Friend or foe detection system and method and expert system military action advisory system and method

• US 6,166,679 A
• Filed: 01/13/1999
• Issued: 12/26/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Deceased, Jerome H. Lemelson, Dorothy Lemelson, Robert D. Pedersen, Steven Robert Pedersen
• Original Assignee: Deceased, Jerome H. Lemelson, Dorothy Lemelson, Robert D. Pedersen, Steven Robert Pedersen
• Inventors: Pedersen, Robert D., Pedersen, Steven R., Lemelson, deceased, Jerome H., Lemelson, executrix, by Dorothy
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MULL, FRED H
• Application Number:
  US09/231,326
• Time in Patent Office: 713 Days
• Field of Search: 342/45, 342/357.17, 342/357.06, 342/357.07, 342/357.01
• US Class Current: 342/45
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/18 Military applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0009 Transmission of position information to remote stations involving assistance data G01S5/0236

Abstract

A friend or foe detection system and method is disclosed. Friend or foe warning unit 20 has a geographic locating system, a communication system for communicating with each of the warning units, and a military force detection system for detecting military forces in a combat area and has a signal routing and control circuitry 50 for controlling operations. A number of components, devices, or sub-systems, such as a transmitter/receiver radio 28, an antenna 26, a microphone 30, a speaker 32, a battery 34, a display 36, a microprocessor 38, a memory 40, a camera 56, a radar/lidar input 54, on/off switch 52, a GPS location system 45 that includes a GPS processor 46, a GPS receiver 42, a GPS antenna 44, are coupled to the circuitry 50. Display 36 provides a display to the user of the unit 20 and shows the location of friendly forces as well as unfriendly or unidentified forces in the area. Display 36 displays text messages for the user of the warning unit 20. The microprocessor 38 together with memory 40 provide microprocessor control of the operations of the warning unit 20. The geographic locating system includes GPS processor 46, GPS receiver 42, and GPS antenna 44, and it is used to determine the exact location of the warning unit 20. The unit 20 is able to broadcast and receive military force information, such as location and status (i.e. friendly, unfriendly, unidentified statuses). An expert system military action advisory system and method for advising military troops or personnel of firing decisions is also disclosed. A firing index is determined based on the membership variables, and the firing index is used to help make the firing decisions. The membership variables and the firing index are defined for an expert system or fuzzy logic system, and the expert system or fuzzy logic system helps determine making the firing decisions. The system and method operate by transmitting target and friendly force GPS coordinate information to determine danger. Alternatively, only target coordinates are transmitted with fire danger indices calculated on a distributed basis by individual warning units and transmitted to the source of fire without friendly force location coordinates to assist in making final firing decisions.

Claims

1. A method for implementing and operating warning units to locate military forces and to detect friend or foe status of the military forces comprising the steps of:

determining whether a user of one of the warning units is about to execute an aggressive military action,

calculating geographic location coordinates of at least one anticipated enemy target if the user is about to execute the aggressive military action,

transmitting from the one of the warning units to each of the other warning units warning information relating to the aggressive military action to warn the military forces of friendly status that are in vicinity of the at least one anticipated target,

waiting a predetermined time for response information to be sent from each of the other warning units to the one of the warning units,

determining if the one of the warning units received the response information from each of the other warning units,

executing the aggressive military action if none of the response information was received by the one of the warning units,

performing expert analysis in determining execution of the aggressive military action if the response information was received by the one of the warning units,

aborting the aggressive military action if the expert analysis results in determining abortion of the aggressive military action and executing the aggressive military action if the expert analysis results in determining execution of the military action,

determining if each of the other warning units is transmitting other warning information to the one of the warning units when the user of the one of the warning units is not about to execute an aggressive military action and determining whether the user of the one of the warning units is in danger based on the geographic location coordinates if the other warning information is received by the one of the warning units,

warning the user of the one of the warning units of the danger, and

advising the user of the one of the warning units of a route to safety.

23. The system according to claim 1 further comprising:

an advisory system for advising military troops or personnel of firing decisions wherein the advisory system defines variables with membership functions affecting the firing decisions, determines a firing index based on the variable membership functions, and uses the firing index to help determine making the firing decisions.

