AU717011B3

AU717011B3 - A method for providing up-to-date information on road flooding

Info

Publication number: AU717011B3
Application number: AU59567/99A
Authority: AU
Inventors: John Michael McCormack; Richard Scholl
Original assignee: DELUXE INNOVATIONS Pty Ltd
Current assignee: DELUXE INNOVATIONS Pty Ltd
Priority date: 1999-11-19
Filing date: 1999-11-19
Publication date: 2000-03-16
Anticipated expiration: 2005-11-19
Also published as: AU1373601A; WO2001039154A1

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A PETTY PATENT Name of Applicant: Actual Inventors: Address for Service: Invention Title: DELUXE INNOVATIONS PTY LTD (ACN 081 472 915) Richard Scholl John Michael McCORMACK CULLEN CO., Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 240 Queen Street, Brisbane, Qld. 4000, Australia.

A METHOD FOR PROVIDING UP-TO- DATE INFORMATION ON ROAD

FLOODING

The following statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of performing it known to us: A METHOD FOR PROVIDING UP-TO- DATE INFORMATION ON ROAD

FLOODING

This invention relates to a method and a system to provide consumers with up-to-date information on road conditions with accurate and concise information regarding the current status, impending status, and likely status of road networks given current meteorological conditions.

In countries like Australia, there is often a great distance between two cities or between the place where goods are manufactured and the place where the goods need to be transported for consumption. The transportation is usually done by road via trucks or by rail. Australia, and especially northern Australia is subject to heavy and occasionally monsoonal rains, cyclones and other rain depressions which can flood highways and railways. These flooding risk sites are usually known to the local authorities and are usually bridges spanning rivers or road or rails passing through low areas. Often, a road or railway is cut by flooding, but this is unknown to road and rail traffic which often results in the traffic becoming stranded or needing to turn back. When transporting commercial goods and especially fresh goods or frozen goods, this can result in loss or spoiling of the goods.

In Australia, goods often need to be transported along roads or rails for several thousand kilometres from the origin to the destination. It is necessary, when plotting the journey, to be sure that no part of the road or rail is cut by flooding or is likely to be cut during the transportation period. On the other hand, loss of profits will arise if a too conservative approach is taken and if goods are not transported merely because of a possibility of flooding.

Profits can also be lost if flood water rising or falling rates cannot be regularly checked. For instance, if water flowing over a road is receding, and if this information is available at a remote origin, a transportation route can be plotted from several thousand kilometres away which can ensure that by the time the vehicle reaches the risk site, the flood waters have receded sufficiently to not present a hazard.

Currently, a haphazard system may be available which requires telephoning local authorities to see if there are road closures, but the local authorities often do not have up-to-date information and are mostly unable to determine the rate of rise of flood waters or fall of flood waters or an accurate time as to when the road or rail is no longer passable by a truck, car or other vehicle.

The present invention is directed to a method which can provide up-to-date information on road flooding and which can provide this information on a national basis. This allows a truckie to plot a route which may be several thousand kilometres long in such a manner to ensure that all roads will be passable, and that detours or diversions can be plotted well in advance to travel around any flooded roads. The system also ensures that goods can be delivered or vehicles can travel along the road as soon as possible without any undue delay or waiting for haphazard or incomplete information to pass to the consumers.

It is an object of the invention to provide a method and system which may overcome the abovementioned disadvantages or provide the public with a useful or commercial choice.

In one form, the invention resides in a method for providing upto-date information on road flooding, which comprises a remote unit positioned at a flooding risk site, the unit having sensor means to detect water height above a predetermined position, sensor means to detect water flow speed, a date/time means to enable the sensor readings to be correlated with a date and time, a unit identifying code means, and communication means to communicate the sensor information and the unit identifying code means to a server, the server receiving sensor information from one or more said remote units and recording the information, and able to assign a geographical location to each unit via the unit identifying code means, the server able to provide consumers with up-to-date information as to whether a particular geographical location is closed by flooding.

The method can be used to provide up-to-date information on road flooding but this term should be construed broadly to include flooding of rail lines (although this is generally less common) possibly stock routes or other areas where passageway in required.

