JPH09236671A - Organism detecting equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable detection of an organism in a closable metallic container by providing an element constructed for transmission and reception of a microwave and by constructing the element so that it forms a complete slit antenna together with a gap-like opening part such as a door groove area, in a state of being in proximity thereto. SOLUTION: A microwave transmitting-receiving device 20 having an element for transmission and reception of a microwave is provided in a casing 5. An irradiator 2 is fixed on a front-side panel 6 of the casing 5 and the irradiator 2 is buried in hard foam plastic in a block 1 and connected to the device 20 through a coaxial cable 9. Small-sized equipment 10 is fixed on the side wall of a door of a transport container 30. In more detail, the irradiator 2 constructed as a flat rectangular parallelepiped bent downward is positioned in front of a gap section 34 and so fixed as to be in extension therefrom in parallel thereto. The width of this rectangular parallelepiped is determined by a topological configuration depending on a wavelength, a gap width and a space between the irradiator 2 and a gap. In other words, the irradiator 2 and gap sections 34 and 35 are so selected as to form a slit antenna.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a microwave which is present in a closed metal container which can be closed by a door or a hatch, and which is partially reflected from the organism and modulated by the movement of the body. An apparatus for detecting based on verification, which has a microwave transmitting / receiving apparatus for generating a microwave to receive and process a reflected signal, and a display apparatus for outputting a symptom result, and Regarding the method.

[0002]

It is known to use microwave beams to detect the movement of animals within open areas or spaces. In this case, the modulation of the microwave beam caused by a moving object in the area exposed to the beam is evaluated.

Further, the following search device is also known.
That is, there is also known a search device which operates by microwaves and is used for searching for a creature, especially a human, which has been buried by being shielded from the outside world by an earthquake or an avalanche.

The use of microwaves to search for victims who have been buried by a disaster or obstructed by walls or the like means that microwaves partially cover the debris and rocks or the surrounding structural parts of the building. It is based on the property of being permeable.

The microwave also has the following characteristics. That is, it has the property of being modulated by the frequency of respiration and / or heartbeat during reflection from the living body during the phase and also within a small range during the amplitude. On the contrary, no modulation occurs in the microwave component reflected from the surrounding environment of the living body. Since the phase modulation occurs substantially linearly, the detection of the phase modulation of the signal reflected from the living body can be performed better than the evaluation of the amplitude modulation in consideration of the SNR that is as small as possible. Contact breathing and / or heartbeat recording devices evaluate the phase modulation of the reflected microwave signal.

The publicly known document "Chen et al .; An X-band microw
ave life-detection system; IEEE Transactions on bio
From medical engineering, vol. BME 33, No. 7, July 1986 ”, an electronic life form detector operated by this kind of microwave is known.

In this electronic life detector, a microwave having a predetermined frequency is applied to the spatial region to be inspected.

The signal reflected from the scanned area has an unmodulated and a modulated component in the presence of survivors. This modulation is caused by the vital functions of the survivor who are shielded from the outside world, especially by breathing and heartbeat.

The information data of the modulation component in the reflected signal is selected by comparison with the transmitted (scanning) signal.

The known system checks in some cases, for example, containers which are completely closed, such as shipping containers made of non-metallic material such as canvas or wood, to see if humans or animals are hidden within them. It can also be used for inspections that are performed.

However, there is a major problem when the container to be inspected, especially the shipping container, has metallic walls and doors. The shipping container for inspecting for the presence of organisms is constructed as a closed unit in the form of a Faraday cage. As a result, it is not possible to bring the beam power into the transport container using the microwave transceivers known from the prior art, and thus also the reflected signal. Qualitative information about each container unit can be obtained from the signal content of this reflected signal.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method of the type mentioned at the outset, which is adapted to be suitable for the detection of humans or animals in a closable metal container. is there.

[0013]

According to the present invention, there is provided an element, which is connected to a microwave transmitter / receiver and is configured for microwave transmission / reception, the element being a door groove region, a container wall portion, or the like. With a substantially void-like opening in or in the T-shaped abutment area, such as the bottom or top end area of the door groove, in close proximity to them. It is solved by configuring to form a slit antenna.

The above object is also according to the invention that the input coupling of the microwave output in the closed metal container and the coupling output of the reflected signal from the container triggered by the presence of living things are made possible by the container wall and the container closure. The solution is to work through the voids that exist in the area between the mechanism.

