Command and control for boring system
AssigneeThe University of Scranton
InventorsW. Andrew Berger, Robert A. Spalletta, Jerry A. Carter, Richard M. Pell, Marian Mazurkiewicz
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Abstract
A system having a number of land units [100, 4000, 5000] is disclosed which operates to efficiently find and create boreholes [5] to one or more underground targets [1]. Each of the land units [100, 4000, 5000] may be remotely controlled from a central command unit [6000]. The land unit also may be self-controlled, or partially controlled by the central command unit [6000]. The system [10] is reconfigurable to reallocate tasks to functional land units [100, 4000, 5000] which were originally allocated to land units which have been destroyed and are now non-functional.
Claims16
A system [10] for rapidly boring through a material to a desired target location comprising:
- a) central command unit [6000];
- b) a plurality of ground units [100, 4000, 5000] for boring a hole to a target location, each unit having a platform [1000], umbilical subsystem [2000], a boring subsystem [3000] with a boring head having a plurality of combustion driven pulsejets [3100], a plurality of sensors [1810, 2810] and actuators [2100] throughout the system, and a computing unit [1910] adapted to operate in the following modes:
- i. an auto mode in which the computing unit [1910] of each ground unit [100, 4000, 5000] performs any sensing and actuating functions;
- ii. a remote-controlled mode in which the central command unit controls the computing unit [1910] and its sensing and actuation functions from a remote location;
- and
- iii. a mixed mode in which the computing unit [1910] of each ground unit [100, 4000, 5000] performs sensing and actuating functions, and the central command unit [6000] may remotely adjust or override the sensing and actuation functions.
A system [10] for rapidly boring through a material to a desired target location comprising:
- a) central command unit [6000];
- b) a plurality of ground units for boring a hole to a target location, each unit having a platform [1000], umbilical subsystem [2000], a boring subsystem [3000] with a boring head [3200] having a plurality of combustion driven pulsejets [3100], a plurality of sensors [1810, 2810] and actuators [2100] throughout the system, and a computing unit [1910] having initial pre-stored tasks to image a defined underground region and to bore to a defined underground location [1], the ground units capable of operating, for at least a portion of the time in a self-directed mode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.