EP3711340A1

EP3711340A1 - Alert and disaster management system and method for operating such a system

Info

Publication number: EP3711340A1
Application number: EP17823186.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Thierry Fayard
Original assignee: Global Smart Solutions
Current assignee: Global Smart Solutions
Priority date: 2017-11-17
Filing date: 2017-11-17
Publication date: 2020-09-23
Also published as: WO2019097124A1; CA3118667A1; US20210273848A1

Abstract

The alert and disaster management system (100) comprises: at least one radiocommunication terminal (105), the terminal comprising: a means (106) for communicating, via a data network, with a central computer system, - a sensor (110) for sensing a value of a physical variable that is representative of the operation of the network connected to the terminal, a means (115) for determining a network failure according to the captured value, a transmitter (120) of radio signals in the event a failure is determined and - the central computer system (300), connected via the data network to at least one terminal, comprising: a memory (304) of geographical positioning information of at least one terminal, a detector (305) for detecting network connection anomalies between the computer system and at least one terminal, a means (310) of providing an alert in the event of an anomaly, a means (315) of providing a piece of information that represents the stored positioning of at least one said terminal having a network connection anomaly and at least one mobile radiocommunication receiver (125) configured to receive the radio signals transmitted by at least one terminal.

Description

ALARM AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD OF OPERATION

OF SUCH A SYSTEM

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

In general, the invention belongs to the field of disaster relief.

STATE OF THE ART

The known techniques for multiplexing radiocommunication signals comprise in particular:

Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), also known as Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), which uses a division of the shared frequency band into subbands, which are allocated ( normally dynamically) to the different terminals,

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), also known by the acronym TDMA (for "Time Division Multiple Access"), a technique by which terminals transmit during certain time slots allocated to them, so as to reduce likelihood of "collisions" (interference) between the emissions of different terminals and

code division multiple access (CDMA) or CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), which operates by spreading the emission spectrum by means of orthogonal codes between them.

These techniques can, to a certain extent, be combined.

To access the data transmitted by a terminal, the receiver must know in advance the transmission channel or channels used by the terminal. Each of these techniques is therefore based on the predictability of the allocation of the physical channels (frequency sub-band, transmission slots or spreading code) to the different terminals. Except for cases where channel assignment is static, some synchronization between transmitters and receivers is required. The requirements for synchronization depend on several factors, including the frequency of channel changes, the time density of the messages on the shared frequency band, possibly the redundancy of the messages, and so on.

Document FR 2 961 046 A1 indicates that the allocation mechanisms are incompatible with very low bit rate telecommunications systems (of the order of a few bits per second), since these rates are insufficient to maintain synchronization between terminals from which messages emanate and a data collection station. This document FR 2 961 046 A1 proposes as a solution to this problem to configure the terminals statically so that they transmit radio signals in a single predefined frequency subband or according to a predefined sequence of frequency subbands. Time or frequency synchronization of the terminals with each other and with the collection station is not considered necessary. Therefore, the collection station must be able to detect any radio signal appearing in the shared frequency band and determine whether the detected signals correspond to signals transmitted by terminals or to third or parasitic signals.

One of the objectives of FR 2 961 046 A1 is to guarantee a low level of collisions between radio signals emitted by different terminals. However, given the absence of any synchronization between the terminals, the only way to maintain a low level of collisions for a given frequency and duration of messages is to limit the geographical density of the terminals. Indeed, the more the number of terminals increases, the more the probability of collisions and hence the loss of data also increases. This could hamper the massive deployment of machine-to-machine ("M2M") communication terminals and / or the Internet of Things, for example using UNB (Ultra Narrow Band) radio technology. narrow).

Moreover, after an earthquake, a storm, a flood, or an industrial accident on a dangerous site, one does not have, in general, more energy, and the means of communications become inoperative the moment they are most useful, or they quickly become saturated.

As a result, the organization of relief, the management of priorities and the relevant allocation of resources are made very difficult. The management of information spread over an area and its transport to the decision centers is critical. It becomes necessary to have robust and resilient communications that can effectively inform a decision maker.

To cope with this type of difficulty, systems using low frequency radios of the order of 200 MHz, with possibilities of extending the range of a frequency segment to 5 to 5 MHz, are known. 8 kilometers. These systems make it possible to create mesh networks.

There is no way today to organize the response to a disaster in an automated way and, in particular, there is no way to organize the presence of multiple transmitters to manage simultaneously avoiding collision of messages. on a potentially extensive area or even a region.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention aims to remedy all or part of these disadvantages.

For this purpose, the present invention aims an alert and disaster management, which comprises: at least one radiocommunication terminal, the terminal comprising:

means for communicating, via a data network, with a central computer system,

a sensor with a value of a physical quantity representative of the operation of the network connected to the terminal,

means for determining a network failure as a function of the sensed value,

a radio signal transmitter in the event of a failure determination and the central computer system, connected via the data network to at least one terminal, comprising:

a geographic positioning information memory of at least one terminal, a network link anomaly detector between the computer system and at least one terminal,

means for providing an alert in the event of an anomaly,

means for providing information representative of the stored positioning of at least one said terminal having a network link anomaly and at least one mobile radio receiver configured to receive the radio signals transmitted by at least one terminal.

Thanks to these provisions, the detection of a disaster is carried out automatically by a network monitoring by the communication terminal on the one hand and by the computer system on the other, regardless of the type of disaster envisaged. In case of disaster, the provision of an alert allows the computer system, manually or automatically, to deploy each mobile receiver to collect data provided by the terminals. Thus, the geographic position information may be displayed on a screen, for example, so that an operator may become aware of or provided to a route preparation system of the mobile receiver.

This allows, in particular, to ensure the maintenance of the transmission of data captured by the terminals between a mode in which the terminal is connected to the central computer system by the data network and a mode in which the terminal is connected to the computer system central through the receiver. As understood, the receiver and the central computer system can be merged into a single device.

The mobile receiver collects the failure signals transmitted by the communication terminals to record them or send them to a central computer collection system. Thus, as understood, the terminals have two modes of operation:

a first mode of operation called "normal", in which the direct communication between the terminal and the central computer system takes place and

a second mode of operation called "alert" in which the communication is indirect, that is to say through a receiver.

This does not prevent the receiver and the communication means from implementing the same communication technique.

It is noted that the present invention also aims at an alert and disaster management system, which comprises:

at least one radiocommunication terminal, the terminal comprising:

a sensor with a value of a physical quantity representative of an operation of the network connected to the terminal,

means for determining a network failure as a function of the sensed value,

a radio signal transmitter in the event of a failure determination and at least one mobile radio receiver configured to receive the radio signals transmitted by at least one terminal.

In these variants, the deployment of each receiver is done manually.

at least one radiocommunication terminal, the terminal comprising:

a sensor with a value of a physical quantity,

a radio signal transmitter representative of said physical quantity and at least one mobile radio receiver configured to receive the radio signals transmitted by at least one terminal.

In embodiments, the computer system includes a device for preparing an itinerary of at least one receiver, the route being established according to at least one geographic positioning information provided.

In embodiments, the computer system includes a satellite controller, said receiver satellite.

In these variants, the terminal continuously transmits, or pseudo-continuous, radio signals to a receiver.

In embodiments, the sensor captures a physical quantity representative of an Internet network.

In embodiments, the sensor captures a physical quantity representative of an electrical network.

These embodiments attempt to detect a failure in a specific network. In embodiments, the signal transmitter implements a time division multiple access communication protocol.

