Autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring system and method

Abstract

The invention belongs to the technical field of deep-sea mining environment assessment, and particularly relates to an autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring system and method, and the system comprises an autonomous underwater unmanned submersible and detection load equipment connected with the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible. The autonomous underwater unmanned submersible is used for carrying detection load equipment, providing electric energy for the detection load equipment, sending a control instruction to the detection load equipment, preprocessing received data returned by the detection load equipment, and sending an equipment state to the mother ship in real time, so that the mother ship can monitor the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible in real time; the detection load equipment is used for synchronously carrying out deep sea near-bottom mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring in three detection modes of acoustics, optics and hydrology, carrying out multi-category data comparison and fusion in the same time coordinate system, and sending the collected data to the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible; and data support is provided for later deep-sea mining plume and redeposition simulation modeling.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the technical field of deep sea mining environment assessment, and in particular is an autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring system and method. Background Art

[0002] Deep-sea mining activities will have a profound impact on the seabed environment and benthic organisms. The plumes formed by the disturbance of seabed sediments during the mining process will significantly affect the physical and chemical properties of the surrounding seawater. The redeposition of particles carried by the mining plumes will change the sedimentary environment around the mining area and destroy the seabed habitat of benthic organisms. The spatial diffusion range of mining sediment plumes and the thickness of particle redeposition are the main factors affecting the deep-sea environment in mining areas, and are also an important scientific basis for assessing the environmental impact of deep-sea mining.

[0003] At present, the monitoring of mining plume and redeposition thickness only adopts the in-situ fixed-point observation method, which has the disadvantages of spatial discontinuity and low efficiency of detection data, and cannot meet the requirements of deep-sea mining environmental assessment. Therefore, an autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring device and method are provided to build a mobile mining plume and redeposition detection system, realize three-dimensional detection of mining plume spatial distribution and continuous measurement of plume redeposition thickness, and provide important technical support for the scientific assessment of the environmental impact of deep-sea mining. Summary of the invention

[0004] The purpose of the present invention is to provide an autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring device and method. It is innovatively proposed to carry out efficient and accurate monitoring of near-bottom multi-faceted mining plumes and redeposition thickness in multiple modes in deep-sea mining areas by carrying deep-sea high-resolution shallow surface profilers, microparticle laser cameras, deep-sea 4K camera systems, high-precision hydrological sensors and other equipment on AUVs. The deep-sea high-resolution shallow surface profiler adopts adaptive emission energy management technology to achieve a 4mm resolution of shallow surface strata profiles, effectively solving the blind spot problem of the shallow surface layer (within 10cm) of the seabed of existing acoustic shallow profiling equipment. The microparticle laser camera uses laser illumination, with a microparticle resolution of 0.2mm. Combined with image algorithms, it displays suspended particles in a specific plane in real time and estimates the density. In addition, the AUV is simultaneously equipped with a high-definition camera system and hydrological sensors such as turbidity and dissolved oxygen, providing a variety of scientific data support for deep-sea mining environmental assessment.

[0005] The technical solution adopted by the present invention to achieve the above-mentioned purpose is: an autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring system, comprising: an autonomous underwater unmanned submersible and a detection load device connected thereto;

[0006] The autonomous underwater unmanned submersible is used to carry the detection payload equipment, provide power for the detection payload equipment, send control instructions to the detection payload equipment, pre-process the data sent back by the detection payload equipment, and send the equipment status to the mother ship in real time, so as to realize the real-time monitoring of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible by the mother ship;

[0007] The detection payload equipment is used to simultaneously carry out deep-sea near-bottom mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring using three detection methods: acoustic, optical, and hydrological. It compares and fuses multiple categories of data in the same time coordinate system, and sends the collected data to an autonomous underwater unmanned submersible to provide data support for subsequent deep-sea mining plume and redeposition simulation modeling.

[0008] The autonomous underwater unmanned submersible comprises: an integrated control unit and a navigation and positioning unit, an energy unit, a propulsion control unit, a communication unit, and a detection load unit connected thereto;

[0009] The integrated control unit is used to provide power to each unit and receive data from each unit. After being analyzed and processed by the integrated control unit, control instructions are sent to each unit respectively.

[0010] The navigation and positioning unit is used to send the position, attitude and speed data collected from the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible to the integrated control unit through the serial port for analysis and processing;

[0011] The energy unit is connected to the integrated control unit and the propulsion control unit respectively, and is used to directly provide electrical energy to the integrated control unit and the propulsion control unit. At the same time, the energy unit has a BMS function and sends its own status information to the integrated control unit;

[0012] The propulsion control unit is connected to the integrated control unit and the energy unit respectively, and is used to receive control instructions from the integrated control unit, provide thrust for the navigation of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible according to the control instructions, and provide real-time feedback of the propulsion motor status to the integrated control unit;

[0013] The communication unit is used to receive the device status and underwater position information sent by the integrated control unit and send it to the surface mother ship; at the same time, it receives the interactive instructions sent by the mother ship and transmits the interactive instructions to the integrated control unit to realize the two-way communication function between the device and the mother ship underwater;

[0014] The detection load unit is used to monitor the spatial diffusion range of the mining plume and the redeposition thickness parameters in real time, and send them to the integrated control unit for data analysis.

