RU2575045C1 - System and method of determining location of diver - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: physics.

SUBSTANCE: method of determining the location of a diver includes equipment of two beacons and a vessel drifting in the water area for performing diving operations. The vessel and beacon equipment includes a satellite navigation system, hydroacoustic transceivers and radio link transceivers. The diver's equipment includes a hydroacoustic transceiver. The beacons transmit their coordinates to the vessel and the distance to each beacon is determined on the vessel. By emitting an interrogation signal from the vessel via a hydroacoustic channel and receiving a response signal from the beacons, using data on the distance from the vessel to the beacon, the current sound speed is determined on the vessel. Upon receiving the signal emitted from the vessel, the diver's equipment automatically omnidirectionally emits a signal which is received by the beacon and vessel equipment, wherein the beacon equipment redirects, via the hydroacoustic channel, the signal received from the diver along with the reception time of the said signal. Using the value of the current sound speed, data on the emission time of the interrogation signal and the reception time of response signals from the diver, the distance between the diver and the beacons and between the diver and the vessel is determined on the vessel. Coordinates of the diver are determined based on the said distance values and then displayed on a display, while connecting coordinates of the diver into a movement path of the diver. The invention can be used not only for professional divers, but for facilitating immersion of amateur divers without a full face mask with means for telephone communication with a support vessel. The system and method can also be used to monitor the location of a group of divers and for automated monitoring of the location of underwater vehicles operating in the coverage area of hydroacoustic beacon equipment.

EFFECT: enabling monitoring of the location of a diver with rendering of the said location, high accuracy of determining coordinates of a diver and simplification of the diver's equipment.

3 cl, 2 dwg

Description

The invention relates to means for improving the safety of a diver when performing underwater operations for various purposes.

Diving operations are usually provided by the vessel, which is called the supply vessel (hereinafter - the vessel). The vessel is equipped with diving support equipment, including technical equipment related to diving safety, monitoring and managing the activities of divers. One such system is a diver positioning system.

Known methods and devices for solving navigation problems in full or in part.

In the RF certificate for a utility model [1], the diver has a two-channel correlation system, with the help of which he determines the direction to the source of the acoustic signal. In this system, it is not possible to determine the distance to the signal source and its location in the geographical coordinate system.

US patent [2] proposes a navigation base consisting of bottom transponder beacons with sonar transceivers and a drifting transponder beacon, which is additionally equipped with a satellite navigation system. A real-time drifting beacon interacts with the transponder bottom beacons through a sonar channel to determine their coordinates and transfer them to the diver. Further, the diver by his own means solves the triangulation problem, determining his own coordinates. The disadvantages of this system include the presence of bottom beacons, as well as the absence in the claimed device of a method and apparatus for transmitting the coordinates of a diver to a vessel, i.e. control of the diver’s location by external (relative to the diver) systems is not provided.

The diving underwater navigation system claimed in the RF patent [3] contains, in addition to a vessel with a full set of technical equipment, a transponder beacon with a sonar transceiver and satellite navigation means, as well as a diver block in which a sonar transceiver, echo sounder, and sensors are used for navigation heading, roll / trim, satellite navigation. The diver’s coordinates are determined using data from the diver’s sonar and satellite navigation data transmitted from the lighthouses and from the vessel via the sonar channel. The diver’s position is displayed on the diver’s display and on the ship’s monitor. The device allows you to solve navigation problems, but is overloaded with numerous heterogeneous technical equipment at the diver, which requires appropriate power consumption, equipment placement in the diver’s equipment, as well as solving the problem of hydroacoustic compatibility of dissimilar means. In addition, when working in the water area with a very dissected bottom or when performing underwater technical work, when there are reflecting objects at the bottom, the echo sounder, which provides basic information for solving the coordinate problem, can record not the depth of the place, but the distance to the reflecting object.

Known navigation system for divers according to the patent [4]. The system consists of drifting beacon equipment, a ship and diver equipment. The lighthouses and the ship are equipped with real-time satellite navigation and sonar transceivers. The diver’s equipment has a sonar receiver with a display on which information received through the sonar channel can be displayed. System [4] works as follows. The diver receives signals from drifting beacons and the vessel, each of these signals containing the identification code of the signal source and information about its geographical coordinates. In a computer device included in the diver’s equipment, based on the information received, the problem of determining one’s own location is solved. The calculated coordinates are displayed on the diver's display.