The method comprises a remote unit which is positioned at a flooding risk site. Most local authorities are aware of flooding risk sites and these are usually bridges spanning flood prone rivers and low lying areas.

The remote unit can be positioned at such a risk site in such a manner to ensure that it can perform the required sensory functions.

The remote unit can comprise a box housing the various sensors/devices. The box can be powered either by mains power and/or its own self-contained power supply. The self-contained power supply may be in the form of batteries or other sources of power which may be recharged or even replaced by solar cells or other charging means such as wind generators and the like.

The unit has a sensor means which detects water height. The sensor can be any type of sensor which will perform this function and various sensors are available in the marketplace. The sensor preferably is triggered to send sensory outputs when the water level is above a predetermined position. This means that as long as the water level is low and therefore not a flooding risk, or when there is no water, the water height detecting sensor does not operate. The unit contains a second sensor or a combined sensor which detects the water current or water flow speed. Water on the road does not necessarily prevent passage of vehicles. Even fairly deep water will not prevent larger trucks from passing through the water. However, if the water is flowing swiftly, an extreme hazard is present which means that the water level must be fairly low to still allow trucks to pass through the flood area. The sensor to detect water flow speed can be of various types and it is envisaged that a commercially available sensor may be used.

Therefore, if the water height sensor is triggered to indicate water across the road, but the water flow speed sensor determines that the flow speed is not very high, the road may still be traversible by trucks, 4wheel drive vehicles and the like. In the absence of such sensory information, a local authority may decide to close the road and therefore bar transportation of goods or passage of vehicles which can result in an unnecessary loss of profit to consumers. A date/time means is provided to enable the sensors to be correlated with a date and time. This allows the depth of the water and the water flow rate to be correlated to a precise time to provide valuable information to the consumer.

The remote unit has a unit identifying code means which can be transmitted to a server such that the server can identify between different remote units. For instance, remote units may be placed along several different bridges in a geographic area to determine which bridge is passable and which is not. Remote units may also be placed away from a roadway or railway but which will indicate early arrival of flood waters and therefore allow the consumer to calculate the time available before the road becomes too flooded to cross.

A communication means is provided which communicates the sensor information and the unit identifying code means to a server. The communication means may be in the form of a modem or a radio signal or other type of signal which can convey the information to a central server.

In one form, the remote unit is operatively associated with a warning light or lights next to the risk site and which can indicate the level of caution required. For instance, a red flashing light or other warning light or other warning device may be provided which is triggered when the sensors indicate that the water level and current speed is too high for a safe crossing.

A second alarm, for instance an amber light, can be provided to indicate that the area can be crossed with caution or only for larger vehicles or 4-wheel drive vehicles. Other types of caution or signaling means can be used such as a mechanical arm, an audio alarm and the like. The units can continue to monitor the road conditions and can deactivate the warning device when the road is again safe to cross.

The method includes a server which receives the sensor information from one or more of the remote units and which records the information. It would be normal for a geographic area to have a number of flooding risk sites and therefore a number of remote units could be positioned each at a risk site with the server receiving information from all the units. The server is able to assign a geographic location or geographic name to each 6 remote unit via the unit identifying code means. This will allow an operator to quickly determine if a certain stretch or road or rail or a certain bridge is closed because of flooding.

Consumers can access the server which may be available only to authorised consumers or registered consumers to enable them to quickly determine whether the road ahead is flooded or not.

The method can be used on a national basis where a plurality of servers are provided each monitoring a geographic area of zone with all the servers communicating with a central server or a national database which can be accessed by consumers or authorised consumers to provide up-to-date information regarding road conditions.

An embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the following drawings in which Figure 1 shows schematically a remote unit.

Figure 2 shows a bridge mounted remote unit.

Figure 3 is an example of a local set-up.

Referring to Figure 1, the remote unit 10 in the embodiment contains sensors that monitor the flow current 11, the water depth 12 and, if necessary, rainfall 13. Figure 2 shows sensor 10 attached to a bridge 14 which supports a highway 15. Sensor 10 is positioned such that it will not be triggered with normal flow of water under the bridge but will be triggered when the water begins to rise or starts to flow over the bridge.

