SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DOPPLER MEASUREMENT USING AN OPTIMAL HEXAGONAL ARCHITECTURE WITH FIXED OR ADAPTIVE GEOMETRY

Abstract

Systems and devices used for measurement by generating at least one set of wave beams, which may be acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light, or laser waves, depending on the application, directed in different spatial directions to form a conical and hexagonal shape, ensuring optimal tiling of the measurement volume or surface. These measurements primarily consist of extracting Doppler information by receiving waves, which may be acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light, or laser waves, depending on the application, reflected by the wave propagation medium.Other physical quantities can also be measured, such as the turbulence of the wave propagation fluid, the turbidity or concentration of suspended matter in the fluid, the relative speed of the instrument with respect to the fluid or a target surface, geological characterization, landing site characterization, wave motion characterization, etc. Figure to be published for the abstract: Figure 10.

Description

Title of the invention: SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DOPPLER EFFECT MEASUREMENTS USING OF AN OPTIMAL HEXAGONAL ARCHITECTURE WITH FIXED OR ADAPTIVE GEOMETRY Technical field of the invention

[0001] This invention relates, on the one hand, to Doppler effect navigation systems using light, laser or electromagnetic waves in the case of aircraft, or by the use of acoustic or ultrasonic waves in the case of floating or submersible vessels, and on the other hand, for the case of vessels or aircraft, this invention is also intended for current measurement and flow measurement as well as for the determination of directional and non-directional waves of the fluids occupying the navigation environment.

[0002] Furthermore, this invention consists of a new geometric configuration which makes it possible to optimize the measurement by improving the precision and robustness of the measurements, either by using an optimal hexagonal arrangement of a discrete set of identical piston-type transducers (in the particular case of naval applications), or of a discrete set of identical electromagnetic, light or laser antennas (in the particular case of naval, astronaval or space-naval applications), or by using an interlaced hexagonal lattice set of sub-networks by phase control, or time delay, or a combination of the two control modes, these sub-networks being able to be acoustic (or ultrasonic) for naval (SoNAR) or atmospheric (SoDAR) applications and also electromagnetic (RaDAR) for naval, atmospheric,space and spaceflight applications as well as optical or laser applications (LiDAR). Prior art and its drawbacks

[0003] There are SoNAR, SoDAR, RaDAR or LiDAR systems for Doppler effect measurement and navigation. These systems are also widely used in oceanographic and atmospheric applications for the measurement and characterization of marine or atmospheric currents as well as for the measurement and characterization of wave movements at sea and on the oceans, or the characterization of atmospheric and oceanic currents or for the measurement of the flow of rivers and canals. The principle of these instruments consists of the generation of several narrow energy beams, acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic or optical (for example radio waves, optical or lasers) depending on the application, in several directions and tilted at different angles. A minimum of three tilted beams, or typically four beams, operating in transmit / receive mode, are used. The three-beam configuration is commonly referred to as a "star" configuration, while the four-beam configuration is referred to as a "Janus" configuration. In addition, other configurations are also used by adding a central beam in both the "star" and "Janus" configurations.

[0004] The objective of using these narrow beam configurations with a minimum of three beams is to measure the distance and / or speed in two or three dimensions from the signals initially emitted by the transducers or antennas, and reflected or backscattered from the surface of the ground, the seabed, as well as the particles suspended in the fluid (or the Fonde propagation medium) and received on the different beams of the SoNAR, SoDAR, LiDAR or Doppler RadAR in reception. The speed measurement is carried out in three dimensions from the speed components projected along the lines defined by the set of three or four or five acoustic, ultrasonic, optical or electromagnetic beams.

[0005] Acoustic Doppler systems are also known, in "star" or "Janus" configuration, which in addition to the use of three or four beams, add a central beam in order to improve the tracking of a surface delimiting the volume of space or of the fluid of propagation of the wave, the latter can be an acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser wave, depending on the application.

[0006] Other known Doppler systems use configurations with two sets of transducers with a different frequency for each "star" or "Janus" set in order to obtain two measurements over two different frequency ranges. One high-frequency set for shallow depth and high-resolution measurements, and a second low-frequency set for deep depth and low-resolution velocity measurements. Examples include three-beam and four-beam navigation Radar systems (e.g., patents [Vopat, RW (1997)] or [Ellery, PL (2012)]), as well as three- or four-beam, single-frequency or dual-frequency, monostatic or bistatic SoNAR systems, such as patents [Lohrmann, A. (2008)], [Brandon, SS (2010)], [Brumley, HB (2016)] and [Slocum, DB et al. (2009)].

[0007] Other known RaDAR or SoNAR systems also use narrow spectral band phased arrays, or wide spectral band time delay arrays for the simultaneous generation of four electromagnetic or acoustic beams, with possibly a fifth central beam, for example patents [Wanis, P. et al. (2019)] and [Yu, X. et al. (1996)].

[0008] Among the disadvantages of all these existing systems, the use of three, four or five energy beams, operating on the same spectral band, does not allow to optimize the information returned by the propagation medium or the reflection surface of the energy of the beams, more particularly, the geometry of the beams in the far field of propagation of the energy being of approximately conical shape and circular section, the illumination by five, four or three beams does not allow an optimal coverage of the horizontal surface of the fluid or of the reflecting surface.

[0009] We now refer to [Fig.l], which represents different instrument architectures (represented solely for illustration purposes, since this Doppler effect measurement principle is also used by the use of acoustic, electromagnetic or light waves) using the Doppler phenomenon [Zimmerman, D. (2002)] for the measurement of different physical quantities already mentioned, namely speed, altitude, concentration, movement of waves, winds, atmosphere, turbulence, target detection, obstacle detection, debris detection, positioning for navigation, landing and landing site identification, takeoff as well as determination of orientation in three-dimensional space in various terrestrial or extraterrestrial environments, survey and geological characterization of layers of the Earth's or extraterrestrial crust, etc.

[0010] For example, architectures (a) and (d) in [Fig.l] concern “one star” type architectures with three beams of ultrasonic, electromagnetic or laser energy, operating in the same frequency band, generally inclined identically with respect to the axis of revolution of the instrument, and oriented in the horizontal plane perpendicular to the axis of revolution of the instrument in three directions so as to divide, in the general case, equally the horizontal plane, which gives an equal angle of 120° between each pair of inclined and adjacent beams, used for the measurement of radial velocities, with a fourth additional and optional central beam merged with the axis of revolution of the instrument.

