170 results about "Imaging sonar" patented technology

A downscan imaging sonar utilizes a linear transducer element to provide improved images of the sea floor and other objects in the water column beneath a vessel. A transducer array may include a plurality of transducer elements and each one of the plurality of transducer elements may include a substantially rectangular shape configured to produce a sonar beam having a beamwidth in a direction parallel to longitudinal length of the transducer elements that is significantly less than a beamwidth of the sonar beam in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal length of the transducer elements. The plurality of transducer elements may be positioned such that longitudinal lengths of at least two of the plurality of transducer elements are parallel to each other. The plurality of transducer elements may also include at least a first linear transducer element, a second linear transducer element and a third linear transducer element. The first linear transducer element may be positioned within the housing to project sonar pulses from a first side of the housing in a direction substantially perpendicular to a centerline of the housing. The second linear transducer element may be positioned within the housing to lie in a plane with the first linear transducer element and project sonar pulses from a second side of the housing that is substantially opposite of the first side. The third linear transducer element may be positioned within the housing to project sonar pulses in a direction substantially perpendicular to the plane.

An imaging sonar system develops three-dimensional images of the space below, to the sides, and forward of a ship relative to a fixed frame of reference. Various features permit the system to be used in non-military environments and make possible low cost with substantial capabilities.

A method for providing a combined linear and circular downscan sonar display may include receiving linear downscan sonar data from a linear downscan transducer, receiving conical downscan sonar data from a circular downscan transducer, and combining the linear downscan sonar data and the conical downscan sonar data to produce combined downscan sonar data. A corresponding computer program product and apparatus are also provided.

A vessel-mountable integrated sonar system is provided. The vessel-mountable integrated sonar system comprises at least one imaging sonar data acquisition device and at least one processing system electronically and removably connected to the at least one imaging sonar data acquisition device, wherein the sonar data acquisition device preferably provides acoustic data to the processing system, producing sonar imageries utilizing the acoustic data, and wherein the system provides digital tilt and azimuth direction feedback for accurate geo-referencing of data to localize targets of interest.

A 360-degree sonar imaging system and method are provided. The system includes a sonar transducer assembly pod with tilted mechanically scanning sonar (MSS) transducers that is deployed into the water below the bottom of the boat. The system provides photo-like imaging of an area surrounding a boat which does not require the boat to be in motion. The pod is deployed by a variety of manual, (trolling motor, transom) or powered mechanical (bow, transom, or fairing block) deployment mechanisms to allow for deployment and retraction of the sonar transducer assembly. In particular embodiments, the MSS system communicates with a side-scan-sonar-imaging-equipped control head unit to display the images generated therefrom. Various speeds and sector scans are provided, as well as a locked side-scan sonar mode. Waypoint navigation and split screen views are also provided.

A processing technique and transducer field of view architecture for use as part of an imaging sonar system to develop three-dimensional images of the space below, to the sides, and forward of a ship.

The invention provides a local dry-method underwater welding robot based on an ROV. The local dry-method underwater welding robot comprises the ROV and a welding mechanical arm installed on the ROV. The ROV comprises a frame, a vertical auxiliary thruster, a vertical main thruster and a horizontal thruster, wherein the vertical auxiliary thruster, the vertical main thruster and the horizontal thruster are installed on the frame, the upper portion of the frame is provided with buoyancy materials, the middle portion of the frame is provided with an electronic device sealed cabin and a welding device sealed cabin, the front of the frame is provided with an imaging sonar and an underwater lighting device, the two sides of the frame are provided with camera systems, and the bottom of the frame is provided with a pipeline fixing claw, a hydraulic pile leg and an underground hydraulic pump. The ROV is connected with a water surface control system on a mother ship through a funicle cable. The front portion of the welding mechanical arm is provided with a local dry-method arc welding gun and a weld tracker. The local dry-method underwater welding robot is high in working efficiency, large in working depth, good in underground welding flexibility and especially suitable for being used in the nuclear radiation or poisonous and harmful underwater, the atmospheric environment or in the site where workers cannot arrive at.

