Method and device for searching through collapsed ground

• US 9,594,161 B2
• Filed: 03/08/2012
• Issued: 03/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Totalforsvarets Forskningsinstitut (FOI)
• Original Assignee: Totalforsvarets Forskningsinstitut (FOI)
• Inventors: Abrahamson, Staffan
• Primary Examiner(s): Windrich, Marcus
• Application Number:
  US14/003,556
• Publication Number:
  US 20130335257A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,832 Days
• Field of Search: 342/22
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/802 Ultra-sound sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/50 Wireless data transmission, e.g. by radio transmitters or telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2230/00 Measuring physiological parameters of the user
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 29/021 Means for indicating the location of accidentally buried, e.g. snow-buried, persons
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/56 for presence detection presence detection using near field arrangements G01V3/00, e.g. G01V3/08, G01V3/12; burglar, theft or intruder alarms with electrical actuation G08B13/22 - G08B13/26
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/885 for ground probing prospecting or detecting using electromagnetic waves G01V3/12

Abstract

The invention relates to a device and a method for determining whether a living person has been buried in collapsed ground. The device consists of a rod provided with a receiver unit and a signal processing unit. The receiver unit is intended to receive reflected radar signals transmitted from a radar transmitting antenna and transfer these signals to the signal processing unit. The signal processing unit which is provided with specific detection units determines whether the received signal have been Doppler shifted. By determining that the device can decide whether the Doppler shift depends on the moving chest of a breathing person buried alive.

Claims

1. A device for receiving and processing signals reflected from objects in the ground comprising

a rod to be inserted into the ground,

a radar information generating unit including an antenna provided in the rod for transmitting radar signals into the ground,

at least one signal receiving unit provided in the rod for receiving radar signals reflected from an object in the ground, and

a signal processing unit connected to the at least one signal receiving unit and containing as units for main detection

i) a band-pass filter that blocks frequencies outside the interval 0.3-10 Hz,

ii) a differential detector that compares the amplitudes of the signals that have passed the band-pass filter to create a derivative of the received signals, of which the absolute value is created, and

iii) a comparator and decision processor unit that compares the absolute value of the derivative with a threshold value that corresponds to the background noise in the collapsed ground and decides whether a reflected signal has been Doppler shifted in a way that is likely to be by the breathing movement of a buried person,

characterized in that the rod in its length direction is divided into multiple sections, each section of the rod having thereon the at least one signal receiving unit connected to the signal processing unit, the sections corresponding to different length segments of the rod and providing indication of the ground depth where a moving object has been detected, and

characterized in that each section is radially divided into sectors disposed peripherally around the rod, each sector carrying the at least one signal receiving unit connected to the signal processing unit, whereby signals received by a specific receiving unit are processed to determine whether a reflected radar signal has been Doppler shifted and thereby determine whether an object in the ground is moving, each sector providing information about angular positioning of the object relative the rod where the Doppler shift was detected.

2. A method for determining the position of a buried moving object by using a radar transmitting unit and a device according to claim 1, the method comprising the steps of

a) inserting the rod into the ground,

b) generating by the radar information generating unit a radar signal into the ground,

c) receiving by the receiving unit radar signals reflected from an object in the ground and transferring these signals to the signal processing unit,

d) blocking by the band-pass filter radar signal frequencies outside 0.03-10 Hz and transferring non-blocked radar signals to the differential detector,

e) determining by the differential detector the derivative of the amplitude of the non-blocked radar signals and an absolute value of this derivative,

f) comparing by the comparator and decision processor the determined absolute value of the derivative with a threshold value corresponding to background noise in the ground, and when the determined absolute value is larger than the threshold value, finding a Doppler shift is detected that is likely caused by movement of a buried object, and

g) presenting by a presentation unit the finding of the previous step.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising, with the rod inserted in the ground at different locations, repeating all the steps at each location, and determining the position of the buried object by triangulation using the results obtained by repeating all the steps at the different locations.