[0011] Variants of this star configuration may also include "two stars" operating at different frequencies whose objective is to obtain two "one-star" measurements where each independent "one-star" system can provide a frequency-independent measurement, or "three stars" to overcome faults and failures by redundancy of the "one-star" architecture as described in [Vasil'eva, AV etal. (2018)]. Examples of this star architecture can be found in a non-exhaustive list including: [Fried, WR (1957)], [Fried, WR (1964)], [Badewitz, CJ (1968)], [Badewitz, CJ (1969)], [Autonetics, North American Rockwell, Contract NAS 1-7696 (1971)], [Deines, KL (2005)], [Lohrmann, A. (2007)], [Lawhite, N. (2007)], [Lohrmann, A. (2008)], [Borgarelli, L. (2009)], [Pierrottet, DF etal. (2021)].

[0012] Another variant of existing architectures in the literature and represented in [Fig.l] by sub-figures (b), (c) and (e) represents the “Janus” type architecture with discrete energy transducers, or also “Janus” type with one or more transducers in one or two-dimensional arrays by phase or time delay control, represented in [Fig.l] by sub-figures (f), (g) and (h). These architectures of the “Janus” variant are characterized by the generation of four beams, generally inclined identically with respect to the vertical, and with the possibility of adding a fifth central energy beam as illustrated by sub-figures (c) and (e) of [Fig.l]. Examples of this "Janus" architecture can be found in a non-exhaustive list including: [Chilowsky, C. (1924)], [Chilowsky, C. (1925)], [Berger, FB (July 1957)], [Berger, FB (Sept. 1957)], [Fried, WR (1957)], [McMahon, FA (1957)], [Smith, P.G. (1963)], [Benjamin, SK (1963)], [Fried, WR (1964)], [Ratkevich, AE et al. (1968)], [Autonetics, North American Rockwell, Contract NAS 1-7696 (1971)], [Kramar, E. (1971)] , [Gray, J. (1981)], [Brumley, BH et al. (1993)], [Brokloff, NA (1994)], [Perennes M. (1994)], [Yu, X. et al. (1996)], [Yang, L. et al. (1997)], [Rowe, FD (2002)], [Deines, KL (2005)],[Brumley, BH (2006)], [Vogt, MA (2007)], [Lohrmann, A. (2007)], [Hendricks, PJ (2008)], [Cabrera, R., 2008) [Slocum, DB et al. (2009)], [Huhta, C. et al. (2010 )], [Vogt, MA et al. (201 2)], [Todd, RE et al. (2017)], [Nekrasov, A. et al. (2017)], [Rowe, FD (2018)], [Wanis, P. et al. (2019)], [Taudien, J. et al. (2019)], [Cohen, N. et al. (2022 - 1)] et [Cohen, N. et al. (2022-2)]. .

[0013] Other architectures exist and use a “single beam” of energy as described for example in [Newhouse, RC (1939)], [Dicke RH (1945)], [Berger, FB (July 1957)], [Fried, WR (1957)], [McMahon, FA (1957)], [Kramar, E. (1971)], [Porcello, LJ et al. (1974)], [Breiholz, AE et al. (1982)], [Vopat, RW (1997)], [Li, FK et al. (2000)], [Deines, KL (2005)], [Mourou, G. et al. (2017)] and [Berger, FB (Sept. 1957)] or also architectures with “two energy beams” as described for example in [Mackta, L. (1942)], [Fried, WR (1957)], [McMahon, FA (1957)], [Kramar, E. (1971)] and [Deines, KL (2005)], but which do not allow the measurement of speed in three-dimensional space.

[0014] There are also architectures with “five energy beams”, “six energy beams”, “seven energy beams” or “nine energy beams”, all with non-optimal geometry, as described for example in [Berger, FB (1956)], [Pollard, BD et al. (2005)], [Way, DW et al. (2007)], [Prakash, R. et al. (2008)], [Dunn, C. et al. (2008)], [Cabrera, R. (2008)], [Pollard, BD et al. (2009)], [Slocum, DB et al. (2009)], [Brunasso, T. (2009)], [Huhta, C. et al. (2010 )], [Lee, AY et al. (2012)], [Chapin, E. et al. (2013)], [Montgomery, JF et al. (2014)], [De Leon, SS et al. (2020)], [Pollard, BD et al. (2020)] and [Srinivasan, K. et al. (2021)].

[0015] However, all these architectures present a similar and arbitrary geometric architecture, and which although offering more or less better coverage of the volume or the measurement surface, all these geometric architectures are not based on any mathematical formalism guaranteeing an optimal measurement on the basis of a well-defined criterion.

[0016] All these architectures of existing Doppler systems use an arbitrary number of energy beams chosen subjectively for various reasons, namely access to three-dimensional velocity where a minimum of three beams are required, or for reducing the number of beams for cost reasons, or also for reasons of reducing coupling between transducers, or on the contrary, for increasing the number of beams for reasons of reliability, redundancy, reduction of measurement variance [Abda, F. (2009)], [Rudolph, D. et al. (2012)], or operational safety.

[0017] Moreover, existing architectures, whether with "discrete" energy transducer elements or with "phase-controlled or time-delay array, or both", provide similar measurements (with some exceptions, such as for example the reduction of the size of the instrument, the reduction of the disturbance of the flow of the fluid to be measured by a flat geometric shape, independence from temperature gradients on the horizontal components of the flow velocity vectors or the relative horizontal velocity of the instrument in the case of navigation applications for example) because all these architectures are based on the generation of beams having similar and subjective geometric architectures to the extent that all these geometric architectures are justified by the reasons mentioned above [Rudolph, D. et al. (2012)], [Cohen, N. et al. (2022 - 1)] and [Cohen, N. et al. (2022-2)].

[0018] Furthermore, existing geometric architectures do not take into account the need to optimally cover the surface(s) or volume(s) of the medium to be physically characterized while minimizing measurement biases related to couplings between energy transducing elements, on the one hand, nor to provide a criterion for choosing a particular geometry on the other hand, except for the subjective considerations previously mentioned: [Chilowsky, C. (1924)], [Rowe, F. et al. (1986)], [Bradley, SE et al. (1990)], [Brumley, BH et al. (1991)], [Bradley, SE et al. (1991)], [Bradley, SE et al. (1992)], [Griffiths, G. et al. (1996)], [Young, J. et al. (1998)], [Deines, KL (1999)], [Slocum, DB et al. (2009)], [Brumley, BH (2009)], [Abda, F. et al. (2011)], [Rudolph, D. et al. (2012)], [Cohen, N. et al. (2022 - 1)], [Cohen, N. et al. (2022 - 2)].

