WO2011034389A2

WO2011034389A2 - Communication system using ultrasonic waves

Info

Publication number: WO2011034389A2
Application number: PCT/KR2010/006446
Authority: WO
Inventors: 곽병재; 이광천; 정현규; 송나옥
Original assignee: 한국전자통신연구원
Priority date: 2009-09-18
Filing date: 2010-09-17
Publication date: 2011-03-24
Also published as: WO2011034389A3

Abstract

Disclosed is a technique for performing communication using ultrasonic waves in an environment in which radio waves are severely blocked and thus wireless communication is difficult to perform. According to the present invention, in an environment in which radio waves are severely blocked, a terminal using ultrasonic waves transmits ultrasonic waves via a solid structure serving as a medium, and a base station using ultrasonic waves receives ultrasonic waves via a solid structure serving as a medium.

Description

Ultrasonic Communication System

The present invention relates to a communication system using ultrasonic waves, and more particularly, to a communication system for transmitting ultrasonic waves using a solid medium in an environment where radio wave shielding is severe and transmitting the voice or data using the transmitted ultrasonic waves. will be.

As the shipbuilding business is a national key industry, it is very important to improve the efficiency of shipbuilding such as building ships in a short time at low cost in order to maintain the competitiveness of shipbuilding business.

In the ship being built, the order of assembly of the parts is determined by the ship's construction stage, and the progress and accidents of one part must be shared in real time by the other part. Therefore, communication is urgently needed on ships under construction. For example, if the design of a part of the ship under construction is changed, it is necessary to promptly receive the changed design at the site where the design is changed and also change the order of ship construction to reflect the changed design in other parts. Can be. Or it may be necessary to change the design and construction of other parts.

However, the interior of the ship is a poor wireless communication environment in which the radio wave shielding is very difficult, it is difficult to apply the conventional wireless communication technology using the electric wave. In addition, due to problems such as cost, time, and continuous changes in the internal environment according to the ship construction work, it is difficult to install a wired communication facility during the ship construction work.

An object of the present invention is to transmit data using ultrasonic waves.

An object of the present invention is to transmit data even in an environment where radio wave shielding is severe.

The present invention provides an ultrasonic terminal, comprising: a transducer for converting a first ultrasonic wave received from an ultrasonic base station or a second ultrasonic terminal into a first electrical signal using a solid medium, and a receiver for converting the first electrical signal into first data. And a transmitter configured to convert second data into a second electrical signal, wherein the transducer converts the second electrical signal into second ultrasonic waves, and converts the converted second ultrasonic waves using the solid medium. Or it provides an ultrasonic terminal for transmitting to the second ultrasonic terminal.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a transducer for converting ultrasonic waves transmitted from an ultrasonic terminal into a solid signal using a solid medium, a receiver for converting the electrical signal into data and transmitting the data to a server using a communication network An ultrasonic base station including a data communication unit is provided.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a transducer for receiving a reference ultrasound from an ultrasound terminal using a solid medium, a signature generator for generating a signature for position estimation of the ultrasound terminal based on the reference ultrasound, based on the signature A position estimating apparatus including a position estimating unit for estimating the position of the ultrasonic terminal is provided.

According to the present invention, data can be transmitted using ultrasonic waves.

According to the present invention, data can be transmitted even in an environment where radio wave shielding is severe.

1 illustrates an example of an ultrasonic communication system in an environment where radio wave shielding is severe.

2 shows another example of an ultrasonic communication system in an environment where radio wave shielding is severe.

3 shows another example of an ultrasonic communication system in an environment where radio wave shielding is severe.

4 illustrates a case where two independent cells are wirelessly connected to form multiple cells.

5 shows a central control center wirelessly connected to an ultrasonic communication system in a vessel.

6 is a diagram illustrating data transmission and reception using an ultrasonic terminal with a MIMO function.

7 illustrates that three groups of users are connected by ultrasonic communication.

8 illustrates the concept of a shock wave response in ultrasonic communication.

9 is a diagram illustrating position estimation using ultrasonic communication.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of communicating with a survivor using ultrasonic waves when a ship is sunk.

11 is a block diagram showing the structure of an ultrasonic terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

12 is a block diagram showing the structure of an ultrasonic base station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

13 is a block diagram showing the structure of a position estimating apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Vessel 100 is a structure made of a material with a strong shielding of radio waves, communication systems using general radio waves cannot be applied.