[0015] The integrated control unit includes: a power conversion module, a power output module, a data interaction module and a main control module;

[0016] The power conversion module is connected to the energy unit and the power output module respectively, and is used to perform isolated DC voltage conversion through the energy unit, and output isolated DC power of different voltage levels to the power output module for use by each functional unit;

[0017] The power supply output module is connected to the power conversion module and the main control module respectively, and is used to receive different levels of voltage input by the power conversion module, and to control the power output channel switch on the power supply output module according to the selection of the main control module. Each power output channel is connected to a corresponding unit to realize power supply control of each external functional unit;

[0018] The data interaction module is connected to the propulsion control unit, the communication unit, the detection load unit, and the navigation and positioning unit, respectively, and is used to receive data sent by the propulsion control unit, the communication unit, the detection load unit, and the navigation and positioning unit, and transmit the data to the main control module in the form of a PC104 bus. At the same time, it receives control instructions sent by the main control module and transmits them to the propulsion control unit, the communication unit, the detection load unit, and the navigation and positioning unit, respectively, to achieve two-way data communication;

[0019] The main control module is connected to the data interaction module and the power supply output module through the PC104 bus and is used to receive data sent by the data interaction module. After processing the data, the main control module sends the control instructions to the external functional units through the data interaction module, and at the same time sends instructions to the power supply output module to control the power supply of each unit.

[0020] The navigation and positioning unit includes: a speed measurement module, an inertial navigation module and a depth and height value monitoring module;

[0021] The speed measurement module is connected to the integrated control unit and the inertial navigation module respectively, and sends the autonomous navigation speed of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible to the integrated control unit and the inertial navigation module respectively through the serial port;

[0022] The inertial navigation module is connected to the integrated control unit and the speed measurement module respectively, and is used to integrate the speed information sent by the speed measurement module, and send the underwater positioning information and attitude information of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible to the integrated control unit through the serial port in real time;

[0023] The depth and height value monitoring module is connected to the integrated control unit and is used to send depth information and bottom height information to the integrated control unit through the serial port.

[0024] The energy unit includes: a secondary battery pack and a BMS system;

[0025] The secondary battery pack is connected to the integrated control unit and the propulsion control unit respectively, and is used to provide power to each functional system after the isolated DC power conversion is performed by the integrated control unit. The secondary battery pack is directly connected to the propulsion control unit to provide power energy to the propulsion control unit;

[0026] The BMS system is connected to the integrated control unit and is used to monitor the health status of the secondary battery pack in real time and send the secondary battery pack status information to the integrated control unit through the serial port.

[0027] The propulsion control unit includes: a propulsion control module, a motor drive module, and a propulsion motor;

[0028] The propulsion control module is connected to the integrated control unit and the motor drive module respectively, and is used to receive the motor thrust distribution instruction sent by the integrated control unit for analysis, and send the motor speed parameter to the motor drive module;

[0029] The motor drive module is connected to the energy unit, the propulsion control module and the propulsion motor respectively, and is used to directly input the power supply of the energy unit connected thereto into the motor drive module, and parse the CAN bus information sent by the propulsion control module, so as to control the speed of the propulsion motor, and at the same time send the state of the propulsion motor to the propulsion control module via the CAN bus;

[0030] The propulsion motor is connected to the motor drive module and controlled by the motor drive module to provide thrust for the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible.

[0031] The communication unit comprises: a communication host and a transducer connected to each other;

[0032] The communication host is used to receive information sent by the integrated control unit through the serial port, is internally connected to the transducer, encodes the information sent by the integrated control unit, and sends it to the transducer;

[0033] The transducer is used to convert the electrical signal sent by the communication host into an acoustic signal and transmit it to the mother ship.

[0034] The detection payload equipment includes: a deep-sea shallow surface profiler, a particle laser camera, a deep-sea camera system and a hydrological sensor connected to an autonomous underwater unmanned submersible;

[0035] The deep-sea shallow-surface profiler includes an acoustic electronic cabin, a transmitting array, and a receiving array. The transmitting array and the receiving array are respectively connected to the acoustic electronic cabin. The autonomous underwater unmanned submersible is connected to the acoustic electronic cabin through a cable to provide power, position data, control instructions, and real-time monitoring of the operating status of the deep-sea high-resolution shallow-surface profiler. The acoustic electronic cabin dynamically adjusts the transmitting power and transmitting cycle of the transmitting array according to the quality of the echo signal to ensure that high-quality detection data is obtained and stored in the acoustic electronic cabin;

[0036] The particle laser camera is used to take pictures at a frequency of 2Hz, calculate the number and density of particles in each photo in real time, and print the calculation results on the photos for storage; when the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible detects a significant change in the turbidity value of the water body, it controls the particle laser camera to take pictures at a frequency of 8Hz and record the change process of the plume by optical detection;

[0037] A deep-sea camera system is used to collect optical images in real time and run a deep-sea benthic organism visual recognition algorithm. It automatically captures images of benthic organisms and annotates the current depth, time, and redeposition thickness information detected by the deep-sea high-resolution shallow surface profiler, which serves as image data support for the impact of mining plumes and redeposition on benthic organisms.

[0038] The hydrological sensors include: temperature-salinity-depth meter and multi-parameter water quality meter. The temperature-salinity-depth meter collects information on seawater temperature, salinity, conductivity and sound velocity; the multi-parameter water quality meter collects information on conductivity, pressure, dissolved oxygen concentration, dissolved oxygen temperature, pH, turbidity, salinity, sound velocity, specific conductance and dissolved oxygen saturation; and transmits the data collected by the hydrological sensor to the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible for real-time preprocessing, and uploads the collected data to a shared data link.