The invention relates to an apparatus and method for the in-situ real-time observation of submarine sand waves. The apparatus includes an observation system and auxiliary devices. The auxiliary devices comprise an auxiliary ship and a hoisting device; the observation system includes a gravity anchor, a fiber grating floating earth weight sensor, a Kevlar cable, an underwater acoustic releaser group, a lower floating ball bracket, a wave and tide gauge, an upper floating ball bracket, an MRU three-dimensional attitude sensor, a satellite communication machine, an imaging sonar, a solar cell anda main floating body. The principle of the apparatus and the method is characterized in that submarine pressure change caused by the migration of the submarine sand waves is observed, the time interval, elevation and wavelength data of two adjacent extreme submarine pressures are analyzed, and the migration rate of the submarine sand waves is calculated. The method includes the following steps: selection of an observation point and a deployment time, system deployment, recovery, and data processing. The apparatus and the method provide a new idea for the in-situ real-time observation of the submarine sand waves, have the characteristics of simple and easy device, long in-situ real-time measurement period and wide applicable water range, and can realize the in-situ real-time long-term observation of the migration of the submarine sand waves.

The invention relates to a detecting and positioning method and a detecting and positioning system for aiming at underwater obstacles. The detecting and positioning system comprises a multi-beam image sonar and a computer. Firstly, an underwater sonar image in the forward direction is obtained through the multi-beam image sonar arranged on an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV); then the image noise is reduced through a median filter so as to improve the image quality; after the obstacles and a background are segmented by utilizing an image segmenting algorithm, and according to a segmenting threshold value, each pixel point in a scene image is subjected to the binarization treatment; and finally an obstacle outline is obtained from a binary image, and according to the obtained outline, the size and the location of the obstacle are calculated. The detecting and positioning method can rapidly detect the obstacles of an unmanned surveying vessel or the underwater vehicle in the forward direction, can calculate the size and the location of the obstacle, and can be directly used for underwater navigation.

The present invention provides a hull detection underwater robot that comprises an underwater robot body which is equipped with an environment sensing device, a movement sensing device and a movement executing device. The environment sensing device comprises an ultrasonic thickness gauge, image sonar and an underwater low light level camera. The movement sensing device comprises an optical fiber compass and a depth gauge. The movement executing device comprises a conduit propeller and a three degree of freedom tripod head. All devices are connected with a PC / 104 computer in a hyperbaric chamber of the underwater robot body. A control program is embedded in the PC / 104 computer. The PC / 104 computer collects the information of the environment sending device and the movement sensing device, then communicated with a water surface main control computer for the large data volume network communication of mixed data and outputs a control instruction of the water surface main control computer to the propeller.

The invention provides a broadband underwater acoustic transducer using a composite material of metal, piezoelectric ceramics and a polymer, which comprises the composite material, a decoupling rubber, a seal acoustically transparent rubber, a metal shell and a water-proof cable, wherein the decoupling rubber is packed on the lateral surface and the bottom surface of the composite material; the seal acoustically transparent rubber is positioned on the upper surface of the composite material; the metal shell and the water-proof cable are packed outside the decoupling rubber; the composite material comprises a polymeric material, a compound column of the metal and piezoelectric ceramics and an electrode; and the compound column of the metal and the piezoelectric ceramics are evenly distributed in the polymeric material, and the electrode is plated on the upper and lower surfaces of the composite material. The invention can be applied to the fields of underwater sound communication sonar and water sound imaging sonar, is easy to be conformal, has good water pressure resistance and low acoustic impedance, and can realize the radiance with middle and high frequency, wide band and large power.

A vessel-mountable integrated sonar system is provided. The vessel-mountable integrated sonar system comprises at least one imaging sonar data acquisition device and at least one processing system electronically and removably connected to the at least one imaging sonar data acquisition device, wherein the sonar data acquisition device preferably provides acoustic data to the processing system, producing sonar imageries utilizing the acoustic data, and wherein the system provides digital tilt and azimuth direction feedback for accurate geo-referencing of data to localize targets of interest.