Note that in all known devices, except for the device according to the patent of the Russian Federation No. 110503, the navigation problem is solved by a diver, but on the vessel, within the framework of the claimed technical solutions, it is not possible to determine the location of the diver.

Closest to the proposed technical solution for technical and functional characteristics is the "Hydroacoustic underwater navigation system for divers", proposed in the patent [4]. This device is taken as a prototype. The navigation method, which is implemented in the prototype device, follows from an analysis of the structure and connections of the device [4], as well as from a description of its operation.

The disadvantages of the prototype device include:

- the diver’s lack of a hydroacoustic transmitter, which does not allow the diver to transmit to the vessel the results of solving the coordinate problem by him and, as a result, the vessel’s lack (according to the claimed device) of the formation of the coordinate path of the diver provided;

- the lack of the possibility of organizing two-way communication, the transfer of information can be carried out only through the "ship-diver"

- the absence of a system for the operational measurement of the speed of sound, which can vary depending on changes in hydrometeorological conditions or the depth at which diving operations are performed, which affects the accuracy of the results of solving the coordinate problem;

- the solution of the coordinate problem by means available in the diver’s equipment requires the introduction of additional computing resources and the corresponding energy supply;

- all the information from the beacons necessary for the diver to solve the coordinate problem is transmitted only through the sonar channel, which requires measures to ensure the necessary reliability of the received data under the distorting effects of the sonar channel and, accordingly, additional energy consumption.

The main objective of the proposed technical solution is the determination on the vessel, which provides diving operations, the location of the monitored diver and fixing the route of his movement.

The technical results of the proposed system and method for determining the location of a diver are:

- transmission of the solution of the coordinate problem with the reproduction of the coordinates and movement paths of the controlled diver to the vessel;

- operational control and adjustment of sound velocity in the water area;

- simplification of the equipment of the diver and lighthouses, as well as reducing the energy consumption of this equipment.

To achieve the claimed technical results

into the diver’s positioning system,

- containing the equipment of the vessel, the equipment of the first and second lighthouses drifting in the water area where diving operations are performed,

- while the vessel’s equipment and the equipment of each lighthouse contains its own sonar transceiver path having an acoustic antenna, an information forming / processing device, its own satellite navigation receiver, configured to determine its own coordinates in real time;

- the apparatus of the vessel contains a display with a control panel connected to its own device for the formation / processing of information,

- the diver’s equipment contains an acoustic antenna and a sonar tract,

new features introduced:

- the vessel’s equipment and the equipment of each lighthouse additionally contain receiving and emitting radio communication paths, each connected to a corresponding information generation / processing device,

- the sonar tract and the acoustic antenna of the diver’s equipment are configured to receive and transmit information;

- the acoustic antennas of the vessel, the acoustic antennas of the beacons and the acoustic antenna of the diver are omnidirectional.

In a method for determining the location of a diver, comprising

- determination by a vessel and lighthouses drifting in the water area where diving operations are carried out, using the satellite navigation system of its own coordinates in real time, as well as the distance between the vessel and each lighthouse,

- transmission and reception of signals through the hydroacoustic channel by the vessel’s equipment and the equipment of each of the beacons,

- receiving signals through the sonar channel by diver equipment,

- determination of the diver’s coordinates and display of the diver’s coordinates on the display,

new features introduced:

- lighthouse equipment transmit their identification numbers and current coordinates over the air;

- in this case, the vessel’s equipment determines the current distances between the vessel and each lighthouse d _c-m1 and d _c-m2 ;

- at time t _uc vessel apparatus for non-directionally emit sonar channel interrogation signal containing a command targeted to the identification number of the diver, the location is to be determined;

- apparatus sonar paths beacons and diver accept an interrogation signal emitted by the apparatus vessel at time t _uc and automatically respond non-directionally emit sonar signals containing information about identification numbers respectively beacons and diver;

- the vessel’s equipment receives at t t- _ps-m1 and t _ps-m2 at the hydro-acoustic channel response signals emitted by the beacons and determines the current speed of sound with _sound using previously determined values of the current distances between the ship and each of the beacons d _c-m1 and d _c-m2, and the difference between the time t and the time _uc receiving response signals from the respective beacon;

- the equipment of the sonar tracts of the vessel and the lighthouses receive at the time points t _ps-in , t _pm1-in and t _{pm2-in, respectively, a} response signal that is automatically radiated non-directionally by the diver's equipment;

- the vessel's equipment determines the distance from the vessel to the diver d _c-c , using the previously determined value of the current speed of sound with _sound and the difference between the time t _is and the time of receiving the response signal from the diver t _ps-c ;

