Underwater beacon directional positioning system and method

Abstract

The present invention provides an underwater beacon directional positioning system and method, the system includes a forward ultra-short baseline system and a reverse ultra-short baseline system, a positioning system and a first inertial navigation system at the end of the water vehicle, and a second inertial navigation system and a hydrophone array at the end of the underwater vehicle. The hydrophone array is arranged on the underwater vehicle for secondary positioning, which increases the underwater positioning depth and realizes the directional positioning of the underwater beacon on the deep seabed. The forward and reverse ultra-short baseline systems and the first and second inertial navigation systems are used to simultaneously locate the relative position of the water-underwater vehicle in both forward and reverse directions, the data frequency obtained is higher, the positioning efficiency is higher, and the positioning accuracy is also improved; and the hydrophone array is arranged on the underwater vehicle, which has less noise interference than the hydrophone array is arranged on the water vehicle, so the signal quality received by the array is better, which is convenient for subsequent position information processing and more accurate position information is obtained.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of underwater target search and positioning, and more specifically, to an underwater beacon directional positioning system and method. Background Art

[0002] At present, the search and positioning of underwater beacons is usually achieved by using a ship-borne fixed search and positioning system. This method can search and locate within a short distance. For example, an electronic flight recorder (commonly known as a "black box") that falls on the seabed can send out a 37.5Hz sound wave signal, and the signal propagation distance is about 3000 meters. However, as the underwater distance increases, the signal also decays until it disappears. If the black box is located on the deep seabed with a depth greater than 6000 meters, its signal cannot be transmitted to the water surface, and the existing ship-borne fixed search and positioning system cannot receive the signal, so the black box cannot be found. Therefore, the orientation of beacons on the deep seabed is a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently. Summary of the invention

[0003] In view of this, the present invention proposes an underwater beacon directional positioning system and method to achieve the purpose of increasing the underwater positioning depth.

[0004] In order to achieve the above objectives, the proposed solution is as follows:

[0005] In a first aspect, an underwater beacon directional positioning system is provided, comprising: a forward ultra-short baseline system and a reverse ultra-short baseline system, a positioning system 11 and a first inertial navigation system 14 arranged at an end of a water vehicle 21, and a second inertial navigation system 15 and a hydrophone array 16 arranged at an end of an underwater vehicle 22;

[0006] The positioning system 11 is used to obtain the absolute position of the water vehicle 21;

[0007] The forward ultra-short baseline system is used to forward locate the relative positions of the above-water vehicle 21 and the underwater vehicle 22;

[0008] The first inertial navigation system 14 is used to obtain the heading and attitude of the water vehicle 21;

[0009] The reverse ultra-short baseline system is used to reversely locate the relative positions of the above-water vehicle 21 and the underwater vehicle 22;

[0010] The second inertial navigation system 15 is used to obtain the heading and attitude of the underwater vehicle 22;

[0011] The hydrophone array 16 includes n directional hydrophones or vector hydrophones arranged at a preset interval and angle, n≥3, and the hydrophone array 16 is used to obtain the azimuth of the underwater beacon 23 to be located;

[0012] The underwater beacon 23 to be located is a device that actively emits acoustic signals outward.

[0013] Optionally, the underwater vehicle 22 is connected to the water vehicle 21 via a cable 19, and the water vehicle 21 drags the underwater vehicle 22 via the cable 19, while the controller at the underwater vehicle 22 and the controller at the water vehicle 21 exchange data via the cable 19.

[0014] Optionally, the forward ultra-short baseline system includes: a first array and a first transmitting transducer 12 arranged at the bottom of the above-water vehicle 21, and a first beacon 13 arranged at the top of the underwater vehicle 22;

[0015] The first array includes hydrophones arranged at four corners of a quadrilateral, the heights of the hydrophones are different, and the first transmitting transducer is arranged at the center of the quadrilateral.

