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AssigneeStrategic Design Federation W, Inc.
InventorsAra A. Karamanian, Andre A. Karamanian, Kenneth C. Land
Estimating the term…
A device for detecting a weather condition, particularly a tornado. The device includes a receiver module configured to receive electromagnetic signal from an atmosphere, particularly electromagnetic signal in the range of 1 MHz to 100 MHz. The device also includes a processing module coupled to the receiver module and configured to generate frequency spectrum data corresponding to the received electromagnetic signal, such as by performing a Fast Fourier Transform operation. Frequency spectrum data corresponding to the weather condition desired to be detected is stored in a stored data module. The device also includes a comparison module for comparing, such as by performing a cross-correlation operation, the generated frequency spectrum data and the stored frequency spectrum data in order to determine whether the weather condition is present in the atmosphere. An alarm module coupled to the comparison module generates an alarm condition when the comparison module determines that the weather condition is present in the atmosphere.
A device for detecting a weather condition comprising:
The device of claim 17 wherein the weather condition detected by the device is a tornado.
A system for detecting a weather condition comprising:
A method for detecting a weather condition, the method comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons: responsive to calamitous events, e.g. tornados or earthquakes
In human health protection
Signalling systems
Technologies for adaptation to climate change
Term end not estimated
The present invention relates to system and method for detecting a weather condition. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system and method for detecting tornados by detecting and processing the electromagnetic signal generated by a tornado.
A tornado poses a great danger to persons and property in its vicinity. In the United States alone, tornados result in tens of millions of dollars in property damage every year. In addition, tornados result in the deaths of numerous people every year.
One of the reasons that tornados are so dangerous is that they often occur very quickly and with very little discernible warning. Lives can often be saved if a person in the path of a tornado can take shelter in a relatively safe place, e.g., a basement or shelter. Thus, to minimize the loss of life, it is advantageous to provide people in the vicinity of a tornado with the earliest possible warning of the tornado, increasing the likelihood that the people will be able to take shelter in time.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram that illustrates some of the components of a device for detecting a weather condition, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention; and
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram that illustrates a system for detecting a weather condition, according to one embodiment of the present invention.
According to various embodiments, the present invention relates to a device for detecting a tornado by novel and more sophisticated methods of: receiving and processing the electromagnetic signal generated by the tornado; storing data corresponding to a tornado; and providing an alarm condition when a tornado is detected.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram that illustrates, according to one embodiment of the present invention, a device for detecting a weather condition. While the device is primarily intended to detect a tornado based on the electromagnetic signal generated by a tornado, it is recognized that other types of weather conditions may also generate electromagnetic signals, and the present invention is not intended to be limited to the detection of tornados only.
As shown in FIG. 1, the device 10 may comprise a receiver module 15. Preferably, the receiver module 15 is configured to receive all electromagnetic signal between 1 MHz and 100 MHz. Alternatively, the receiver module 15 may be configured to receive the electromagnetic signal in a smaller range between 1 MHz and 100 MHz or in multiple smaller ranges between 1 MHz and 100 MHz. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the receiver module 15 of the device 10 may be a superheterodyne receiver, which is configured to perform the three functions of carrier-frequency tuning to select a desired signal, filtering to separate the desired signal from other modulated signals, and amplification to compensate for the loss of signal power incurred in the course of transmission, some of which features are introduced as separate modules and discussed further below.