Vehicle surveillance and communication system and method of providing a long vehicle with a surveillance system

Abstract

A vehicle surveillance system has a plurality of side-light units (20) mounted on opposite sides of a truck, bus, train or a similar long vehicle (10). The side-light units form an RF communication network on the vehicle (10). Each side-light unit (20) comprises a day-running light source (24), a sensor (26) for defining a surveillance zone (50) on the side of said vehicle (10), said the sensor (26) being arranged to detect an object or a movement of an object within the surveillance zone, and an RF transmitting means (28) which is controlled by said sensor (26) and arranged to transmit an RFdetection signal (RFD) from said side-light unit (20). Existing day-running side-light units of a vehicle may be replaced with the inventive vehicle day-running side-light units.

Description

technical field [0001] The principles of the invention relate to the field of vehicle monitoring, such as vehicle intrusion detection or blind spot detection, especially for relatively long vehicles, such as trucks, trailers, buses or trains. The principles of the present invention also relate to a universal vehicle communication system. Background technique [0002] Vehicles, such as trucks, are often used to transport valuable cargo, such as electronics, computers, or other items that may be readily sold. Because goods are often transported over long distances, trucks may be equipped with rest bays, allowing drivers to pull over to the side of the road at night and rest, leaving the goods largely unattended. The problem of valuable cargo in trucks being left unattended can also arise when trucks are left parked in a walled loading / unloading area. [0003] Unfortunately, the theft of goods from such unattended trucks is a growing problem, causing great financial loss to c...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

An obvious solution to this problem is to use hard cargo covers, however, hard cargo covers have the disadvantage that a thief trying to gain access to the cargo need only pick the lock at the back or side door of the truck or trailer

[0009] These prior art safety systems have the disadvantage that they require a lot of extra equipment and wiring to the vehicle and are cumbersome to install on trucks and caravans, especially when the vehicle has a trailer

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