Engineers working in the vessel 100 may transmit data using an ultrasonic communication system. The ultrasonic communication system may include the

ultrasonic terminals

110, 120, and 130 and the ultrasonic base station 140. The

ultrasonic terminals

110, 120, and 130 may perform communication in a peer-to-peer form or may perform communication via the ultrasonic base station 140.

According to one aspect of the present invention, engineers work in a ship, with two or one foot in contact with the ship's hull. Therefore, the

ultrasonic terminals

110 and 120 may contact the hull using an engineer's shoes and transmit ultrasonic waves using the contacted hull.

According to another aspect of the invention, the ultrasonic terminal 130 may receive a voice signal from the engineer's headset 131. The ultrasound terminal 130 may convert a voice signal into ultrasound and transmit the ultrasound signal.

2 illustrates another example of an ultrasonic communication system in an environment where shielding of radio waves is difficult.

In FIG. 2, the hull 200 of a ship constitutes one cell, and the plurality of

ultrasonic terminals

210, 220, and 230 in the hull 200 may be serviced by one ultrasonic base station 250.

The ultrasonic base station 250 includes one or a plurality of transducers 251. The transducer 251 of the ultrasonic base station 250 may be installed in the hull to transmit and receive ultrasonic waves using the hull.

According to one side, the ultrasonic base station 250 receives data from the first ultrasonic terminal 210 using the ultrasonic waves. Also, the ultrasound base station 250 may transmit the received data to the second ultrasound terminal 220 using ultrasound.

Engineers carry

ultrasonic terminals

210, 220, and 230. Since the engineers contact the hull using their feet, the transducers of the

ultrasonic terminals

210, 220, and 230 are attached to the engineers' shoes, and the terminals may be connected to the transducers by wire or wirelessly.

When the ultrasonic base station 250 uses a plurality of transducers, the ultrasonic base station 250 may transmit or receive ultrasonic waves using a MIMO transmission technique. In this case, the ultrasound base station 250 may transmit a plurality of data streams from the plurality of transducers. The

ultrasonic terminals

210, 220, and 230 receive signals in which different data streams are mixed using a plurality of transducers. The

ultrasonic terminals

210, 220, and 230 may separate different data streams using a MIMO signal processing technique. Since the ultrasound base station 250 and the

ultrasound terminals

210, 220, and 230 may transmit a plurality of data streams, data transmission efficiency is improved.

3 shows another example of an ultrasonic communication system in a shielding environment of radio waves.

In a cellular system, various types of repeaters may be used to extend cell coverage of a base station or provide a service to a terminal located in a shaded area where a signal does not arrive from the base station. Similarly, when the hull 300 of the ship is too large, the ultrasonic waves transmitted by the ultrasonic base station 310 installed at a specific position may not be maintained at sufficient intensity until another portion of the hull 300.

3 illustrates an embodiment in which the shadow area is removed by using the plurality of

repeaters

311, 312, and 313 in the communication using ultrasonic waves, or the cell coverage of the ultrasonic base station 310 is expanded.

In FIG. 3, the ultrasonic base station 310 transmits data to

ultrasonic repeaters

311 and 313 located at a far distance using a wired or wireless connection. Each of the

ultrasonic repeaters

311 and 313 converts data received from the ultrasonic base station 310 into ultrasonic waves and transmits the ultrasonic waves to the

ultrasonic terminals

320 and 330. The engineer may make a call via the ultrasonic terminal 330 using the headset 331 or the like.

4 illustrates a case where two independent cells are wirelessly connected to form multiple cells. In FIG. 4, two

vessels

410 and 420 constitute two cells. The two cells are connected by a radio link. The radio link may be a link directly connecting two vessels, or may be a logical link connected using a backbone network.

Communication between the two cells may be made through the

ultrasonic base stations

430 and 440 or may be made through the gateway terminal. In this case, the first ultrasonic base station 430 may transmit data to the second ultrasonic base station 440 using radio waves.