In embodiments, at least one terminal is configured to maintain the time slot phase timing of the time division multiple access communication protocol in the event of access termination of the terminal to an external signal enabling the terminal to determine a timing phase of the time slots.

In embodiments, at least one terminal includes a clock and a synchronization device connected to the Internet network, the synchronization device being configured to synchronize the clock with the Internet network.

In embodiments, at least one terminal includes a clock and a synchronization device connected to a clock radio transmission system, the synchronization device being configured to synchronize the clock with the radio transmission system. clock. In embodiments, at least one terminal comprises a clock and a synchronization device connected to a satellite positioning system, the synchronization device being configured to synchronize the clock with the satellite positioning system.

In embodiments, at least one radiocommunication terminal is configured to send radiocommunication signals in a shared frequency band, said terminal comprising a phase sensor of an electrical network connected to the terminal, said terminal being configured to perform a temporal division of the shared frequency band into several time slots per period of the electrical network, each time slot having a known ratio to the phase of the electrical network, the transmitter being configured to transmit on the shared frequency band in the time slots in the Compliance with a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) schedule.

In embodiments, at least one terminal includes a clock and a synchronization device in phase connected to the phase sensor of the electrical network.

In embodiments, at least one terminal has a power reserve allowing the terminal to operate autonomously.

In embodiments, at least one terminal is configured to maintain the phase timing of time slots in the event of a power grid failure or in the event of an abrupt change in the phase of the power grid.

In embodiments, the phase sensor of the electrical network comprises a connector that can be connected to the electrical network.

In embodiments, the phase sensor of the electrical network comprises an antenna for sensing the oscillations of the electrical network.

In embodiments, at least one terminal includes a wired or wireless communication module for connecting to a local area network and / or the Internet.

In embodiments, at least one terminal includes a wired or wireless communication module for connecting to sensors, receiving data from these sensors, and forwarding the data to a serving station via the in-band radiocommunication signals. of shared frequencies.

In embodiments, at least one terminal has a buffer memory for storing connected sensor data.

In embodiments, the receiver is configured to listen to the shared frequency band.

In embodiments, the receiver is mounted on a vehicle.

In embodiments, the vehicle is a drone, a car, a satellite, or an airplane.

In embodiments, at least one receiver includes a transmitter of a transmission stop command towards at least one terminal, each terminal ceasing to transmit signals upon receipt of said command.

In embodiments, at least one sensor connected to at least one terminal, the transmitter being configured to transmit information representative of a value sensed by at least one said sensor.

In embodiments, at least one sensor is a mobile phone presence sensor.

In embodiments, at least one terminal comprises:

a message receiver transmitted on a local network including said terminal, preferably wireless and

a memory of at least one said message,

the transmitter being configured to transmit at least one signal representative of at least one said message.

In embodiments, the system that is the subject of the present invention comprises a plurality of terminals of which at least two terminals are interconnected by a connection of radiocommunication, at least one signal concentrator terminal issued by the two said terminals.

According to a second aspect, the present invention aims at a method of operating a system that is the subject of the present invention, which comprises:

a step of positioning at least one terminal,

a step of communicating, via a data network, between the central computer system and at least one terminal and

at the terminal level:

a step of capturing a value of a physical quantity representative of the operation of the network connected to the terminal,

a step of determining a failure of the network according to the sensed value, a step of transmitting radio signals in case of failure determination and at the level of the central computer system:

a network link anomaly detecting step between the computer system and at least one terminal and

a step of providing an alert in case of anomaly and

a mobile radio reception step configured to receive the radio signals transmitted by at least one terminal.

As understood, the advantages associated with the use of the method are equivalent to the advantages of the system that is the subject of the present invention.

Thus, the present invention also relates to a radiocommunication method in a frequency band shared between several terminals and a serving station. It is noted that the terms "serving station" and "radio receiver" as defined in the first aspect of the present invention are herein considered synonymous. The method includes synchronizing the terminals and, optionally, the receiver with the same AC power grid (the mains). By transitivity, all the terminals (and possibly the station) are synchronized with each other. According to the method, the terminals transmit on the shared frequency band in accordance with a time division multiple access (TDMA) schedule.

The definition of access times may depend on clocks from:

the Internet,

a clock radio transmission system,

a satellite positioning system or

of the electrical network connected to each radiocommunication terminal.

It is noted that the serving station can be synchronized to the network and know the TDMA schedule but it is not an obligation. Indeed, it is possible to choose as a serving station broadband station capable of receiving the entire shared frequency band and digitize (if necessary after transposition to an intermediate frequency). Demodulation and access to messages can be done by software and / or on a signal processor.

The method uses the sector as a reference clock. It is the merit of the inventor to have recognized that the electrical network, virtually ubiquitous, lends itself to this type of application. It is relatively unknown that the frequency of the sector (normally 50 Hz or 60 Hz) is remarkably stable due to the efforts of the suppliers of electrical energy to contain the distortions within very narrow limits. Another observation is that the phase of the electrical network has very little variation depending on the location as long as they are powered by the same transformer or, in case of divergence, vary little and are measurable over time. In the context of the invention, this means that the synchronization of terminals and, possibly, service stations can cover important geographical areas (for example from a few tens to a few hundred kilometers in diameter).

In the context of the method, the TDMA schedule designates the time grid (ie the positioning of the slots with respect to the time reference) defining which terminal is entitled to to use which time slot (s) for the transmission of his messages. It goes without saying that the respect of a TDMA schedule means for each terminal that this terminal limits its emissions in slots allocated to it. In particular, the terminals of the slots must be respected by each terminal. For a given terminal, the schedule is advantageously static, that is to say fixed once and for all, for example at the factory or, more advantageously, at the commissioning at the installation site, preferably in function of the use of slots by other terminals geographically neighbors. However, there is nothing to preclude a terminal from being reconfigured later, for example if it turns out that another allocation of slots would further reduce the risk of message collisions. As a whole, the schedule is completed each time a terminal is added to the system. The schedule can be in the form of a database stored centrally or in a decentralized manner. Terminals are preferably identified by a unique identifier. The geographical coordinates of the place of installation are preferably listed, which, in the case of adding a terminal, allows it to be allocated one or more time slots according to the allocation of slots to the geographically neighboring terminals already in place and / or based on an optimization of the use of the resources for a projected distribution of terminals. It is also possible to allocate the slots automatically, depending, for example geographical coordinates. One possibility would be, for example to enter the geographical coordinates of the terminal in a predefined format in a hash function whose result determines the slot or slots in which the terminal has the right to issue.

The TDMA schedule may provide that a terminal has the right to access all slots or a sub-group of slots at random. It is therefore possible to define different groups of terminals or access rights: some terminals may have the right to broadcast in a larger group of slots than others. The possibility of assigning higher or lower service levels makes it possible to create solutions specifically dedicated to different applications.

It should be noted that the TDMA approach as used in the context of the invention can be combined with an FDMA approach. In this case, the schedule defines which terminal has the right to use which time slot (s) and which sub-band of frequencies for the transmission of its messages. It will be appreciated that a number of channels of a combined TDMA / FDMA approach will be equal to the product of the number of TDMA channels and the number of frequency subbands.

It is noted that the number of slots per cycle of the alternating current of the electrical network determines how many terminals can transmit "simultaneously" (at the scale of the cycle of the alternating current) to the maximum without there being a collision. However, if the number of slots increases, their duration decreases, and messages longer than a slot will have to be transmitted in pieces. Another limitation of the number of slots is that the requirements in terms of synchronization increase with the number of slots.