[0039] A monitoring method of an autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring system comprises the following steps:

[0040] Step 1: Plan the detection area and autonomous navigation path, transmit the mission plan to the integrated control unit through the network, and the integrated control unit performs autonomous detection according to the mission plan;

[0041] Step 2: The main control module controls the power supply output module through the PC104 bus to supply power to the navigation and positioning unit, the energy unit, the propulsion control unit, the communication unit, and the detection payload unit;

[0042] Step 3: After the navigation and positioning unit system is running, the position, attitude, heading, speed, depth, and bottom height information of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible are sent to the data interaction module through the serial port; after the energy unit system is running, the BMS module sends the battery status information to the data interaction module through the serial port; after the propulsion control unit system is running, the propulsion control module sends the propulsion motor status information to the data interaction module through the serial port;

[0043] Step 4: The main control module sends the propulsion motor speed control instruction to the data interaction module through the PC104 bus according to the mission planning content. The data interaction module converts the motor speed control instruction into serial port data and sends it to the propulsion control module. The propulsion control module converts the motor speed control instruction into CAN bus protocol and sends it to the motor drive module, thereby controlling the motor speed and realizing autonomous navigation of the device.

[0044] Step 5: During the autonomous navigation of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible, each detection device of the detection load equipment sends the collected data to the detection load unit, and the detection load unit sends the collected data to the data interaction module through the serial port. The data interaction module converts the serial port data into PC104 bus format and sends it to the main control module, which performs data analysis, data fusion, and data storage. At the same time, according to the data analysis results, the main control module sends the collection parameter setting instructions to the data interaction module through the PC104 bus, and the data interaction module sends the parameter setting instructions to each detection device through the serial port to realize multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness measurement;

[0045] Step 6: After the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible completes the mission planning content, the main control module sends a device power-off command to the power supply output module through the PC104 bus, and the power supply output module stops the power supply output to the relevant equipment. At this point, the equipment completes the monitoring.

[0046] The present invention has the following beneficial effects and advantages:

[0047] 1. The present invention is highly efficient compared to the prior art: Compared to previous fixed-point in-situ monitoring methods, the autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring device of the present invention has the ability of autonomous navigation and detection, and can complete large-scale sea area synchronous data monitoring of mining plumes and redeposition thickness, realizing the leap from point to line monitoring objects, greatly improving operating efficiency.

[0048] 2. The present invention has multiple detection methods: The present invention simultaneously adopts acoustic detection, optical detection, and hydrological detection multi-mode detection means, and can obtain multiple mining plume distribution data in one detection, providing multi-dimensional scientific measured data for the impact of deep-sea mining on benthic organisms and the establishment of plume models.

[0049] 3. The present invention adopts the concept of multi-sensor data link sharing. The autonomous underwater unmanned submersible can adjust the monitoring strategy and navigation control parameters in real time according to the pre-processing results of the data collected by each detection equipment, and perform ultra-fine detection on the data abnormal area. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0050] Figure 1 It is the overall two-dimensional structure diagram of the autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring device;

[0051] Figure 2 This is a spatial position layout diagram of the multi-mode detection device of the present invention;

[0052] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the deep sea exploration operation method of the present invention;

[0053] Figure 4 This is a system architecture diagram of an autonomous underwater unmanned submersible monitoring system;

[0054] Figure 5 This is a system architecture diagram of the integrated control unit;

[0055] Among them, 1 is a communication unit, 2 is an autonomous underwater unmanned submersible, 3 is a navigation and positioning unit, 4 is a propulsion control unit, 5 is a detection payload unit, 6 is an underwater acoustic communication system, 7 is an underwater ultra-short baseline beacon, 8 is a lighting lamp, 9 is a camera, 10 is a temperature-salinity-depth meter, 11 is a particle laser camera, 12 is a transmitting array, 13 is a receiving array, 14 is a multi-parameter water quality meter, 15 is a surface acoustic communication machine, 16 is a ship-borne ultra-short baseline array, 17 is a communication device, 18 is the detection planning path of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible, 19 is the sea surface, 20 is the mother ship, 21 is the seabed, 22 is the diving stage of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible, 23 is the near-bottom detection stage of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible, and 24 is the surfacing stage of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible after completing its mission. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0056] The present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0057] The following examples will help those skilled in the art to further understand the present invention, but are not intended to limit the present invention in any form. It should be noted that, for those of ordinary skill in the art, several changes and improvements can be made without departing from the inventive concept. These all belong to the protection scope of the present invention.

[0058] like Figure 1 to Figure 3 As shown, the present invention provides an autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring device, which is composed of a detection payload device and an autonomous underwater unmanned vehicle 2 (hereinafter referred to as AUV);

[0059] The AUV is used to carry a variety of detection equipment for measuring mining plumes and redeposition thickness, supply power to the detection equipment 5, send control instructions, collect detection data, and send system status information to the mother ship 20 in real time, so as to realize real-time monitoring of the AUV2 by the mother ship 20.

[0060] The detection payload equipment is used to simultaneously monitor the deep-sea near-bottom mining plume and redeposition thickness using three detection methods: acoustic, optical, and hydrological. It compares and fuses multiple categories of data in the same time coordinate system, and sends the collected data to the AUV to provide data support for the subsequent deep-sea mining plume and redeposition simulation modeling.

