JP2002277539A - Mountaineering accident sufferer search system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To develop a mountaineering accident sufferer search system to be utilized for rescue by determining the position of a mountaineering accident sufferer from a place as distant as possible. SOLUTION: A search radio wave 31 carrying a discrimination code for identifying a searched-for terminal 1 possessed by the accident sufferer is sent from a search terminal 2 possessed by a rescue team. The electric field intensity of the radio wave 31 at the time of transmission is stored in the terminal 2. The terminal 1 measures the electric field intensity of the radio wave 31 on receiving it and transmits a response radio wave 32 carrying this value toward the terminal 2. The terminal 2 calculates a distance from the attenuation rate of the transmitted radio wave 31 and let the rescue team know the distance while it determines the direction of the terminal 1 based on the phase difference of the radio wave 32 arriving at two antennas 13 and 14 of the terminal 2, thereby determining the position of the sufferer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mountain victim search system for identifying a position of a victim at an early stage and utilizing it for rescue.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Mountain climbing in winter has many dangerous factors such as snowfall and bad weather, but the sense of accomplishment of overcoming the danger and reaching the summit is extraordinary and has attracted many mountaineers. However, distress accidents in winter mountains always occur every year, and once a distress accident occurs, the police are contacted via amateur radio etc. and if it is determined that rescue is necessary, the rescue squad will direct to the distress site Upon departure, helicopter searches will be conducted if requested.

[0003] Distress rescue begins by first reporting to the police that an accident has occurred. As means, the distressed person reports by wireless means, the climber who witnessed the distress accident reports, and it is judged that there is a possibility of distress without returning to the entrance or mountain hut even after the scheduled date and time Can be When performing rescue and rescue, it is necessary to grasp the position of the distressed person. However, when the distressed person reports or when there is a witness, it is easy to specify the distressed position and the search range can be narrowed. However, if you do not return after the scheduled date and time and decide that you may be in distress,
Rescue operations are extremely difficult due to the limited search area.

[0004] In winter mountains, there is a high risk of being caught in an avalanche, and even if a caught in an avalanche, a small radio transmitter called a "beacon" is on the market to quickly perform rescue activities. The beacon has a function of transmitting a rescue radio wave and a function of receiving the radio wave, and a climber switches on and transmits a radio wave when passing a place where an avalanche is likely to occur. If someone in the climbing group gets caught in an avalanche and is buried in the snow, the beacon possessed by the remaining escaped members is switched to a state of receiving radio waves, and rescue activities are immediately performed based on directivity and electric field strength. Start. Rescue using this beacon has the danger of a secondary disaster, but the search activity can be started immediately after the accident and the survival probability is high. In addition, the Toyama Prefectural Police Mountain Guard rents out equipment called "Yamatan" to climbers on winter mountains. Yamatan consists of a radio transmitter that is similar in size to a 500-yen coin held by a climber and a receiver that searches for this radio wave. If an accident occurs, a mountain guard or helicopter equipped the receiver. It searches for radio waves from people and identifies the location of distress and performs rescue operations.

[0005]

In the case where the victim can make a wireless communication by himself or when there is a witness, it is easy to specify the site. Therefore, we should do our best to get the rescue team to the scene quickly. However, even if the victim has a wireless device, it may be unusable, such as being injured and unable to operate, not receiving radio waves, or being damaged during the disaster. Furthermore, if there are no witnesses, it is difficult to grasp the occurrence of the accident, and the search range becomes extremely wide.

An effective method when it is difficult to specify such a distress position is to have a climber carry a radio transmitter such as a beacon and to search by using this radio wave.
Currently sold beacons need to be switched on to transmit radio waves when passing through dangerous places, and may not be able to cope with sudden distress. It is desirable that the radio wave transmitter has no operation switches and functions unconditionally from the time of entering the mountain, so that it is not known when distress will occur and the transmission will not be stopped by careless operation. In addition to transmitting radio waves reliably from the time of entering the mountain until the rescue team arrives, in addition to considering the case where a victim cannot be rescued and a search for the corpse is performed after waiting for the thaw, about six months Need to maintain functionality.

