RU50299U1 - MULTIFUNCTIONAL HYDROPHYSICAL AUTONOMOUS STATION - Google Patents

Abstract

The proposed utility model of the bottom multifunctional hydrophysical autonomous station (MGAS) is designed to measure and record hydrophysical information on digital storage devices, at depths of up to 6000 m, in standalone mode. The installation of MGAS at the bottom is ensured by free immersion using ballast on the guide and ascent to the surface due to the positive buoyancy of the solid load-bearing housing during separation of the ballast.

MGAS can operate in a set, synchronous mode, up to 15 stations, while providing independent control via a sonar communication channel. After placing on the bottom, an autonomous measurement of mutual distances is carried out using a distance measuring system (LED) with a measurement error not exceeding ± 6 m. When several MGASs are in synchronous operation, the current time of several MGASs and ship equipment is linked using a single time system (SEV) using highly stable crystal oscillators with an error not worse than 5 * 10 ^-8 . Thus, LEDs and CEBs make it possible to use a system consisting of multiple MGASs as a spatially spaced antenna system.

To take into account the hydrological situation of the region during the operation of MGAS, stations are equipped with depth, temperature, and sound propagation sensors with a microprocessor-based system for collecting and processing hydrological information, which measures and stores the sound velocity profile in the autonomous memory (flash card) during the station’s immersion and ascent.

MGAS consists of a hardware module, a system for determining the location of the MGAS and the transfer of operational hydrophysical information to the sea surface, a ballast release system, a system for determining the distance between the MGAS, a hydroacoustic command system and a registration system for preliminary processing and accumulation of hydrophysical information.

Description

The technical solution relates to the constructive implementation of hydrophysical research tools and can be used for long-term oceanological research.

When conducting oceanographic research, various hydrophysical observation tools are widely used, including autonomous hydrophysical stations.

The basic principles for constructing autonomous stations oriented for work at great depths are given in [Konovalov S.L. The use of autonomous bottom stations as a universal carrier of measuring equipment., Publishing House SE "VNIFTRI", 2000, p.135-139.]. Autonomous hydrophysical stations oriented to work at great depths, as a rule, are a robust equipment carrier body designed for a certain hydrostatic pressure and, accordingly, the maximum working depth. Inside the case there is electronic equipment, power supplies and measuring transducers. Transducers can also be located in remote systems, while communication with the equipment is via cable glands. A fully equipped autonomous station should have positive buoyancy, and immersion is carried out due to the lost ballast weight, fixed to a controlled ballast disconnector. The bottom autonomous station, adopted as a prototype, is equipped with a single hydrophone and a vertical multi-element garland of hydrophones, a multi-channel digital system for recording and storing information, a telemetric hydroacoustic communication system, a station search system on the sea surface, a ballast release system, and a program control device for operating modes.

The proposed utility model of the bottom multifunctional hydrophysical autonomous station (MGAS) is designed to measure and record, in an autonomous mode, at depths of up to 6000 m, hydrophysical information on digital storage devices. The installation of MGAS at the bottom is ensured by free immersion using ballast on the guide and ascent to the surface due to the positive buoyancy of the solid load-bearing housing during separation of the ballast. MGAS can operate in a set, synchronous mode, up to 15 stations, while providing independent control via a sonar communication channel. After placing on the bottom, an autonomous measurement of the mutual distance is carried out using a distance measuring system (LED) with a measurement error not exceeding ± 6 m. When several MGASs operate synchronously, the current time of several MGASs and ship equipment is linked by a single time system (SEV) using highly stable generators with an error not worse than 5 * 10 ^-8 . Thus, LEDs and CEBs make it possible to use a system consisting of multiple MGASs as a spatially spaced antenna system.

To take into account the hydrological situation of the region during the operation of the MGAS, the stations are equipped with depth, temperature and sound propagation sensors with a microprocessor-based system for collecting and processing hydrological information,

which measures and saves in the autonomous memory (flash card) a profile of the speed of sound during the immersion and ascent of the station.

MGAS provides amplification, filtering, digitization, pre-processing and registration on a digital storage device of hydroacoustic information from a vertical 8-element garland of hydrophones or from a single hydrophone installed on the station building.

MGAS has two modes (options) of use: in the first version, information is received by a garland of hydrophones, and in the second - by a single hydrophone.

MGAS consists of a hardware module, a system for determining the location of the MGAS and the transmission of operational hydrophysical information on the sea surface, a ballast release system, a system for determining the distance between the MGAS, a hydroacoustic command system and a system for recording, preliminary processing and accumulation of hydrophysical information.

