Passive microwave fire and intrusion detection system including black body and spectral emission at the hydrogen, hydroxyl and hydrogen chloride lines
First Claim
1. A method for detecting at least one of a fire and an intruder using passive reception of microwave radiation, comprising:
- passively receiving a first microwave radiation signal at a first receiver, said first receiver including a first antenna, a first frequency of said first passively received microwave radiation signal being indicative of a temperature of a source of said first microwave radiation;
passively receiving a second microwave radiation signal at a second receiver, said second receiver including a second antenna, a second frequency of said second passively received microwave radiation signal being indicative of a temperature of a source of said second microwave radiation, wherein said first and second frequencies are within a first range of frequencies protected from active transmission in a geographic area encompassing a location of said first and second receivers, a second range of frequencies being between 0.5 and 1000 GHz for capturing a hydrogen line and a hydroxyl radical line and including said first range of frequencies;
storing black body radiation frequency characteristics for a human body and for a fire in memory of a central computer for said second 0.5 to 1000 GHz frequency range; and
comparing said first frequency with said second frequency of said first frequency range and with said black body radiation frequency characteristics of said second frequency range to determine a presence of at least one of a fire and an intruder at said central computer.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A passive microwave receiver array, operating in the one meter to sub-millimeter wavelengths range and including an internationally protected range of frequencies of varying bandwidth, may be used for fire and intrusion detection. One or more receiver arrays can be used to provide a plurality of frequency ranges that can be detected. In an interior installation, one or more receiver arrays can be placed inside a wall made of non-metallic substance and capable of passively receiving frequencies at less than 3 GHz. In other embodiments, the receiver and array can be in the form of a hand-held or wearable device. This method and apparatus achieves high performance by exploiting conventional low noise amplification block conversion circuits and provides the detection of thermal signals through clear, smoky, misty, or environmentally untenable conditions as well as the detection of fire and intrusion events via black box or spectral line emission at hydrogen, hydroxyl radical or HCl spectral line emission where an HCl spectral line detector may be mounted on a wall or pole and have line-of-sight view of an intruder or fire.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method for detecting at least one of a fire and an intruder using passive reception of microwave radiation, comprising:
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passively receiving a first microwave radiation signal at a first receiver, said first receiver including a first antenna, a first frequency of said first passively received microwave radiation signal being indicative of a temperature of a source of said first microwave radiation; passively receiving a second microwave radiation signal at a second receiver, said second receiver including a second antenna, a second frequency of said second passively received microwave radiation signal being indicative of a temperature of a source of said second microwave radiation, wherein said first and second frequencies are within a first range of frequencies protected from active transmission in a geographic area encompassing a location of said first and second receivers, a second range of frequencies being between 0.5 and 1000 GHz for capturing a hydrogen line and a hydroxyl radical line and including said first range of frequencies; storing black body radiation frequency characteristics for a human body and for a fire in memory of a central computer for said second 0.5 to 1000 GHz frequency range; and comparing said first frequency with said second frequency of said first frequency range and with said black body radiation frequency characteristics of said second frequency range to determine a presence of at least one of a fire and an intruder at said central computer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system for passive microwave detection of at least one of a fire and an intruder, comprising:
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a first passive microwave receiver configured to detect a first microwave radiation signal from a first source, a first frequency of said first received microwave radiation signal being indicative of a temperature of said first source; at least one second passive microwave receiver configured to detect a second microwave radiation signal from a second source, a second frequency of said second microwave radiation signal being indicative of a temperature of said second source of said second microwave radiation, said second frequency being indicative of the presence of one of the hydrogen and the hydroxyl radical spectral lines wherein said first and second frequencies are within a range of frequencies protected from active transmission in a geographic area encompassing a location of said first and second receivers; a signal processor, said signal processor being configured to receive said first and second microwave radiation signals from said first and second passive microwave receivers and being further configured to convert said first and second microwave radiation signals to first and second voltages, respectively, said signal processor further being configured to subtract said second voltage signal from said first voltage signal to obtain a resulting voltage signal; wherein a presence of a fire can be determined if said resulting voltage signal is positive; and wherein a presence of an intruder comprising a living being can be determined if said resulting voltage signal is negative. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for detecting at least one of a fire and an intruder using passive reception of microwave radiation, comprising:
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receiving a microwave radiation signal at a passive microwave receiver, said passive microwave receiver including at least one antenna, a frequency of said passively received microwave radiation signal being indicative of a temperature of a source of said microwave radiation, a first passively received frequency comprising the frequency representing one of the carbon monoxide spectral line, the carbon dioxide spectral line, the water spectral line, the sulfur dioxide spectral line, the nitric oxide spectral line and the hydrogen chloride spectral line and a second passively received frequency being in the frequency range between 0.5 and 2.5 GHz, wherein one of said first passively received frequency or said second passively received frequency is within a range of frequencies protected from active transmission in a geographic area encompassing a location of said passive microwave receiver; wherein said source of said microwave radiation is one of black body emission and spectral line emission from said at least one of a fire and an intruder. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. An apparatus for passive microwave detection of at least one of a fire and an intruder, comprising:
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a passive microwave receiver configured to detect a microwave radiation signal from a first source, a frequency of said passively received microwave radiation signal being indicative of a temperature of said first source, said frequency being within a range of frequencies protected from active transmission in a geographic area encompassing a location of said passive microwave receiver and including the hydrogen line at 21 cm and the hydroxyl line within a frequency range from 1.612231 to 1.720530 GHz; an antenna of the passive microwave receiver, the antenna configured to passively detect the microwave radiation signal from said first source within a field of view of the antenna, the apparatus being self-adjusting for changes in temperature of the first source; and a signal processor configured to convert said passively received microwave radiation signal from said first source to a voltage signal level; and a memory for storing data of a black body emission characteristic of a fire and an intruder, the black body emission from one of a fire and an intruder associated with said microwave radiation signal from said first source for passive microwave reception by the passive microwave receiver within the antenna field of view; wherein a presence of at least one of a fire and an intruder is determinable from said voltage signal level via comparison with said black body emission characteristic data. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification