Individual broadband communications hub for operational and training environments

• US 10,340,960 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2018
• Issued: 07/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cubic Defence UK Limited
• Original Assignee: Cubic Corporation
• Inventors: Armstrong, Martyn, Smiles, Neale, Taylor, Steven, Tuckwell, Rod, Fox, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Tuan A
• Application Number:
  US16/018,781
• Publication Number:
  US 20180375535A1
• Time in Patent Office: 371 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: F41G 3/26 Teaching or practice apparatus for gun-aiming or gun-laying shooting games A63F9/02; light- or radiation-emitting guns F41A33/02; targets therefor F41J; responders, transponders for radar, sonar, lidar G01S13/767, G01S15/74, G01S17/74
• CPC Class Codes: F41J 5/14 Apparatus for signalling hits or scores to the shooter, e.g. manually operated, or for communication between target and shooter; Apparatus for recording hits or scores
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/00 Simulators for teaching or training purposes for the use of weapons F41; computing aspects G06; protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality H04L67/131
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/003 for military purposes and tactics
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/006 for locating or ranging of objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0064 with separate antennas for the more than one band H04B1/0053 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/38 Transceivers, i.e. devices in which transmitter and receiver form a structural unit and in which at least one part is used for functions of transmitting and receiving
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A military communications unit that utilizes a relatively high-bandwidth digital communication networks (e.g., cellular networks) is capable of acting as a wireless communications hub for a soldier, vehicle, weapon, or other entity. The military communications unit can obtain data from multiple devices via close-range wireless technologies and communicate with training or operational networks. The military communications unit can be flexible in its capacity to relay data by formatting data in accordance with Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS), High-Level Architecture (HLA), and/or another distributed computer simulation standard. Moreover, the military communications unit may be further capable of “re-banding,” enabling communications using cellular protocols and/or standards in non-cellular frequency bands.

Claims

1. A military communications unit comprising:

a wireless communication interface having;

a communication network transceiver configured to communicate with a wireless communication network;

a plurality of additional transceivers, each additional transceiver configured to wirelessly communicate with one or more devices separate from the military communications unit;

a memory;

a power supply; and

a processing unit powered by the power supply and communicatively coupled with the wireless communication interface and the memory, the processing unit being configured to cause the military communications unit to;

obtain, via a first transceiver of the plurality of additional transceivers, a first set of data from a first device of the one or more devices separate from the military communications unit;

create a message, indicative of the first set of data obtained from the first device, in accordance with a protocol of a distributed computer simulation standard; and

in response to determining that the communication network transceiver is unable to communicate with a base station of the wireless communication network, send the message to a second military communications unit via the wireless communication interface.

2. The military communications unit of claim 1, wherein the distributed computer simulation standard comprises Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) or High-Level Architecture (HLA).

3. The military communications unit of claim 1, wherein one or more transceivers of the plurality of additional transceivers are configured to communicate using Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, or Near-Field Communication (NFC), or any combination thereof.

4. The military communications unit of claim 1, wherein the communication network transceiver is configured to communicate with the wireless communication network using a plurality of radio frequency (RF) bands.

5. The military communications unit of claim 1, wherein the data from the first device comprises biometric, video, orientation, audio, atmospheric, or activity data, or any combination thereof.

6. The military communications unit of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is further configured to send the message via a transceiver of the plurality of additional transceivers.

7. The military communications unit of claim 1, wherein:

the first set of data includes an orientation of a weapon and an indication that the weapon was fired;

the processing unit is further configured to calculate a trajectory of ammunition fired by the weapon, based on the first set of data; and

the message comprises an indication of the calculated trajectory.

8. The military communications unit of claim 7, wherein:

the memory is configured to store one or more software applications, and

the processing unit is configured to calculate the trajectory of the ammunition fired by the weapon by executing one of the one or more software applications stored by the memory.

9. The military communications unit of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured to cause the military communications unit send the message to at least one server executing a synthetic training environment.

10. The military communications unit of claim 1, further comprising:

a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver module, and

an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU).

11. A method of operating a military communications unit, the method comprising:

obtaining, with a military communications unit having a communication network transceiver and a plurality of additional transceivers, a first set of data from a first device of one or more devices separate from the military communications unit, wherein the first set of data is obtained using a first transceiver of the plurality of additional transceivers;

creating, with the military communications unit, a message, wherein the message is;

indicative of the first set of data obtained from the first device, and

formatted in accordance with a protocol of a distributed computer simulation standard; and

in response to determining that the communication network transceiver is unable to communicate with a base station of a wireless communication network, send the message from the military communications unit to a second military communications.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the distributed computer simulation standard comprises Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) or High-Level Architecture (HLA).

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the first transceiver of the plurality of additional transceivers obtains the first set of data using Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, or Near-Field Communication (NFC), or any combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising using the communication network transceiver to communicate with the wireless communication network with a plurality of radio frequency (RF) bands.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the data from the first device comprises biometric, video, orientation, audio, atmospheric, or activity data, or any combination thereof.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising sending the message via a transceiver of the plurality of additional transceivers.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising causing the military communications unit to:

determine, from the first set of data, an orientation of a weapon and an indication that the weapon was fired;

calculate a trajectory of ammunition fired by the weapon, based on the first set of data; and

include, in the message, an indication of the calculated trajectory.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising executing a software application stored in a memory of the military communications unit to calculate the trajectory of the ammunition fired by the weapon.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein sending the message comprises sending the message to at least one server executing a synthetic training environment.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising including, in the message, information obtained from:

a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver module of the military communication unit, or

an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) of the military communications unit, or

any combination thereof.