[0019] Furthermore, existing geometric architectures have beams that remain fixed relative to the instrument's reference frame, with the exception of certain configurations mechanically controlled by a modification of the orientation of the antennas relative to the instrument's reference frame and in particular in the cases of naval, astronaval or space applications where the orientation of the instrument can vary significantly, which leads to a total loss of reflections of the waves (which can be acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser waves, depending on the application) of the beams on the targeted surface, which requires a mechanical stabilization system [McMahon, FA (1957)], [Berger, FB (Sept. 1957)], [Benjamin, SK (1963)].

[0020] Other examples concern the possibility of scanning on three simultaneous planes, using electronic scanning on three planes simultaneously by the superposition of two phase-controlled networks [Angelsen, BAJ et al. (2003)], for applications in ultrasound cardiac imaging, this with the aim of increasing the number of slices for the reconstruction of the cardiac volume.

[0021] There are also systems that use a hexagonal tiling of a phased array of transducers for medical imaging applications [Sumanaweera, TS et al. (2000)], [Angelsen, BAJ et al. (2009)], and also SoDAR applications for the generation of three beams of acoustic energy [Lawhite, N. (2007)], or also systems for the reconfiguration of phased arrays for medical diagnostic and non-destructive testing applications by generating a beam in transmission / reception using MUTs (Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer) [Thomenius, KE et al. (2004)], or for the generation of ultrasonic signals at several frequency bands [ ^00^3 (2019)], or also for applications in telecommunications by hexagonal tiling or by the use of sub-networks for multi-beam multiplexing ([Rocca, P. et al. (2020)], [Zhang, J. et al. (2020)] and [Zhang, J. et al.(2022)]), as well as “two-dimensional” systems of omnidirectional optical LiDAR and / or laser transducer arrays by phase or time delay control, or both ([Aflatouni, F. et al. (2015)], [McManamon, PF et al. (1996)], [Dorschner, TA et al. (1996)], [Sun, J. et al. (2013)], [Sun, J. et al. (2014)], [Hosseini, E. et al. (2016)], [Poulton, CV et al. (2017)], [Hashemi, H. et al. (2017) -1], [Hashemi, H. et al. (2017) - 2], [Chung, S. et al. (2018)], [Fatemi, R. et al. (2018)], [Watts, MR et al. (2020)], [Kim, S.-M. et al. . (2021)], [Zhao, S. et al. (2022)], [Liu, Q. et al. (2022)], [Wu, Y. et al. (2022)] and [Jiang, R. et al. (2022)]).

[0022] There are also several examples of methods for reducing the level of the side lobes of energy transducers, either discrete or in arrays, for example in: [Janex, A. (1991)], [ibKH et al. (2019)], [Lemarenko, M. et al. (2015)], [Haupt, RL et al. (1991)], [Gallagher, JJ et al. (1993)], [Tanner, A. (1994)], [Haupt, RL (1995)], [Rasmussen, MF et al. (2015)] and [Bouzari, H. et al. (2016)].

[0023] Based on all these findings, it becomes necessary to design and use an optimal geometric structure, in the sense of a geometrically well-defined criterion, with the aim of maximizing the information returned by the medium by backscattering on the one hand, while guaranteeing a minimum reduction of the interference between the different beams used for the measurement in the wave propagation space, on the other hand. General description of the invention

[0024] The present invention offers the possibility of maximizing the information returned by the energy propagation medium while minimizing the interference between the different energy beams by generating six or seven energy beams by taking advantage of the optimal regular tiling in the plane of identical circles, namely, the honeycomb theorem (see [Fejes, L. (1942)]). The principle consists in generating seven beams of identical geometric shape, with narrow and cylindrical and / or conical opening angles in space, whose projections are separated in the plane by identical or different angles, the objective is to illuminate the energy propagation medium with seven circles in hexagonal structure, which makes it possible to obtain six or seven radial Doppler velocities corresponding to the six or seven energy beams.

[0025] Another aspect of this invention consists in generating six or seven beams in a hexagonal structure by the use of either six or seven discrete transducers or antennas (for example piston transducers for the particular case of acoustic or ultrasonic waves), or by the use of a sub-network structure by controlling the phase, the time delay, or both at the same time, constituted by an optimal architecture of triangular and interlaced trellis transducers or antennas, for the simultaneous generation of six or seven beams of acoustic energy, with predefined angles relative to the vertical, using dedicated transmission and reception circuits, designed to optimize on the one hand the cost of the circuits, and on the other hand the shape of the energy beams in order to minimize interference between the energy beams.

[0026] Another aspect of this invention relates to the generation of beams with minimized side lobes for the reduction of interference between the energy beams by targeted weighting of the different elements of the phased array, or apodization. (tapering in English), on the network formed by the interlacing of three or four subnetworks.

[0027] The invention also relates to a ship, an aircraft or a spacecraft comprising a system for generating six or seven energy beams according to the invention.

