System and Method for Automatic Detection of a Sonar Contact
AssigneeNorthrop Grumman Guidance and Electronics Company, Inc.
InventorErnest T. Bick
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Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for automatically detecting sonar contacts. The system comprises a data analyzer that integrates the raw data from a plurality of sonar detectors over a predetermined period of time, thereby providing integrated data characterizing a sonar image on a sonar display. A Hough transform module is configured to employ a Hough transform algorithm that transforms at least a portion of the integrated data to detect a substantially straight line in the sonar image.
Claims20
A system for automatically detecting sonar contacts, the system comprising:
- a data analyzer that integrates the raw data from a plurality of sonar detectors over a predetermined period of time, thereby providing integrated data characterizing a sonar image on a sonar display;
- and
- a Hough transform module configured to employ a Hough transform algorithm that transforms at least a portion of the integrated data to detect a substantially straight line in the sonar image to facilitate detection of the sonar contacts.
A system for automatically detecting sonar contacts, the system comprising:
- means for integrating data into data points that characterizes detected sonar beams from at a plurality of different positions, thereby generating integrated data;
- means for transforming at least a portion of the integrated data into a Hough space that defines Hough data that characterizes the data points as straight lines;
- and
- means for accumulating intersections of the straight lines to facilitate detection of the sonar contacts.
A method for automatically detecting sonar contacts, the method comprising:
- storing raw data from a plurality of sonar detectors;
- integrating the raw data over a predetermined integration time, thereby generating integrated data, wherein the integrated data characterizes a two-dimensional Euclidian space;
- transforming the integrated data into a Hough space;
- detecting intersecting lines in the Hough space to facilitate detection of the sonar contacts.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.