TW201500755A - Underwater positioning method and system - Google Patents

Abstract

An underwater positioning method includes steps of: providing a plurality of positioning buoys above an underwater target to be positioned; obtaining the coordinate data of each positioning buoy; at the same time using a sonar positioning method to obtain a relative spatial relation between each positioning buoy and the underwater target; and calculating the coordinate data of the underwater target on the basis of these coordinate data of the positioning buoys and the relative spatial relations. This invention also provides an underwater positioning system which uses the underwater positioning method.

Description

Water positioning method and system

The invention relates to a water positioning method and system, in particular to an underwater positioning method and system capable of detecting a target coordinate in water by using sonar and known coordinates on the water surface.

In the field of ranging and positioning technology, the Sound Navigation And Ranging (SONAR) system and the Global Positioning System (GPS) are best known. The early development of the sonar system is mainly to detect the distance and orientation between the detection point and the measured object by detecting the sound wave signal reflected by the measured object or itself, and also using the electro-acoustic conversion and information. Processing to reach a communication task. GPS calculates the location of the detection point by the received satellite signal. It was only used in the fields of measurement, engineering, academic research, etc. in the early years. However, thanks to the rapid development of information and transportation construction, it has been widely used. For example, the convenience and powerful functions brought about by the provision and exchange of car navigation or sightseeing information have brought about a negligible impact on human life style.

Since the sonar system must detect the sound wave signal from the object under test to estimate its position and distance, if the side object moves out or is not within the detection range, the object can no longer be tracked. In addition, the sonar system can only measure the relative position of the measured object and the detection point, and can not calculate the absolute coordinates of the object in the three-dimensional space as GPS, which is why the application range of GPS is much larger than that of the sonar system. Wide reason. However, since the satellite signal of GPS belongs to electromagnetic waves, it will rapidly decay in the water, so its application cannot be extended below the water surface. For activities such as diving, At present, there is no convenient, accurate and easy-to-use positioning device such as land or air to enhance the convenience and safety of the event.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a water positioning method, which is to provide a plurality of positioning buoys on the water surface above the target to be positioned, and obtain the coordinate data of the positioning buoys by using a coordinate positioning device such as GPS, and simultaneously use sonar positioning. The method obtains the relative spatial relationship between each positioning buoy and the target in the water; in order to calculate the coordinate data of the underwater target by using the coordinate data and the relative spatial relationship.

There is one master positioning buoy in the positioning buoy, and the other is a controlled positioning buoy. Through the wireless communication on the water surface, the master positioning buoy can obtain the coordinate data of all the controlled positioning buoys and their relative spatial relationship with the underwater targets, and calculate the coordinate data of the underwater targets.

The master positioning buoy can also transmit the calculated coordinate data of the underwater target to a coordinate display device in the water by sonar communication method to monitor the target position in the water under the water surface. This diver is usually equipped with this underwater coordinate display device to ensure that it is in its own position and can also be used to track specific water targets in the water.

In addition to displaying coordinates in the water, the master positioning buoy can also transmit the calculated underwater coordinate data to the remote monitoring device by wireless communication method, so that the mother ship, the port or the rescue unit can grasp the position of the underwater target.

The sonar positioning method may be: sending a sonar positioning signal from the underwater target, and using the time difference of the sonar positioning signal to reach the plurality of positioning buoys to know the relative distance between the plurality of positioning buoys and the underwater target, or A sonar positioning signal is sent to the underwater target by each positioning buoy. The number of positioning buoys is preferably three or more for triangulation Calculate the coordinates of the target in the water.

In order to continuously track the moving underwater targets, the positioning buoy can be equipped with an underwater power system to move with the water target and maintain a preset relative distance between the positioning buoys.

Each positioning buoy is provided with a sonar signal receiver for receiving the sonar positioning signal from the underwater target; a microcontroller for controlling the positioning buoy, and calculating a time difference data of the positioning buoy receiving the sonar positioning signal a coordinate positioning device for generating a coordinate signal relative to the position of the positioning buoy; and a wireless signal transceiver for transmitting and receiving wireless signals between the positioning buoys.

The microcontroller of the master positioning buoy is the main control processing control unit, and the coordinate signals and time difference data generated by all the positioning buoys are concentrated in the main control processing control unit through the transmission of the wireless signal transceiver for the main control processing control unit to operate. The position coordinates of the target in the water.

Depending on the sonar detection method, the sonar signal transmitters can be installed separately on each of the positioning buoys or on the water target.