[0028] The Doppler system described according to the present invention may further comprise one or more of the following features, taken alone or in combination. In the following, the acoustic, ultrasonic, optical or electromagnetic beams will simply be referred to as energy beams, and the acoustic microphones, ultrasonic transducers, electromagnetic antennas or optical or laser transducers will be referred to in the following as energy transducers: • A) The Doppler system can simultaneously generate and / or receive at least six or seven energy beams, by using at least one transmitter-receiver, the wave being emitted in such a way that the six or seven beams form a hexagonal cone whose sides are formed by six beams, the seventh beam passing through the center of the cone thus formed vertically at the tangent of the mean curvature of the targeted surface or volume; • B) The wave propagation medium (which may be an acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser wave, depending on the application) may consist of any fluid transparent to the waves used, for example acoustic or ultrasonic waves in water, air or any other fluid, or optical transducers which generate lasers or light, or electromagnetic waves in the atmosphere or in a vacuum; • C) The Doppler system, object of the present invention, can also be used to obtain the description of the physical characteristics of the flows of fluids in various propagation media of the waves used, for example the terrestrial or extraterrestrial atmosphere, water in terrestrial or extraterrestrial seas or oceans, in rivers, canals, or in any other type of application where it is possible to use the system, in particular, and without limitation, speeds, accelerations, turbulences, turbidities, concentrations, etc. • D) The Doppler system can also be used in navigation applications for ships, submarines, aircraft, spacecraft or spacecraft by measuring radial Doppler speeds and deducing the speed of the instrument in a three-dimensional or four-dimensional frame of reference by adding the variation over time of the quantities that can be measured by the system that is the subject of the present invention. E) The frequency of the transducers or the phase-controlled or time-delay-controlled array, or both, used for generating the hexagonal-shaped beams of the present invention may be variable, narrowband, broadband or multiband or a combination of these different modes of operation. F) The Doppler system, object of the present invention, can be used to obtain the description of the characteristics of the flow of the fluid inside the set of energy beams, either by using all the energy beams simultaneously, or by decomposing the volume of the fluid illuminated by the set of beams into sub-volumes defined by subsets of beams on the same spectral band, or on different spectral bands, of the wave (which can be an acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser wave, depending on the application) used, this energy being able to be generated continuously or in pulsed mode, at fixed or variable frequency, modulated or not, or a combination of these operating modes. G) The energy beams of the Doppler system, object of the present invention, illuminate and receive the energy by backscattering or reflection, respectively by the fluid or by a surface delimiting the medium of propagation of the wave (which can be an acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser wave, depending on the application), for example the bottom of a river, an ocean, or a terrestrial or extraterrestrial surface. H) The energy beams (acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic or optical) of the Doppler system, object of the present invention, are generated by transducers used simultaneously or not, on the same spectral band or on different spectral bands, or on multiple spectral bands simultaneously or not, of the wave (which can be an acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser wave, depending on the application) used in the wave propagation medium, for a measurement carried out from at least one transmission-reception cycle. I) The spectral band of the energy beams can be variable, by using one or more spectral bands over the nominal and common operating range of the transducers, antennas or sensors used. J) The wave used (which may be an acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser wave, depending on the application), to illuminate the medium of propagation of the wave, by the Doppler system which is the subject of the present invention, perhaps with a narrow spectral band or a wide spectral band, for example by the use of pulse compression techniques by modulation of the phase of the carrier frequency, or by carrier frequency modulation, or a combination of the two modulation modes, for example and without limiting the scope of the present invention: modulation by binary codes with minimum secondary lobes, frequency modulation by the use of linear or non-linear frequency ramps, or a combination of the two modulation methods, a superposition of these modulation modes, or any other modulation mode [Abda, F. et al. (2008)]. K) The Doppler system, object of the present invention, can use a single hexagonal set of energy beams, or several sets, for example the Doppler system is made up of two or three or more sets of hexagonal beams, where each set of hexagonal beams is made up of six or seven energy beams each, having a nominal frequency or frequency range common to the six or seven beams of the hexagonal set, and the two or more other hexagonal sets operate on two different or identical frequencies or frequency ranges with positions and orientations of these latter sets, relative to the reference frame of the first set, different or coincident. L) The Doppler system, object of the present invention, uses one or more sets of energy beams with hexagonal geometry, as described in the present invention, by the use of a discrete set of energy transducers, for example a set of piston-type ultrasonic transducers, a set of electromagnetic antennas, an electromagnetic (or acoustic or optical) adaptable or non-adaptable surface, or any other means which makes it possible to transmit, reflect and / or receive a wave (which can be an acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser wave, depending on the application), where each transducer or discrete element generates or receives energy on a single single beam, or an array of omnidirectional transducers or an adaptable surface constituting a phase-controlled or time-delay-controlled array or a combination of these two control modes which transmit,reflect or receive the energy simultaneously on the six or seven energy beams with hexagonal geometry, for example and preferably, but not limited to, the exemplary embodiments chosen in the present invention description., M) The Doppler system, object of the present invention, uses for the generation and / or reception of energy beams discrete energy transducer elements, an array of omnidirectional energy transducers or an adaptable surface made up of adjustable energy transducer elements, which in all cases of embodiment are made up of or comprise electronic, electroacoustic, electromagnetic, optoelectronic, optical, piezoelectric, piezocomposite components, and without limitation, according to the embodiments of the systems with hexagonal architecture, object of the present invention. N) The Doppler system, object of the present invention, uses for the generation and / or reception of energy beams, discrete energy transducer elements, an array of omnidirectional energy transducers or an adaptable surface made up of adjustable energy transducer elements, which in all cases of embodiment are made up of or comprise active or passive transducers which convert a physical signal which represents Fonde (which can be an acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser wave, depending on the application) in the Fonde propagation medium, into a signal which can be processed by a controller or a computer connected directly or not to all of the energy transducer elements. O) The Doppler system, the subject of the present invention, uses for the generation and / or reception of energy beams with hexagonal geometry, energy transducer elements which comprise or are made up of electroacoustic, electromagnetic and / or optoelectronic transducers. P) The Doppler system, object of the present invention, uses energy transducer elements connected directly or not to a controller or a computer used to control the energy transducer elements, for the generation of six or seven energy beams with hexagonal geometry. Q) The Doppler system, object of the present invention, uses energy transducer elements connected directly or indirectly to a controller or a computer used to process the energy signals provided by the energy transducer elements, by the reception of the energy reflected or backscattered in the propagation medium, by six or seven energy beams with hexagonal geometry. R) The Doppler system, object of the present invention, uses energy transducer elements connected directly or indirectly to a controller or a computer capable of reconfiguring the transducer elements to compensate for possible deformation of the structure of the transducer elements. S) The Doppler system, object of the present invention, uses energy transducer elements connected directly or indirectly to a controller or a computer capable of controlling the transducer elements in order to adapt the direction of the energy beams generated simultaneously according to the relative orientation of the instrument with respect to the medium or the separation surface of the main propagation medium of the waves and another propagation medium having different physical characteristics, for example, and without limiting the scope of the present invention, the separation surface of a fluid and a solid, the separation surface of two fluids with different physical characteristics, etc. T) The Doppler system, object of the present invention, uses energy transducer elements connected directly or indirectly to a controller or a computer capable of controlling the transducer elements in order to optimize the shape of the radiation pattern of the beams to reduce the level of the secondary lobes for example, and without limitation, by optimized weighting of the different elements constituting an array by phase control or by time delay or both, or by the use of a set of energy transducers optimized for the minimization of the contribution of the secondary lobes of the radiation pattern of each transducer composing the discrete set of six or seven transducers, as described by the present invention. U) The Doppler system, object of the present invention, uses energy transducer elements connected directly or indirectly to a controller or a computer capable of controlling the transducer elements so that the wave emitted by the system, for a given frequency range, propagates in six or seven distinct directions which form a hexagonal structure. V) The Doppler system, object of the present invention, is capable, in certain specific embodiments linked to the intended application depending on the propagation medium of the waves (which can be acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser waves, depending on the application), of emitting and / or receiving acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic or optical waves, separately, or simultaneously, which propagate simultaneously or not along six or seven distinct directions which form a hexagonal structure, at different frequencies, continuously or in pulsed mode, with identical or non-identical repetition frequencies, depending on the intended application and the characteristics of the propagation medium(s) and waves used. • W) The Doppler system, object of the present invention, is capable, in certain specific embodiments, of emitting and / or receiving acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic or optical waves, which propagate simultaneously or not in six or seven distinct directions which form a hexagonal structure, using one or more surfaces made up of elements reflecting the waves used, whether acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic or optical according to the desired applications.