As the electricity network is most often three-phase (three-phase current) shifted between them by 120 °, there is a priori an uncertainty as to the phase on which a terminal is synchronized. In order to ensure that all the terminals are nonetheless synchronized with each other, regardless of this ambiguity, it is proposed to divide each period of the alternating current into a number N of slots which is a multiple of 3: N = 3 n, where n is a integer greater than or equal to 2 denoting the number of independent TDMA channels. For example, with n = 5, each AC period is divided into 15 slots, which are allocated to 5 independent TDMA channels. These, denoted A to E below, are distributed alternating current period according to the pattern A-B-C-D-E-A-B-C-D-E-A-B-C-D-E. It will be appreciated that the basic pattern A-B-C-D-E repeats three times the frequency of the alternating current. For a terminal that synchronizes with another phase of the three-phase network, the offset of ± 120 ° is therefore without impact.

It will be appreciated that the present invention finds an advantageous, though in no way limiting, application in information collection systems (for example in the context of an application of the Internet of Things), such as sensor networks emitting recurrently data representative of the physical quantity or quantities measured for a station data collection. For example, sensors embedded in electricity, gas or water meters, which would emit consumption data to a collection station. Domestic remote monitoring systems and / or risk sites (eg Seveso classified sites) using distributed sensors may also be mentioned. The terminals communicating with the service stations can be integrated in the sensors or connected thereto by any wired or wireless communication means. These sensors can in principle be of any type. For example, in the case of a Search and Rescue application, sensors can be designed to monitor the number of people in a monitored area in order to trace this information back to a monitoring center. coordination of relief in case of emergency. The terminals can therefore be designed as locator beacons.

In the context of the invention, the term "service station" or "collection station" generally means a receiver device adapted to receiving radio signals in the shared frequency band, preferably in the entirety of that this, the collection of messages transmitted by the terminals and / or the retransmission of messages or data contained therein to their recipient. A serving station may include a relay antenna and / or represent an access point to a wired or non-wired telecommunications network. It will be understood that a serving station can be stationary or mobile.

Such a telecommunication terminal according to embodiments of the invention is intended to send radio communication signals in a shared frequency band. It preferably comprises a phase (angle) sensor (for example a phase comparator) of the electrical network and is configured so as to achieve a temporal division of the shared frequency band into several time slots per period of the electrical network. Each time slot has a known relationship to the phase of the power grid. The terminal is further configured to transmit on the shared frequency band in time slots in accordance with a TDMA schedule.

The radiocommunication terminal preferably comprises a clock and a synchronization device connected to the phase sensor of the electrical network, the synchronization device being configured to synchronize the clock with the electrical network.

The radiocommunication terminal may comprise a power reserve (one or more accumulators, batteries, or other) allowing the terminal to operate autonomously. The terminal can be energized only by this reserve. According to another embodiment, it is powered by the electrical network and the energy reserve is only used in case of power failure.

According to an advantageous embodiment, the terminal is configured to maintain the phase timing of the time slots in case of power mains failure. In the context of a radiocommunication process, it will be useful for all terminals to maintain the timing of the time slots of the TDMA schedule in the event of a power grid failure or in the event of an abrupt change in the phase of the power grid. (A sudden phase change is due, with a certain probability, to the fact that a backup generator has tripped - from that moment, it can no longer be assumed, in general, that the power supply is synchronous to all of the terminals.) This embodiment has the advantage that all the terminals configured in this way remain synchronized with each other at least for a certain time if the power supply is interrupted. The time that the terminals remain sufficiently synchronized depends on the quality of their internal clock and the number of time slots per cycle of the alternating current. If the terminals are equipped with a clock having a time accuracy of 10-8 (ie an average drift of 10-8 s per sec) sufficient synchronization can be maintained for a few hours.

According to one embodiment of the terminal, the phase sensor of the electrical network comprises a connector that can be connected to the electrical network. Alternatively or additionally, the Phase sensor of the electrical network can include an antenna (eg a ground loop) to capture the oscillations of the remote power grid.

The radiocommunication terminal may comprise a wired communication module (for example an Ethernet module) or a wireless module (for example a Wifi module (registered trademark), a Bluetooth module (registered trademark), a ZigBee module (registered trademark), etc. or a multi-protocol compatible handset) to connect to a local network and / or the Internet.

According to one embodiment, the radiocommunication terminal is configured to enter a distress mode (or alert mode) following a triggering event. A triggering event could be, for example, a power grid failure, the loss of an Internet connection, the detection of a flood, an earthquake, a tsunami, a fire or the presence of smoke. The radiocommunication terminal can include or be connected to sensors capable of detecting emergency situations. Alternatively or additionally, the terminal could be connected (wired or wireless) to a warning broadcast center or relay (eg as a subscriber to a population protection service or other Preferably, the terminal is configured, when it is switched into the distress mode, to emit emergency messages in the time slot (s) allocated to it. The emergency messages preferably contain, and to the extent of their availability at the terminal level, information such as the number of people (likely to be) in distress, their state of health, the severity of the material damage, the geographical position of the terminal or persons in danger, etc.

The radio communication terminal preferably comprises a wired or wireless communication module to connect to sensors, to receive data from these sensors and to transmit the data to a service station via the radiocommunication signals in the frequency band. shared. In this case, a terminal serves as a relay between the sensor or sensors and the service station. According to another embodiment of the terminal, it is integrated with a sensor.

The radio communication terminal may include a buffer memory for storing connected sensor data. The terminal may be configured to store more recent data upon receipt of such data from the sensors. As long as the terminal is not placed in distress mode (or alert mode), newer data can, as time goes on, replace older data. If the terminal is placed in distress mode, the new data record may be suspended - in this case, the last data collected before the distress mode trigger is considered the last reliable data.

The present invention also relates to a telecommunication system which comprises a plurality of terminals as described above and a service station (or data collection), the terminals and, optionally, the station being synchronized with the same electrical network, the station comprising a receiver configured to listen to the shared frequency band. The station may optionally be provided with a memory including the TDMA schedule.

The serving station may be static (i.e. stationary) or moveable. According to one embodiment, the serving station is mounted on a vehicle, eg a drone or a car. A possible application of such a system would be for example the remote reading of electricity meters, gas or water through a drone flying over the area provided with electricity, gas or water, or a vehicle ground (motorcycle, car, bike, etc.) passing through the streets. It will be appreciated that such a system can significantly reduce the cost of meter reading.

It will be appreciated that the invention is of particular interest not only in the case of fixed terminals and a mobile serving station but for all applications, in which there may be a relative movement between a terminal and a station service and limited periods of visibility between the terminals and the service station. It is possible, for example, to use the system as part of a race (on foot, bicycle or otherwise), in particular for transmitting telemetering data taken from participants in a control center (for example a control center). medical check up). BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Other advantages, aims and particular characteristics of the invention will emerge from the following nonlimiting description of at least one particular embodiment of the device and method that are the subject of the present invention, with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an illustration of the principle of a telecommunications system according to one embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of an "intelligent" house equipped with a terminal according to one aspect of the invention,

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a use of a telecommunication system according to one embodiment of the invention in the context of an emergency situation,

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of a house equipped with smart gas and water electricity meters, configured as terminals according to one aspect of the invention,

FIG. 5 is a timing diagram illustrating the synchronization of a telecommunication system with the electrical network,

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of the system that is the subject of the present invention and

FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of the method that is the subject of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLES OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

This description is given in a nonlimiting manner, each feature of an embodiment being able to be combined with any other feature of any other embodiment in an advantageous manner.

