1059 results about "Sea level" patented technology

Methods and apparatuses for estimating a user's altitude with respect to the mean sea level are provided. According to some aspects, the present invention is able to estimate altitude in both open sky as well as in degraded GPS signal environments such as dense urban canyon environments where GPS performance is affected by fewer available satellites and/or multipath error. According to other aspects, the present invention uses data from a pressure sensor to estimate altitude, either with or without the use of GPS aiding data. According to further aspects, estimated altitude is integrated with other types of dead reckoning data to provide user context detection pertaining to changes of altitude.

A method of registering reconnaissance image data with map data is disclosed, comprising recording image data at a plurality of positions, together with the role, pitch and height above mean sea level data from an airborne navigation system and imaging system, and recording altitude of a reconnaissance craft from an altimeter; obtaining a difference between said recorded altitude data, and an altitude calculated from said navigation system data and a map data; selecting a difference data having a lowest standard deviation, and at a position of said selected difference data generating a three dimensional surface data using a bi-quadratic equation; generating a bi-quadratic surface of each of a plurality of positions for which data is recorded; generating a difference data between said bi-quadratic surface data, and height data obtained from said map, and minimising an error between bi-quadratic surface data and said height data by translating said position data relative to said map data, until minimum error is achieved; registering said image data with said map data after applying a said translation of said image data.

An Ultra Wideband (UWB) short-range radar system is used for the detection of targets in clutter. Examples of targets on the ground include human walkers, crawlers and runners, and vehicles. The UWB sensor can also be used to detect small approaching boats in different levels of sea clutter or airborne targets like hang gliders. One of the primary differences between this device and other UWB radar sensors is the manner in which the bias on the threshold detector is set as well as the logic circuitry used to find targets in clutter while maintaining a low false alarm rate. The processing is designed to detect targets in varying degrees of clutter automatically. There may be no front panel controls other than an ON-OFF switch. The system is lightweight, low-cost, and can be easily installed in minutes.

A display control device, having a processor structured for receiving terrain elevation information and samples of current position and altitude above ground data; and one or more algorithms resident on the processor for generating, as a function of the current position and altitude above ground data, one or more display control signals for causing a display device to display, in a monochromatic scale graduated as a function of terrain elevation relative to mean sea level, a strategic portion of the terrain elevation information extending between a minimum elevation of the strategic portion of the terrain elevation information and a pre-selected strategic altitude threshold less than the altitude above ground data.

The invention discloses an extraction device for undersea gas hydrate and an extraction method thereof, which is characterized in that the device is directly communicated with undersea (10) gas hydrate layer (9) through a hollow rigid body (2); or the hollow rigid body is communicated with undersea (10) gas hydrate layer (9) through layers of sand and clay (8) or impermeable bed (11); a water pump (4) and a test and supervisory equipment (5) are provided on one side of the hollow rigid body, the water pump is connected with a drain pipe (3) which is above the sea level (7) through a pipe, the test and supervisory system is connected with an image pickup system and a pressure testing system, and a gas collecting pipe (1) is arranged on the top of the inside of the hollow rigid body. The extraction method comprises the following steps: 1) a hollow rigid body is built on the sea separated with water, and the hollow rigid body is communicated with undersea gas hydrate layer; 2) water in the hollow rigid body is drained out via a water pump to lower the water height in the hollow rigid body and reduce the pressure acting on the gas hydrate layer and the gas hydrate is decomposed into gas and water when the pressure acting on the gas hydrate layer is less than the balance pressure; 3) the decomposed gas escapes upward, is discharged through the gas collecting pipe and is collected.

An integrated platform to house an ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) system that utilizes: (i) a cold water circuit consisting of a way of receiving and distributing the cold water from the cold water pipe (CWP) to vertical conduits housing the condensers into collectors that discharge via large pumps into open discharge channels connected to the discharge water pipe (DWP); (ii) a surface water circuit consisting of a way of collecting and distributing the surface water to vertical conduits housing the evaporators to surface water collectors that discharge via large pumps into the same discharge channels connected to the DWP; (iii) means of adjusting the buoyancy of the integrated platform by adding water as ballast into floatation chambers in the hull surrounding the discharge channels or in a plurality of either vertical or horizontal flotation chambers to provide protection to the CWP and DWP and stability to the integrated platform. By adjusting the buoyancy of the platform such that the collectors are about level with the sea level, pumping requirements are minimized.

A self-sufficient material property profile regulation method and system, for adjusting fluid property profiles such as in an ocean of multiple property layers, is described. Using this Fluid Property Regulator, the property profiles of a non-enclosed material, including property profiles related to material density, chemical characteristics and space-time position, are affected due to motion of the material relative to a body in the flow stream. The state of other matter with which the initial material then makes direct or indirect contact is also affected. For example, in the case of a liquid such as an ocean current, the temperature, salinity, nutrient content and other properties may be destratified (i.e. layers being combined) as the system lifts large quantities of deep water and combines this material with surface water in the downstream far-field region of the system. The resulting regulation of such ocean water property profiles may then also indirectly affect the properties of the atmosphere above the ocean so that the system can be said to affect planetary properties both oceanic and atmospheric. Rather than merely discharging a pumped material, such as cold water that might quickly re-submerge, the system regulates lasting property profiles. The new Fluid Property Regulator system described in this invention regulates material properties to produce desired outcomes such as increased food and energy production as well as to prevent undesirable outcomes such as hurricanes, elevated planetary temperatures, decreased planetary ice sheet size, raised sea level and glacial freshwater incursions that can halt important major currents.