[0016] Optionally, the reverse ultra-short baseline system includes: a second array and a second transmitting transducer 17 arranged on the top of the underwater vehicle 22, and a second beacon 18 arranged on the bottom of the above-water vehicle 21;

[0017] The second array includes hydrophones arranged at four corners of a quadrilateral, the heights of the hydrophones are different, and the second transmitting transducer is arranged at the center of the quadrilateral.

[0018] Optionally, the hydrophone array 16 includes:

[0019] The directional hydrophones or vector hydrophones are arranged at the three corners of a triangle, and the hydrophone array 16 is arranged at the bottom and / or both sides of the underwater vehicle 22 .

[0020] Optionally, the underwater beacon 23 to be located is: an electronic flight recorder.

[0021] In a second aspect, an underwater beacon directional positioning method is provided. Based on the underwater beacon directional positioning system in the first aspect, the underwater beacon directional positioning method includes:

[0022] The relative position of the water vehicle 21 and the underwater vehicle 22 is calculated based on the information obtained by the forward ultra-short baseline system and the heading and attitude of the water vehicle 21 obtained by the first inertial navigation system 14. The absolute position of the water vehicle 21 is obtained by combining the positioning system 11 to calculate the absolute position of the underwater vehicle 22, that is, the first absolute position.

[0023] The relative position of the surface vehicle 21 and the underwater vehicle 22 is calculated based on the information obtained by the reverse ultra-short baseline system and the heading and attitude of the underwater vehicle 22 obtained by the second inertial navigation system 15. The absolute position of the surface vehicle 21 is obtained by combining the positioning system 11 to calculate the absolute position of the underwater vehicle 22, that is, the second absolute position.

[0024] The first absolute position and the second absolute position are combined to obtain the combined absolute position of the underwater vehicle 22, so as to move the surface measurement platform underwater;

[0025] The underwater beacon 23 to be located emits an acoustic signal outward, and the orientation information of the underwater beacon 23 to be located relative to the underwater vehicle 22 is measured according to the strength of the acoustic signal emitted by the underwater beacon 23 to be located received by the directional hydrophones or vector hydrophones at different positions in the hydrophone array 16.

[0026] Compared with the prior art, the technical solution of the present invention has the following advantages:

[0027] The above technical solution provides an underwater beacon directional positioning system and method, the system includes a forward ultra-short baseline system and a reverse ultra-short baseline system, a positioning system and a first inertial navigation system arranged at the end of the water vehicle, and a second inertial navigation system and a hydrophone array arranged at the end of the underwater vehicle. By transferring the surface measurement platform to underwater and combining the hydrophone array arranged on the underwater vehicle for secondary positioning, the underwater positioning depth is increased, and the underwater beacon directional positioning on the deep seabed is realized.

[0028] The relative position of the surface-underwater vehicle is simultaneously located in both forward and reverse directions through the forward and reverse ultra-short baseline systems and the first and second inertial navigation systems; the hydrophone array is set on the underwater vehicle, which has less noise interference than the hydrophone array is set on the surface vehicle, so the signal quality received by the array is better, which is convenient for subsequent position information processing and more accurate position information. The forward and reverse bidirectional positioning methods are carried out simultaneously, and the data frequency obtained is higher, the positioning efficiency is higher, and the positioning accuracy is also improved. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on the provided drawings without paying creative work.

[0030] Figure 1A schematic structural diagram of an underwater beacon directional positioning system provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0031] Figure 2 A flow chart of an underwater beacon directional positioning method provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0032] In the figure, 11-positioning system, 12-first array and first transmitting transducer, 13-first beacon, 14-first inertial navigation system, 15-second inertial navigation system, 16-hydrophone array, 17-second array and second transmitting transducer, 18-second beacon, 19-cable; 21-water vehicle, 22-underwater vehicle, 23-underwater beacon to be positioned. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0034] See also Figure 1 , which is a structural schematic diagram of an underwater beacon directional positioning system provided by the present invention, including: a forward ultra-short baseline system and a reverse ultra-short baseline system, a positioning system 11 and a first inertial navigation system 14 arranged at the end of a water vehicle 21, and a second inertial navigation system 15 and a hydrophone array 16 arranged at the end of an underwater vehicle 22.

