METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR UNDERGROUND EQUIPMENT MONITORING

• US 20140297225A1
• Filed: 03/29/2013
• Published: 10/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Symboticware Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Symboticware Incorporated
• Inventors: PETROSKI, Kirk G. R., CORRALES, Victor M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,746,352 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/188
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 9/28 Producing one or more recordings, each recording being of the values of two or more different variables G01D9/38, G01D9/40 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 13/02 Transmission systems in which the medium consists of the earth or a large mass of water thereon, e.g. earth telegraphy

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a system which collects data from a set of sensors installed on underground vehicles which is then transferred to a remote data collection node through multiple communication protocol/channels according to priority calculations. Data priority is defined based on the evaluation of individual criteria and a set of weights. Priorities, weights and criteria can be dynamically adjusted depending on environmental factors. The protocol, channel and transfer order will depend upon calculated priorities.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring an underground environment, comprising:

a) a plurality sensors distributed throughout the underground environment;

b) a first computer controller programmed with instructions to store a plurality of sensor readings from said plurality of sensors with each sensor reading being represented as a data point so that the plurality of data points are stored, said first computer controller being programmed with instructions to prioritize said plurality of data points according to selected priority criteria;

c) a second computer controller, said first computer controller being programmed with instructions to transmit, over at least one communication channel, said plurality of prioritized data points to said second computer controller, said first computer controller being programmed with instructions to store said plurality of prioritized data points in a temporary storage medium in the event no communication with said second computer is available, said first computer being programmed with instructions to continually attempt to transmit said plurality of prioritized data points to said second computer over said at least one communication channel; and

d) said second computer controller being programmed with instructions to translate said plurality of prioritized data points, once received by said second computer, into information that is interpretable by a monitoring system which monitors the underground environment.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said at least one communication channel is two or more communication channels and said first computer controller is programmed with instructions to transmit said plurality of prioritized data points simultaneously over said two or more communication channels, and wherein said second computer controller is programmed with instructions to filter said plurality of received data points and discard redundant data points when two or more identical data points are received by said second computer controller over different communication channels.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein each of said prioritized data points includes at least a sensor identifier which identifies a particular sensor, and further includes at least a timestamp representing a time that the sensor reading was taken, and wherein said second computer controller is programmed with instructions to filter said plurality of received data points by comparing said sensor identifier and time stamp of each of said plurality of received data points and discarding those that are identical with previously received data points.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein said first computer controller is programmed with instructions to prioritize said plurality of data points according any one or combination of sensor type, status of said at least one communication channel, a current time that said sensor readings are being recorded, a location of said plurality of sensors in said underground environment, a value of said sensor readings falling outside an established range of expected sensor readings, a mandated acceptable length of time between sensor readings from each sensor.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein said second computer controller is programmed to send instructions to said first computer controller to change said selected priority criteria.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein said first computer controller is programmed with instructions to synchronize its internal clock with a reference clock that is connected to said at least one communication channel when said at least one communication channel is open and available.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein said reference clock is located on said second computer controller.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein some of said plurality of sensors distributed in said underground environment are mounted on one or more vehicles located in said underground environment, wherein some of said plurality of sensors distributed in said underground environment are mounted on infrastructure of said underground environment.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein at least some of said sensors mounted on said one or more vehicles are configured to monitor selected vehicle conditions.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein said information that is interpretable by said monitoring system is visually displayed on one or more displays for observation by one or more human operators.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein said information that is interpretable by said monitoring system is presented to a fully autonomous control system.

12. The system according to claim 1, wherein said information that is interpretable by said monitoring system is presented in a combination of a first format suitable to be visually displayed for observation by one or more human operators and a second format presentable to a fully autonomous control system.

13. The system according to claim 5, wherein a human operator can instruct said second computer to change said selected priority criteria.

14. The system according to claim 5, wherein said monitoring system is programmed with instructions to instruct said second computer to change said selected priority criteria.

15. The system according to claim 5, wherein said second computer controller is programmed with instructions to allow one or both of said monitoring system and a human operator to change said selected priority criteria.

16. The system according to claim 1, wherein said first computer is programmed with instructions to archive all said data points, and wherein second computer controller is programmed with instructions to request from said first computer controller, any of said archived data points when said at least one communication channel is open and available.

