PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT FOR NAVIGATION AND MAP GENERATION WITHIN A VISUALLY OBSCURED ENVIRONMENT

• Main Authors: Fahey, Samuel J, Singh, Gautam, Collins, Elisa J, Nyland, Adam C, Nye, Carolyn L, Aveldson, Jason L, Hagh-Shenas, Haleh, Gabriel, Nicholas T, Stankiewicz, Brian J, Casner, Glenn E, Herfort, Frank T, Odom, Jacob E, Lucht, Steven G, Kruse, John M, Schaefer, Antonia E, Jesme, Ronald D, Tungjunyatham, Justin
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 27.07.2023
• Subjects: ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION ORRERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; MEASURING; MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; NAVIGATION; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY; PHYSICS; RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; SURVEYING; TESTING

The disclosure describes systems (2) of navigating a hazardous environment (8). The system includes personal protective equipment (PPE) (13) and computing device(s) (32) configured to process sensor data from the PPE (13), generate pose data of an agent (10) based on the processed sensor data, and track the pose data as the agent (10) moves through the hazardous environment (8). The PPE (13) may include an inertial measurement device to generate inertial data and a radar device to generate radar data for detecting a presence or arrangement of objects in a visually obscured environment (8). The PPE (13) may include a thermal image capture device to generate thermal image data for detecting and classifying thermal features of the hazardous environment (8). The PPE (13) may include one or more sensors to detect a fiducial marker (21) in a visually obscured environment (8) for identifying features in the visually obscured environment (8). In these ways, the systems (2) may more safely navigate the agent (10) through the hazardous environment (8).