom 11. For example, by attaching to the edges according to the shape of the bottom 11, the shape of the bottom 11 can be roughly grasped by using the positions of the plurality of first sound wave generators 110. The first sound wave generator 110 is preferably three or four for accurate position measurement. Each of the first sound wave generators 110 generates sound waves underwater according to a sound wave generation signal transmitted from an external controller 140.

The second sound wave generator 120 is attached to the underwater robot 121 working on or near the bottom 11. The underwater robot 121 performs a set task while moving. The second sound wave generator 120 generates sound waves underwater according to the sound wave generation signal received from the external controller 140.

The sound wave receiver 130 receives sound waves generated underwater from the plurality of first sound wave generators 110 and the second sound wave generators 120, respectively. The sound wave receiver 130 is installed away from the bottom 11 by a predetermined distance in water. Preferably it is fixed to the bottom of the sea so as not to move due to waves, algae, fish. In this case, a plurality of sound wave generators 130 are installed, and at least three sound wave generators 130 are installed for accurate position measurement of the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120. In the embodiment of the present invention is installed in three while maintaining a constant interval from each other.

The controller 140 outputs sound wave generation signals to the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120 so as to generate sound waves underwater, respectively, and the first and second sound wave generators received from the three sound wave receivers 130 ( The positions of the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120 are respectively calculated using the difference in sound wave reception times of the 110 and 120. In addition, the controller 140 measures the relative position of the underwater robot 121 with respect to the ship bottom 11 from the positions calculated as described above. As such, the controller 140 measures the position of the bottom 11 using the positions of the plurality of first sound wave generators 110 and uses the positions of the second sound wave generators 120 of the underwater robot 121. Measure the position.

In addition, the controller 140 measures the relative position of the underwater robot 121 with respect to the bottom 11 using the positions of the bottom 11 and the underwater robot 121 measured as described above. Through this, it is possible to determine the working position of the underwater robot 121 at which position of the bottom 11.

The display unit 150 visually displays the positions of the plurality of first sound wave generators 110 and the second sound wave generators 120. Thus, the position of the bottom 11 and the underwater robot 121 can be displayed on the screen. In addition, the display unit 150 also displays the relative coordinates of the underwater robot 121 with respect to the bottom 11. This allows the user to visually check on the screen which position the underwater robot 121 is working in the shape of the bottom 11.

The depth sensor 160 detects the depth of the spot where each sound wave receiver 130 is located and transmits the detected depth to the controller 140. To this end, the depth sensor 160 is preferably attached to or embedded in at least one of the three sound wave receivers 130. This depth can be used to measure the position of the underwater robot 121. This is described again below.

Figure 2 is an embodiment of the position measuring device of the underwater robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the underwater robot 121 of the present invention performs a preset operation while moving near or at the bottom 11 of the vessel 10. For this purpose, the underwater robot 121 is provided with a propulsion device (not shown). On the bottom 11, four first sound wave generators 110 are provided as an example. At this time, the position is preferably attached to the edge known to correspond to the shape of the bottom 11. In addition, the first sound wave generator 110 is attached to the bottom 11 using a magnet so as to be easily attached to and removed from the bottom 11. Thus, the shape, size, and the like of the bottom 11 may be confirmed through the positions of the four first sound wave generators 110. Each of the first sound wave generators 110 generates sound waves in water according to the sound wave generation signal output from the controller 140 located on the upper portion of the vessel 10, counts the sound wave generation time, and returns them to the controller 140. .

The second robot 120 is attached to the underwater robot 121. The second sound wave generator 120 also generates sound waves underwater according to the sound wave generation signal of the controller 140, counts the sound wave generation time, and returns the result to the controller 140. The underwater robot 121 is preferably moved within the range of the area formed by the four first sound wave generator 110.

The sound wave receiver 130 is installed as a structure having a geometrical arrangement at a position separated by a predetermined distance from the bottom 11. Due to this geometric arrangement, it is possible to calculate the positions of the respective sound wave generators 110 and 120 generating sound waves. For example, the sound wave receiving unit 130 is implemented in three to receive sound waves in the form of a triangular pyramid for each sound wave generating unit (110,120), preferably to form an equilateral triangle to prevent movement by being fixed to the sea floor. Further, preferably by connecting to each other using a predetermined connection member to be implemented integrally. This simplifies installation on the seabed.

The sound wave receiver 130 receives sound waves respectively generated from the four first sound wave generators 110 and the second sound wave generators 120. This is to receive the sound waves of each of the sound wave generators 110 and 120 in each sound wave receiver 130 independently. The depth of water at each of these sound wave receivers 130 may be measured using the depth sensor 160. In this case, the measured depth may be a distance between the sound wave generator and the sound wave receiver. When each of the sound wave receivers 130 receives the sound wave, the sound wave reception unit 130 returns the reception time of the sound wave to the controller 140 using wired or wireless communication. Preferably, the sound wave reception time is transmitted by wire. In this case, each of the sound wave receivers 130 has a predetermined distance from each other at a predetermined distance from the bottom 11 so that sound waves of the sound wave generators 110 and 120 can be directly received without a transmission obstacle due to the protrusion of the bottom 11. Preferably arranged.

