Claims:WE CLAIM:
1. A system (101) for facilitating rescue operations, the system comprising:
a processor (201);
a Global system for Mobile (GSM) SIM module (202); and
a memory (203) coupled with the processor (201), wherein the processor (201) is configured to execute programmed instructions stored in the memory (203) for:
receiving a set of data packets from a plurality of nodes in real time, based on an auxiliary information, wherein each data packet comprises a location information, wherein the location information comprises Global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of one or more living objects present in an affected area;
generating a message buffer comprising the set of data packets, in an encoded format, using a MQ Telemetry Transport (MQTT) message broker (205);
transmitting the message buffer to a streaming engine (206), wherein the streaming engine (206) is configured to convert the set of data packets in the message buffer from the encoded format to a human readable message; and
generating AT commands in order to transmit the human readable message to one or more user devices associated with members of the rescue team using the GSM SIM module (202).

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the set of data packets are received from the plurality of nodes through Long Range (LoRa) communication protocol, wherein the set of data packets are LoRa packets.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary information comprises information corresponding to at least one of amplitude of heat radiations emitted from one or more living objects, strength of a detection signals received from one or more devices associated with the one or more living objects, or depth information captured from images of the one or more living objects present in the affected area.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of nodes is selected from a group of a drone, a mobile device, or a wearable electronic device along with embedded GPS module, wherein the drone comprises a thermal imaging camera in order to detect presence of the one or more living objects in the affected area.

5. A method (300) for facilitating rescue operations, the method comprising:
receiving, via a processor (201), a set of data packets from a plurality of nodes in real time, based on an auxiliary information, wherein each data packet comprises a location information , wherein the location information comprises Global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of one or more living objects present in an affected area;

generating, via the processor (201), a message buffer comprising the set of data packets in an encoded format using a MQ Telemetry Transport (MQTT) message broker (205);
transmitting, via the processor (201), the message buffer to a streaming engine (206), wherein the streaming engine (206) is configured to convert the set of data packets in the message buffer from the encoded format to a human readable message; and
generating, via the processor (201), AT commands in order to transmit the human readable message to one or more user devices associated with members of the rescue team using the GSM SIM module (202).

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the set of data packets are received from the plurality of nodes through Long Range (LoRa) communication protocol, wherein the set of data packets are LoRa packets.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the auxiliary information comprises information corresponding to at least one of amplitude of heat radiations emitted from one or more living objects, strength of a detection signals received from one or more devices associated with the one or more living objects, or depth information captured from images of the one or more living objects.

8. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the plurality of nodes is selected from a group of a drone, a mobile device, or a wearable electronic device along with embedded GPS module, wherein the drone comprises a thermal imaging camera in order to detect presence of the one or more living objects in the affected area.

Dated this 30th Day of January 2020

Priyank Gupta
Agent for Applicant
IN-PA-1454
, Description:FORM 2

THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENT RULES, 2003

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(See Section 10 and Rule 13)

Title of invention:
A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING RESCUE OPERATIONS

APPLICANT
Zensar Technologies Limited.
(An Indian entity having address)
Zensar Knowledge Park, Plot # 4, MIDC, Kharadi, Off
Nagar Road, Pune-411014, Maharashtra, India

The following specification describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS AND PRIORITY
The present application does not claim priority from any other patent application.
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present subject matter described herein, in general, relates to a system and a method for facilitating rescue operations. More specifically, the present subject matter discloses the system and method for facilitating rescue operations in the affected area using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

BACKGROUND
The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely because of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also correspond to implementations of the claimed technology.

Natural and manmade disasters cause destruction and distress to humanity all over the world. At times, these disasters may lead to complete communication network breakdown. During such situations, rescue operations are performed by the rescue teams using rescue dogs and existing systems such as short-range communication means. In recent times, the Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure is also implemented for rescue operations. IoT devices use internet connectivity with a network server and application server for executing rescue operations.

In the existing IoT system, end-devices are enabled by deploying Long Range Wireless Area Network (LoRaWAN) communication technology. The gateway communicates messages to the end-devices, and vice versa, through single-hop wireless communication. There is also a network server in the background that is connected to the gateway via a standard IP connection. The communication of the end devices with the rescue team is established over the standard IP connection. However, this communication is not reliable due to issues of internet connectivity in an affected area after the disaster has occurred.

