Mobile asset tracking unit, system and method

• US 8,680,988 B2
• Filed: 03/26/2012
• Issued: 03/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Raytheon Blackbird Technologies Incorporated (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Raytheon Blackbird Technologies Incorporated (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Furey, Daniel, Wise, Louis F.
• Primary Examiner(s): BLOUNT, ERIC
• Application Number:
  US13/430,120
• Publication Number:
  US 20130082828A1
• Time in Patent Office: 729 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 340/539.13
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 1/08 using electric transmission ; transformation of alarm signals to electrical signals from a different medium, e.g. transmission of an electric alarm signal upon detection of an audible alarm signal
• 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

Abstract

An asset tracking unit, system, and method may include at least one transceiver having communicative connections with at least one SATCOM network and at least one GPS network via at least one antenna, wherein tracking information for at least one asset associated with the at least one transceiver is received from the GPS network and is communicated to the SATCOM network, a first link that provides a multi-code one of the communicative connections between the at least one transceiver and the at least one SATCOM network, and a second link that provides a multi-channel one of the communicative connections between the at least one transceiver and the at least one GPS network. The unit, system and method may additionally include at least one remote operations center remote from an asset to be tracked, wherein the asset to be tracked is geographically associated with the central processing unit.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a transceiver configured to be collocated with an asset, the transceiver configured to establish, using a satellite communication (SATCOM) antenna, a multi-code connection with a SATCOM network, the transceiver configured to establish, using a global positioning system (GPS) antenna, a multi-channel connection with a GPS network, the transceiver configured to receive location information associated with a location of the transceiver via the multi-channel connection;

a mode switch configured to allow a user to select an operating frequency of the transceiver; and

a motion detector configured to detect motion of the asset, the transceiver configured to transmit the location information and an indication of the motion of the asset to a computing device via the multi-code connection and in response to the motion detector detecting the motion of the asset.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transceiver is configured to activate the multi-code connection in response to the motion detector detecting the motion of the asset.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transceiver is configured to activate the multi-channel connection in response to the motion detector detecting the motion of the asset.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a data compression module configured to compress the location information prior to the transceiver transmitting the location information to the computing device via the multi-code connection.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transceiver is configured to establish the multi-code connection during a first time period and the multi-channel connection during a second time period mutually exclusive of the first time period.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transceiver is configured to activate the multi-channel connection when the motion detector indicates that the asset has moved a distance greater than a predetermined distance.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a data encoder configured to encrypt the location information prior to the transceiver sending the location information to the computing device via the multi-code connection.

7. An apparatus, comprising:

a transceiver configured to establish a multi-code connection with a satellite communication (SATCOM) network via at least one antenna, the transceiver configured to establish a multi-channel connection with a global positioning system (GPS) network via the at least one antenna,

the transceiver configured to receive, at each time from a plurality of times and via the GPS network, tracking information associated with a location of an asset at that time from the plurality of times, the transceiver configured to be collocated with the asset; and

a data compression module configured to compress the tracking information to produce compressed tracking information;

the transceiver configured to transmit, to a computing device via the multi-code connection, the compressed tracking information at a predetermined interval.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the transceiver is configured to transmit, at the predetermined interval and with the compressed tracking information, an identifier associated with the transceiver.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the transceiver is configured to establish the multi-code connection during a first time period and the multi-channel connection during a second time period mutually exclusive of the first time period.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising:

a status monitor configured to monitor a status of the asset, the transceiver configured to send a signal associated with the status of the asset to the computing device via the multi-code connection.

16. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising:

a data encoder configured to encrypt the tracking information prior to the transceiver sending the tracking information to the computing device via the multi-code connection.

11. A method, comprising:

detecting, at a computing device, motion of the computing device;

receiving, at a global positioning system (GPS) antenna of the computing device and via a multi-channel GPS network, an identifier associated with a location of the computing device, the receiving being in response to the detecting;

compressing the identifier associated with the location to produce a compressed identifier associated with the location; and

transmitting, using a satellite communication (SATCOM) antenna of the computing device and via a multi-channel SATCOM network, the compressed identifier associated with the location and an identifier associated with the computing device in response to the receiving.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising;

deactivating a connection with the multi-channel GPS network prior to the transmitting.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the identifier associated with the location is an identifier associated with the location of the computing device at a first time, the transmitting is at a second time after the first time, the method further comprising:

transmitting, at a third time and using the SATCOM antenna, an identifier associated with a location of the computing device at a fourth time after the first time, the third time being a predefined interval from the first time.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the detecting includes detecting that the asset has moved a distance greater than a predetermined distance threshold.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

encrypting the identifier associated with the location prior to the transmitting.