Sensor 12 can be powered by main power 16, solar cell power 17, and may have a battery back-up 18. The unit has a central CPU 19 to process the information from the various sensors and includes a communication means which can be in the form of a modem 20, a USB cable com port 21, or a radio signal 22. The unit has a unique identifying code means which is communicated to a server to allow a server to identify the geographic position of that particular unit.

In use, the software will monitor the sensors on a constant basis. Once the reading is detected, the unit will record readings from the sensors at regular nominated intervals and will cross-check each reading with the day/time clock. The software will transmit the readings, the time and date information and the units unique identifying code from the sensors to a server at nominated intervals. The units identifying code will be transmitted at nominal intervals until the sensors no longer detect any readings. A daily "test" signal will be sent to ensure that the remote unit is functioning properly.

A local server will collate the information received from the remote unit and will record the readings as per geographic location name.

The software on the server will give access to this data to authorised users by means of a graphic user interface which can consists of a map of the local area including the location of the various remote units. It will highlight any road closures and will provide the sensory information displayed on screen and in an understandable manner and, on request, detailed information can be obtained in graphical format from any of the nominated sensors (for instance the sensor determining the flow speed of the water across the road).

The local server can be on an internet or intranet set-up.

The server, and various other servers around the country relay their information to a national database server. The software on the national database server collates the information received from the various servers and will record the readings from each server. The national database software will give access to this data to authorised users by means of a graphic user interface which can consist of a map of the national highway and river system and can highlight any road closures and can provide accurate information on river heights, flow speeds and whether or not the flood waters are increasing or decreasing.

With this information, an accurate route can be plotted by a person hundreds or even thousands of kilometres away from the area to ensure that no disruption to transportation of goods or people occurs.

In Figure 2, a warning light is provided which is associated with unit 10 through a communication cable 24. The warning light can be triggered to indicate the user of caution and that the road speed may be dangerous to cross when the water reaches a certain level and/or speed of flow. The unit can deactivate the warning light when the road is considered safe to cross.

Figure 3 illustrates an example of a local set-up where a main river 25 passes under two roads 26, 27 and where two remote units 28, 29 are positioned to monitor the river level and flow. If remote unit 28 indicates that highway 26 is cut, this information can be accessed from many hundreds of kilometres away and a user can then take a detour via local road 30 and onto road 27. If unit 29 and unit 28 indicate that both roads are cut, a trip can be postponed until the roads can be crossed.

In a commercial application, an owner-operator truck driver is in one city and is about to load 500 sheep carcasses onto a truck for freight to a city 2000km away. He has heard on the radio that it has been raining. The owner-operator can make a single telephone call and be told that various roads are closed but other roads have water flowing over them but the depth of the water and the current flow is such that the truck drive can still safely cross. The owner-operator can then decide to proceed with little risk of becoming stranded. On the other hand, if it is found that no roads are safe to cross, the owner-operator can decline to accept the consignment and can accept another job.

The method will reduce or can even eliminate stranding of motorists and truck drivers by virtue of having inaccurate information. The method can also provide sufficient information to allow motorists or truck drivers to decide whether a flooded road is safe to cross or whether it is likely that the flood waters will increase or decrease.

It should be appreciated that various other changes and modifications may be made to the embodiment described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Claims

1. A method for providing up-to-date information on road flooding, which comprises a remote unit positioned at a flooding risk site, the unit having sensor means to detect water height above a predetermined position, sensor means to detect water flow speed, a date/time means to enable the sensor readings to be correlated with a date and time, a unit identifying code means, and communication means to communicate the sensor information and the unit identifying code means to a server, the server receiving sensor information from one or more said remote units and recording the information, and able to assign a geographical location to each unit via the unit identifying code means, the server able to provide consumers with up-to-date information as to whether a particular geographical location is closed by flooding.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of servers are provided, each server recording the information from one or more remote units which are generally in a common geographic region. Each said server communicating with a national database which collates information from each server, to provide consumers with up-to-date information on a national basis on road closures due to flooding.

3. The method of claim 1 or claim 2 substantially as hereinbefore described. DATED this 19th day of November 1999 DELUXE INNOVATIONS PTY LTD (ACN 081 472 915) By their Patent Attorneys CULLEN CO.