The conventional LoRa architecture makes use of Network Server which requires the data to be transmitted on The Things Network (TTN) or LoRa IoT cloud platforms which requires internet connectivity. Therefore, there is long standing need of system and method which deploys modified architecture for LoRaWAN which removes need of internet connection for facilitating rescue operations.

SUMMARY
This summary is provided to introduce concepts related to a system and a method for facilitating rescue operations and the concepts are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter nor is it intended for use in determining or limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.

In one implementation, a system for facilitating rescue operations, is disclosed. The system may comprise a processor, a Global system for Mobile (GSM) SIM module and a memory coupled with the processor. The processor may execute programmed instructions stored in the memory for receiving a set of data packets from a plurality of nodes in real time, based on an auxiliary information. Each data packet may comprise a location information. The location information may comprise Global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of one or more living objects present in an affected area. The processor may execute instructions for generating a message buffer comprising the set of data packets in an encoded format, using a MQTT message broker. The processor may execute instructions for transmitting the message buffer to a streaming engine. The streaming engine may be configured to convert the set of data packets in the message buffer from the encoded format to a human readable message. The processor may execute programmed instructions for generating AT commands in order to transmit the human readable message to one or more user devices associated with members of the rescue team using the GSM SIM module.

In another implementation, a method for facilitating rescue operations, is disclosed. The method may comprise receiving, via a processor, a set of data packets from a plurality of nodes in real time, based on an auxiliary information, wherein each data packet comprises a location information, wherein the location information comprises Global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of one or more living objects present in an affected area. The method may comprise generating, via the processor, a message buffer comprising the set of data packets in an encoded format, using a MQTT message broker. The method may further comprise transmitting, via the processor, the message buffer to a streaming engine. The streaming engine may be configured to convert the set of data packets in the message buffer from an encoded format to a human readable message. The method may further comprise generating, via the processor, AT commands in order to transmit the human readable message to one or more user devices associated with members of the rescue team using a Global system for Mobile (GSM) SIM module.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying Figures. The same numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer like features and components.

Figure 1 illustrates a network implementation 100 of a system 101 for facilitating rescue operations, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 2 illustrates components of the system 101 for facilitating rescue operations, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 3 illustrates a method 300 for facilitating rescue operations, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference throughout the specification to “various embodiments,” “some embodiments,” “one embodiment,” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in various embodiments,” “in some embodiments,” “in one embodiment,” or “in an embodiment” in places throughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

Referring to Figure 1, implementation (100) of system (101) for facilitating rescue operations is illustrated, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter. In one embodiment, the system (101) may comprise a LoRaHat module, a Raspberry pi board, and a Global system for Mobile (GSM) SIM module. In one embodiment, the Raspberry pi board may comprise a processor and a memory. In an embodiment, the system (101) may be connected to a plurality of nodes 102-a, 102-b……102-n. In one embodiment, the plurality of nodes may be communicatively coupled with the system 101 via a Long Range (LoRa) communication protocol. The plurality of nodes 102-a, 102-b…..102-n may be selected from a group of a drone, a mobile device, a communication device, a wearable electronic device along with embedded GPS module. In one exemplary embodiment, each node of the plurality of nodes may comprise a LoRa Shield chipset and an embedded GPS module. In one exemplary embodiment, the drone may comprise a thermal imaging camera, an arduino microcontroller board, the LoRa Shield chipset and the embedded GPS module. The thermal imaging camera may be configured to detect presence of one or more living objects by evaluating the heat radiations emitted from one or more living objects. The one or more living objects may be any living human being or animal present in the affected area. The one or more living objects may radiate more heat than the surrounding non-living objects and trees in the affected area.

Further, the system (101) may be connected to a user device (103) over a network (104). It may be understood that the system (101) may be communicatively coupled with multiple users through one or more user devices (103-1), (103-2), (103-3)….(103-n), collectively referred to as a user device (103). In one embodiment, the network (104) may be a cellular communication network used by user devices (103) such as mobile phones and tablets. In one embodiment, the cellular communication network may be Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network. The user device (103) may be any electronic device, communication device, image capturing device, machine, software, automated computer program, a robot or a combination thereof.

