Description:

The present disclosure relates to a communication and navigation system for allowing a user to communicate and navigate, for example undergrounds.

Under the ground, one or more tunnels may be deployed. The one or more tunnels may be suitable for a user to walk though. The tunnels may lead up to communication rooms or something alike. A communication room may thus also be deployed under the ground.

It is known that it is difficult to communicate, and to navigate, under the ground. The absence of radio, light and blockage of signals from the outside world, make it difficult to determine where a user is precisely.

Undergrounds may mean that, in accordance with the present disclosure, it is no longer possible to communicate using radio communication. The radio waves are not able to reach the outside world, i.e. above ground. The radio waves are dampened too much such that the coverage thereof is limited.

It is therefore an object of the present disclosure to provide for a communication and navigation system that allows a user to communicate and navigate, preferably undergrounds.

It is further an object of the present disclosure to provide for corresponding methods and an underground communication centre.

In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication and navigation system for allowing a user to communicate and navigate, wherein said system comprises:

a plurality of mesh communication nodes, wherein said plurality of mesh communication nodes are arranged for operating independently from each other, and wherein said plurality of mesh communication nodes are arranged for forming said mesh network, wherein each of said plurality of mesh communication nodes comprises a battery as a primary power source for empowering said respective mesh communication node; and

a mobile User Equipment, UE, comprising an Inertial navigation system for providing location information of said UE, and arranged for initiating a communication, comprising said provided location information of said UE, via a direct communication with one of said plurality of mesh communication nodes,

wherein at least one of:

a) each of the plurality of communication nodes is arranged for receiving, from said UE, relative position information of said UE provided by said Inertial Navigation System of said UE starting from a base location, and wherein each of said plurality of mesh communication nodes is arranged for determining its own location based on said relative position information and said base location;

b) said mobile UE is arranged for identifying a unique identification of one of said plurality of mesh communication nodes, and for determining by said UE, triggered by said identified unique identification, its location based on relative position information of said UE provided by said Inertial Navigation System of said UE starting from a base location, and for broadcasting, in said mesh network, said received unique identification with said determined location.

It was one of the insights of the inventors that a mesh network may aid in providing connectivity when a user is in a location wherein wireless connectivity is difficult to obtain, for example undergrounds.

The functionality of each of the mesh communication nodes may be limited to ensure that they do not consume a lot of power. Each of the mesh communication nodes may be deployed with a battery, an antenna and some control logic. This allows a communication node to be reduced in size, for example the size of two or three money coins on top of each other.

It is noted that the mesh communication nodes do not need to provide power for an extensive amount of time. In accordance with the present disclosure, the battery of the mesh communication node may be designed in such a way that the mesh communication node is able to function for one or a plurality of subsequent days. After which, the mesh communication node may either be thrown away, or may be recharged again.

The battery may, for example, be a watch battery or button cell which is a small single cell battery shaped as a squat cylinder typically 5 to 25 mm in diameter and 1 to 6 mm high— like a button on a garment. A metal can may form the bottom body and positive terminal of the cell. An insulated top cap may be the negative terminal. In a typical scenario, the wireless mesh nodes may be left behind in a tunnel by a user. The user may carry a plurality of mesh nodes into the tunnel, and may drop a particular mesh node every several feet or so. This ensures that a mesh network is build up during the process of walking through the tunnel.

An inertial navigation system is a navigation aid that uses motion sensors, for example accelerometers, rotation sensors, for example gyroscopes, and occasionally magnetic sensors, for example magnetometers, to calculate the position, and sometimes also the orientation and the velocity, i.e. the direction and speed of movement, of a User Equipment without the need for external references.

It is noted that the communication and navigation system in accordance with the present disclosure is most effective in situation wherein wireless connectivity is limited, for example underground. The communication and navigation system may, for example, also be used in different situations like indoor, on a ship, in remote locations or anywhere alike.

Following the above described invention, the communication and navigation system may be described as follows.