[0035] The hydrophone array 16 includes n directional hydrophones arranged at preset intervals and angles. The hydrophone array 16 is used to obtain the orientation of the underwater beacon 23 to be located. The hydrophone array 16 is arranged at the bottom and / or both sides of the underwater vehicle 22. In a specific embodiment, the hydrophone array includes three directional hydrophones located at three corners of a triangle. The larger n is, the greater the probability of obtaining a signal. According to the strength and / or time interval of the acoustic signal emitted by the underwater beacon 23 to be located received by the hydrophones at different positions in the hydrophone array, the direction information of the underwater beacon 23 to be located relative to the underwater vehicle 22 is measured. Exemplarily, the hydrophone array is a circular array, and the direction pointed outward by the hydrophone that receives the strongest acoustic signal or the shortest time interval for receiving the acoustic signal is the direction of the underwater beacon 23 to be located relative to the underwater vehicle 22.

[0036] Figure 1 The water vehicle 21 shown in the figure is a ship, and it should be noted that the water vehicle 21 can also be a buoy, etc. The underwater vehicle 22 can specifically be a towed body, etc. The present invention does not limit the specific forms of the water vehicle 21 and the underwater vehicle 22.

[0037] The positioning system 11 is used to locate the absolute position of the water vehicle 21. The positioning system 11 can be specifically GPS (Global Positioning System), BDS (BeiDou Navigation Satellite System), GLONASS (GLOBAL NAVIGATION SATELLITE SYSTEM), Galileo positioning system or combined navigation system, etc. The present invention does not limit the specific form of the positioning system 11.

[0038] The forward ultra-short baseline system is used to forward locate the relative positions of the water vehicle 21 and the underwater vehicle 22. In a specific embodiment, the forward ultra-short baseline system includes a first base array and a first transmitting transducer 12 arranged at the bottom of the water vehicle 21, and a first beacon 13 arranged at the top of the underwater vehicle 22. The first base array includes hydrophones arranged at the four corners of a quadrilateral, and the heights of the hydrophones are different. The first transmitting transducer is arranged at the center of the quadrilateral. The forward ultra-short baseline system can be implemented by using the ultra-short baseline positioning method in the prior art, and the present invention will not repeat the positioning process.

[0039] The first inertial navigation system 14 is used to obtain the heading and attitude of the water vehicle 21. The first inertial navigation system 14 includes a compass and an attitude meter. The inertial navigation system is an autonomous navigation system that does not rely on external information and does not radiate energy to the outside.

[0040] The reverse ultra-short baseline system is used to reversely locate the relative positions of the water vehicle 21 and the underwater vehicle 22. The reverse ultra-short baseline system includes a second array and a second transmitting transducer 17 arranged on the top of the underwater vehicle 22, and a second beacon 18 arranged at the bottom of the water vehicle 21. The second array includes hydrophones arranged at the four corners of a quadrilateral, and the heights of each hydrophone are different. The second transmitting transducer is arranged at the center of the quadrilateral. The reverse ultra-short baseline system is to reversely set the beacon, array and transmitting transducer of the forward ultra-short baseline system. The positioning principles of the forward and reverse ultra-short baseline systems are basically the same. The reverse ultra-short baseline system can be implemented by the ultra-short baseline positioning method in the prior art. The present invention will not repeat this positioning process.

[0041] The second inertial navigation system 15 is used to obtain the heading and attitude of the underwater vehicle 22; the second inertial navigation system 15 includes a compass and an attitude meter. The inertial navigation system is an autonomous navigation system that does not rely on external information and does not radiate energy to the outside.

[0042] The underwater beacon 23 to be located is a device that actively emits acoustic signals. Specifically, the underwater beacon 23 to be located can be an electronic flight recorder (commonly known as a black box), which can transmit ultrasonic signals from a depth of 3000m underwater, usually at a frequency of 37.5kHz per second, and lasts for 30 days.

