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 array, 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 MEASURING BY DOPPLER EFFECT 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 fluids occupying the navigation environment.

[0002] Furthermore, this invention consists of a new geometric configuration that optimizes measurement by improving the accuracy and robustness of 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 a discrete set of identical electromagnetic, light, or laser antennas (in the particular case of naval, starship, or space-based applications), or by using an interlaced hexagonal lattice of sub-arrays controlled by phase, time delay, or a combination of the two control modes, these sub-arrays being able to be acoustic (or ultrasonic) for naval (SoNAR) or atmospheric (SoDAR) applications and also electromagnetic (RaDAR) for naval, atmospheric, and other applications.space and naval astronomy applications, as well as optical and laser (LiDAR) applications. Prior art and its drawbacks

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

[0004] The objective of using these narrow beam configurations with a minimum of three beams is to measure distance and / or velocity in two or three dimensions from signals initially emitted by transducers or antennas, and reflected or backscattered from the ground surface, the seabed, as well as particles suspended in the fluid (or the Fonde propagation medium) and received on the various beams of the SoNAR, SoDAR, LiDAR, or RaDAR Doppler receiver. Velocity measurement is performed in three dimensions from the velocity components projected along the lines defined by the set of three, 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 the space or fluid of wave propagation, the latter being an acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser wave, depending on the application.

[0006] Other known Doppler systems use configurations with two sets of transducers, each with a different frequency, in a "star" or "Janus" configuration, in order to obtain two measurements over two different frequency ranges. One high-frequency set is used for shallow, high-resolution measurements, and a second low-frequency set is used for deep, low-resolution velocity measurements. Examples include three-beam and four-beam RaDAR navigation 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-spectrum-band phase-controlled arrays, or wide-spectrum-band time-delay-controlled arrays for the simultaneous generation of four electromagnetic or acoustic beams, possibly with a fifth central beam, for example patents [Wanis, P. et al. (2019)] and [Yu, X. et al. (1996)].

[0008] Among the drawbacks 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 beam energy, more particularly, the geometry of the beams in the far field of energy propagation being of approximate conical shape and circular cross section, illumination by five, four or three beams does not allow optimal coverage of the horizontal surface of the fluid or the reflecting surface.

[0009] We now refer to [Fig.1], which represents different instrument architectures (shown only as an illustration, since this measurement principle by Doppler effect 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 the determination of orientation in three-dimensional space in various terrestrial or extraterrestrial environments, geological surveying and characterization of layers of the terrestrial or extraterrestrial crust, etc.

[0010] For example, architectures (a) and (d) in [Fig.1] relate to "one star" type architectures with three ultrasonic, electromagnetic or laser energy beams, operating in the same frequency band, inclined generally 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, the horizontal plane equally, 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 coinciding with the axis of revolution of the instrument.

[0011] Variants of this star configuration may also include "two stars" operating at different frequencies, the objective of which is to obtain two "one star" measurements where each independent "one star" system can provide a frequency-independent measurement, or "three stars" to overcome defects and failures by redundancy of the "one star" architecture as described in [Vasil'eva, AV et al. (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 et al. (2021)].

[0012] Another variant of existing architectures in the literature, represented in [Fig. 1] by subfigures (b), (c), and (e), represents the "Janus" type architecture with discrete energy transducers, or also the "Janus" type with one or more transducers in one- or two-dimensional arrays controlled by phase or time delay, represented in [Fig. 1] by subfigures (f), (g), and (h). These "Janus" variant architectures 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 subfigures (c) and (e) of [Fig. 1]. 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 velocity in three-dimensional space.

