Abstract:
A self-contained surveillance unit includes a climb-resistant tower and a heavy, but portable, base supporting the tower. The tower has various components affixed thereto. All components sufficient for operation of the surveillance unit, including observation, wireless-communication and self-powering components, are located on the tower well above the ground at a height sufficient to render them difficult to access from the ground. At least one such self-contained surveillance unit may form part of a surveillance communications network in which the network also has one or more central transmitting and receiving sites having monitoring facilities.

Description:
[0001]     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/610,675 filed Sep. 17, 2004 entitled “Unmanned, Vandal-Resistant, Self-Contained, Tower-Based, Wireless, Solar-Powered Surveillance Unit and System,” and it is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The invention relates to surveillance systems. More specifically, the invention relates to an unmanned, vandal-resistant, self-contained, tower-based, wireless, solar-powered surveillance unit, in which the tower is supported by a heavy but preferably portable base. The invention also relates to a local network that may include one or more of such tower-based surveillance units. The invention also relates to a wide area network, such as the Internet, that may include one or more of such local networks.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     Unmanned surveillance systems for monitoring sites remote from a monitoring location are well known. Tower-based systems are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,375,370; 6,585,428; 6,709,171; and 6,709,172. Each of said patents are hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The surveillance systems disclosed in said four patents employ a tower support base having a hollow enclosure that houses various equipment related to the operation of the surveillance system. In order to enhance the vandalism resistance of a tower-based surveillance system, it would be desirable to locate all components of the surveillance system on the tower at a height sufficient to render them difficult to access rather than locating at least some of them at ground level. It would also be desirable to provide a tower-based surveillance system that is totally self-contained (e.g., wireless and solar powered) in order further to enhance vandalism resistance.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     Aspects of the present invention include an improved unmanned tower-based surveillance unit for monitoring sites remote from a monitoring location, such units being self-contained, solar-powered, and wireless. All components relating to operation of the surveillance unit are located on the tower at a height sufficient to render them difficult to access from the ground. Each unit may be part of a local network of one or more surveillance units that communicate wirelessly with one or more central transmitting and receiving sites, each of which may include monitoring facilities. The local network may be part of a wide-area network, such as the Internet, for example, in order to allow monitoring access, for example, at locations other than at central sites such as at the home or business of a client of an organization that provides remote surveillance monitoring. Such access may employ well-known Internet Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) techniques. The assignee of the present invention has adopted the trademarks “Wireless Surveillance over IP” and “WSoIP” for such surveillance monitoring. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0005]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a tower and base having components affixed thereto that together provide a wireless, solar-powered surveillance unit in accordance with aspects of the present invention.  
         [0006]      FIG. 2  is a close-up perspective view of the tower base of the surveillance unit embodiment of  FIG. 1 .  
         [0007]      FIG. 3  is close-up perspective view of a portion of the surveillance unit embodiment of  FIG. 1 , showing solar panels and an enclosure for related equipment in greater detail.  
         [0008]      FIG. 4  is a close-up perspective view of the solar panels and enclosure of  FIG. 3  from a different vantage point from which the underside of the solar panels is seen.  
         [0009]      FIG. 5  is a close-up perspective view of a portion of the surveillance unit embodiment of  FIG. 1 , showing antennas, a camera housing, and an enclosure for related equipment in greater detail.  
         [0010]      FIG. 6  is a conceptual schematic diagram showing a local network and wide-area network, such as the Internet, in which a wireless, solar-powered surveillance unit in accordance with aspects of the present invention may be advantageously employed. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0011]     An embodiment of a tower-based surveillance unit  2  that includes various aspects of the present invention will now be described in connection with  FIGS. 1 through 5 . A telescoping tubular tower  4  is supported by a heavy concrete base  6 . Although a telescoping tubular tower configuration provides a convenient support for components of the surveillance unit, it is not critical to the invention and other tower configurations may be employed. Alternative tower configurations include, for example, a fixed tubular tower, a telescoping lattice tower, and a fixed lattice tower. If a telescoping or fixed lattice tower is employed, they should employ appropriate coverings to discourage climbing. The heavy tower base may be a non-penetrating (i.e., it does not penetrate the earth) concrete base, for example, having a weight sufficient to support the tower attached to it, while permitting transportation by suitable heavy equipment but which discourages vandalism. Although a 9,000 pound base has been found to be suitable, the weight is not critical and much lighter weights may be usable provided that they cannot be readily moved manually and provide sufficient support for the tower. For some applications, a mobile trailer mounted tower may be acceptable. The tower height is not critical, provided that it is sufficient to allow the various surveillance unit components to be mounted so as to render them difficult to access from the ground and to place the surveillance unit&#39;s observation component(s) sufficiently high to observe the site. In the example shown in the figures, the tower height is 70 feet. In practice, a tower height of at least 15 or 20 feet may be required to assure that the lowest components are not reachable from the ground. A tower height of as much as 100 feet may be usable. Although a tilt-over telescoping tubular tower is shown in the figures (see particularly  FIGS. 1 and 2 ), this is not critical to the invention and the tower need not be so configured.  
