Information processing device, information processing method, and program

Abstract

Provided is an information processing device comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires signals of pulse waves of a radar wave received at respective time points by an antenna; an extraction unit that, on the basis of the signals, extracts pulse waves having a per-frequency reception count greater than or equal to a threshold value; and a display control unit that displays information based on the repetition interval of pulse waves having frequencies in a specific range among the pulse waves extracted by the extraction unit and the time points at which the pulse waves were received.

Description

Information processing device, information processing method, and program

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and a program.

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for receiving a pulse train containing a mixture of pulse signals repeatedly transmitted over time from a plurality of signal sources (transmitters of radar waves) and classifying the pulse trains into pulse trains for each signal source. Patent Document 1 discloses that when obtaining a feature value from each pulse and classifying the pulse train signals, the estimation accuracy of the feature value of the pulse signal, the regularity of the reception times of the pulse signals, etc. are utilized.

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 08-043520

[0004] However, with the technology described in Patent Document 1, for example, when the number of radar waves is relatively large, the accuracy of classifying pulse trains into those for each signal source may decrease.

[0005] In view of the above-mentioned problems, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a technology that can appropriately classify pulse trains for each source of radar waves.

[0006] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an information processing device having an acquisition unit that acquires signals of each pulse wave of a radar wave received by an antenna at each time point, an extraction unit that extracts each pulse wave whose reception frequency for each frequency is equal to or greater than a threshold based on the signals, and a display control unit that displays information based on the repetition interval of each pulse wave having a frequency within a specific range and the time point at which each pulse wave was received, among the pulse waves extracted by the extraction unit.

[0007] In addition, a second aspect of the present disclosure provides an information processing method that acquires a signal of each pulse wave of a radar wave received by an antenna at each time point, extracts each pulse wave whose reception frequency for each frequency is equal to or greater than a threshold based on the signal, and displays information based on the repetition interval of each pulse wave of a specific range of frequency among the extracted pulse waves and the time point at which each pulse wave was received.

[0008] In addition, a third aspect of the present disclosure provides a program for causing a computer to execute a process of acquiring a signal of each pulse wave of a radar wave received by an antenna at each time point, extracting each pulse wave whose reception frequency for each frequency is equal to or greater than a threshold based on the signal, and displaying information based on the repetition interval of each pulse wave of a specific range of frequency among the extracted pulse waves and the time point at which each pulse wave was received.

[0009] According to one aspect, the radar waves can be appropriately classified into pulse trains for each transmission source.

[0010] 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an information processing device according to an embodiment; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an information processing system according to an embodiment; FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of an information processing device according to an embodiment; FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of processing of an information processing device according to an embodiment; FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a pulse wave signal of a radar wave received at each time point by an antenna according to an embodiment; FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the reception frequency of each signal of each frequency according to an embodiment; FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the reception frequency of each signal of each extracted frequency according to an embodiment; FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of display of information based on the repetition interval of pulse waves in a specific range of frequencies and the time point at which each pulse wave is received according to an embodiment;

[0011] The principles of the present disclosure will be described with reference to some exemplary embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are set forth for illustrative purposes only, to aid those skilled in the art in understanding and practicing the present disclosure, without implying any limitation on the scope of the disclosure. The disclosure described herein may be implemented in various ways other than those described below.

[0012] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0013] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that each drawing is merely an example for describing one or more embodiments. Each drawing is not related to only one particular embodiment, but may also be related to one or more other embodiments. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, various features or steps described with reference to any one drawing can be combined with features or steps shown in one or more other drawings to create, for example, an embodiment not explicitly shown or described. Not all features or steps shown in any one drawing are necessarily required to describe an exemplary embodiment, and some features or steps may be omitted. The order of steps described in any drawing may be changed as appropriate.

[0014] (First Embodiment) <Configuration> The configuration of an information processing device 10 according to an embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the information processing device 10 according to an embodiment. The information processing device 10 has an acquisition unit 11, an extraction unit 12, and a display control unit 13. Each of these units may be realized by cooperation between one or more programs installed in the information processing device 10 and hardware such as a processor and memory of the information processing device 10.

[0015] The acquisition unit 11 acquires signals of each pulse wave of the radar wave received by the antenna at each time point. The extraction unit 12 extracts each pulse wave whose reception frequency for each frequency is equal to or greater than a threshold based on the signals acquired by the acquisition unit 11. The display control unit 13 displays information based on the repetition interval of each pulse wave having a frequency within a specific range and the time point at which each pulse wave was received on a display screen, among the pulse waves extracted by the extraction unit 12.

