Recovery assistance device, method and system

• US 10,317,537 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2016
• Issued: 06/11/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Centre National D'Etudes Spatiales
• Original Assignee: Centre National D'Etudes Spatiales
• Inventors: Marmet, Francois-Xavier, Ries, Lionel, Beas-Garcia, Jacques, Scot, Gael, Aubault, Marion
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, David Q
• Application Number:
  US15/373,651
• Publication Number:
  US 20170184725A1
• Time in Patent Office: 914 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561, 4554565, 455386, 4554041, 370328, 34235764
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/12 Absolute positions, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/803 Motion sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/50 Wireless data transmission, e.g. by radio transmitters or telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 29/021 Means for indicating the location of accidentally buried, e.g. snow-buried, persons
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/17 Emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/26 involving a sensor measurement for aiding acquisition or tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/49 whereby the further system is an inertial position system, e.g. loosely-coupled
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/51 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0284 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/18 using ultrasonic, sonic, or infrasonic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/30 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

The invention discloses a recovery assistance device for helping in rescuing victims of avalanches, earthquakes or boat capsizes. The device is capable of calculating a position from combinations of a previous position and distances to other devices. Different configurations are possible, with a basic configuration consisting of a smart phone having waveform generation capabilities, processing and GNSS receiving capabilities. The device is programmed to be used in a defined mission by an application. The device can also receive a number of add-ons as a battery add-on, a modem add-on, a sound wave generation add-on, antennas, and protection, possibly waterproof, if adequate. Devices of the same type can be carried by people to be rescued and rescuers. The device is therefore quite versatile and can increase significantly the efficiency of rescue teams in different use case scenarios.

Claims

1. A recovery assistance device comprising:

a signal processing unit of a type defined to perform one or more of transmit or receive a carrier signal of a waveform and a frequency band selected to allow measurement of propagation distances to other signal processing units of the type through a material in a non-gaseous state; and

a logical unit configured to combine a first propagation distance between the signal processing unit and a first another signal processing unit with a position of one of the signal processing unit or the first another signal processing unit to determine a first area of recovery of one of the signal processing unit or the first another signal processing unit,

wherein the logical unit is further configured to calculate a position of said recovery assistance device from one or more combinations of an absolute position of another recovery assistance device and a distance between said recovery assistance device and said another recovery assistance device,

wherein the logical unit is further configured to determine a second area of recovery of one of the signal processing unit or the first another signal processing unit from a combination of one of a second position of the first another processing signal unit or a position of a second another signal processing unit, and a second propagation distance between said one of the signal processing unit or the second position of the first another processing signal unit or the position of the second another signal processing unit,

wherein the logical unit is further configured to combine the first area of recovery and the second area of recovery to determine points of likely recovery of the one of the signal processing unit or the first another signal processing unit at intersections of the first area of recovery and the second area of recovery, and

wherein the logical unit is further configured to disambiguate the points of likely recovery by having the one of the signal processing unit or the first another signal processing unit, and the second another signal processing unit being caused to locate themselves at predefined locations.

2. The recovery assistance device of claim 1, wherein the logical unit receives the position of the one of the signal processing unit or the first another signal processing unit from one of a position calculation unit which is co-localized with said one of the signal processing unit or another position calculation unit which is co-localized with the first another signal processing unit.

3. The recovery assistance device of claim 2, wherein the position calculation unit comprises a GNSS receiver.

4. The recovery assistance device of claim 3, wherein the position calculation unit further comprises motion sensors.

5. The recovery assistance device of claim 4, wherein the position calculation unit and the logical unit are configured to calculate a current position of said device from a previous position determined by the GNSS receiver at a confidence threshold and motion sensors measurements from this previous position up to the current position where motion is determined to be null.

6. The recovery assistance device of claim 2, wherein the position calculation unit is configured to determine a position of the one of the signal processing unit or the first another signal processing unit at a precision of or better than 50 cm.

7. The recovery assistance device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the signal processing unit or the first another signal processing unit is configured to determine an angle of arrival of the carrier signal.

8. The recovery assistance device of claim 1, wherein the logical unit is further configured to transmit its calculated position to one or more another recovery assistance devices.

9. The recovery assistance device of claim 1, wherein the material in a non-gaseous state comprises one or more of snow, rocks or construction materials and the signal processing unit is configured to one or more of transmit or receive one or more of WI-Fi or Bluetooth carrier signals.

10. The recovery assistance device of claim 9, wherein the signal processing unit is further configured to one or more of receive or transmit one or more of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth signals modulated by a code configured to calculate one or more of a time of arrival, an angle of arrival or a signal strength of the signals.

11. The recovery assistance device of claim 1, wherein the material in a non-gaseous state comprises water and the signal processing unit is configured to one or more of transmit or receive acoustic wave carrier signals.

12. The recovery assistance device of claim 11, further comprising an add-on sonar transducer and signal processing module.

13. The recovery assistance device of claim 1, further comprising a modem configured to one or more of modulate or demodulate the carrier signal of the waveform with a code selected to optimize measurement of one or more of time of arrival, angle of arrival and signal strength or transmission of information through the material in the non-gaseous state.

14. The recovery assistance device of claim 1, wherein the signal processing unit is further configured to be caused by the logical unit to transmit a message on the carrier signal, the message comprising one or more of an identification of said recovery assistance device or a condition of a user of said recovery assistance device gathered by a biological sensor.

15. A recovery assistance method comprising:

one or more of transmitting or receiving at a signal processing unit a type of carrier signal of a waveform and a frequency band selected to allow measurement of propagation distances to other signal processing units of the type through a material in a non-gaseous state;

combining a first propagation distance between the signal processing unit and a first another signal processing unit with a position of one of the signal processing unit or the first another signal processing unit to determine a first area of recovery of one of the signal processing unit or the first another signal processing unit;

wherein the combining comprises calculating a position of said signal processing unit from one or more combinations of an absolute position of the first another signal processing unit and a distance between said signal processing unit and said first another signal processing unit;

the recovery assistance method further comprises;

determining a second area of recovery of one of the signal processing unit or the first another signal processing unit from a combination of one of a second position of the first another processing signal unit or a position of a second another signal processing unit, and a second propagation distance between said one of the signal processing unit or said second position of the first another processing signal unit or said position of a second another signal processing unit;

combining the first area of recovery and the second area of recovery to determine points of likely recovery of the one of the signal processing unit or a first another signal processing unit at intersections of the first area of recovery and the second area of recovery; and

disambiguating the points of likely recovery by having the one of the signal processing unit or the first another signal processing unit, and the second another signal processing unit being caused to locate themselves at predefined locations.