The invention discloses an array sparse method for a broadband non-frequency-variable multi-beam imaging sonar. With the Bessel function, fitting of influences on array guiding vectors by different frequency points in the broadband signal bandwidth is performed and a broadband signal multi-beam forming model under the far-field situation is established; on the premise that the formed multiple beams approximate a reference beam, a minimum number of effective array elements are searched and multiple sets of weighting coefficients are calculated; a highly nonlinear sparse array optimization problem is transformed into a sparse signal reconstruction problem in the compressed sensing theory, a reconstruction weighting coefficient is calculated iteratively by an underdetermined system localizedsolution algorithm, and a sparse array structure is determined; a convex optimization theory is introduced so as to form a plurality of low-side-lobe beams and a multi-beam array sparse side-lobe suppression model for array element excitation is established. According to the invention, the main lobes of a plurality of formed beams are not extended with changes of signal operating frequencies; andpeak side-lobe levels of multiple beams formed by the sparse array are reduced effectively.

The invention discloses a multi-beam imaging sonar sidelobe suppression method. Via use of a wind-driven optimization algorithm, an optimal array element position suitable for all wave beam directions is searched; via use of a convex optimization algorithm, an optimal weighting coefficient suitable for all wave beam directions is calculated; an array sidelobe is suppressed, possibility of optimization searching processes being trapped in local optimum is greatly reduced, and sidelobe suppression effects are improved. The invention also discloses a multi-beam imaging sonar array sparsity method, via use of an iteration sparsity method based on a mixed algorithm, a multi-beam sidelobe peak value level is suppressed via optimization of array element position arrangement and the weighting coefficient on a precondition that requirements for main sidelobe performance are given, array sparsity is realized on the premise that no big directional diagram performance loss is caused, and good engineering practicality is achieved.

The invention provides a sparse planar array optimizing method for energy transducers of a phased array sonar system. The method comprises the steps of 1) initialization, 2) simulated annealing optimization, 3) teaching and learning optimization and 4) termination. According to the method, the minimal number of energy transducers, which need to be exited to satisfy the spatial response performance, of the sparse planar array is solved by utilizing spatial response performances including the main-lobe width and the side-lobe peak value of the array. The feasible solution obtained by the simulated annealing optimization can be further optimized via teaching and learning optimization, so that higher convergence speed and precision are provided, the optimal solution of the whole situation can be obtained, as few as energy transducers work, the required spatial response performance of the planar array of the energy transducers is obtained, and the required hardware cost of the phased array imaging sonar system can be effectively reduced.

The invention relates to the technical field of underwater sound transducers, in particular to a high-frequency hydrophone array applicable to underwater phased array camera and a production method thereof, and solves the technical problems that a large cardinal number of high-frequency hydrophone array elements need to be accurately located and disposed in a limited array area and charge sensed by efficient coupling array elements is required to pick up and receive high-frequency weak underwater sound signals. A piezoelectric device PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) film, a rigid backing and PCBs (printed circuit board) are jointed; the high-frequency PVDF hydrophone backing is made of copper to increase sensitivity; multiple layers of PCBs are used as a substrate; a large number of array element backings are integrally pre-processed; the array element backing clusters are positioned and fitted to the PCB substrate; the backing units are separated by secondary processing; decoupling bars are added among the separated units; the piezoelectric film is adhered to form an array; finally, watertight sealing is performed to form the high-frequency piezoelectric film hydrophone array. The high-frequency hydrophone array is applicable to high-frequency sonar receiving arrays for imaging sonar, multi-beam sonar, side-scan sonar and the like.

The invention discloses a method for rarefying and optimizing an energy transducer array of a three-dimensional imaging sonar system. In the method, a simulated annealing algorithm is adopted to rarefy and optimize energy transducer array elements in a planar array to obtain a rarefied energy transducer array, and the least number of energy transducers required to be opened by the rarefied energy transducer array is worked out under a condition that a wave beam directional diagram of the rarefied and optimized energy transducer array meets the threshold value condition of a maximum side lobe peak value and the threshold value condition of a taper ratio simultaneously; the planar array before being rarefied and optimized comprises M*N energy transducers, and the energy transducers are evenly distributed in a rectangular plane according to the distance of a half wavelength or one wavelength; and the taper ratio is the specific value of the maximum weighting coefficient of the energy transducers and the minimum weighting coefficient of the energy transducers. The invention utilizes the energy transducer array elements as less as possible to realize the system objective, lowers the cost of hardware required for constructing the phase-controlled array three-dimensional image sonar system and also reduces the calculation quantity of multiplication summation required for carrying out a wave beam formation algorithm.

