JPS6235160B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] This invention utilizes the isochronicity and isoperiodic nature of radio waves such as omega stations and aviation radio beacon stations, which have very good propagation characteristics and highly accurate period times, and are arranged. The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for synchronizing flashing of a group of maritime markings, which corrects the period of individual flashing signal generation circuits in a large number of maritime markings.

Next, this invention will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings showing one embodiment thereof.

First, the radio waves of the Omega station shown in FIG. 1 will be explained.

Omega station radio waves are one of the navigational aid radios used for positioning ships, etc. by hyperbolic navigation that utilizes the uniformity of radio waves, and are ultra-long waves (10 to 14 KHz) assigned to international flights for radio navigation. VLF), it has very good propagation characteristics, and by simply placing 8 transmitting stations at appropriate locations on the earth, it is possible to receive signals with almost uniform accuracy from any point on the earth. It is possible. Currently, transmitting stations have been installed in 8 countries, each with 10.2K
In order of transmission frequency: Hz, 13.6KHz, 111/3KHz,
High-power A1 radio waves are transmitted in accordance with the time schedule shown in the Omega format in Figure 1, with each period being exactly 10.0 seconds. This invention uses, for example, the accurate time period of this omega station radio wave to apply a period to the self-running flashing signal.

Next, in FIG. 2 showing one embodiment, each maritime beacon has an antenna 1 connected to a receiving device 2 which receives radio waves of a predetermined transmission frequency from the Omega station. A signal separation circuit 3 detects a signal with a length within a set time range and generates a pulse signal synchronized with that signal, and divides the pulse signal output from the signal separation circuit 3 into n times (n is a natural number). It is connected to the light unit 7 through a synchronization signal generation circuit 4 that circulates and generates a synchronization signal once every 10×n seconds, a blinking signal generation circuit 5, and a lighting circuit 6. A reference oscillation circuit 8 that determines the period of flashing and flickering is connected.

A third circuit exemplifying the signal separation circuit 3 described above is provided.
In the figure, 9 is an input terminal of the signal separation circuit 3 connected to the receiving device 2, 10 and 11 are a first capacitor and a first resistor connected in series to the input terminal 9,
12 is a first diode whose anode is connected to the connection point of each end of the first capacitor 10 and the first resistor 11; 13 is a second diode whose cathode is connected to the other end of the first resistor 11; A second capacitor 15 is connected to the cathode of the first diode 12 and the anode of the second diode 13;
16 is a resistor connected in parallel to the second capacitor 14 via the second resistor 15; 17 is a third diode whose anode is connected to the input terminal 9;
8 has both ends connected to the anode of the second diode 13 and the third
a third resistor connected to the cathode of the diode 17; 19 an operational amplifier whose positive and negative input terminals are respectively connected to the cathode of the third diode 17 and the other end of the second resistor 15; and 20 a first to third
Resistors 11, 15, 18, first and second capacitors 10, 14, first to third diodes 12,
13, 17, volume 16 and operational amplifier 19
21 is a monomulti with a retrigger function, one end of which is connected to the output terminal of the operational amplifier 19, and 22 and 23 are monomultis with one end connected to the other end of the monomulti with a retrigger function 21. a first inverter and a fourth resistor connected;
A third capacitor 24 has one end connected to the other end of the fourth resistor 23, and 25 and 26 have one input terminal connected to the other end of the fourth resistor 23 and the other end of the first inverter 22, respectively. First and second gate circuits such as Schmitt-triggered donant gates having threshold levels, the output terminal of the gate circuit 26 being connected to the other input terminal of the first gate circuit 25. 27 is a transistor whose base is connected to the output terminal of the first gate circuit 25, and whose emitter is grounded. 28 is a power terminal, 29 and 30 are power terminals 28
A fifth resistor and a fourth capacitor are connected in series, a connection point of which is connected to the collector of the transistor 27, and the other end of the fourth capacitor 30 is grounded. A sixth resistor 31 has one end connected to the collector of the transistor 27, and the other end connected to the other input terminal of the second gate circuit 26. A fifth capacitor 32 has one end connected to the other end of the sixth resistor 31, and the other end is grounded. 33 is a second inverter whose one end is connected to the output terminal of the second gate circuit 26, and 34 is an output terminal of the signal separation circuit 3 led out from the other end of the second inverter 33.

