JPH0345938B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a radio communication method and apparatus for making emergency communication when a person who enters a dangerous, uncharacteristic fortress in a wide area is in distress. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for making an emergency call in the event of a distress using a small portable signal device carried by people who go to mountain climbing, fishing, etc. where there are usually no people around, such as the mountains or the sea, and a device used for this emergency call.

Conventionally, in such cases, if the action plan is communicated to family members, acquaintances, or the supervisory department before the action begins, if the person does not return at the scheduled time, one can only imagine that the person will be in distress. Even in this case, it is difficult to confirm the occurrence of a shipwreck, as plans may change mid-way, and common sense would suggest that it is difficult to conclude that a ship is in distress unless the return is extremely delayed. Furthermore, even if it is determined that a distress has occurred, it is difficult to predict the location of the distress and the rescue operations must be carried out over a wide range, so the time required to accomplish the rescue is extremely long.
There is a large gap between the time a distress occurs and the time rescue operations begin, and it is often too late.

The present invention has been made to solve these problems, and provides a system and an emergency communication device for this purpose that can immediately start rescue operations when a distress occurs and a person in distress requests help. It is. This will be explained in detail below.

First, the emergency communication system of the present invention will be explained. Departments that have jurisdiction over dangerous areas have established reception centers, and information centers that are distributed as appropriate within the areas under their jurisdiction target mountain climbers and fishermen going to areas with few people. A mobile traffic light with a specific identification number is provided to the person who registers. Immediately after registration, the action plan and identification number registered at an information center or the like are sent to the reception center, where each identification number is registered in a storage device there.

Climbers, fishermen, etc. who have registered their action plans and have been loaned a mobile signal device carry this mobile signal device and move according to their plans.If they return safely, they can return the lent mobile signal device to the above-mentioned information center or You can return it to any other information center within this system.
The information center that has received the returned mobile signal can delete the action plan registered in the storage device of the reception center using the identification number of the mobile signal.

In the unlikely event that a distress occurs and the person in distress wants to call for help, he or she can operate the activation switch on the mobile signal that he or she is carrying. A pulse signal is repeatedly transmitted as a rescue signal using radio waves at a fixed frequency common to this system. Once the portable traffic signal starts operating, it continues until the power supply battery runs out, and it cannot be stopped midway through, to prevent it from interfering with rescue operations by accidentally stopping it. There is.

At the receiving center, radio waves of a fixed frequency common to this system are constantly being received by an omnidirectional antenna. This is because it is impossible to predict when and where a rescue signal will be sent. Since the portable signal device is small and lightweight so that it is not a burden to carry, long-term transmission with high power is not possible, so low-power long-term transmission is performed. However, the communication distance is short with micropower, and it cannot be used in the wide area targeted by the present invention. Therefore, in the present invention, the communication distance is extended by repeatedly transmitting a pulse signal that has a small average power but a large instantaneous power.

In this system, since it is necessary for one receiving device to be able to receive rescue signals from many mobile traffic lights, the carrier frequency of the rescue signal radio waves emitted from all the mobile traffic lights is set to be the same. Therefore, the identification numbers of the respective mobile traffic lights are differentiated by giving information to the time intervals by changing the time intervals of the pulse signals for each identification number of the mobile traffic lights. In this embodiment, these three pulse signals are made into a set and are repeatedly transmitted. 1st
The figure is a waveform diagram of this pulse signal, where 1 is the carrier wave waveform and 2 is the pulse waveform. T ₁ , T ₂ , T ₃ are the times between each pulse wave, all of which range from 5 minutes to 10 minutes.
This is the time determined for each identification number at intervals of minutes. The total time of T ₁ , T ₂ , and T ₃ is a constant time T ₀ common to all identification numbers.
This is to suppress noise and determine the identification number, as will be described later.

When a rescue signal is transmitted and the identification number is determined, an action plan corresponding to this identification number registered in the storage device of the receiving device is output, so rescue operations can be started based on this. Further, if a contact information is registered together with the identification number, the transmission of a rescue signal is automatically notified to that contact information.

On the other hand, if the identification number and its action plan are determined by the rescue signal, the department with jurisdiction over the area organizes a rescue team and begins rescue operations. These rescue teams carry receivers with relatively strong directionality, learn the general direction of the distress from the action plan of the person in distress, and use the receiver to send rescue signals based on that direction. Search for. In this case, even the rescue team cannot carry a receiving device with sharp directivity, and the rescue signal itself is a pulse signal that is emitted every 5 to 10 minutes, so it takes 30 minutes in one direction. In some cases, a position may be required. However, this direction determination is absolutely necessary in order to narrow down the scope of subsequent rescue operations. In the past, this inability to determine the direction required a wider search than necessary.

In this way, if you know the direction in which the victim is located, you can dispatch a rescue team only in that direction, so you can either have a small rescue team, or you can organize a large rescue team like in the past. In such cases, you can expect more rapid rescue.

