Water area management system

• US 9,443,207 B2
• Filed: 10/22/2012
• Issued: 09/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Przybylko, Joshua, Vian, John Lyle
• Primary Examiner(s): Barakat, Mohamed
• Application Number:
  US13/656,898
• Publication Number:
  US 20140111332A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,422 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.1, 340/573.6, 455/40
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/10 autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS]
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0027 involving a plurality of vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling fleet control of land vehicles from a control room G05D1/0297; traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00; for marine craft G08G3/00; for aircraft G08G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0269 System arrangements wherein the object is to detect the exact location of child or item using a navigation satellite system, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/08 responsive to the presence of persons in a body of water, e.g. a swimming pool; responsive to an abnormal condition of a body of water

Abstract

A method and apparatus for managing a recreational water area. A recreational water area management system comprises a water area manager. The water area manager is configured to receive information about a recreational water area from a group of autonomous vehicles, analyze the information to identify an event, and coordinate the group of autonomous vehicles to perform a mission in the recreational water area based on the event.

Claims

1. A recreational water area management system comprising:

a sensor system configured to generate information about the recreational water area;

a group of autonomous vehicles, wherein the group of autonomous vehicles comprises an unmanned aerial vehicle, an unmanned ground vehicle, and an unmanned water vehicle; and

a water area manager configured to;

receive the information about the recreational water area from the sensor system,

analyze the information to identify an event in which an individual need assistance, and

coordinate the group of autonomous vehicles to perform a mission providing the assistance to the individual in the recreational water area based on the event;

wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle comprises a buoyancy device and is configured to deploy the buoyancy device at a location of the individual; and

wherein the unmanned water vehicle is configured to navigate to the location of individual and aid the individual in returning to a safe location in response to the unmanned aerial vehicle deploying the buoyancy device at the location of the individual.

2. The recreational water area management system of claim 1, wherein the mission is selected from one of an information collection mission, a rescue mission, a warning mission, and a search mission.

3. The recreational water area management system of claim 2, wherein the water area manager is configured to run a simulation to identify a potential condition in the recreational water area that requires at least one of the information collection mission, the rescue mission, and the warning mission.

4. The recreational water area management system of claim 1, wherein the event is an individual needing assistance and the mission is a rescue mission.

5. The recreational water area management system of claim 4, wherein operation of the group of autonomous vehicles is configured to perform a number of tasks in the rescue mission for the individual,

wherein the number of tasks is selected from at least one of

identifying information about the individual, marking a location of the individual,

delivering a buoyancy device to the individual, dropping a tracking buoy at the location of the individual,

carrying a number of rescue personnel to the location of the individual, and guiding a number of personnel to the location of the individual.

6. The recreational water area management system of claim 1, wherein the event is selected from one of

an individual drowning in water,

an individual located outside an allowed zone,

an individual having a cardiac condition,

an individual choking,

a fight between individuals,

a presence of a rip current,

a swimmer within a selected distance to a cliff face,

a swimmer greater than a selected distance from a shore,

a thunder storm within a selected distance to the recreational water area,

lightening within a selected distance to the recreational water area,

waves having a greater than desired height within a selected distance to the recreational water area,

a shark within a selected distance to the recreational water area,

a jelly fish within the recreational water area,

an individual on land having a medical condition,

an individual swept into the water, and

a water vehicle disabled in the recreational water area.

7. The recreational water area management system of claim 1, wherein the sensor system comprises a satellite, and wherein a portion of the information is received from the satellite.

8. The recreational water area management system of claim 3,

wherein the simulation is used to

identify conditions comprising current conditions and predicted conditions, and

generate the event with respect to the recreational water area;

and

wherein the simulation is used to predict a presence of a shark.

9. The recreational water area management system of claim 1,

wherein the information includes information about an individual on a beach of the recreational water area and an individual in water of the recreational water area.

10. A method for managing a recreational water area, the method comprising:

receiving, by a computer system, information about the recreational water area from a sensor system;

analyzing, by the computer system, the information to identify an event in which an individual need assistance; and

coordinating, by the computer system, a group of autonomous vehicles to perform a mission providing the assistance to the individual based on the event;

wherein the group of autonomous vehicles comprises an unmanned aerial vehicle, an unmanned ground vehicle, and an unmanned water vehicle;

wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle is configured to deploy the buoyancy device at a location of the individual; and

wherein the unmanned water vehicle is configured to navigate to the location of individual and aid the individual in aid the individual in returning to a safe location in response to the unmanned aerial vehicle deploying the buoyancy device at a location of the individual.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

generating, by the computer system, a portion of the information about the recreational water area using the sensor system.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the mission is selected from one of an information collection mission, a rescue mission, a warning mission, and a search mission.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

running a simulation, by the computer system, to identify a potential condition in the recreational water area that requires at least one of the information collection mission, the rescue mission, and the warning mission.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the event is an individual needing assistance and the mission is a rescue mission.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein an operation of the group of autonomous vehicles is configured to perform a number of tasks in the rescue mission for the individual by selecting from at least one of identifying information about the individual, marking a location of the individual, delivering a buoyancy device to the individual, dropping a tracking buoy at the location of the individual, carrying a number of rescue personnel to the location of the individual, and guiding a number of personnel to the location of the individual.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the event is selected from one of an individual drowning in water, an individual located outside an allowed zone, an individual having a cardiac condition, an individual choking, a fight between individuals, a presence of a rip current, a swimmer within a selected distance to a cliff face, a swimmer greater than a selected distance from a shore, a thunder storm within a selected distance to the recreational water area, lightening within a selected distance to the recreational water area, waves having a greater than desired height within a selected distance to the recreational water area, a shark within a selected distance to the recreational water area, a jelly fish within the recreational water area, an individual on land having a medical condition, an individual swept into the water, and a water vehicle disabled in the recreational water area.