- the lighthouse equipment automatically transmits the recorded values of t _pm1-v and t _pm2-v along with their identification numbers over the air to the vessel;

- the vessel’s equipment determines the distances d _m1-in and d _m2-in from each of the beacons to the diver, using the previously determined values of the current distances between the vessel and each of the beacons d _c-m1 and d _c-m2 , the previously determined value of the current speed of sound with _eV and the difference between the time t and _uc received by radio beacons from receiving beacons of time values of the response signal from the diver's _{t-PM1 in pm2} and _t-in;

- the vessel’s equipment determines the diver’s coordinates according to certain distances between the diver and the vessel, the diver and each of the lighthouses, puts the diver’s coordinates on the display with the current time and connects the lines with previously plotted coordinates, obtaining the diver’s trajectory.

Additionally, the time of radiation from the vessel of the address signal through the sonar channel t and _{c is} selected in manual mode or set in automatic mode.

In accordance with the proposed system and method

- the location of the monitored diver is determined in a given coordinate system with the simultaneous visualization of the diver’s movement path;

- the current speed of sound in the water area is quickly corrected, which increases the accuracy of solving the coordinate problem;

- information signals are transmitted from the beacons to the ship via a radio channel, which makes it possible to calculate the propagation speed of sound waves, as well as to simplify the lighthouse-ship information transmission system and reduce the energy consumption of equipment exchanging information between the beacons and the ship;

- the hydroacoustic equipment of the diver is simplified, its nomenclature, volume and energy consumption are reduced.

The introduction of new features provides the claimed technical results, consisting in the operational control of the location of the diver from the supporting vessel.

The essence of the claimed technical solution is illustrated in FIG. 1, 2. In FIG. 1 shows the structure of the system, FIG. 2, a method for determining the location (coordinates) of a diver is explained.

The inventive system (Fig. 1) comprises a first lighthouse 1 and a second lighthouse 2, a vessel 3, which interact with a diver 4. On the vessel 3 there is a sonar transceiver path 5 of the vessel (GPS) with an omnidirectional acoustic antenna 6 of the vessel (AS). The first and second beacons also have first and second sonar transceiver paths 7 and 8 (GLP1, GLP2) with first and second omnidirectional acoustic antennas 9, 10 (A1, A2), respectively. Lighthouses 1, 2, vessel 3, also contain satellite navigation receivers 11, 12, 13 of the vessel and lighthouses (SPNS, SPN1, SPN2), as well as receiving and radiating radio links 14, 15, 16 of the vessel and lighthouses (RPPS, RPP1, RPP2 ) AC, A1, A2 are connected to the GPS, GLP1, GLP2, respectively. GPPS, SPNS, RPPS are connected to the vessel forming / processing device 17 (SLD), which is also connected to the display 18 (D), GPP1, SPN1, RPP1 are connected to the first forming / processing device 19 of the first beacon (UO1), and GPP2, SPN2 , RPP2 - with a second device forming / processing 20 of the second beacon (UO2). The hydroacoustic path of the diver 4 is made as a hydroacoustic transceiver path 21 (GPPV), and GPPV is connected to the undirectional acoustic antenna 22 of the diver (AB).

The operation of the system and the method for determining the location of a diver should be considered together.

In the initial position, the first and second beacons 1, 2, vessel 3, on which the corresponding equipment is located, are located in the area of diving operations, where the diver is launched 4. Vessel 3 occupies point C with coordinates (x _s , y _s ), the coordinates of the first and the second beacons M1 (x ₁ , y ₁ ) and M2 (x ₂ , y ₂ ), respectively (see Fig. 2). In the initial state, the equipment located on the lighthouses 1, 2 and at the diver 4, is in reception mode.

Using satellite navigation receivers SPNS, SPN1, SPN2 on vessel 3, beacons 1, 2, determine their coordinates; from lighthouses 1, 2 over the radio channel using RPP1, RPP2 they transmit to the vessel 3 their coordinates (x ₁ , y ₁ ), (x ₂ , y ₂ ) together with identification numbers. On the vessel, the current distances between vessel 1 and each of the beacons 2 and 3, which are designated d _c-m1 and d _c-m2, are calculated.