The controller 140 performs two-way wireless communication with the plurality of first sound wave generators 110 and the second sound wave generators 120 and performs wired and wireless communication with the sound wave receiver 130. The controller 140 transmits sound wave generation signals to the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120, and receives and stores the generation time of the sound waves. In addition, the controller 140 receives and stores the reception time of the sound wave from the sound wave receiver 130. Thus, the controller 140 calculates a difference in delay time between the sound wave generation time and the sound wave reception time of the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120 for each sound wave receiver 130, and uses the first and second sound waves. The position of the generator 110, 120 is measured.

3 is a diagram schematically illustrating a communication state of a controller, first and second sound wave generators, and a sound wave receiver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the control unit 140 according to the present invention includes a first bidirectional communication module 141, a first timer 142, a transmission / reception module 144, and a position calculation module 145. The module 143 may further include.

The first bidirectional communication module 141 transmits sound wave generation signals to the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120 by performing bidirectional communication with the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120, and the first and second sound waves. Receives the sound wave generation time according to the sound wave generation from the generator (110, 120). The first bidirectional communication may transmit and receive a signal by wire or wirelessly. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention transmits and receives the sound wave generation signal and sound wave generation time through wireless communication.

The first timer 142 counts the transmission time of the sound wave generation signal transmitted from the controller 140 to the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120.

The transmission / reception module 144 transmits control signals for operation to the three sound wave receivers 130 and receives sound wave reception times for the sound waves of the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120 from the respective sound wave receivers 130. Receive.

The position calculator 145 calculates the positions of the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120 using the sound wave generation time and the sound wave reception time received from the first bidirectional communication module 141 and the respective sound wave receivers 130. The relative position of the underwater robot 121 with respect to the ship bottom 11 is calculated from the position of the said 1st and 2nd sound wave generation parts 110 and 120. FIG. More preferably, the position calculator 145 uses the delay time difference between the sound wave generation time and the sound wave reception time for each of the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120 to determine the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120. Calculate your location. This will be described in detail below.

The timer synchronization module 143 may include a first timer 142 of the controller 140, a second timer 124 of the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120 and a third timer of the sound wave receiver 130, which will be described later. 132) performs time synchronization. This is for the controller 140 to synchronize the count time between the timers 142, 124, and 132 in order to increase the accuracy of the sound wave generation time and the sound wave reception time.

In addition, the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120 according to the present invention include a second bidirectional communication module 122, a sound wave oscillation module 123, and a second timer 124, respectively.

As described above, the second bidirectional communication module 122 performs the bidirectional communication with the control unit 140 to receive the sound wave generation signal from the control unit 140 and transmit the sound wave generation time to the control unit 140 when sound wave is generated. As a result, the controller 140 obtains the generation time of the sound waves generated by the first sound wave generator 110 and the second sound wave generator 120.

The sound wave oscillation module 123 generates sound waves underwater according to the sound wave generation signal received through the second bidirectional communication module 122. These sound waves are radio waves transmitted wirelessly underwater. For example, it may be ultrasonic waves running underwater.

The second timer 124 counts generation times of the sound waves generated in the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120, respectively. The sound wave generation time counted as described above is transmitted to the controller 140 through the second bidirectional communication module 122.

In addition, each sound wave receiver 130 of the present invention includes a sound wave receiver module 131, a third timer 132, a memory 133, and a communication unit 134.

The sound wave receiving module 131 receives sound waves generated underwater from the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120, respectively. At this time, the third timer 132 counts a sound wave reception time for each of the received sound waves. The memory 133 stores the counted sound wave reception time. In addition, the communication unit 134 transmits the sound wave reception time to the control unit 140.

4 is an exemplary diagram of a time chart for a sound wave generation signal, sound wave generation time, and sound wave reception time according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 (a) is an illustration of the output time chart for the sound wave generation signal in the control unit 140, Figure 4 (b) is an example of a time chart for the sound wave generation time in the sound wave generation unit (110, 120) 4 (c), (d), and (e) are exemplary diagrams of time charts for sound wave reception times in the three sound wave receivers 130, respectively.

Referring to FIG. 4A, a plurality of first sound wave generators 110 and a second robot attached to the underwater robot 121 are attached to the bottom 11 through wired or wireless communication in a control unit 140 located on a ship. The sound wave generation unit 120 transmits a sound wave generation signal, respectively. The sound wave generation signal may be transmitted to the first sound wave generator 110 and the second sound wave generator 120 at the same time point, or may be transmitted at different time points. In the example of the figure, the control unit 140 transmits the sound wave generation signals to the first sound wave generator 110 at time t _{0 and} to the second sound wave generator 120 at time t ₅ , respectively.