[0014] Architectures with "five energy beams", "six energy beams", "seven energy beams" or "nine energy beams" are also found, 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 although they offer more or less better coverage of the volume or 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 existing Doppler system architectures 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 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 a few exceptions, such as the reduction in the size of the instrument, the reduction of the disturbance of the fluid flow 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 insofar as 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] Moreover, existing geometric architectures do not take into account either 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 transducer elements, on the one hand, or 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] Moreover, existing geometric architectures exhibit beams which remain fixed relative to the instrument's frame of reference, with the exception of certain configurations mechanically controlled by a modification of the orientation of the antennas relative to the instrument's frame of reference, and in particular in the cases of naval, naval astronaval or naval space applications where the orientation of the instrument can vary significantly, leading 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 relate to the possibility of scanning on three simultaneous planes, using an electronic scan on three planes simultaneously by the superposition of two phase-controlled gratings [Angelsen, BAJ et al. (2003)], for applications in cardiac ultrasound 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 phase-controlled transducer array for medical imaging applications [Sumanaweera, TS et al. (2000)], [Angelsen, BAJ et al. (2009)], and also SoDAR applications for the generation of three acoustic energy beams [Lawhite, N. (2007)], or also systems for reconfiguring arrays by phase control for medical diagnostic and non-destructive testing applications by generating a beam in transmit / receive using MUTs (from the English 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 telecommunications applications by hexagonal tiling or by the use of subnetworks for multibeam 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 LiDAR and / or laser optical transducer arrays controlled by phase or time delay, 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 secondary lobes of energy transducers, whether 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 well-defined geometric criterion, in order to maximize the information returned by the medium by backscattering on the one hand, while ensuring a reduction to a minimum of the interference between the different beams used for 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 interference between the different energy beams by generating six or seven energy beams through the exploitation of the optimal regular tiling in the plane of identical circles, namely, the honeycomb theorem (see [Fejes, L. (1942)]). The principle consists of generating seven beams of identical geometric shape, with narrow opening angles and cylindrical and / or conical 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 a 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 of 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-array structure by controlling the phase, the time delay, or both, made up of an optimal architecture of triangular and interlaced lattice transducers or antennas, for the simultaneous generation of six or seven acoustic energy beams, with predefined angles with respect 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 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, aircraft or 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 what follows, acoustic, ultrasonic, optical, or electromagnetic beams will simply be referred to as energy beams, and acoustic microphones, ultrasonic transducers, electromagnetic antennas, or optical or laser transducers will be referred to hereafter 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 to the average curvature of the targeted surface or volume; • B) The wave propagation medium (which can be an acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser wave, depending on the application) can 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 that generate lasers or light, or electromagnetic waves in the atmosphere or in a vacuum; • C) The Doppler system, the subject of the present invention, can also be used to obtain the description of the physical characteristics of fluid flows in various wave propagation media 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, velocities, accelerations, turbulence, turbidity, concentrations, etc. • D) The Doppler system can also be used in navigation applications for ships, submarines, aircraft, spacecraft or spacecraft by measuring radial Doppler velocities and deducing the speed of the instrument in a three-dimensional or four-dimensional reference frame by adding the variation over time of the quantities that can be measured by the system which is the subject of the present invention. E) The frequency of the transducers or the array by phase control or time delay, or both, used for the generation of the hexagonal-shaped beams, the subject of the present invention, can be variable, narrowband, broadband or multiband, or a combination of these different modes of operation. F) The Doppler system, the subject of the present invention, can be used to obtain the description of the characteristics of the fluid flow within 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 modes of operation. G) The energy beams of the Doppler system, the subject of the present invention, illuminate and receive energy by backscattering or reflection, respectively by the fluid or by a surface delimiting the wave propagation medium (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, the subject 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 on 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 wave propagation medium by the Doppler system of the present invention may be narrowband