Further, from the vessel at time t _uc emit via GPPS and AU hydroacoustic channel interrogation signal containing an address (identification number) diver being monitored. The presence of the address of a specific diver in the request signal is necessary while several divers working simultaneously in the water area. The request signal is received by antennas A1, A2, AB and processed using GPP1, GPP2, GPPV at the beacons and at the diver. After receiving the signal emitted from the vessel at time t _IS , beacons 1, 2 emit a response address signal containing the identification number of the beacon via the sonar channel. These beacon signals at the times t _ps-m1 and t _ps-m2 are received on the ship using AS, GFPS and as a result of processing in the SLD, the current speed of sound s is determined, and the average value of the speed of sound is recorded in the SLR memory

The diver’s equipment, having received the signal from the vessel emitted at time t _IS , automatically emits a response signal using the GPPV and the omnidirectional antenna AB. The signal emitted by the diver’s equipment is received by the equipment of the first and second beacons at times t _pm1-v and t _pm2-v, respectively, the time of reception of the signal from the diver is recorded and this data is automatically transmitted to the vessel along with the identification numbers of the beacons.

The response signal from the diver is also received by the hydroacoustic equipment of the vessel at time t _ps-in and using the SLD, the distance to the diver d _c-in = c _sv (t _ps-in -t _is ) / 2 is determined. In addition, on the vessel, using the values of t _pm1-v and t _pm2-v adopted by the radio channel from the lighthouses, the distances d _{m1- v} and d _{m2- v} between each of the lighthouses and the diver are calculated by the formulas d _m1- b = s _sv ( t _{a -t-PM1 uc)} -d _{c-a, d-a} = _m2 with _ulcers (t _{a -t-pm2 uc)} -d _c-c.

Thus, three distances are known on the vessel: between the vessel and the diver d _c-in , between the first lighthouse 1 and the diver d _m1-in and between the second lighthouse 2 and the diver d _m2-in .

The coordinates of the diver (x _in , y _in ) (see Fig. 2) are determined when solving a system of quadratic equations:

System (1) has two roots when solving; adding an equation

system (1) is reduced to a system of linear equations:

from where unambiguously determine the desired coordinates of the diver (x _in , y _in ).

After determining the diver’s coordinates using the SLD, the coordinates are entered together with the calculation time in the form of graphic symbols in the water grid on the display D and connected to the previously calculated diver’s coordinates by lines, forming on the display the diver’s motion path in the given coordinate system with time points for each fixed points.

Several procedures while the system is performed automatically (e.g., radiation response signals diver's equipment and beacon) and other actions are stimulated by a signal sent from the vessel at time t _{and c.} Depending on the hydrometeorological and / or hydrological-acoustic conditions, as well as the diver’s movement program associated with performing underwater technical works, the diver’s location related to calculating his coordinates can be performed in manual mode or in automatic mode. In the automatic mode, the SLD, UO1, and UO2 devices enter the corresponding data in advance to exchange information over the radio channel with the vessel and emit the signal from the vessel’s equipment through the sonar channel.

The devices used in the inventive system are known: beacons with satellite navigation systems such as GPS / GLONASS are described in patents [2-4]; receiving and emitting hydroacoustic equipment for divers and ship is described in [3]. The design of an omnidirectional acoustic antenna is presented in the book [5]. Power supply devices are not included in the diver and beacon equipment. The characteristics of these devices depend on the duration of the diver and beacons, as well as on the mutual distances. At distances of up to 500-1000 m and operation for several hours, the diver and beacon equipment can be powered by miniature batteries or rechargeable batteries. If the diver’s equipment includes, in addition to the device for determining the location, other sonar systems, in particular, a telephone communication system [2, 3], the claimed equipment for determining the location of a diver placed on a diver can be combined with hydro-acoustic equipment of other systems, including power supply .

The claimed technical effect of using the system and method for determining the location of a diver, provided during operation:

- solves the main problem associated with constant monitoring of the location of the diver, and the visualization of this location provides visibility and ease of control;

- the accuracy of determining the coordinates of the diver increases due to the periodic measurement of the speed of sound in water, which can change due to weather conditions, with a change in water temperature, diver's depth of immersion, and for other reasons.

- the diver’s equipment is greatly simplified, as this equipment is a simple repeater operating in the “receive / emission” mode.

In the proposed system and in the method for determining the location of a diver, the main hardware and functional load falls on the equipment of the vessel that provides the divers. A fairly simple standard equipment is located on the lighthouses, an even simpler equipment is located at the diver. Therefore, the proposed system can be used not only for professional divers, but also to provide diving for amateur divers, who in many cases do not have a full-face mask with telephone communications with a support vessel. At the same time, the requirements for safety and control of diving are quite stringent. In addition, the proposed system can be used:

- for automated control of the location of underwater vehicles operating in the coverage area of lighthouse sonar;

- to control the location of a group of divers, each diver should have his own identification number, and selection must be carried out in the hardware and software of the lighthouses and the vessel to visualize the movement paths of each of the controlled divers.