[0061] AUV2, including: an integrated control unit and a navigation and positioning unit 3, an energy unit, a propulsion control unit 4, a communication unit 1, and a detection payload unit 5 connected thereto;

[0062] (1) Integrated control unit

[0063] The integrated control unit is used to provide power to each unit and receive data from each unit. After being analyzed and processed by the integrated control unit, control instructions are sent to each unit respectively.

[0064] An integrated control unit includes: a power conversion module, a power output module, a data interaction module and a main control module;

[0065] The power conversion module is connected to the energy unit and the power output module respectively, and is used to perform isolated DC voltage conversion through the energy unit, and output isolated DC power of different voltage levels to the power output module for use by each functional unit;

[0066] The power supply output module is connected to the power conversion module and the main control module respectively, and is used to receive different levels of voltage input by the power conversion module, and to control the power output channel switch on the power supply output module according to the selection of the main control module. Each power output channel is connected to the corresponding unit to realize the power supply control of each external functional unit;

[0067] The data interaction module is connected to the propulsion control unit, the communication unit, the detection load unit, and the navigation and positioning unit respectively, and is used to receive data sent by the propulsion control unit, the communication unit, the detection load unit, and the navigation and positioning unit, and transmit the data to the main control module through the PC104 bus. At the same time, it receives control instructions sent by the main control module, and transmits them to the propulsion control unit, the communication unit, the detection load unit, and the navigation and positioning unit respectively, so as to realize two-way data communication;

[0068] The main control module is connected to the data interaction module and the power supply output module through the PC104 bus, and is used to receive data sent by the data interaction module. After processing the data, the main control module sends the control instructions to the external functional units through the data interaction module, and at the same time sends instructions to the power supply output module to control the power supply of each unit.

[0069] (2) Navigation and positioning unit 3

[0070] Navigation and positioning unit 3, used to send the position, attitude and speed data collected from the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible to the integrated control unit through the serial port for analysis and processing;

[0071] Navigation and positioning unit, including: speed measurement module, inertial navigation module and depth and height value monitoring module;

[0072] The speed measurement module is connected to the integrated control unit and the inertial navigation module respectively, and sends the autonomous navigation speed of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible to the integrated control unit and the inertial navigation module respectively through the serial port;

[0073] The inertial navigation module is connected to the integrated control unit and the speed measurement module respectively, and is used to integrate the speed information sent by the speed measurement module, and send the underwater positioning information and attitude information of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible to the integrated control unit through the serial port in real time;

[0074] The depth and height value monitoring module is connected to the integrated control unit and is used to send depth information and bottom height information to the integrated control unit through the serial port.

[0075] It also includes: inertial navigation / Doppler integrated system, GPS module, ultra-short baseline beacon, etc., which can realize the autonomous navigation and combined navigation functions of AUV, and can also realize the positioning function of AUV by mother ship during the test (the mother ship is equipped with a matching ship-borne ultra-short baseline array 16). A combined navigation system based on inertial navigation / Doppler integrated system and acoustic positioning system is adopted.

[0076] (3) Energy unit

[0077] The energy unit is connected to the integrated control unit and the propulsion control unit respectively, and is used to directly provide electric energy to the integrated control unit and the propulsion control unit. At the same time, the energy unit has a BMS function and sends its own status information to the integrated control unit;

[0078] Energy unit, including: secondary battery pack and BMS system;

[0079] The secondary battery pack is connected to the integrated control unit and the propulsion control unit respectively, and is used to provide power to various functional systems after the isolated DC power conversion is performed by the integrated control unit. The secondary battery pack is directly connected to the propulsion control unit to provide power energy to the propulsion control unit;

[0080] The BMS system is connected to the integrated control unit and is used to monitor the health status of the secondary battery pack in real time and send the secondary battery pack status information to the integrated control unit through the serial port.

[0081] (4) Propulsion control unit

[0082] The propulsion control unit 4 is connected to the integrated control unit and the energy unit respectively, and is used to receive control instructions from the integrated control unit, provide thrust for the navigation of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible according to the control instructions, and feed back the state of the propulsion motor to the integrated control unit in real time;

[0083] A propulsion control unit, comprising: a propulsion control module, a motor drive module, and a propulsion motor;

[0084] The propulsion control module is connected to the integrated control unit and the motor drive module respectively, and is used to receive the motor thrust distribution instruction sent by the integrated control unit for analysis, and send the motor speed parameter to the motor drive module;

[0085] The motor drive module is connected to the energy unit, the propulsion control module and the propulsion motor respectively, and is used to directly input the power supply of the energy unit connected thereto into the motor drive module, and parse the CAN bus information sent by the propulsion control module to control the speed of the propulsion motor, and at the same time send the state of the propulsion motor to the propulsion control module through the CAN bus;

[0086] The propulsion motor is connected to the motor drive module and controlled by the motor drive module to provide thrust for the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible.

[0087] In this embodiment, in order to achieve stable control of the AUV propulsion motor and further realize the vertical and horizontal motion functions of the AUV body, the propulsion control unit communicates via the CAN bus at a rate of 500Kbit / s. The bow and stern propulsion control modules are designed to be identical, where the bow propulsion control module is responsible for the drive control of the bow horizontal and vertical 4 slot motors; the stern propulsion control module is responsible for the drive control of the stern horizontal, vertical and main propulsion 4 propulsion motors.