5 shows a central control center wirelessly connected to an ultrasonic communication system in a vessel. If the hull 500 of the ship is still being built, a number of events and accidents may occur in the hull 500, and accidents that may quarrel for minutes may occur. In this case, the engineer may communicate with the central relationship center via the ultrasonic terminal 510 and the ultrasonic base station 520. Engineers can quickly report where and where the accident occurred so that emergency rescue operations can be performed accurately and quickly.

For example, the engineer may report the occurrence of an accident using the ultrasonic terminal 510. In this case, the engineer operates the ultrasonic terminal 510 to control the ultrasonic terminal 510 to transmit the ultrasonic signal of a specific pattern to the ultrasonic base station 520. The ultrasonic base station 520 may determine whether an accident occurs based on an ultrasonic signal of a specific pattern, and transmit whether the accident occurs to the central control center 530 using radio waves.

According to another exemplary embodiment, the ultrasound terminal 510 may determine whether an accident occurs by using a sensor and transmit an ultrasound signal having a specific pattern to the ultrasound base station 520 according to the determination result.

The transmission speed of ultrasonic waves is slower than the transmission speed of radio waves. In addition, the transmission speed of the ultrasonic wave is determined according to the reception sensitivity of the transducer, the frequency bandwidth of the ultrasonic wave that the transducer can generate, the transmission power of the ultrasonic wave, and the acoustic channel characteristics. Multimedia signals such as photographs and video, and large data such as design drawings, require higher data rates than voice signals. In order to satisfy this, it is possible to apply a MIMO transmission technique using an ultrasonic terminal having a plurality of transducers and an ultrasonic base station having a plurality of transducers.

6 illustrates an embodiment in which image data is transmitted using a plurality of transducers between an ultrasonic terminal 610 located inside the hull 600 and an ultrasonic base station 620 located on the surface of the hull 600.

In this case, the ultrasound base station 620 may transmit a plurality of data streams from the plurality of transducers. The ultrasound terminal 610 may receive a signal in which each data stream is mixed using a plurality of transducers, and may separate different streams using a MIMO signal processing technique. The ultrasound base station 620 may simultaneously transmit a plurality of data streams to the ultrasound terminal 610, thereby improving data transmission efficiency. In FIG. 6, only an embodiment in which the ultrasonic base station 620 transmits a plurality of data streams to the ultrasonic terminal 610 is described. However, the ultrasonic terminal 610 uses a plurality of transducers to transmit the data stream to the ultrasonic base station 620. In the case of transmitting the data, the ultrasound terminal 610 and the ultrasound base station 620 may perform operations similar to those of the embodiment of FIG. 6 to improve data transmission efficiency from the ultrasound terminal 610 to the ultrasound base station 620. .

1 to 6 have been described with respect to the ultrasonic terminal for transmitting data using the ultrasonic wave. The ultrasonic terminal may be generally divided into a transducer portion attached to the hull and a portion that is shaped like a headset and receives data from a user. However, according to the exemplary embodiment, the ultrasound terminal may have a wall mount type or a wearable type. However, it is the same regardless of its shape that it is attached to a solid medium such as a ship's hull, and transmits data using a transducer which converts the vibration of the medium into an electrical signal or converts the electrical signal into a vibration of the medium. .

There may be a plurality of

ultrasonic base stations

710, 720, and 730 inside the hull 700. Each of the

ultrasonic base stations

710, 720, and 730 communicates with ultrasonic terminals grouped into the same group among the plurality of

ultrasonic terminals

711, 712, 721, 722, and 731. In FIG. 7, the first ultrasonic base station 710 is grouped with the ultrasonic terminal 711 and the ultrasonic terminal 712 to communicate with the ultrasonic terminal 711 and the ultrasonic terminal 712.

The second ultrasonic base station 720 is grouped with the ultrasonic terminal 721 and the ultrasonic terminal 722 to communicate with the ultrasonic terminal 721 and the ultrasonic terminal 722. In addition, the third ultrasonic base station 730 is grouped with the ultrasonic terminal 731 to communicate with the ultrasonic terminal 731.

The

ultrasonic terminals

711, 712, 721, 722, and 731 belonging to different groups may communicate with each other via the

ultrasonic base stations

710, 720, and 730. For example, the ultrasound terminal 731 and the ultrasound terminal 712 are ultrasound terminals belonging to different groups. The ultrasonic terminal 731 communicates with the ultrasonic base station 730 included in the same group, and the ultrasonic base station 730 communicates with the ultrasonic base station 710 of the group including the ultrasonic terminal 712. The ultrasonic base station 710 again communicates with the ultrasonic terminal 712. That is, data between the ultrasonic terminal 731 and the ultrasonic terminal 712 is transmitted in the path of the ultrasonic terminal 731-the ultrasonic base station 730-the ultrasonic base station 710-the ultrasonic terminal 712.