Next, in FIG. 4 showing the details of one example of the synchronizing signal generation circuit 4 described above, 35 is a frequency dividing circuit connected to the output terminal 34 of the signal separation circuit 3, and 36 is a frequency dividing circuit whose input terminals are connected to the frequency dividing circuit. 35 is an AND circuit connected to each output terminal; 37 is a first NOR circuit whose one input terminal is connected to the output terminal of AND circuit 36;
38 is a second NOR circuit whose one input terminal is connected to the output terminal of the first NOR circuit 37, and whose output terminal is connected to the other input terminal of the first NOR circuit 37, the reset terminal of the frequency divider circuit 35, and the flashing signal. They are respectively connected to N-stage programmable counters 5' of the generating circuit 5. A third inverter 39 has one end connected to the output terminal 34 of the signal separation circuit 3, and the other end connected to the other input terminal of the second NOR circuit 38.

Further, the blinking signal generation circuit 5 includes an N-stage programmable counter 5' and a signal generator 5''.

Next, the operation of the embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

Now, a case will be explained in which marine beacons are installed in the sea near Japan and the receiving device 2 of each marine beacon has a reception frequency of 111/3 KHz.

The radio waves of Omega station caught by antenna 1 are
An output waveform as shown in FIG. 5a is obtained via the receiving device 2. In other words, the 111/3KHz Omega station radio waves transmitted from the nearest Japanese transmitting station are
It is received at maximum amplitude with one period of 10 seconds, and the 111/3KHz Omega station radio waves from other stations are received as noise.

Next, this received signal is input to the signal separation circuit 3, and a signal having a half-wave rectified waveform as shown in FIG. 2B is obtained at point A. On the other hand, the first capacitor 10, the first resistor 11, the first and second diodes 1
2 and 13, the received signal is detected and charged to the second capacitor 14, and both ends of the second capacitor 14 are charged with the received signal as shown in FIG. At this time, the second capacitor 14 and the second resistor 15
By setting the time constant of volume 16 longer than 10 seconds, the voltage has a waveform that rises relatively quickly and falls very slowly, and that changes in proportion to the voltage of the maximum amplitude of the received signal. converted. Then, the two voltages shown in FIG. 5b and c are compared in the operational amplifier 19, and the signal shown in b is output only when it is larger than the signal shown in c, and as shown in d, the noise is removed and the relative Only the signal with maximum amplitude is detected. Then, the output signal of this operational amplifier 19 is input to a monomulti 21 with a retrigger function. Here, mono multi 21 with retrigger function
When the next trigger pulse is input during the metastable time, it will be re-triggered in sequence at the time of input, and it will not reach a stable state until after the metastable time has elapsed. 5/o (however, o is the frequency of the omega station radio wave received by the receiving device 2, and 5 is an empirical number), the output of the monomulti 21 is as shown in e,
A stable state is reached after a delay time of 5/o has passed since the last trigger pulse of the operational amplifier 19. In other words, by setting the metastable time of the monomulti 21 to be longer than the period of the input signal, it will not be affected by changes in signal strength or frequency caused by lightning or other strong external noise, and the periodic repeating of the nearest It is possible to accurately detect the time span of the omega station radio wave (in this case, the sum of 1 second of the transmission time and 5/o of the delay time), and also to convert the output signal of the operational amplifier 19 into a direct current rectangular wave. It is converted into a signal and equivalently rectified.

