Remote monitoring of munition assets
First Claim
1. A system for monitoring a munition comprising:
- a sensor means, associated with a given munition, for detecting status information regarding the environment proximate to the munition that corresponds to at least mechanical and ambient medium attributes of said environment, each said attribute being detected in temporal intervals;
means for wirelessly communicating the detected temporal status information for each attribute from the sensor means to a remote device at a location remote from the munition, wherein the sensor means comprises at least a chemical sensor; and
means for (i) assessing operability of the munition by comparing the detected status information with a first range of at least one of mechanical and environmental conditions regarding operability of the munition, and (ii) assessing whether the detected attributes comply with predetermined warranty provisions including a probability of munition performance warranted by a manufacturer of the munition based on a second range of at least one of mechanical and environmental conditions defined in the manufacturer'"'"'s warranty in which the manufacturer warrants operability of the munition provided that the munition is at least one of maintained, stored and operated in accordance with the second range of conditions,wherein the second range of conditions warranted by the manufacturer are a subset of the first range of conditions regarding operability of the munition such that the second range of conditions is narrower than the first range of conditions by having at least one endpoint different than a corresponding endpoint of the first range of conditions.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Remote monitoring of the munition assets is directed to providing a munitions monitoring system and method for monitoring the environment approximate to a munition and transferring data of the environment to a location remote from the munition for storage or processing. A local monitoring device communicates directly with a remote device at a location remote from the munition, the monitoring device being proximate to a munition with a plurality of sensors that monitor the environment of the munition. The local monitoring device can communicate directly with a centralized relay system that is located in the general proximity to a munitions stock pile and/or with a mobile remote device, such as mounted on a vehicle or a hand-held device. The data can be correlated with the operability of the munition.
35 Citations
34 Claims
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1. A system for monitoring a munition comprising:
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a sensor means, associated with a given munition, for detecting status information regarding the environment proximate to the munition that corresponds to at least mechanical and ambient medium attributes of said environment, each said attribute being detected in temporal intervals; means for wirelessly communicating the detected temporal status information for each attribute from the sensor means to a remote device at a location remote from the munition, wherein the sensor means comprises at least a chemical sensor; and means for (i) assessing operability of the munition by comparing the detected status information with a first range of at least one of mechanical and environmental conditions regarding operability of the munition, and (ii) assessing whether the detected attributes comply with predetermined warranty provisions including a probability of munition performance warranted by a manufacturer of the munition based on a second range of at least one of mechanical and environmental conditions defined in the manufacturer'"'"'s warranty in which the manufacturer warrants operability of the munition provided that the munition is at least one of maintained, stored and operated in accordance with the second range of conditions, wherein the second range of conditions warranted by the manufacturer are a subset of the first range of conditions regarding operability of the munition such that the second range of conditions is narrower than the first range of conditions by having at least one endpoint different than a corresponding endpoint of the first range of conditions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for monitoring a munition comprising the steps of:
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sensing status information regarding an environment proximate to a given munition with a local monitoring device; transmitting the status information to a remote device at a location remote from the munition; storing the status information at the remote device; and
,comparing the status information with a set of predetermined conditions; and assessing operability of the munition by comparing the status information with a first range of at least one of mechanical and environmental conditions regarding operability of the munition, and assessing whether the status information complies with predetermined warranty provisions including a probability of munition performance warranted by a manufacturer of the munition based on a second range of at least one of mechanical and environmental conditions defined in the manufacturer'"'"'s warranty in which the manufacturer warrants operability of the munition provided that the munition is at least one of maintained, stored and operated in accordance with the second range of conditions, wherein the second range of conditions warranted by the manufacturer are a subset of the first range of conditions regarding operability of the munition such that the second range of conditions is narrower than the first range of conditions by having at least one endpoint different than a corresponding endpoint of the first range of conditions. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A system for monitoring a munition comprising:
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a status sensor located in an environment proximate to and associated with a given munition, said sensor for detecting attributes of the environment selected from at least two of a chemical sensor, an acceleration sensor and a temperature sensor, wherein the detected attributes are used to assess operability of the given munition based on a comparison of the detected attributes with a first range of at least one mechanical and environmental conditions regarding operability of the munition, and to assess compliance of the detected attributes with predetermined warranty provisions including a probability of munition performance warranted by a manufacturer of the munition based on a second range of at least one of mechanical and environmental conditions defined in the manufacturer'"'"'s warranty in which the manufacturer warrants operability of the munition provided that the munition is at least one of maintained, stored and operated in accordance with the second range of conditions, wherein the second range of conditions warranted by the manufacturer are a subset of the first range of conditions regarding operability of the munition such that the second range of conditions is narrower than the first range of conditions by having at least one endpoint different than a corresponding endpoint of the first range of conditions; a transmitter connected to the status sensor; a receiver configured to receive detected status information from the status sensor; and
,a memory connected to the receiver to store detected status information; and another receiver connected to the status sensor and another transmitter connected to the receiver, wherein, the another transmitter communicates with the another receiver. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A system for monitoring a munition comprising:
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a status sensor located in an environment proximate to and associated with a given munition, said sensor for detecting attributes of the environment selected from at least two of a chemical sensor, an acceleration sensor and a temperature sensor; a transmitter connected to the status sensor; a receiver configured to receive detected status information from the status sensor; and
,a memory connected to the receiver to store detected status information, wherein the status sensor comprises a chemical sensor, an acceleration sensor and a temperature sensor, wherein the detected attributes are used to assess operability of the given munition based on a comparison of the detected attributes with a first range of at least one of mechanical and environmental conditions regarding operability of the munition, and to assess compliance of the detected attributes with predetermined warranty provisions including a probability of munition performance warranted by a manufacturer of the warranty based on a second range of at least one of mechanical and environmental conditions defined in the manufacturer'"'"'s warranty in which the manufacturer warrants operability of the munition provided that the munition is at least one of maintained, stored and operated in accordance with the second range of conditions, wherein the second range of conditions warranted by the manufacturer are a subset of the first range of conditions regarding operability of the munition such that the second range of conditions is narrower than the first range of conditions by having at least one endpoint different than a corresponding endpoint of the first range of conditions. - View Dependent Claims (34)
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Specification