The user devices may support communication over one or more types of networks in accordance with the described embodiments. For example, some user devices and networks may support communications over a Wide Area Network (WAN), the Internet, a telephone network (e.g., analog, digital, POTS, PSTN, ISDN, xDSL), a mobile telephone network (e.g., CDMA, GSM, NDAC, TDMA, E-TDMA, NAMPS, WCDMA, CDMA-2000, UMTS, 3G, 4G), a radio network, a television network, a cable network, an optical network (e.g., PON), a satellite network (e.g., VSAT), a packet-switched network, a circuit-switched network, a public network, a private network, and/or other wired or wireless communications network configured to carry data. The user devices and networks may also support wireless wide area network (WWAN) communications services including Internet access such as EV-DO, EV-DV, CDMA/1×RTT, GSM/GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HSUPA, and others.

The aforementioned user devices (103) and networks may support wireless local area network (WLAN) and/or wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN) data communications functionality in accordance with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards, protocols, and variants such as IEEE 802.11 (“WiFi”), IEEE 802.16 (“WiMAX”), IEEE 802.20x (“Mobile-Fi”), and others. User devices and networks also may support short range communication such as a wireless personal area network (WPAN) communication, Bluetooth® data communication, infrared (IR) communication, near-field communication, electromagnetic induction (EMI) communication, passive or active RFID communication, micro-impulse radar (MIR), ultra-wide band (UWB) communication, automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) communication, and others.

Further, referring to Figure 2, various components of the system (101) are illustrated, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter. As shown, the system (101) may include at least one processor (201), a GSM SIM module (202), a memory (203), programmed instructions ( 204), a MQ Telemetry Transport (MQTT) message broker (205), a streaming engine (206) and data (207). In one embodiment, the at least one processor (201) is configured to fetch and execute computer-readable instructions stored in the memory (204).

In an implementation, the memory (203) may include any computer-readable medium known in the art including, for example, volatile memory, such as static random-access memory (SRAM) and dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), and/or non-volatile memory, such as read only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM, flash memories, hard disks, optical disks, and memory cards. The memory (203) may include data (207).

In one embodiment, the programmed instructions (205) may include, routines, programmes, objects, components, data structures, etc. which perform particular tasks, functions, or implement particular abstract data types. The data (207) may comprise a data repository (208), and other data (209). The other data (209) amongst other things, serves as a repository for storing data processed, received, and generated by one or more components and programmed instructions.
The working of the system (101) will now be described in detail referring to Figures 1,2 and 3 as below:

In one embodiment, the processor (201) may be configured for receiving a set of data packets from the plurality of nodes (102) in real time, based on an auxiliary information. In one embodiment, the set of data packets may be LoRa packets. In one embodiment, the auxiliary information may comprise information corresponding to at least one of heat radiation emitted from one or more living objects, strength of a detection signals received from one or more living objects, or depth information of one or more living objects. In one embodiment, the plurality of nodes may comprise a fleet of the drones sent by the rescue team over the affected area. The thermal imaging camera of the drone may detect one or more living objects, in the affected area, by evaluating the heat radiations emitted from one or more living objects. In one embodiment, one or more living objects may comprise humans and/ or animals. The drone may locate one or more living objects using Global positioning system (GPS) and send the set of data packet to the system (101).

In another embodiment, instead of using a fleet of drones, the plurality of nodes may be selected from a group of the mobile phone, the communication device or the wearable devices along with embedded GPS module associated with one or more persons present in the affected area. In one embodiment, the plurality of nodes may comprise LoRa Shield chipset which enables the nodes to communicate with the system (101). The person associated with each node may perform one or more gestures using the mobile phones/ electronic devices in order to broadcast the set of data packets comprising his/her location coordinates to the system (101) which is present within his/her vicinity. In one exemplary embodiment, one or more gesture may include but not limited to power/volume button press, shaking the phone etc.

In one embodiment, the processor (201) may be configured for receiving the set of data packets from the plurality of the nodes based on the auxiliary information at the same time via the LoRaWAN communication protocol. The processor (201) may be configured for receiving the set of data packets from the plurality of nodes based on the auxiliary information in parallel. In one embodiment, the plurality of the nodes may be configured to communicate with the system independently.
In one embodiment, each data packet may comprise a location information. In one embodiment, the location information may comprise Global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of one or more living objects present in the affected area.