By the way, I am currently using Mono Multi 21 with retrigger function.
Assume that a signal with a falling part due to noise in a part of the time span of 1 sec+5/o as shown in FIG. 6a is output. This signal is then inverted by the first inverter 22, and a signal as shown in b is obtained at point B. On the other hand, Monomulti 2
As shown in c, the output signal of 1 is charged to the third capacitor 24 with a time constant determined by the fourth resistor 23 and the third capacitor 24. At this time, if the threshold level of the first gate circuit 25 is _S1 as shown in the figure, the third capacitor 24 starts to be charged from time _t1 , and at time _t2 , the third capacitor 24 starts to be charged.
4 reaches the threshold level _S1 of the first gate circuit 25. On the other hand, until time t ₂ , the first
The input signal of one input terminal of the gate circuit 25 is
Since it is at a low level, the output signal of the first gate circuit 25 is at a high level, as shown in e, and the transistor 27 remains on. Therefore, the other input of the second gate circuit 26 remains at low level and its output remains at high level. Therefore, at time _t2 when the voltage across the third capacitor 24 reaches the threshold level _S1 of the first gate circuit 25, the first gate circuit 2
The input signal at one input terminal of the transistor 5 becomes high level, the output signal becomes low level, and the transistor 27 is turned off. Therefore, the DC voltage at the power supply terminal 28 is applied to the fifth resistor 29 and the fourth capacitor 3.
With the time constant of 0, the fourth capacitor 30 is charged as shown in f, and further, with the time constant of the sixth resistor 31 and the fifth capacitor 32, the fifth capacitor 32 is charged as shown in g. . Here, if the threshold level of the second gate circuit 26 is _S2 , the charging potential of the fifth capacitor 32 reaches the threshold level _S2 at time _t3 . That is, the input signal at the other input terminal of the second gate circuit 26 becomes high level. Therefore, the second gate circuit 26 outputs a high-level signal as shown in d, this signal is inverted by the second inverter 33, and the output terminal 34 of the signal separation circuit 3 is output as shown in h. The output of is low level. By the way, the output signal of the monomulti 21 with retrigger function has a falling part due to noise as shown in a, but the time constant of the fourth resistor 23 and the third capacitor 24 is set to be smaller than the time width of the noise included in the input signal. By setting a large value, the voltage across the third capacitor 24 becomes higher than that of the first gate circuit 2, as shown in c.
The voltage across the fifth capacitor 32 does not fall below the threshold level _S1 of the second gate circuit 26 at time _t3 .
Until S ₂ is reached, the output signal of the first gate circuit 25 remains at a high level, the transistor 27 also remains on, and the fourth capacitor 30 and the fifth capacitor 32 continue to be charged.

Then, at time _t3 , the fifth capacitor 32
The voltage across the terminal reaches the threshold level _S2 of the second gate circuit 26, and the input signal at the other input terminal of the second gate circuit 26 becomes high level. However, since the input signal at one input terminal of the second gate circuit 26 is at a low level as shown in b,
As shown in d, the output signal of the second gate circuit 26 maintains a high level. i.e. from time t ₂
The period up to _t3 is the signal separation time, and this signal separation time is set by the time constant of the fifth resistor 29 and the fourth capacitor 30, and when a signal shorter than the set time _t3 is output from the monomulti 21. , second
The output signal of the output terminal of the gate circuit 26 never becomes low level, and the output signal of the second inverter 33 never becomes high level. That is,
Even if a signal with a time width shorter than the signal separation time set by the time constants of the fifth resistor 29 and the fourth capacitor 30 is input, it will not be output from the output terminal 34 of the signal separation circuit 3.

Next, at time _t4 , the input signal at one input terminal of the second gate circuit 26 becomes high level, as shown in b, and the input signal at the other input terminal of the second gate circuit 26 becomes high level, as shown in g. , it remains high level, so a low level signal is output,
A high-level signal is output from the second inverter 33 to the output terminal 34 of the signal separation circuit 3, as shown at h. That is, a high level signal is output from the output terminal 34 in synchronization with the fall of the output signal of the monomulti 21. At this time, the low level output signal of the second gate circuit 26 is applied to the first gate circuit 25, the output signal of the first gate circuit 25 becomes high level as shown in e, and the transistor 27 is turned on. , the electric charge charged in the fourth capacitor 30 is transferred to the transistor 2 as shown in f.
7, the fifth capacitor 32
The charge charged in is discharged according to the time constant, as shown by g.