[0088] (5) Communication unit

[0089] Communication unit 1 is used to receive the device status and underwater position information sent by the integrated control unit and send it to the mother ship on the surface; at the same time, it receives the interactive instructions sent by the mother ship and transmits the interactive instructions to the integrated control unit to realize the two-way communication function between the device and the mother ship underwater;

[0090] The communication unit 1 mainly realizes the communication between the nodes and equipment of each unit group component in the AUV, the communication between the AUV and the surface support equipment, etc. It is the key way to complete the AUV underwater detection operation task and surface monitoring. The main communication nodes and multiple communication devices 17 of the communication positioning unit are not limited to: one or more of a radio module, a communication host, an Iridium / GPS / WIFI integrated device, an underwater acoustic communication machine 15, an underwater ultra-short baseline beacon 7, and a network switch.

[0091] This embodiment takes a communication host as an example, and the communication unit includes: a communication host and a transducer connected to each other;

[0092] The communication host is used to receive information sent by the integrated control unit through the serial port, is internally connected to the transducer, encodes the information sent by the integrated control unit, and sends it to the transducer;

[0093] The transducer is used to convert the electrical signal sent by the communication host into an acoustic signal and transmit it to the mother ship.

[0094] (6) Detection load unit

[0095] The detection load unit 5 is used to monitor the spatial diffusion range of the mining plume and the redeposition thickness parameters in real time, and send them to the integrated control unit for data analysis.

[0096] The detection load unit 5 is connected to the detection load device; in the present invention, the detection load device for detecting the mining plume and redeposition thickness is composed of a deep-sea high-resolution shallow surface profiler, a particle laser camera 11, a deep-sea camera system, and a high-precision hydrological sensor, and is simultaneously carried on the AUV2, and the three detection methods of acoustic, optical, and hydrological are used to simultaneously carry out the monitoring of the deep-sea near-bottom mining plume and redeposition thickness, and the multi-category data comparison and fusion are carried out in the same time coordinate system, so as to provide data support for the later simulation modeling of deep-sea mining plume and redeposition;

[0097] Among them, the deep-sea shallow surface profiler includes: an acoustic electronic cabin, a transmitting array 12, and a receiving array 13. The transmitting array 12 and the receiving array 13 are respectively connected to the acoustic electronic cabin. The AUV2 is connected to the acoustic electronic cabin through a cable to provide power, position data, control instructions and real-time monitoring of the deep-sea high-resolution shallow surface profiler. The acoustic electronic cabin dynamically adjusts the transmitting power and transmitting period of the transmitting array according to the quality of the echo signal to ensure that high-quality detection data is obtained and stored in the acoustic electronic cabin; AUV2 detects the plume redeposition thickness with a navigation strategy of 4 meters or 5 meters near the seabed and a speed of 1 knot; the acoustic electronic cabin transmits a high-frequency beam to the seabed through the transmitting array 12. The acoustic electronic cabin dynamically adjusts the transmitting power and transmitting period of the transmitting array 12 according to the quality of the echo signal of the receiving array 13 to ensure that high-quality detection data is obtained and stored in the acoustic electronic cabin, so as to realize large-scale and fine monitoring of the plume redeposition thickness in the polymetallic nodule mining area;

[0098] The particle laser camera 11 uses optical methods to monitor the mining plume in the polymetallic nodule mining area. The AUV2 is connected to it through a cable to provide it with electricity and change the shooting parameters in real time according to the multi-sensor data link fusion situation. The particle laser camera 11 takes pictures at a frequency of 2Hz by default. The internal image processing algorithm can calculate the number and density of particles in each photo in real time and print the calculation results on the photos and save them in the particle laser camera 11. When the AUV2 detects a significant change in the turbidity value of the water body, it will control the particle laser camera 11 to take pictures at a frequency of 8Hz, increase the sampling frequency to obtain more measured data samples, and record the plume change process by optical detection.

[0099] The deep-sea camera system uses optical methods to monitor mining plumes and redeposition in polymetallic nodule mining areas; it is used to collect optical images in real time and run deep-sea benthic organism visual recognition algorithms to automatically capture images of benthic organisms and annotate the current depth, time, and redeposition thickness information detected by the deep-sea high-resolution shallow surface profiler, as image data support for the impact of mining plumes and redeposition on benthic organisms;

[0100] Among them, the deep-sea camera system consists of a camera 9 and a lighting lamp 8. AUV2 is connected to the camera 9 and the lighting lamp 8 respectively through cables to provide power for the lighting lamp 8 to ensure that the brightness of the shooting area meets the requirements during the seabed shooting. The lighting lamp 8 has a power of 120W and a maximum brightness of 10,500 lumens. The camera 9 collects optical images of seabed plume diffusion and redeposition in real time. The camera 9 has an integrated image processing unit, which runs a deep-sea benthic organism visual recognition algorithm. It automatically takes screenshots of the images where benthic organisms appear and annotates the current depth, time, and redeposition thickness detected by the deep-sea high-resolution shallow surface profiler, etc., as image data support for the impact of mining plumes and redeposition on benthic organisms.