The mobile traffic signal is in operation while the pulse signal is arriving at regular intervals after the rescue signal is sent, but if this pulse is interrupted and the pulse signal no longer arrives after a certain period of time has elapsed. , all registrations related to that identification number will be automatically deleted.

Next, an apparatus for implementing the present invention will be explained. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the arrangement of devices for implementing the system of the present invention. In the figure 3
is a portable traffic signal, and it is common for multiple units to be carried at the same time and dispersed in various locations. The receiving device consists of a plurality of receivers 5 distributed and arranged depending on the size of the jurisdiction and topographical issues, and a processing device 6 arranged at the receiving center. 7 is a designated contact information.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of the portable traffic signal 3 of the device of the present invention. In the figure, 8 is a battery, 9 is an operation start switch, 10 is a step-up rectifier circuit, 11 is a specific pulse generation circuit, and includes a timer 12 and a switch 13. 14 is a transmitting circuit, and 15 is an antenna. Since this portable traffic signal is made small and lightweight so that it will not be a burden for the person carrying it, such as a climber or fisherman, the battery 8 is also small and has a small capacity.

In order to send a rescue signal over a long distance using a small-capacity battery as described above, a pulse signal with a long repetition time is used. Furthermore, this mobile traffic signal 3
Since it is used only in times of distress, once it is started, it is used continuously until the power source 8 is exhausted. For this reason, the operation start switch 9 works in conjunction with the antenna 15, and is connected when the antenna 15 is pulled out, and cannot be disconnected from the outside. The boost rectifier circuit 10 consists of a DC/AC converter and a rectifier, and generates the high voltage necessary for transmission. Specific pulse generation circuit 11
generates a plurality of pulses held at specific time intervals to indicate the identification number of each mobile signal.This embodiment uses three pulses, and each identification number is determined by a combination of three types of time. Display number. Incidentally, in the system of the present invention, the sum of the three types of times described above is maintained at a constant value T ₀ for any portable traffic signal 3. This is for noise suppression measures to be described later. Furthermore, since these times are selected between 5 and 10 minutes, the number of pulses generated per hour is small, and even a small battery can generate pulses for a long time.

The specific pulse generation circuit 11 includes a semiconductor switching circuit such as a switching transistor, an inverting circuit that drives this switching circuit, and a boost rectifier circuit 10 and a transmitting circuit 14 (described later) by the switching circuit.
A switching device 1 using a capacitor connected alternately to
3, and a timer 12 that inverts the inverting circuit at specific time intervals. In this timer 12, combinations of times corresponding to respective identification numbers are registered.

This specific pulse generating circuit 11 charges the capacitors, which are alternately connected to the boost rectifier circuit 10 and the transmitter circuit 14, at specific time intervals, for example, by a semiconductor switch and its inverter circuit, when they are connected to the boost rectifier circuit 10. When the capacitor is connected to the transmitting circuit 14, the electric charge stored in the capacitor becomes a power source and generates high-frequency power at a constant frequency, which is emitted from the antenna 15 as a rescue signal. This transmitting circuit 14
Since the power source of the is only the charge charged in the capacitor, the waveform of the emitted radio wave is as shown in Figure 1. Depending on the combination of times registered in the timer 12, the waveform of the emitted radio wave is as shown in Figure 1. It emits a pulse signal that repeats over a specific period of time.

FIG. 4 shows the receiving device of the present invention, which is divided into a receiver 5 and a processing device 6.
7, Detector 18, Analog-to-digital converter (A/
A D converter) 19 converts it into a specific pulse signal and sends it to the processing device 6.

The processing device 6 includes a gate circuit 20, a storage device 21,
It consists of a timer 22, a noise cancellation circuit 23, a time measurement circuit 24, a transmission circuit 25, and a display circuit 26. FIG. 5 shows details of the storage device, which includes an addition path 27, an erasure circuit 28, an input switch 29, an output switch 30, and a storage circuit 31.

A rescue signal of a frequency specified by this system received by the omnidirectional antenna 16 is amplified by an amplifier 17 and then detected by a detector 18 to extract a pulse wave 2. In this case, as described above, the signal is transmitted over a long distance using very little power, so the S/N ratio of the arriving signal is generally extremely poor. Therefore, in addition to the pulse wave 2, noise is randomly mixed into the output of the detector 18, and the noise is considerably larger than the pulse wave.
This noise-containing detection output is converted into a digital signal at regular intervals by the A/D converter 19 and sent to the gate circuit 20 of the processing device 6. Gate circuit 20
is opened and closed at regular intervals by a timer 22, and the digital signal that has passed through this gate circuit 20 is input to a storage device 21. The digital signal input to the storage device 21 passes through the adder circuit 7,
The input switch 29, which is switched in synchronization with the opening and closing of the gate circuit 20 by the timer 22, stores the time T ₁ between pulses of the rescue signal in each memory circuit 31.
The information is filled in sequentially so as to complete the total time of T ₂ and T ₃ .