The underwater coordinate display device includes a sonar signal receiver for receiving the sonar communication signal, and a display for displaying a position coordinate of the water target according to the sonar communication signal. The hydrodynamic system moves the positioning buoy under the control of the main control processing unit and the micro-controller of each buoy to track the underwater targets and maintain the positioning buoys at a predetermined relative distance from each other to present an arrangement such as an equilateral triangle.

1‧‧‧ underwater positioning system

11‧‧‧Sonic signal launcher

11a, 11b‧‧‧ Sonar Signal Transmitter

12‧‧‧ Positioning buoy

12a‧‧‧Master positioning buoy

12b‧‧‧Controlled positioning buoy

121‧‧‧ Sonar Signal Receiver

122‧‧‧Microcontroller

123‧‧‧Coordinate positioning device

124‧‧‧Wireless Signal Transceiver

125‧‧‧Hydrodynamic system

126‧‧‧Power system

2‧‧‧ underwater target

3‧‧‧ underwater coordinate display device

31‧‧‧ Sonar Signal Receiver

32‧‧‧ display

33‧‧‧ Sonar Signal Transmitter

34‧‧‧Microcontroller

35‧‧‧Battery

4‧‧‧ Remote monitoring device

5‧‧‧ Activity Supervisory Station

6‧‧‧ Shore Control Centre

Figure 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a water positioning system of the present invention.

Figure 2a is a top plan view of the underwater positioning system of the present invention.

Figure 2a is a side elevational view of the underwater positioning system of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of another sonar detection pattern used in the underwater positioning system of the present invention.

Figure 4a is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a positioning buoy of the present invention.

Figure 4b is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the underwater coordinate display device of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1 , the underwater positioning method provided by the present invention provides a plurality of positioning buoys 12 on the upper surface of the target 2 in the water to be positioned, and obtains the coordinate data of each positioning buoy 12 by GPS, and then sounds. The nano-positioning method obtains the spatial relationship between each of the positioning buoys 12 and the target 2 in the water. Finally, using the coordinate data and the relative spatial relationship, the coordinate data of the target 2 in the water can be calculated.

Referring to FIGS. 2a and 2b, one of the positioning buoys 12 is a master positioning buoy 12a, and the other positioning buoys 12 are controlled positioning buoys 12b. Through the wireless communication on the water surface, the master positioning buoy 12a obtains the coordinate data of each controlled positioning buoy 12b, and the spatial relationship between the controlled positioning buoy 12b and the underwater target 2, such as distance or orientation, to calculate the water. The coordinate data of goal 2. The master positioning buoy 12a transmits the calculated coordinate data of the underwater target 2 to the underwater coordinate display device 3 by the sonar communication method to monitor the position of the water target 2 under the water surface. The underwater coordinate display device 3 can be directly equipped in the water target 2 or held by other underwater activists who wish to monitor the water target 2. The target 2 in the water can be a diver, a diving device, other artificial objects in the water or aquatic creatures.

Please refer to Figure 1 and Figures 2a and 2b at the same time. If you want to grasp the position of the target in the water for the purpose of monitoring or rescue, the master positioning buoy 12a can calculate the target in the water. The coordinate data of 2 is transmitted to a remote monitoring device 4 by means of wireless communication to monitor the position of the target 2 in the water at a remote location on the surface of the water such as a boat, a helicopter or the like, or an onshore control center 6. The coordinates may also be transmitted to the event supervision station 5 or other relay space with long-distance communication capability, and then to the onshore control center 6 located outside the medium and long distance.

The sonar positioning method is to generate an ultrasonic sonar positioning signal with a frequency of about 18 kHz by the sonar signal transmitting device 11, and to know each positioning buoy by the time difference of the sonar positioning signal to each positioning buoy 12 or other measurable physical quantity. 12 The distance or orientation relative to the target 2 in the water. The sonar signal transmitting device 11 basically has two types. As shown in FIG. 1, the sonar positioning signal is directly emitted from the sonar transmitter 11b equipped with the underwater target 2, and the sonar signal is set by the positioning buoy 12 device. Receiver 121 receives. Another sonar detection type is shown in FIG. 3, which is that the self-positioning buoy 12 sends a sonar positioning signal to the underwater target 2 by the sonar transmitter 11a, and the sonar positioning signal hits the water target 2 and then folds back to each. The time difference or other measurable physical quantity of the buoy 12 is located to know the relative distance or orientation between each positioning buoy 12 and the underwater target 2.