[0101] The hydrological sensor uses a hydrological monitoring method to monitor the distribution of mining plumes in a polymetallic nodule mining area, including: a temperature-salinity-depth meter 10 and a multi-parameter water quality meter 14; wherein, the temperature-salinity-depth meter 10 collects information on seawater temperature, salinity, conductivity, and sound velocity; the multi-parameter water quality meter 14 collects information on conductivity, pressure, dissolved oxygen concentration, dissolved oxygen temperature, pH, turbidity, salinity, sound velocity, specific conductance, and dissolved oxygen saturation; and transmits the data collected by the hydrological sensor to an autonomous underwater unmanned submersible for real-time preprocessing, and uploads the collected data to a shared data link.

[0102] The data collected by deep-sea high-resolution shallow surface profilers, particle laser cameras, deep-sea 4K camera systems, and high-precision hydrological sensors are pre-processed and uploaded to a shared data link. Autonomous underwater unmanned submersibles perform "comb-type" survey line monitoring near the seabed according to pre-programmed missions, and dynamically adjust monitoring strategies and navigation parameters in real time based on preprocessing results to achieve efficient, precise, and multi-dimensional monitoring of areas with data anomalies.

[0103] In another aspect, the present invention also provides an autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring method, comprising the following steps:

[0104] Step 1: Plan the detection area and autonomous navigation path, transmit the mission plan to the integrated control unit through the network, and the integrated control unit performs autonomous detection according to the mission plan;

[0105] Step 2: The main control module controls the power supply output module through the PC104 bus to supply power to the navigation and positioning unit, the energy unit, the propulsion control unit, the communication unit, and the detection payload unit;

[0106] Step 3: After the navigation and positioning unit system is running, the position, attitude, heading, speed, depth, and bottom height information of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible are sent to the data interaction module through the serial port; after the energy unit system is running, the BMS module sends the battery status information to the data interaction module through the serial port; after the propulsion control unit system is running, the propulsion control module sends the propulsion motor status information to the data interaction module through the serial port;

[0107] Step 4: The main control module sends the propulsion motor speed control instruction to the data interaction module through the PC104 bus according to the mission planning content. The data interaction module converts the motor speed control instruction into serial port data and sends it to the propulsion control module. The propulsion control module converts the motor speed control instruction into CAN bus protocol and sends it to the motor drive module, thereby controlling the motor speed and realizing autonomous navigation of the device.

[0108] Step 5: During the autonomous navigation of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible, each detection device of the detection load equipment sends the collected data to the detection load unit, and the detection load unit sends the collected data to the data interaction module through the serial port. The data interaction module converts the serial port data into PC104 bus format and sends it to the main control module, which performs data analysis, data fusion, and data storage. At the same time, according to the data analysis results, the main control module sends the collection parameter setting instructions to the data interaction module through the PC104 bus, and the data interaction module sends the parameter setting instructions to each detection device through the serial port to realize multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness measurement;

[0109] Step 6: After the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible completes the mission planning content, the main control module sends a device power-off command to the power supply output module through the PC104 bus, and the power supply output module stops the power supply output to the relevant equipment. At this point, the equipment completes the monitoring.

[0110] Prior to conducting autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring, the mission planning in step 1 is as follows:

[0111] Step a: Autonomous underwater unmanned submersible mission planning and simulation.

[0112] According to the operating range of the deep-sea polymetallic nodule mining machine, combined with low-flow data, formulate the submersible mission description and complete the mission planning and program compilation, etc. Including: autonomous underwater unmanned submersible path planning18, working mode, control conditions, navigation sensor configuration, weighing parameters and fault handling methods, etc.; use the semi-physical simulation platform to conduct full-process simulation testing of the mission planning content, and only after the mission is verified, the mission program can be downloaded to the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible;

[0113] Step b: Autonomous underwater unmanned submersible system hardware inspection function inspection.

[0114] According to the contents of the pre-dive comprehensive operation inspection record form, the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible is functionally inspected item by item to ensure that the system is in good condition;

[0115] Step c: Deployment of autonomous underwater unmanned submersibles and establishment of surface monitoring system.

[0116] 500 meters upstream of the entry point, the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible is deployed into the sea, and then the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible adopts an unpowered spiral diving mode 22, and completes the detection content autonomously without human control; after the submersible enters the water, the surface end acoustic communication system 15 is deployed into the water using the A-frame of the mother ship 20, with a deployment depth of 200m-500m, and the status information of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible can be periodically monitored;

[0117] Step d: Use the ultra-short baseline system to calibrate the initial position of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible.

[0118] Since the autonomous navigation system of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible may have errors during the spiral dive 22, after the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible dives to a predetermined depth, the accurate position information of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible needs to be obtained through the shipborne ultra-short baseline system 16, and the position information of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible needs to be recalibrated using the acoustic communication system 15 to ensure the accuracy of the detection data;

[0119] When the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible is in accordance with the mission plan, it performs mining plume and redeposition thickness detection. It sails at a fixed altitude of 4 meters or 5 meters from the seabed 21 at a speed of 1 knot 23 to carry out multi-level plume detection tasks. Multiple payload devices simultaneously collect acoustic data, optical data, and hydrological data, and upload them to the shared data link after completing data preprocessing. After the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible finds data anomalies, it immediately adjusts the speed to sail at 0.5 knots, and increases the sampling frequency of the plume detection equipment to obtain more target data; a deep-sea high-resolution shallow surface profiler is used for redeposition thickness detection, and an adaptive sampling frequency and adaptive emission energy design are adopted to obtain high-quality plume redeposition thickness data throughout the process.

