Millimeter Band Radar Imaging for Obscured Environments
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Solution Overview
Problem
In emergency conditions with reduced visibility due to obscurants like smoke, individuals face challenges navigating through environments, leading to slowed progression and prolonged exposure to toxic gases, as existing technologies fail to provide effective imaging solutions in low visibility conditions.
Innovation Solution
A millimeter band radar system combined with a data fusion module and a wearable display, which captures and enhances radar images of a region of interest, integrating with additional data sources like thermal imagers or floor plans to provide an enhanced representation for navigation through obscured environments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If individuals rely on visual information to navigate through obscured environments, then navigation accuracy may be maintained in higher visibility conditions, but progression speed significantly decreases in very low visibility conditions (below 10 meters)
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces radar imaging technology as an intermediary sensing modality that operates independently of visible light. The radar system penetrates obscurants like smoke and dust to provide navigational information, replacing the failed visual information channel and enabling maintained progression speed in very low visibility conditions
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the optical/mechanical visual navigation system with an electromagnetic radar-based navigation system. This substitution allows navigation functionality to be maintained when the original visual system fails due to obscurants, directly addressing the speed-loss contradiction
2Reliability
If individuals crawl along walls to navigate through dense obscurants, then some forward progression is achieved, but exposure time to toxic gases significantly increases
Solution Approach 1:
The radar imaging system provides real-time feedback about the environment ahead, allowing individuals to make informed navigation decisions without relying on tactile wall-following methods. This feedback mechanism enables more direct and efficient pathfinding, reducing the time spent in toxic environments while maintaining navigation reliability
3Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If radar imaging is used to penetrate obscurants, then navigation information becomes available in low visibility conditions, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The radar imaging system is designed to serve multiple functions: it provides navigational information, detects boundaries and obstructions, and operates in various obscured environment conditions. This multi-functionality justifies the increased device complexity by delivering comprehensive environmental awareness that simpler systems cannot provide
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables efficient navigation by accurately locating boundaries, obstructions, and pathways, enhancing safety by providing a reliable imaging system that penetrates obscurants, allowing users to move through dense smoke and dust with improved accuracy and speed.
Implementation Method 1
A millimeter band radar assembly 12 is configured to capture a radar image of the region of interest
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are provided for imaging a region of interest in an obscured environment. A millimeter band radar assembly is configured to capture a radar image of the region of interest. A data source provides a representation of at least a portion of the region of interest. A data fusion module is configured to combine the radar image and the representation of the region of interest to provide an enhanced representation of the region of interest.