[0029] The invention also relates to a ship, a vehicle, an aircraft, a spacecraft or a spacecraft comprising a Doppler system according to the invention.

[0030] The invention also relates to a Doppler system using a controller capable of controlling one or more sets of energy beams, where each set of beams consists of six or seven beams directed towards distinct directions which form a hexagonal structure, and where each hexagonal structure is oriented in a given direction of the three-dimensional space at the periphery of the instrument, ship, vehicle, aircraft, spacecraft or spacecraft comprising a Doppler system according to the invention.

[0031] The invention also relates to a Doppler system using a controller or a computer capable of directly or indirectly controlling one or more sets of energy beams, where each set of beams is made up of six or seven beams directed towards distinct or identical directions which form a hexagonal structure, and where each hexagonal structure uses a dedicated or non-dedicated frequency range, following a given direction of the three-dimensional space at the periphery of the instrument, ship, vehicle, aircraft, spacecraft or spacecraft comprising a Doppler system according to the invention. Brief description of the drawings

[0032] For a better understanding, the invention will be described in more detail in the following section, and this description has the sole objective of providing examples helping to better understand the operating principle of the invention, the fields of use of the invention, as well as examples of possible applications, objects of the present description, with the aid of the figures attached to the present detailed description:

[0033] [Fig.l] is an illustration of existing examples in the literature or state of the art;

[0034] [Fig.2] is an illustration of examples of applications of the present invention, but without limitation, and only to give some examples of embodiments of the present invention;

[0035] [Fig.3] is a representation of a simplified embodiment, in configuration four-dimensional 3x3x3xl, for ease of understanding, by using a set of interlaced triangular lattice sub-networks by phase control;

[0036] [Fig.4] is a spatial representation of the energy beams generated by a set of sub-arrays in the case where seven hexagonal geometry beams are used;

[0037] [Fig.5] is a simplified geometric representation of an embodiment, in a 5x5x5 three-dimensional configuration, for ease of understanding, by using a set of interlaced triangular lattice sub-networks by phase control;

[0038] [Fig.6] illustrates a radiation diagram of energy beams with angles of identical inclinations with respect to the relative vertical of the instrument and projected onto a flat surface without reduction of the secondary lobes;

[0039] [Fig.7] illustrates a radiation diagram of energy beams with angles of identical inclinations with respect to the relative vertical of the instrument and projected onto a flat surface with reduction of the secondary lobes;

[0040] [Fig.8] is a comparative representation of the radiation pattern in hexagonal geometry architecture, with vertical central beam, relative to a “Janus” geometric architecture on the azimuth plane;

[0041] [Fig.9] is a comparative representation of the radiation pattern in hexagonal geometry architecture, with vertical central beam, relative to a “Janus” geometric architecture on the elevation plan;

[0042] [Fig. 10] is a representation of an example of use of the present invention on an aircraft, a spacecraft or a spacecraft in relative navigation around a planet, a star, a moon or a comet, etc.;

[0043] [Fig. 11] is a representation of an example of use of the present invention on a vessel in relative navigation with respect to a seabed, ocean, or terrestrial or extraterrestrial river, etc.;

[0044] [Fig. 12] is a representation of an example of use of the present invention on a ship in relative navigation with respect to the bottom of a river or a canal, terrestrial or extra-terrestrial, for the purposes of measuring flow rate, concentration of suspended matter in the flow, or measuring turbulence, etc. Detailed description

[0045] The aim of the present invention is to provide an optimal solution in terms of optimizing the measurement surface and volume, according to the applications targeted by the present invention, the objective of which is to remedy the aforementioned drawbacks, by providing an optimal geometric architecture by maximizing the information, per unit of surface or per unit of volume, returned by the medium from the entire surface or volume encompassed by all of the energy beams generated simultaneously.This architecture is capable of emitting and / or receiving a wave (which may be an acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser wave, depending on the application) in several directions simultaneously, from a set of discrete energy transducers, or a set of interlaced triangular lattice sub-arrays of omnidirectional transducers by phase or time delay control, or both, and having as common characteristic the same operating frequency band. This set of directions thus generated has as geometric characteristic a hexagonal shape, which guarantees an optimal stacking or arrangement of circles or disks, this based on the demonstration of the honeycomb theorem, also known as the honeycomb conjecture, which proves that any partition or tiling of the plane into regions of equal area, has a perimeter at least equal to that of the regular hexagonal honeycomb tiling [Fejes, L.(1942)], [Haies, T. (2001)], [Chang, H.-C. et al. (2010)]. .

[0046] The solution provided by the present invention also makes it possible, thanks to the regulated and optimal hexagonal tiling, to carry out a hexagonal "pixelation" of the surface or measurement volume, which has the advantages, among others and without being limited to; firstly, in the cases of applications linked to the characterization of the fluid(s), to be able to access the information on the distribution of the fluid velocity fields with an optimal resolution [Hendricks, PJ (2008)]; secondly, in the cases of applications linked to navigation or the identification of a surface (landing [Badewitz, CJ (1969)], geological study [Porcello, LJ et al. (1974)], etc.), to be able to obtain a better topological characterization of the targeted surface thanks to an optimal resolution; thirdly, a better estimation of the navigation speed by a better correction or compensation of the biases linked to the topology of the terrain [Vopat, RW (1997)].

[0047] Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a solution to the need to minimize the energy couplings between the different beams generated, with the objective of minimizing the measurement noise linked to a superposition of the energy radiations for each beam from the other beams or crosstalk.

[0048] Another aspect of the present invention is to simultaneously generate the six or seven beams by a set of interlaced triangular lattice sub-arrays, omnidirectional transducers by phase or time delay control, or both. Such systems are found for "one-dimensional" cases for the simultaneous generation of two energy beams [Simmons, RL (1985)], or also in one dimension for the generation of two pairs of two energy beams [Crandall, FA et al. (1994)], or also in "two-dimensional" cases for the simultaneous generation of four energy beams [Ratkevich, AE et al. (1968)], [Perennes M. (1994)], [Yu, X. et al. (1996)], [Young, J. et al. (1998)], [Rowe, FD (2002)], [Brumley, BH (2006)], [Holbek, S. (2022)], [Brumley, HB (2016)], [Rowe, FD (2018)], [Wanis, P. et al. (2019)], [Taudien, J. et al. (2019)], or also five energy beams[Vogt, MA (2007)], [Vogt, MA et al. (2012)], where all these inventions use the two-dimensional superposition principle for the simultaneous generation of several energy beams for various applications [Coperet, P.(2001)], [Coperet, P. (2002)]. .

[0049] Another aspect of the present invention relates to the possibility of being able to optimize the shape of the six or seven simultaneously generated energy beams, either by the use of low-level sidelobe transducers in the case of embodiments by a set of discrete energy transducers, or by the addition of a symmetrical or non-symmetrical weighting with respect to the center of gravity of the arrays by phase control, or by time delay control, or both. This weighting is applied, according to the present invention, to the three or four one-dimensional arrays, interlaced in triangular lattices, which constitute the optimal architectures of the present invention, this with the aim of simultaneously generating six or seven hexagonal-shaped energy beams with minimized sidelobe levels in three-dimensional space.

[0050] Another aspect of the present invention relates to the advantage of being able to reduce the number of transmission / reception channels in the case of implementation using phase-controlled networks on the "three dimensions" or "four dimensions" in the case of the presence of a central beam, constituted by the architecture in trellis sub-networks such as represented in [Fig. 3], and solely as an example of implementation for the particular case of a vertical inclination angle of the peripheral beams of a value of 30°, corresponding to a phase shift between two transmission / reception channels of 90°. A detailed description of the principle for "one dimension" with an inclination angle of 30° is provided in the reference [Simmons, RL (1985)], as well as for the "two dimension" case and a beam angle of 30° in the reference [Yu, X. etal.(1996)], and also for the “two-dimensional” case and a beam angle of 30° with the presence of a central beam in reference [Vogt, MA (2007)], and finally another example is also described in reference [Wanis, P. et al. (2019)] for the “two-dimensional” case and a beam angle of 19.47°.

[0051] The present invention allows embodiments depending on the desired tilt angle among the particular values ​​listed in [Table 1]. [Tables 1] Peripheral beam angle [°] Phase shift between lines [°] Number of channels per axis Tx / Rx 7.6623 24 15 9.5941 30 12 11.5369 36 10 14.4775 45 8 19.4712 60 6 23.5782 72 5 30.0000 90 4 41.8103 120 3

[0052] The present invention also makes it possible to generate the six or seven beams by using time delay control, with the aim of being able to overcome the limitations intrinsic to the phase control method, and thus allow the generation of beams with a broad spectral band while avoiding the phenomenon of spatial broadening, an example of a detailed description can be found for the “one-dimensional” case in [Simmons, RL (1985)] and [Crandall, FA et al. (1994)], and for the “two-dimensional” case in [P e rennes M. (1994)] and [Yu, X. et al. (1996)].

[0053] We now refer to [Fig. 3], where we represent, solely for the purpose of illustrating the operating principle, a geometric architecture of a simplified version of a "four-dimensional" network in a 3x3x3xl configuration with phase control or time delay or a combination of the two. In this minimalist version, we represent the four axes X, Y, Z and W corresponding respectively to the first, second and third pair of beams as well as the single vertical beam on the W axis, independent and which constitute respectively the peripheral beams of the hexagonal assembly, as well as the axis of the vertical beam merged with the axis of revolution of the W network. In this same [Fig. 3], each peripheral control axis of the network, namely X, Y and Z, is made up of the sum of the signals corresponding to the two opposite beams inclined at 41.8103° relative to the vertical.Furthermore, for this particular case of identical inclination of the three pairs of beams of each axis X, Y and Z, the command consists of three phase-shifted signals of respectively 0°, 120° and 240°.

[0054] Other configurations are also possible with tilt values ​​such as provided by [Table 1], where for each value of the tilt angle of the pair of phase-controlled beams, there corresponds a particular phase shift between the control channels, the number of which is also provided for each value of the desired tilt angle.

[0055] Another advantage of the present invention is the possibility of being able to provide different angles for each pair of beams on each control axis. For example, for applications where the instrument is used tilted in a given direction, it is preferable and possible to provide a set of discrete transducers or a set of interleaved sub-arrays in a triangular lattice by phase or delay control or a combination of both, having suitable angles for each X, Y or Z axis, for example, a particular configuration among others is to use X with a pair of beams tilted at 30°, Y with a pair of beams tilted at 11.5369°, Z with a pair of beams tilted at 41.8103°, and W with a vertical beam at 0° for example, which results in a "four-dimensional" configuration in 4x10x3x1, or any other possible combination according to [Table 1].

[0056] Another advantage of the present invention consists in the possibility, by means of a dedicated switching circuit in the case of phase control of the array, of being able to vary the angle of inclination of the peripheral beams on each axis, independently of the others, according to the needs of the mission, for example in the case of a ship, a spacecraft or an aircraft, where it is necessary to adapt the orientation of the beams according to the pitch, roll or drift, relative to the ground for example. Thus the values ​​of the angles of inclination of the pairs of beams on each axis X, Y or Z, controlled in phase, can be changed by one of the possible values ​​provided by [Table 1] according to the values ​​of pitch, roll or drift in real time.

[0057] According to another embodiment, it is desirable to be able to have several sets of beams with hexagonal geometry, where each set operates on a distinct frequency band, for example to be able to access the information backscattered by the propagation medium or the reflecting surface on different spectral bands, thus making it possible to obtain complementary and independent information, for example, and without limitation, mention is made of the measurement of the concentration of matter in suspension in the propagation fluid, itself dependent on the size of the reflecting particles, or for the measurement of turbulence in a fluid, or to obtain better spatial resolution on the field of fluid velocities, etc. Examples of embodiment, and without limitation, are presented in [Fig.2], where in the sub-figure (¢) a front view of a set of transducers is shown discrete energy transducers with a six-beam hexagonal architecture. In (E) the same architecture as in (¢) but with seven beams after the addition of a central energy beam perpendicular to the projection plane. In sub-figures (V) and (S2) other embodiments of the present invention are also shown with two discrete sets of energy transducers, arranged in a hexagonal geometric architecture, operating at two distinct frequencies.In (F), another embodiment is shown using a set of interlaced triangular lattice sub-arrays by phase control, time delay control or a combination of both control modes, in hexagonal architecture arranged in three or four triangular lattice sub-arrays, where each of the three peripheral sub-arrays generates a pair of energy beams inclined relative to the vertical, with the possibility of a seventh vertical beam either generated in superposition to the six peripheral beams in the case of three sub-arrays, or generated using a fourth dedicated and independent sub-array.