According to one side, data is transmitted using ultrasonic waves between the ultrasonic terminal 731 and the ultrasonic base station 730, the ultrasonic terminal 712 and the ultrasonic base station 730, the ultrasonic base station 710 and the ultrasonic base station 712 is a radio wave Data may be transmitted using.

8 illustrates the concept of a shock wave response in ultrasonic communication.

The ultrasonic terminal 810 transmits ultrasonic waves to the position estimating apparatus 820 using the hull 800. Ultrasound is transmitted using

various paths

831, 832, 833 along each part of the hull. The ultrasonic waves are transmitted to the position estimating apparatus 820 with a time difference according to the length and length of the path. If the path length is short, the transmission time of the ultrasonic wave is also short. If the path is long, the transmission time of the ultrasonic wave is also long.

That is, even when the ultrasonic terminal 810 generates ultrasonic waves in the form of shock waves, the position estimating apparatus 820 receives the ultrasonic waves transmitted by using various paths, and the ultrasonic waves are divided into several parts over time. 840 is received. The level of the ultrasonic waves received through various paths may be referred to as an impulse response 840 of the ultrasonic channel over time. Transmitting a shock wave is inefficient because a large amount of energy must be transmitted in a very short time. Accordingly, the position estimating apparatus 820 may modulate a pseudo-random sequence signal such as an m sequence and estimate the position of the ultrasound terminal 810 using the modulated signal. In this case, the position estimating apparatus 820 may obtain a shock wave response of the channel from the received random sequence. In addition, the position estimating apparatus 820 may estimate the position of the ultrasound terminal 810 from the received data packet.

The transmission path of the ultrasonic waves is determined according to the positions of the ultrasonic terminal 810 and the position estimating apparatus 820. If the position of the position estimating apparatus 820 is fixed, the transmission path of the ultrasonic waves is determined according to the position of the ultrasonic terminal 810.

Since the shock wave response 840 of the ultrasonic channel is determined according to the transmission path of the ultrasonic wave, and the transmission path of the ultrasonic wave is determined according to the position of the ultrasound terminal 810, the location of the ultrasound terminal 810 is analyzed by analyzing the shock wave response of the ultrasound channel. Can be estimated.

9 is a diagram illustrating position estimation using ultrasonic communication.

In FIG. 9, two

paths

911 and 912 exist from the first ultrasound terminal 910 to the position estimating apparatus 901. Since the lengths of the two paths are different, the time for the ultrasonic wave transmitted by the first ultrasonic terminal 910 to reach the position estimating apparatus 901 via each path is different. In the case of the second ultrasound terminal 920, two

paths

921 and 922 exist, and the time when the ultrasound transmitted from the second ultrasound terminal 920 reaches the position estimating apparatus 901 via each path is Are different.

Accordingly, the positions of the

ultrasound terminals

910 and 920 that transmit the ultrasound signals may be estimated from unique features according to the positions included in the received ultrasound signals. For example, the position estimating apparatus 901 stores the shock wave response of the ultrasonic channel for each part of the hull, compares the shock wave response of the stored ultrasonic channel with the shock wave response of the received ultrasonic channel, and displays the

ultrasonic terminals

910 and 920. Estimate the position of.

Since storing the shock wave response directly may require a large amount of storage device, instead of the shock wave response, the parameters containing the location information extracted from the shock wave response are extracted and stored, and the channel shock wave response of the ultrasonic signal to estimate the position is obtained. The location may be estimated by extracting the parameters including the location information. At this time, the parameters containing the location information are called signatures for the location information.

According to one side, the position estimating apparatus 901 compares the delay profile of the shock wave response of the stored ultrasonic channel with the delay profile of the shock wave response of the received ultrasonic channel, and among the stored delay profiles, a delay similar to the received delay profile. You can select a profile. According to one side, the position estimating apparatus 901 may estimate the ultrasonic transmission position of the delay profile similar to the received delay profile as the positions of the

ultrasonic terminals

910 and 920.