It is already noted that the figures are not to scale.

FIG. 6 shows a particular embodiment of the system 100 which is the subject of the present invention. This 100 alert and disaster management system includes:

at least one radiocommunication terminal 105, the terminal comprising:

means 106 for communicating, via a data network, with a central computer system,

a sensor 1 10 of a value of a physical quantity representative of the operation of the network connected to the terminal,

means 1 for determining a network failure as a function of the sensed value,

a radio signal transmitter 120 in the event of a failure determination and the central computer system 300, connected via the data network to at least one terminal, comprising:

a geographical positioning information memory 304 of at least one terminal,

a network link anomaly detector 305 between the computer system and at least one terminal,

a means 310 for providing an alert in the event of an anomaly,

means 315 for providing information representative of the stored positioning of at least one said terminal having a network link anomaly and at least one mobile radio receiver 125 configured to receive the radio signals transmitted by at least one terminal.

The term "terminal" 105 denotes any device capable of transmitting, and optionally receiving, two-channel communication signals:

according to a first channel formed by the communication means 106 and the data network and according to a second channel formed by the transmitter 120 of radio signals and the receiver 125. In variants, the communication means 106 and the transmitter 120 may be combined. . Preferably, each terminal 105 is unitary, that is to say that all the components of this terminal is integrated in a single housing. However, the terminal 110 may also be modular and, in this case, each component may be distributed in a plurality of communicating devices with each other. Each terminal 105 can thus implement a nano-computer type Raspberry PI (trademark).

Preferably, the terminal 105 comprises a thermally insulating casing, fireproof and / or gas-tight and / or water-tight. The person skilled in the art can draw inspiration here from the characteristics of black boxes in the field of aeronautics.

In a schematic manner, the function of each terminal 105 consists of following the evolution of a determined value, as a function of the terminal 105, and of determining, as a function of this value, the presence of a failure of a network. When a fault is detected, the terminal 105 goes into an "alert" mode and transmits information representative of the detection of this fault or information representative of a value also picked up by the terminal 105. Said value depends on at least one external or external third-party sensor at the terminal 105. Each third-party sensor may be of any type, such as:

a presence sensor,

a sensor of a determined physical quantity,

a sensor of presence of mobile phones nearby,

a device presence sensor associated with a nearby Wifi or Bluetooth network. Depending on the applications, the terminal 105 may also communicate the values sensed by the third sensors through the communication means 106. This communication means 106 is of wired or wireless type and adapted to communicate over the Internet or a cellular data network, for example.

This allows in case of disaster, the terminal 105 to continue to transmit signals to the central computer system, through at least one receiver 125.

The central computer system 300 is usually connected to at least one terminal 105 via the data network under consideration. Thus, computer system 300 and terminals 105 exchange data in the usual way, unilaterally or bilaterally.

The computer system 300 is provided with a network link fault detector 305 between the computer system and at least one terminal 105. This anomaly detector 305 depends on the type of data network considered. For example, this anomaly detector 305 may be a software embedded in an electronic card connected to an interface, wired or wireless, for receiving signals from the data network. This software, detecting an absence of signals from a terminal 105, following the transmission or not of a request by the system 300, detects an anomaly. When a determined number of anomalies is detected by the detector 305, the system 300 goes into an alert mode, representative of a link break with at least one terminal 105.

In the event of an alert, the means 310 for providing an alert provides, for example, a signal enabling the transmission of an audible and / or visual warning signal to an operator. This allows the operator to control the operation of at least one receiver 125 in order to collect data from at least one terminal 105 broken link.

In the event of an alert, the means 315 for providing geographical positioning information provides geographical positioning information of at least one terminal 105 stored by the computer system 300. This information can be:

displayed on a screen,

transmitted to a device for preparing a route of a receiver 125, for example mounted on an autonomous vehicle such as a drone,

transmitted to a satellite controller.

In the case of display on a screen, a user input can serve as a confirmation of transmission of a deployment command of at least one receiver 125. The device for preparing a receiver route 125 is, for example , a GPS navigation system embedded in the receiver 125. Thus, as understood, in embodiments, the computer system 300 includes a device 306 for preparing a route of at least one receiver 125, the route being established according to at least one positioning information geographical provided.

This preparation device 306 is, for example, software configured to transmit to a receiver 125 the geographical coordinates of the terminals and / or to transmit a calculated route at the level of the computer system 300. This device 306 includes, in variants, the communication system between the computer system 300 and the receiver 125.

Thus, as understood, in embodiments, the computer system 300 comprises a device 307 for controlling a satellite, said satellite forming a receiver 125.

This preparation device 307 is, for example, software configured to transmit to a receiver satellite 125 the geographical coordinates of the terminals. This device 307 includes, in variants, the communication system between the computer system 300 and the receiver 125.

In variants, the computer system 300 comprises means for receiving a command (not referenced) deployment of at least one receiver 125, such as a human-machine interface of any type. When a deployment command is received by the system 300, at least one receiver 125 is operated by the computer system 300. If this receiver 125 is mounted on an automatic vehicle, such as a drone, this automatic vehicle is directed to a geographical area where the terminal 105 is located. Preferably, at least one terminal 105 is thus geolocated. Alternatively, the receiver 125 may be a satellite set to active listening state of the geographical area.

Thus, as is understood, the system 100 which is the subject of the present invention makes it possible to measure the geographic impact of a disaster as a function of terminals 105 distributed geographically and to react immediately by deploying receivers 125 capable of collecting data transmitted by said terminals. 105.

This operation is represented in FIG.

In two particular embodiments envisaged, the function of the terminal 105 is to determine a failure of the Internet network or the electrical network.

When the function of the terminal 105 is to determine the failure of the internet network, the sensor 1 10 is, for example, a network card coupled to a microprocessor, the microprocessor periodically controlling the network card to issue a ping request to a specific IP address. Alternatively, the network card can simply measure the periodic reception of packets contained in signals transmitted by an access point to the Internet network, such as a set-top box in the context of a Wi-Fi connection of the terminal 105. intrinsic value to the Internet can be sensed by the sensor 1 10, according to the preferences of the skilled person in the case of application of the system 100.

In this case, the determination means 1 1 is, for example, formed of a software embedded on the microprocessor and responsible for monitoring the value sensed by the sensor 1 10. According to a predetermined evolution, or adaptive, that is to say, evolving slowly with respect to the evolutions of the sensed value, the determination means 1 15 determines a failure of the Internet network.

For example, if the sensor 1 10 receives the receipt of a response to a ping request to a specific IP address, the request being issued at a regular interval by the terminal 105, an absence of response to the request for several intervals consecutive causes the determination of a failure of the Internet by the determination means 1 15.

When the terminal 1 10 has the function of determining the failure of an electrical network to which the terminal 1 10 is connected, the sensor 1 15 comprises, for example, a connector 145 which can be connected to the electrical network and / or an antenna 150 to capture the oscillations of the electrical network. The sensed value is, for example, the oscillation phase of the voltage of the electric current or the power of said electric current. Thus, for example, in the case of sudden phase variation, the determining means 1 is capable of determining that a generator has been started. The determination means 115 is in this case, for example, formed of a software embedded on the microprocessor and responsible for monitoring the value sensed by the sensor 110. According to a predetermined evolution, or adaptive , that is to say, evolving slowly with respect to the evolutions of the sensed value, the determination means 115 determines a failure of the electrical network.

For example, if the sensor 110 senses a phase of oscillation of the electrical voltage supplied by the electrical network, a gross change of said phase of the voltage causes the determination of a failure of the electrical network by the determining means 115.

An example of such a terminal 105 is provided in Figure 1, reference 12 and 12 '.

Note, moreover, that the terminal 105 can also be configured to detect the failure of a telephone network or a cellular data network.

Upstream or downstream of the determination of a network failure, the terminal 105 may also implement a sensor (not referenced) of any physical value, such as a presence detector, a thermometer, a barometer or the like according to the application of the terminal 105 desired by the operator.

If the terminal 105 determines a failure of the network, information representative of this detection and / or information representative of the sensed physical value is transmitted to the receiver 125. The transmitter 120 is, for example, an antenna configured to transmit signals without This transmitter 120 is configured to transmit wireless signals over a frequency band between 222 and 225 MHz, for example. Preferably, the transmitter 120 is an omnidirectional antenna allowing, whatever the positioning and the inclination of the terminal 105, to emit radio signals.

In variants, if the terminal 105 determines a failure of the network, the terminal 105 actuates a human presence detector and transmits information representative of the number of presences detected to the receiver 125. Such a detector is, for example, a presence detector of mobile phones near the terminal 105. Such a presence sensor implements, for example, an antenna configured to receive signals transmitted on a cellular telephone network frequency and a detector of a signal power received by said antenna, a presence being determined for each signal of which said received signal power is greater than a determined limit value.

The receiver 125 is a communication means capable of receiving the signals emitted by each transmitter 120. This receiver 125 comprises, for example, a wireless signal receiving antenna. The term "receiver" 125 is synonymous with the term "serving station" as described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. Thus, it is noted that the receiver 125 can comprise a received information memory and / or a transmission means of said information intended for a dedicated computer system, such as a wireless signal transmission antenna, for example. In variants, the receiver 125 also comprises a dynamic spectrum detector and / or a modulation presence detector. Such a receiver 125 is, for example, a drone comprising a broadband receiver, of the "airspy" type.

In embodiments, the system 100 includes an information concentrator transmitted by at least one transmitter 120, which hub includes an information transmitter towards the receiver 125.

Preferably, the receiver 125 is movable relative to the terminals 105. This mobility is imparted to the receiver 125 by the craft of said receiver 125 on board a vehicle. Such a vehicle is, for example, a drone, a plane, a motorcycle or a satellite. When the receiver 125 is embarked in an automatic vehicle, this vehicle may have a route plan, or flight, automatically determined according to the positioning data of the terminals 105 of the system 100.

Preferably, at least one transmitter 120 is a narrow-band transmitter and the receiver 125 is a broadband receiver, configured to receive the information transmitted by all the transmitters 120 of the system 100. Preferably, at least one transmitter 120 is a transmitter with very high frequency or ultra high frequency.

In embodiments, the signal transmitter 120 implements a time division multiple access communication protocol. These embodiments make it possible to avoid a collision of packets transmitted by different terminals 105. The transmitter 120 may or may not be associated with a clock. In the case of an association of a terminal 105 with the phase of an electrical network, the transmitter 120 is synchronized with the phase of said electrical network, for example by detecting the zero crossing of an alternating current. This phase can, moreover, be stored in the terminal 105, in a computer memory, to be implemented even in case of failure of the electrical network.

In embodiments, at least one terminal 105 is configured to maintain the time slot phase timing of the time division multiple access communication protocol in the event of access termination of the terminal to an external signal enabling the terminal to determine a timing phase of the time slots.

These embodiments are realized, for example, by a memory implemented in said terminal 105 configured to store information representative of a captured phase at a time when access to the external signal was available.

Alternatively, this phase can be detected from packets received from the Internet, from a satellite positioning system.

In embodiments, at least one terminal 105 includes a clock and a synchronization device 130 connected to the Internet network, the synchronization device being configured to synchronize the clock with the Internet network.

The clock can be stored at a network card or a microprocessor, for example. The synchronization device 130 is, for example, a computer program embedded inside the network card or the microprocessor, this computer program controlling the synchronization of the clock on an external clock at the terminal 105.

In embodiments, the terminal 105 is connected to a clock radio transmission system, through a receiver (not referenced) of radio signals. The synchronization device 130 is then configured to synchronize the clock with the clock radio transmission system. To perform this action, the synchronization device 130 reads, in a packet transmitted by the radio transmission system, a clock value and applies this clock value to the terminal 105. The clock synchronization mechanisms are well known. of the skilled person and are not repeated here.

In embodiments, the terminal 105 is connected to a satellite positioning system of the GPS ("Global Positioning System") type, for example, the synchronization device 130 being configured to synchronize the clock with satellite positioning system. In these embodiments, the terminal 105 preferably comprises a receiver (not referenced) of signals transmitted by the satellite positioning system. To achieve this synchronization, the synchronization device 130 reads, in a packet transmitted by the satellite positioning system, a clock value and applies this clock value to the terminal 105. The clock synchronization mechanisms are well known. of the skilled person and are not repeated here.

An exemplary transmitter 120 is described, but not referenced, with respect to Figures 1 to 5, with respect to terminals 12 and 12 '.

In the alert mode, the terminals 105 preferentially transmit the frames with a periodicity corresponding at least to the sum of all the durations of the time windows, which corresponds to the case where a complete message can fit within a single frame. In other cases, the periodicity is the product of the sum of all the durations of the time windows with the number of frames which constitute a complete message.

Optimum frequency sharing techniques can be combined with time-sharing techniques because the frames to be transmitted are short in time visibility of a black box by the vector carrying the receiver. The number of RF transmission channels is then the product of the number of channels possible in frequency by the number of time windows.

If the duration of the visibility of a terminal 105 by the mobile receiver 125 is worth several times the transmission periodicity of the terminal 105, then there is redundancy of messages, techniques, including accumulation, can take advantage of this redundancy to improve the signal-to-noise ratio and RF detection of frames.

Preferably, at least one receiver 125 operates in broadband and captures all signals in radio visibility. The separation of the frequency and / or time channels, which can be carried out later, is within the receiver 125 so as to reduce the volume of data to be transmitted, or downstream by a computer system 300, by decomposing the dynamic spectrum of the recorded raw signal. . The reduction in the volume of data to retransmit greatly reduces what is useful for the use of satellites.

At least one terminal 105 may be used as a concentrator for grouping the information coming from other terminals, called "auxiliary" terminals, in which case these terminals are connected to each other, either by wire connection or by wireless connection (Wifi, radiofrequency), so as to limit the number of transmitters in a geographical area.

In embodiments, at least one radiocommunication terminal 105 is configured to send radiocommunication signals in a shared frequency band, said terminal comprising a phase sensor 135 of an electrical network connected to the terminal, said terminal being configured to performing a time division of the shared frequency band into several time slots per period of the electrical network, each time slot having a known ratio to the phase of the electrical network, the transmitter 120 being configured to transmit on the shared frequency band in the slots time in accordance with a time division multiple access schedule TDMA.

Such a terminal 105 is described with reference to Figures 1 to 5, under the references 12 and 12 '.