Information sources

1. Certificate of the Russian Federation for utility model No. 43370. Direction finder, publ. 01/10/2005.

2. US Patent No. 7483337 (US 2008008045). System and method for extending GPS to divers and underwater vehicle, publ. 01/10/2008.

3. RF patent for utility model No. 110503. Hydroacoustic system of underwater navigation and an underwater diver unit, publ. 11/20/2011.

4. RF patent for utility model No. 97539. Hydroacoustic system of underwater navigation for divers, publ. 09/10/2010.

5. Sverdlin V. M. Hydroacoustic antennas and transducers. L .: Shipbuilding, 1980.

Claims (3)

1. A system for determining the location of a diver containing the vessel’s equipment, equipment of the first and second lighthouses drifting in the water area where diving operations are performed, while the vessel’s equipment and the equipment of each lighthouse contain their own sonar transceiver path having an acoustic antenna, an information forming / processing device, own satellite navigation receiver, configured to determine your own coordinates in real time; moreover, the vessel’s equipment contains a display with a control panel connected to its own information generation / processing device, and the diver’s equipment contains an acoustic antenna and a sonar tract, characterized in that the vessel’s equipment and the equipment of each beacon additionally contain receiving and emitting radio communication paths, each connected to a corresponding device for the formation / processing of information; the hydroacoustic path and the acoustic antenna of the diver’s equipment are configured to receive and transmit information; the acoustic antennas of the vessel, the acoustic antennas of the beacons and the acoustic antenna of the diver are omnidirectional. 2. A method for determining the location of a diver, including determining by a vessel and beacons drifting in the water area where diving operations are carried out, using the satellite navigation system of its own coordinates in real time, as well as the distance between the vessel and each lighthouse, transmitting and receiving signals through the sonar channel with equipment the vessel and the equipment of each of the beacons, receiving signals through the hydroacoustic channel by the diver’s equipment, determining the diver’s coordinates and displaying the diver’s coordinates on the display, which differs the fact that the lighthouse equipment broadcasts its identification numbers and current coordinates over the air, and the vessel’s equipment determines the current distances between the vessel and each lighthouse d _c-m1 and d _c-m2 ; at time t _uc vessel apparatus for non-directionally emit sonar channel interrogation signal containing a command targeted to the identification number of the diver, the location is to be determined; the sonar tract equipment of the lighthouses and the diver receive a request signal emitted by the ship’s equipment at time t _ic , and automatically respond with hydroacoustic signals that contain information on the identification numbers of the beacons and the diver, respectively; the vessel’s equipment receives hydroacoustic response signals emitted by the beacons at times t _ps-m1 and t _ps-m2 and determines the current speed of sound c using the previously determined values of the current distances between the vessel and each of the beacons d _c-m1 and d _c-m2 and the difference between the time t _is and the time of receiving response signals from the corresponding beacon; by the equipment of the sonar tracts of the vessel and lighthouses, t _ps-in , t _pm1-in and t _pm2-in , respectively, are received at time instants, a response signal automatically emitted non-directionally by the diver’s equipment; Vessel apparatus determines the distance from the vessel to the diver d _c-a, as previously defined using the current value of the sound velocity c and the difference between the time t and the time _uc receiving a response signal from the diver t _ps-a; the lighthouse equipment automatically transmits the recorded values of t _pm1-v and t _pm2-b along with their identification numbers over the air to the vessel; the vessel’s equipment determines the distances d _m1-v and d _m2-v from each of the beacons to the diver using the previously determined values of the current distances between the vessel and each of the beacons d _c-m1 and d _c-m2 , the previously determined value of the current speed of sound s and the difference between the time t _IS and received by radio channel from the beacons the values of the time the beacons receive the response signal from the diver t _pm1-v and t _pm2-v ; the vessel’s equipment determines the diver’s coordinates at certain distances between the diver and the vessel, the diver and each of the beacons, puts the diver’s coordinates on the display with the current time and connects the lines with the previously plotted coordinates, obtaining the diver’s trajectory. 3. The method according to p. 2, characterized in that the instant of radiation from the vessel of the address signal through the sonar channel t _{IS is} selected in manual mode or set in automatic mode.

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