In one scenario, one node of the plurality of nodes may be a drone flying over the affected area and other node of the plurality of nodes may be a mobile device with integrated LoRa shield chipset associated with a person present in the vicinity of the drone. The drone and the mobile device may be configured to broadcast corresponding GPS coordinates with the help of the GPS module of the drone and inbuilt GPS in the mobile respectfully. Further, the processor (201) may receive the set of data packets comprising one or more data packets of the same GPS coordinates from the plurality of nodes, the processor (201) may determine the one or more living objects by filtering same GPS coordinates of the plurality of nodes using the auxiliary information such as one of heat radiation emitted from one or more living objects, strength of a detection signals received from one or more devices associated with the one or more living objects, or depth information captured from images of the one or more living objects.

In second scenario, the drone of the plurality of the nodes may navigate over the affected area. The drone may be configured to detect human presence and broadcast the set of data packets comprising GPS coordinates of the corresponding area to the system (101). The drone further configured to move over next affected area to detect human presence and broadcast the set of data packets comprising GPS coordinates of the corresponding area to the system (101). In this way, the processor (201) may receive the set of data packets comprising one or more data packets of the different GPS coordinates from the same nodes, then the processor (201) may determine the one or more living objects by filtering one or more GPS coordinates of the same node using the auxiliary information such as one of heat radiation emitted from one or more living objects, strength of a detection signals received from one or more devices associated with the one or more living objects, or depth information captured from images of the one or more living objects.

In third scenario, if the processor (201) receives the set of data packets comprising one or more packets with different GPS coordinates from the plurality nodes, then the processor (201) may determine the GPS coordinates of the one or more living objects by filtering one or more GPS coordinates of the plurality nodes using the auxiliary information such as one of heat radiation emitted from one or more living objects, strength of a detection signals received from one or more devices associated with the one or more living objects, or depth information captured from images of one or more living objects.

In one embodiment, the processor (201) may be configured for generating a message buffer of the set of data packets in an encoded format using a MQ Telemetry Transport (MQTT) message broker (205). In one embodiment, the MQTT message broker (205) may consume the set of data packets in real time and generate the message buffer. A MQTT is a publish/subscribe wire protocol designed for small devices. Further, The MQTT may comprise additional features, such as "last-will-and-testament" messages, which may distinguish between silence because there is no relevant data or the data collectors have crashed. The MQTT may further comprise retained messages, which provide the last message to the clients, on a topic of a first connection which is established between the clients. This may be useful for topics which update slowly. In one exemplary embodiment, the MQTT may generate a structured data in any from like CSV file, SON or SQL which contains the set of data packets in the encoded format and forward the set of the data packets to the MQTT Message Broker (205), which may further forward the Broker messages to Streaming Engine (202).

In one embodiment, the processor (201) may be configured for transmitting the message buffer to the streaming engine (206). The streaming engine (206) may be configured to convert the set of data packets in the message buffer from the encoded format to a human readable message. In one embodiment, the streaming engine (206) may comprise a set of logical Program running on "Raspi" to perform conversion logic on encoded data received from the MQTT Message Broker (205). In another embodiment, the streaming engine (206) may configured to convert logic (hex to lat-lang coordinates) using any Programming Language. In one exemplary embodiment, streaming engines (206) may be selected from a group comprising but not limited to Apache Storm, Flink, Samza, etc. In one embodiment, the streaming engine (206) may be configured to run Stream SQL on top of the data streams, for aggregating thresholds across all streams or certain stream of the set of the data packets of the message buffer, which brings great value for streaming in IoT devices. The streaming engine (206) may be configured for converting encoded message across all streams or certain stream of the set of the data packets of the message buffer into the human readable message.

In the IoT devices, the streaming engine (206) may be used for global threshold crossing. In one embodiment, the streaming engine (206) may be configured to send an alarm if temperature of one or more living objects in the affected area is above a threshold value. In another embodiment, the streaming engine (202) may be configured for aggregating temperature of the one or more living objects in order to obtain average temperature in a region of the affected area.