In embodiments, at least one terminal 105 includes a clock and / or a phase synchronization device 130 connected to the phase sensor 135 of the electrical network. Such synchronization is described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

In embodiments, at least one terminal 105 has a power reserve 140 allowing the terminal to operate autonomously. This energy reserve 140 is, for example, a battery or an accumulator of electrical energy.

In embodiments, at least one terminal 105 is configured to maintain the phase timing of the time slots in the event of a power grid failure or in the event of an abrupt change in the phase of the power grid.

In embodiments, at least one receiver 125 includes an emitter 126 of a transmission stop command towards at least one terminal 105, each terminal 105 ceasing to transmit signals upon receipt of said command.

Preferably, at least one terminal 105 is associated with a terminal identifier, determined during the manufacture of said terminal 105 or allocated by the computer system 300. The receiver 125 may or may not know at least one terminal identifier and associate at least one of said identifiers with the stop command. When a terminal 105 receives a stop command, a check of the correspondence between the terminal identifier of the command and the terminal identifier stored in the terminal 105 takes place. If the terminal 105 determines that the identifiers correspond, the signal transmission ceases. This cessation can be carried out at the level of the transmitter or a central operating processor of said terminal 105.

Such an embodiment is described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

In embodiments, the phase sensor 135 of the electrical network comprises a connector 145 that can be connected to the electrical network.

Such an embodiment is described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. In embodiments, the phase sensor 135 of the electrical network comprises an antenna 150 for sensing oscillations of the electrical network.

Such an embodiment is described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

In embodiments, at least one terminal 105 includes a wired or wireless communication module 155 for connecting to a local area network and / or the Internet.

Such an embodiment is described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

In embodiments, the system 100 which is the subject of the present invention comprises at least one sensor 400 connected to at least one terminal 105, the transmitter 120 being configured to transmit information representative of a value sensed by at least one said sensor 400 At least one sensor 400 is, for example:

a presence sensor,

a sensor of a specific physical size, such as smoke, fire, water or gas, for example

a sensor of presence of mobile phones nearby,

a device presence sensor associated with a nearby Wifi or Bluetooth network. In embodiments, at least one sensor 400 is a mobile phone presence sensor. Such a sensor 400 implements, for example, an antenna configured to receive signals transmitted on a cellular telephone network frequency and a detector of a signal power received by said antenna, a presence being determined for each signal of which said power received signal is greater than a determined limit value.

In embodiments, at least one terminal 105 includes:

a message receiver 121 transmitted on a local network including said terminal 105, preferably wireless and

a memory 122 of at least one said message,

the transmitter 120 being configured to transmit at least one signal representative of at least one said message.

The receiver 121 is, for example, a wireless antenna operating on a WiFi type local network. Alternatively, the local network is a wired LAN. The transmitter transmits, for example, the stored messages or an indicator of a stored message accessible on request from the receiver 125.

In embodiments, the system that is the subject of the present invention comprises a plurality of terminals 105 of which at least two terminals are interconnected by a radiocommunication link, at least one signal concentrator terminal emitted by the two said terminals.

The term "hub" means that the so-called hub terminal stores signals to be transmitted on behalf of each non-hub terminal associated with said hub terminal. The transmission of these signals can be made integrally, or limited to the transmission of an indicator of these signals.

In embodiments, at least one terminal 105 comprises a wired or wireless communication module 155 for connecting to sensors 400, receiving data from these sensors and forwarding the data to a service station via the radiocommunication signals. in the shared frequency band.

Such an embodiment is described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

In embodiments, at least one terminal 105 includes a buffer memory 160 for backing up connected sensor data.

Such an embodiment is described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

In embodiments, the receiver 125 is configured to listen to the shared frequency band.

Such an embodiment is described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

In embodiments, at least one terminal 105 and the receiver 125 are synchronized with the same electrical network. Such an embodiment is described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

In embodiments, the receiver 125 is mounted on a vehicle 200.

Such an embodiment is described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

In embodiments, the vehicle 200 is a drone or a car.

Such an embodiment is described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

Thus, as understood, the system 100 operates as follows:

A set of terminals 105 is positioned geographically on a site to be protected by operators. Terminal positioning information 105 is then stored at the system 100, either in a memory of each said terminal 105, or in a memory of a dedicated computer system, embedded in the receiver 125 or connected to said receiver 125. This information positioning system associates a terminal identifier 105 with positioning information. This positioning information can be geographical, via the incorporation of a GPS device in the terminal 105, or positioning on a data network, such as an IP address for example. The terminal identifier 105 can be determined during the manufacture of said terminal 105 or configured manually by an operator or automatic, via the computer system generating identifiers.

These terminals 105 thus operate in the manner of aeronautical black boxes. When a terminal 105 determines a failure of a network to which this terminal 105 is connected, this terminal 105 sends an alert signal to the receiver 125. The receiver 125 then notifies a human operator or other data system connected to the receiver. receiver 125. This notification makes it possible, for example, to send help to priority areas, or to send additional receivers 125.

We detail, hereinafter, an example of operation of the system 100 which is the subject of the present invention:

To cope with an earthquake in California, the city of San Francisco equips some buildings with a network of prepositioned fixed 105 terminals. These terminals 105 constantly collect physical parameters, for example the ambient temperature, as well as the presence of mobile phones nearby.

During a disaster, the electricity and the usual means of communication are out of order.

A large number of terminals 105 are then disconnected from the Internet and / or detect a sharp phase shift on the electrical energy due to the start of an electric power generator. These terminals 105 go into "alert" mode. These terminals 105 loop signals around 225 MHz, in the time and frequency channel that have been allocated in advance according to their location, and as long as there is energy available in the batteries.

A computer system, connected to mobile receivers 125, detects the absence of response from a large number of terminals 105 on a data network connecting terminals 105 and computer system. Human intervention may be necessary to validate the presence of an event. In the absence of a response, the computer system configures flight plans for drones, equipped with receivers 125, to collect data preferentially in the disaster area and to record the information thus collected for the ground segment.

In less than two hours, the first data is collected. The modulation traces that have been detected on board are analyzed, for example to remove redundancies, detect evolutions, etc. It is possible to indicate, on a map, the human presence, fires, floods etc. Detection and treatment are possible as long as there is energy in the terminals 105 at the time when terminals 105 and receivers 125 are within range of one another.

If the receiver 125 is embedded in a satellite, each satellite should preferentially be of the size of a few cubic decimetres and weigh less than ten kilograms. The sizing factor is the receiving antenna because the link budget presents management difficulties. Such satellites fly preferentially at low altitude (500-800 km) so as to limit energy consumption, to frequently return to the same area and to be economical to launch. The number of satellites depends on the geographic extent to be covered with the system 100. Preferably, a 2 GHz transceiver is required for the remote control, telemetry of the terminals 105.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a telecommunications system 10 comprising terminals 12 and 12 ', a drone 14 acting as a mobile serving station, a tower 16 acting as a stationary service station and a control center 18.

In the illustrated embodiment, the terminals 12, 12 'are connected to sensors 20 (wired or non-wired) and serve as telecommunications relays. The terminals 12, 12 'can be connected to the Internet 22 and have an IP address. According to a preferred embodiment, the terminals 12, 12 'are configured as home routers.

The terminals 12, 12 'are connected to the electrical network 24. They have a reserve of energy, for example an accumulator or a battery 26 powered by a charger 28, which allows them to operate in case of power failure.

The terminals 12, 12 'can be configured to transmit their messages using the Internet network 22.