A device for enabling access to a structure above ground or sea level, in particular a rotor blade of a wind turbine, by lowering and/or lifting the device in relation to the structure, the device including a frame structure,—means for supporting the device in relation to the structure, and—means for lowering and/or lifting the device in relation to the structure, where at least part of the frame structure includes a track portion, the track portion being adapted to guide an, in relation to the track portion, movable object along the track portion, where the means for supporting the device in relation to the structure are configured for positioning the device in relation to the structure, and the means for supporting the device in relation to the structure are configured for facilitating a movement of the device essentially in the longitudinal direction of the structure.

Systems and associated methods for planning and control of a fleet of unmanned vehicles in missions that are coordinated temporally and spatially by geo-location, direction, vehicle orientation, altitude above sea level, and depth below sea level. The unmanned vehicles' transit routes may be fully autonomous, semi-autonomous, or under direct operator control using off board control systems. Means are provided for intervention and transit changes during mission execution. Means are provided to collect, centralize and analyze mission data collected on the set of participating unmanned vehicles.

The invention discloses an energy self-supplying type multifunctional deep-sea net cage, which comprises a net cage (8) positioned in seawater and an anchoring system for connecting the net cage (8) with the seabed and further comprises an ocean energy power generation system, an automatic sedimentation system, an automatic feeding system and a remote monitoring system, wherein the ocean energy power generation system is installed around a frame of the net cage; the automatic sedimentation system is installed on a frame at the upper layer of the net cage (8); the automatic feeding system is installed in the centre on the top of the net cage (8); one terminal of the remote monitoring system is installed on the submarine net cage (8); the other terminal of the remote monitoring system is installed on an shore-side controller; and the two terminals are connected through a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) network. After adopting the method disclosed by the invention, the energy self-supplying type multifunctional deep-sea net cage is capable of automatically feeding fishes in the net cage, remotely monitoring growth conditions of the fishes and damage conditions of fishing nets, being always the same as ascending and descending of the sea level, and automatically supplying electrical energy required for realizing the above functions.

The invention provides a method for predicting tide-bound water level by combining a statistic model and a power model. The method comprises the following steps of obtaining a tidal harmonic constant; predicting the astronomical tide and water rising level; obtaining predicted tide-bound water level Ls based on the statistic model; calculating and obtaining predicted wind field results and open boundary conditions of the tide according to an atmosphere prediction model; taking the wind field results and the open boundary conditions as a forcing field; using an ocean dynamics model to calculate predicted tide-bound water level Lm containing the astronomical tide and the water rising level; establishing a best tide-bound water level prediction formula based on the veracity analysis on the prediction results of the two models under all time scale and meteorological condition; providing the prediction results on final tide-bound water level L; and displaying the prediction results in realtime by a visualized technology. The method organically couples with monitoring data of weather and sea level, the statistic prediction method of sea level values, an atmosphere and ocean dynamics model and a real-time visualized system so as to achieve the requirement of exactly and quickly predicting the tide-bound water level.

The invention discloses a sea surface wind measurement method based on an X-band marine radar and belongs to the technical field of marine dynamic environment remote sensing. The measurement method comprises three parts of radar image preprocessing, wind direction measurement and wind speed measurement. In the wind direction measurement indexes, image gradient, gray level and smoothing item are organically combined, the proportion of the image gradient, the gray level and the smoothing item is adjusted through proportionality factor and a model suitable for the sea surface wind characteristic is established, compared with the prior art, the wind direction measurement precision is improved by 68.4 percent. In the wind speed measurement indexes, when the radar is used for measuring individually, normalized radar cross section (NRCS), the actually measured wind direction and signal to noise ratio (SNR) serve as back propagation (BP) network input, compared with the traditional algorithm, the wind speed measurement precision is improved by over 84 percent. In the wind speed measurement indexes, sea boundary layer parameters serve as addition input of the BP network, so that the wind speed measurement precision of the marine radar can be further improved, and the measurement precision is improved by over 48 percent by taking air-sea temperature difference, salinity, sea level and atmospheric pressure into consideration.

Systems, apparatus and methods for populating and using a pressure database to determine an altitude of a unit with an unknown altitude are presented. A pressure from one or more barometric pressure sensors linked to respective base stations are interpolated to determine a reference pressure (e.g., at sea level) at arbitrary coordinates (x,y) having pressure reading. For example, a mobile station at the arbitrary coordinates (x,y) records a pressure at the mobile station. A difference between this pressure at the mobile station and the interpolated reference pressure is determined, which may directly be interpreted as a defined altitude of the mobile station.