Then, at time _t5 , the fifth capacitor 32
As shown in g, the voltage across the terminal reaches the threshold level _s2 of the second gate circuit 26, the output signal of the second gate circuit 26 becomes high level, and the second
The output signal of the inverter 33 is also as shown in h.
becomes low level. That is, the pulse width of the pulse signal output to the output terminal can be set by the time constant of the sixth resistor 31 and the fifth capacitor 32. At this time, the high level output signal of the second gate circuit 26 is applied to the other input terminal of the first gate circuit 25, and the output signal of the first gate circuit 25 becomes low level.

Next, at time t ₆ , the third capacitor 24
The voltage across the terminal reaches the threshold level _s1 of the first gate circuit 25, and the output signal of the first gate circuit 25 becomes high level, as shown in e. Then, the same operation as described above can be repeated for each period of the received signal.

That is, in the signal separation circuit 3, the time constant of the fourth resistor 23 and the third capacitor 24 determines the noise separation time, the time constant of the fifth resistor 29 and the fifth capacitor 30 determines the signal separation time, and the time constant of the fifth resistor 29 and the fifth capacitor 30 determines the signal separation time. 5 By setting the pulse width of the pulse signal using the time constant of the capacitor 32, noise is removed using the noise separation time.
Only a signal having a desired time width is detected by the signal separation time, and a pulse signal synchronized with the falling edge of the signal is output. Therefore, it prevents malfunctions due to noise and outputs a highly accurate pulse signal every 10 seconds.

Next, the pulse signal of this signal separation circuit 3 is input to the synchronization signal generation circuit 4, and in the synchronization signal generation circuit 4, the frequency of the aforementioned pulse signal every 10 seconds is divided by 36, for example, by the frequency division circuit 35, and the frequency is divided into 36 seconds. Obtains a synchronization signal once every. When the frequency dividing circuit 35 outputs a synchronization signal once every 360 seconds, high level signals are input to all input terminals of the AND circuit 36, and the AND circuit 36 outputs high level signals.
Here, the first NOR circuit 37 and the second NOR circuit 38 constitute a flip-flop, and therefore, the high level output signal of the AND circuit 36 causes the output signal of the second NOR circuit 38 to change from a low level to a high level. At the same time, the signal is applied to the N-stage programmable counter 5' of the flashing signal generation circuit 5, and the counter 5' outputs a signal with one period of 10 seconds to 2 seconds, 4 seconds, 10 seconds. It is converted into a blinking signal having a simple integer number of seconds, such as seconds.

On the other hand, the blinking signal generation circuit 5 uses the oscillation frequency of the reference oscillator 8, which is tuned to the same frequency with high accuracy for each maritime marker, using a tuning fork, crystal, etc. as a reference.
A blinking signal is output from the signal generator 5'' via the stage programmable counter 5', and the lighting circuit 6 is driven to cause the lamp section 7 to flash or flicker as required.Then, the reference oscillation circuit 8 is activated. By synchronizing the time with a highly accurate synchronization signal supplied from the synchronization signal generation circuit 4 mentioned above, a large number of maritime markers are individually synchronized and corrected for each cycle of the Omega station radio wave, so that they can be synchronized simultaneously. It can flash and flicker.