The essence of the proposed utility model MGAS lies in the constructive implementation of the known principles of building autonomous stations.

Autonomous multifunctional hydrophysical autonomous station is (Fig. 1): deep-sea (working depth up to 6000 m) equipment carrier (ON) 1, consisting of two spherical hemispheres made of aluminum alloys, tightened by bolts 18 on flanges 17, to ensure tightness on two o-rings 16 are laid in special grooves cut in a circle. Inside HA 1 are installed: on the upper hemisphere the hydroacoustic unit (BGA) 5, the on-board computing unit (BVU) 2, installed using the instrument ring a 19; on the lower hemisphere, the power supply 3, the tightness sensor 20, the urgency device (PS) 9 and the disconnector 6 (the executive part with the backup mechanism is brought out to a special area of the lower hemisphere). Outside, in the upper hemisphere, on the site there is a single hydrophone (OG) 10, an 8-element garland of hydrophones (GG) 4, the hydrophones of the garland are interconnected by a cable - cable 7, the garland is pulled into a “line” using a float 21, a high-frequency receiver (transceiver sonar device) 11, designed for a sonar command system (GAX), a pressure sensor (DD) 14, which determines the current immersion depth of the station, the antenna of the radar reflector and radio transmitter (RA) 12, flashing beacon (PM) 13, antenna ab the terminal of the Gonets satellite communication system (CCC) 30 with the GLONASS space navigation system (SRNS) 15. The executive part of the disconnector 6 is attached to the lower hemisphere, which is connected to the ballast 8 via a guide (cable) 6-8.

The power source 3 is assembled from lithium rechargeable batteries, which currently provide the maximum capacity per unit unit weight and size characteristics of the batteries. The power source is installed so that the center of gravity of the assembled station is located on the lower hemisphere to ensure the stability of the station on the sea surface.

The tightness sensor 20 represents two contacts that, when interacting with seawater, close the circuit. The tightness sensor is located at the lower point of the lower hemisphere, thus providing monitoring of the tightness of the station (if a station leak is detected)

the circuit closes, thereby giving a command to the actuator control unit (UIM) of the circuit breaker) (key 34 in figure 4).

The stand-alone urgency device 9 is an electronic timer with an autonomous power source for directly actuating the actuator of the circuit breaker 6.

The actuator of the disconnector (IMR) 6 is an electromechanical device designed to connect ON 1 with ballast 8 when immersed, find it in an underwater position and separate the ballast when the station emerges.

IMR (figure 2) consists of a console 6-5, two triggers 6-3 (one of them acts as a backup) and a lever 6-4. IMR is installed externally on the lower hemisphere ON 1, into the central hole of which the console shank 6-5 with a radial ring seal 6-2 enters and is fastened with a nut 6-1. The lever 6-4, the short arm of which is loaded by the weight of the ballast 8 and the force of the stretched rubber cord 6-7, is mounted on the axis 6-6 and is prevented from turning relative to the console 6-5 by two triggers 6-3. When the triggers are triggered or one of them, the lever 6-4 is released and under the action of efforts on the short shoulder turns, disconnecting from the ballast.

BGA 5 consists of a module of a hydroacoustic command system (GAX) 32 (Fig. 4) and a module of a distance measuring system (LED) 33 (Fig. 4) designed for:

- receiving sonar commands and transferring them to PU 29;

- formation of response signals in the mode of measuring slant range to MGAS on the supporting ship;

- receiving a request signal of a distance measuring system at a frequency of 7 kHz and generating a response signal.

GAX allows you to:

- transmit control commands from the supply vessel to the MGAS;

- transmit from the MGAS to the ship’s receiving and processing complex (SPOK) a “receipt” on the receipt and execution of control commands at the bottom station;

- transmit from MGAS to SPOK (upon request) digital information about registered signals;

- transmit telemetry information from the MGAS to the SPOK about the operation of the MGAS system and nodes and the execution of the received commands;

- determine the slant range between the vessel and the MGAS for any exchange of signals between them;

- search and determine the location of the MGAS at the bottom relative to the vessel;

- transfer the MGAS to the sonar beacon mode upon command from the ship;

- transmit to the ship about the detected failures in the GAKS equipment.

