Remote detection, confirmation and detonation of buried improvised explosive devices
IPC분류정보
국가/구분
United States(US) Patent
등록
국제특허분류(IPC7판)
F41H-011/136
B64C-019/00
B64D-047/08
F41H-011/13
F41H-011/16
출원번호
US-0656382
(2012-10-19)
등록번호
US-9329001
(2016-05-03)
발명자
/ 주소
Mohamadi, Farrok
출원인 / 주소
Mohamadi, Farrokh
대리인 / 주소
Haynes and Boone, LLP
인용정보
피인용 횟수 :
1인용 특허 :
30
초록▼
A small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) is used for remotely detecting concealed explosive devices—such as buried or otherwise hidden improvised explosive devices (IED)—and exploding or disarming the device while an operator of the sUAS, or other personnel, remain at a safe distance. The sUAS system c
A small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) is used for remotely detecting concealed explosive devices—such as buried or otherwise hidden improvised explosive devices (IED)—and exploding or disarming the device while an operator of the sUAS, or other personnel, remain at a safe distance. The sUAS system can be operated at an extended, e.g., greater than 100 meters, standoff from the detection apparatus, explosive, and potential harm and may be operated by a single member of an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team. The sUAS may be implemented as an easy-to-operate, small vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft with a set of optical, thermal, and chemical detection modules for detecting an IED by aerial surveillance, confirming the existence of explosives, and providing options for detonating the IED electrically or by delivery of a payload (e.g., object or device) to neutralize the IED while maintaining the sUAS itself safe from harm.
대표청구항▼
1. A system for detecting the presence of buried objects, comprising: an aircraft having a plurality of wing unit propellers for vertical takeoff and landing;a control system included in the aircraft for controlling flight of the aircraft autonomously at an altitude of approximately 2 to 10 feet abo
1. A system for detecting the presence of buried objects, comprising: an aircraft having a plurality of wing unit propellers for vertical takeoff and landing;a control system included in the aircraft for controlling flight of the aircraft autonomously at an altitude of approximately 2 to 10 feet above a ground surface and for receiving additional control inputs from an operator at a remote location;an ultra-wideband (UWB) radar imaging system, wherein the UWB radar imaging system is carried by the aircraft; anda telemetry system carried by the aircraft for providing information from the UWB radar imaging system to the remote location, wherein the control system is configured to perform an autonomous scan of a suspect area by autonomously flying the aircraft in a search pattern over the suspect area and interrogating the suspect area with the UWB radar imaging system, wherein the autonomous scan further comprises: coordinates and tinting of a plurality of incremental waypoints that are programmed in the system prior to flight of the aircraft;a reflected power, Pj, for each incremental waypoint(j) scanned by the UWB radar imaging system as the aircraft travels at constant altitude through each incremental waypoint(j);a pattern of reflected power from a plurality of Pj stored in a bin (ψ(Pj)); anda number of reflected elements within a beam width antenna range of the UWB radar imaging system determined by a mathematical filtering of the bin (φ(Pj)) performed to identify a spatial position (ψ(Pj)) of the reflected elements;the UWB radar imaging system performs, at each location of an x-y grid of the search pattern, a quantization based on reflected power from the UWB radar interrogation provide one or more quantized values for each location of the x-y grid; andthe UWB radar imaging system pairs each of the one or more quantized values at each x-y grid location with depth information from the UWB radar interrogation coordinated to x-z and y-z coordinate grids corresponding to the x-y grid to form a three-dimensional image from the quantized values with resolution as small as or smaller than 0.5 ft., including an identification of the number of reflected elements, at each x-y grid location, of one or more buried objects. 2. The system of claim 1, further comprising: a global positioning system (GPS) unit carried by the aircraft; and whereinthe system determines a start point for autonomously flying the search pattern from a global positioning system (GPS) waypoint. 3. The system of claim 1, further comprising: a global positioning system (GPS) unit carried by the aircraft; and whereinthe control system determines one or more incremental waypoints for autonomously flying the search pattern of the autonomous scan in a zig-zag pattern implemented automatically using differential GPS; andthe imaging system performs a synchronization of scanned rows to align images from the autonomous scan. 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the autonomous scan further comprises: pairing a quantized reflected power data with depth information data from the UWB radar interrogation for each location of a grid of the search pattern; andforming a three-dimensional image of buried objects in the grid from the paired data. 5. The system of claim 1, further comprising: an optical or infrared camera carried by the aircraft, wherein: the telemetry system provides information from the optical or infrared camera to the remote location; andthe system is configured to initially interrogate a ground surface with the optical or infrared camera using an entropy filter processing to locate a disturbed ground surface; andsubsequently interrogate the disturbed ground surface with the UWB radar imaging system for detecting the presence of an improvised explosive device (TED) buried below the disturbed ground surface. 