17. The system according to claim 2 wherein each of said two or more communication channels has an associated transmission module programmed with instructions to communicate with said second computer controller using a selected communication method and associated protocols.

18. The system according to claim 2 wherein said first computer controller is programmed with instructions to apply the same or different prioritizing criteria to the prioritized data points transmitted by each of said two or more communication channels.

19. The system according to claim 1, wherein said first computer controller is programmed with instructions to archive all said data points and to automatically delete all data points that have been archived in the first computer controller for more than a preselected period of time.

20. A method for monitoring an underground environment, comprising:

a) collecting sensor readings from one or more sensors distributed throughout the underground environment and storing said sensor readings in a first computer controller with each sensor reading being represented as a data point so that a plurality of data points are stored, prioritizing said plurality of data points for transmission to a second computer controller;

c) transmitting said prioritized data points to a second computer controller over at least one communication channel and, in the event said at least one communication channel is not open or available, storing said prioritized data points in a temporary storage medium and continually attempting to transmit said prioritized data points to said second computer over at least one communication channel; and

d) translating said prioritized data points, once received by the second computer, into information that is interpretable by a monitoring system which monitors the underground environment.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein said at least one communication channel is two or more communication channels and including transmitting said plurality of prioritized data points simultaneously over said two or more communication channels, including filtering received plurality of received data points in the second computer controller and discarding redundant data points when two or more identical data points are received by the second computer controller.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein each of said prioritized data points includes at least a sensor identifier which identifies a particular sensor, and further includes at least a timestamp representing a time that the sensor reading was taken, and wherein filtering said plurality of received data points is achieved by comparing said sensor identifier and time stamp of each of said plurality of received data points and discarding those that are identical with previously received data points.

23. The method according to claim 20, including prioritizing said plurality of data points according any one or combination of sensor type, status of said at least one communication channel, a current time that said sensor readings are being recorded, a location of said plurality of sensors in said underground environment, a value of said sensor readings falling outside an established range of expected sensor readings, a mandated acceptable length of time between sensor readings from each sensor.

24. The method according to claim 20, including the second computer controller sending instructions to said first computer controller to change said selected priority criteria when appropriate.

25. The method according to claim 20, including said first computer controller synchronizing its internal clock with a reference clock that is connected to said at least one communication channel when said at least one communication channel is open and available.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein said reference clock is located on said second computer controller.

27. The method according to claim 20, wherein some of said plurality of sensors distributed in said underground environment are mounted on one or more vehicles located in said underground environment, wherein some of said plurality of sensors distributed in said underground environment are mounted on infrastructure of said underground environment.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein at least some of said sensors mounted on said one or more vehicles are configured for monitoring selected vehicle conditions.

29. The method according to claim 20, including visually displaying the information that is interpretable by said monitoring system on one or more displays for observation by one or more human operators.

30. The method according to claim 20, including presenting said information that is interpretable by said monitoring system to a fully autonomous control system.

31. The method according to claim 20, wherein said information that is interpretable by said monitoring system is presented in a combination of a first format suitable to be visually displayed for observation by one or more human operators and a second format presentable to a fully autonomous control system.

32. The method according to claim 24, wherein instructing said second computer controller sending instructions to said first computer controller to change said selected priority criteria is controlled by a human operator.

33. The method according to claim 24, wherein instructing said second computer controller sending instructions to said first computer controller to change said selected priority criteria is controlled by the monitoring system.

34. The method according to claim 24, wherein instructing said second computer controller sending instructions to said first computer controller to change said selected priority criteria is controlled by either one or combination of the monitoring system and a human operator.

35. The method according to claim 20, including archiving all data points, and including accessing and retrieving any of said archived data points when said at least one communication channel is open and available when said archived data points are required.

36. The method according to claim 21 wherein each of said two or more communication channels communicates using a selected communication method and associated protocol different from each of the other communication channels.

37. The method according to claim 21 including applying the same or different prioritizing criteria to the prioritized data points transmitted by each of said two or more communication channels.

38. The method according to claim 20, wherein said first computer controller is programmed with instructions to archive all said data points and to automatically delete all data points that have been archived in the first computer controller for more than a preselected period of time.