Characteristics of the exchange signals between SPOK and MGAS:

- the exchange of signals between the vessel and MGAS is carried out in the range of operating frequencies from 10 to 40 kHz;

- working frequency band - 1 kHz;

- signals are transmitted synchronously by the method of relative phase modulation at a speed of 200 Baud;

- separation of signals between MGAS - code;

- the number of control commands transmitted to each MGAS - up to 31;

- control commands are issued to the MGAS program control and accumulation unit in the form of 16-bit words;

- the number of receipts transmitted from MGAS to the vessel on receipt and execution of control commands by the bottom station - up to 31. The receipt contains data on the station number, the number of the received command and its execution.

The information storage (NI) 35 included in the on-board computing unit (BVU) 2 is intended primarily for the accumulation of registered information (figure 3):

- receiving signals from a single hydrophone 10 and from an 8-element equidistant garland of hydrophones 4;

- preliminary processing of the registered information by the filter - amplifier 24, 23;

- analog-to-digital conversion of information 25;

- storing information in the buffer memory of the RAM 26, then in the non-volatile storage device CF 27 and HDD 28.

The system of accumulation of registered data is based on a single-board microcomputer Persior CF-1. CF-1 is based on the Motorola MC68SK338 microcontroller and includes 1 Mb flash memory for data and programs, as well as 250 Kb of static RAM 26.

For non-volatile data storage, a Compact Flash (CF) 27 card with a capacity of 16 Mb or more is used. CF-1 comes with its own Pico DOS operating system, which allows you to create a file system compatible with MS DOS on the Compact Flash card. For the development of target programs, the Metrowerks Code Warrior Pro C / C ++ compiler was used.

As a storage device, 2.5 HDD 28 is used with a capacity of 18 GB (modern HDDs have a capacity of more than 100 GB), which is connected to the CF-1 through the expansion card Persistor Big IDEA.

The data storage system software is a set of three independent programs. They are located in three different areas of flash memory and are used for various purposes. The settings accumulation program Settings allows you to view and set such registration parameters as the number of channels, sampling frequency, data buffer sizes, diagnostic modes without recompiling and restarting the accumulation program.

In order to reduce energy consumption during the accumulation process, a three-stage buffer is used. Data from the ADC 25 is accumulated in a buffer located in RAM 26. After filling this buffer, all its contents are transferred to a larger buffer, which is located in a special section of Compact Flash 27. When the buffer located in Compact Flash is full, the HDD 28 controller and contents are turned on. the buffer is transferred to the file. After recording the file, the HDD turns off. Such a cycle by an autonomous station is repeated many times until the work is completed.

In BVI 2 also includes the following blocks (figure 4): a software device 29, a block of satellite communications system (CCC) 30, a direction finding and location unit (PL) 31, a control unit for the actuator of the disconnector (UIM) 34.

The software device 29 is a microcontroller that controls all MGAS devices according to a given program or by a command received via a sonar communication channel or via a radio channel (on the surface).

According to the signal from the pressure sensor (DD) 14 in the above-water position, the PU 29 includes a flashing beacon (PM) 13, a bearing and location unit (PL) 31, a satellite communications system unit (CCC) 30. The PL 31 unit through the antenna 12 periodically emits a continuous tone the signal at the frequency of a standard ship direction finder, interrupted by a coded message containing a conditional station number, is at the same time ready to reflect the location signal from a standard radar, which makes it possible to clearly mark the station's location on the sea surface. In the underwater position, according to the signal from DD 14, the PU 29 turns off the submarines 31 and CCC 30.

PU 29 according to the program turns on or off the unit of the hydroacoustic command system (GAX) 32, which is part of the unit of hydroacoustic (BGA) 5, executes all the commands received using the block GAKS 32, and, if necessary, transmits through the block GAKS 32, using the receiver 11 requested information. In addition, PU 29 controls the accumulation modes of NI 35 according to a given program, at a given time issues a command UIM 34 to reset the ballast. If the data with DD 14 is exceeded, for example, 6000 meters, or when a leak is detected using the tightness sensor 20, or by a command received through the hydroacoustic communication channel using GAKS 32 PU 29, it also issues a UIM 34 command to turn on the actuator of the circuit breaker 6 ( i.e. ballast discharge).

The stand-alone urgency device 9 is an electronic timer with an autonomous power source, not connected to the BVI 2, directly supplying the necessary electrical impulse to the actuator of the circuit breaker 6. At a given point in time, the urgency device 9 issues, regardless of the software device 29, the necessary electrical pulse to the actuator of the circuit breaker 6.