[0120] After the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible completes the diving mission, it performs an unpowered spiral ascent 24 and is currently being monitored 1 km upstream of the predetermined sea surface 19 water exit point. After emerging from the water, the submersible sends position information and a position indicating light source 17 to the mother ship; after completion of the recovery, the detection data of this dive is downloaded through the surface data processing unit for analysis and data interpretation.

[0121] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and the various embodiments of the present disclosure and / or the features described in the claims may be combined or combined in various ways, even if such combinations or combinations are not explicitly described in the present disclosure. It is not intended to limit the present invention. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art may still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or perform equivalent substitutions on some of the technical features therein. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present invention shall be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

[0122] Although preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, additional changes and modifications may be made to these embodiments by those skilled in the art once the basic inventive concepts are known. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to be interpreted as including the preferred embodiments and all changes and modifications that fall within the scope of the present invention. Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various changes and modifications to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present invention fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention and their equivalents, the present invention is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. An autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring system, characterized in that: include: Autonomous underwater unmanned submersibles and detection payload equipment connected thereto; The autonomous underwater unmanned submersible is used to carry the detection payload equipment, provide power for the detection payload equipment, send control instructions to the detection payload equipment, pre-process the data sent back by the detection payload equipment, and send the equipment status to the mother ship in real time, so as to realize the real-time monitoring of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible by the mother ship; The detection payload equipment is used to simultaneously carry out deep-sea near-bottom mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring using three detection methods: acoustic, optical, and hydrological. It compares and fuses multiple categories of data in the same time coordinate system, and sends the collected data to an autonomous underwater unmanned submersible to provide data support for subsequent deep-sea mining plume and redeposition simulation modeling.

2. An autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The autonomous underwater unmanned submersible comprises: an integrated control unit and a navigation and positioning unit, an energy unit, a propulsion control unit, a communication unit, and a detection load unit connected thereto; The integrated control unit is used to provide power to each unit and receive data from each unit. After being analyzed and processed by the integrated control unit, control instructions are sent to each unit respectively. The navigation and positioning unit is used to send the position, attitude and speed data collected from the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible to the integrated control unit through the serial port for analysis and processing; The energy unit is connected to the integrated control unit and the propulsion control unit respectively, and is used to directly provide electrical energy to the integrated control unit and the propulsion control unit. At the same time, the energy unit has a BMS function and sends its own status information to the integrated control unit; The propulsion control unit is connected to the integrated control unit and the energy unit respectively, and is used to receive control instructions from the integrated control unit, provide thrust for the navigation of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible according to the control instructions, and provide real-time feedback of the propulsion motor status to the integrated control unit; The communication unit is used to receive the device status and underwater position information sent by the integrated control unit and send it to the surface mother ship; at the same time, it receives the interactive instructions sent by the mother ship and transmits the interactive instructions to the integrated control unit to realize the two-way communication function between the device and the mother ship underwater; The detection load unit is used to monitor the spatial diffusion range of the mining plume and the redeposition thickness parameters in real time, and send them to the integrated control unit for data analysis.

3. An autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring system according to claim 2, characterized in that: The integrated control unit includes: a power conversion module, a power output module, a data interaction module and a main control module; The power conversion module is connected to the energy unit and the power output module respectively, and is used to perform isolated DC voltage conversion through the energy unit, and output isolated DC power of different voltage levels to the power output module for use by each functional unit; The power supply output module is connected to the power conversion module and the main control module respectively, and is used to receive different levels of voltage input by the power conversion module, and to control the power output channel switch on the power supply output module according to the selection of the main control module. Each power output channel is connected to a corresponding unit to realize power supply control of each external functional unit; The data interaction module is connected to the propulsion control unit, the communication unit, the detection load unit, and the navigation and positioning unit, respectively, and is used to receive data sent by the propulsion control unit, the communication unit, the detection load unit, and the navigation and positioning unit, and transmit the data to the main control module in the form of a PC104 bus. At the same time, it receives control instructions sent by the main control module and transmits them to the propulsion control unit, the communication unit, the detection load unit, and the navigation and positioning unit, respectively, to achieve two-way data communication; The main control module is connected to the data interaction module and the power supply output module through the PC104 bus and is used to receive data sent by the data interaction module. After processing the data, the main control module sends the control instructions to the external functional units through the data interaction module, and at the same time sends instructions to the power supply output module to control the power supply of each unit.

4. An autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring system according to claim 2, characterized in that: The navigation and positioning unit includes: a speed measurement module, an inertial navigation module and a depth and height value monitoring module; The speed measurement module is connected to the integrated control unit and the inertial navigation module respectively, and sends the autonomous navigation speed of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible to the integrated control unit and the inertial navigation module respectively through the serial port; The inertial navigation module is connected to the integrated control unit and the speed measurement module respectively, and is used to integrate the speed information sent by the speed measurement module, and send the underwater positioning information and attitude information of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible to the integrated control unit through the serial port in real time; The depth and height value monitoring module is connected to the integrated control unit and is used to send depth information and bottom height information to the integrated control unit through the serial port.