[0016] (Embodiment 2) Next, the configuration of an information processing system 1 according to an embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 2. <System Configuration> FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example configuration of an information processing system 1 according to an embodiment. In the example of FIG. 2, the information processing system 1 has an information processing device 10, an antenna 20, and source devices 30A to 30C. Hereinafter, when there is no need to distinguish between them, each of the source devices 30A to 30C will also be simply referred to as a "source device 30." The information processing device 10 and the antenna 20 are connected by, for example, a cable or the like. Note that the number of information processing devices 10, antennas 20, and source devices 30 is not limited to the example of FIG. 2.

[0017] The information processing device 10 may be, for example, a server, a cloud server, a personal computer, a tablet terminal, a smartphone, or other device. The information processing device 10 provides, for example, information about a transmission source device 30 present in the vicinity of the antenna 20 to a user (monitor). The antenna 20 receives a pulse wave of a radar wave transmitted from the transmission source device 30, converts the pulse wave into an electrical signal indicating the frequency of the received radio wave and the time point of reception (reception time, reception timing), and outputs the electrical signal to the information processing device 10.

[0018] The transmission source device 30 may be, for example, a ship, an aircraft, a satellite, etc. The transmission source device 30 transmits radar (Radio Detection And Ranging) waves to measure the distance to other objects.

[0019] <Hardware Configuration> Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the information processing device 10 according to the embodiment. In the example of Fig. 3, the information processing device 10 (computer 100) includes a processor 101, a memory 102, and a communication interface 103. These components may be connected via a bus or the like. The memory 102 stores at least a part of a program 104. The communication interface 103 includes an interface required for communication with other network elements.

[0020] When the program 104 is executed by the processor 101, memory 102, and other components in cooperation with each other, the computer 100 performs at least some of the processing of the embodiments of the present disclosure. The memory 102 may be of any type. As a non-limiting example, the memory 102 may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The memory 102 may also be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory, and removable memory. Although only one memory 102 is shown in the computer 100, several physically different memory modules may be present in the computer 100. The processor 101 may be of any type. The processor 101 may include one or more of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and, as a non-limiting example, a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture. The computer 100 may have multiple processors, such as application-specific integrated circuit chips that are time-slaved to a clock that synchronizes the main processor.

[0021] Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software that may be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device.

[0022] The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as instructions included in program modules, that execute on a target real or virtual processor or device to perform the processes or methods of the present disclosure. Program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or divided among program modules as desired in various embodiments. The machine-executable instructions of the program modules may be executed in local or distributed devices. In a distributed device, the program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0023] The program code for executing the methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus. When the program code is executed by the processor or controller, the functions / acts in the flowcharts and / or implementing block diagrams are performed. The program code may be executed entirely on the machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine, or entirely on a remote machine or server.

[0024] The program includes instructions (or software code) that, when loaded into a computer, cause the computer to perform one or more functions described in the embodiments. The program may be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium or a tangible storage medium. By way of example and not limitation, computer-readable media or tangible storage media include random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, solid-state drive (SSD) or other memory technologies, CD-ROM, digital versatile disc (DVD), Blu-ray disc or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassette, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage device. The program may also be transmitted on a transitory computer-readable medium or communication medium. By way of example and not limitation, transitory computer-readable media or communication media include electrical, optical, acoustic, or other forms of propagated signals.

[0025] <Processing> Next, an example of processing of the information processing device 10 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 8. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of processing of the information processing device 10 according to the embodiment. Note that the processing of FIG. 4 may be executed, for example, when a specific operation is performed by the user. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a pulse wave signal of a radar wave received at each time point by the antenna according to the embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a reception frequency of each signal of each frequency according to the embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a reception frequency of each signal of each extracted frequency according to the embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of displaying information based on the repetition interval of pulse waves in a specific range of frequencies and the time point at which each pulse wave is received according to the embodiment.

[0026] In step S101, the acquisition unit 11 acquires a pulse wave signal of a radar wave received at each time point by the antenna 20. Here, the acquisition unit 11 acquires from the antenna 20 a signal indicating the frequency (center frequency) and the time point of reception (transmission time point) of the pulse wave of a radar wave transmitted from a transmission source device 30 such as a ship.

[0027] In the example of FIG. 5, the acquisition unit 11 acquires, for example, a frequency f １ The acquisition unit 11 acquires the pulse wave signal of the radar wave at each of times 521 to 524 at a period (Pulse Repetition Interval (PRI)) 511. １ The pulse wave signal of the radar wave is also acquired in periods 512 and 513.

