Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
  • G01S19/00—Satellite radio beacon positioning systems; Determining position, velocity or attitude using signals transmitted by such systems
  • G01S19/38—Determining a navigation solution using signals transmitted by a satellite radio beacon positioning system
  • G01S19/39—Determining a navigation solution using signals transmitted by a satellite radio beacon positioning system the satellite radio beacon positioning system transmitting time-stamped messages, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System], GLONASS [Global Orbiting Navigation Satellite System] or GALILEO
  • G01S19/40—Correcting position, velocity or attitude
  • G01S19/41—Differential correction, e.g. DGPS [differential GPS]
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F41—WEAPONS
  • F41H—ARMOUR; ARMOURED TURRETS; ARMOURED OR ARMED VEHICLES; MEANS OF ATTACK OR DEFENCE, e.g. CAMOUFLAGE, IN GENERAL
  • F41H11/00—Defence installations; Defence devices
  • F41H11/12—Means for clearing land minefields; Systems specially adapted for detection of landmines
  • F41H11/16—Self-propelled mine-clearing vehicles; Mine-clearing devices attachable to vehicles
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
  • G01S19/00—Satellite radio beacon positioning systems; Determining position, velocity or attitude using signals transmitted by such systems
  • G01S19/01—Satellite radio beacon positioning systems transmitting time-stamped messages, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System], GLONASS [Global Orbiting Navigation Satellite System] or GALILEO
  • G01S19/13—Receivers
  • G01S19/14—Receivers specially adapted for specific applications
  • G01S19/18—Military applications