It is noted that, in accordance with the present disclosure, the mesh communication nodes do not need to be placed on pre-defined or known positions.

A particular mesh communication node may, in a first option, i.e. aspect a) as disclosed above, be able to determine its own location based on information received from UE that pass that particular mesh communication node. This may be accomplished in at least two ways. First, a UE may transmit its location to the mesh communication node, and the mesh communication node may use that particular location as if it is its own location. The mesh communication node thus passively determines that the received location is its own location.

Second, the mesh communication node may receive location information multiple times, for example from the same UE that passes the mesh communication node multiple times or from different UE. In such a case, the mesh communication node may average all the received location information to determine its own location. This may improve the accuracy of the determined location.

The UE may be equipped with an Inertial Navigation System for determining the location of the UE, starting from an initial position. The initial position is called the (absolute) base location. The Inertial Navigation System thus determines the location of the UE starting from this particular base location. The location information of the UE, determined by the Inertial Navigation System based on the base location may be provided to the particular mesh communication node. The mesh communication node may use this information to determine its own location.

It is noted that the UE may provide the location information of the corresponding UE provided by the Inertial Navigation System of the UE, and may provide the base location of the UE from which the location of the UE was determined. In such a case, the particular mesh communication node is able to determine the actual location of the UE itself. This also includes that the actual location of the UE is determined by the UE itself, which is then communicated to the particular mesh communication node.

In a second option, i.e. aspect b) as disclosed above, the particular mesh communication node may not need to determine or know its own location. This option is based on the insight that the UE itself determines the location of a particular mesh communication node based on a unique identification of that particular mesh communication node. The unique identification may then be correlated with the determined location, and both may be broadcasted within the mesh network. The location of the mesh communication node may then considered to be stored in the mesh network by a plurality of UE, i.e. in a distributed manner.

The unique identification of a particular mesh communication node may be received in a message, may be scanned using QR tags or may be transferred using RFID technology, or anything alike. In a preferred option, the unique identification is the MAC address of the corresponding mesh communication node.

A UE receiving the broadcasted information is then thus aware of the location of the particular mesh communication node, based on the unique identification.

As will be explained later in more detail, the location of a particular mesh communication node may continuously be updated as multiple UE pass that particular mesh communication node. The mesh communication node, or a particular UE, may thus average all the location information to, more accurately, determine the location of the corresponding particular mesh communication node.

Due to the technical aspects as described above, the communication and navigation system is deployable in a flexible manner. Any person may simply “drop” mesh communication nodes wherever he/she so desires, i.e. in a random manner. It is noted that the Inertial Navigation System of the UE provides relative position information starting from a base location. The base location may be an absolute location. For example, one of the plurality of mesh communication nodes may be equipped with a GPS module. This particular mesh communication node may be placed at the entry of a tunnel, where GPS reception is still possible. The GPS coordinated of that particular mesh communication node may be used by the Inertial Navigation System as the base location once the UE passes that particular mesh communication node.

Another option is that the base location is not an absolute location but a relative location. This means that there is no need for the UE to have the actual absolute locations of the mesh communication nodes, but that, in this case, the relative positions of the mesh communication nodes with respect to each other is determined. An UE that passes multiple mesh communication nodes may then be aware of all the relative positions of these mesh communication nodes with respect to each other.

Once the UE passes a communication node having a GPS module, or anything alike, the absolute locations of all these mesh communication nodes may be determined and may be, for example, plotted on a map.

In an example, the system may comprise a gateway communication node arranged for providing communication between an external communication network and a mesh network.

The user may use the mesh network, using a hopping scheme, to reach the gateway communication node. Each of the mesh communication nodes is then, for example, not in direct contact with the external communication network. The external communication network is reached by hopping from the UE via one or more intermediate mesh communication nodes to the gateway communication node.

The gateway communication node is the node that is responsible for communicating to the external network, and for communicating with the mesh network. As such, the gateway communication node is the entry, and exit, point to the mesh communication network.