In one embodiment, the processor (201) may be configured for generating AT commands in order to transmit the human readable message to one or more user devices associated with members of the rescue operation team using the GSM SIM module (203). In one exemplary embodiment, the GSM SIM module may be GSM SIM300 module. In one embodiment, the human readable massage may be a SMS comprising GPS coordinates of the human or animal stuck in the affected area. In one exemplary embodiment, the rescue operation team may use GPS coordinates received in the SMS to conduct the rescue operation.

In one scenario, disastrous condition such as flood may occurred in an isolated area and people may be stuck in the isolated area. In such situation, if the rescue team is not aware of the exact location of the people. In such situation, the rescue team may send the fleet of the drones over the affected area. The drone may comprise the thermal imaging camera in order to detect presence of humans or animals from the by evaluating the heat radiations emitted from the one or more living objects present in the affected area. The drone may locate one or more humans or animals using thermal imaging and send the set of data packet to the system (101). In another exemplary embodiment, the mobile phone, the communication device or the wearable devices along with embedded GPS module associated with one or more humans stuck in the affected area, may comprises LoRa Shield chipset. The person associated with the mobile phone, the communication device or the wearable devices along with embedded GPS module may perform one or more gestures in order to broadcast the set of data packets comprising his/her location coordinates to the system (101) which is present within his/her vicinity. In one exemplary embodiment, one or more gesture may include but not limited to power/volume button press, shaking the phone etc.

In one embodiment, the system (101) may be implemented over a gateway drone that is part of the fleet of drones flying over the affected area. The major difference between the gateway drone and rest of the drones is that the gateway drone is enabled to communicate with all the drones in the fleet and send navigational instructions to each of the drones. Also, the gateway drone is capable of communicate with electronic devices of the rescue team using GSM communication means.

In one embodiment, the gateway drone is configured to receive a set of data packets based on the auxiliary information from each of the drones in the fleet on a continuous or discontinuous basis. Each data packet may comprise the location information. The processor (201) may be configured for generating a message buffer of the set of data packets in an encoded format using the MQTT message broker (205). The processor (201) may be configured for transmitting the message buffer to the streaming engine (206). The streaming engine (206) may be configured to convert the set of data packets of the message buffer from the encoded format to a human readable message. The processor (201) may be configured for generating AT commands in order to transmit the human readable message such as SMS to one or more user devices associated with members of the rescue team using the GSM SIM module (202).

Now referring to Figure 3, a method 300 for facilitating rescue operations is illustrated, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

At step 301, the processor (201) may be configured for receiving a set of data packets from a plurality of nodes in real time, based on the auxiliary information. Each data packet may comprise the location information. The location information may comprise GPS coordinates of one or more living objects present in the affected area.

At step 302, the processor (201) may be configured for generating the message buffer comprising the set of data packets in an encoded format using the MQTT message broker (205).

At step 303, the processor (201) may be configured for transmitting the message buffer to the streaming engine (206). In one embodiment, the streaming engine (206) may be configured to convert the set of data packets in the message buffer from the encoded format to a human readable message.

At step 304, the processor (201) may be configured for generating AT commands in order to transmit the human readable message to one or more user devices associated with members of the rescue operation team using the GSM SIM module (202).

The present system and method may provide modified LoRaWAN architecture which removes the need of a network server and an application server. The conventional LoRa architecture makes use of Network Server which requires the data to be transmitted on The Things Network (TTN) or LoRa IoT cloud platforms which requires internet connectivity. The system (101) and method may be configured to remove dependency on internet and eliminates the need of above-mentioned cloud platforms for processing the data by replacing the LoRa architecture with the Streaming Engine (206), the MQTT message broker (205) and the GSM SIM Module (202). Further, the system and method may be further configured to reduce the time required for processing the data by eliminating the dependency on the application Server. Further, the system and method may be further configured to reduce the time required for processing the data as the need of dedication application server is eliminated. The present system and method may also remove the need of internet connectivity with one or more user devices.

The embodiments, examples and alternatives of the preceding paragraphs or the description and drawings, including any of their various aspects or respective individual features, may be taken independently or in any combination. Features described in connection with one embodiment are applicable to all embodiments, unless such features are incompatible.

Although implementations for the system (101) the method (300) for facilitating rescue operations have been described in language specific to structural features and/or methods, it is to be understood that the approached claims are not necessarily limited to the specific features or methods described. Rather, the specific features and method are disclosed as examples of implementations for the system (101) the method (300) for facilitating rescue operations.