[0028] Next, the extracting unit 12 extracts pulse waves whose reception frequency for each frequency is equal to or greater than a threshold value based on the signals acquired by the acquiring unit 11 (step S102). As a result, for example, when a pulse wave from a source device 30 that is relatively far from the antenna 20 happens to be received, the pulse wave can be removed as noise.

[0029] In the example of FIG. 6, the frequency f １ ~f ４ The reception frequencies (number of times received) of the signals f are respectively 611 to 614. As shown in FIG. 7, the extraction unit 12 extracts the frequency f １ ~f ３ Only the information of each pulse wave is extracted, and the frequency f where the reception frequency for each frequency is less than the threshold value is extracted. ４ The information of each pulse wave is removed.

[0030] Next, the display control unit 13 displays information based on the repetition interval of pulse waves in a specific frequency range and the time point at which each pulse wave was received among the pulse waves extracted by the extraction unit 12 (step S103). Here, the display control unit 13 may display information indicating the time point at which each pulse wave was received for each repetition interval of each pulse wave in a specific frequency range, as shown in Fig. 8. In the example of Fig. 8, the display control unit 13 displays information indicating the time point at which each pulse wave was received for each repetition interval of each pulse wave in a specific frequency range. １The PRI of each pulse wave is displayed on the horizontal axis, and the time at which each pulse wave is received for each PRI 511 to 513 is displayed on the vertical axis. Note that a graph image in which the reception time is on one axis and the PRI is on the other axis, as in Figures 5 and 8, is also referred to as a "PRI raster image." Note that the display control unit 13 may recalculate the repetition interval of the pulse waves, etc., based on each pulse wave whose reception frequency for each frequency is equal to or greater than a threshold value, extracted by the extraction unit 12.

[0031] The extraction unit 12 may extract pulse waves whose reception frequency for each frequency is equal to or greater than a first threshold and whose reception frequency for each pulse wave repetition interval (PRI) is equal to or greater than a second threshold, based on the signal acquired by the acquisition unit 11. This makes it possible to remove, as noise, pulse waves from a transmission source device 30 that is relatively far from the antenna 20 and has approximately the same frequency as pulse waves from a transmission source device 30 that is relatively close.

[0032] (Example of Receiving Specification of Specific Range from User) The display control unit 13 may receive specification of a specific range from the user on a display screen showing the reception frequency of each pulse wave in the specific range of frequencies. This allows the user to specify, for example, a range of frequencies that the user empirically believes to be transmitted at the same frequency from the same transmission source device 30 as the specific range. Note that when pulse waves of radar waves transmitted at the same frequency from the same transmission source device 30 are received by the antenna 20, there may be a range of frequencies due to fading such as Doppler and multipath.

[0033] In this case, the display control unit 13 may accept the user's specification of a specific range, for example, on the display screen of Figure 7, by placing the mouse cursor on the left end of the desired specific range, pressing and holding the left mouse button, and dragging it to the right end of the desired specific range.

[0034] (Example of Automatic Identification of Specific Range) The display control unit 13 may identify the specific range based on the reception frequency for each frequency band of pulse waves. As a result, even if the reception frequency has a range due to fading such as Doppler or multipath, it is possible to automatically specify, as the specific range, a range of frequencies that are estimated to have been transmitted at the same frequency from the same transmission source device 30, without requiring user experience or the like.

[0035] In this case, the display control unit 13 may identify the specific range by, for example, cluster analysis based on the reception frequency for each frequency band of the pulse wave. In this case, the display control unit 13 may use, for example, Ward's method or K-means method to classify the signals of each frequency acquired by the acquisition unit 11 into the signal of each center frequency f as shown in FIG. １ ~f ４ The signals may be classified into the following types.

[0036] The display control unit 13 may also identify the specific range by machine learning based on the reception frequency of each frequency band of the pulse wave. In this case, the display control unit 13 may infer each center frequency by inputting, for example, an image of a graph as shown in Fig. 6, in which each center frequency acquired by the acquisition unit 11 is plotted on one axis (e.g., the horizontal axis) and the reception frequency of each signal is plotted on the other axis (e.g., the vertical axis).

[0037] (Example of Identifying Transmission Source Device 30) The display control unit 13 may identify the transmission source device 30 of the radar wave based on the repetition interval of the pulse wave in a specific range of frequencies. This makes it possible to provide the user with, for example, the names of the transmission source devices 30 present in the vicinity of the antenna 20. In this case, the display control unit 13 may display the names of the transmission source devices 30 using, for example, information from a table in which the names of the transmission source devices 30 are recorded in association with combinations of the pulse wave frequency and the PRI. Note that the information in the table may be set in advance in the information processing device 10 by, for example, an operator.