or broadband, by for example by using pulse compression techniques by modulating the phase of the carrier frequency, or by modulating the carrier frequency, or a combination of the two modulation methods, for example and without limiting the scope of the present invention: modulation by minimum sidelobe binary codes, frequency modulation by using linear or nonlinear frequency ramps, or a combination of the two modulation methods, a superposition of these modulation methods, or any other modulation method [Abda, F. et al. (2008)]. K) The Doppler system, the subject of the present invention, may use a single hexagonal set of energy beams, or several sets, for example the Doppler system consists of two or three or more sets of hexagonal beams, where each set of hexagonal beams consists 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 other one or 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, the subject of the present invention, uses one or more sets of hexagonal energy beams, as described in the present invention, by using a discrete set of energy transducers, for example, a set of piston-type ultrasonic transducers, a set of electromagnetic antennas, an adaptable or non-adaptable electromagnetic (or acoustic or optical) surface, or any other means that allows the transmission, reflection and / or reception of a wave (which may 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 unique 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 that transmit,reflect or receive energy simultaneously on the six or seven hexagonal energy beams, for example and preferably, but not limited to, by the embodiments chosen in this description of the invention. M) The Doppler system, the subject of the present invention, uses for the generation and / or reception of energy beams discrete energy transducer elements, an omnidirectional energy transducer network or an adaptable surface made up of adjustable energy transducer elements, which in all embodiments are made up of or include electronic, electroacoustic, electromagnetic, optoelectronic, optical, piezoelectric, piezocomposite components, and without limitation, according to the embodiments of the hexagonal architecture systems, the subject of the present invention. N) The Doppler system, the subject of the present invention, uses for the generation and / or reception of energy beams, discrete energy transducer elements, an omnidirectional energy transducer network or an adaptable surface made up of adjustable energy transducer elements, which in all embodiments are made up of or include 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 the energy transducer elements. O) The Doppler system, the subject of the present invention, uses for the generation and / or reception of hexagonal geometry energy beams, energy transducer elements which comprise or are made up of electroacoustic, electromagnetic and / or optoelectronic transducers. P) The Doppler system, the subject of the present invention, uses energy transducer elements connected directly or not to a controller or computer used to control the energy transducer elements, for the generation of six or seven hexagonal geometry energy beams. Q) The Doppler system, the subject of the present invention, uses energy transducer elements connected directly or indirectly to a controller or computer used to process the energy signals supplied by the energy transducer elements, by receiving the energy reflected or backscattered in the propagation medium, by six or seven hexagonal geometry energy beams. R) The Doppler system, which is the subject of the present invention, uses energy transducer elements connected directly or indirectly to a controller or computer capable of reconfiguring the transducer elements. to compensate for any possible deformation of the structure of the transducer elements. S) The Doppler system, the subject of the present invention, uses energy transducer elements connected directly or indirectly to a controller or 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 surface separating the main wave propagation medium and another propagation medium having different physical characteristics, for example, and without limiting the scope of the present invention, the surface separating a fluid and a solid, the surface separating two fluids with different physical characteristics, etc. T) The Doppler system, the subject of the present invention, uses energy transducer elements connected directly or indirectly to a controller or computer capable of controlling the transducer elements in order to optimize the shape of the beam radiation pattern to reduce the level of sidelobes, 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 using an array of energy transducers optimized for minimizing the contribution of the sidelobes of the radiation pattern of each transducer composing the discrete array of six or seven transducers, as described by the present invention. U) The Doppler system, the subject of the present invention, uses energy transducer elements connected directly or indirectly to a controller or computer capable of controlling the transducer elements so that the wave emitted by the system, for a given frequency range, propagates along six or seven distinct directions which form a hexagonal structure. V) The Doppler system, the subject of the present invention, is capable, in certain specific embodiments related to the intended application and depending on the wave propagation medium (which may 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 forming a hexagonal structure, at different frequencies, continuously or in pulsed mode, with identical or different repetition frequencies, depending on of the intended application and the characteristics of the propagation medium(s) and the waves used. • W) The Doppler system, the subject 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 along 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. • X) The set of discrete transducers or the set of interlaced sub-arrays in triangular lattices of the Doppler system, the subject of the present invention, can be substantially arranged to obtain a circular, elliptical, polygonal or linear shape.