The present invention includes the following insights. That is, if the structural peculiarities of the container are beneficial to the construction of the antenna system of the microwave transmitter / receiver, that is to say that the shielding effect of the container is at least partially released, a closed metal The presence of humans or other living things in a sex container (eg, a shipping container that can be closed by a door) can be reached. This makes it possible to couple the microwave signal into the container and to couple out the microwave signal reflected by the contents of the container and modulated by the properties of the contents.

The device according to the invention advantageously detects an unauthorized passenger in a metallic transport container which can be closed by at least one door, which is inspected during transboundary freight transport. Can be used for

According to the method of the present invention for detecting an organism present in a closable container, the microwave signal causes the container wall to be closed by a door or hatch through an opening that is necessarily created by the closure means. A microwave signal that is illuminated into the chamber, reflected from the container contents and modulated depending on the shape of the container contents is output coupled out through the same container opening. The size of the microwave output is selected as follows. That is, it is selected to ensure that the damage to the contents of the container, especially the effects on organisms that may be present in a closed container, are avoided.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, a microwave signal is provided between the closed transport container wall and the door for the detection of organisms in the closed container, for example in a transport container which can be closed by a door. Is coupled in through the air gap due to the structural nature of the, and possibly modulated reflected signals are coupled out through the same air gap. This echo signal is modulated by movements, such as the respiratory movements of the organism in the container. In order to obtain reliable information about the presence of organisms in a closed container, microwave energy is coupled in and out for several minutes.

Also advantageously, the spatial extent of the organism,
That is, in order to be able to detect different active areas, the incoupling and outcoupling of the microwave signals takes place in a plurality of substantially vertically overlapping planes in the region of the void openings used.

The duration of the detection process is set between 30 seconds and 2 minutes, targeting the desired indication, preferably 1 minute.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the device for the detection of organisms present in a closed container comprises an illuminator connected to a microwave transceiver. This illuminator forms a slit antenna with a substantially void-shaped opening, which is necessarily created in the wall of the container by the door or hatch required for filling and removing the container. To do. In this case, the illuminator and the void-shaped opening extend at least partially parallel to one another.

According to another advantageous embodiment of the invention, the illuminator is constructed as a flat coupling element (applicator),
Thereby, it is particularly suitable for forming a slit antenna with a substantially vertically extending air gap, which necessarily occurs between the door and the wall of a closed shipping container. The illuminator is constructed of a flat, substantially L-shaped rectangular parallelepiped shape and has the following widths in fitting into the air gap. That is, it has a width substantially defined by the wavelength of the beam used.

In practice, the band-shaped sealing element provided between the container doors closes, so that the air gap required for microwave energy irradiation and output coupling is no longer at least partially present. The metallic edge areas of the door and / or the wall directly lie one above the other and occlude the interior space of the container in the shape of a Faraday cage for the microwave beam used for the measurement.

Therefore, in another advantageous embodiment of the invention,
A substantially spot-shaped illuminator is provided, with which microwave energy is radiated into the area of the transport container and outcoupled. Here, the lower edge of the container door faces the bottom plate of the shipping container. There is a sufficiently large opening here for microwave energy irradiation and output coupling. This opening is caused by: That is to say that the door of the shipping container has a minimum distance with respect to the bottom plate for carrying out a pivoting movement during opening and closing.

The microwave transceiver and illuminator are integrated together in one compact device. In this case, the connection between the irradiator and the microwave transmitter / receiver is formed by an energy transmission system such as a coaxial cable or a hollow line. The miniature device has a closed casing with a handgrip. An illuminator is arranged on the outer wall of the casing. According to another advantageous embodiment of the invention, the irradiator has its bent end welded to the casing wall,
Rigid foam plastic (preferably Styrofoam)
Are entirely contained within one block. The shape and size of this plastic block is adapted to the dimensions of the casing of the small device. This makes the device a compact unit shape and provides good maneuverability when making measurements on different container planes.

According to an additional means for fixing the miniature device in the void area in the container wall (which, according to another advantageous embodiment of the invention, is a rigid foam in which the illuminator is arranged). (Provided on a block made of plastic), the operability of the device is further improved. Positioning the small device on various surfaces of the container wall by the construction of the fixing means as a suction cup device, a mechanical gripping device or a magnet device,
It is possible to obtain a simple and reliable means for performing measurement while reducing the burden on the measurer.

