RU2573173C1 - External environment monitoring hydroacoustic station - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: physics.

SUBSTANCE: external environment monitoring hydroacoustic station, comprising an underwater module with radiating and receiving antennae, a surface processing and display unit, an underground communication cable which connects the underwater module and the surface processing and display unit, as well as a generator, wherein the generator is multichannel and, together with the radiating and receiving antennae, is placed in a single underwater module, which additionally includes a tapped delay line unit, the inputs of which are connected to separate outputs of the multichannel generator, an adder unit, the inputs of which are connected to corresponding leads of the tapped delay line unit, a power amplifier unit, the inputs of which are connected to corresponding outputs of the adder unit, and the outputs are connected to corresponding elements of the radiating antenna, an amplifier unit connected to elements of the receiving antenna, an analogue-to-digital converter unit connected to the output of the amplifier unit, a control unit connected to the output of the analogue-to-digital converter unit and to the input of the multichannel generator, and an interface unit connected between the output of the control unit and the surface processing and display unit, wherein the surface processing and display unit comprises series-connected a signal unpacking unit, a beam pattern former unit, a correlation function computing unit and an acoustic imaging unit.

EFFECT: faster scanning of space and obtaining a three-dimensional image.

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Description

The invention relates to the field of hydroacoustics and can be used to control the external environment around protected objects, for example, drilling platforms, hydraulic structures, ships, as well as for the detection and tracking of underwater objects that invade a controlled area of a natural reservoir, for example, in the zone of a sonar range, drilling platforms, ships.

A device of a monitoring station for environmental conditions of a similar purpose is known, comprising acoustic receivers installed in the ground at points located on the path of the emitting beams, while the inclined coastal part of the earth that emits energy beams at given frequencies is used as a sound source in the ocean. Processing the reflected signal allows you to control the underwater situation and detect underwater objects in a given area of the natural reservoir (US Patent N4183009, CL 367-117 (HB 11/00), 1980).

The disadvantages of this device are its limited use near the coastal zone of the ocean, as well as low sensitivity due to the use of reflected (scattered) radiation from the object.

A known hydroacoustic station for monitoring the external environment, for example, for detecting an invasion of an underwater object in a controlled area of a natural reservoir, contains hydroacoustic emitters of various zones of a controlled water area and receivers of an acoustic signal interacting with an underwater object, as well as a unit for determining the location, course and speed of an object the received signal parameters (US Patent No. 4319349, IPC G01S 15/04, 1982).

The disadvantage of this device is the low signal-to-noise ratio in the received signal due to the use of scattered radiation and the lack of stealth in the process of searching for an intruder.

A known hydroacoustic station for monitoring the external environment, for example, for detecting an invasion of an underwater object in a controlled area of a natural reservoir, containing a hydroacoustic emitter of various zones of a controlled water area and a receiver of an acoustic signal interacting with an underwater object, a unit for determining the location, course and speed of an object according to the parameters received signal, as well as a system of reflectors located along an elliptical surface, in the foci of which are placed a dioacoustic emitter and a hydroacoustic receiver, the latter being made with a uniform directivity characteristic (RF Patent No. 2150123, IPC G01S 3/80, G01S 15/04, 06.16.1999).

The disadvantage of this device is the difficulty of arranging a system of reflectors in a controlled area of the received signal, due to the use of scattered radiation and the lack of stealth in the process of searching for an intruder.

The closest in technical essence and the achieved result (prototype) to the proposed one is the well-known hydroacoustic station for monitoring the external environment, including an underwater module with a transmitting and receiving antennas, a surface processing and visualization unit, an underwater communication cable connecting the underwater module to the surface processing and visualization unit, as well as a generator and a switch through which the generator is connected to the emitting and receiving antennas (Yu.A. Koryakin et al. “Shipborne hydroacoustic equipment.” St. Petersburg: From Doctor of Science, 2004, p. 340).

A disadvantage of the known device is the low speed of the review of space and the inability to obtain a three-dimensional image.

The technical result of the invention is to increase the speed of viewing space and providing the possibility of obtaining a three-dimensional image.

The technical result is achieved due to the fact that in the hydroacoustic station for monitoring the external environment, including an underwater module with a radiating and receiving antennas, a surface processing and visualization unit, an underwater communication cable connecting the underwater module to the surface processing and visualization unit, as well as a generator, a generator multichannel and together with the emitting and receiving antennas is located in a single underwater module, which additionally includes a block of multi-tap delay lines, the inputs of which are connected to individual outputs of a multi-channel generator, an adder block, the inputs of which are connected to the corresponding terminals of the multi-branch delay lines, a power amplifier block, to the inputs of which the corresponding outputs of the adder block are connected, and the outputs are connected to the corresponding elements of the radiating antenna, the amplifier block connected to the elements of the receiving antenna, a block of analog-to-digital converters connected to the output of the amplifier unit, a control unit connected to the output of the block of analog-to-digital converters and entry multi-channel generator, and an interface unit connected between the output of the control unit and surface unit of processing and visualization, wherein the surface treatment unit and the imaging unit comprises a series-connected signal unpacking unit formers directivity characteristics unit calculating correlation functions and acoustic image forming unit.

