Global emergency and disaster transmission

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9997040-B2
Application number	US-201514847310-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 8, 2015
Priority date	Sep 8, 2015
Publication date	Jun 12, 2018
Grant date	Jun 12, 2018

Abstract

Disclosed is a disaster warning device with a guided surface wave receive structure, an impedance matching network, a power circuit, a data processing circuit, and a warning output. The power circuit and the data processing circuit may be coupled to the guided surface wave receive structure. The power circuit may supply electrical energy to power to the data processing circuit and warning output. The power circuit may receive power from a guided surface wave. The data processing circuitry may receive data communications from a guided surface wave.

First claim

Therefore, the following is claimed:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
at least one guided surface wave receive structure configured to obtain electrical energy from a guided surface wave traveling along a terrestrial medium;
a power circuit coupled the at least one guided surface wave receive structure and experienced as a load at an excitation source coupled to a guided surface waveguide probe generating the guided surface wave, the power circuit configured to generate a power signal based in part on the electrical energy from the guided surface wave;
a data processing circuit electrically coupled to the at least one guided surface wave receive structure to receive a data signal, the data processing circuit configured to receive the power signal from the power circuit; and
a warning output circuit coupled to receive an output from the data processing circuit, the warning output circuit comprising at least one output device, the warning output circuit configured to receive the power signal from the power circuit.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one guided surface wave receive structure comprises two guided surface wave receive structures, and the power circuit is coupled to a first guided surface wave receive structure of the two guided surface wave receive structures and the data processing circuit is coupled to a second guided surface wave receive structure of the two guided surface wave receive structures.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the first guided surface wave receive structure operates at a first frequency and the second guided surface wave receive structure operates at a second frequency.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the data processing circuit comprises a buffering circuit, the buffering circuit having an input electrically coupled to the at least one guided surface wave receive structure to receive the data signal, the input providing an infinite resistance to the at least one guided surface wave receive structure.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the buffering circuit comprises an operation amplifier.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the output device comprises at least one of a speaker, a display, a siren, or a strobe light.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the power signal is a DC power signal with a constant voltage.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the power circuit comprises a power rectifier and at least one of a capacitor or a battery.

9. A system, comprising:
a guided surface waveguide probe configured to transmit a guided surface wave traveling along a terrestrial medium;
a disaster warning device comprising:
a guided surface wave receive structure coupled to an impedance matching network and a power circuitry, the guided surface wave receive structure being configured to obtain a power signal from the guided surface wave and the power circuitry being experienced as a load at an excitation source coupled to the guided surface waveguide probe;
signal processing circuitry configured to demodulate a data signal from the guided surface wave into a demodulated data signal; and
a warning device configured to output a warning in response to information embodied in the demodulated data signal.

10. The system of claim 9 , further comprising at least one computing device configured to modulate the data signal onto the power signal of the excitation source.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the data signal is an analog signal and the demodulated data signal is a digital data signal.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the disaster warning device further comprises a computing device configured to at least:
process the demodulated data signal to determine an affected area and a warning message of a disaster event; and
output the warning message via the warning device.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the disaster event comprises at least one of: an earthquake, a tsunami, a hurricane, a tornado, a solar flare, a volcano eruption, a lightning storm, a landslide, a cyclone, a typhoon, a flood, a limnic eruption, a blizzard, a drought, a hailstorm, a heat wave, a wildfire, an impact from space, a bomb threat, a terrorist threat, or a health disaster.

14. A method, comprising:
receiving, via at least one guided wave receive structure, at least one guided surface wave;
determining, via data processing circuitry, that a location corresponding to the data processing circuitry is within an affected area; and
outputting, via at least one warning output circuit, a warning message based in part on information describing a disaster event.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
supplying, via power circuitry, electrical energy generated from the at least one guided surface wave to the data processing circuitry and to the at least one warning output circuit;
buffering, via the data processing circuit, a guided surface wave of the at least one guided surface wave to generate a buffered guided surface wave, the guided surface wave including data;
demodulating, via the data processing circuitry, data from the buffered guided surface wave to generate a message; and
identifying, via the data processing circuitry, the information describing the disaster event and the affected area associated with the disaster event based at least in part on the message.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the at least one guided wave receive structure, the power circuitry, the data processing circuitry, and the at least one warning output circuit are within a disaster warning device.

17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising storing, via the power circuitry, the electrical energy generated from the at least one guided surface wave as stored electrical energy, wherein the electrical energy supplied to the data processing circuitry and to the at least one warning output circuit is the stored electrical energy.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein power is received on a first guided surface wave of the at least one guided surface wave and data is received on a second guided surface wave of the at least one guided surface wave.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the first guided surface wave is received by a first guided surface wave structure at a first frequency and the second guided surface wave is received by a second guided surface wave structure at a second frequency.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the first guided surface wave structure is tuned resonator and the second guided surface wave structure is at least one of a linear probe or a magnetic coil.

21. The method of claim 18 , wherein the first guided surface wave is transmitted at an interval, the interval based at least in part on a quantity of electrical energy generated from a single guided surface wave and the quantity of electrical energy needed to power the data processing circuitry and the at least one warning output circuit during normal operation.

Assignees

• Cpg Technologies Llc

Inventors

• Corum James F
• Corum Kenneth L
• Pinzone Jr Basil F
• Pinzone Joseph F
• D'Aurelio Michael J

Classifications

• H04W4/90

  Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS] · CPC title

• G08B21/02 Primary

  Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons · CPC title

• H04B3/52

  Systems for transmission between fixed stations via waveguides · CPC title

• H02J50/80

  involving the exchange of data, concerning supply or distribution of electric power, between transmitting devices and receiving devices · CPC title

• H02J50/10

  using inductive coupling · CPC title