Systems and methods for using radio frequency signals and sensors to monitor environments

• US 10,514,704 B2
• Filed: 10/20/2017
• Issued: 12/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zainar, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Locix, Inc
• Inventors: Bakhishev, Teymur, Subramanian, Vivek, Pavate, Vikram, Ylamurto, Tommi
• Primary Examiner(s): Sorowar, Golam
• Application Number:
  US15/789,603
• Publication Number:
  US 20180059678A1
• Time in Patent Office: 795 Days
• Field of Search: 455 412
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/383 Indoor data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/00 Beacons or beacon systems transmitting signals having a characteristic or characteristics capable of being detected by non-directional receivers and defining directions, positions, or position lines fixed relatively to the beacon transmitters; Receivers co-operating therewith position fixing by co-ordinating a plurality of determinations of direction or position lines G01S5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 11/06 using intensity measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/825 with exchange of information between interrogator and responder
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0246 using a video camera in combination with image processing means
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/028 using a RF signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/22 with access to wired networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/01 Mobile robot
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/47 Optical

Abstract

Systems and methods for using radio frequency signals and sensors to monitor environments (e.g., indoor environments) are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a system for providing a wireless asymmetric network comprises a hub having one or more processing units and at least one antenna for transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) communications in the wireless asymmetric network and a plurality of sensor nodes each having a wireless device with a transmitter and a receiver to enable bi-directional RF communications with the hub in the wireless asymmetric network. The one or more processing units of the hub are configured to execute instructions to determine at least one of motion and occupancy within the wireless asymmetric network based on a power level of the RF communications.

Claims

1. A system for providing a wireless asymmetric network, comprising:

a mobile robot having one or more processing units and at least one antenna for transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) communications in the wireless asymmetric network to function as a RF device;

a plurality of sensor nodes each having a wireless device with a transmitter and a receiver to enable bi-directional RF communications with the mobile robot in the wireless asymmetric network, wherein the plurality of sensor nodes are configured temporarily with a mesh-based architecture for a time period sufficient for wireless communications that are necessary to determine localization of at least one sensor node of the plurality of sensor nodes within the wireless asymmetric network based on a power level of the RF communications between the at least one sensor node and the mobile robot that moves and measures the power level of the RF communications at different positions of a robot path.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the localization of the at least one sensor node of the plurality of sensor nodes is based on time of flight information of the wireless asymmetric network.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the localization of the at least one sensor node of the plurality of sensor nodes is determined via RF communication between the at least one sensor node and the robot at various robot positions as the robot moves along a path.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensor nodes include image capturing devices having a different height than the robot, the image capturing devices to capture images to be combined with images captured by the robot for an image based mapping of an environment.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a hub having one or more processing units and at least one antenna for transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) communications in the wireless asymmetric network.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the localization for the plurality of sensor nodes is based on RF communications from at least one of the plurality of sensor nodes, the robot, and the hub.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the hub is powered by a mains electrical source and the plurality of sensor nodes are each powered by a battery source to form the wireless asymmetric network.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the robot and the plurality of sensor nodes have optical emitters and detectors to determine proximity between the robot and the plurality of sensor nodes.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensor nodes are configured temporarily with the mesh-based architecture for a time period sufficient for wireless communications that are necessary for determining location of the at least one sensor node of the plurality of sensor nodes within the wireless asymmetric network based on the power level of the RF communications between the plurality of sensor nodes and the robot.

10. A robot, comprising:

a memory for storing instructions;

one or more processing units to execute instructions for monitoring a plurality of sensor nodes in a wireless asymmetric network; and

radio frequency (RF) circuitry to transmit RF communications to and receive RF communications from the plurality of sensor nodes in the wireless asymmetric network to at least partially determine localization of at least one sensor node of the plurality of sensor nodes based on a power level of the RF communications between the at least one sensor node and the robot that functions as a RF device, moves and measures the power level of the RF communications at different positions of a robot path, wherein the plurality of sensor nodes are configured with a mesh-based architecture temporarily during localization for a time period sufficient for wireless communications necessary for determining location of at least one sensor node of the plurality of sensor nodes.

11. The robot of claim 10, wherein localization of at least one sensor node of the plurality of sensor nodes is based on time of flight information of the wireless asymmetric network.

12. The robot of claim 10, wherein localization of at least one sensor node of the plurality of sensor nodes is determined via RF communication between the at least one sensor node and the robot at various robot positions as the robot moves along a path.

13. The robot of claim 10, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to execute instructions to capture images of an indoor environment, to receive location information from the wireless asymmetric network, to receive images from the plurality of sensor nodes, and to determine robot location based on the captured images of the indoor environment, location information, and images received from the plurality of sensor nodes.

14. The robot of claim 11, wherein the power level comprises received signal strength indicator (RSSI) information including baseline values of RSSI for a baseline level to be compared with threshold values of RSSI for a threshold level to determine a motion condition or an occupancy condition.

15. The robot of claim 10, wherein the plurality of sensor nodes are configured temporarily with the mesh-based architecture for a time period sufficient for wireless communications necessary for determining location of at least one sensor node of the plurality of sensor nodes.

16. A method for monitoring a wireless network architecture, comprising:

transmitting, with radio frequency (RF) circuitry including at least one antenna of a robot that functions as a RF device, RF communications to a plurality of sensor nodes in the wireless network architecture;

receiving, with the RF circuitry including at least one antenna of the robot, RF communications from the plurality of sensor nodes each having a wireless device with a transmitter and a receiver to enable bi-directional RF communications with the RF circuitry of the robot in the wireless network architecture;

determining, with one or more processing units of at least one of the robot and sensor nodes, power level information for RF communications between the robot and the plurality of sensor nodes; and

configuring the plurality of sensor nodes temporarily with a mesh-based architecture during localization for a time period sufficient for wireless communications necessary for determining location of at least one sensor node of the plurality of sensor nodes; and

determining localization of at least one sensor node of the plurality of sensor nodes within the wireless network architecture based on at least one of power level information and time of flight information of the RF communications between the robot and the at least one sensor node, wherein the robot moves and measures the power level of the RF communications at different positions of a robot path.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the power level information comprises received signal strength indicator (RSSI) information including instantaneous values of RSSI to be compared with threshold values to determine a motion condition or an occupancy condition.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

capturing image data with the robot while moving;

capturing image data that includes the robot with at least one sensor of the plurality of sensor nodes; and

determining a mapping of the robot within an indoor environment based on the image data of the robot and the image data of the at least one sensor.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

capturing multiple images that each include the robot with at least one sensor of the plurality of sensor nodes; and

determining a distance from the robot to the at least one sensor that captured the multiple images based on at least one of a speed of the robot while moving, time information of the captured multiple images, and distance traveled of the robot while within a field of view of the at least one sensor.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

capturing image data with the robot while moving;

capturing image data that includes the robot with two sensors of the plurality of sensor nodes; and

determining localization of the two sensors based on the image data of the robot and the image data of the two sensors.