Aerially dispersible massively distributed sensorlet system

• US 10,207,816 B1
• Filed: 09/14/2017
• Issued: 02/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SparkCognition Inc., The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: SparkCognition Inc.
• Inventors: Husain, Syed Mohammad Amir, Allen, John Rutherford
• Primary Examiner(s): Sohn, Seung C
• Application Number:
  US15/704,991
• Publication Number:
  US 20190082015A1
• Time in Patent Office: 523 Days
• Field of Search: 25022718
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 17/00 Testing of vehicles testing fluid tightness G01M3/00; testing elastic properties of bodies or chassis, e.g. torsion-testing, G01M5/00; testing alignment of vehicle headlight devices G01M11/06; testing of engines G01M15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/00 Beacons or beacon systems transmitting signals having a characteristic or characteristics capable of being detected by non-directional receivers and defining directions, positions, or position lines fixed relatively to the beacon transmitters; Receivers co-operating therewith position fixing by co-ordinating a plurality of determinations of direction or position lines G01S5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/003 Bistatic radar systems; Multistatic radar systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/89 for mapping or imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/14 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/003 Transmission of data between radar, sonar or lidar systems and remote stations
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/08 Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time

Abstract

A distributed sensor module system comprises a plurality of sensor modules configured to be aerially deployable from a deployment device, the deployment device including an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or an aeronautically deployable unitized container, the plurality of sensor modules configured to communicate with each other. A first sensor module comprises a first sensor configured to obtain first sensor information from a first environment proximate to the first sensor, a processor coupled to the first sensor, the processor configured to process the first sensor information to obtain locally processed first sensor information, and a communication transceiver coupled to the processor, the communication transceiver configured to communicate the locally processed first sensor information to a second sensor module, the first sensor module and the second sensor module configured to be aerially deployable.

Claims

1. A distributed sensor module system comprising:

a deployment device comprising a communication node and configured to transport a plurality of sensor modules to a deployment location; and

the plurality of sensor modules configured to sense separation from the deployment device,

wherein the deployment device comprises an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or an aeronautically deployable unitized container, and

wherein each of the plurality of sensor modules is configured to communicate with other sensor modules of the plurality of sensor modules and with the communication node of the deployment device.

2. The distributed sensor module system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensor modules are configured to communicate with a communication relay.

3. The distributed sensor module system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensor modules are configured to communicate with each other via a mesh network, and wherein a first sensor module of the plurality of sensor modules is configured to communicate with a second sensor module of the plurality of sensor modules via messaging relay by a third sensor module of the plurality of sensor modules.

4. The distributed sensor module system of claim 1, wherein a first sensor of a first sensor module of the plurality of sensor modules includes a vibration sensor, a location sensor, an optical sensor, an audio sensor, or a combination thereof.

5. The distributed sensor module system of claim 1, wherein a first sensor module of the plurality of sensor modules is configured to correlate first sensor information from a first sensor of the first sensor module with second sensor information of a second sensor of a second sensor module.

6. The distributed sensor module system of claim 1, wherein attributes of multiple sensor information recognizable as relating to an event or activity are usable to build a model based on the multiple sensor information.

7. The distributed sensor module system of claim 6, further comprising:

an aerial resource, the aerial resource configured to obtain the multiple sensor information from the plurality of sensor modules and to build the model.

8. A first sensor module comprising:

a first sensor configured to obtain first sensor information from a first environment proximate to the first sensor;

a processor coupled to the first sensor, the processor configured to process the first sensor information to obtain locally processed first sensor information; and

a communication transceiver coupled to the processor, the communication transceiver configured to communicate the locally processed first sensor information to a second sensor module of a mesh network via a third sensor module of the mesh network,

wherein the first sensor module is configured to sense separate from a deployment device.

9. The first sensor module of claim 8, wherein the first sensor includes a vibration sensor, a location sensor, an optical sensor, an audio sensor, or a combination thereof.

10. The first sensor module of claim 8, wherein the first sensor module is configured to communicate with a communication relay.

11. The first sensor module of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to correlate the first sensor information from the first sensor with second sensor information of a second sensor of the second sensor module.

12. The first sensor module of claim 8, wherein attributes of the first sensor information obtained at the first sensor module and of second sensor information obtained from the second sensor module recognizable as relating to an event or activity are usable to build a model based on the first sensor information and the second sensor information.

13. The first sensor module of claim 12, wherein the first sensor module is configured to communicate the first sensor information to an aerial resource, the aerial resource configured to obtain additional sensor information from a plurality of sensor modules and to build the model.

14. A method comprising:

sensing, at a first sensor module, separation from a deployment device;

based on sensing the separation from the deployment device, beginning sensing of first sensor information from a first sensor of the first sensor module;

locally processing the first sensor information at the first sensor module according to one or more parameters; and

transmitting the first sensor information to another entity including a second sensor module, a communication relay, or both.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

processing the first sensor information from the first sensor module with second sensor information from the second sensor module to synthesize a synergistic interpretation of the first sensor information and the second sensor information.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the transmitting the first sensor information to another entity comprises:

transmitting the first sensor information to the second sensor module.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein a plurality of sensor modules, including the first sensor module, are deployed from the deployment device to a deployment area by:

deploying a unitized container from the deployment device, the unitized container containing the plurality of sensor modules; and

deploying the plurality of sensor modules from the unitized container.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

directing actions based on synergistic interpretation of the first sensor information and second sensor information.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

adapting a sensor module network to changing networking configuration conditions, resulting in an adapted sensor module network, wherein the adapted sensor module network provides communication between the sensor modules; and

transmitting sensor information via the adapted sensor module network.