Note that if a delay circuit (not shown) is provided between the blinking signal generation circuit 5 and the lighting circuit 6, the lighting pulse outputted from the blinking signal generation circuit 5 will be delayed by the delay circuit to create a time lag. By sequentially changing the delay times of a large number of installed maritime markers, it is possible to sequentially operate flashing lights and flickers at different times to make the markers clearer as a group. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, a case was explained in which a large number of maritime beacons were placed in the seas near Japan, but Omega station radio waves are signals that repeat every 10 seconds at every point on the earth. It may be installed at an intermediate point between the station and the Hawaii station.
In this case, the omega station radio waves of the same frequency from both stations are received at maximum amplitude, but as shown in the omega format above, their time widths are different, so for example, when detecting Japan's omega station radio waves, ,
The time constant of the fourth resistor 23 and the third capacitor 24 is set to be a little shorter than 1 second, and the time constant of the fifth resistor 29 and the fourth capacitor 30 is set to 1 second.
By setting a time slightly longer than seconds, it is possible to obtain a pulse signal synchronized with Japan's Omega station radio waves by the same operation as in the embodiment. Also,
Of course, the setting of each time is not limited to the time constant, and the same effect can be obtained by using a digital counter or the like.

Note that although the above description is about the radio waves from the Omega station, the same applies to the radio waves from the aviation radio beacon station.

As described above, according to the synchronized flashing method and device for a beacon group of the present invention, external radio waves from Omega stations, airborne radio beacon stations, etc. receive,
A pulse signal is generated every cycle of the external radio wave, and n is the least common multiple of the period of the pulse signal and the period of the flashing signal from the self-running flashing signal generation circuit.
Generate a synchronization signal with a period twice (n or a natural number),
By synchronizing the flashing signal generation circuit each time the synchronization signal is generated, maritime signs arranged at predetermined intervals and shapes can be flashed or flickered as a group, without being mistaken for other lights. Since synchronization is corrected using radio waves from Omega stations, aviation radio beacon stations, etc., a signal with one cycle of 10 seconds or 7.4 seconds is obtained, and based on this, 2 seconds and 4 seconds , a blinking signal with a simple integer number of seconds, such as , 10 seconds, is obtained. Furthermore, Omega Station's radio waves are A1 radio waves with high power and have very good propagation characteristics, so it is possible to control maritime beacons installed all over Japan with the same device, and it is also possible to control maritime beacons installed throughout Japan with the same device. Since the transmitting station is transmitting on the same frequency,
By simply changing the time settings of the signal separation circuit, radio waves from the nearest stations around the world can be detected, and it can be used at any point on the earth. Since these radio waves are in the VLF band,
It is less affected by terrain and seasons, can be driven stably, and the entire body of the buoy can be used as an antenna, so no special antenna is required.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an Omega format diagram showing the time schedule of Omega station radio waves, Fig. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the method and device for synchronized blinking of a group of signs according to the present invention, and Figs. 3 and 4 are respective signals. The connection diagrams of the separation circuit and the synchronizing signal generation circuit, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are waveform diagrams of signals at various parts of FIG. 3, respectively. 2... Receiving device, 3... Signal separation circuit, 4...
Synchronous signal generation circuit, 5... Flashing signal generation circuit, 6
...Lighting circuit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A large number of maritime beacons arranged at predetermined intervals and shapes receive external radio waves from Omega stations, aviation radio beacon stations, etc., and transmit pulse signals every cycle of the external radio waves. generate a synchronization signal with a cycle that is n times the least common multiple (n is a natural number) of the cycle of the pulse signal and the cycle of the blink signal from the free-running blink signal generation circuit, and generate the synchronization signal. 1. A method for synchronizing flashing of a group of signs, characterized in that the flashing signal generating circuit is synchronized for each period, and each maritime sign is flashed as a group. 2. A receiving device that receives external radio waves of a predetermined transmission frequency from an Omega station, an airborne radio beacon station, etc. on a large number of maritime beacons arranged at predetermined intervals and shapes;
The output of the receiving device is input and one of the external radio waves is input.
a signal separation circuit that generates a pulse signal every cycle; a blinking signal generation circuit that generates a blinking signal with a predetermined cycle; and n, which is the least common multiple of the cycle of the pulse signal and the cycle of the blinking signal of the blinking signal generation circuit. 1. A synchronized blinking device for a group of signs, comprising: a synchronization signal generation circuit that generates a synchronization signal with a period twice (n: natural number) and synchronizes the blinking signal generation circuit.