Meteorological observation system using vehicles

• US 9,476,977 B2
• Filed: 06/03/2014
• Issued: 10/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Korea Institute of Construction Technology
• Original Assignee: Korea Institute of Construction Technology
• Inventors: Lim, Sang Hun, Lee, Dong Ryul
• Primary Examiner(s): Barker, Matthew M
• Application Number:
  US14/294,580
• Publication Number:
  US 20150061929A1
• Time in Patent Office: 875 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/86 Combinations of radar systems with non-radar systems, e.g. sonar, direction finder
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/867 Combination of radar systems with cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/956 mounted on ship or other platform
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/003 Transmission of data between radar, sonar or lidar systems and remote stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a meteorological observation system using vehicles. The meteorological observation system using vehicles includes a meteorological observation device embedded in each of the vehicles and configured to periodically detect surrounding weather information and to photograph weather conditions, the vehicle configured to run on a road using radar devices for detecting the front and right and left sides of the vehicle, that is, sensors for supporting driving and prevent a collision, and to provide mobility to the meteorological observation device, a meteorological server configured to collect pieces of the weather information from the meteorological observation devices moving in respective areas through wireless communication and to provide the pieces of weather information to a meteorological observation center, the meteorological observation center configured to use information, received from the meteorological server, as statistical data or meteorological observation and forecast data.

Claims

1. A meteorological observation system using vehicles, comprising:

a vehicle;

a meteorological observation device embedded in the vehicle and configured to periodically detect weather information and to photograph scenes around the vehicle;

a meteorological server configured to collect the weather information from the meteorological observation device in the vehicle in an area corresponding to the meteorological server through wireless communication and to provide the weather information to a meteorological observation center, the meteorological observation center configured to receive the weather information from the meteorological server;

wherein the meteorological observation device comprises;

a sensor unit configured to detect temperature, humidity, wind speed, a direction of wind around the vehicle;

a radar unit configured to output an output signal of a specific frequency toward front or right and left sides of the vehicle and to collect a reflected signal which is made after the output signal collides against an object around the vehicle in order to measure a distance between the vehicle and the object;

a control unit configured to estimate an amount of rainfall or an amount of snow fall by using a loss characteristic of radar signals including the output signal and the reflected signal;

a photographing unit configured to photograph the scenes around the vehicle and to generate image information corresponding to the scenes;

a memory unit configured to store the weather information including the temperature, the humidity, the wind direction of wind around the vehicle detected by the sensor unit and the amount of rainfall or the amount of snow fall estimated by the control unit and the image information generated by the photographing unit; and

a communication unit configured to send the weather information stored in the memory unit to the meteorological server.

2. The meteorological observation system of claim 1, wherein the radar unit comprises:

a first radar unit configured to output a radio wave of a frequency of 77 GHz as the output signal toward the front side of the vehicle; and

second radar units configured to output a radio wave of a frequency of 24 GHz as the output signal toward the left and right sides of the vehicle.

3. The meteorological observation system of claim 1, wherein the control unit is further configured to estimate the amount of rainfall by using a difference in a degree of attenuation of the radar signals of the specific frequency.

4. The meteorological observation system of claim 3, wherein the specific frequency is 24 GHz or 77 GHz.

5. A meteorological observation method using a vehicle, comprising the steps of:

preparing a vehicle on which an Advanced Vehicle Control System (AVCS) having a radar unit is mounted;

periodically detecting weather information around the vehicle and photographing scenes around the vehicle to generate image information corresponding to the scenes by a meteorological observation device embedded in the vehicle;

by a meteorological server, collecting the weather information and the image information from the meteorological observation device embedded in the vehicle in an area corresponding to the meteorological server through wireless communication; and

providing the collected weather information and the collected image information to a meteorological observation center,

wherein the step of detecting the weather information and photographing the scenes comprises;

detecting, by a sensor unit, temperature, humidity, wind speed, a direction of wind around the vehicle;

estimating an amount of rainfall by using a loss characteristic of a radar signal of a specific frequency output and collected by the radar unit, the radar unit configured to output a radio wave of a specific frequency as an output signal toward front or right and left sides of the vehicle and to collect a reflected signal which is made after the output signal collides against an object around the vehicle in order to measure a distance between the vehicle and the object; and

photographing the scenes around the vehicle.

6. The meteorological observation method of claim 5, wherein the radar unit comprises:

a first radar unit configured to output a radio wave of a frequency of 77 GHz toward the front side of the vehicle; and

second radar units configured to output a radio wave of a frequency of 24 GHz toward the left and right sides of the vehicle.

7. The meteorological observation method of claim 5, wherein the step of estimating the amount of rainfall comprises:

estimating the amount of rainfall using a difference in a degree of attenuation of the radar signal of the specific frequency.

8. The meteorological observation method of claim 5, wherein the radar signal includes a first radar signal having a first frequency and a second radar signal having a second frequency, and the step of estimating the amount of rainfall comprises:

estimating the amount of rainfall using a difference between an attenuation of the first radar signal and an attenuation of the second radar signal.

9. The meteorological observation method of claim 8, wherein the first frequency is 24 GHz and the second frequency is 77 GHz, and the step of estimating the amount of rainfall comprises:

estimating the amount of rainfall using an equation below;

R=f(A²⁴(r),A⁷⁷(r),Δ

A(r))

wherein, R is the amount of rainfall, f is a function symbol, A²⁴(r) is attenuation per unit length in the first frequency of 24 GHz, A⁷⁷(r) is attenuation per unit length in the second frequency of 77 GHz, and Δ

A(r) is a difference between A⁷⁷(r) and A²⁴(r) (i.e., A⁷⁷(r)−

A²⁴(r)).

10. The meteorological observation method of claim 5, wherein the step of estimating the amount of rainfall comprises;

estimating the amount of rainfall using a difference in a degree of attenuation between a vertical polarized wave of the radar signal and a horizontal polarized wave of the radar signal in a single frequency.

11. The meteorological observation method of claim 10, wherein the specific frequency of the radar signal is 24 GHz or 77 GHz, and the step of estimating the amount of rainfall comprises:

estimating the amount of rainfall using an equation below;

R=f(A⁷⁷_h(r),A⁷⁷_v(r),Δ

A⁷⁷_h,v(r))

wherein, A⁷⁷_h(r) is attenuation of the horizontal polarized wave per unit length in the frequency of 24 GHz or 77 GHz, A⁷⁷_v(r) is attenuation of the vertical polarized wave per unit length in the frequency of 24 GHz or 77 GHz, and AA⁷⁷_h,v(r) is a difference between A⁷⁷_h(r) and A⁷⁷_v(r) (i.e., A⁷⁷_h(r)−

A⁷⁷_v(r)).