[0058] Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in sub-figures (S) and (A), where two separate networks, operating on two different and complementary spectral bands, are arranged on the same instrument, with in the case of figure (A), the two networks being side by side, and in the case of (S), the two networks being arranged in a concentric configuration.

[0059] Other embodiments are also possible, and without departing from the basic idea of ​​the present invention, such as for example a combined embodiment with a dedicated multiplexing circuit making it possible to use the “three-dimensional” or “four-dimensional” network of energy transducers by phase control, time delay, or a combination of the two, in two or more frequency bands, an example for a “two-dimensional” network is described in detail in [Taudien, J. étal. (2019)].

[0060] According to another embodiment, it is advantageous to be able to direct and stabilize, in real time, the set of energy beams in hexagonal geometric architecture towards an arbitrary direction, depending on the relative orientation of the instrument which can be embarked, for example, on board a submersible or floating ship, an aircraft, a spacecraft or a spacecraft, in order to optimize the energy reflected from a targeted surface, or a volume of fluid object of the measurement. In such applications, each individual sub-array, composing the whole of the triangular lattice array, can be controlled independently, element by element, in order to generate a set of beams having an optimal hexagonal geometric shape, with a minimized level of the secondary lobes, and directed towards an arbitrary direction and perpendicular to a targeted surface, or perpendicularly in the direction of flow of a fluid for example. An example illustration of such an application is shown in [Fig. 10] and [Fig. 11].

[0061] According to another embodiment, it is advantageous to be able to use a subset of the beams generated by the hexagonal geometry architecture, for example it is possible, for reasons of optimization of energy consumption, to use only a reduced and sufficient number of beams. For example, and without limitation, for the needs of navigation on board an underwater cliff, or only the beams directed towards the edge of said cliff are necessary for dead reckoning navigation, as illustrated in [Fig. 11]. Another example consists of using only three beams out of six using a set of triangular lattice sub-arrays, where each axis of the sub-array generates a single beam on the two opposite ones, with the possibility of adding a central beam for example. In this way, it is still possible to ensure continuous measurements but with minimized energy consumption.

[0062] According to another embodiment, it is advantageous to be able to carry out an emission from a single energy transducer, for example and without limitation, the central beam, and to receive the reflections of waves (which can be acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser waves, depending on the application) on the peripheral beams, or on all of the beams in reception, an example which does not use the hexagonal geometric architecture described in the present invention is described in reference [Adlakha, R. et al. (2020)].

[0063] We now refer to [Fig. 6] where, by way of illustration, an example of a radiation diagram of seven narrow beams is shown, with an angle of inclination of the peripheral beams of a value of approximately 7.6623°, with the presence of a central beam, for the particular case of an ultrasonic application with a wavelength of 2.5 mm, a radius of 9 cm and without reduction of the secondary lobes in this case.

[0064] We now refer to [Fig.7] where, by way of illustration, another example of a radiation diagram of seven narrow beams is shown, with an angle of inclination of the peripheral beams of a value of approximately 7.6623°, with the presence of a central beam, for the particular case of an ultrasonic application with a wavelength of 2.5 mm, a radius of 9 cm and with the use of a reduction of the secondary lobes of a value of -25 dB.

[0065] We now refer to [Fig.8] where, by way of illustration, a comparative example is shown on the azimuth plane, of a radiation diagram of seven narrow beams, with an angle of inclination of the peripheral beams of a value of approximately 30°, with the presence of a central beam, for the particular case of an ultrasonic application with a wavelength of 2.5 mm, a radius of 9 cm and with the use of a side lobe reduction of a value of -25 dB, in comparison with the case of five beams in “Janus” configuration without side lobe reduction.

[0066] We now refer to [Fig.9] where, by way of illustration, a comparative example is shown on the elevation plane, of a radiation pattern of seven narrow beams, with an angle of inclination of the peripheral beams of a value of approximately 30°, with the presence of a central beam, for the particular case of an ultrasonic application with a wavelength of 2.5 mm, a radius of 9 cm and with the use of a reduction of the secondary lobes of a value of -25 dB, in comparison with the case of five beams in “Janus” configuration without reduction of the secondary lobes.

[0067] We now refer to [Fig. 10] where, by way of illustration, an example of use of the present invention is shown on an aircraft, a spacecraft or a spacecraft 600 in relative navigation around a planet, a star, or a moon 700, by the use of a set of seven beams 800 in accordance with the present invention, for navigation purposes and for estimating the position and relative orientation with respect to the object 700. The hexagonal architecture also makes it possible to carry out other physical measurements such as the identification of a potential landing site, the estimation of the geological composition of the surface, as well as atmospheric measurement and characterization in the event of the presence of an atmosphere, for example.

[0068] We now refer to [Fig. 12] where, by way of illustration, an example of use of the present invention is shown on a floating device 1130, for example a ship or a drone, which moves perpendicular to a current 1120, contained in a river or a canal 1110, and which uses a set of ultrasonic beams in hexagonal geometric architecture 1140 for the joint measurement of the displacement of the instrument, as well as the measurement of the spatial velocity field in the flow, by decomposition into three-dimensional velocity cells, for the purposes of characterizing the flow and measuring the flow rate by integration over the entire section of the flow.

[0069] Although the above detailed description has served to illustrate, describe, and clarify the fundamental and novel features of the present invention, as applied to a variety of embodiments and applications, it should be understood that omissions, substitutions, and changes in the form and details of the devices, systems, and methods of embodiment as provided by the descriptions and illustrations of the present invention may be made by those skilled in the art of the art, without departing from the basic idea of ​​the present invention. List of reference signs