[0038] In this case, the display control unit 13 may identify the transmission source device 30 that transmitted the radar wave based on the similarity between two-dimensional data indicating the repetition interval of pulse waves within a specific frequency range and the time point at which each pulse wave is received, and two-dimensional data indicating predicted values ​​of the repetition interval of pulse waves and the time point at which each pulse wave is received for each of the multiple transmission source devices 30. In this case, the display control unit 13 may generate (infer) a PRI raster image using machine learning results such as deep learning based on the PRI of each transmission source device 30 whose pulse waves have a frequency within the specific frequency range. As a result, a PRI raster image with fluctuations in PRI due to fading such as Doppler and multipath in the real environment is generated for each transmission source device 30. Then, the display control unit 13 may calculate the similarity between the PRI raster image generated in the processing of step S103 and each PRI raster image generated by machine learning for each transmission source device 30. The display control unit 13 may use, for example, the cosine similarity of the feature vectors of the PRI raster images as the similarity, and may identify, for example, the transmission source device 30 with the highest similarity.

[0039] The display control unit 13 may also identify the source device 30 that transmitted the radar waves based on the similarity between two-dimensional data indicating the repetition interval of pulse waves in a specific frequency range and the time point at which each pulse wave was received, and two-dimensional data indicating the repetition interval of pulse waves for each of the multiple source devices 30 and the time point at which each pulse wave was received. In this case, the display control unit 13 may, for example, calculate the similarity between the PRI raster image created in the process of step S103 and each PRI raster image for each source device 30. Note that the display control unit 13 may, for example, use a template matching score for each PRI raster image as the similarity. Note that the display control unit 13 may, for example, use a template matching method such as SAD (Sum of Absolute Difference), SSD (Sum of Squared Difference), or NCC (Normalized Cross-Correlation). Then, the display control unit 13 may, for example, identify the source device 30 with the highest similarity. Note that each PRI raster image for each transmission source device 30 may be set in advance in the information processing device 10 by, for example, an operator or the like.

[0040] <Modifications> The information processing device 10 may be a device contained in a single housing, but the information processing device 10 of the present disclosure is not limited to this. Each unit of the information processing device 10 may be realized, for example, by cloud computing configured with one or more computers. Furthermore, the information processing device 10 and the antenna 20 may be housed in the same housing and configured as an integrated information processing device. Such information processing devices 10 are also included in examples of the "information processing device" of the present disclosure.

[0041] Although the present disclosure has been described above with reference to the embodiments, the present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiments. Various modifications that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made to the configuration and details of the present disclosure within the scope of the present disclosure. Furthermore, each embodiment can be combined with other embodiments as appropriate.