At the bottom of the station, the distance between the stations, as well as the slant distance between the vessel and individual stations, are determined by the program or by command from the GAKS using the distance measuring system (LED) 33.

Block (CCC) 30, using the SRNS 15 antenna, allows the supplying vessel, which searches for a station on the sea surface, on the basis of the GLONASS satellite radio navigation system, to determine the location of the station, in addition, using CCC 30, by command of the radio channel from the providing vessel, it can operational transfer of hydrophysical information to the research center, which can be located almost anywhere on the earth, is carried out.

The work of MGAS is as follows.

On board the supply vessel, before setting up the MGAS, a full training cycle takes place, including the inclusion and testing of various units and blocks, entering the station's work program into the software device 29, setting the response time of the actuator 6 on the urgency device 9. After the preparation cycle, the MGAS is dropped from the providing a ship overboard using an onboard crane. From this moment, the MGAS carries out

diving at an average speed of 1.5-1.6 m / s. A sealed container ON 1 (Fig. 1), made of aluminum alloys, having a maximum working depth of 6000 m, produces a “soft” landing with the help of a guide 6-8 to the bottom. After the MGAS is drowned, according to the program with PU 29 or by command with GAKS 32, it measures the distance between the stations using LED 33. Then, according to the program with PU 29, information is recorded and accumulated on SR 35 from an 8-element garland of hydrophones 4 (option No. 1) or from a single hydrophone 10 (option No. 2).

At the moments of the MGAS immersion and ascent, a vertical section of the velocity field of sound velocity propagation is taken, after the station is drowned, temperature and velocity fields in the bottom layers can be recorded.

Upon receipt of commands from the providing vessel to the GAKS 32 unit via the hydroacoustic communication channel, these commands are executed by PU 29. After completion of the program of work laid down in PU 29, the software device, either by program or by command of GAKS 32, gives the UIM 34 command to return the ballast. In case of failure to complete the command, the reset command directly to ИМР 6 can be duplicated from the stand-alone urgency device 9. Emergency MGAS can be ascended in case the station is flowing by the signal from the leakproof sensor 20, if the immersion depth exceeds the limit value of 6000 m by the signal from DD 14 and at the command of the hydroacoustic communication channel through the block GAKS 32.

At the moment the ballast recovers, the float 22 attached to the bottom of the sealed container begins to unfold. The float 22 with a wound propylene halyard (length of the halyard is 15 meters) is designed to take the station on board the supply vessel. After surfacing, the station turns on the flashing beacon 13 (at night), starts transmitting the radio signal of the bearing through the antenna 12 of the radar reflector and the radio transmitter, the encoded signal through the antenna of the SRNS 15. In the case of receiving a signal from the ship's radar, the antenna 12 also starts to work in the active reflector mode. The detected station is selected to board the vessel using a float 22 with a selective halyard. After sampling, the stations produce a series after stage tests, then open the station and extract NI 24 in order to process the data.

As an example, see the interference structure of the wideband signal (5) received via ^the 1 ^st, 4 ^th and 8 ^th hydrophone elements garland MGAS.

Claims (5)

1. Multifunctional hydrophysical autonomous station (MGAS), containing a robust housing - equipment carrier with a power source located inside the carrier, measuring transducers equipped with a single hydrophone and a vertical garland of hydrophones, sensors (pressure, temperature, sound propagation velocity, leakage), multi-channel recording system and information accumulation, hydroacoustic command communication system, station search system on the sea surface, ballast release system, mouth The feature of program control of the station’s operating modes, characterized in that a three-stage buffer is used during accumulation, data from the ADC are accumulated in a buffer located in RAM, after filling this buffer, all its contents are transferred to a larger buffer located in a special section of Compact Flash, when filling This buffer turns on the HDD controller and the contents of this buffer are written to the HDD file. 2. MGAS according to claim 1, characterized in that the single time system (SEV) and the distance measurement system (LED) allows you to use multiple MGAS as a single spatially separated antenna. 3. MGAS according to claim 1, characterized in that in the ballast release system, an actuator of a disconnector with two triggers is used. 4. MGAS according to claim 1, characterized in that the urgency device, a pressure sensor, a tightness sensor, a leakage sensor and a hydroacoustic command system are used in the ballast release system. 5. MGAS according to claim 1, characterized in that the active station radar reflector and the subscriber terminal of the satellite communications system "GONETS" with the space navigation system "GLONASS" are used in the station search system on the sea surface.