In the event that access to the Internet is unavailable or prohibited (this could be the case permanently for a given terminal), the terminals 12, 12 'are placed in an operating mode (for example an alert mode) in which the messages containing the data to be transmitted to the control center 18 are sent by a common frequency resource, i.e. a shared radio frequency band. In this case, the terminals 12, 12 'transmit their messages in the form of radio signals which are received by a service station 14, 16 and relayed by it to the control center 18.

This second mode of operation will be described in more detail later. Each terminal is equipped with a phase sensor of the electrical network, which enables it to synchronize with the electrical network 24. The frequency of the electrical network 24 is kept tight at its nominal frequency (normally 50 Hz or 60 Hz) by the operators all the terminals 12, 12 'are synchronized with each other by transitivity. In preferred embodiments, the terminals 12, 12 'emit on the shared frequency band while respecting a TDMA schedule.

Figure 5 illustrates how an AMRT schedule can be synchronized with the power grid. Reference numeral 30 designates the sinusoidal voltage of the phase conductor taken as a reference. The electrical network is supposed to be three-phase (three-phase current) shifted between them by 120 °. As explained above, there is therefore a priori uncertainty as to the phase on which a terminal is synchronized. To account for this, each period of the alternating current is divided into N slots, N being a multiple of 3 (in the case of Figure 5, N = 12) and the number of independent TDMA channels is set to n = N / 3. In FIG. 5, the TDMA channels, which are 4 in number, are denoted by A to D. The basic pattern A-B-C-D repeats three times the frequency of the alternating current. Therefore, each terminal synchronizing in this way on one of the three phases of the three-phase network produces the same division of time.

The TDMA schedule defining which terminal has the right to use which time slot (s) for the transmission of its messages is known to the control center and possibly the service stations. On the terminal side, each terminal knows at least which time slot it has the right to use when. For a given terminal, the schedule is advantageously static, that is to say fixed once and for all, for example at commissioning at the installation site, preferably depending on the allocation of slots to the terminals. geographically neighbors. For example, if there exists in the vicinity of the place of installation of a terminal another terminal which uses the channel A, one will preferably affect the channel C to the new terminal, this one being the most distant of the channel A. If there are other terminals in the vicinity, their transmission slots are also taken into account. According to one embodiment of the telecommunication method, each terminal can transmit on its allocated channel at any time. However, it is clear that from a certain geographical density of the terminals, collisions between messages from different terminals having access to the same channel can not be excluded with certainty, except to take additional measures to regulate the access. Other embodiments of the telecommunication method may therefore provide additional restrictions for the transmission of messages to reduce the probability of collisions. For example, the maximum length of a message can be defined as well as the maximum number of messages that a terminal is allowed to send per unit of time.

The TDMA schedule is stored in a database 32 of the control center 18. The database 32 may be a centralized database (as shown in Figure 1) or decentralized. Authorized users, for example, serving stations 14, 16, may consult the TDMA schedule (or a portion thereof) via a server 34 connected to the Internet 22 and / or a network local.

Preferably, each serving station knows the time slots and possibly the frequency sub-bands likely to contain messages from the terminals in their coverage area. This allows them to more effectively monitor the radio frequency band than without prior knowledge of the TDMA schedule. However, it is also possible to use a broadband serving station capable of monitoring the entire electromagnetic spectrum that can be used by the terminals.

In variants, the terminals 105 transmit on a shared frequency band in a FDMA mode where frequency sub-bands are allocated to each terminal 105, either during manufacture or dynamically. This allocation can be performed automatically by the central computer system 300 when the system 100 is put into operation. This allocation can be performed following a step of determining the frequency sub-bands to be allocated to each terminal, so as to according to the geographical positioning of each said terminal 105 and the effective range of radio communication envisaged, two terminals 105 do not transmit in the same frequency sub-band if these two terminals 105 are close. The allocation can be achieved by the implementation of the data network connecting terminals 105 and central computer system 300.

In variants, the terminals 105 transmit on a shared frequency band in a FDMA mode and a TDMA mode. In variants, the terminals 105 transmit on a shared frequency band in a CDMA mode. In these variants, the same allocation mechanism can be implemented to avoid collisions.

A system as shown in Figure 1 can serve as an infrastructure for multiple applications, such as remote monitoring, remote meter reading, alerting, etc. Service providers can, for example, install sensors 20 and connect them (wired or wireless) to a terminal 12. The data of the sensors 20 are processed by the microprocessor 36 of the terminal 12 for retransmission to the control center 18 This retransmission can be done by Internet 22 or by radio communication to a service station 14, 16. At the control center 18, the data of all the terminals 12, 12 'are processed, stored and / or redirected (for example to service providers). It is noted that the data of the sensors 20 could be encrypted so that only the service provider can read them.

Figure 2 shows a "smart" home 38 equipped with many devices capable of communicating. These connected devices include, in the illustrated case, smoke detectors 40, presence detectors 42, an electricity meter 44, a gas meter 46, a water meter 48, a refrigerator 50, a washing machine, Linen 52, a television 54 and a home router 56 configured as a terminal as described above and also representing a Wifi point.

Router 56 can operate in different modes of operation. In a first mode of operation, the router 56 retransmits the data of the sensors via an Internet connection 23. In a second mode of operation, the router 56 retransmits all or only part of the data of the devices connected by radio to a service station 14 , 16, using a TDMA protocol as described above. The router 56 is programmed to move to the second operating mode as soon as the Internet link 23 and / or the power supply are cut off. The router 56 comprises an internal clock which it synchronizes on the electrical network 24 as well as a reserve of energy (see FIG. 1). In the event of a power failure, the power reserve allows the router to operate, in particular, to supply its internal clock with power, to receive data from connected devices capable of operating autonomously, to process this data and to to retransmit them by radio. The internal clock allows it to maintain synchronization with other terminals and serving stations for at least some time.

The ability of terminals to operate autonomously has an interesting application in the field of search and rescue of people in the event of a natural or man-made disaster (eg earthquake, tornado, tsunami, flood, explosion, fire , etc.) Terminals are used in such an application, locator beacons or relay other critical information. Each terminal stores the data of the presence detectors connected in a buffer memory. As new data is received, it is saved and overwrites the older data. The collection of new data is, however, interrupted as soon as the terminal enters the alert mode to prevent potentially corrupted data from overwriting the last valid data. Thus, in case of disaster, the terminals can transmit messages indicating, for example the number of people present and their location. The rescue services preferably use a drone 14 configured as a service station to fly over a ravaged area and to collect the information. The coordination of search and rescue operations may be based, among other things, on this information.

FIG. 3 illustrates the use of a telecommunication system according to one embodiment of the invention in the context of an emergency situation. In risky areas, for example on site Seveso 58 and surroundings, in a nuclear facility 60 and its surroundings, etc. the telecommunication system is particularly useful for conveying information to a rescue response and coordination center 62. In the event of an accident 64, the rescue services can fly over the disaster area with a drone 14 and thus collect the transmitted messages. by the terminals 12.

