Methods and systems to assist in a search and rescue mission

• US 10,417,918 B2
• Filed: 01/20/2016
• Issued: 09/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Reddy, Mahipal, Songa, Anil Kumar, Sundararajan, Bharath
• Primary Examiner(s): Cass, Jean Paul
• Application Number:
  US15/002,079
• Publication Number:
  US 20170206790A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,336 Days
• Field of Search: 701 3
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 45/04 Landing aids; Safety measures to prevent collision with earth's surface
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0008 with other aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0086 for monitoring terrain radar or analogous systems specially adapted for terrain avoidance G01S13/935
• 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

Abstract

A method to assist in a search and rescue mission comprises: scanning at least a portion of a terrain at a search and rescue site using a scanning device to obtain searched area information, wherein searched area information is information captured by the scanning device of the at least a portion of the terrain; analyzing the searched area information obtained after scanning the at least a portion of the terrain; and communicating leading air vehicle information to at least one trailing air vehicle, wherein leading air vehicle information includes searched area information and analysis, and wherein the at least one trailing air vehicle is an air vehicle that reaches the search and rescue site after the at least one leading air vehicle.

Claims

1. A method to assist in a search and rescue mission, the method comprising:

scanning a portion of a terrain at a search and rescue site using a scanning device to obtain searched area information, the searched area information including information captured by the scanning device of the portion of the terrain and images of the terrain;

analyzing the searched area information;

determining a usable part of the scanned portion of the terrain that is suitable for at least one of landing and parking an air vehicle, images of the usable part as a safe landing zone, an unusable part of the scanned portion of the terrain that is not suitable for at least one of landing and parking the air vehicle, and an un-scanned portion of the terrain, based on an analysis result of the analyzing the searched area information and the images of the terrain; and

communicating leading air vehicle information and other information to at least one trailing air vehicle or a central server, by uploading and syncing the leading air vehicle information on the central server,

wherein the leading air vehicle information includes the searched area information, the analysis result, a determination of the usable part, the unusable part, and the un-scanned portion, a GPS coordinate, and/or the images of the usable part,

wherein the other information includes one or more of basic parameters of the at least one leading air vehicle, information related to crew members of the at least one leading air vehicle, activities involved in the search and rescue mission, time of day, and/or indication of type of subtask assigned to the at least one leading air vehicle, and

wherein the at least one trailing air vehicle is an air vehicle that reaches the search and rescue site after an at least one leading air vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein when the at least one trailing air vehicle reaches the search and rescue site after the at least one leading air vehicle and the at least one trailing air vehicle determines the searched area information has changed, the method further comprises:

scanning another portion of the terrain at the search and rescue site using another scanning device to obtain updated searched area information, the updated searched area information including information captured by the another scanning device of a portion or all of one or both of the scanned portion of the terrain and the un-scanned portion of the terrain; and

communicating a changed searched area information to at least one other trailing air vehicle or the central server, the changed searched area information having been based on the updated searched area information, wherein the at least one other trailing air vehicle is an air vehicle that trails the at least one trailing air vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicating the leading air vehicle information to the at least one trailing air vehicle or the central server further includes:

uploading and syncing the other information on the central server.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the central server comprises a cloud having a dynamic database such as navigational database or aerodrome mapping database.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the uploading the leading air vehicle information on the central server further includes geotagging the leading air vehicle information to a cloud comprised on the central server so as to include the GPS coordinate of the usable part.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the syncing the leading air vehicle information on the central server includes syncing the leading air vehicle information to a cloud computing system comprised on the central server.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicating the leading air vehicle information to the at least one trailing air vehicle or the central server further includes:

communicating the leading air vehicle information to the at least one trailing air vehicle via datalink communication.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the analyzing the searched area information further includes identifying a safe landing zone within the portion of the search and rescue site as the usable part of the scanned portion of the terrain.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the scanning the portion of the terrain of the search and rescue site further includes using a focus light to search the terrain.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one trailing air vehicle is responsible for performing a subtask similar to a subtask of the at least one leading air vehicle.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the at least one trailing air vehicle access to an aggregated sum of areas,

wherein the aggregated sum of areas are a sum of portions of different areas of the terrain searched by different air vehicles involved in a same mission,

the sum of portions of different areas includes:

the usable part of the scanned portion of the terrain, the unusable part of the scanned portion of the terrain, and the un-scanned portion of the terrain from the at least one leading air vehicle, and

updated portions or all of the usable part, the unusable part, and the un-scanned portion from an intermediate air vehicle that scanned the terrain of the search and rescue site after the at least one leading air vehicle and before the at least one trailing air vehicle.

