METHODS AND SYSTEMS TO ASSIST IN A SEARCH AND RESCUE MISSION

• US 20170206790A1
• Filed: 01/20/2016
• Published: 07/20/2017
• 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
• Granted Patent: US 10,417,918 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 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.

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 determines the searched area information has changed, the method further comprises communicating the changed searched area information to at least one other trailing air vehicle, 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 communicating leading air vehicle information to the at least one trailing air vehicle further comprises uploading leading air vehicle information on a 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 uploading leading air vehicle information on a central server further comprises geotagging leading air vehicle information to a cloud comprised on the central server.

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

7. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating leading air vehicle information to the at least one trailing air vehicle further comprises communicating leading air vehicle information to a trailing air vehicle via datalink communication.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the searched area information further comprises identifying a safe landing zone within the at least one portion of the search and rescue site.

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

10. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating leading air vehicle information to the at least one trailing air vehicle further comprises communicating any of basic parameters of the leading air vehicle, information related to crew members of leading air vehicle, activities involved in the search and rescue mission, time of day, and indication of type of subtask assigned to leading air vehicle.

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

12. 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 the same mission.

13. 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 further comprises;

at least one scanning device to scan at least a portion of a terrain of a search and rescue site;

at least one processor coupled to the at least one scanning device, the at least one processor configured to process a search zone algorithm that analyzes the scanned at least a portion of the search and rescue site;

at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the memory includes leading air vehicle information, wherein the leading air vehicle information includes information of the terrain and analysis of the scanned at least a portion of the search and rescue site processed by the at least one processor; and

at least one transmitter coupled to the at least one memory, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the leading air vehicle information to at least one of a ground station or a central server.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising at least one of a ground station or a central server configured to receive leading air vehicle information from the at least one leading air vehicle and communicate the leading air vehicle information to at least one trailing air vehicle.

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

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one leading air vehicle further comprises a focus light to scan the unknown terrain.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein leading air vehicle information further comprises one or more of basic parameters of the leading air vehicle, information related to crew members of leading air vehicle, activities involved in the search and rescue mission, time of day, and indication of type of subtask assigned to leading air vehicle.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one trailing air vehicle further comprises:

at least one trailing air vehicle scanning device to scan an additional portion of the terrain of the search and rescue site, wherein the additional portion is different from the at least one portion of the terrain;

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

at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the memory includes trailing air vehicle information, wherein the trailing air vehicle information includes information and analysis of the additional portion of the terrain; and

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

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

receiving leading air vehicle information about a search and rescue site from a leading air vehicle, wherein leading air vehicle information includes searched area information, wherein searched area information is information of at least a portion of a terrain of the search and rescue site;

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

communicating the leading air vehicle information to the at least one trailing air vehicle, wherein the at least one trailing air vehicle is an air vehicle that trails the leading air vehicle.

20. A method of claim 19, 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 determines that the searched area information has changed;

updating the leading air vehicle information to include additional information about the terrain; and

communicating 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.