Please also refer to Figures 2a, 2b and 4a. The underwater positioning system 1 comprises a sonar signal transmitting device 11 for transmitting a sonar positioning signal that can be transmitted outward from the underwater target 2 for displaying the coordinates of the target 2 in the water. The coordinate display device 3, and the positioning buoy 12 (including a master positioning buoy 12a and at least two controlled positioning buoys 12b). The positioning buoy 12 includes a sonar signal receiver 121, a microcontroller 122, a coordinate positioning device 123, a wireless signal transceiver 124, and an underwater power system 125 and a power system 126. The sonar signal receiver 121 receives the sonar positioning signal emitted by the sonar signal transmitter 11a or 11b. The coordinate positioning device 123 is a GPS module for generating a coordinate signal relative to the position of the positioning buoy 12, and provides a standard clock required to calculate the time difference of the sonar positioning signal. The wireless signal transceiver 124 can be a wireless communication device such as an RF transceiver, The positioning buoys 12 transmit and receive wireless signals. A Micro Controller Unit (MCU) 122 controls the positioning buoy 12, and also calculates the time difference of the positioning buoy 12 to receive the sonar positioning signal or other data that can present the relative position. The microcontroller 122 of the master positioning buoy 12a is a master control processing unit. In addition to the general control of the master positioning buoy 12a, the wireless controller between the wireless signal transceivers 124 controls all the positioning buoys 12 to generate coordinates. Signal and time difference data, and focus on the positional coordinates of the water target 2 in the master positioning buoy 12a operation. The underwater power system 125 provides the mobile power pre-positioning buoy 12 under the control of the microcontroller 122 including the master processing control unit 122a to track the water target 2 and maintain the positioning buoys 12 at a predetermined relative distance from each other. The positioning buoys 12 are arranged in an equilateral triangle as shown in Fig. 2a. In order to enable the positioning buoy 12 to operate for a long period of time, the power system 126 can be equipped with solar panels in addition to the battery to obtain power from the sunlight on the sea surface. In order to transmit the target coordinates of the water to the underwater coordinate display device 3, the master positioning buoy 12a is additionally equipped with a sonar transmitter 11a, and the controlled positioning buoy 12b does not have to be equipped with the sonar transmitter 11a unless it is used as shown in FIG. Active sonar detection mode, or other special needs.

In an embodiment, the coordinate data of the target 2 in the water is separated from the target 2 in the water by at least three positioning buoys 12 (including the master positioning buoy 12a and the controlled positioning buoy 12b), and the positioning buoys 12 are respectively matched. The coordinate data is obtained by triangulation calculation. The coordinate of each positioning buoy 12 is a spherical center coordinate, and the relative distance between the target and the underwater target 2 is a radius, and the intersection point of the spherical surface formed by each is the position of the underwater target 2. Since the coordinates of each positioning buoy 12 can be obtained by the respective GPS, the distance between each positioning buoy 12 and the underwater target 2 can be detected by sonar detection, so the coordinates of the underwater target 2 can be obtained through the above information calculation.

The position coordinates of the target 2 in the water can be converted to a frequency of about 40~60 kHz. The sonar communication signal is transmitted to the underwater coordinate display device 3 through the sonar signal transmitter 11a of the main control processing unit 122a. As shown in Fig. 4b, the underwater coordinate display device 3 includes a sonar signal receiver 31, a display 32, and a microcontroller 34, as well as a battery 35 for supplying power to each element. The sonar communication signal transmitted from the sonar signal transmitter 11a is received by the sonar signal receiver 31, restored to coordinate data by the microcontroller 34, and displayed on the display 32 to allow the diver (generally the underwater target 2) ) Know the location and depth of your information. The underwater coordinate display device 3 can further store map data such as land GPS, or some specific target coordinates, so that the diver can more accurately grasp the position and distance of fixed structures, lighthouses, ports, etc. near the dive site. , coordinates, etc., greatly improve the safety of diving activities. If the positioning method of the sonar positioning signal is directly sent from the underwater target 2 as shown in FIG. 1, the sonar signal transmitter 11b of the underwater target 2 can be a separately worn device, or can be integrated into the underwater display. Sonar signal transmitter 33 of device 3.

In the above, the underwater positioning method and device of the present invention utilizes the relative position information of the water detected by the sonar, and combines with the coordinates of the water surface obtained by the GPS to calculate the coordinate value of the target in the water, so that the diver or Monitoring or search and rescue personnel on the water can more accurately grasp the position of the water target, greatly improving the safety and convenience of underwater activities. The specific embodiments described above are intended to describe the purpose, features, and effects of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, it is possible to make partial changes and modifications to the specific embodiments based on the above description. Those who have left the spirit of the invention should be included in the scope of the patent application in this case, and should be clearly stated.