A waxy solid having ultrafine particles homogeneously distributed in a mixture of vegetable oil and waxy solid, the oil being present in a major proportion by weight, forms a homogeneous colloidal solution which is then cooled and subjected to high shear to form ultrafine particles of the waxy solid, in situ, in a size range from about 0.1 μm to 10 μm. The resulting stiff gel retains its shape and high viscosity for at least 30 days when confined in a container in an air atmosphere at 40° C. at substantially sea level. The stability of the gel is visually evidenced by a lack of syneresis. The gel is destabilized at a temperature in the range from 52° C. (125° F.) to 100° C. (212° F.).

The invention discloses an apparatus for integrated processing of natural gas hydrate exploitation by geothermy and waste CO2 reinjection. The apparatus comprises a producing well and an injection well. The producing well and the injection well pass through the sea level and a natural gas hydrate layer; both the bottoms of the producing well and the injection well are disposed in a geothermal layer; a gas-water separator, a gas collecting tank, a workshop, a second high-pressure pump unit and the injection well are connected to the top of the producing well in order; the gas-water separator is connected with a first high-pressure pump unit and the injection well in order; the top of the producing well is connected with a surface console. The invention further discloses a method for integrated processing of natural gas hydrate exploitation by geothermy and waste CO2 reinjection; renewable geothermal resources can be made full use, heat resources are widely ranged, the process of acquiring the heat resources is time and labor efficient, emission of CO2 in air is controlled, and greenhouse effect is controlled and the environment is protected; the problem that the terrible result, geological accident, is caused by stratigraphic consolidation decline caused by drop in stratum pressure is avoided.

The present invention relates to an offshore oil production platform. The platform includes a deck (12) and a sub-structure (10) comprising plurality of ballast chambers (20) and at least one of connecting leg (16) connected from the ballast chambers (20) to the deck (12). The ballast chambers (20) include at least one oil storage compartment (22), at least one ballast compartment (24) and at least one air pressure compartment (26). The oil and gas storage compartment (22) is for storing processed oil and gas. During installation of the platform, the ballast chambers (20) are ballasted with sea water (46) which allows lowering of the connecting legs (16) towards the sea bed (34). After the ballast chambers (20) reach the sea bed (34), locking means is actuated to a locked position to prevent movement of the sub-structure (10) of the platform. The deck (12) is moved up to a predetermined height from sea level by jacking means. After the oil is extracted, it is then processed and separated to processed oil and gas. The processed oil and gas are then stored in the oil and gas storage compartment (22). The oil and gas are then transferred to a buoy and then loaded to tanker vessels by connecting conduits. During the de-installation of the oil production platform, the ballast chambers (20) are de-ballasted whereby the sea water (46) in the ballast compartment (24) is flushed out. Thus, the sub-structure (10) of the platform moves upwards to reach the deck (12). When the base (14) touches the deck (12), the locking means is actuated thereby locking the sub-structure (10) together with the deck (12). Finally, the oil production platform is towed to its new destination for further extraction of oil.

The disclosed detection method for boiling in an electric boiler comprises: (1) obtaining boiler temperature and variation rate; (2) comparing the rate with pre-set value; (3) if the variation less than pre-set value for a space, deciding it is boiling. Wherein, the detection device comprises: a thermistor as temperature sensor, a MPU, a capacitor and its charge/discharge circuit and level detection circuit all connected to the MPU. This invention is free to height above sea level, and benefit to obtain ideal cook effect.

The invention discloses a bottom-exploration zigzag-type deep sea submerged buoy system which comprises a spherical pressure-resisting cabin and a trigger action mechanism, wherein the bottom of the spherical pressure-resisting cabin of a submerged buoy body is provided with the trigger action mechanism, thus the submerged buoy which is vertically submerged to the bottom of the sea starts the trigger action mechanism at the instant of contacting the bottom, sea bottom sampling is finished and loads are released and thrown, the submerged buoy floats upward so as to complete the acquisition of vertical section information of a sea water column from the sea level to the sea bottom for the deep submerged section floating buoy; the spherical pressure-resisting cabin is formed by the connection of upper and lower semispherical end covers through bolts; the trigger action mechanism comprises an injector-type sampling mechanism, a throwing and loading mechanism and a deep bottom trigger mechanism; the top of the semispherical upper end cover of the spherical pressure-resisting cabin is provided with a thermohaline deep measuring transducer; and cameras are installed in camera holes which are uniformly distributed circumferentially on the semispherical lower end cover. The bottom-exploration zigzag-type deep sea submerged buoy system disclosed by the invention is simple in structure, low in cost and reliable in operation; and complete water column images and water quality information from the sea water level to the bottom of the ocean can be recorded, and substance sampling at the sea bottom can be realized, and a new prospect is developed in the applications of marine environmental monitoring for the deep submerged section floating buoy.