[0043] In a specific embodiment, the underwater vehicle 22 is connected to the water vehicle 21 via a cable 19; the water vehicle 21 drags the underwater vehicle 22 via the cable 19, and at the same time, the controller at the underwater vehicle 22 and the controller at the water vehicle 21 exchange data via the cable 19.

[0044] The above embodiment introduces the structure of the underwater beacon directional positioning system. The following describes in detail the method for underwater positioning based on the underwater beacon directional positioning system. Figure 2 , which provides a method based on Figure 1 The flowchart of the reverse underwater beacon directional positioning method of the underwater beacon directional positioning system shown in the figure comprises the steps of:

[0045] S21: Based on the information obtained from the forward ultra-short baseline system and the heading and attitude of the water vehicle 21 obtained by the first inertial navigation system 14, the relative position of the water vehicle 21 and the underwater vehicle 22 is calculated, and the absolute position of the water vehicle 21 is obtained by combining the positioning system 11 to calculate the absolute position of the underwater vehicle 22, that is, the first absolute position.

[0046] S22: Based on the information obtained from the reverse ultra-short baseline system and the heading and attitude of the underwater vehicle 22 obtained by the second inertial navigation system 15, the relative position of the water vehicle 21 and the underwater vehicle 22 is calculated, and the absolute position of the water vehicle 21 is obtained by combining the positioning system 11 to calculate the absolute position of the underwater vehicle 22, that is, the second absolute position.

[0047] S23: The first absolute position is merged with the second absolute position to obtain the merged absolute position of the underwater vehicle 22, thereby moving the surface measurement platform underwater.

[0048] S24: The underwater beacon 23 to be located (black box) emits an acoustic signal outward, and the position information of the underwater beacon 23 to be located relative to the underwater vehicle 22 is measured according to the strength of the acoustic signal emitted by the underwater beacon 23 to be located received by the directional hydrophones at different positions in the hydrophone array 16.

[0049] The working principle of the underwater beacon directional positioning system provided in this embodiment is:

[0050] Compared with the traditional method of directly locating the underwater beacon to be located by a water vehicle, the underwater beacon directional positioning system provided in this embodiment, on the one hand, moves the measurement platform of the water vehicle 21 to the underwater vehicle 22, and combines the hydrophone array 16 added to the underwater vehicle 22 (towed body) for secondary positioning, thereby increasing the underwater positioning depth of 3000 meters to 6000 meters, thereby realizing the directional positioning of the underwater beacon-black box (sending a 37.5Hz sound wave signal outward, and the signal propagation distance is about 3000 meters) located on the deep seabed.

[0051] On the other hand, the position of the underwater vehicle 22 is obtained by bidirectional positioning of the forward and reverse ultra-short baseline systems, more data is obtained at the same time, and the result is more accurate; and the hydrophone array of the reverse ultra-short baseline system is set on the underwater vehicle 22. Compared with setting the hydrophone array on the water vehicle 21, it is less affected by noise interference from the propeller of the hull, etc., so the signal quality received by the reverse ultra-short baseline system is better, which is convenient for subsequent position information processing and obtains more accurate position information.

[0052] For the above-mentioned method embodiments, for the sake of simplicity of description, they are all expressed as a series of action combinations, but those skilled in the art should know that the present invention is not limited by the described order of actions, because according to the present invention, certain steps can be performed in other orders or simultaneously.

[0053] In this article, relational terms such as first and second, etc. are used only to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the terms "comprise", "include" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, the elements defined by the statement "comprise a ..." do not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the elements.

[0054] Each embodiment in this specification focuses on the differences from other embodiments, and the same or similar parts between the embodiments can be referenced to each other.

