Sonar apparatus having a steerable beam
First Claim
1. A method in a sonar apparatus for finding a relative location of an object, the method including steps of:
- generating steering information for scanning said acoustical beam within a scan plane; and
calibrating said steering information for scanning said acoustical beam in a '"'"'scan sector within said scan plane, said scan sector having an approximate angular range bounded by one of (i) a level forward direction and a downward direction, (ii) a first direction corresponding to forty-five degrees left of said downward direction and a second direction corresponding to forty-five degrees right of said downward direction, and (iii) a first direction corresponding to forty-five degrees left from a forward, downward sloping direction and a second direction corresponding to forty-five degrees right from said forward, downward sloping direction; and
issuing a transmit signal including said calibrated steering Information to a scanning transducer for scanning an acoustical beam over said scan sector.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A sonar apparatus using a phased array technique for steering an acoustical beam for scanning an underwater area. The sonar apparatus includes a scanning transducer having multiple elements for transmitting and steering the acoustical beam and receiving its reflection from an object, an electronic control circuit for generating steering information and computing a relative location of the object, and an input/output section for displaying the relative location to a user. The control circuit includes a software level/align control for compensating for mis-leveling or mis-alignment during installation, a scan control capable of selecting a scan center direction and a scan width in one degree increments, a forward gain control for optimizing the sensitivity of the sonar apparatus in a forward looking scan, and a combination of a time variable gain control and an autorange control for minimizing the reflection of sidelobes of the acoustical beam.
84 Citations
39 Claims
-
1. A method in a sonar apparatus for finding a relative location of an object, the method including steps of:
-
generating steering information for scanning said acoustical beam within a scan plane; and calibrating said steering information for scanning said acoustical beam in a '"'"'scan sector within said scan plane, said scan sector having an approximate angular range bounded by one of (i) a level forward direction and a downward direction, (ii) a first direction corresponding to forty-five degrees left of said downward direction and a second direction corresponding to forty-five degrees right of said downward direction, and (iii) a first direction corresponding to forty-five degrees left from a forward, downward sloping direction and a second direction corresponding to forty-five degrees right from said forward, downward sloping direction; and issuing a transmit signal including said calibrated steering Information to a scanning transducer for scanning an acoustical beam over said scan sector.
-
-
2. A sonar apparatus having a steerable acoustical beam, comprising:
-
a control circuit for providing steering information to a scanning transducer for steering said acoustical beam; and scanning means coupled to the control circuit for receiving information for a directly selected scan width and a directly selected center scan direction and generating said steering information for automatically scanning said acoustical beam over said scan width about said center scan direction. - View Dependent Claims (3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 18)
-
-
4. A sonar apparatus having a steerable acoustical beam, comprising:
-
a control circuit for providing steering information to a scanning transducer for steering said acoustical beam in a selected direction; and scanning means coupled to the control circuit for generating said steering information for automatically scanning said acoustical beam over a scan width in angular steps having a first step size when said selected direction is a certain direction and having a second step size when said selected direction differs from said certain direction. - View Dependent Claims (8)
-
-
6. A sonar apparatus having a steerable acoustical beam, comprising:
-
a control circuit for providing steering information to a scanning transducer for steering said acoustical beam; and level/align means coupled to the control circuit for calibrating said steering information to steer said acoustical beam within a scan sector having an approximate angular range bounded by at least one of (i) a level forward direction and a downward direction, (ii) a first direction corresponding to forty-five degrees left of said downward direction and a second direction corresponding to forty-five degrees right of said downward direction, and (iii) a first direction corresponding to forty-five degrees left from a forward, downward sloping direction and a second direction corresponding to forty-five degrees right from said forward, downward sloping direction.
-
-
13. A sonar apparatus having a steerable acoustical beam, comprising:
-
a control circuit for issuing an electrical transmit signal for providing steering information to a scanning transducer for steering said acoustical beam in a selected direction; and a receiver coupled to the control circuit for receiving an electrical receive signal from said scanning transducer when a relative receive phase indicates that a direction of a reflection of said acoustical beam from an object is opposite to said selected direction, said receive signal including at least two receive component signals having said relative receive phase corresponding to said direction of said reflection.
-
-
14. A method in a sonar apparatus for finding a relative location of a bottom surface, the method including steps of:
-
issuing steering information to a scanning transducer for steering an acoustical beam; receiving information for a distance to said bottom surface from said scanning transducer from a reflection of said acoustical beam from said bottom surface; resolving said distance into a first distance to said bottom surface representative of a depth and a second distance to said bottom surface orthogonal to said first distance displaying a history of said depth on a first screen with a first scale and simultaneously displaying a current said depth on a second screen with said first scale, where said first scale on said second screen is adjacent and aligned to said first scale on said first screen, and a current said second distance on said second screen on a second scale orthogonal to said first scale in a visual form that is perceptible to a user.