Figure 4 shows another application of a telecommunication system according to a very interesting embodiment of the invention. In the examples of FIGS. 1 and 2, the terminals serve as relay or information routers. In the example of FIG. 4, the terminals are integrated in the devices that are at the origin of the information to be transmitted, in particular in an electricity meter 64, a gas meter 66 and a water meter 68. of these devices communicates its information to a service station individually. Each device synchronizes with the power grid and transmits according to the TDMA schedule. The fact that the terminals are synchronized is of great interest because the probability of collisions is automatically reduced compared to an asynchronous system. It should be noted that the probability of collisions is already reduced by the simple fact of introducing a granularity of time, that is to say of imposing slots to respect. The probability of collisions can be further reduced by the intelligent allocation of slots or slot groups to terminals. The meters are preferably read using a mobile serving station, mounted for example on a drone 14 or a car 70. Optionally, the mobile serving station may emit a signal triggering the transmission of messages by the terminals that received the signal. This approach would have the advantage that the terminals concerned do not need to send their messages on a regular basis but can remain silent most of the time.

Like terminals, service stations can also be designed to synchronize with the area. A mobile serving station can be synchronized to the sector before going on mission - in this case, the internal clock of the mobile station is synchronized with the sector for a certain time. When the mobile station is disconnected, the internal clock will allow it to remain synchronized with the terminals for a certain time, which depends on the quality of the internal clock. Another possibility to maintain a synchronized mobile station while on mission is to establish a communication channel transmitting a clock signal from a control center to the mobile station.

While particular embodiments have been described in detail, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications and alternatives thereto can be developed in light of the overall teaching provided by the present disclosure of the invention. . Therefore, the specific arrangements and / or methods described herein are intended to be given by way of illustration only, with no intention of limiting the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. System (100) for alerting and disaster management, characterized in that it comprises:

at least one radiocommunication terminal (105), the terminal comprising:

communication means (106), via a data network, with a central computer system,

a sensor (1 10) of a value of a physical quantity representative of the operation of the network connected to the terminal,

means (1 15) for determining a network failure as a function of the sensed value,

a radio signal transmitter (120) in the event of a failure determination and the central computer system (300) connected via the data network to at least one terminal, comprising:

a memory (304) for geographical positioning information of at least one terminal,

a network link anomaly detector (305) between the computer system and at least one terminal,

means (310) for providing an alert in the event of an anomaly,

means (315) for providing information representative of the stored positioning of at least one said terminal having a network link anomaly and at least one mobile radio receiver (125) configured to receive the radio signals transmitted by at least one terminal.

The system (100) of claim 1, wherein the computer system (300) includes a route preparation device of at least one receiver (125), the route being established based on at least one geographic positioning information provided.

The system (100) of claim 1, wherein the computer system (300) comprises a satellite controller, said receiver satellite (125).

4. System (100) according to one of claims 1 or 3, wherein the sensor (1 10) captures a physical quantity representative of an Internet network.

5. System (100) according to one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the sensor (1 10) captures a physical quantity representative of an electrical network.

The system (100) according to one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the signal transmitter (120) implements a time division multiple access communication protocol.

The system (100) of claim 6, wherein at least one terminal (105) is configured to maintain the time slot phase timing of the time division multiple access communication protocol in the event of an access cutoff. from the terminal to an external signal enabling the terminal to determine a timing phase of the time slots.

8. System (100) according to one of claims 6 or 7, wherein at least one terminal (105) comprises a clock and a synchronization device (130) connected to the Internet, the synchronization device being configured to synchronize the clock with the Internet.

9. System (100) according to one of claims 6 or 7, wherein at least one terminal (105) comprises a clock and a device (130) for synchronization connected to a radio transmission system clock, the device synchronization being configured to synchronize the clock with the clock radio system.

10. System (100) according to one of claims 6 or 7, wherein at least one terminal (105) comprises a clock and a synchronization device (130) connected to a satellite positioning system, the device of synchronization being configured to synchronize the clock with the satellite positioning system.

The system (100) according to one of claims 6 or 7, wherein at least one radiocommunication terminal (105) is configured to send radiocommunication signals in a shared frequency band, said terminal comprising a sensor (135). ) of phase of an electrical network connected to the terminal, said terminal being configured to perform a time division of the shared frequency band into several time slots per period of the electrical network, each time slot having a known ratio to the phase of the electrical network the transmitter (120) being configured to transmit on the shared frequency band in the time slots in accordance with a time division multiple access (TDMA) schedule.

12. System (100) according to claim 1 1, wherein at least one terminal (105) comprises a device (130) for phase synchronization connected to the phase sensor (135) of the electrical network.

13. System (100) according to claim 12, wherein at least one terminal (105) comprises a reserve (140) of energy allowing the terminal to operate autonomously.

The system (100) of claim 13, wherein at least one terminal (105) is configured to maintain phase timing of time slots in the event of a power grid failure or in the event of an abrupt change in the phase of the power grid. .

15. System (100) according to any one of claims 1 1 to 14, wherein the phase sensor (135) of the electrical network comprises a connector (145) can be connected to the electrical network.

16. System (100) according to any one of claims 1 1 to 15, wherein the phase sensor (135) of the electrical network comprises an antenna (150) for sensing oscillations of the electrical network.

The system (100) of any of claims 1-16, wherein at least one terminal (105) includes a wired or wireless communication module (155) for connecting to a local area network and / or Internet.

The system (100) of any of claims 1-17, wherein at least one terminal (105) includes a wired or wireless communication module (155) for connecting to sensors (300), receiving data from these sensors and send the data back to a service station via the radiocommunication signals in the shared frequency band.

The system (100) of claim 18, wherein at least one terminal (105) has a buffer memory (160) for backing up connected sensor data.

20. System (100) according to one of claims 1 1 to 19, wherein the receiver (125) is configured to listen to the shared frequency band.

21. System (100) according to claim 20, wherein at least one terminal (105) and the receiver (125) are synchronized with the same electrical network.

22. System (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 21, wherein the receiver (125) is mounted on a vehicle (200).

23. System (100) according to claim 22, wherein the vehicle (200) is a drone or a car.

24. System according to one of claims 1 to 23, wherein at least one receiver (125) comprises a transmitter (126) of a transmission stop control towards at least one terminal (105), each terminal ceasing to transmit signals upon receipt of said command.

25. System according to one of claims 1 to 24, which comprises at least one sensor (400) connected to at least one terminal (105), the transmitter (120) being configured to transmit information representative of a value captured by at least one said sensor (400).

The system of claim 25, wherein at least one sensor (400) is a mobile phone presence sensor.

27. System according to one of claims 1 to 26, wherein at least one terminal (105) comprises: a message receiver (121) transmitted on a local network including said terminal (105), preferentially wireless and

a memory (122) of at least one said message,

the transmitter (120) being configured to transmit at least one signal representative of at least one said message.

28. System according to one of claims 1 to 27, which comprises a plurality of terminals (105) of which at least two terminals are interconnected by a radiocommunication link, at least one signal concentrator terminal issued by the two said terminals.

29. Method (700) for operating a system (100) according to one of claims 1 to 28, characterized in that it comprises:

a step (705) of positioning at least one terminal (105),

a step (710) of communicating, via a data network, between the central computer system and at least one terminal and

at the terminal level:

a step (715) of capturing a value of a physical quantity representative of the operation of the network connected to the terminal,

a step (720) of determining a network failure as a function of the sensed value,

a step of transmitting (725) radio signals in case of failure determination and

at the central computer system level:

a step (706) for storing geographic positioning information of at least one terminal,

a network link fault detecting step (730) between the computer system and at least one terminal,

a step (735) of providing an alert in the event of an anomaly,

a step (745) of providing information representative of the stored positioning of at least one said terminal having a network link anomaly and a step (740) of mobile radio reception configured to receive the radio signals transmitted by at least one terminal.