Patent GB-1220629-A (GB)
Title: Apparatus for determining the exact direction or frequency of incident sound waves
IPC: G01S15/50
Filed: 1968-08-02
Abstract: 1,220,629. Direction-finding and Doppler frequency measuring. FRIED KRUPP G.m.b.H. 2 Aug., 1968 [3 Aug., 1967], No. 37104/68. Heading H4D. [Also in Division G1] Apparatus for determining the precise direction of incidence or precise frequency of a received sound signal comprises a group of directional or frequency selective sound detectors providing respective information channels which generate, in groups of at least three overlapping channels, overlapping direction or frequency information values represented by respective voltages, non-interpolating electronic switch mechanism for sampling the channels, an interpolator for deriving from the sampled voltages on a time scale and under the control of a function generator an interpolation signal having a peak whose position along the time scale represents the precise direction or frequency, and a timer-controlled selecting register for actuating the switch mechanism. The Fig. 1 embodiment for determining the direction (x) of a sound source comprises an array of 48 hydrophones E1-E48 connected via delay compensator N1 to the inputs of gates a, b, c. The directional responses of the hydrophones (Fig. 3) are assumed to be in the form of sinusoidal humps covering overlapping sectors α, so that three adjacent hydrophones respond to signal S. Clock generator T1 and register R1 provide control pulses for opening switches S1-S48 in gates a, b, c in a predetermined sequence so that all the hydrophone outputs are sampled in groups of three and passed to multipliers Ma, Mb, Mc for multiplication by weighting functions g a (t), gb(t), g c (t). These functions are also sinusoidal humps, relatively phase-shifted by 60 degrees, and provide the interpolation. The multiplier outputs are summed and a pulse U m (t), generated by device S m  when the sum signal reaches its peak value, intensity-modulates the trace of a cathode-ray tube (C.R.T.) to whose beam is swept in a circular path in synchronism with the sampling of the hydrophone outputs. The time of occurrence of u m (t) is linearly related to x. Instead of using the hydrophone outputs directly, the hydrophones may be divided into two groups and their signals correlated before the sampling and interpolation. The Fig. 9 embodiment for determining the Doppler frequency-shift, (x) of a pulsed sound beam reflected from a moving target comprises a bank of 40 filters F having overlapping passbands (Fig. 3), e.g. with bands 42 Hz wide and centre frequencies at 14 Hz spacings. The Doppler signal is fed to the filter bank and the filter outputs are fed via gates S1-S40, which are opened three at a time by control pulses from clock generator T2 and register R2, to delay network Fi. The impulse response of this network is tailored to be of sinusoidal form and to apply weighting factors with a 60 degree phase-shift between them to the signals from three adjacent filters F, thereby providing the interpolation. The network output reaches a peak value at a time which is linearly related to the Doppler signal frequency x. Peak detector Sm2 generates a pulse at this time for intensitymodulating the trace of C.R.T. K2 whose X- timebase sweep is synchronized with the scanning of the filter bank outputs and whose Y- timebase may be used to display target echoes for indicating target range.