The invention is illustrated by drawings, where in FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the proposed device, and in FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a processing and visualization unit.

The hydroacoustic station for monitoring the external environment contains an underwater module 1, which includes a multi-element emitting antenna 2 and a receiving antenna 3. The elements of these antennas are arranged so that the rays they form have a narrow directivity in mutually perpendicular planes. Examples of such antennas are two mutually perpendicular linear antennas. Elements of one of the antennas can also be arranged in a circle whose axis coincides with the line of arrangement of elements of another antenna. The underwater module also contains a block of power amplifiers 4 connected to the inputs of the radiating antenna 2, a block of adders 5 connected to the inputs of the block of power amplifiers 4, a block of multi-tap delay lines 6, the inputs of which are connected to the outputs of the multi-channel generator 7, connected in series with the elements of the receiving antenna 3 an amplifier unit 8, an analog-to-digital converter unit 9, a control unit 10, the outputs of which are connected to the inputs of a multi-channel generator 7, and an Ethernet interface 11, which is connected via an underwater communication cable 12 It is connected with the surface processing and visualization module 13, which includes the signal unpacking unit 14 connected in series, the directivity characteristics generator 15, the correlation function calculation unit 16 and the acoustic image forming unit 17.

The device operates as follows.

The underwater module 1 is located in a controlled reservoir and connected via an underwater communication cable 12 to the surface processing and visualization unit 13. The control unit 10 generates radiation signals _Sl (t) consisting of independent M-sequences at the output of the multi-channel generator 7. The number of signals is equal to the number of rays L formed by the radiating antenna 2. In the block of multi-tap delay lines 6, time-shifted copies of the signals are generated for each of these signals. The number of copies is equal to the number of elements of the radiating antenna N. The magnitude of the time shift is equal to the lead time τ _{li of the} arrival of the signal from a given direction to the corresponding element of the radiating antenna:

$$S_{\mathrm{one},il}(t)=S_l(t-{\tau }_{il}),i=\overline{\mathrm{one},N},l=\overline{\mathrm{one},L},$$

In block adders 5 is the addition of the generated signals for all elements of the emitting antenna for all directions of its compensation:

$$S_{2,i}(t)={\displaystyle \sum _{l=\mathrm{one}}^L{S}_{\mathrm{one},il}(t).}$$

The signals thus formed after amplification in the block of power amplifiers 4 are connected to the corresponding elements of the radiating antenna 2.

The signals from the output of the elements of the receiving antenna 3 are separately amplified in the block of amplifiers 8, digitized in the block of analog-to-digital converters 9 and through the control unit 10, Ethernet 11, via an underwater cable 12 are fed to the surface processing and visualization module 13, based on a personal computer with Ethernet interface.

A flowchart of the processing performed on the received signals is shown in FIG. 2. The signal decompression unit 14 unpacks the received signal into signals S _{3, r} (t) from the individual elements of the receiving antenna 3. In the block of the formers of the directivity characteristic 15, these signals are summed up with compensation for their arrival time at the rth receiving element with k- direction:

$$S_{\mathrm{four},k}(t)={\displaystyle \sum _{r=\mathrm{one}}^N{S}_{3,r}(t-{\tau }_{kr}).}$$

In the block for calculating the correlation functions 16, the correlation function of the generated signals is calculated with each of the emitted signals S _l :

$$S_{5,kl}(\tau \text{A.})={\displaystyle \underset{t}{\int }{S}_{\mathrm{four},k}(t-\tau )\cdot S_l(t)}\cdot dt.$$

The generated signal allows you to select the signal scattered by the element of three-dimensional space, the coordinates of which are determined by two angles corresponding to the compensation directions of the receiving and radiating antennas 2 and 3, and the delay time corresponding to the distance. Modules of correlation functions are displayed by the acoustic imaging unit 17.

Thus, with each sending of the probing signal, an overview of the entire space is performed, and the dimension of the space survey is three, i.e. provides an increase in the speed of the review of space and the ability to control the external environment with obtaining a three-dimensional image.

Claims (1)

 Hydroacoustic station for monitoring the external environment, including an underwater module with a radiating and receiving antennas, a surface processing and visualization unit, an underwater communication cable connecting an underwater module with a surface processing and visualization unit, and a generator, characterized in that the generator is multi-channel and together with the radiating and receiving antennas are located in a single underwater module, into which a block of multi-tap delay lines is additionally inserted, the inputs of which are connected to individual outputs multichannel the first generator, the adder block, the inputs of which are connected to the corresponding terminals of the multi-branch delay line block, the power amplifier block, to the inputs of which the corresponding outputs of the adder block are connected, and the outputs are connected to the corresponding elements of the radiating antenna, the amplifier block connected to the elements of the receiving antenna, the analog block -digital converters connected to the output of the amplifier unit, a control unit connected to the output of the block of analog-to-digital converters and to the input of the multi-channel generator pa, and an interface unit connected between the output of the control unit and surface unit of processing and visualization, wherein the surface treatment unit and the imaging unit comprises a series-connected signal unpacking unit formers directivity characteristics unit calculating correlation functions and acoustic image forming unit.

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