Further advantageous configurations and embodiments of the invention are described in the dependent claims.

[0028]

1 shows the area of a shipping container 30, in which a container wall 32 and a door 31 provided for closing the shipping container are shown together. The container wall portion 32 has a stopper 33. A rubber seal 36 provided on the stopper 33 comes into contact with the stopper 33 when the container door 31 is closed.

In this case, due to the construction of the closed system of the transport container 30, there is a vertically extending air gap through which the microwave beam can penetrate. This gap is divided into two sections 34, 35 by a rubber seal 36. In this case, the rubber seal 36 does not become an obstacle to the incoupling and the outcoupling of the microwave beam, excluding slight attenuation.

The small device 10 has a metal casing 5. A microwave transmitter / receiver 20 is provided in this casing. The illuminator 2 is fixed to the front panel 6 of the casing 5 by welding points 8. This illuminator 2 is embedded in a rigid foam plastic in block 1 and is connected to a microwave transceiver 20 via a coaxial cable 9. Two magnet type holders 3 and 4 which are respectively arranged on the side walls of the block 1.
Is used, the small device 10 is fixed to the door side wall of the shipping container 30 as follows. That is, the illuminator 2 (see FIG. 2), which is constructed as a flat rectangular parallelepiped bent downward, is positioned in front of the gap section 34 and is fixed so as to extend in parallel therewith. The width of this rectangular parallelepiped is defined by the topography, which depends on the wavelength, the gap width, and the spacing between the illuminator and the gap. That is, the illuminator 2 and the air gap sections 34, 35 are selected to form a slit antenna.

A small device 1 shown in longitudinal section in FIG.
0 has an irradiator 2 and a microwave transmitter / receiver 20. The casing 5 of the small-sized device 10 is made of metal and has a wall 1 on which a block 1 made of hard foam plastic (for example, styrofoam) is provided. The illuminator 2 is embedded in this block. A handgrip 7 is provided on the side wall of the casing opposite the wall 6, which facilitates the positioning of the small device 10.

The irradiator 2 is bent into an L shape,
One side thereof is welded to the wall portion 6. An energy transmission system is provided in the shape of a coaxial connection cable 9 for connection between the irradiator 2 and the microwave transmission / reception device 20. The feed line 9.1 of this cable is connected to the free end of the illuminator 2. The welding point 8 is the coaxial cable 9
It is connected to the shielding part of.

In FIG. 3, the small device 10 is shown as a shipping container 3.
A longitudinal section of the measuring device is shown positioned in the door corner area below 0.

The microwave transmitter / receiver 20 is connected to the irradiator 2'by a coaxial cable 9. The irradiator 2'comprises a circular plate and is substantially spot-shaped due to its small diameter. The illuminator 2'is located in front of the slit-shaped void 38. This void 38 is the bottom plate 3 of the shipping container 30.
7 and the lower edge of the rear door 31.
Microwave energy is radiated into the interior space of the shipping container 30 by means of the always free air gap 38 on this bottom plate, and the correspondingly modulated reflected signal is coupled out.
For the sake of clarity, here, the stopper 3 of the door 31 is used.
The door seal that abuts 3 (see reference numeral 36 in FIG. 1) is not shown.

The structure of the small device 10 here is the illuminator 2 '.
2 corresponds to the configuration shown in FIG.

In the method according to the invention for detecting organisms in a closed metallic container, the input or output coupling of the microwave output or reflected signal is at the void-like opening between the closure device and the container wall. It repeats itself in a number of planes which are arranged one above the other substantially vertically. This makes it possible to reliably detect the real region of the living creature that is breathing.

The input coupling of the microwave output and the output coupling of the reflected signal are performed for a period of 30 seconds to 2 minutes (preferably within 1 minute).
Done.

Microwave transceiver 20 (this is 200
mm width, 300 mm height and 100 mm depth are arranged in a small device).
Sufficiently accurate measurement results are achieved under a beam power in the range 0 mW (preferably below 10 mW) and in the wavelength range 100 mm to 300 mm (for example a wavelength of 222 mm).

The invention is not limited to the advantageous embodiments described above, but on the contrary a number of variants are possible in other forms which are basically different from the means described above.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a cross section of a small device for detecting living things in a closed container according to the present invention in use.