[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 in distinct directions which form a hexagonal structure, and where each hexagonal structure is oriented along a given direction of 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 computer capable of directly or indirectly controlling one or more sets of energy beams, where each set of beams consists of six or seven beams directed in 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 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 better understanding, the invention will be described in more detail in the following section, and this description has the sole purpose of providing examples to help better understand the operating principle of the invention, the fields of use of the invention, as well as examples of possible applications, objects of this description, with the help of the figures attached to this 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 being limited to it, and only to give a few examples of the realization of the present invention;

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

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

[0037] [Fig.5] is a simplified geometric representation of an embodiment, in a three-dimensional 5x5x5 configuration, for ease of understanding, by using a set of interlaced subnetworks in a triangular lattice 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 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 architecture with hexagonal geometry, with a central vertical 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, spacecraft or 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 ship in navigation relative 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 navigation relative to the bottom of a river or canal, terrestrial or extraterrestrial, for purposes of measuring flow rate, concentration of suspended matter in the flow, or measuring turbulence, etc. Detailed description

[0045] The object 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 disadvantages, by providing an optimal geometric architecture by maximizing the information, per unit area or per unit volume, returned by the medium from the whole of the surface or volume encompassed by all the energy beams generated simultaneously.This architecture is capable of emitting and / or receiving a wave (which can be an acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser wave, depending on the application) in several directions simultaneously, from an array of discrete energy transducers, or an array of interlaced sub-arrays of triangular omnidirectional transducers controlled by phase or time delay, or both, and having the same operating frequency band as a common characteristic. This set of directions thus generated has a hexagonal shape as its geometric characteristic, which guarantees an optimal stacking or arrangement of circles or disks, based on the proof 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 allows, thanks to the regular and optimal hexagonal tiling, for a hexagonal "pixelation" of the surface or volume of measurement, which has the advantages, among others and without limitation; firstly, in the case of applications related to the characterization of the fluid(s), of being able to access information on the distributions of the fluid velocity fields with optimal resolution [Hendricks, PJ (2008)]; secondly, in the case of applications related to navigation or the identification of a surface (landing [Badewitz, CJ (1969)], geological study [Porcello, LJ et al. (1974)], etc.), of being able to obtain a better topological characterization of the targeted surface thanks to optimal resolution; thirdly, a better estimation of the navigation speed by better correction or compensation of biases related 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 energy couplings between the different generated beams, with the aim of minimizing measurement noise related to a superposition of energy radiations for each beam from the other beams or crosstalk.

[0048] Another aspect of the present invention consists of simultaneously generating the six or seven beams by means of a set of interlaced sub-arrays in triangular lattices, of omnidirectional transducers by phase control or time delay control, or both. Such systems are found for the "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 dimensions" 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 principle of two-dimensional superposition 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 optimizing the shape of the six or seven energy beams generated simultaneously, either by using transducers with low sidelobe levels in the case of embodiments using an array of discrete energy transducers, or by adding symmetrical or asymmetrical 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, in order to simultaneously generate six or seven hexagonal 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 transmit / receive channels in the case of implementation using phase-controlled arrays in the "three dimensions" or "four dimensions" in the case of the presence of a central beam, constituted by the lattice sub-array architecture as represented in [Fig. 3], and only as an example of an embodiment for the particular case of a vertical tilt angle of the peripheral beams of a value of 30°, corresponding to a phase shift between two transmit / receive channels of 90°. A detailed description of the principle for "one dimension" with a tilt angle of 30° is given in reference [Simmons, RL (1985)], as well as for the "two-dimensional" case and a beam angle of 30° in reference [Yu, X. et al.(1996)], and also for the "two-dimensional" case and a beam angle of 30° with the presence of a central beam in the reference [Vogt, M. . A. (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 angle of inclination 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 the use of a time-delay control, in order to overcome the limitations intrinsic to the phase-controlled 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 [Perennes M. (1994)] and [Yu, X. et al. (1996)].

[0053] Reference is now made to [Fig. 3], which shows, solely as an illustration of the operating principle, a geometric architecture of a simplified version of a "four-dimensional" network in a 3x3x3xl configuration with phase control, time delay control, or a combination of both. In this minimalist version, the four axes X, Y, Z, and W are shown, corresponding respectively to the first, second, and third pairs of beams, as well as the single vertical beam on the W axis. These axes are independent and constitute the peripheral beams of the hexagonal array, respectively, as well as the axis of the vertical beam coinciding 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, consists of the sum of the signals corresponding to the two opposing beams inclined at 41.8103° to the vertical.Moreover, for this particular case of identical inclination of the three pairs. of beams on each axis X, Y and Z, the control consists of three signals phase-shifted by respectively 0°, 120° and 240°.

[0054] Other configurations are also possible with tilt values ​​such as those provided by [Table 1], where for each value of the tilt angle of the phase-controlled beam pair, 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 lies in the possibility of providing different angles for each pair of beams on each control axis. For example, for applications where the instrument is used inclined in a given direction, it is preferable and possible to provide an array of discrete transducers or an array of interlaced sub-arrays in triangular lattices by phase or delay control or a combination of both, having angles adapted for each axis X, Y or Z, for example one particular configuration among others consists of using X with a pair of beams inclined at 30°, Y with a pair of beams inclined at 11.5369°, Z with a pair of beams inclined at 41.8103°, and W with a vertical beam at 0° for example, which results in a "four-dimensional" configuration of 4x10x3x1, or any other possible combination according to [Table 1].

