Method and apparatus for protecting troops

• US 20100238288A1
• Filed: 04/03/2007
• Published: 09/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Incorporated (BAE Systems Plc)
• Original Assignee: BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Incorporated (BAE Systems Plc)
• Inventors: Corwin, Evan, Klaerner, Mark A, Middione, Mark A., Kelly, Christopher J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,754,943 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/0023 the element being a sensor, e.g. distance sensor, camera
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2011/004 outside the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2011/0052 using screws, bolts, rivets or the like
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2011/0075 using a containment or docking space
• CPC Class Codes: F41H 5/26 Peepholes; Windows; Loopholesmanufacture or composition of glass C03; Covers therefor informative reference: transparent bullet-proof laminates F41H5/0407; layered products essentially comprising glass B32B17/06
• CPC Class Codes: F41H 7/02 Land vehicles with enclosing armour, e.g. tanks endless-track vehicles, steering thereof B62D ; vehicles for placing portable or sectional bridges E01D15/127; vehicles carrying floating bridges E01D15/22
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

A method and apparatus for protecting the troops when they exit an armored vehicle is provided by utilizing the universal tail light assembly and providing the assembly with wide field-of-view cameras and other sensors, with screens or displays located within the vehicle to provide situational awareness of the rear of the vehicle, thus to alert troops and their commanders as to external threats prior to troop deployment. In one embodiment, two wide-angle infrared cameras are retrofitted to existing universal tail light assemblies to either side of the vehicle, with the cameras having overlapping fields of view to permit generation of a panoramic view. Moreover, additional sensors such as ultrasonic sensors, LIDARs and laser range finders can be located in the universal tail light assembly, with the subject system not requiring breach of the already-existing armor for the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method for providing troops exiting a vehicle from the rear with situational awareness without affecting the structural integrity of the armor provided for the vehicle so as to provide the troops with advanced warning of threats surrounding the rear of the vehicle, comprising the steps of:

modifying a standard tail light assembly including front and back clamshells with an aperture in the front clamshell and a camera mounted in the aperture;

utilizing existing wiring or routing apparatus that passes wires from the interior of the vehicle to the tail light assembly for connecting the camera to a display within the vehicle without affecting the integrity of the originally-designed armor for the vehicle; and

,

displaying within the vehicle the images from the camera for alerting troops within the vehicle as to the situation surrounding the rear of the vehicle prior to the troops exiting the vehicle at the rear, whereby existing tail light assemblies can be modified with situational awareness system to alert the troops to threats at the rear of the vehicle prior to disembarkation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the camera is a near-infrared camera and the display within the vehicle displays thermal images thus to highlight a human thermal threat at the rear of the vehicle on the display within the vehicle, whereby threats at the rear of the vehicle can be displayed regardless of low light conditions and camouflage.

3. The method of claim 1, and further including the step of replacing incandescent lamps in the tail light assembly with light-emitting diodes.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the light-emitting diodes operate in the 880-nm region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the light-emitting diodes provide illumination at the rear of the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the camera utilized is a standard CCD camera operating in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum but having sensors that are capable of detecting radiation in the near-infrared, whereby the additional illumination from the light-emitting diodes permits the use of standard CCD cameras.

7. The method of claim 1, and further including locating sensors within the existing tail light assembly.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the sensors are taken from the group consisting of acoustic sensors, visible light sensors, LIDARS, radars, laser range finders, thermal sensors, electric field sensors and electromagnetic radiation sensors.

9. A method for providing situational awareness for troops within a troop-carrying vehicle having an exit to the rear of the vehicle through which the troops therein disembark, with the vehicle carrying armor, marker lights in tail light assemblies, and cabling to the marker lights through pre-designed holes in the armor such that situational awareness is provided for the troops within the vehicle without affecting the integrity of the armor, comprising the steps of:

providing a camera within the marker light tail light assembly; and

,

cabling the camera to a display within the vehicle utilizing existing hull routing fixtures such that the vehicle may be retrofitted with situational awareness apparatus without affecting the hull integrity of the vehicle and its armor.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the vehicle is provided with a pair of cameras, one each located in side-by-side marker light tail light assemblies, with the cameras having at least partially overlapping fields of view.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the display within the vehicle includes the step of displaying images from each of the two cameras.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the images are displayed in a side-by-side fashion.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the images from the cameras are displayed across the display in a seamless panorama.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the cameras are wide-angle cameras, thus to provide a combined field of view subtending a large portion of the area at the rear of the vehicle, thus to provide wide-angle situational awareness for the troops within the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the camera is mounted at a predetermined distance above the ground so as to provide an increased vertical situational awareness field of view.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the cameras are selected from the group consisting of visible light cameras, infrared cameras and near-infrared cameras.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the near-infrared camera is provided by using a standard visible light CCD camera with sensors operating in the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

18. The method of claim 17, and further including using light-emitting diodes operating in the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum oriented to illuminate the area at the rear of the vehicle, thus permitting viewing of situational awareness at the rear of the vehicle utilizing the standard visible light CCD camera.

19. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of connecting the camera within the tail light assembly to the display includes using existing wiring within the vehicle.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the step of using the existing wiring within the vehicle to connect the camera to the display within the vehicle includes the use of transceivers coupled to the existing wiring, whereby signals to and from the camera can be tapped off at any convenient point using the existing vehicle wiring.

21. The method of claim 9, wherein power to the camera is tapped from the existing vehicle wiring.

22. The method of claim 9, wherein the camera is taken from the group consisting of a standard visible light video camera, a low-light video camera, an infrared video camera and a near-infrared video camera.

23. The method of claim 9, wherein the camera includes an infrared camera and wherein the use of infrared cameras permits situational awareness at the rear of the vehicle in low-light or no-light conditions.

24. A method of providing situational awareness for troops within a vehicle without altering armor integrity of the vehicle, comprising the steps of:

mounting a camera within the existing tail light assembly of the vehicle; and

,

utilizing existing cabling through the armor to connect the camera to a display within the vehicle, whereby hull integrity is not breached by the situational awareness retrofit.

25. Apparatus for providing situational awareness within a troop-carrying vehicle so as to alert troops within the vehicle to threats in the vicinity of the vehicle, comprising:

a light assembly on said vehicle retrofitted with a camera

cabling from said camera to the interior of said vehicle utilizing existing cable routing apparatus such that hull integrity of the vehicle is not compromised; and

,

a display within said vehicle for displaying the output of said camera, whereby situational awareness may be provided by retrofitting light assemblies already in place on said vehicle without compromising vehicle armor.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein said light assembly is a tail light assembly.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein said light assembly is a marker light assembly.

28. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein said light assembly is a headlight assembly.

29. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein said camera is taken from the group consisting of visible light cameras, infrared cameras and near-infrared cameras.

30. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein said camera is a wide-angle camera.

31. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein said camera is an infrared camera and wherein said retrofitted light assembly includes infrared lamps to illuminate the field of view of said camera with infrared illumination.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein said infrared camera includes a near-infrared camera.

33. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein said camera is a standard CCD visible light camera having sensors that detect radiation in the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum whereby the illumination by said infrared lamps permits the utilization of said standard CCD visible light camera.

34. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein said light assembly includes additional sensors.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein said sensors are taken from the group consisting of acoustic sensors, thermal sensors, laser range finders, LIDARS, radars, electric field sensors and electromagnetic radiation sensors.

36. The apparatus of claim 25, and further including two spaced-apart retrofitted light assemblies having cameras with at least partially overlapping fields of view and wherein said display includes a side-by-side display of the outputs of said two cameras, thus to provide a panoramic view of the scene in the fields of view of said cameras.