According to one side, the

ultrasonic terminals

910 and 920 may transmit a pseudo-random sequence instead of transmitting a shock wave, and the position estimating apparatus 901 may extract a shock wave response from a received signal of the pseudo random sequence. .

According to another aspect, the position estimating apparatus 901 extracts parameters containing unique position information of the

ultrasonic terminals

910 and 920 from the received signal, and positions the

ultrasonic terminals

910 and 920 using the extracted parameters. Can be estimated.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 10 the vessel was separated into two parts 1010. 1020 and completely sunk. Survivor 1030 is located in a portion 1010 of the sunk ship. In general, the hull outside of the hull may not be able to determine whether a passenger has survived or died, and may not be able to decide whether to proceed with rescue operations or lifting operations.

According to the present invention, the survivor 1030 may communicate with the ultrasonic base station 1060 by using the ultrasonic terminal 1040 to easily inform his or her survival. According to one side, the diver 1050 performing the rescue operation can directly communicate with the survivor 1030 by operating the ultrasonic base station 1060.

According to another aspect, the ultrasonic base station 1060 may transmit the contents of communication with the ultrasonic terminal 1040 to the water phase using underwater ultrasonic communication. In this case, the ultrasonic base station 1060 transmits the communication contents with the survivor 1030 to the underwater ultrasonic communication transceiver 1070. According to one side, the underwater ultrasonic communication transceiver 1070 may transmit the communication content to the rescue vessel using a wire.

11 is a block diagram showing the structure of an ultrasonic terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. The ultrasound terminal 1000 may include a transducer 1110, a receiver 1130, an output unit 1140, a transmitter 1160, an input unit 1170, and an accident detector 1190.

The ultrasound terminal illustrated in FIG. 11 may receive or transmit data using ultrasound. Hereinafter, in FIG. 11, an ultrasound received by an ultrasound terminal to receive data is called a first ultrasound, and an ultrasound transmitted by the ultrasound terminal to transmit data is called a second ultrasound.

The transducer 1110 is a device that converts vibration of a medium into an electrical signal or converts an electrical signal into vibration of a medium. The ultrasonic waves transmitted by the ultrasonic base station are transmitted through the hull 1120. When the ultrasonic waves are transmitted, the hull 1120 vibrates. The transducer 1110 may detect ultrasonic waves using the vibration of the hull.

The transducer 1110 converts the first ultrasonic waves received from the ultrasonic base station or the second ultrasonic terminal into a first electrical signal using a solid medium such as the hull 1120. The hull 1120 is generally made of a metal material to shield radio waves, and includes a plurality of narrow spaces separated by partition walls. Radio waves are difficult to transmit between different spaces separated by partition walls, and conventional mobile communication using radio waves is difficult to use in a hull. The transducer 1110 transmits the first electrical signal to the receiver 1130.

The receiver 1130 receives the first electrical signal from the transducer 1110 and converts the received first electrical signal into first data. According to one side, the conversion process may include a demodulation process and a decoding process.

In FIG. 11, an embodiment in which the transducer 1110, the receiver 1130, and the transmitter 1160 are all included inside the ultrasound terminal 1100 is illustrated. According to another embodiment, the transducer 1110 may be an ultrasound terminal ( It may be located outside of 1110. In this case, the transducer 1110 may be a wall-mount type communication device, and the receiver 1130 and the transmitter 1160 may be a headset type wirelessly connected to the wall-type communication device. .

According to another embodiment, the ultrasonic terminal may be a wearable type worn by an engineer in a ship. In this case, the transducer 1110 may be mounted on a portion of the hull that is in contact with the hull, such as an engineer's shoes, and the receiver 1130 and the transmitter 1160 may be located on a garment part in which the engineer acts. The transducer 1110 and the receiver 1130, the transducer 1110 and the transmitter 1160 may be connected by wire or wireless.

The output unit 1140 outputs the first data to the speaker 1151, the display device 1152, the storage device, and the like. For example, when the first data is voice data, the output unit 1140 may reproduce the first data using the speaker 1151. In addition, when the first data is image data, the output unit 1140 may display the first data using the display device 1152. In addition, the output unit 1140 may store the first data in a separate storage device 1153.

