Patent ID: 9746352
Date: 2017-08-29
CPC Classifications: G01D,H04B

Claim:
1. A system for monitoring a vehicle and the vehicle's surroundings within an underground environment, comprising: a) a plurality sensors distributed on the vehicle and throughout the underground environment; b) a first computer controller programmed with instructions to store a plurality of sensor readings from said plurality of sensors with each sensor reading being represented as a data point so that the plurality of data points are stored, said first computer controller being programmed with instructions to prioritize said plurality of data points according to selected priority criteria, wherein each of said prioritized data points includes at least a sensor identifier which identifies a particular sensor and further includes at least a timestamp representing a time that the sensor reading was taken; c) a second computer controller, said first computer controller being programmed with instructions to transmit, over one or more communication channels, said plurality of prioritized data points to said second computer controller, said first computer controller being programmed with instructions to store said plurality of prioritized data points in a temporary storage medium in the event no communication with said second computer is available, said first computer being programmed with instructions to continually attempt to transmit said plurality of prioritized data points to said second computer over said one or more communication channels, said second computer controller is programmed with instructions to filter said plurality of received data points and discard redundant data points when two or more identical data points are received by said second computer controller over one or more communication channels, said second computer controller being programmed with instructions to send instructions to the first computer controller to change the selected priority criteria by instructing the second computer controller to send instructions to the first computer controller to increase the priority of data collected be selected sensors; and d) said second computer controller also being programmed with instructions to translate said plurality of prioritized data points, once received by said second computer, into information that is interpretable by a monitoring system which monitors the underground vehicle and its environment.