2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the device according to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view in a use position of another advantageous embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Block 2 Irradiator 3,4 Holder 5 Metal Casing 6 Wall 7 Handgrip 8 Welding Point 9 Coaxial Cable 10 Small Device 20 Microwave Transmitter / Receiver 30 Transport Container 31 Door 33 Stopper 36 Rubber Seal 38 Void

Front page continued (72) Inventor Richard Simco, Germany Berlin Finov Strasse 9 (72) Inventor Gunter Butzke, Germany Berlin Salvador-Allende-Strasse 51 (72) Inventor Frank Schilling, Federal Republic of Germany Berlin Mugelsch Lacechenweg 26

Claims (20)

[Claims] 1. Based on the verification of a microwave existing in an enclosed metal container (30) which can be closed by a door or a hatch, and which is partially reflected from the organism and modulated by the movement of the body. Which is a device having a microwave transmitting / receiving device (20) for generating microwaves to receive and process a reflected signal and a display device (27) for outputting a symptom result. Wherein a device (2) connected to the microwave transmitting / receiving device (20) and configured for microwave transmission / reception is provided,
The element (2) comprises a door groove area, a container (30) wall (3
2) etc. Substantially void-like openings (34, 35)
Together or with two void openings in a T-shaped abutment area, such as the bottom or top lid end area of the door groove, is configured to form a complete slit antenna under close proximity thereto. The biological detection device, which is characterized in that 2. The biological detection device according to claim 1, wherein the void-shaped openings (34, 35) and the illuminator (2) extend parallel to each other at least in each region. 3. The biological detection device according to claim 1, wherein the illuminator (2) is configured as a flat coupling element. 4. The biological detection device according to claim 1, wherein the illuminator (2 ′) is configured in a substantially spot shape. 5. The illuminator (2) is substantially flat and L
Has a rectangular parallelepiped shape bent in a V shape, and the longer leg of the rectangular parallelepiped is substantially parallel to the opening (34) in front of the void-like opening (34) in the container wall. The biological detection device according to claim 3, wherein the biological detection device extends. 6. The width of the rectangular parallelepiped illuminator (2) is
6. The bio-detection device according to claim 5, defined by the width of the gap (34) existing between the wall (32) of the substantially sealed container (30) and the door (31). 7. The microwave transmission / reception device (20) and illuminator (2) comprise a small device (1) equipped with a grip (7).
0) integrated biological detection device. 8. The microwave transceiver (20) comprises:
8. Living organisms according to claim 7, comprising a metallic casing (5), the irradiator (2) being arranged in a block-shaped foam filler (1) on the outer wall of the metallic casing. Detection device. 9. The biological detection device according to claim 8, wherein the block (1) is made of rigid foam plastic. 10. An energy transmission system (9) in the form of a coaxial line or a hollow line is provided for the connection between the microwave transceiver (20) and the irradiator (2). Item 7. The biological detection device according to item 7. 11. The foam filler block (1).
9. An organism detection device according to claim 8, characterized in that a fixing means (3, 4) for positioning the small device (10) is provided in front of the void opening (34, 35). 12. The biological detection device according to claim 11, wherein the fixing means (3, 4) is configured in a suction cup shape. 13. The biological detection device according to claim 11, wherein the fixing means (3, 4) are configured in the shape of a mechanical gripping device. 14. A magnet type fixing means is provided,
The biological detection device according to claim 11. 15. At least one container (30)
15. The biological detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein a transportation container that can be closed by one door is provided. 16. A method for detecting an organism in a closed metal container (30), such as a shipping container, which can be closed by at least one door, using a microwave beam, wherein the closed metal container (30). The incoupling of the microwave output at and the outcoupling of the reflected signal from the container (30) triggered by the presence of a living being,
2) via a void (34, 35) present in the region between the container (30) and the closure mechanism (31). 17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the incoupling of the microwave output and the outcoupling of the reflected signal are performed for a period of 30 seconds to 2 minutes, preferably for a period of less than 1 minute. 18. The method according to claim 16, wherein the incoupling of the microwave output or the outcoupling of the reflected signal is repeated with respect to each other in a number of substantially vertically overlapping void regions. 19. An echo signal, which is modulated by the respiratory movements of an organism, is evaluated for the detection of the organism.
6. The method according to 6. 20. 100 to 300 mm (preferably 200 mm)
20. Method according to any one of claims 16 to 19, using a microwave transceiver (20) whose irradiation power is in the range of 1 to 50 mW (advantageously 10 mW) under the wavelength range of (mm).