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

[0057] According to another embodiment, it is desirable to have several sets of hexagonal geometry beams, 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, by way of example, and without limitation, we cite the measurement of the concentration of matter suspended 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 a better spatial resolution on the fluid velocity field, etc. Examples of embodiments, including but not limited to them, are shown in [Fig. 2], where subfigure ( ) shows a front view of an array of discrete energy transducers with a six-beam hexagonal architecture. (E) shows the same architecture as ( ) but with seven beams after the addition of a central energy beam perpendicular to the projection plane. Subfigures (V) and (S2) also show other embodiments of the present invention with two discrete arrays of energy transducers, arranged in a hexagonal geometric architecture, operating at two distinct frequencies.In (F), another embodiment is represented using a set of interlaced sub-networks in triangular lattices by phase control, time delay or a combination of the two control modes, in a hexagonal architecture arranged in three or four sub-networks in a triangular lattice, where each of the three peripheral sub-networks generates a pair of energy beams inclined with respect 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-networks, or generated using a fourth dedicated and independent sub-network.

[0058] Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in subfigures (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 side by side, and in the case of (S) the two networks are 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 an embodiment combined with a dedicated multiplexing circuit allowing the use of 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. et al. (2019)].

[0060] According to another embodiment, it is advantageous to be able to direct and stabilize, in real time, the entire set of energy beams in a hexagonal geometric architecture towards an arbitrary direction, depending on the relative orientation of the instrument, which may be carried, for example, on board a submersible or floating vessel, an aircraft, a spacecraft, or a spacecraft, in order to optimize the energy reflected from a targeted surface or a volume of fluid being measured. In such applications, each individual sub-array, composing the entire 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 secondary lobes, and directed towards an arbitrary direction perpendicular to a target surface, or perpendicular to the direction of flow of a fluid, for example. An illustrative example 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, for reasons of energy consumption optimization, it is possible to use only a small but sufficient number of beams. For instance, but not limited to, for navigation needs aboard an underwater cliff, only beams directed towards the edge of said cliff are necessary for dead reckoning, as illustrated in [Fig. 11]. Another example consists of using only three out of six beams by means of a set of triangular lattice sub-arrays, where each axis of the sub-array generates only one beam out of 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, but not limited to, 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 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] Reference is now made to [Fig.6] where, by way of illustration, an example of a radiation pattern of seven narrow beams is shown, with an angle of inclination of the peripheral beams 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] Reference is now made to [Fig.7] where, by way of illustration, another example of a radiation pattern of seven narrow beams is shown, with an angle of inclination of the peripheral beams 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 side lobes of a value of -25 dB.

[0065] Reference is now made to [Fig. 8] where, by way of illustration, a comparative example is shown on the azimuth plane of a radiation pattern of seven narrow beams, with an inclination angle of the peripheral beams 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 side lobes of a value of -25 dB, compared with the case of five beams in "Janus" configuration without reduction of the side lobes.

[0066] Reference is now made 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 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 sidelobes of a value of -25 dB, in comparison with the case of five beams in "Janus" configuration without reduction of the sidelobes.

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

[0068] Reference is now made to [Fig. 12] where, by way of illustration, an example of the 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 an array 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 cross-section of the flow.

[0069] Although the detailed description above has made it possible to illustrate, describe, and specify the fundamental and innovative features of the present invention, as applied to a variety of embodiments and applications, it should be clearly 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 who are knowledgeable in the art of the trade, without departing from the basic idea of ​​the present invention. List of reference signs

[0070] 10: transmit / receive 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 description text, used to generate a set of seven hexagonal bundles 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: a set of hexagonal laser or radio energy beams, as described in the present invention 900: ship or submarine 1000: subset of beams used for dead reckoning navigation relative to an underwater cliff 1100: seabed or ocean floor 1110: surface area of ​​the fluid flow, typically river water being measured 1120: direction of the river or canal flow 1130: floating craft or vessel under sail 1140: a set of hexagonal-shaped acoustic or ultrasonic energy beams, as described in the present invention 1150: river or canal bottom. Bibliographical references [SONAR]