When the output of the radio wave from the radio wave transmitter is increased, the reaching distance is extended, so that it is easy to narrow down the distress position. However, in using radio waves, it is necessary to comply with radio laws and regulations, and there are many restrictions on frequency bands and power. For this reason, conventional radio transmitters represented by Yamatan and beacons have a low output that does not require a license for wireless communication, and cannot be searched from a distant place because they can reach up to about 300 m. Moreover, once activated, the radio waves are transmitted continuously, so that the duration is at most about one month. In addition, since the direction and distance are estimated from the strength of the radio waves received by the receiver during the search, the accuracy is low, and sufficient training in handling is required in advance.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and is easy to handle, has a battery life of about half a year, is reduced in size so that a climber can always wear it, and only receives radio waves from a victim. It aims to provide a mountain survivor exploration system that overcomes many issues, such as being able to correctly identify, locates victims from a distance, and supports rescue operations.

[0009]

The details of the mountain survivor search system of the present invention for overcoming such problems will be described below. This system consists of an exploration station owned by climbers and an exploration station owned by a rescue team, and has a function of transmitting and receiving radio waves to both the exploration station and the exploration station. These devices increase the output of radio waves while complying with radio laws and regulations,
Consider exploration as far as possible.

[0010] The station to be searched is given a unique identification code at the time of manufacture, and stores it in an internal memory. Prior to entering the mountain, the climber will stop by the relevant organization and inform him of his name and climbing plan. At this time, he will lend an exploration station to the climber and attach it so that he does not leave his body. At this point, the station to be probed has the battery installed and starts operation. The identification code of the borrowed station to be surveyed is managed together with the received climbing plan.

[0011] When a report is received that a mountaineer wearing the exploration station has been distressed, the rescue squad will be dispatched to the site. The location of the victim is roughly estimated from the contents of the report and the climbing plan, and after approaching the search range, the exploration activity is started using the system according to the present invention. The exploration station of the rescue squad transmits a search radio wave carrying the identification code of the station to be searched by button operation. At this time, the exploration station measures and stores the electric field strength at the time of transmitting the exploration radio wave. If the transmission output of the search radio wave is always constant, measurement and storage are unnecessary. On the other hand, the exploration station started operating from the time of entering the mountain, and is constantly receiving radio waves,
Upon receiving the search radio wave on which the identification code of the own station is placed, the electric field intensity of the search radio wave at that time is measured. After that, a response radio wave carrying the measured electric field strength value is transmitted from the station to be searched to the station to be searched. The response radio wave from the probe station is received by the probe station, and when the information is decoded, the probe station can grasp the electric field strength of the probe radio wave received by the probe station. As a result, it is possible to compare the electric field strengths at the time of transmission and reception of the exploration radio wave, calculate the distance from the attenuation ratio, and notify the rescue team of the distance to the distress position on a display attached to the exploration station.

[0012] After transmitting the information on the electric field strength, the surveyed station transmits a response radio wave of a specific frequency for a predetermined time. The exploration station receives this response radio wave with two antennas, and measures the phase difference between the radio waves captured by each antenna. Since radio waves having different phases arrive at the individual antennas in accordance with the distance from the station to be searched, the direction of the station to be searched can be estimated by measuring the phase difference. For example, if the distance from the target station to the two antennas is the same, the phase difference is 0 degree, and the target station exists in the direction perpendicular to the straight line connecting the two antennas. The exploration station has a display for indicating that the phase difference has become 0 degree, and the direction of the exploration station can be estimated from the arrangement of the two antennas at this time. Note that the distance between the two antennas needs to be shorter than the wavelength of the response radio wave to measure the phase difference.

With the functions described above, the rescue team can know the distance to the victim when the exploration station receives the response radio wave from the surveyed station. Also, the antenna of the exploration station
When rotated horizontally by 60 degrees, there are two points in the middle where a phase difference of 0 degree is displayed, and the direction of the victim can be estimated using this point. In actual rescue operations, the radio waves may be reflected intricately due to the terrain, so distance and direction are measured at multiple points to accurately identify the position of the victim.

Further, the exploring station operates the receiving circuit only for a predetermined time by a time counter incorporated therein as in the second aspect of the present invention, and suspends the other time to reduce the power consumption to reduce the power consumption. Life can be extended. However, by shortening the cycle time, it seems that the probe is functioning virtually always, so that the search radio wave is not caught and missed.