         [0012]     Components mounted on the tower include a set of solar panels  8  and an enclosure  10  for equipment associated with the solar panels. Such equipment in enclosure  10  may include, for example, one or more batteries and circuits for regulating the charging of such batteries by the solar panels. Such arrangements are well known. The equipment may also include, for example, voltage regulators and circuit breakers useful in providing power from the batteries to other components mounted on the tower. Such arrangements for providing power from solar-charged batteries are also well known. Enclosure  10  should be water-tight to protect the equipment contained within it (while providing appropriate venting for cooling, if necessary). Various cables are shown connecting the solar panels to the enclosure and connecting the enclosure to components located higher on the tower. It will be noted that the enclosure  10  is located well above the ground, about twenty feet in this example, and that no cables run downward from the enclosure. Due to their large windload, it is desirable to locate the solar panels below other components on the tower.  
         [0013]     A self-guying arrangement  12  that includes a pair of cross arms is located above the solar panels  8  in order to stiffen the tubular tower and increase its height and wind-load capability. Such a self-guying arrangement is not a necessary aspect of the present invention.  
         [0014]     At and near the top of the tower  4  and above the self-guying arrangement  12 , observation, radio communication, and, optionally, control components are mounted. In this example, a downward-viewing video camera is located within an enclosure  14  supported by an outward- and downward-extending arm  16 . The enclosure  14  includes a transparent cover  18  through which the camera may view the site. The transparent cover and camera enclosure may be impact resistant. Although only one camera support and housing is shown, multiple observation components may be employed. Although this example employs a video camera, such as a high-resolution video camera of the type used for wired CCTV applications, other types of observation components may be employed instead of or in addition to a video camera—for example, a still camera, a microphone, a motion detector, and/or lights. Two antennas are shown, a directional antenna  20  and an omni-directional antenna  22 . Various antennas and antenna configurations may be employed depending on the communications requirements. Electronics, including one or more transmitters or transceivers associated with the video camera and antennas are housed in an enclosure  24 . Various cables are shown connecting the video camera and the antennas to the enclosure. Arrangements for operating transmitters or transceivers with observation devices and associated antennas are well known. In addition to transmitting information from the observation devices, a transceiver may permit instructions to be received in order to control the one or more observation devices (e.g., to power them on and off, to control their direction, etc.). Enclosure  24  should be water-tight to protect the equipment contained within it (while providing appropriate venting for cooling, if necessary).  
         [0015]     One possible network surveillance arrangement is shown in  FIG. 6 . A first surveillance unit  2 - 1  is shown in communication with a central receiving (or receiving and transmitting) site  30 . Second and third surveillance units  2 - 2  and  2 - 3 , respectively, are shown in communication with a central receiving (or receiving and transmitting) site  32 . Maximum distances from a remote unit to a central site may be about fifteen miles, depending on terrain, antenna gain, frequency, and transmitter power. The central sites  30  and  32  are shown in communication with one another via a high speed wireless bridge. Each central site may have its own monitoring facility that includes, for example, one or more computers with monitors ( 34  and  36 ) for use by human operators, an NVR (Networked Video Recording) server  38  and a mail server  40 . The NVR server may operate in conjunction with one or more suitable video recording devices, for example, for recording video images received from remote surveillance units. Such arrangements are well known in closed circuit television (CCTV) surveillance systems. In addition to receiving observation information, such as video images, from the remote surveillance units, the central sites may also send information or instructions to ones of the remote surveillance units either automatically or under the control of one or more human operators. Such outward transmissions may, for example, turn various observation units on or off or may change their direction of observation. One of the central sites  30  is shown connected via a firewall  42 , a symmetrical DSL modem  44 , and a high speed Internet connection (DSL, T1, cable, etc.) to the Internet. Using TCP/IP technology, the remote observation information may then be available to one or more client users  46 . As noted above, the assignee of the present invention has adopted the trademarks “Wireless Surveillance over IP” and “WSoIP” for such surveillance monitoring.