Sonar location monitor

Details Sonar location monitor Sonar location monitor

1999-09-15

2001-12-04

Pihulic, Daniel T. (Department: 3662)

Communications, electrical: acoustic wave systems and devices

Underwater system

Telemetering

Reexamination Certificate

active

06327220

ABSTRACT:

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not applicable.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH
Not applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a personnel location device or system, and, more particularly, to a sonar location monitor for indicating and/or determining the location of a person (i.e., a swimmer) in a water environment (such as a lake, pool, or beach swimming area).
Swimmer safety is an important concern in all water sports and activities. Lifeguards are assigned the responsibility of protecting the lives of the swimming public. However lifeguards can monitor only limited portions of a swimming pool, water park, or beach area and have particular difficulty in seeing what goes on near the bottom. In many instances, despite the presence of lifeguards, help for a swimmer in trouble comes far too late to prevent drowning. Even with adequate staffs, lifeguards often find it difficult to monitor large numbers of swimmers.
There have been attempts at developing automatic alarm equipment to warn the staff of swimmers in danger. Several of these inventions have focused on protecting children from drowning in backyard pools. (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,953,843 3,969,712 4,079,364 4,121,200 4,187,502 4,747,085 5,049,859.) The devices described by these patents simply monitor the presence of an unauthorized swimmer or object in the pool. These devices are designed for very small pools and do not possess any location or tracking capabilities.
Some devices for detecting a swimmer in the water are known. Many of these detection methods rely on some variation of an acoustic technique. For example U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,527 describe a system that uses ultrasonic transmission through water to identify underwater targets. A human operator listening to headphones classifies the target and determines its location. U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,689 describes an apparatus utilizing combination energy transmitting and receiving transducer for detecting and locating objects within a plurality of zones. U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,242 describes an underwater signaling device utilizing acoustic sound generators. Several devices for detecting swimmers in distress are known. (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,932,009 and 5,097,254.) However, these devices do not pinpoint the location of the distressed swimmer.
Therefore, of particular interest is the development of a system for monitoring a large number of swimmers in a pool, beach area, or water park. Such a system would be capable not only of monitoring the status of a large number of swimmers but would also be capable of pinpointing the location of a swimmer in distress with sufficient warning to permit a timely rescue.
All references cited herein are incorporated by reference.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is similar to a system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,907,281 by the same inventors (the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference) in that its use overcomes many of the disadvantages of the prior art in tracking swimmers in pools, beaches, and water parks. The prior methods do not possess automatic location and tracking capability. In fact many of the systems cited above are designed for simple detection of a water disturbance and as such can identify only the presence or absence of an object in the pool.
An objective of the invention is to provide an improved apparatus or system for detecting and locating swimmers at risk in a timely manner that would facilitate their rescue and prevent many of the drownings that occur each year. This objective can also encompass locating non-swimmers or small children who enter the water.
The invention provides a low frequency SONAR surveillance system for tracking the location of swimmers who may be in peril. By definition, SONAR stands for SOund NAvigation and Ranging. The invention includes the equipping of each swimmer with an individual Sonar Swimmer Location Monitor (SSLM) that transmits a series of ultrasonic pulses when specified safety thresholds of time and depth are exceeded. The invention utilizes a “pinger” to generate pulses that can be received by a network of hydrophones deployed around the perimeter of the pool. A hydrophone is an underwater microphone or transducer designed to detect or receive sound underwater. The invention also is capable of amplifying, filtering, and processing the received signals resulting in a graphical and/or numerical display of the distressed swimmer's location. The invention is also capable of triggering an alarm (audible or visual) whenever specified safety thresholds are exceeded.
The invention provides a miniaturized electronic device, or SSLM, that can be worn by a swimmer to enhance his/her safety during recreational swimming in crowded pools, beaches, and water parks. The SSLM can detect or measure swimmer distress by any number of criteria, including, but not limited to, detecting water pressure, water depth, the amount of time spent in the water, submersion in water, and/or any combination of these.
The invention provides a device to transmit omnidirectional ultrasonic pulses from a miniature transducer called a pinger contained in the SSLM.
The invention also provides a receiver network composed of hydrophones deployed at strategic locations around the pool. In one preferred embodiment the invention provides a system in which the hydrophones are deployed in the four corners of the pool as well as along each side of the pool.
The invention is capable of being automatically powered on whenever it is simply immersed in water, or immersed in water at a pre-selected depth and/or period of time, and automatically powering down whenever it leaves the water. The invention further is capable of powering “ON” in a monitor mode. In the monitor mode the unit does not transmit even though it is “ON.” The invention can also provide an alarm that is activated whenever the SSLM is powered “ON.” This mode of operation is useful for detecting persons that are not supposed to be in the water, such as small children who are outfitted with a monitor.
The invention is also capable of telemetering the data from the swimming area receivers to a central processor via wireless telemetry.
Yet another objective of the invention is to utilize computer systems to detect, display, and record all swimmer events of a potentially high risk nature occurring at pools, beaches, and water parks. The invention further is capable of recording all swimmer distress events in computer memory for playback and analysis at a later date if needed.
Other objectives and advantages of the SSLM system will be readily appreciated as the invention becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed descriptions when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


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