[0015]

FIG. 1 shows the shapes of a station to be searched 1 and a station to be searched 2. Exploration station 1 has a height of 100 mm and a width of 5
The antenna 4, the battery, and the electronic device have a size of 0 mm and a thickness of 10 mm, and are incorporated therein. With excellent waterproof and durable structure, there are no switches or indicators on the outer periphery. When the battery is installed, it starts to operate automatically. Fix it.
The exploration station 2 includes two antennas 13 and 14 arranged in parallel at an interval L, a frame 28 holding these antennas, and an antenna 1
It comprises a cable 29 for transmitting radio waves captured by 3 and 14, a probe main body 30 which accommodates electronic equipment and has an operation panel 24 and a display 26. Since these devices are designed to be treated as specified low-power radio stations stipulated by the Radio Law, wireless licenses are not required, but they can be transmitted and received even at a distance of 1 km or more. The usable frequency band is also limited by law, and a 400 MHz frequency band is adopted here in consideration of the performance of the direction search.

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are block diagrams showing the configuration of the electronic circuits of the station 1 to be searched and the station 2 to be searched. Explored station 1
An individual identification code is given at the time of manufacture and is stored in the memory 12. The exploration station 2 is provided with an operation panel 24 for inputting the identification code of the exploration station 1. When a climber carrying the station to be searched 1 encounters a distress accident and the rescue team approaches the site, first, the identification code of the station to be searched 1 owned by the victim is input from the operation panel 24 and stored in the memory 27. Next, when a switch on the operation panel 24 is pressed to search for a victim, a command is sent to the transmission block 20 through the CPU 23. In the transmission block 20, a search radio wave 31 carrying an identification code is generated, and the BP.
F.16 (Band pass filter)
More radiated. The electric field strength at the time of transmitting the search radio wave 31 is constant, and this value is stored in the memory 27.

The distance from the exploration station 2 to the exploration station 1 is about 1
If it is within Km, the station to be searched 1 can surely receive the search radio wave 31. The search radio wave 31 received by the antenna 4 of the station 1 to be searched is transmitted from the BPF 5 to the reception block 7 via the antenna changeover switch 6. The signal is extracted in the reception block 7, the information is decoded and the electric field strength is measured in the next detection IC 8, and these are sent to the CPU 10. If the CPU 10 determines that the received signal is not addressed to its own station as compared with the identification code stored in the memory 12, the reception of the radio wave is continued as it is. However, if it is addressed to the station, the CPU 10 sends information on the measured electric field strength to the transmission block 9, and a response radio wave 32 carrying this information is transmitted from the antenna changeover switch 6 via the BPF 5 to the antenna 4.
More radiated. After transmitting the information on the electric field strength, the response radio wave 32 of a single frequency is transmitted by the time counter 11 for a fixed time (about one minute).

When the exploration station 2 has finished transmitting the exploration radio wave 31,
Immediately, the antenna switch 19 is automatically switched to the receiving block 21 side, and the arrival of the response radio wave 32 is waited. The response radio wave 32 arriving at the antenna 14 passes through the BPF 16,
The signal enters the reception block 21 to extract the signal, and the next detection I
At C22, information on the electric field strength of the search radio wave 31 received by the search target station 1 is extracted and sent to the CPU 23. Memory 27
Stores the electric field strength at the time of transmission of the exploration radio wave 31,
CPU 23 compares the electric field intensity information from exploration station 2 with
The distance between the exploration station 2 and the exploration station 1 is calculated from the attenuation ratio during which the exploration radio wave 31 reaches the exploration station 1 from the exploration station 2,
This can be indicated on the display 26.

When the calculation of the distance is completed, the circuit is automatically switched, and the antennas 13 and 14 are used to search for the azimuth.
Is measured. The probe station 1 continues to transmit the response radio wave 32 for about one minute. During this time, the response radio wave 32 received by the antennas 13 and 14 is BP.
After the frequency has been reduced by the frequency converter 17 via F.15 and 16, the CPU 23 can measure the phase difference from the phase comparator 18 and the time counter 25 and inform the display 26 of it. The wavelength is 750 when using 400MHz radio wave.
mm, the distance L between the two antennas 13 and 14 is
It is necessary to be shorter than the wavelength, and about 650 mm is appropriate. With such a size, if the frame 28 is disassembled into several parts, it does not hinder carrying.