The transmitter 1160 converts the second data into a second electrical signal. According to one side, the second data may be a voice signal. In this case, the input unit 1170 receives the voice recorded using the microphone 1181. The transmitter 1160 may convert the recorded voice into a second electric signal. According to another aspect, the second data may be an image signal. In this case, the input unit 1170 receives an image photographed using the camera 1182. The transmitter 1160 may convert the captured image into a second electric signal. The conversion process may include an encoding process and a modulation process.

The transducer 1110 may convert the second electrical signal into second ultrasonic waves, and transmit the converted second ultrasonic waves to the ultrasonic base station or the second ultrasonic terminal using the solid medium 1120. According to one side, the transducer 1110 may vibrate the solid medium 1120 according to the second ultrasonic waves to transmit the second ultrasonic waves to the ultrasonic base station or the second ultrasonic terminal.

According to one side, the ultrasonic terminal 1190 may include an accident detecting unit 1190. The accident detector 1190 detects whether an accident has occurred for the user of the ultrasound terminal 1100.

According to one side, the accident detection unit 1190 may detect the direction of the force applied to the ultrasonic terminal 1110 using a gravity sensor or the like. If an accident occurs to the user of the ultrasonic terminal 1100 or the user falls down, the ultrasonic terminal 1110 may receive a strong force momentarily. In this case, the accident detector 1190 may determine that an accident has occurred to the user. In this case, the transducer 1110 may transmit whether an accident occurs to the ultrasonic base station or the second ultrasonic terminal using the solid medium 1120.

According to one side, the ultrasonic terminal 1100 may use ultrasonic waves to estimate the position of the ultrasonic terminal 1100. In this case, the transducer 1110 transmits a predetermined reference ultrasonic wave to the position estimation device. The pattern of the reference ultrasound may be previously promised between the ultrasound terminal 1100 and the position estimation device. A configuration of estimating the position of the ultrasound terminal 1100 using the reference ultrasound will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 13.

According to one side, the ultrasonic terminal 1100 may determine whether communication using ultrasonic waves is possible. According to one side, if the transducer 1110 does not receive the first ultrasound transmitted through the hull, or the transducer 1110 does not transmit the second ultrasound, the ultrasound terminal 1100 is unable to communicate using the ultrasound. Do. Accordingly, the transducer 1110 may determine whether the first ultrasound can be received from the ultrasound base station or the second ultrasound terminal, and determine whether communication using the ultrasound is possible according to the result.

According to another aspect, when the transducer 1110 and the receiver 1130 are wirelessly connected, the receiver 1130 and the transducer 1110 may be spaced apart from the maximum possible communication distance. In this case, the transducer 1110 may not transmit an electrical signal to the receiver 1130.

The receiver 1130 may receive an electric signal from the transducer 1110 and determine whether communication using ultrasonic waves is possible according to the reception result.

According to one side, the output unit 1140 may output whether communication using ultrasonic waves is possible.

12 is a block diagram showing the structure of an ultrasonic base station according to an embodiment of the present invention. The ultrasonic base station 1200 includes a transducer 1210, a receiver 1230, a transmitter 1250, and a data communication unit 1240.

The transducer 1210 converts the ultrasound transmitted from the ultrasound terminal into the first electrical signal using the solid medium 1220. According to one side, the solid medium 1220 is a hull of a ship, and may have a property of shielding radio waves.

The receiver 1230 converts the first electrical signal into first data. According to one side, the receiver 1230 may demodulate the first electrical signal, and decode the demodulated first electrical signal to convert the first electrical signal into first data.

The data communication unit 1240 transmits the first data to the server 1270 using a communication network. In addition, the data communication unit 1240 may receive the second data from the server 1270 using a communication network.

The transmitter 1250 may convert the second data into a second electrical signal. According to one side, the transmission unit 1250 may encode the second data, and modulate the encoded second data to convert the second data into a second electrical signal.

The transducer 1210 may convert the second electrical signal into ultrasonic waves and transmit the converted ultrasonic waves to an ultrasonic terminal or another ultrasonic base station using a solid medium.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of a position estimating apparatus for estimating a position using ultrasonic waves according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The position estimating apparatus 1300 includes a transducer 1310, a signature generator 1320, a position estimator 1330, and a signature storage 1340.