The storage circuit 31 is composed of storage element groups #1 to #n each having an adding function, and operates to add the input signals while the input switch 29 is connected.

According to this method of entry, periodic pulse signals (significant signals) are added each time and gradually become larger, but random signals such as noise are not added each time and settle down to a certain level. It is. Here, the input contents of each memory circuit 31 are read out by the output switch 30 which operates in synchronization with the input switch 29, and sequentially sent to the noise canceling circuit 23. The noise canceling circuit 23 cuts out signals below a certain level among the input pulse signals and noise signals, and passes signals above a certain level, thereby canceling the noise signal that has settled down to a certain level as described above. , only the pulse signal, which is a significant signal, is sent to the discriminating circuit 24 at the next stage. The discrimination circuit 24 measures the time interval of the input pulse signal, determines which identification number it corresponds to, sends the determination result to the transmission circuit 25, and reads out the action plan corresponding to the identification number from the storage device. and displayed on the display device 266. If a designated contact point 7 is registered for each identification number, the transmission circuit 25 notifies the designated contact point 7 of sending a rescue signal through the telephone line.

Once a rescue signal is transmitted and the addition storage operation of the storage device 21 is started, a certain period of time (for example,
If the pulse signal does not arrive even after the total time of T ₁ , T ₂ , and T ₃ has passed, it is assumed that the battery 8 of the mobile signal 3 that was transmitting the rescue signal has run out and has already stopped transmitting. After the determination, the erase circuit 28 temporarily erases the memory contents of all the memory circuits 31 in preparation for the arrival of a new rescue signal.

As described above, according to the present invention, at least a person in distress who requests rescue can report the fact that he or she is in distress at that time, and a rescue signal indicating the location is transmitted for a long time, so that the search range of the rescue team is limited. The area can be narrowed significantly, increasing the possibility of early rescue. In addition, the number of rescue teams can be limited and rescues can be carried out in a short period of time, so it is not only a matter of human life.
The practical effects are extremely large, such as reducing the financial burden of rescue operations.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a waveform diagram of a rescue signal used in the distress and rescue communication system of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the arrangement of equipment for implementing this system. FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of a portable traffic signal of the device of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram of the receiving device of the apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of the storage device in FIG. 4. In the figure, 1 is a carrier wave waveform, 2 is a pulse waveform, 3 is a mobile signal, 5 is a receiver, 6 is a processing device, 7 is a designated contact, 8 is a battery, 9 is an operation start switch, and 10 is a booster. a rectifier circuit, 11 a specific pulse generation circuit, 13 a switching circuit, 14 a transmission circuit,
19 is an A/D converter, 21 is a memory circuit, 22 is a timer, 23 is a noise cancellation circuit, 24 is a discrimination circuit,
25 is a transmission circuit, 26 is a display circuit, 27 is an addition call, 28 is an erasure circuit, 29 is an input switch, and 30 is an output switch.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a wide-area emergency radio notification method in a dangerous area, when a person in distress calls for rescue, a signal that is identified by the mobile signal device carried by the person in distress is used as a rescue signal. A set of multiple pulse-shaped radio waves of a specific frequency is set at time intervals, and this set of radio waves is repeatedly transmitted with a constant repetition time T ₀ common to all mobile traffic lights,
The receiving device installed in the department that has jurisdiction over the area is always in a state where it can receive radio waves of this specific frequency, and at the above-mentioned fixed time _T0 , the received output is sequentially repeated and added to the plurality of memory circuits, and while If the memory contents are read out from this memory circuit in synchronization with the addition writing and a significant output is obtained, it is determined that it is a rescue signal of a person in distress identified from the time interval of the significant output, and a distress has occurred. Distress and rescue communication method to detect this. 2. In a wide-area emergency radio notification method in a dangerous area, a mobile signal carried by a person entering the area and a rescue signal of a specific frequency emitted by this mobile signal are received and the rescue signal is transmitted. The mobile signal includes a receiving device that identifies a mobile signal, and the mobile signal includes an operation start switch that starts transmitting a rescue signal, and a set of multiple pulses at specific time intervals assigned to each mobile signal. A specific pulse generation circuit is provided which repeatedly generates a set of pulse signals with a constant repetition time _T0 common to all portable traffic signals, and the received pulse signal is repeatedly added and recorded in the receiving device at the fixed repetition time _T0 . 1. A distress and rescue communication device comprising a noise suppressing means using a storage device and a discrimination circuit for discriminating a specific rescue signal from the contents written in the storage device. 3. A timer as a specific pulse generation circuit of the portable traffic signal, a switching means operated at specific time intervals by the timer, and a switching means that charges when connected to the power supply side and when connected to the transmitting circuit side. 3. The distress and rescue communication device according to claim 2, further comprising a capacitor which is discharged as a power source for the transmission circuit to perform pulse transmission for a certain period of time. 4. The distress and rescue communication device according to claim 3, wherein the switching means comprises a semiconductor switch provided on the input side and output side of the capacitor, and an inverting circuit for driving the semiconductor switch.