The sound wave generation signal as described above is transferred to the first sound wave generator 110 after a time delay for communication by (t _1- t ₀ ) as shown in (b) of FIG. 4, and as much as (t ₆ -t ₅ ). After the time delay is delivered to the second sound wave generator 120. Accordingly, the plurality of first sound wave generators 110 immediately generate sound waves at time t ₁ according to the sound wave generation signals transmitted from the controller 140, and the second sound wave generators 120 immediately generate sound waves according to the sound wave generation signals. Generates sound waves at time t ₆ . The sound wave generation times of the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120 are counted by the second timer 124.

When sound waves are generated in this way, the three sound wave receivers 130 located on the sea floor receive the sound waves. In this case, the sound wave receivers 130 are spaced apart from each other at predetermined intervals and are arranged in a triangle shape, and thus distances from the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120 may be different. Therefore, the arrival time of each sound wave generated from the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120 may also appear differently.

Accordingly, as shown in FIGS. 4C to 4E, among the three sound wave receivers 130, the sound wave receiver 1 is at time t ₂ , the sound wave receiver 2 is at time t ₃ , and the sound wave receiver 3 is at time t _4. Receives sound waves of the sound wave generator 110. Also, the sound wave receiver 1 receives a sound wave of the second sound wave generator 120 at a time t ₇ , the sound wave receiver 2 at a time t ₈ , and the sound wave receiver 3 at a time t ₉ . Each sound wave reception time in these three sound wave generators 130 is counted by the third timer 132.

In this case, as illustrated in (c) to (e) of FIG. 4, the sound waves generated by the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120, respectively, are transmitted to three sound wave receivers 130 installed on the sea bottom. 1 In the case of the sound wave generator 110, a time delay of (t ₂ -t ₁ ) occurs when the sound wave reaches the sound wave receiver ₁ , and a delay of (t ₃ -t ₁ ) when the sound wave reaches the sound wave receiver 2 occurs. Time occurs, and a time delay of (t ₄ -t ₁ ) occurs when the sound wave reaches the sound wave receiver 3. Similarly, in the case of the second sound wave generation unit 120, a time delay of (t ₇ -t ₆ ) occurs when the sound wave reaches the sound wave receiver 1, and when the sound wave reaches the sound wave receiver 2 (t ₈ -t ₆ ) delay time and (t ₉ -t ₆ ) time delay when the sound wave reaches the sound wave receiver 3 occurs.

As such, a difference in delay time occurs in the sound wave reception time between the three sound wave receivers 1,2,3. The reason for the difference in the delay time between the three sound wave reception times is that the distance between the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120 and the three sound wave receivers 130 are different, so that the sound wave proceeds by the distance. This is because the difference occurs over time.

As a result, the controller 140 receives the sound wave generation time received from the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120 and the sound wave reception for each of the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120 received by the three sound wave receivers 130. The positions of the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120 are respectively calculated using the delay time difference between the times.

5 is an exemplary diagram illustrating a concept of calculating a position of a sound wave generator according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 5, A, B, and C represent three sound wave receivers 130, and P represents a sound wave generator 110 or 120. A, B, and C may all be coplanar with respect to the bottom 11, but may not. Accordingly, the height of the other sound wave receiver based on the two sound wave receivers may be obtained at a depth (height) of the ship bottom 11 using the depth sensor 160. If the coordinate of P is called (x1, y1, z1) and the sound wave receiver of A is the origin, and the sound wave receiver of B coincides with the X axis, the distance between the position P of the sound wave generator and the sound wave receiver of A, B, and C For a, b and c, Equation 1 holds as follows.

..... (2)

..... (2)

.....(3)

..... (3)

,

,0)
d: Distance between A, B, and C sound wave receivers, the coordinates of the C sound wave receiver:

,

,0)

Using the three equations above, a, b, and c can be calculated and the coordinates of P can be obtained from them.

In addition, in the case of using the depth sensor 160, the height h of P is the same as the depth of the sound wave receiver 130 so that z1 = h in P (x1, y1, z1), and Equation 2 is established as follows. do.

..... (5)

..... (5)

Solving the above equation can obtain the coordinates of P. Compared to the method of Equation 1, since the accuracy of the depth sensor 160 is extremely accurate, there is an advantage that the accuracy can be improved in the position calculation.

As such, when the delay time difference between the sound wave reception times of the first and second sound wave generators 110 and 120 measured by the three sound wave generators 130 is used, the distance between each sound wave generator and the sound wave receiver is calculated. Considering the depth measured by the depth sensor 160 installed in the sound wave receiver, the position of the sound wave generator to be measured when referring to the sound wave receiver 1 may be uniquely specified. Therefore, when the position of each of the sound wave generator is specified, the position information of the underwater robot 121 at the bottom 11 can be measured continuously.

