Situation Control and Monitoring System for Highly Hazardous Sites
The present technical solution relates to the field of highly hazardous site monitoring, in particular, vehicles, oil and natural gas extraction and storage sites, nuclear power plants, mines and mining and refining enterprises ■, as well as in areas where antisocial persons tend to gather, and can be used for the monitoring of situation at such highly hazardous sites (either industrial or social) and providing assistance in making of an adequate decision in response to an emergency situation.
Known is a description of a situation monitoring system (Aviatsionnaya Panorama Magazine, 2002, March-April, p 42-43) comprising a control and monitoring center, monitoring equipment installed at the monitored sites and two-side communication means to provide a link between the monitoring equipment and the control and monitoring center computer interface.
Disadvantage of said system is its narrow range of applications as it is suitable only for the control of the technical condition of vehicles.
Knosn also is a vehicle technical condition and location system (RU Patent Application No. 2001117320) comprising a number of gages to characterize the technical condition of a vehicle, an on-board recorder, an on-board controller that contains information on the acceptable limits for the parameters measured by the on-board gages and/or limiting acceptable combinations of these parameters, an on-
board satellite communication facility, a ground based satellite communication facility and a ground based control center, wherein the outputs of said set of gages is connected to the input of the on-board recorder and the first input of the on-board controller, the second input of which provides for the receipt of location information from the
- vehicle, the output of the on-board controller is connected to the input of the on-board satellite communication facility, the output of which is connected via a retransmitting satellite to the input of the ground based control center, and the on-board controller is programmable depending on the information received from the set of gages, the required frequency and/or scope of the vehicle location and technical condition information received from the vehicle. The vehicle can be an aircraft, a spacecraft or a marine vahicle. Preferably, the second input of the on-board controller is connected to the output of a GPS receiver installed on the vehicle.
Disadvantage of said technical solution is the absence of authenticity in the information concerning the events on board the vehicle.
The objective of the present technical solution is to provide a situation monitoring system for highly technically or criminally hazardous sites that may help reduce the consequences of emergencies at such highly hazardous sites.
Said objective can be achieved using a situation monitoring system for highly hazardous sites comprising a control and monitoring center, control equipment installed at the monitored sites, two-side communication means to provide a link between the monitoring equipment and the control and monitoring center computer interface, a video control system for monitoring the situation at the highly
hazardous site, at least one information collection unit installed at the monitored site that provides for the recording of information it receives and at least one unit for transmitting said information to the control and monitoring center. Preferably, the information transmitting unit and the information collection unit are made on the - basis of a single circuit board computer. In most cases the information transmitting unit allows the receipt of information from a standard system for the measurement of parameters of a normal operation mode or emergency recorder of the highly hazardous site, input of mformation from tha GPS gage of the mobile site system, preliminary processing of the information received, output of the processed information to the highly hazardous site imaging system, automatic analysis of the technical condition of the highly hazardous site system and units and personnel actions, event log generation, storage of unprocessed information and site coordinates, event log storage, automatic establishment of communicaton with the control and monitoring center, output of information to the communication channel in accordance with the currently loaded program and the condition of the highly hazardous site, receipt of informtion from the communication channel and execution of commands received from the control and monitoring center. The video control system usually comprises at least one video camera and a video information processing, receipt and transmission unit. Most preferably, the video control system comprises at least two video cameras wherein at least one of said video cameras is installed outdoors in an accessible place so that antisocial persons can make it inoperative. Usually, the system used as a monitoring facility comprises at least one gage of site technical condition and/or at least one microphone. Preferably, the
output of the control facilities are connected to the input of the information collection unit and the information transmission unit.
Preferably, the monitorng center comprises at least one video information processing, receipt and transmission unit and a control and indication unit. The system may be implemented using either wire or wireless communication means.
Depending on its application field said system may have different sets of structural elements as described in the related claims.
However, any embodiment of said technical solution for a particular highly hazardous site should comprise a video information processing, receipt and transmission unit, at least one video camera, communication means and a control and monitoring center. Moreover, it is desirable to install acoustic control facilities (microphones). Where said technical solution is used at highly hazardous sites of technical neture, technical condition control facilities should be installed at the site also. The number of video cameras, microphones and technical condition control facilities depends on the type of the site, but anyway each important area of the site should be monitored with two video cameras. Moreover, it is desirable to install at least one video camera outdoors in an accessible place so that antisocial persons can make it inoperative, because such antisocial persons always tend to make video cameras inoperative by any possible means. Other video cameras and microphones should be installed in hidden places so that they remain operating at least for the initial period after the occurrence of antisocial behavior.
In any embodiment of said technical solution, the control and monitoring center should comprise a video information processing,
receipt and transmission unit, a control and ind cation unit and communication means.
In any of its possible embodiments said system should provide for the video control of the highly hazardous site, video information transmission to the control and monitoring center either following a preset program or at a request from the control and monitoring center, transmission of information, including video information, to the highly hazardous site, recording of the video information on a storage media, and addressed transmission fo said video information from a hard storage media either at a command from the control and monitoring center or following a preset program.
The operation mode of the equipment installed at the highly hazardous site can be either automatic (permanent or periodical) or at a request generated by the responsible personnel of the site or by the control and monitoring center.
The fiureg below illustrates the overall diagram of the system under the present technical solution, wherein the following notations are used: (1) is the control and monitoring center, (2) is the two-side communiaction means, (3) is the information collection unit installed at the site, (4) is the information transmission unit, (5) are video cameras and (6) are the site technical condition control facilities.
Where said system is installed at aircrafts or marine vehicles; the control facilities are video cameras, microphones and gages for the technical and operation parameters of the vehicle. Their number is dependent on the type of the vehicle, but the system should complies at least one microphone and two video cameras, wherein one video camera outdoors in an accessible place so that antisocial persons can make it inoperative and the other video camera should be installed in a
hidden place, and both cameras should be installed in the control area of the vahicle; moreover, the video cameras should be installed in every void of the vehicle which, in case of emergency, may cause the vehicle, the crew and the passengers to perish. In particular, video cameras (and, preferably, microphones) should be installed in passenger salons and luggage compartments. The gages that characterize the technical condition of the vehicle should be installed in hidden places. The information collection unit and the information transmission unit should be installed in a place inaccessible for the crew.
Where said system is installed on floating drilling platforms, its video cameras, including those installed outdoors in an accessible place so that antisocial persons can make it inoperative and those installed in hidden places, as well as the microphone, should be located in the platform control center, in the survival area of the platform and in the oil or gas extraction area. The technical condition gages for the platform and its units should be installed in hidden places to prevent from their blocking. The information collection unit and the information transmission unit should be installed in a place inaccessible for the personnel.
Where said system is installed in warehouse, video cameras and microphones should be installed in the warehouse control center. Moreover, the video cameras should monitor the location of potentially hazardous storage items. Gages that control leakage of such hazardous storage items should be located in the vicinity of said items. The information collection unit and the information transmission unit should be installed in a place inaccessible for the personnel.
Where said system is installed in areas where antisocial persons tend to gather, such as in prisons, places where such persons tend to gather in cities etc., video cameras should be installed in hidden places, and so should directional operation microphones. Some video cameras should be installed in visible places so that antisocial persons can make it inoperative. The information collection unit and the information transmission unit should be installed in a place inaccessible for the crowd. In this case, a special false information collection and transmission unit can be installed in a visible place to distract the attention of the antisocial persons.
The use of said system will mitigate the consequences of emergencies at highly hazardous sites due to the timely and adequate interference of qualified personnel.