Dynamic ground vehicle tracking and reporting system

• US 9,275,550 B1
• Filed: 10/04/2014
• Issued: 03/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: Stefani, Rolf R., Cooper, James Gary Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Trammell, James
• Assistant Examiner(s): Stroud, James E
• Application Number:
  US14/506,611
• Time in Patent Office: 514 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0008 with other aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0026 located on the ground
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/003 Flight plan management
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0082 for monitoring traffic from a ground station radar or analogous systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/065 Navigation or guidance aids, e.g. for taxiing or rolling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A system and method are provided for implementing low-cost real-time or near real-time tracking of a plurality of vehicles operating in a confined area, including on an airport. A MESH-type of network is provided to allow for the deployment and integration of large numbers of low power (line of sight) radios. The disclosed systems and network architecture include vehicle-mounted integrated end-device radio/GPS/power/antenna units, fixed or mobile router/repeater devices and fixed network gateways/coordinator units with Internet connectivity that may communicate near real-time end device (vehicle) position/track information for display on a situational awareness display device. The device/vehicle position/track information includes latitude, longitude, speed, direction, time/date, and identification of the end device (vehicle) to a server system capable of managing access to received data as well as capable of displaying received data on the situational awareness display device and of archiving the received data for other analytical uses.

Claims

1. A system for geo-locating multiple vehicles operating in an area, comprising:

at least one fixed primary network communication node;

a plurality of vehicle-mounted communication devices mounted one each on a plurality of vehicles, at least one of the plurality of vehicle-mounted communication devices for at least one of the plurality of vehicles being in line of sight communication with the at least one fixed primary network communication node; and

a plurality of vehicle-mounted location devices mounted the plurality of vehicles, each of the plurality of vehicle-mounted location devices communicating with a respective one of the plurality of vehicle-mounted communication devices to provide geo-location information for a respective one of the plurality of vehicles,

each of the plurality of vehicle-mounted communication devices and the at least one fixed primary network communication node operating as nodes of a wireless mesh network for providing geo-location information for each one of the plurality of vehicles to a centralized location via

(1) line of sight electronic communication between at least a first one of the plurality of vehicles and the at least one fixed primary network communication node when the at least the first one of the plurality of vehicles maintains line of sight to the at least one fixed primary network communication node; and

(2) line of sight electronic communication between at least a second one of the plurality of vehicles and the at least the first one of the plurality of vehicles when the at least the second one of the plurality of vehicles is out of line of sight to the at least one fixed primary network communication node.

2. The system of claim 1, the mesh network being a proprietary DigiMesh network.

3. The system of claim 1, the at least one fixed primary communication node an integrated processor, the at least one fixed primary network communication node receiving the geo-location information for the plurality of vehicles and forwarding the geo-location information for the plurality of vehicles for display on a situational awareness display device in the centralized location.

4. The system of claim 3, the geo-location information for the plurality of vehicles being forwarded from the at least one primary communication node to a central server in the centralized location, the central server translating the forwarded geo-location information for the plurality of vehicles into a graphical display format that provides direct integration of the forwarded geo-location information into the situational awareness display device in the centralized location.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one fixed relay node that supplements the plurality of vehicle-mounted communication devices and the at least one primary network communication node as an additional node of the wireless mesh network to increase an opportunity for the at least the first one of the plurality of vehicles to be in line-of-sight of a fixed node for relaying the geo-location information for the each one of the plurality of vehicles via the line-of-sight electronic communication.

6. The system of claim 5, the at least one fixed relay node including a communicating device in a weathertight enclosure, an external antenna and a solar panel power supply.

7. The system of claim 1, at least one of the plurality of vehicle-mounted location devices being a Global Positioning Satellite receiver.

8. The system of claim 1, the plurality of vehicle-mounted communication and the plurality of vehicle-mounted location devices being components of integral units installed respectively on the plurality of vehicles.

9. The system of claim 8, the integral units further comprising respective internal power supply and antenna connections for connecting vehicle mounted antennas to the integral units.

10. The system of claim 1, the nodes of the mesh network communicating according to selectable frequencies in a range of about 902 MHz to about 928 MHz.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising vehicle-mounted operations monitoring units that monitor operations at least some of the plurality of vehicles and that communicate information on monitored operations of the at least some of the plurality of vehicles to the at least one fixed primary communication node via the plurality of the vehicle-mounted communication devices in the mesh network.

12. A method for geo-locating multiple vehicles operating in an area, comprising:

tracking a geo-location of each one of a plurality of vehicles using a vehicle-mounted location device mounted on the each one of the plurality of vehicles;

communicating the tracked geo-location for at least a first one of the plurality of vehicles from a separate vehicle-mounted communication device mounted on the at least the first one of the plurality of vehicles directly to the at least one fixed communication node when in line-of sight of the at least one fixed communication node; and

communicating the tracked geo-location for at least a second one of the plurality of vehicles from a separate vehicle-mounted communication device mounted on the at least the second one of the plurality of vehicles via the at least the first one of the plurality of vehicles to the at least one fixed communication node when at least the second one of the plurality of vehicles is not in line-of sight of the at least one fixed communication node;

displaying on a situational awareness display device in a centralized location geo-location information for the plurality of vehicles.

13. The method of claim 12, the mesh network being a proprietary DigiMesh network.

14. The method of claim 12, the geo-location information for the plurality of vehicles being displayed on the situational awareness display device in the centralized location in a graphical display format.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising forwarding the geo-location information for the plurality of vehicles from the at least one fixed primary communication node to a central server in the centralized location, the central server translating the forwarded geo-location information for the plurality of vehicles into the graphical display format to provide direct integration of the information into the situational awareness display device in the centralized location.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising relaying at least a portion of the geo-location information for the plurality of vehicles from respective vehicle mounted-communication devices through at least one fixed relay node that supplements the vehicle-mounted communication devices and the at least one primary network communication node as an additional node of the wireless mesh network to increase an opportunity for the at least the first one of the plurality of vehicles to be in line-of-sight of a fixed node.

17. The method of claim 16, the at least one fixed relay node including a communicating device in a weathertight enclosure, an external antenna and a solar panel power supply.

18. The method of claim 12, the vehicle-mounted location device being a Global Positioning Satellite receiver.

19. The method of claim 12, the vehicle-mounted communication device and the vehicle-mounted location device being components of an integral unit mounted to the vehicle.

20. The method of claim 19, the integral unit further comprising an internal power supply and an antenna connection.

21. The method of claim 12, the nodes of the mesh network communicating according to selectable frequencies in a range of about 902 MHz to about 928 MHz.