The invention discloses a method for visualizing three-dimensional imaging sonar data, belonging to the field of image processing of the three-dimensional data in a small sonar submersible. The method comprises the following steps of: (1) carrying out parameter calibration on the collected three-dimensional imaging sonar data according to a space position of a three-dimensional imaging sonar collecting array, a motion state of the three-dimensional imaging sonar collecting array, a frequency of a sound wave signal and an intensity of the sound wave signal; (2) synthesizing the collected three-dimensional imaging sonar data into a three-dimensional array according to a parameter calibration result of the step (1); and (3) carrying out three-dimensional visualization on the obtained three-dimensional array by utilizing a ray cast direct volume rendering algorithm. In the invention, the three-dimensional imaging sonar data are visualized to process image data collected by a three-dimensional imaging sonar, therefore, the three-dimensional visualization display of the three-dimensional imaging sonar is realized for the first time, and the method facilitates to reflect detail information of a target and a submarine environment comprehensively and accurately.

A processing technique and transducer field of view architecture for use as part of an imaging sonar system to develop three-dimensional images of the space below, to the sides, and forward of a ship.

The invention discloses a three-dimensional looking forward sound imaging sonar system for an underwater vehicle, which comprises a sonar transmitting array 1, a sonar transmitting array 2 and a sonar receiving array, wherein the sonar transmitting array 1 is used for short-distance detection and consists of a plurality of rows of primitives at half-wavelength intervals; the sonar transmitting array 2 is used for long-range detection and consists of a plurality of rows of sonar arrays which are arranged in a circular-arc shape horizontally and at half-wavelength intervals vertically; and the sonar receiving array is a planar array consisting of receiving transducer units at half-wavelength intervals, a central primitive is used for receiving sonar, and edge primitives are dummy primitives. The system forms a plurality of horizontal wave beams by using normal wave beam forming technology; in the wave beams, a phase method is used to work out a horizontal incidence angle; on a vertical plane, information source number estimation and direction-of-arrival estimation technology is used to work out a vertical incidence angle; and the three-dimension spatial position of a scattering point is worked out by using the time of arrival of back waves and a sound image is obtained. The system can realize small-front area, high-resolution, long-distance and wide-coverage detection of forward objects.

This invention discloses a real-time phased array 3D acoustic imaging sonar processing system and method. The system comprises a 3D sonar dot data collection module, a 3D sonar dot data uploading module and a real-time 3D sonar dot data processing module of PC terminal; the method includes the following content: make use of two-stage FPGA signal processing to realize real-time formation of electronic focusing wave beam, and acquire 3D sonar dot data; further transmit 3D sonar dot data to PC terminal for setting and acquisition of directives; PC terminal aims to receive 3D sonar dot data for real-time processing: This includes real-time single-frame multilayer reconstruction, image registration and splice, 3D visualization and real-time saving of data. This invention features in compact structure, high real-time precision, clear image, easy alternation and high extendibility, which has effectively realized the real-time 3D processing of sonar targets.

The invention provides an obstacle detection system and method for an underwater robot, and the system is composed of a robot body, a ground control box and an umbilical cable. The robot body is provided with a multi-beam image sonar, a high-definition camera, an adjustable illumination lamp, a motion controller, a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, an attitude compass and a UDSL converter. The ground control box comprises an image processing unit and a motion control instruction generator. The system introduces an underwater sonar system, a camera system and an image processing device forintelligently recognizing obstacles in front of the underwater robot, and can process the sonar image and the camera image in real time, detect and calculate the size and distance of underwater obstacles, facilitates the improvement of the obstacle avoidance ability of the underwater robot and reduces the damage to the robot.

The invention discloses a side lobe suppression method and an array sparse method for a multi-beam imaging sonar sparse array. A sparse optimization problem of an array antenna is transformed into a linear regression problem of a sparse matrix, combination learning is carried out by taking the reconstruction of multiple beam direction patterns with different pointing directions as a target task, and a sparse semicircle array model for multi-task learning is established; based on the performance requirement of a preset main side lobe, a norm regular term of 1<1 / 2> of a weighted coefficient matrix is introduced on the basis of a least squares loss function, an iterative threshold converged method and an accelerating gradient descent method are used for solving an optimal weighting coefficient, and a weighting coefficient which minimizes a side lobe peak level is solved at the same time while optimizing the position of the sparse array. According to the side lobe suppression method and the array sparse method for the multi-beam imaging sonar sparse array, the problem that the sparse solution falls into the local optimum due to the mismatching of array position and weight vector is avoided, and peak side lobe levels of multiple beams formed by the array after sparseness is effectively reduced.