12. A system for a search and rescue (SAR) mission, the system comprising:

at least one leading air vehicle, wherein the at least one leading air vehicle includes;

at least one scanning device to scan a portion of a terrain of a search and rescue site to obtain searched area information, the searched area information including information captured by the scanning device of the portion of the terrain and images of the terrain;

at least one processor coupled to the at least one scanning device, the at least one processor being configured to process a search zone algorithm, the search zone algorithm

analyzes the scanned portion of the search and rescue site and the searched area information, and

determines a usable part of the scanned portion of the terrain that is suitable for at least one of landing or parking an air vehicle, images of the usable part as a safe landing zone, an unusable part of the scanned portion of the terrain that is not suitable for at least one of landing and parking the air vehicle, and an un-scanned portion of the terrain, based on an analysis result of the analyzing the scanned portion of the search and rescue site and the images of the terrain;

at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor, the memory storing leading air vehicle information and other information, the leading air vehicle information including information of the terrain, the analysis result of the analyzing of scanned portion of the search and rescue site processed by the at least one processor, and a GPS coordinate and the images of the usable part, the analysis result including a determination of the usable part, the unusable part, and the un-scanned portion, the other information including one or more of basic parameters of the at least one leading air vehicle, information related to crew members of the at least one leading air vehicle, activities involved in the search and rescue mission, time of day, and/or indication of type of subtask assigned to the at least one leading air vehicle;

at least one transmitter coupled to the at least one memory, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the leading air vehicle information and other information to a ground station or a central server, by uploading and syncing the leading air vehicle information on the central server; and

at least one trailing air vehicle that reaches the search and rescue site after the at least one leading air vehicle.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the ground station or the central server is configured to

receive the leading air vehicle information from the at least one leading air vehicle, and

communicate the leading air vehicle information to the at least one trailing air vehicle,

wherein the trailing air vehicle uses the usable part for at least one of landing and parking of the trailing air vehicle.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the central server further includes a cloud computing system having a dynamic database such as navigational database or aerodrome mapping database.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one leading air vehicle further comprises a focus light to scan the unknown terrain.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one trailing air vehicle further includes:

a second scanning device to scan an additional portion of the terrain of the search and rescue site, the additional portion being a portion or all of one or both of the scanned portion of the terrain and the un-scanned portion of the terrain;

a second processor coupled to the second scanning device, the second processor configured to process the search zone algorithm that analyzes the additional portion of the terrain;

a second memory coupled to the second processor, the second memory storing trailing air vehicle information, the trailing air vehicle information including information and analysis of the additional portion of the terrain to update the leading air vehicle information; and

a second transmitter coupled to the second memory, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the trailing air vehicle information to the ground station or the central server.

17. A method to assist in a search and rescue mission, the method comprising:

receiving leading air vehicle information and other information about a search and rescue site from a leading air vehicle,

the leading air vehicle information including

searched area information, the searched area information being information of a portion of a terrain of the search and rescue site obtained from a scanning device included in the leading air vehicle and images of the terrain,

a determination of a usable part of a scanned portion of the terrain that is suitable for at least one of landing and parking an air vehicle, images of the usable part as a safe landing zone, an unusable part of the scanned portion of the terrain that is not suitable for at least one of landing and parking the air vehicle, and an un-scanned portion of the terrain, based on analysis of the searched area information and the images of the terrain, and

a GPS coordinate of the usable part,

the other information including one or more of;

basic parameters of the at least one leading air vehicle,

information related to crew members of the at least one leading air vehicle,

activities involved in the search and rescue mission,

time of day, and/or

indication of type of subtask assigned to the at least one leading air vehicle;

storing the leading air vehicle information and the other information to provide access to at least one trailing air vehicle; and

communicating the leading air vehicle information and the other information to the at least one trailing air vehicle including the determination the GPS coordinate and the images of the usable part, wherein the at least one trailing air vehicle is an air vehicle that trails the leading air vehicle.

18. A method of claim 17, the method further comprising:

receiving additional information about the terrain of the search and rescue site when the at least one trailing air vehicle reaches the search and rescue site and the at least one trailing air vehicle determines that the searched area information has changed;

updating the leading air vehicle information to include the additional information about the terrain, the additional information being based on scanning another portion of the terrain at the search and rescue site using another scanning device to obtain updated searched area information, the updated searched area information including information captured by the another scanning device of a portion or all of one or both of the scanned portion of the terrain and the un-scanned portion of the terrain; and

communicating the updated leading air vehicle information to at least one other trailing air vehicle, wherein the at least one other trailing air vehicle trails the at least one trailing air vehicle.