The user 1350 may manipulate the ultrasound terminal 1360 to generate reference ultrasound that may be used for position recognition. Alternatively, according to another aspect, the ultrasound terminal 1360 may periodically generate the reference ultrasound without a user's manipulation. Alternatively, according to another aspect, the ultrasound terminal 1360 may detect a specific situation such as an accident and transmit an ultrasound signal for location recognition by itself.

The generated reference ultrasound is transmitted using the hull 1370 of the solid medium.

Transducer 1310 receives the reference ultrasound transmitted using the solid medium.

The signature generator 1320 generates a signature for estimating the position of the ultrasound terminal 1360 based on the reference ultrasound. The signature is a kind of parameter for position estimation of the ultrasonic terminal 1360. According to one side, the signature may be a parameter set including a plurality of parameters for position estimation of the ultrasound terminal 1360. According to another aspect, the reference ultrasound may be an impact pile as described in FIG. 8. In this case, the delay profile of the reference ultrasound described in FIG. 8 can be used as an example of the signature.

The position estimator 1330 estimates the position of the ultrasound terminal 1360 based on the signature generated based on the reference ultrasound. According to one side, the signature generator 1320 generates the signatures according to the ultrasonic waves transmitted from each part of the hull composed of a solid medium. Let these signatures be reference signatures. Signatures are generated for each part of the hull 1370. The signature storage unit 1340 stores the reference signatures.

According to one side, the position estimator 1330 compares the reference signatures with the signatures generated for the ultrasound terminal 1360. The position estimator 1330 selects a reference signature most similar to the signature generated with respect to the ultrasound terminal 1360 among the reference signatures. The position estimator 1330 may estimate the position on the hull 1370 corresponding to the most similar reference signature as the position of the terminal 1360.

Claims

In the ultrasonic terminal,

A transducer for converting the first ultrasonic waves received from the ultrasonic base station or the second ultrasonic terminal into a first electrical signal using a solid medium;

A receiver converting the first electrical signal into first data; And

Transmitter for converting the second data into the second electrical signal

Including,

The transducer converts the second electrical signal into second ultrasonic waves, and transmits the converted second ultrasonic waves to the ultrasonic base station or the second ultrasonic terminal using the solid medium.
The method of claim 1,

And the transducer converts the vibration of the solid medium generated by the first ultrasonic wave into the first electrical signal, and transmits the second ultrasonic wave by vibrating the solid medium according to the second ultrasonic wave.
The method of claim 1,

The solid medium is the ultrasonic terminal of the ship hull.
The method of claim 1

The solid medium is an ultrasonic terminal having a property of shielding radio waves.
The method of claim 1,

An output unit for outputting the first data to a speaker or a headset, displaying the display data on a display device, or storing the first data in a storage device

Ultrasonic terminal further comprising.
The method of claim 1,

The transducer transmits reference ultrasonic waves, and the position of the ultrasonic terminal is estimated based on the reference ultrasonic waves.
The method of claim 1,

Output

More,

The receiver determines whether the first electrical signal can be received from the ultrasonic base station,

And the output unit displays the reception success.
The method of claim 1,

Incident detection unit for detecting whether an accident occurs for the user of the ultrasonic terminal

More,

The transducer is an ultrasonic terminal for transmitting a fraud incident to the ultrasonic base station using the solid medium.
A transducer for converting ultrasonic waves transmitted from an ultrasonic terminal into an electrical signal using a solid medium,

A receiver converting the electrical signal into data; And

Data communication unit for transmitting the data to the server using a communication network

Ultrasonic base station comprising a.
The method of claim 9,

The solid medium is the hull of the vessel, the ultrasonic base station of the nature of shielding radio waves.
A transducer for receiving reference ultrasonic waves from the ultrasonic terminal using a solid medium;

A signature generator configured to generate a signature for estimating a position of the ultrasound terminal based on the reference ultrasound;

A position estimator estimating a position of the ultrasonic terminal based on the signature

Position estimation device comprising a.
The method of claim 11,

Wherein the signature is a delay profile of the reference ultrasound.
The method of claim 11,

A position where the reference signatures generated for the different positions of the solid medium and the generated signatures are compared, and the position corresponding to the signature most similar to the generated signature among the reference signatures is estimated as the position of the ultrasonic terminal. Estimation device.