The planar antenna has a dielectric substrate; an antenna main body portion including first and second antenna elements on first and second sides, respectively, of the dielectric substrate and functioning as a balanced antenna; a signal line portion including first and second feed lines on the first and second sides, respectively, and a coplanar line on the first side and formed by a signal line and the first ground conductors, the signal line connected to the first feed line; a second ground conductor on the second side and connected to the second feed line; and via holes connecting the first ground conductors to the second ground conductor provided at ends of edges of the first ground conductors facing the end of the signal line where the signal line connects to the first feed line, to allow the first and second feed lines to function as balanced transmission lines.

This invention relates in general to the field of safety devices, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to systems and methods for providing advanced warning and risk evasion when hazardous conditions exist. In one embodiment, a vicinity monitoring unit is provided for monitoring, for example, oncoming traffic near a construction zone. In some embodiments, the vicinity monitoring unit may be mounted onto a construction vehicle to monitor nearby traffic and send a warning signal if hazardous conditions exist. In some embodiments, personnel tracking units may be worn by construction workers and the personnel tracking units may be in communication with the vicinity monitoring unit. In some embodiments, a base station is provided for monitoring activities taking place in or near a construction site including monitoring the locations of various personnel and vehicles within the construction site.

This invention relates in general to the field of safety devices, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to systems and methods for providing advanced warning and risk evasion when hazardous conditions exist. In one embodiment, a vicinity monitoring unit is provided for monitoring, for example, oncoming traffic near a construction zone. In some embodiments, the vicinity monitoring unit may be mounted onto a construction vehicle to monitor nearby traffic and send a warning signal if hazardous conditions exist. In some embodiments, personnel tracking units may be worn by construction workers and the personnel tracking units may be in communication with the vicinity monitoring unit. In some embodiments, a base station is provided for monitoring activities taking place in or near a construction site including monitoring the locations of various personnel and vehicles within the construction site.

The present invention is directed to system and method of processing meteorological data. The system receives meteorological data corresponding to a geographic region for a storm event. A hail data indicator pair comprising a first hail data indicator and a second hail data indicator is selected, with hail data indicators being meteorological data which directly or indirectly indicates hail activity.

A storm event distribution is generated using the hail data indicator pair comprising the steps of configuring ranges for each of the hail data indicators, tabulating the number of occurrences of data points from the storm event data within the intersecting ranges of the first hail data indicator and the second hail data indicator, and calculating the proportion of occurrences within the intersecting ranges.

A hail intensity number display matrix is calculated for each of the second hail data indicator ranges using the storm event distribution comprising the steps of generating a summation of the proportional occurrences of the second hail data indicator over the first hail data indicator ranges, yielding a hail intensity number display for the respective range.

The instantaneous second hail data indicator value from the meteorological data of the corresponding time period and geographic location is retrieved, and the hail intensity display number from the hail intensity number display matrix using the instantaneous second hail data indicator value is further retrieved. A data packet of the hail intensity display numbers, each of the hail intensity display numbers corresponding to a local geographic point is generated.

Methods and computer-readable media are described herein for providing an automated validation of vehicle positioning and corresponding error notification. According to various aspects, a first position of a vehicle may be determined using a first positioning system. A second position of the vehicle may be determined using a second positioning system. An offset between the first and second positions of the vehicle may be determined. If the offset exceeds a threshold offset, a notification may be provided to indicate a potential error in the position of the vehicle.

Methods and computer-readable media are described herein for providing an automated validation of vehicle positioning and corresponding error notification. According to various aspects, a first position of a vehicle may be determined using a first positioning system. A second position of the vehicle may be determined using a second positioning system. An offset between the first and second positions of the vehicle may be determined. If the offset exceeds a threshold offset, a notification may be provided to indicate a potential error in the position of the vehicle.

A method for analyzing a level gauge, comprising storing in a storage device a consecutive sequence of data triplets including a time stamp, a filling level measurement, and an echo curve information, plotting a trend line including filling level as a function of time, graphically indicating a pointer in the trend line, displaying an echo curve corresponding to a point in time initially represented by the pointer, receiving user input indicating a set of points along a section of the trend line selected for analysis, and for each point in the set of points, moving the pointer to this point and replacing contents of the second graphical element, such that an echo curve displayed in the second graphical element always corresponds to a point in time represented by a current position of the pointer. The invention enables a user to analyze operation of the level gauge during a time period corresponding to the selected trend line section.

A method for analyzing a level gauge, comprising storing in a storage device a consecutive sequence of data triplets including a time stamp, a filling level measurement, and an echo curve information, plotting a trend line including filling level as a function of time, graphically indicating a pointer in the trend line, displaying an echo curve corresponding to a point in time initially represented by the pointer, receiving user input indicating a set of points along a section of the trend line selected for analysis, and for each point in the set of points, moving the pointer to this point and replacing contents of the second graphical element, such that an echo curve displayed in the second graphical element always corresponds to a point in time represented by a current position of the pointer. The invention enables a user to analyze operation of the level gauge during a time period corresponding to the selected trend line section.

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) technology enables the detection of hidden objects that are underground or behind walls or other such surfaces. Embodiments of the present invention provide a realistic visualization of the hidden objects through so-called augmented reality techniques. Thanks to such visualization, interaction with hidden objects that are hazardous or delicate is easier and less prone to errors. Also, GPR-based data collection can be performed in non-real time, with object visualization occurring at a later time based on stored data that can also comprise annotations. This capability provides greater flexibility for scheduling activities related to the hidden objects.

Please make the following amendments to the abstract. Material to be inserted in replacement paragraphs or sections is in bold and underline, and material to be deleted is in and/or in if the deletion would be difficult to see.

This disclosure aims to accurately track a tracking target regardless of a surrounding environment. A tracking processor may be provided, which includes a tracking processing module configured to perform processing of tracking a tracking target, and a congestion degree calculating submodule configured to calculate a degree of congestion of objects located within an area including an estimated position of the tracking target. The tracking processing module may perform the processing of tracking the tracking target based on a value of the congestion degree calculated by the congestion degree calculating submodule.