In an example, said mobile UE is further arranged for:

re-initiating said Inertial navigation system based on a message received from a mesh communication node, wherein said message comprises a base location of said respective mesh communication node. It may be advantageous if the wireless mesh nodes are placed on underground locations underground, i.e. in the tunnels.

The inventors have found that an Inertial navigation system is based on a relative movement, starting from an initial point of reference. The longer the Inertial navigation system is used, the more inaccurate it becomes. It may therefore be advantageous to use an average of determined locations for the respective mesh communication nodes. These averaged locations may be used, by the User Equipment, to reset, or re-initialize, its location underground. That is, the averaged locations may be used as a base location. This improves the accuracy of the establishment of the location.

In an example, one of said plurality of mesh communication nodes is arranged for:

consecutively receiving, directly from a plurality of UE, relative position information of said plurality of UE provided by said Inertial Navigation System of said corresponding plurality of UE starting from a base location, and consecutively determining and updating its own location based on said consecutively received relative position information starting from said base location.

The above described example may thus be advantageous as the location of a particular mesh communication node may become more and more accurate the more UE pass that particular mesh communication node.

In a further example, said mobile comprises a register, said register comprising unique identifications of a plurality of mesh communication nodes, the corresponding locations as well as corresponding margin of uncertainty of said locations,

Wherein said UE is arranged for:

receiving, in a broadcasted message, a unique identification associated with a determined location of a mesh communication node;

updating, in said register, said location associated with said unique identification based on 1) said received determined location, 2) said corresponding location in said register and 3) said corresponding margin of uncertainty of said location in said register.

In this particular example, the location of a particular mesh communication node may not need to be stored on the particular mesh communication node itself. The location information may be stored in each of the plurality of UE. The UE may need to maintain some sort of margin of uncertainty which is directed to the expected accuracy of the determined location of the particular mesh communication node. For example, it may be related to the number of UE’s that have pass that particular UE, i.e. the number of determined locations of the corresponding particular mesh communication node.

The above described examples are directed to the concept that a plurality of inertial measurements may be used for improving the location determination of a particular mesh node. Subsequently, if the location of a particular mesh node is improved, that particular mesh node may serve as a beacon for improving the location information of any UE passing that particular mesh node. That is, the location of that particular mesh node may be considered a base location.

The location of the mesh node is improved by averaging a plurality of inertial measurements made by one or more UE. It is noted that the accuracy of an inertial measurement decreases by increasing distances travelled. However, the inventors have found that averaging a plurality of inertial measurements would again increase the accuracy of the location as it may compensate for any potential drifting errors.

The distances travelled, as explained above, may be controlled, by the system, by re-initiating the Inertial system whenever a particular UE passes a mesh node having a determined location, which may then be considered a base location. This further improves the location determination process of any of the mesh nodes.

In another example, each of said plurality of mesh communication nodes may operate in accordance with any of:

a Long Range, LoRa, based communication protocol;

a WiFi based communication protocol;

a Bluetooth mesh based communication protocol;

a Zigbee based communication protocol.

The inventors have found that the use of a LoRa based communication protocol may be useful as that may result in a low power mesh communication node. The design, implementation, of the mesh communication node does then not pose huge requirements on the battery comprised by the mesh communication node. Another advantage of a LoRa based communication protocol is that it is highly secure. LoRa uses a spread spectrum modulation which makes it hard to intercept and interpret by third parties.

In a further example, each of said plurality of mesh communication nodes is arranged for broadcasting, in said mesh network, a communication received from any UE.

In a further example, each of said plurality of mesh communication nodes is arranged to detect a presence of said mobile UE in its respective vicinity, and for initiating a communication, comprising an indication of said detected presence, within said mesh communication network.

As mentioned above, each of the mesh communication nodes may have a determined position underground. The mesh communication nodes may detect the User Equipment by transmitting, and listening, to beacon signals and responses thereto. Another option is that the mesh communication nodes as well as the User Equipment are equipped with Radio Frequency Identification tags/readers such that a mesh communication node is able to detect the presence of the User Equipment.