Sonar imaging data is reduced by assigning partially reflective and / or opaque two dimensional areas for each data point to a series of planes. The reflectivity and / or transmission of light from the areas is calculated and used to construct an image.

The invention discloses an image sonar system and an image sonar method for realizing rectangular scanning, which realize the non-blind area scanning of a rectangular scanning area by the match working of multiple groups of single wave beam image sonar heads. The system mainly comprises an overwater comprehensive processor, a plurality of sets of underwater image sonar heads, a data transmission link cable and a sonar head mounting mechanism, wherein the overwater comprehensive processor receives data collected by the sonar heads through a data transmission link, finishes the processing of a single acoustic signal and an acoustic image, carries out comprehensive image synthesis on images of all the single sonar heads according to the corresponding relation of sonar head posture data and addresses and mounting positions of the sonar heads and displays the whole scanned image; the sonar heads adopt a working way of unit and time division, and the addresses adopt dynamic distribution. Theinvention is suitable for and is not restricted to the applications of underwater image scanning, underwater safety protection and underwater monitoring.

A 360-degree sonar imaging system and method are provided. The system includes a sonar transducer assembly pod with tilted mechanically scanning sonar (MSS) transducers that is deployed into the water below the bottom of the boat. The system provides photo-like imaging of an area surrounding a boat which does not require the boat to be in motion. The pod is deployed by a variety of manual, (trolling motor, transom) or powered mechanical (bow, transom, or fairing block) deployment mechanisms to allow for deployment and retraction of the sonar transducer assembly. In particular embodiments, the MSS system communicates with a side-scan-sonar-imaging-equipped control head unit to display the images generated therefrom. Various speeds and sector scans are provided, as well as a locked side-scan sonar mode. Waypoint navigation and split screen views are also provided.

The invention discloses an integrated underwater searching and rescuing robot. The integrated underwater searching and rescuing robot comprises a shell, a control system, a sensing system, an action system, a searching and alarming system, a rescuing system, a positioning and communication system, a buoyancy system and a power supply system, wherein the shell is spherical; the control system comprises a maritime control system, a processor, a relay, a driver and the like; the sensing system is composed of various sensors; the action system comprises a horizontal propeller and a vertical propeller; the searching and alarming system comprises an infrared thermal imaging system, a light source, an imaging sonar, an alarm and the like; and the rescuing system comprises a rescuing airbag, judgment equipment, triggering equipment, a gas generator and the like. The integrated underwater searching and rescuing robot has the beneficial effects that the size is small and action is rapid and flexible; a searching and rescuing manner is timely and effective and moderate and additional dangers to persons in distress are not caused; the infrared thermal imaging system is combined with the imaging sonar so that the accuracy is improved and influences caused by the environment are small; and an integrated searching and rescuing system can be used for initiatively searching and rescuing underwater, and the searching and rescuing efficiency and the success rate are improved.

The invention discloses a robot for detecting the corrosion of a base plate of an on-service large-sized crude oil storage tank, belonging to the technical field of corrosion detection of storage tanks. The robot comprises an umbilical cable, a rudder balance, a submerging-surfacing adjusting bin, a navigation system, a propeller, a control bin, imaging sonar, a bases bracket, an ultrasonic detection device, an operation platform, a display system and an umbilical cable winch. Before the detection, an internal structure of a storage tank is scanned and reconstituted by the imaging sonar, a plurality of sampling detection points are selected, a walking route of the robot is planed, the robot is put down and is controlled to walk to an appointed working position, and obstacles are avoided byvirtue of the imaging sonar in the moving process. In the detection process, the ultrasonic detection device expands and stretches to be in contact with the base plate at the tank so as to acquire corrosion defect information, after a current detection point is detected, the ultrasonic detection device is withdrawn and is moved to the next working position, so repeatedly, the robot is withdrawn after all sampling points are detected. According to the robot, the detection problems in the crude oil storage tank with complex barriers are solved; and the robot is high in isolation explosive-proofgrades and strong in adaptive capacity.