FIG. 4 shows the principle of a method for searching for an azimuth utilizing this phase difference. FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the response radio wave 32 from the station to be searched 1 and the antennas 13 and 14 arranged in parallel at an interval L between the stations to be searched. The response radio wave 32 from the exploration station 1 spreads like a ripple, and the interval between the ripples is the wavelength λ.
It is. In FIG. 4A, since the probe station 1 exists in the vertical direction of the straight line connecting the two antennas 13 and 14, the phase difference of the response radio wave 32 arriving is 0 degree. 4 (b) and 4 (c), a phase difference occurs. That is, two antennas 1
The phase difference becomes 0 degree only when the station to be searched 1 exists in the vertical direction (forward or backward) of the straight line connecting the points 3 and 14. Therefore, the two antennas 13 and 14 are manually placed on a horizontal plane by 360 degrees.
If rotated two degrees, the phase difference necessarily becomes 0 degree at two places. At this time, the direction of the station to be searched (distressed person) can be determined from the directions of the two antennas 13 and 14. At this point, it is not known whether the antenna is in front or behind. However, the measurement can be repeated at different locations, and the position can be accurately specified by referring to the distance information.

Until receiving the radio wave carrying the identification code of the own station, the probed station 1 does not transmit any radio wave but only receives it.
Operates in conjunction with the time counter 25 for only 0.1 second per second. Therefore, the CPU 10 that is always operating is
And the time counter 11 alone, and the battery life is greatly improved.

In recent years, position measurement using an artificial satellite called GPS has become widespread. In the present invention, the position of the exploration station 1 is detected by GPS, and this information is transmitted on the response radio wave 32. Although it is possible to convey the distress location, the radio waves from the satellite are weak at a high frequency of about 1.5 GHz and may be interrupted by the terrain and the victim, and the accuracy of the position measurement may be up to 100 m. Therefore, it is necessary to finally employ the exploration method according to the present invention. Moreover, the provision of the GPS causes problems such as an increase in the size of the device and a reduction in the battery life.

[0023]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, accurate distance information can be easily obtained by displaying the distance to the victim as a numerical value and determining the direction using the phase difference of the response radio wave. Therefore, the time until rescue can be reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the station to be searched intermittently receives the radio wave using the time counter, so that the power consumption can be suppressed, and a response is made only when the search wave addressed to the station itself arrives. Since radio waves are transmitted, battery life can be significantly improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the shape of an exploration station possessed by a climber and an exploration station possessed by a rescue squad.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic circuit of the station to be searched.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic circuit of the exploration station.

4A, 4B, and 4C are diagrams illustrating the principle of searching for the direction in which the response radio wave is transmitted.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Exploration station 2 Exploration station 13 Antenna 14 Antenna 31 Exploration radio wave 32 Response radio wave

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G08B 25/10 H04Q 7/34 F term (Reference) 2E184 JA07 KA11 LC10 MA07 5C087 AA03 AA10 AA24 AA25 BB18 BB74 DD03 DD49 EE05 EE18 FF01 FF02 FF13 FF17 FF19 FF20 GG12 GG23 GG30 GG32 GG36 GG46 GG66 GG70 GG83 5J070 AC01 AC02 AD02 AE09 AH40 AK15 AK22 AK23 BC06 5K067 BB12 DD23 DD24 EE02 EE53 KK03

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An exploration station (1) possessed by a victim and an exploration station (2) possessed by a rescue squad. An identification code for identifying the exploration station (1) from the exploration station (2). When the search target station (1) receives the search radio wave (31) to be transmitted on the base station, the electric field strength of the search radio wave (31) is measured, and the response radio wave (32) on which the measured value is placed is transmitted. The probe station (1) transmits to the probe station (2), and the probe station (2) compares the electric field strength notified by the response radio wave (32) with the electric field strength when the probe radio wave (31) is transmitted. The exploration station (2) measures the distance from the amount of attenuation, and further estimates the direction of the exploration station (1) from the phase difference between the response radio waves (32) reaching the two antennas (13, 14). Mountain surveillance system to identify the location of a mountain. 2. A mountain surveillance system according to claim 1, wherein the station to be searched (1) intermittently receives and suspends reception of radio waves.