Upon detection of the User Equipment, a mesh communication node may transmit the location of the UE to other UE in the mesh communication network, or to the external communication network. This may be used to track a particular UE underground, i.e. through the tunnel complex.

In a further example, said gateway communication node is arranged for providing communication between an external communication network and an underground mesh network, wherein said external communication network is any of:

a Fourth Generation, 4G, communication network;

a Satellite communication network;

a Fifth Generation, 5G, communication network;

a Wireless Fidelity, WiFi, based communication network;

a wired network.

In a second aspect, there is provided an underground communication centre, comprising;

A communication area distributed over one or more tunnels provided undergrounds; a communication and navigation system in accordance with any of the previous examples, wherein said plurality of mesh communication nodes are placed in said one or more tunnels in a distributed manner.

It is noted that advantages of the present disclosure with respect to the first aspect, being the communication and navigation system, are also applicable for the second and third aspect of the present disclosure, being the underground communication centre and the method, respectively.

In a third aspect, there is provided a method for allowing a user to communication and navigate using a communication and navigation system in accordance with any of the previous examples, wherein said method comprises the steps of:

providing said communication and navigation system;

said method further comprising at least one of the steps of:

a) receiving, by one of said plurality of communication nodes, from said UE, relative position information of said UE provided by said Inertial Navigation System of said UE starting from a base location, and determining, by said one of said plurality of communication nodes, its own location based on said relative position information and said base location;

b) identifying, by said mobile UE, a unique identification of one of said plurality of mesh communication nodes, and determining, by said UE, triggered by said identified unique identification, its location based on relative position information of said UE and broadcasting, by said UE, in said mesh network, said received unique identification with said determined location.

In an example, the method further comprises the step of:

re-initiating said Inertial navigation system based on a message received from a mesh communication node, wherein said message comprises a known location of said respective mesh communication node.

In an example, the method further comprises the steps of:

consecutively receiving relative position information of one or more of said plurality of UE, by one of said plurality of mesh communication nodes, and

consecutively updating, by said one of said plurality of mesh communication nodes, its location by based on said consecutively received relative position information. In a further example, the method comprises the steps of:

receiving, in a broadcasted message, a unique identification associated with a determined location of a mesh communication node;

updating, in said register, said location associated with said unique identification based on 1) said received determined location, 2) said corresponding location in said register and 3) said corresponding margin of uncertainty of said location in said register.

In another example, each of said plurality of mesh communication nodes is arranged for broadcasting, in said mesh network, a communication received from any UE.

In an example, the method further comprises the steps of:

detecting, by an of said plurality of mesh communication nodes, a presence of said mobile UE in its respective vicinity;

initiating, by said respective mesh communication node, a communication, comprising an indication of said detected presence, to said external communication network.

In an example, a gateway communication node is provided and is arranged for providing communication between an external communication network and an underground mesh network, wherein said external communication network is any of:

a Fourth Generation, 4G, communication network;

a Satellite communication network;

a Fifth Generation, 5G, communication network;

a Wireless Fidelity, WiFi, based communication network;

a wired network.

Figures

Figure 1 discloses a schematic overview of a communication and navigation system in accordance with the present disclosure;

Figure 2 discloses a User Interface of a navigation screen of a user device;

Figure 3 discloses a flow chart of a method in accordance with the present disclosure. Detailed description

The present disclosure is directed to a communication and navigation system for allowing a user to communicate and navigate undergrounds. The inventors have noted that radio and/or satellite communication may not be used undergrounds. This make the process of navigating and communicating undergrounds more difficult.

Figure 1 discloses a schematic overview 1 of a communication and navigation system in accordance with the present disclosure. The communication and navigation system allows a user 10 to communicate and navigate undergrounds.

In this particular example, the system comprises a gateway communication node 4 arranged for providing communication between an external communication network 2 and an underground mesh network 5, 7.