1‧‧‧ underwater positioning system

11‧‧‧Sonic signal launcher

12a‧‧‧Master positioning buoy

12b‧‧‧Controlled positioning buoy

2‧‧‧ underwater target

3‧‧‧ underwater coordinate display device

Claims (17)

An underwater positioning method includes the following steps: providing a plurality of positioning buoys on an upper surface of a target to be positioned in one of the water objects, and obtaining coordinate data of the plurality of positioning buoys; obtaining the plurality of positioning buoys by a sonar positioning method a spatial relationship relative to the target in the water; and the coordinate data of the target in the water is calculated based on the coordinate data and the relative spatial relationship. The underwater positioning method of claim 1, wherein one of the plurality of positioning buoys is a master positioning buoy, and the other plurality of positioning buoys are controlled positioning buoys, and the wireless communication through the water surface, the main control The positioning buoy obtains the coordinate data of each of the controlled positioning buoys and the relative spatial relationship between the controlled positioning buoy and the underwater target to calculate the coordinate data of the underwater target. The underwater positioning method according to claim 2, wherein the master positioning buoy transmits the calculated coordinate data of the underwater target to a water coordinate display device by a sonar communication method to monitor the underwater target under the water surface. position. The underwater positioning method of claim 3, wherein the underwater coordinate display device is equipped with the underwater target. The underwater positioning method of claim 4, wherein the underwater target is a diver. The underwater positioning method according to claim 3, wherein the master positioning buoy transmits the calculated coordinate data of the underwater target to a remote monitoring device by a wireless communication method to a remote end located on the water surface. The location of the water is monitored by the premises. The underwater positioning method of claim 1, wherein the sonar positioning method sends a sonar positioning signal from the water target, and the sonar positioning signal reaches a time difference of the plurality of positioning buoys. The distance between the plurality of positioning buoys and the target in the water is known. The underwater positioning method of claim 1, wherein the sonar positioning method sends a sonar positioning signal to the underwater target from the plurality of positioning buoys, and the time difference of the plurality of positioning buoys is returned by the sonar positioning signal. The distance between the plurality of positioning buoys and the target in the water is known. The underwater positioning method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the number of the plurality of positioning buoys is at least three, and the coordinate data of the underwater target is a distance between the plurality of positioning buoys and the underwater target. According to the coordinate data of each of the plurality of positioning buoys, a triangulation operation is performed. The underwater positioning method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of positioning buoys are equipped with a hydrodynamic system to track the underwater targets and maintain the positioning buoys at a predetermined relative distance from each other. An underwater positioning system for positioning an underwater target, the underwater positioning system comprising: a sonar signal transmitting device for transmitting a sonar positioning signal that can be transmitted from the underwater target; at least three positioning buoys, each The positioning buoy is provided with a sonar signal receiver for receiving the sonar positioning signal from the underwater target, a microcontroller for controlling the positioning buoy, and calculating the positioning buoy to receive the sonar positioning signal. a time difference data, a target positioning device for generating a coordinate signal relative to the position of the positioning buoy, and a wireless signal transceiver for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal between the positioning buoys; wherein the plurality of positioning The microcontroller of one of the buoys is a master processing control unit, and the coordinate signals generated by the positioning buoy and the time difference data are concentrated in the main control processing control unit through the transmission of the wireless signal transceiver. The position coordinates of the underwater target are known for calculation by the master control unit. The underwater positioning system of claim 11, wherein the sonar signal transmitting device is a sonar signal transmitter equipped with the water target. The underwater positioning system of claim 11, wherein the sonar signal transmitting device is a plurality of sonar signal transmitters respectively disposed on each of the positioning buoys. The underwater positioning system of claim 11, wherein the positioning buoy equipped with the main control processing unit further comprises a sonar signal transmitter, and the position coordinate of the underwater target is converted into a sonar communication signal. And transmitting to the underwater coordinate display device by the sonar signal transmitter, wherein the underwater coordinate display device comprises a sonar signal receiver for receiving the sonar communication signal; and a display for communicating according to the sonar The signal shows the position coordinates of the target in the water. The underwater positioning system of claim 11, wherein each of the positioning buoys further comprises an underwater power system for providing power to move the positioning buoy under the control of the microcontroller including the main control processing control unit, The underwater target is tracked and the positioning buoys are maintained at a predetermined relative distance from each other. The underwater positioning system of claim 11, wherein the coordinate positioning device is a GPS module. The underwater positioning system of claim 11, further comprising a remote monitoring device, wherein the location coordinate of the underwater target is transmitted to the remote monitoring device through the wireless transceiver of the positioning buoy for the remote end The monitoring device monitors the location of the target in the water.