Definitions

• the invention relates to a device for automatic searching of an area according to a control program for detecting mines within the area, for memorizing the position of encountered mines within the area and for accurately recording which areas have been scanned.
• Another known solution for mine detection is to use manual methods, whereby a template in the form of a narrow strip is placed within the area that is to be searched, followed by manually sticking needles through holes in the template in order to feel if mines are present. The template is moved accordingly until the whole area has been searched.
• patent document US 5307272 An example of another known mine detection device is presented in patent document US 5307272.
• a presentation of a device which searches an area by means of a vehicle equipped with sensors for detecting mines, and which marks the positions of the detected mines.
• a robotic device for detecting mines in a mined area is presented here.
• the robot is made up of a terrestrial vehicle which moves on wheels or conveyor belts and is suitable for moving across rough terrain.
• a different version of the robot could be comprised of a flying or hovering craft, for example in the form of a low-flying helicopter.
• the robot is additionally equipped with one or more sensors for detecting mines, and in the case where several sensors are employed algorithms are used for sensor fusion to take into account the various signals from the sensors in order to determine if mines are present or not.
• the robot is equipped with a navigation system which preferably uses satellites by so called GPS-navigation, which can also use a comparison with GPS- measurements from a fixed reference receiver to establish so called differential GPS- navigation, or alternatively a navigation system based on reference objects arranged at the place next to the area to be searched for mines, where the position of these reference objects can be determined by means of laser.
• a course reference unit built in to the robot is used to sense the robot's orientation in space, that is to say its current orientation.
• the robot is controlled by a control system which automatically ensures that the robot systematically scans a given area, at the same time as it avoids known obstacles programmed in the control system, obstacles which it discovers on its own using sensors, as well as mines which it has detected and determined the position of.
• the robot is connected by a data link to a ground station, in which there is software that accurately records the zones within the searched mined area that have been scanned by the robot sensors, which means that the robot's position, the orientation of the robot in its current position, and the sensors' position in relation to the robot unit are all taken into consideration.
• the recording includes, in addition, which mines have been detected and their location, as well as sensor data on the same detected mines.
• An advantage of the device and the method for mine detection presented here is that, using knowledge of the precisely defined position of the robot obtained with the aid of the navigation system, and by compensating for the actual position of the sensors, one obtains from the recording data which can be translated into information on which zones have been scanned, which zones, if any, that could not be reached by the robot, and in addition knowledge about where suspected mines occur within the area searched.
• Figure 1 shows schematically the various units and how they are linked together in the mine detection device.
• Figure 2 is a simplified diagram of a vehicle and a base station to which it is connected for detection of mines within an area.
• Figure 3 illustrates the use of differential GPS for navigation of the vehicle within the scanned area.
• Figure 4 illustrates the use of laser reflectors for navigation of a vehicle within the scanned area.
• Figure 5 depicts the mapping of an area, where it is shown which information on the scanned area is available as scanning proceeds.
• Figure 6 shows programmed break points within the area to be scanned and the path the robot is to follow between these points.
• Figure 7 shows prohibited areas for the robot which have been created around obstacles and detected mines.
• Figure 8 shows new break points created by the control system to guide the robot around an obstacle.
• the invention is represented and exemplified below by a device in which the robot is embodied by a ground vehicle, denoted by 1 in figure 1.
• the ground vehicle 1 is equipped with either wheels or track for moving across rough terrain.
• the robot may naturally be of a different character. For example, it can be a helicopter or a hovercraft.
• the robot communicates with a base station 2 by means of a data link 3.
• the robot scans the given area 4 in order to detect mines which may be present.
• the base station 2 is placed outside the given area 4.
• the vehicle 1 is equipped with a so called sensor rake 5, which can be designed as a manipulator arm 6 with a holder for the sensors at the extremity of the manipulator arm 6, in such a way that the sensor rake can be commanded from the vehicle to adopt the desired position in relation to the vehicle and desired height above the ground surface.
• the vehicle 1 is additionally equipped with a fusion unit 7 for evaluating data from sensors 9 located on the sensor rake 5 for detecting mines 10 according to known methods, for example according to the account in the previously mentioned document US 5307272.
• the motor or motors 11 in the vehicle 1 are commanded from the base station 2 to manoeuvre the vehicle 1 and manipulator arm 6 using signals transmitted via the data link 3.
• the vehicle 1 is equipped with a GPS receiver 12 for reception of satellite signals for determining the position of the vehicle.
• the GPS receiver merely gives information about the position of the vehicle's antenna.
• a course reference unit 13 is equipped with a transmitter, for example a gyro based instrument, that provides information about the vehicle's orientation in space, which allows determination of the exact position of the sensor rake relative to the position determined for the antenna of the vehicle 1.
• the signals from the position finding units 12, 13 are sent by the link 3 to a control unit 14 located in the base station 2 in order to inform a control system in the control unit 14 about the momentary positions of both the vehicle 1 and the mine detecting sensors 9 in the sensor rake 5.
• Data from a geographically positioned GPS reference station 15 is also sent to the control unit 14. This allows for differential GPS position determination, which means that a more exact position determination can be obtained than when only using the signal from GPS satellites.
• An alternative for navigation of the vehicle within the area to be scanned involves equipping the vehicle with instrumentation 16 for laser recording.
• the laser reflectors 17 are positioned close to the area to be scanned. By establishing the position of the laser reflectors, the position of the vehicle 1 can be determined with a high degree of accuracy and reliability.
• the base station 2 contains an evaluation unit 18 for evaluating data from the sensor fusion unit 7 which compiles data from the sensors 9, whereupon if the evaluation results in the judgement that a mine has been encountered, data about the mine as well as its current position is entered in a data base 19 for recording the position of mines.
• the sensors' 9 position during the scanning process is continuously registered by a recording device 18b.
• This recorded sensor position data is continuously entered into the data base 19, which means that one can retrieve from the data base the information that is required, i.e. the position of encountered mines, and information about which zones have been traversed by the mine sensors and which zones have not been scanned.
• a user interface 20 is also shown for the device according to figure 1.
• the interface 20 allows the operator of the device to transmit, to the control program, information about the geographic position of the area to be scanned, in addition to permitting the operator to enter data about obstacles within the area.
• the control system generates a system of break points 21, which the vehicle is to pass in turn.
• the control system there are programmed rules for guiding the vehicle, which forces the vehicle to pass these break points 21.
• the break points 21 are placed out in the terrain so that the vehicle's sensors 9 will sweep over the entire area to be scanned, taking into consideration the fact that the terrain is undulating, which means that a three-dimensional map of the area has to be used in accordance with the known method within this field of engineering.
• the operator programs the obstacles 23 present within the area into the control system. In this way the control system automatically creates prohibited zones 22 around these obstacles 23, where the extent of these prohibited zones is such that no part of the vehicle can collide with the obstacle 23 if the centre of the vehicle is outside the said prohibited zones 22.
• prohibited zones are automatically created around the mine, where the extent of the prohibited zone is such that no part of the vehicle 1 passes over the mine, as long as the centre of the vehicle is outside the prohibited zone.
• the robot moves from one break point 21 to a subsequent break point 21 according to the control program, the path the robot is to follow in the terrain to the subsequent break point is determined in the control system. If this path crosses a prohibited zone 22, the control system will supplement a list of existing break points 21 with new break points, as is shown in figure 8, which leads to the prohibited zone 22 being avoided by the vehicle 1.
• the previously scanned area is represented by reference 24.

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

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• 1998
  • 1998-09-29 SE SE9803288A patent/SE511951C2/sv not_active IP Right Cessation
• 1999
  • 1999-09-10 WO PCT/SE1999/001579 patent/WO2000019245A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1999-09-10 EP EP99969798A patent/EP1118023A1/de not_active Withdrawn

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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