The underground mesh network 5, 7 is formed by a plurality of mesh communication nodes 5, 7, wherein each of the plurality of mesh communication nodes 5, 7 comprises a battery as a primary power source for empowering said respective mesh communication nodes.

Further, a mobile User equipment, UE, 10 is provided, which comprises an Inertial navigation system for providing location information of the UE, and which is arranged for initiating a communication, comprising the provided location information of the UE, within the mesh communication network and maybe also to the external communication network via a direct communication with an of said plurality of mesh nodes 5, 7.

The present disclosure is directed to the concept that the mesh communication nodes 5, 7 are arranged for passing messages to each other via a hopping protocol. As such, even when a user is far below ground, the user is able to communicate via a plurality of mesh communication nodes 5, 7 to each other, or to the outside world.

Several functions that are available may include mapping the surroundings, detecting and tracking personnel that are equipped with a mobile UE and communication capabilities.

The mobile UE’s may be carried by a user, but may also be equipped on devices such as drones or robots, that intend to stay undergrounds.

It is noted that the communication 6 between the plurality of mesh communication nodes 5, 7 may be different from the communication between the gateway communication node 4 and the outside world as indicated with reference numeral 3.

For example, the communication 6 between the plurality of mesh communication nodes 5, 7 may be based on Zigbee protocol, Bluetooth protocol, LoRa protocol, or anything alike, while the communication 3 to the outside world may be established using 4G or 5G telecommunication networks.

It is noted that, in accordance with the present disclosure, the mobile UE is equipped with an Inertial navigation system for providing location information of the UE. One of the characteristics of such a navigation system is that the accuracy of the actual location of the UE decreases. The accuracy of the actual location of the UE may increase, as was noted by the inventors, by using the plurality of mesh communication nodes that are placed underground. These plurality of mesh communication nodes may have a known, or determined, location, which can be utilized by a UE for increasing the accuracy of the location.

Each of the plurality of mesh communication nodes may have a unique identification and a unique location coupled thereto. The location of a mobile UE that is in communication with one of the plurality of mesh communication nodes may be established by the unique identification and the unique location coupled to the one of the plurality of mesh communication nodes, in addition to the location information of the UE established by the Inertial navigation system.

In accordance with the present disclosure the inertial navigation system may be re-initiated based on a message received from a particular mesh communication node, wherein the message comprises a known location of the respective mesh communication node. The above improves the accuracy of the system considerably.

It is noted that the location of a mesh node may be determined by the mesh communication node itself, or it may be determined by the UE that passes the mesh communication node.

The mesh communication node may determine its own location based on information received from a UE that passes that particular mesh communication node. For example, the mesh communication node may simply use the location of the UE as its own location. Alternatively, the mesh communication node may use a plurality of location information received from one or more UE, and may average these locations for improving the accuracy. The UE may control the process, by identifying a unique identifier of the mesh communication node and associating that identifier with location information provided by the Inertial Navigation System. The identifier and the associated location information may then be broadcasted in the mesh communication network for informing other UE in the mesh communication network of the location of that particular mesh communication node.

Figure 2 discloses a User Interface 21 of a navigation screen of a user equipment.

Figure 3 discloses a flow chart 31 of a method in accordance with the present disclosure.

The method is directed to allowing a user to communication and navigate underground using a communication and navigation system in accordance with any of the examples as provided above, wherein said method comprises the steps of:

providing 32, by said gateway communication node, communication between said external communication network and said underground mesh network;

initiating 33, by said mobile UE, a communication, comprising said provided location information of said UE, to said external communication network via a direct communication with an of said plurality of mesh communication nodes.

The method may further comprise the step of:

re-initiating 34 said Inertial navigation system based on a message received from a mesh communication node, wherein said message comprises a known location of said respective mesh communication node.

Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article,“a” or“an” does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfil the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage. A computer program may be stored/distributed on a suitable medium, such as an optical storage medium or a solid- state medium supplied together with or as part of other hardware, but may also be distributed in other forms, such as via the Internet or other wired or wireless telecommunication systems. Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope thereof.