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Claims

Demands

1. A navigation and measurement system for aircraft, spacecraft, and floating or submersible vessels, and, more generally, for measuring various physical quantities in fluid and / or solid media, depending on the application, using light, laser, electromagnetic, acoustic, or ultrasonic waves, comprising: • An array of energy transducers for emitting and receiving waves depending on the application; • An array of distinct energy beams, oriented in different directions, forming a cone operating on a common frequency band (E, or T) or on different frequency bands (*?, £2, S or A); • At least one transceiver to transmit and receive waves using the energy transducers; • At least one controller or computer to generate the energy beams in different directions (800, 1000, 1140), receive reflections and / or backscatterings of the waves, and process the relevant physical information. The system is characterized by the use of the energy transducers (E, ¢, £2, T, S or A), simultaneously or sequentially, to generate and receive one or more sets of six or seven narrow energy beams in a hexagonal geometric architecture (800, 1140), and in that the transmission is carried out by one transducer and the reception by one or more separate transducers, or by the same transducer.

2. Navigation and measurement system according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the energy transducer set consists of an array of at least six or seven discrete energy transducers (E, ¢, V or £2), where each array operates in the same frequency band, used for the generation of an array of at least six or seven beams in hexagonal geometric architecture, optimized for the reduction of side lobes of the radiation pattern of each transducer.

3. Navigation and measurement 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-arrays 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. Navigation and measurement system according to claim

3. , characterized in that the set of interlaced sub-arrays in triangular lattices is phase-controlled by an optimized number-of-transmitters set for generating six peripheral energy beams inclined with respect to the vertical with possible inclination angles 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°; 120°}.

5. Navigation and measurement system according to any one of the claims

3. or

4. , characterized in that the interlaced subnetworks in triangular lattices are controlled by time delay, instead of by phase control.

6. Navigation and measurement system according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the set of discrete energy transducers or the set of interlaced sub-networks in triangular lattices are arranged substantially to obtain a circular, elliptical, polygonal, or linear shape.

7. Navigation and measurement system according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized by one or a combination of the following features: • The angles of the peripheral beams have inclination angle values, with respect to the vertical axis, which are variable and of different values ​​(y, p and a) for each pair of opposing beams contained respectively on one of the three peripheral axes (X, Y and Z) (500); • The six or seven beams are not coplanar, or each pair, or a subset of pairs of opposing beams contained respectively on one of the three peripheral axes (X, Y and Z) are not coplanar.

8. A navigation and measurement system for aircraft, spacecraft, and floating or submersible vessels, and, more generally, for measuring various physical quantities in fluid and / or solid media, depending on the application, operating by the emission / reception of waves, which may be acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light, or laser waves, comprising an array of energy transducers, used in one or more networks, interlaced in triangular lattices or without interlacing, controlled by phases or time delays or by both, and used to simultaneously generate and / or receive an array of at least three narrow energy beams, the system incorporating the features of at least one of the claims

3.

4.

5.

6. or

7. characterized by one or a combination of the following characteristics: • The elements constituting the entire network or sub-networks of transducers are controlled individually or in subsets of elements, to allow each individual beam to be directed in an arbitrary fixed or variable direction; • 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; • 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 phase, by the use of one or a combination of mechanical, acoustic, electrical, electronic or optical elements, depending on the transducer elements used.• The transmission is carried out by a transducer and the reception by one or more separate transducers, or by the same transducer.

9. A navigation and measurement system according to one of the claims [Claims 3] [Claims 4] [Claims 5] [Claims 6] or [Claims 8], characterized in that the angles of inclination of the peripheral beams, measured with respect to the vertical axis, are adjustable and can be different for each of the three pairs of opposing beams defining respectively the peripheral axes (X, Y and Z) (500).

10. A navigation and measurement system according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the energy transducers can generate acoustic, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, light or laser waves, depending on the application, in continuous or pulsed mode, with pulse modulation and / or compression techniques, alone or in combination, including, for example, binary codes with minimized sidelobes, ramps linear or non-linear frequency, or a superposition / combination of these methods, and in that the emission is carried out by one transducer and the reception by one or more separate transducers, or by the same transducer.

Images