SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR USING RADIO FREQUENCY SIGNALS AND SENSORS TO MONITOR ENVIRONMENTS

• US 20200135028A1
• Filed: 12/26/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• 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
• Granted Patent: US 11,030,902 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/74 Systems using reradiation of radio waves, e.g. secondary radar systems; Analogous systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0289 of multiple transceivers, e.g. in ad hoc networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/285 Selection of pattern recognition techniques, e.g. of classifiers in a multi-classifier system
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/042 using inductive or magnetic detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/142 external to the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/23 Indication means, e.g. displays, alarms, audible means
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/27 for locating or positioning the transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength

Abstract

Systems and methods for using radio frequency signals and sensors to monitor environments (e.g., indoor building, industrial 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 determine localization of the plurality of sensor nodes within the wireless asymmetric network, to monitor regions within an environment for human presence and location of at least one robot, to determine human presence information to indicate whether a human is present within the monitored regions, and to determine a location for the human based on the human presence information when a human is present within the monitored regions.

Claims

1. A system for providing a wireless asymmetric network, 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;

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, wherein the hub is configured to determine localization of the plurality of sensor nodes within the wireless asymmetric network, to monitor regions within an environment for human presence and location of at least one robot, to determine human presence information to indicate whether a human is present within the monitored regions, and to determine a location for the human based on the human presence information when a human is present within the monitored regions.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a remote device to communicate with at least one of the hub and the plurality of sensor nodes, wherein the hub or the remote device is configured to determine the location of the human by use of RF communications, wherein the human is carrying a RF-enabled device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the remote device or hub is configured to determining location of at least one robot within the one or more regions.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one robot is configured to determine robot location using one or more of image-based location determination, gyroscopic location determination, GPS, or RF-based location determination.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the remote device or hub is configured to determine whether the location of the human and the robot location of a first robot are sufficiently separated and to cause the first robot to move away from the human if the location of the human and the first robot are not sufficiently separated from each other.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the remote device or hub is configured to determine whether the location of the first robot and a robot location of a second robot are sufficiently separated and to cause one of the first and second robots to move away from the other robot if the location of the first robot and the location of the second robot are not sufficiently separated from each other.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the remote device or hub is configured to determine whether the location of the first robot is sufficiently separated from fixed infrastructure and to cause the first robot to move away from the fixed infrastructure if the location of the first robot and the fixed infrastructure are not sufficiently separated from each other.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one robot is configured to determine whether the location of the robot is sufficiently separated from fixed infrastructure and to cause the robot to move away from the fixed infrastructure if the location of the robot and the fixed infrastructure are not sufficiently separated from each other.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote device or hub is configured to determine human presence information to indicate whether a human is present within the monitored regions based on RSSI measurements between at least two of the hub, a sensors node, and the at least one robot.

10. A mobile robot, comprising:

a memory to store data;

an image capturing device to capture image data of regions of a building;

one or more processing units coupled to the image capturing device; and

radio frequency (RF) circuitry to transmit RF communications to and receive RF communications from wireless nodes within a wireless network architecture, wherein the one or more processing units of the robot are configured to monitor the regions for human presence, to determine human presence information to indicate whether a human is present within the monitored regions, and to determine a location for the human based on the human presence information when a human is present within the monitored regions.

11. The mobile robot of claim 10, wherein the one or more processing units of the mobile robot are configured to determine location of the mobile robot.

12. The mobile robot of claim 10, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to determine robot location using one or more of image-based location determination, gyroscopic location determination, GPS, or RF-based location determination.

13. The mobile robot of claim 11, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to determine whether the location of the human and the robot location are sufficiently separated and to cause the mobile robot to move away from the human if the location of the human and the mobile robot are not sufficiently separated from each other.

14. The mobile robot of claim 11, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to configured to determine whether the location of the mobile robot and a robot location of an additional mobile robot are sufficiently separated and to cause the mobile robot to move away from the additional mobile robot if the location of the mobile robot and the location of the additional mobile robot are not sufficiently separated from each other.

15. The mobile robot of claim 11, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to determine whether the location of the mobile robot is sufficiently separated from fixed infrastructure and to cause the mobile robot to move away from the fixed infrastructure if the location of the mobile robot and the fixed infrastructure are not sufficiently separated from each other.

16. An apparatus, comprising:

radio frequency (RF) circuitry and at least one antenna for transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) communications in a wireless asymmetric network of wireless sensor nodes;

one or more processing units to process data of the RF communications, the one or more processing units are configured to determine localization of the plurality of wireless sensor nodes within the wireless asymmetric network, to monitor regions within an environment for human presence and location of at least one robot, to determine human presence information to indicate whether a human is present within the monitored regions, and to determine a location for the human based on the human presence information when a human is present within the monitored regions.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the apparatus is configured to determine the location of the human by use of RF communications, wherein the human is carrying a RF-enabled device.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the apparatus is configured to determine whether the location of the human and a robot location of the robot are sufficiently separated and to cause the robot to move away from the human if the location of the human and the robot are not sufficiently separated from each other.

19. A computer-implemented method for monitoring a wireless network architecture, comprising:

transmitting, with a plurality of sensor nodes each having a wireless device with a transmitter and a receiver, RF communications in the wireless network architecture to determine localization of the plurality of sensor nodes within the wireless network architecture;

monitoring, with a hub or remote device, regions within an environment for human presence and location of at least one robot;

determining human presence information to indicate whether a human is present within the monitored regions; and

determining a location for the human based on the human presence information using RF communications.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, further comprising:

determining location of at least one robot within the one or more regions.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein the at least one robot is configured to determine robot location using one or more of image-based location determination, gyroscopic location determination, GPS, or RF-based location determination.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 20, further comprising:

determining whether the location of the human and the robot location of the robot are sufficiently separated; and

causing the robot to move away from the human if the location of the human and the robot are not sufficiently separated from each other.