Sonar

• US 20060133210A1
• Filed: 12/19/2005
• Published: 06/22/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Furuno Electric Co, Ltd
• Original Assignee: Furuno Electric Co, Ltd
• Inventors: Onishi, Yuriko, Kubota, Osamu, Satoh, Takanori, Inouchi, Mitsuhiro, Ishihara, Shinji
• Granted Patent: US 7,245,557 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 367/99
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/96 for locating fish
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/527 Extracting wanted echo signals Doppler systems G01S15/50
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 367/901 Noise or unwanted signal reduction in nonseismic receiving system

Abstract

A sonar emits an ultrasonic wave into the water from a transducer on the basis of a transmission signal outputted from a transmission circuit, receives an echo reflected in the water with the transducer and converts the echo into an electric signal, and displays underwater information on a display unit on the basis of an echo signal extracted by processing the electric signal. A tailing signal removing unit for removing a tailing signal and extracting only the echo signal is provided in the sonar such that a video of a surface layer fish shoal is clearly displayed on a screen of the display unit without being hidden by a video of the tailing signal.

Claims

1. A sonar comprising:

a transmission circuit for outputting a transmission signal of a predetermined frequency;

a transducer for emitting an ultrasonic wave into water in response to the transmission signal from the transmission circuit and receiving an echo reflected in the water and converting the echo into an electric signal;

a tailing signal removing unit for removing a tailing signal caused by the transmission signal from the electric signal including the tailing signal and the echo signal; and

a display unit for displaying the echo signal from the tailing signal removing unit.

2. A sonar comprising:

a transmission circuit for outputting a transmission signal of a predetermined frequency;

a transducer for emitting an ultrasonic wave into water in response to the transmission signal from the transmission circuit and receiving an echo reflected in the water and converting the echo into an electric signal;

a reception circuit for receiving the electric signal converted by the transducer and extracting a reception signal in a predetermined frequency band;

an A/D converter for sampling the reception signal extracted by the reception circuit at a fixed time interval and converting the reception signal into a digital signal;

a tailing signal removing unit for removing the tailing signal included in the digital reception signal from the A/D converter;

a detection circuit for applying detection processing to an echo signal outputted from the tailing signal removing unit; and

a display unit for displaying the echo signal from the detection circuit.

3. A sonar according to claim 2, wherein the tailing signal removing unit comprises:

a low-pass filter for extracting only the tailing signal out of the tailing signal and the echo signal included in the reception signal outputted from the A/D converter; and

a differential arithmetic unit for calculating a difference between the output of the A/D converter and the output of the low-pass filter and extracting only the echo signal.

4. A sonar according to claim 2, wherein the tailing signal removing unit comprises a high-pass filter for extracting only the echo signal out of the tailing signal and the echo signal included in the reception signal outputted from the A/D converter.

5. A sonar according to claim 3, wherein the low-pass filter extracts only the echo signal on the basis of present and past sampling values of the reception signal obtained by the A/D converter.

6. A sonar according to claim 4, wherein the high-pass filter extracts only the echo signal on the basis of present and past sampling values of the reception signal obtained by the A/D converter.

7. A sonar according to claim 5, wherein the sonar initializes, when a transmission condition for the transmission signal changes, the past sampling values.

8. A sonar according to claim 6, wherein the sonar initializes, when a transmission condition for the transmission signal changes, the past sampling values.

9. A sonar according to claim 5, wherein the sonar accumulates past sampling values used in the low-pass filter or the high-pass filter in association with swing angles of a hull and, when the hull swings, removes a tailing signal and extracts only an echo signal on the basis of sampling values corresponding to the swing angles.

10. A sonar according to claim 6, wherein the sonar accumulates past sampling values used in the low-pass filter or the high-pass filter in association with swing angles of a hull and, when the hull swings, removes a tailing signal and extracts only an echo signal on the basis of sampling values corresponding to the swing angles.