Although the present invention has been described in detail through the preferred embodiments, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the contents of these embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope of the appended claims, The genius will be so self-evident. Accordingly, the true scope of the present invention should be determined by the technical idea of the appended claims.

In order to acquire underwater information, it is necessary to accurately determine the position of the underwater robot working underwater. In particular, when the underwater robot is working on the ship's bottom, it is important to identify and manage the location of the bottom. This allows you to move the underwater robot to the desired location and direct the necessary work.

In this respect, the apparatus and method for measuring the position of the underwater robot according to the present invention is very useful in the marine industry because it can accurately measure the position of the underwater robot attached to the bottom surface of the ship or performing underwater work near the bottom surface with a simple configuration. Could be applied.

10 ship 11 ship bottom
110: first sound wave generator 120: second sound wave generator
121: underwater robot 130: sound wave receiver
140: control unit 150: display unit
160: depth sensor

Claims (14)

A plurality of first sound wave generators attached to a plurality of positions corresponding to the bottom shape of the ship and generating sound waves underwater according to sound wave generation signals received from the outside;
A second sound wave generator attached to the underwater robot working on the bottom to generate sound waves underwater;
Three sound wave receivers installed at a distance from the bottom of the ship and receiving sound waves generated underwater from the first and second sound wave generators; And
The sound wave generation signal is output to the first and second sound wave generators, respectively, and the positions of the first and second sound wave generators are determined using the sound wave reception times of the first and second sound wave generators received from the three sound wave receivers. A control unit for calculating each; Underwater robot position measuring apparatus comprising a. The method of claim 1,
The control unit is a position measuring device of the underwater robot, characterized in that for measuring the relative position of the underwater robot relative to the bottom using the calculated position of the first and second sound wave. The apparatus of claim 1,
First bidirectional to perform bidirectional communication with the first and second sound wave generation units to transmit sound wave generation signals to the first and second sound wave generation units, and to receive sound wave generation times from the first and second sound wave generation units. Communication module;
A first timer for counting a transmission time of the sound wave generation signal;
A transmission / reception module for transmitting a control signal to the three sound wave receivers and receiving a sound wave reception time from each of the sound wave receivers; And
A position calculator configured to calculate positions of the first and second sound wave generators using the sound wave generation time and the sound wave reception time respectively received from the first bidirectional communication module and the respective sound wave receivers; Underwater robot position measuring apparatus comprising a. The method of claim 3,
The first and second using a delay time difference between each sound wave generation time received from the first and second sound wave generators and the sound wave reception time of each of the first and second sound wave generators received from the three sound wave receivers. Positioning device of the underwater robot, characterized in that for calculating the position of the sound wave generator. The method of claim 4, wherein the position calculation unit,
And a distance between the underwater robots from the plurality of first sound wave generators using the calculated positions of the first and second sound wave generators. The method of claim 1,
And a display unit for visually displaying the positions of the plurality of first sound wave generators and the underwater robot. The method of claim 6, wherein the display unit,
The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising displaying relative coordinates of the underwater robot with respect to the plurality of first sound wave generators. The method of claim 1, wherein the first sound wave generator,
Positioning apparatus of the underwater robot, characterized in that attached to the bottom by a magnet formed on one side. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second sound wave generator,
A bidirectional communication module configured to perform bidirectional communication with the controller to receive the sound wave generation signal from the controller and to transmit the sound wave generation time to the controller when sound waves are generated;
A sound wave oscillation module for generating sound waves underwater according to sound wave generation signals received through the bidirectional communication module; And
A second timer for counting the sound wave generation time; Underwater robot position measuring apparatus comprising a. The method of claim 1, wherein the sound wave receiver,
A sound wave receiving module for receiving sound waves generated underwater from the first and second sound wave generators;
A third timer for counting reception times of the received sound waves, respectively;
A memory for storing the counted sound wave reception time;
A communication unit which transmits the sound wave reception time to the control unit; Underwater robot position measuring apparatus comprising a. The method of claim 1,
The three sound wave receiving unit is a position measuring device of the underwater robot, characterized in that fixed to the sea bottom. The method of claim 11,
The three sound wave receivers are connected to each other to form an equilateral triangle using a connecting member, the position measuring device of the underwater robot, characterized in that formed integrally. The method of claim 1,
And a depth sensor for detecting depth information of the three sound wave receivers, wherein the controller measures the distance between the first and second sound wave generators and the sound wave receiver using the depth information detected by the depth sensor. Position measuring device of the underwater robot. The method of claim 13,
The depth sensor is a position measuring apparatus of the underwater robot, characterized in that attached to or embedded in at least one of the three sound wave receiver.

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