24. The system according to claim 23 wherein the advisory system is an advisory expert system that helps make the firing decisions and wherein the membership variables and the firing index are defined for the advisory expert system.

25. The system according to claim 24 wherein the advisory expert system is an advisory fuzzy logic system and wherein the variable membership functions and the firing index are defined for the advisory fuzzy logic system.

2. A system for locating military forces and detecting friend or foe status of the military forces comprising:

warning units each having a geographic locating system, a communication system for communicating with each of the warning units, and a military force detection system for detecting military forces in a combat area,

wherein the military force detection system determines status of the military forces, the geographic locating system calculates geographic location position, and the communication system transmits at least the status to each of the other warning units, and

wherein each of the warning units receives the status from each of the other warning units and displays locations of the military forces and indicates the military force status.

3. The system according to claim 2 wherein each of the warning units further comprises:

a signal routing and control circuitry for controlling operations of each of the warning units.

4. The system according to claim 3 further comprising:

a microprocessor and a memory device that are coupled to the signal routing and control circuitry to provide computer controls and operations for each of the warning units.

5. The system according to claim 3 wherein the communication system further comprises:

a radio transmitter and receiver, a speaker, and a microphone that are coupled to the signal routing and control circuitry,

a communications antenna coupled to the radio transmitter and receiver, and

wherein the communication system transmits and receives warning unit information.

6. The system according to claim 3 further comprising:

a display coupled to the signal routing and control circuitry.

7. The system according to claim 6 wherein the display shows location of the military forces.

8. The system according to claim 6 wherein the display shows user information.

9. The system according to claim 8 wherein the user information is text messages.

10. The system according to claim 6 wherein the display shows the status of the military forces.

11. The system according to claim 6 wherein the display further comprises a grid having latitudinal and longitudinal lines wherein the grid is divided into various location sectors and wherein the location and the status of the military forces are able to be shown on the grid.

12. The system according to claim 2 wherein the status of the military forces is a friendly status.

13. The system according to claim 2 wherein the status of the military forces is an unfriendly status.

14. The system according to claim 2 wherein the status of the military forces is an unidentified status.

15. The system according to claim 3 further comprising:

a camera coupled to the signal routing and control circuitry for providing visual information relating to the combat area.

16. The system according to claim 3 further comprising:

a radar coupled to the signal routing and control circuitry for providing visual information relating to the combat area.

17. The system according to claim 3 further comprising:

a lidar coupled to the signal routing and control circuitry for providing visual information relating to the combat area.

18. The system according to claim 3 further comprising:

a power source coupled to the signal routing and control circuitry for providing power to each of the warning units.

19. The system according to claim 18 wherein the power source is a battery.

20. The system according to claim 3 further comprising:

a switch coupled to the signal routing and control circuitry for activating and deactivating each of the warning units.

21. The system according to claim 3 wherein the geographic locating system is a global positioning system locating device coupled to the signal routing and control circuitry.

22. The system according to claim 21 wherein the global positioning system locating device further comprises:

a global positioning system processor,

a global positioning system receiver coupled to the global positioning system processor,

a global positioning system antenna coupled to the global positioning system processor, and

wherein the global positioning system locating device calculates the geographic location position and determines warning unit location.

26. A method for implementing and operating warning units to locate military forces and to detect friend or foe status of the military forces comprising the steps of:

determining geographic location of each of the warning units by calculating geographic coordinates,

broadcasting the geographic location to each of the other warning units,

broadcasting the status of the military forces to each of the other warning units,

receiving transmitted information from each of the other warning units,

scanning the combat area in obtaining military forces location and status information,

processing the geographic location, the transmitted information, and the military forces location and status information in order to display the location and status of the military forces, and

displaying the location and status of the military forces on a display.

27. The method according to claim 26 further comprising the steps of:

continuously repeating the method steps and updating information until deactivation of the warning units occurs.

28. The method according to claim 26 wherein the warning units each use a geographic locating system for determining the geographic location, a communication system for communicating with each of the warning units, and a military force detection system for detecting the military forces in the combat area.

29. The method according to claim 26 wherein the status of the military forces is a friendly status.

30. The method according to claim 26 wherein the status of the military forces is an unfriendly status.

31. The method according to claim 26 wherein the status of the military forces is an unidentified status.