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the ultra-wideband (UWB) radar imaging system includes a wafer scale beam forming antenna array wherein the maximum dimension of the antenna array is less than 5 inches. 7. The system of claim 1, further comprising: an explosive discoloration agent spray system to spray an interrogated portion of a suspect area with explosive discoloration agent to verify the presence of a buried TED. 8. The system of claim 1, wherein: the control system is a multi-link control system;the multi-link control system includes a communication link for streaming optical, thermal, or radar processed images from a scanned portion of the suspect area. 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the aircraft includes a payload delivery system for delivering a payload to a scanned portion of the suspect area. 10. A method for detecting the presence of buried objects, comprising: controlling, autonomously and additionally by receiving control inputs from an operator at a remote location, an aircraft having a plurality of wing unit propellers for vertical takeoff and landing;operating an ultra-wideband (UWB) radar imaging system, wherein the UWB radar imaging system is carried by the aircraft; andproviding information from the UWB radar imaging system to the remote location, using a telemetry system carried by the aircraft; andperforming an autonomous scan, by the aircraft, of a suspect area by autonomously flying the aircraft in a search pattern, at an altitude of approximately 2 to 10 feet above a ground surface, over the suspect area and interrogating the suspect area with the UWB radar imaging system, further comprising: programming coordinates and timing of a plurality of incremental waypoints in the system prior to flight of the aircraft;scanning by the UWB radar imaging system as the aircraft travels at constant altitude through each incremental waypoint(j) a reflected power, Pj, for each incremental waypoint(j);storing a pattern of reflected power from a plurality of Pj in a bin (ψ(Pj)); anddetermining a number of reflected elements within a beam width antenna range of the UWB radar imaging system by a mathematical filtering of the bin (ψ(Pj)) performed to identify a spatial position (φ(Pj)) of the reflected elements;performing, at each location of an x-y grid of the search pattern, a quantization based on reflected power from the UWB radar interrogation with resolution as small as or smaller than 0.5 ft. to provide one or more quantized values for each location of the x-y grid; andpairing each of the one or more quantized values at each x-y grid location with depth information from the UWB radar interrogation coordinated to x-z and y-z coordinate grids corresponding to the x-y grid to form a three-dimensional image from the quantized values, including an identification of the number of reflected elements at each x-y grid location, for detecting one or more buried objects. 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: determining a start point for autonomously flying the search pattern from a global positioning system (GPS) waypoint, wherein a GPS unit carried by the aircraft is used for determining the aircraft position. 12. The method of claim 10, wherein performing the autonomous scan further comprises: flying the search pattern of the autonomous scan in a zig-zag pattern implemented automatically using differential GPS, wherein a GPS unit carried by the aircraft is used for determining the aircraft position; andperforming synchronization adjustments to align images from overlapping scanned rows of the search pattern. 13. The method of claim 10, further comprising: pairing a quantized reflected power data with depth information data from the UWB radar interrogation for each location of a grid of the search pattern; andforming a three-dimensional image of buried objects in the grid from the paired data. 14. The method of claim 10, further comprising: providing information from an optical or infrared camera carried by the aircraft to the remote location using the telemetry system; and initially interrogating a ground surface with the optical or infrared camera using an entropy filter process to locate a disturbed ground surface; andsubsequently interrogating the disturbed ground surface with the UWB radar imaging system for detecting the presence of an improvised explosive device (IED) buried below the disturbed ground surface. 15. The method of claim 10, further comprising: forming a UWB radar beam, by the UWB radar imaging system, using a wafer scale beam forming antenna array wherein the maximum dimension of the antenna array is less than 5 inches. 16. The method of claim 10, further comprising: spraying an explosive discoloration agent on an interrogated portion of a suspect area to verify the presence of a buried TED. 17. The method of claim 10, further comprising: streaming optical, thermal, or radar processed images from a scanned portion of the suspect area using a communication link of a multi-link control system between the aircraft and the remote location. 18. The method of claim 10, further comprising delivering a payload to a scanned portion of the suspect area where the UWB imaging system has detected the presence of a buried object.
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