JPS61205880A - Method for displaying image of scanning sonar - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to easily perform the image observation of a school of fish even if the number of receiving beams increase, by providing a color signal converter circuit and an image synthesizer circuit and displaying a received image on the same image display surface by a different color at every receiving beam. CONSTITUTION:A color signal converter circuit 17 consisting of color signal generators 18, 19, 20, an image synthesizer circuit 21 consisting of red, green and blue color signal synthesizers 22, 23, 24 and a color image display device are provided. When receiving signals S1, S2, Sn corresponding to receiving beams are inputted to the color converter circuit 17, the color signal generators 18, 19, 20 respectively change corresponding to the intensities of receiving signal S1, S2, Sn while the intensity ratio of electric signals corresponding to predeter mined red, green and blue is held and the signals corresponding tothe colors are synthesized by red, green and blue signal syntherizers 22, 23, 24 to be input ted to each color input terminal of a color image display device 25. By this method, a received image is displayed on the same display surface by a different color at every receiving beam and the state of a school of fish can be easily grasped.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an image display method of a scanning sonar forming a received multi-beam.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, in scanning sonar, a receiving multi-beam method has been considered in order to shorten the time for searching for schools of fish.

In this method, multiple reception beams with different depression angles are simultaneously scanned conically (also called conical scan) in the azimuth direction to receive the waves, the received signal for each depression angle is simultaneously extracted, and this signal is used to display as much as possible on the CRT display. This is an attempt to display images at the same time.

An example of this will be explained below.

Figure 3 shows a block diagram of the configuration of a scanning sonar that uses multiple receiving beams. Z, Z,...
, Z indicate received beams with different depression angles. Corresponding to the receiving beams Z, Z2, ..., Z, the same number of phase shift receivers 4, 5, ...,
6 is provided. Electric signals from all conversion elements (transducers) constituting the transducer 3 are applied to each phase shift receiver, and electric signals are also input from the depression angle signal generator 7 from each conversion element arranged in the depression angle variable direction. An depression angle control signal is added that gives a constant phase difference to the signal. By combining the electrical signals to which the phase difference has been imparted in this manner, a receiving beam having an angle of depression determined by the arrangement interval of the conversion elements, the frequency of the sound wave, and the value of the phase difference is formed. Therefore, by adding depression angle control signals that give different phase differences to each phase-shifted receiver, a plurality of receiving beams Z, Z2, Zn, etc., having different depression angles are formed. That will happen. The received signal for each depression angle thus obtained is subjected to beam width formation and scanning in the azimuth direction by the azimuth scanning circuits 8, 9, . . . , 10. S 1 Same S2..., Same S. is obtained. These signals are normally converted into raster scans via a scan converter 1 and then displayed on a cathode ray tube display 12.

Regarding transmission, it is possible to transmit with a wide beam width that includes the reception beams Zl to Z, or to match the number of reception beams within one transmission pulse as shown in Fig. 4. By controlling the phase difference of the electrical signal fed to each conversion element for each division, the energy from one transmission pulse is divided and transmitted by matching the angle of depression of the received beam. You may.

Z, Z, ..., Z in Fig. 4 are 12n transmitted waves corresponding to the received 12n wave beams Z, Z, ..., Z in Fig. 3. This shows that this is a section where the transmitter 1 is undergoing phase control to make the beam a beam.

Next, the signals thus obtained are devised so that they can be displayed as simultaneously as possible on a cathode ray tube display.

As an example, a case will be described in which there are two receiving beams (Z, and 22). FIG. 5 shows an example of a display on a cathode ray tube display. In FIG. 5, for example, the display section 13 displays the received image of the received beam Z1, and the display section 14 displays the received image of the received beam Z2. . In the same figure (b), the display unit 15 displays the received images of the received beams Z1 and Z2 in a superimposed manner, and the display unit 16 displays the cross-sectional images of the received beams Z and Z2 in a specific direction. I'm letting you do it. In the figure, θ1 indicates the depression angle of the receiving beam Z 2 , θ2 indicates the depression angle of the receiving beam Z 2 , and r 1 and r 2 indicate the distance to the target school of fish, respectively.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, with the display method described above, problems arise when the number of receiving beams increases.

First, in the display method shown in FIG. 5(a), as the number of received beams increases, the display area per received beam becomes smaller, making observation difficult. Furthermore, as the number of display surfaces increases, a drawback arises in that it becomes difficult to understand the relationship between the displays. In addition, in the display method shown in FIG.
Since the image signals of the Ti number of receiving beams are displayed superimposed on the image, as the number of receiving beams increases, it becomes difficult to judge whether the image is generated by the receiving beam or not.

In addition, the display on the display unit 16 only displays cross-sectional images of each receiving beam in a specific direction, and as the number of receiving beams increases, the display area per receiving beam becomes smaller and the observation There is a problem in that it becomes difficult for a person to associate and understand the images captured by each receiving beam.

An object of the present invention is to take into consideration the problems of the display method of scanning sonar using multiple receiving beams, and to avoid reducing the image display area of each receiving beam even when the number of receiving beams increases. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a display method that allows images of a school of fish captured by each receiving beam to be observed in association with each other.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention has the following configuration to achieve the above object.

That is, in a scanning sonar that forms a received multi-beam, there is a color signal conversion circuit that converts the received signal of each received beam into a different color signal, and a color signal conversion circuit that converts the received signal of each received beam into a different color signal, and A video synthesis circuit for synthesizing the received color signals is provided, and by applying the output signal of the video synthesis circuit to a color cathode ray tube display, the received signals from each reception beam can be made to be the same with different colors for each reception beam. This is a scanning sonar image display method that displays images on the image display screen.

