Sonar beamforming system
First Claim
1. A sonar beamforming system, comprising in combination:
- a forward-looking sonar having transmit and receive transducer arrays and a programmable beamforming device formed on a single integrated circuit; and
at least one side-looking sonar having multi-element arrays and a second beamforming device formed on a second single integrated circuit.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to sonar beamforming systems and methods, using a forward-looking sonar having transmit and receive transducer arrays with a beamforming device and at least one side-looking sonar having dynamically range-focused beams. The forward-looking sonar provides for obstacle avoidance and undersea survey. The systems include one-dimensional transmit and receive transducer arrays with beamforming electronics, a computing controller such as, for example, a personal computer host controller. The arrays and beamforming electronics can be packaged in a hermetically sealed housing unit and mounted in Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV). The side-looking sonar system includes for example, 32-element, one-dimensional arrays that are mounted on either side of the UUVs. Further, a downward looking Bathymetric sonar may be mounted on the underside of the vehicle for high-resolution mapping.
118 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A sonar beamforming system, comprising in combination:
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a forward-looking sonar having transmit and receive transducer arrays and a programmable beamforming device formed on a single integrated circuit; and
at least one side-looking sonar having multi-element arrays and a second beamforming device formed on a second single integrated circuit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 21, 22, 23)
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6. A water craft, comprising in combination at least one of:
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a forward-looking sonar having a transmit and receive transducer array and a programmable beamforming device formed on a single integrated circuit; and
a side-looking sonar having multi-element arrays and a beamforming device formed on a second single integrated circuit.
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7. A forward-looking sonar comprising in combination:
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a bistatic transducer array having a first transmit transducer array and a second receive transducer array;
a beamforming device formed on a single integrated circuit; and
a processing unit. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
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8. A method for forming an integrated image comprising the steps of:
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obtaining array signals from a forward-looking sonar having a programmable beamformer circuit formed on a single integrated circuit;
obtaining array signals from at least one side-looking sonar;
normalizing the array signals from the forward-looking sonar and the at least one side-looking sonar to generate normalized data using a personal computer platform; and
fusing the normalized data to generate an image. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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9. An underwater unmanned vehicle system comprising in combination:
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a forward-looking sonar having a transmit and receive transducer array and a beamforming device formed on a single integrated circuit; and
at least one side-looking sonar having a second transducer array and a beamforming device formed on a second integrated circuit. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 31, 32)
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Specification