Active mills cross arrangement systems and methods
AssigneeRaymarine UK Limited
InventorPaul Stokes
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Techniques are disclosed for systems and methods to provide high resolution interpolation of arrival direction of echo return signals using an active mills cross arrangement, such as in sonar or other ranging sensor systems. A system may include an active mills cross arrangement with high resolution interpolation of echo returns in two planes. The active mills cross arrangement may include a transmitter configured to emit one or more signals, a first line array including a first plurality of elements defining a first plane, and a second line array including a second plurality of elements defining a second plane orthogonal to the first plane. At least one of the first line array and the second line array may be configured to receive echo returns of the emitted signals from one or more objects or targets.
Claims19
A system comprising:
- an active mills cross arrangement with interpolation of echo returns in two planes, the active mills cross arrangement comprising:
- a transmitter configured to emit one or more signals forming one or more transmit beams;
- a first line array comprising a first plurality of elements defining a first plane;
- a second line array comprising a second plurality of elements defining a second plane orthogonal to the first plane;
- and
- a third line array comprising a third plurality of elements, wherein the third line array extends parallel to the second line array, and wherein the third line array is spaced away from the second line array along the first line array;
- wherein the second line array and the third line array are configured to receive echo returns of the emitted signals from one or more objects or targets, and the system is configured to form one or more receive beams based on the echo returns;
- wherein the first line array defines the transmitter, the transmitter defined as a transmitter array which is a phased array;
- wherein the second line array defines a first receiver array for receiving echo returns of the signals emitted from the transmitter;
- and
- wherein the third line array defines a second receiver array for receiving echo returns of the signals emitted from the transmitter;
- wherein the system is configured to provide a result of a multiplicative combination of the transmit and receive beams in a configuration reducing the echo returns to only those that occur within an intersection of the transmit and receive beams, the system being configured to determine a direction of arrival of the echo returns from the multiplicative combination.
A method comprising:
- emitting, by a transmitter controlled by a logic device, one or more signals along a first plane, the transmitter being a phased array, the one or more signals forming one or more transmit beams;
- receiving, by a first line array in communication with the logic device, echo returns of the emitted signals along a second plane;
- receiving, by a second line array in communication with the logic device, echo returns of the emitted signals along a third plane parallel to the second plane;
- forming one or more receive beams based on the echo returns of the emitted signals along the second and third planes;
- and
- interpolating, by the logic device in a plurality of planes, a direction of arrival algorithm to the received echo returns;
- wherein the method comprises providing a result of a multiplicative combination of the transmit and receive beams in a configuration reducing the echo returns to only those that occur within an intersection of the transmit and receive beams;
- wherein the method comprises determining a direction of arrival of the echo returns from the multiplicative combination.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.