[0070] 10: transmission / reception channels on the vertical axis W 20: block dedicated to transmission / reception on the vertical axis W 30: block dedicated to transmission / reception on the peripheral X axis 40: Transmit / receive channels on the peripheral X axis 50: block dedicated to transmission / reception on the peripheral Y axis 60: Transmit / receive channels on the peripheral Y axis 80: block dedicated to transmission / reception on the peripheral Z axis 90: Transmit / receive channels on the peripheral Z axis 100: dedicated energy transducer elements for generating a single beam oriented in the direction of the vertical axis W 200: Dedicated energy transducer elements for generating a pair of superimposed beams in the direction of the peripheral Z axis 300: Dedicated energy transducer elements for generating a pair of superimposed beams in the direction of the peripheral Y axis 400: Dedicated energy transducer elements for generating a pair of superimposed beams in the direction of the peripheral X axis 500: A set of interlaced triangular lattices, as described in the text of the description, used for the generation of a set of seven hexagonal beams 600: aircraft, spacecraft or spacecraft in relative navigation with respect to a celestial object 700: celestial object such as an asteroid, a star, a moon, a planet, a comet, etc. 800: hexagonal shaped laser or radio energy beam assembly, as described in the present invention 900: underwater ship or boat 1000: subset of beams used for dead reckoning navigation relative to an underwater cliff 1100: seabed or ocean floor 1110: surface of the fluid flow, typically river water being measured 1120: direction of flow of the river or canal 1130: floating vessel or ship in navigation 1140: hexagonally shaped set of acoustic or ultrasonic energy beams, as described in the present invention 1150: river or canal bottom. Bibliographic references [SONAR]

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Claims

1. Claims A system intended on the one hand, for navigation by Doppler effect using light, laser or electromagnetic waves in the case of aircraft, or by the use of acoustic or ultrasonic waves in the case of floating or submersible vessels, and on the other hand, for the case of ships or aircraft, the system is also intended for current measurement and flow measurement as well as for the determination of directional and non-directional waves of the fluids occupying the navigation environment, and more generally, for the measurement of different physical quantities, namely, speed, altitude, concentration, movement of waves, winds, atmosphere, turbulence, target detection, obstacle detection, debris detection, positioning for navigation, landing and landing site identification,take-off as well as the determination of orientation in three-dimensional space in various terrestrial or extraterrestrial environments, survey and geological characterization of the layers of the Earth's or extraterrestrial crust, by emission / reception of waves which may be acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, optical and / or laser depending on the application, comprising a set of energy transducers (E, ¢, £2, T, S or A) which may, be respectively, acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser, depending on the application, and characterized in that they are used to generate and / or receive a set of energy beams (800,1000,1150) in hexagonal geometric architecture (500, 550), comprising: • A) a set of at least six or seven energy beams which constitute a hexagonal cone operating on a frequency band common to the six or seven energy transducers; • B) at least one transceiver for transmitting and / or receiving at least one wave, respectively, acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser, depending on the application, using said energy transducers, characterized in that the energy transducers can generate waves, which can be acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser waves, depending on the application, in continuous mode or in pulsed mode, by using or not coding, modulation or pulse compression methods; • C) at least one controller or computer capable of controlling all of the energy beams (800, 1000, 1150) in order to generate the six or seven energy beams in the hexagonal directions, and to receive the reflections and / or backscattering of the waves, which may be acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser waves, depending on the application, coming from the predefined hexagonal directions, and processing them to extract the physical information relevant to each application.

2. Measuring system according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the set of energy transducers consists of a set of at least six or seven discrete energy transducers (E, ¢, V or S2), where each set operates in the same frequency band, used for the generation of a set of at least six or seven beams in hexagonal geometric architecture, optimized or not for the reduction of the secondary lobes of the radiation pattern of each transducer.

3. A measuring system according to claim

1. , characterized in that the set of energy transducers consists of at least one set of three or four interlaced sub-networks in triangular lattices (F, S, A, 550 and 500), by phase control, or time delay, or a combination of the two control modes, operating in the same frequency band, used for the generation of a set of at least six or seven beams in hexagonal geometric architecture.

4. A measuring system according to claim

1. or claim

3. , characterized in that the set of interlaced triangular lattice sub-arrays are phase-controlled by an optimized number of emitters / receivers for the generation of six peripheral energy beams inclined relative to the vertical with possible tilt angle values, having approximate values ​​of {7.66°; 9.59°; 11.54°; 14.48°; 19.47°; 23.58°; 30.00°; 41.81°}, corresponding respectively to sets of channels (40, 60, 90 and 10) for each sub-array (or each dimension), having a number of {15; 12; 10; 8; 6; 5; 4; 3} channels, where these channels are controlled by phase-shifted signals with respective phase-shift values ​​of {24°; 30°; 36°; 45°; 60°; 72°; 90°; 102°}.

5. Measuring system according to claims

1. ,

3. or

4. , characterized in that the set of interlaced triangular trellis sub-networks are controlled by time delay, instead of phase control.

6. A measuring system according to the preceding claims, characterized in that the set of discrete transducers or the set of interlaced triangular lattice sub-arrays are arranged substantially to obtain a circular or non-circular, elliptical, polygonal, linear or any other geometric shape.

7. Measuring system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by one or both of the following features: • A) the angles of the peripheral beams have values ​​of angles of inclination, relative to the vertical axis, which are variable and of different values ​​y, [3 and a for each pair of opposite beams contained respectively on one of the three peripheral axes X, Y and Z (500); • B) all six or seven beams are not coplanar, or each pair, or a subset of pairs of opposite beams contained respectively on one of the three peripheral axes X, Y and Z are not coplanar.

8. A system intended for the measurement of physical quantities by emission / reception of waves, which may be acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser waves, depending on the application, comprising a set of energy transducers, used in one or more networks, interlaced in triangular lattices or not, controlled by phases or by time delays or these two control modes, which may be respectively acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser, depending on the application, and characterized in that they are used to generate and / or receive a set of at least three energy beams, or

9. according to one of the claims

1. ,

3. ,

4. ,

5. ,

6. or

7. , characterized by one or a combination of the following features: • A) the elements constituting the entire array or sub-arrays of transducers are controlled individually or in subsets of elements, to enable each individual beam to be oriented in an arbitrary direction; • B) the elements constituting the entire network or sub-networks of transducers are controlled individually or in subsets of elements through weighting or apodization of the amplitude and / or phase of the signal at transmission / reception; • C) the elements constituting the entire network or sub-networks of transducers are weighted or apodized, individually or in subsets of elements, in amplitude and / or in phase, by the use of one or a combination of mechanical, acoustic, electrical, electronic or optical elements, depending on the transducer elements used. A system of measuring systems consisting of a set of at least two or more subsystems according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by one or a combination of the following features: • A) each subsystem operates on a different or identical frequency band and / or oriented towards a different or identical direction in the three-dimensional space, object of the measurements (*?, S2, S and A); • B) all or only part of the subsystems are made up of discrete transducers, and another part is made up of at least one set of three or four sub-networks interlaced in triangular lattices (F, S, A, 500 and 550), by phase control, or time delay, or a combination of the two control modes. 37

10. Measurement system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that only a subset of the set of beams in hexagonal geometric architecture is used in transmission and / or reception (1000).

Images