(Function) Since the video display method of the present invention is configured as described above, the received signals from each receiving beam are converted into electrical signals for displaying different colors in the color signal conversion circuit.

The received color signals from each received beam thus obtained are combined in a video synthesis circuit so that the images from each received beam appear on the same video display screen.

This combined video signal is applied to a color video display using a color cathode ray tube, so the video captured by each receiving beam is displayed in a superimposed manner in a different color for each receiving beam on the video display screen. .

With such a display, it is possible to easily understand on the same display screen which image on the screen is an image generated by the received beam.

Furthermore, since the images from each receiving beam are displayed in a superimposed manner on the display screen, it is easy to understand whether or not there is a relationship between fish school images of different colors. When multiple images of different colors appear in close proximity, it indicates that there is a high possibility that the same school of fish is spreading in the depth direction, and conversely, if it appears in only one color, it indicates that the same school of fish is spreading in the depth direction. This display makes it very easy to understand the state of the fish school, as it shows that the fish school is not very widespread.

(Example) Embodiments of the method of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of means for implementing the video display method of the present invention.

S S , . . . , S are reception signals 12 n corresponding to the reception beams 2n Z , Z , . . . , Z in FIG. These received signals S1, S2, . . . , S are generated in addition to color signal generators 18, 19, . It will be done. Each color signal generator outputs electric signals corresponding to red, green, and blue at a determined strength ratio so as to generate a determined color signal. This output signal changes according to the strength of the received signal while maintaining the strength ratio of the signals corresponding to the field, green, and blue.

The signals corresponding to red from each color signal generator are applied to a red signal combiner 22 of the video combining circuit 21, and the signals corresponding to green from each color signal generator are applied to a green signal combiner 23.
, the signal corresponding to the blue color is also applied to the blue signal combiner 24. a red signal synthesizer 22 of the video synthesis circuit 21;
The green signal synthesizer 23 and the blue signal synthesizer 24 synthesize the manually input signals and output the synthesized signals to each color input terminal of the color video display 25.

Regarding the method of synthesis in the image synthesis circuit 21, it is possible to perform synthesis in which the image signals from the received beams having the smallest depression angle are displayed preferentially, or it is easily possible to perform synthesis by simply adding them.

The difference in how images appear due to the difference in composition method is as follows. Now, when the images from each receiving beam appear to partially overlap, and when prioritizing the images from the receiving beam with the smallest angle of depression, first, the image from receiving beam Z1, including the overlapping part, should be prioritized. is displayed in the color determined for the received beam Z1. Next, the receiving beam Z1
The video portion of the receiving beam Z2 that protrudes from the video of the receiving beam Z2 is displayed in the color specified for the receiving beam Z2, and similarly, the video portion of the receiving beam Z2 that protrudes from the video area of the receiving beam Z2 is displayed in the color specified for the receiving beam Z2. Only the video portion will be displayed in the color determined for the receiving beam Z3. This situation is illustrated in FIG. 2(a).

On the other hand, in the case of compositing by simply adding, the portion where the images overlap appears as a composite color, as shown in FIG. 2(b).

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, in the video display method of the present invention, received videos from received multi-beams with different depression angles are displayed on the same display screen as different color images, so which video is displayed on the same display screen. It is easy to determine whether the image is a wave beam image. In particular, by selecting colors that give a sense of depth from a visual perspective, such as by making the colors darker as the angle of depression increases, it is possible to more intuitively grasp three-dimensional information from images.

In addition, since the images from each receiving beam are displayed in a superimposed manner on 8 display screens, it is easy to understand whether or not there is a relationship between fish school images of different colors, and related fish school images, that is, fish school images of each color, are displayed in a superimposed manner. If they appear overlapping each other, it is possible to obtain useful information to understand the extent of the school of fish in the depth direction.

Conversely, it can also be seen that schools of fish that appear only in a single color do not have depth-wise expansion. As described above, the display method of the present invention has the advantage that it is possible to instantly grasp the state of a school of fish more accurately than the conventional method without missing any school of fish over a wide range of depression angles around the entire circumference in the azimuth direction. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of means for carrying out the method of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of image display according to the method of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a scanning system using receiving multi-beams. Figure 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a sonar. Figure 4 is a diagram showing the transmission pulse when transmitting waves are also performed using multiple beams in a scanning sonar that uses multiple receiving beams. Figure 5 is a diagram showing the transmission pulse of the conventional two receiving beam FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a display method in the case of FIG. 1...Transmitter, 2...Transmission/reception switch, 3
...Transducer/receiver, 4.5.6... Phase shift receiver, 7... Depression angle signal generator, 8.9.10.
...Azimuth scanning circuit, 11...Scan converter, 12...Cathode ray tube display, 13.
14.15.16...Display section, 17...
・Color signal conversion circuit, 18.19.20...Color signal generator, 21...Video synthesis circuit, 22...
... Red signal combiner, 23 ... Green signal combiner, 24 ... Blue signal combiner, 25 ...
...Color video display. Agent Patent Attorney Yoshi Yahata Ususha fIZ Yi 212

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a scanning sonar that forms a received multi-beam, there is a color signal conversion circuit that converts the received signal of each received beam into a different color signal, and a color signal conversion circuit that converts the received signal of each received beam into a different color signal, and a color signal of each received beam from the color signal conversion circuit. A video synthesis circuit for synthesizing the signals is provided, and by applying the output signal of the video synthesis circuit to a color cathode ray tube display, the received signals from each receiving beam can be displayed as the same image in different colors for each receiving beam. A scanning sonar image display method characterized by displaying an image on a surface.