-
-
15. A sonar apparatus having a steerable acoustical beam, the sonar apparatus comprising:
-
a control circuit for providing steering information to a scanning transducer for scanning said acoustical beam, receiving distance determination information for a distance to an object, and resolving said distance determination information into a downward distance and a second distance orthogonal to said downward distance; a receiver having a variable sensitivity for receiving a signal indicative of said distance to said object from said scanning transducer from a reflection of said acoustical beam from said object including a bottom surface and providing said distance determination information to said control circuit; a display having a first full-scale range and a second full-scale range, the display coupled to the control circuit for displaying a representation of said object at a display location that corresponds to said downward distance as a proportion of said first full-scale range and said second distance as a proportion of said second full-scale range; and an autorange control coupled to the display for adjusting said first and said second full-scale ranges in the same ratio for increasing a ratio of said sensitivity to said reflection from a far away said object represented on the display to said sensitivity to said reflection from a near said bottom surface represented on the display.
-
-
16. A sonar apparatus having a steerable acoustical beam, comprising:
-
circuit means for providing steering information to a scanning transducer for steering said acoustical beam, receiving information for a distance to a bottom surface from said scanning transducer from a reflection of said acoustical beam from said bottom surface, and resolving said distance information into a downward distance and a forward distance; and a display coupled to the control circuit for receiving information for said downward distance and said forward distance, the display including a historical screen for displaying a history of said downward distance to said bottom surface on a first scale and a forward-looking screen for displaying a current said downward distance to said bottom surface on said first scale and a current said forward distance to said bottom surface on a second scale orthogonal to said first scale, said forward-looking screen adjacent to said historical screen for aligning a most recent said history of said bottom surface with a nearest of said current bottom surface.
-
-
17. A method in a sonar apparatus for finding a relative location of an object, the method including steps of:
-
issuing a transmit signal to a scanning transducer for transmitting an acoustical beam; receiving a receive signal from said scanning transducer with a receiver having a selectable sensitivity to said receive signal, said receive signal including information for a distance to an object including a bottom surface from a reflection of said acoustical beam from said object; resolving said distance into a downward distance and a forward distance orthogonal to said downward distance; displaying a representation of said object on a display with said downward distance represented on a first scale having a first full-scale range and said forward distance represented on a second scale having a second full-scale range; determining when said object is said bottom surface; and increasing a ratio between a first said sensitivity to a first said reflection corresponding to a far away said object represented on said display and a second said sensitivity to a second said reflection corresponding to a near said bottom surface represented on said display by increasing said first and second full-scale ranges in the same proportion when said downward distance to said bottom surface is a large proportion of said first full-scale range.
-
-
19. A marine sonar system having a steerable acoustical beam, the system comprising:
-
a boat; a scanning transducer mounted to the underside of the boat for converting an electrical transmit signal having steering information into an acoustical beam having a selected direction in response to said steering information and converting a reflection of said acoustical beam from at least one object into an electrical receive signal; a control circuit coupled to the scanning transducer for issuing said electrical transmit signal, receiving said electrical receive signal, and calculating a distance to said object; and a scan control for receiving information for a directly selected scan center direction and a directly selected scan width and coupled to the control circuit for providing said steering information based upon said scan center direction and said scan width for automatically scanning said acoustical beam over said scan width about said center scan direction. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
-
-
20. A method in a sonar apparatus for finding a relative location of an object, the method including steps of:
-
issuing a transmit signal for providing steering information to a scanning transducer for steering said acoustical beam in a selected direction; and receiving a receive signal from said scanning transducer for a reflection of said acoustical beam from at least one object when a direction of said reflection is opposite to said selected direction, said receive signal including at least two receive component signals having a relative phase corresponding to said direction of said reflection.
-
-
21. further including a step of:
generating said steering information for scanning said acoustical beam in angular steps having angular step sizes based upon said selected direction.
-
29. A method in a sonar apparatus for finding a relative location of an object, the method including steps of:
-
receiving information for a directly selected scan width and a directly selected center scan direction; generating steering information in response to said scan width and said scan center direction; and issuing a transmit signal including said steering information to a scanning transducer for scanning an acoustical beam over said scan width about said center scan direction. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
-
Specification