USA As Represented by Secretary of the Navy

Coulter Electronics, Inc.

Anthony Marino

Robert L Kreiselman

Steven N Kolber

Arthur P Stevens

Peter T Shaw

The velocity of a vessel is determined in real time by a doppler sonar sym providing acoustic beams wherein received beams provide a plurality of bins or returns from various depth segments. The frequency shift with respect to at least two different bins is determined. The velocity of the vessel with respect to each bin is determined according to the phase shift of the respective bin. The vessel velocity is determined as an average of the determined velocities of the bins along the acoustic beam. The acoustic beams are paired to form beam pairs wherein each bin in one beam of the beam pair has a corresponding bin in the other beam of the beam pair. The phase shifts of the corresponding bins are used to determine a relative frequency shift for the corresponding bins. This determination is made along the length of the beams of the beam pair and averaged. The averaged resolved ship doppler profiler velocity when compared to inertial velocities determines water current velocities. When the bin averaged doppler velocities are compared to a sliding average of the water current velocities accurate reference velocities are output in real time for inertial navigation system velocity damping. In addition the real time depth change of a ship can be measured by integrating the summed vertical velocity.

Doppler velocity profiler

An optical timing and A/D conversion method and apparatus for converting analog signals obtained by movement of a plurality of reaction vessels relative to one or more beams of light from analog to digital signals. The sample signals are obtained each time a reaction vessel passes through a beam of light. The converted digital signals indicate the absorbance of the respective vessels and their contents. Each of the reaction vessels or cuvettes has translucent wall portions providing a radiation path therethrough for the light beams which may be monitored by photometer means in a chemical reaction analyzer. The vessels are repeatedly passed through the light beams of the photometer means as chemical reactions take place therein, the purpose being to monitor the changes in the reaction of the fluids therein by measuring the changes in the absorbance of the vessel and fluids. The sample interval of the analog signal is repeatable for each vessel for each light beam and may be shifted to select the best portion of the analog signal generated as the vessel passes through the particular light beam. The A/D conversion also may eliminate the dark sample or noise error between the light beams and the reaction vessels and may eliminate the variations in the sample signals caused by changes in the rate of relative movement between the beams and vessels and changes in the velocity of the rotating beam.

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Doylestown, PA, United States of America

Anthony Marino