5. An autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring system according to claim 2, characterized in that: The energy unit includes: a secondary battery pack and a BMS system; The secondary battery pack is connected to the integrated control unit and the propulsion control unit respectively, and is used to provide power to each functional system after the isolated DC power conversion is performed by the integrated control unit. The secondary battery pack is directly connected to the propulsion control unit to provide power energy to the propulsion control unit; The BMS system is connected to the integrated control unit and is used to monitor the health status of the secondary battery pack in real time and send the secondary battery pack status information to the integrated control unit through the serial port.

6. An autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring system according to claim 2, characterized in that: The propulsion control unit includes: a propulsion control module, a motor drive module, and a propulsion motor; The propulsion control module is connected to the integrated control unit and the motor drive module respectively, and is used to receive the motor thrust distribution instruction sent by the integrated control unit for analysis, and send the motor speed parameter to the motor drive module; The motor drive module is connected to the energy unit, the propulsion control module and the propulsion motor respectively, and is used to directly input the power supply of the energy unit connected thereto into the motor drive module, and parse the CAN bus information sent by the propulsion control module, so as to control the speed of the propulsion motor, and at the same time send the state of the propulsion motor to the propulsion control module via the CAN bus; The propulsion motor is connected to the motor drive module and controlled by the motor drive module to provide thrust for the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible.

7. An autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring system according to claim 2, characterized in that: The communication unit comprises: a communication host and a transducer connected to each other; The communication host is used to receive information sent by the integrated control unit through the serial port, is internally connected to the transducer, encodes the information sent by the integrated control unit, and sends it to the transducer; The transducer is used to convert the electrical signal sent by the communication host into an acoustic signal and transmit it to the mother ship.

8. An autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The detection payload equipment includes: a deep-sea shallow surface profiler connected to an autonomous underwater unmanned submersible, a particle laser camera, a deep-sea camera system, and a hydrological sensor; The deep-sea shallow-surface profiler includes an acoustic electronic cabin, a transmitting array, and a receiving array. The transmitting array and the receiving array are respectively connected to the acoustic electronic cabin. The autonomous underwater unmanned submersible is connected to the acoustic electronic cabin through a cable to provide power, position data, control instructions, and real-time monitoring of the operating status of the deep-sea high-resolution shallow-surface profiler. The acoustic electronic cabin dynamically adjusts the transmitting power and transmitting cycle of the transmitting array according to the quality of the echo signal to ensure that high-quality detection data is obtained and stored in the acoustic electronic cabin; The particle laser camera is used to take pictures at a frequency of 2Hz, calculate the number and density of particles in each photo in real time, and print the calculation results on the photos for storage; when the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible detects a significant change in the turbidity value of the water body, it controls the particle laser camera to take pictures at a frequency of 8Hz and record the change process of the plume by optical detection; A deep-sea camera system is used to collect optical images in real time and run a deep-sea benthic organism visual recognition algorithm. It automatically captures images of benthic organisms and annotates the current depth, time, and redeposition thickness information detected by the deep-sea high-resolution shallow surface profiler, which serves as image data support for the impact of mining plumes and redeposition on benthic organisms. The hydrological sensors include: temperature-salinity-depth meter and multi-parameter water quality meter. The temperature-salinity-depth meter collects information on seawater temperature, salinity, conductivity and sound velocity; the multi-parameter water quality meter collects information on conductivity, pressure, dissolved oxygen concentration, dissolved oxygen temperature, pH, turbidity, salinity, sound velocity, specific conductance and dissolved oxygen saturation; and transmits the data collected by the hydrological sensor to the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible for real-time preprocessing, and uploads the collected data to a shared data link.

9. The monitoring method of an autonomous multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness monitoring system according to claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: Step 1: Plan the detection area and autonomous navigation path, transmit the mission plan to the integrated control unit through the network, and the integrated control unit performs autonomous detection according to the mission plan; Step 2: The main control module controls the power supply output module through the PC104 bus to supply power to the navigation and positioning unit, the energy unit, the propulsion control unit, the communication unit, and the detection payload unit; Step 3: After the navigation and positioning unit system is running, the position, attitude, heading, speed, depth, and bottom height information of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible are sent to the data interaction module through the serial port; after the energy unit system is running, the BMS module sends the battery status information to the data interaction module through the serial port; after the propulsion control unit system is running, the propulsion control module sends the propulsion motor status information to the data interaction module through the serial port; Step 4: The main control module sends the propulsion motor speed control instruction to the data interaction module through the PC104 bus according to the mission planning content. The data interaction module converts the motor speed control instruction into serial port data and sends it to the propulsion control module. The propulsion control module converts the motor speed control instruction into CAN bus protocol and sends it to the motor drive module, thereby controlling the motor speed and realizing autonomous navigation of the device. Step 5: During the autonomous navigation of the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible, each detection device of the detection load equipment sends the collected data to the detection load unit, and the detection load unit sends the collected data to the data interaction module through the serial port. The data interaction module converts the serial port data into PC104 bus format and sends it to the main control module, which performs data analysis, data fusion, and data storage. At the same time, according to the data analysis results, the main control module sends the collection parameter setting instructions to the data interaction module through the PC104 bus, and the data interaction module sends the parameter setting instructions to each detection device through the serial port to realize multi-mode mining plume and redeposition thickness measurement; Step 6: After the autonomous underwater unmanned submersible completes the mission planning content, the main control module sends a device power-off command to the power supply output module through the PC104 bus, and the power supply output module stops the power supply output to the relevant equipment. At this point, the equipment completes the monitoring.

Images