[0055] The above description of the embodiments disclosed in the present invention enables those skilled in the art to implement or use the present invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention will not be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but will conform to the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. An underwater beacon directional positioning system, characterized in that: include: A forward ultra-short baseline system and a reverse ultra-short baseline system, a positioning system (11) and a first inertial navigation system (14) arranged at the end of the water vehicle (21), and a second inertial navigation system (15) and a hydrophone array (16) arranged at the end of the underwater vehicle (22); The positioning system (11) is used to obtain the absolute position of the water vehicle (21); The forward ultra-short baseline system is used to forwardly locate the relative positions of the above-water vehicle (21) and the underwater vehicle (22); The first inertial navigation system (14) is used to obtain the heading and attitude of the water vehicle (21); The reverse ultra-short baseline system is used to reversely locate the relative positions of the above-water vehicle (21) and the underwater vehicle (22), wherein the forward positioning and the reverse positioning are performed simultaneously; The second inertial navigation system (15) is used to obtain the heading and attitude of the underwater vehicle (22); The hydrophone array (16) is composed of three directional hydrophones located at three corners of a triangle, and the hydrophone array (16) is arranged at the bottom and / or both sides of the underwater vehicle (22) to obtain the orientation of the underwater beacon (23) to be located; The underwater beacon (23) to be located is a device that actively emits acoustic signals outward.

2. The underwater beacon directional positioning system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The underwater vehicle (22) is connected to the above-water vehicle (21) via a cable (19); the above-water vehicle (21) drags the underwater vehicle (22) via the cable (19); and at the same time, a controller at the underwater vehicle (22) and a controller at the above-water vehicle (21) exchange data via the cable (19).

3. The underwater beacon directional positioning system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The forward ultra-short baseline system comprises: a first array and a first transmitting transducer (12) arranged at the bottom of the above-water vehicle (21), and a first beacon (13) arranged at the top of the underwater vehicle (22); The first array includes hydrophones arranged at four corners of a quadrilateral, the heights of the hydrophones are different, and the first transmitting transducer is arranged at the center of the quadrilateral.

4. The underwater beacon directional positioning system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The reverse ultra-short baseline system comprises: a second array and a second transmitting transducer (17) arranged on the top of the underwater vehicle (22), and a second beacon (18) arranged on the bottom of the above-water vehicle (21); The second array includes hydrophones arranged at four corners of a quadrilateral, the heights of the hydrophones are different, and the second transmitting transducer is arranged at the center of the quadrilateral.

5. The underwater beacon directional positioning system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The hydrophone array (16) comprises: Directional hydrophones or vector hydrophones are set at the three corners of a triangle.

6. The underwater beacon directional positioning system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The underwater beacon (23) to be located is an electronic flight recorder.

7. An underwater beacon directional positioning method, characterized in that: Based on the underwater beacon directional positioning system according to claim 1, the underwater beacon directional positioning method comprises: The relative position of the water vehicle (21) and the underwater vehicle (22) is calculated based on the information obtained by the forward ultra-short baseline system and the heading and attitude of the water vehicle (21) obtained by the first inertial navigation system (14), and the absolute position of the water vehicle (21) is obtained by combining the positioning system (11) to calculate the first absolute position of the underwater vehicle (22); The relative position of the water vehicle (21) and the underwater vehicle (22) is calculated based on the information obtained by the reverse ultra-short baseline system and the heading and attitude of the underwater vehicle (22) obtained by the second inertial navigation system (15), and the absolute position of the water vehicle (21) is obtained by combining the positioning system (11) to calculate the second absolute position of the underwater vehicle (22), wherein the process of calculating the relative position of the water vehicle (21) and the underwater vehicle (22) by using the reverse ultra-short baseline system and the process of calculating the relative position of the water vehicle (21) and the underwater vehicle (22) by using the forward ultra-short baseline system are performed simultaneously; The first absolute position and the second absolute position are merged to obtain the merged absolute position of the underwater vehicle (22), so as to move the surface measurement platform underwater. The surface measurement platform is combined with the hydrophone array (16) provided on the underwater vehicle (22) to perform secondary positioning, so as to increase the underwater positioning depth and realize the directional positioning of the underwater beacon (23) on the deep seabed; The underwater beacon (23) to be located emits an acoustic signal outward, and the position information of the underwater beacon (23) to be located relative to the underwater vehicle (22) is measured according to the strength of the acoustic signal emitted by the underwater beacon (23) to be located received by directional hydrophones or vector hydrophones at different positions in the hydrophone array (16).

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