Diver Charting and Graphical Display

摘要

The Diver Charting and Graphical Display (DCGD) software application was developed as a mission planning and data analysis tool for divers using an Integrated Navigation Sonar Sensor (INSS). It is a Microsoft Windows based graphical user interface application that can be installed and executed on computers using a Microsoft Windows based operating systems. The need and usefulness of this tool becomes apparent when one understands what is required to plan, execute and report results from a typical mine countermeasures (MCM) mission using an lNSS. The INSS is a combined navigation and acoustic imaging device used by divers to navigate underwater, search for objects, and mark their locations. To execute an effective mission, a well defined area must be completely searched with no gaps left. The DCGD software tool provides a framework to plan missions using optional geo-rectified overhead images as a background underlay and then adding geographically referenced symbols to create a dive plan virtual map. That map, consisting of a navigation baseline, waypoints and marked positions, is downloaded into the diver's unit (the INSS) and used during the mission. This project seeks to enhance mission MCM effectiveness with the fusion of sensor data collected by multiple divers and/or multiple dive missions into a unified database of areas surveyed by divers. The principle component of the system will be a software module resident on a PC. This software will communicate through data files with INSS units and merge these data sets to form a single database for a group of dive missions. An intuitive operator interface will provide for interaction with and evaluation of a merged data set. Examples of such interaction and evaluation include selecting a particular target mark and reviewing all sonar images of the object corresponding to the mark, developing a near-real-time assessment of dive mission area coverage and effectiveness, and planning future dive missions.