[0042] Some or all of the above embodiments may be described as, but are not limited to, the following supplementary notes. Note that some or all of the elements (e.g., configurations and functions) described in each supplementary note dependent on supplementary note 1 may also be dependent on independent supplementary notes in other categories in a similar dependency relationship. Some or all of the elements described in any supplementary note may be applied to various hardware, software, and recording means, systems, and methods for recording software. (Supplementary note 1) An information processing device comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires signals of pulse waves of radar waves received by an antenna at each time point; an extraction unit that extracts pulse waves whose reception frequency for each frequency is equal to or greater than a threshold based on the signals; and a display control unit that displays information based on the repetition interval of each pulse wave having a frequency within a specific range and the time point at which each pulse wave was received, from among the pulse waves extracted by the extraction unit. (Supplementary note 2) The information processing device described in supplementary note 1, wherein the display control unit displays information indicating the time point at which each pulse wave was received for each repetition interval of each pulse wave having a frequency within the specific range. (Supplementary Note 3) The information processing device according to Supplementary Note 1 or 2, wherein the extraction unit extracts, based on the signal, each pulse wave whose reception frequency for each frequency is equal to or greater than a first threshold and whose reception frequency for each pulse wave repetition interval is equal to or greater than a second threshold. (Supplementary Note 4) The information processing device according to Supplementary Note 1 or 2, wherein the display control unit accepts designation of the specific range by a user on a display screen showing the reception frequency for each pulse wave in the specific range of frequencies. (Supplementary Note 5) The information processing device according to Supplementary Note 1 or 2, wherein the display control unit specifies the specific range based on the reception frequency for each frequency band of pulse waves. (Supplementary Note 6) The information processing device according to Supplementary Note 1 or 2, wherein the display control unit specifies a transmitter device of the radar wave based on the repetition interval of pulse waves in the specific range of frequencies. (Supplementary Note 7) The information processing device according to Supplementary Note 6, wherein the display control unit identifies the transmitting device of the radar wave based on a similarity between two-dimensional data indicating the repetition interval of pulse waves in the specific range of frequencies and the time point at which each pulse wave is received, and two-dimensional data indicating machine learning predicted values ​​of the repetition interval of pulse waves and the time point at which each pulse wave is received for each of a plurality of transmitting devices.(Supplementary Note 8) The information processing device according to Supplementary Note 6, wherein the display control unit identifies a device that transmits the radar wave based on a similarity between two-dimensional data indicating the repetition interval of pulse waves in the specific range of frequencies and the time point at which each pulse wave is received, and two-dimensional data indicating the repetition interval of pulse waves for each of a plurality of transmission source devices and the time point at which each pulse wave is received. (Supplementary Note 9) An information processing method that acquires a signal of each pulse wave of radar waves received by an antenna at each time point, extracts pulse waves whose reception frequency for each frequency is equal to or greater than a threshold based on the signal, and displays information based on the repetition interval of each pulse wave of a specific range of frequencies and the time point at which each pulse wave is received from each of the extracted pulse waves. (Supplementary Note 10) A program that causes a computer to execute processes of acquiring a signal of each pulse wave of radar waves received by an antenna at each time point, extracts pulse waves whose reception frequency for each frequency is equal to or greater than a threshold based on the signal, and displays information based on the repetition interval of each pulse wave of a specific range of frequencies and the time point at which each pulse wave is received from each of the extracted pulse waves.

[0043] This application claims priority based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2024-070643, filed April 24, 2024, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

[0044] REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Information processing system 10 Information processing device 11 Acquisition unit 12 Extraction unit 13 Display control unit 20 Antenna 30 Transmission source device

Claims

1. An information processing device having: an acquisition unit that acquires signals of each pulse wave of a radar wave received by an antenna at each time point; an extraction unit that extracts each pulse wave whose reception frequency for each frequency is equal to or greater than a threshold based on said signals; and a display control unit that displays information based on the repetition interval of each pulse wave that is within a specific range of frequency and the time point at which each pulse wave was received, from among the pulse waves extracted by said extraction unit.

2. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit displays information indicating the time point at which each pulse wave having a frequency within the specific range was received for each repetition interval of the pulse wave.

3. The information processing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the extraction unit extracts, based on the signal, pulse waves whose reception frequency for each frequency is equal to or greater than a first threshold and whose reception frequency for each pulse wave repetition interval is equal to or greater than a second threshold.

4. The information processing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the display control unit accepts a user's designation of the specific range on a display screen showing the reception frequency for each pulse wave frequency in the specific range of frequencies.

5. The information processing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the display control unit specifies the specific range based on the reception frequency for each frequency band of pulse waves.

6. The information processing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the display control unit identifies the device that is the source of the radar wave based on the repetition interval of the pulse wave in the specific range of frequencies.

7. The information processing device described in claim 6, wherein the display control unit identifies the device that transmits the radar waves based on the similarity between two-dimensional data indicating the repetition interval of pulse waves in the specific range of frequencies and the time point at which each pulse wave is received, and two-dimensional data indicating machine learning predicted values ​​of the repetition interval of pulse waves and the time point at which each pulse wave is received for each of multiple transmission devices.

8. The information processing device described in claim 6, wherein the display control unit identifies the device that transmits the radar waves based on the similarity between two-dimensional data indicating the repetition interval of pulse waves in the specific range of frequencies and the time point at which each pulse wave is received, and two-dimensional data indicating the repetition interval of pulse waves for each of multiple transmission devices and the time point at which each pulse wave is received.

9. An information processing method comprising: acquiring a signal of each pulse wave of a radar wave received by an antenna at each time point; extracting, based on said signal, each pulse wave whose reception frequency for each frequency is equal to or greater than a threshold; and displaying information based on the repetition interval of each pulse wave within a specific frequency range and the time point at which each pulse wave was received.

10. A program that causes a computer to execute the following process: acquire the signal of each pulse wave of a radar wave received by an antenna at each time point; extract each pulse wave whose reception frequency for each frequency is equal to or greater than a threshold based on said signal; and display information based on the repetition interval of each pulse wave within a specific frequency range and the time point at which each pulse wave was received.

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