System and Method for Identifying, Validating

US007305324B2

(12) Ulllted States Patent

(10) Patent N0.:

Beshears et a1. (54)

(75)

US 7,305,324 B2

(45) Date of Patent:

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING, VALIDATING, WEIGHING AND CHARACTERIZING MOVING 0R

5,646,376 A 5,894,112 A 6,459,050 B1

STATIONARY VEHICLES AND CARGO

7,104,453 B1 *

Inventors: David L. Beshears, Knoxville, TN

Dec. 4, 2007

7/1997 K1611 4/1999 K1611 10/2002 M616 6161. 9/2006 Zhu 6161. ............ .. 235/46214

2002/0049520 A1*

4/2002

2004/0021579 A1 *

2/2004 Oursler et al. ....... .. 340/87007

Mays ........................ .. 701/19

(US); Stephen G. Batsell, Oak Ridge, TN (US); Robert K. Abercrombie, Knoxville, TN (US); Matthew B-

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Scudiere, Oak Ridge, TN (US); cli?'ord P_ White’ Seymour’ TN (Us)

Mississippi Valley State University Computational Sciences and Engineering Division, Weigh In Motion (WIM) With Rational Rose,

(73) Assigneez UT_Battelle, LLC’ Oak Ridge, TN (US)

Aug. 8, 2003, Department of Energy Research Alliance for Minori t1es (RAM) Program.* Coats, Julius, “Weigh-in-Motion Technology for Military Opera

(*)

Hons’: TR News’ NO‘ 231’ Mar"Apr' 2004’ pp‘ 1648' * Cited by examiner

Notice:

Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35

U.S.C. 154(b) by 367 days. Primary Examinerilohn BarloW

(21) Appl. No.: 10/998,305

Assistant ExamineriAditya Bhat (74) Attorney, Agent, or FirmiKirk A. Wilson

(22) Filed:

Nov. 24, 2004 57

(65)

Prior Publication Data Us 2006/0111868 A1

(51)

ABSTRACT

( )

May 25’ 2006

An asset identi?cation and information infrastructure man

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agement (ABM) device having an automated identi?cation

G01G 7/00

(200601)

technology system (AIT), a Transportation Coordinators’

(52) us CL

702/173

(58)

702/173

Field of Classi?cation Search ............... ..

See application ?le for complete search history. (56)

References Cited

Automated lnformatlon for Movements System 11 (TC AIMS H), a Weigh-in-motion system (WlM-ll), and an Automated Air Load Planning system (AALPS) all in elec tronic communication for measuring and calculating actual asset characteristics, either statically or in-motion, and fur ther calculating an actual load plan.

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 5,050,090 A *

9/1991 Golub et al. .............. .. 700/217

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SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING, VALIDATING, WEIGHING AND CHARACTERIZING MOVING OR STATIONARY VEHICLES AND CARGO

Currently, Army units use portable individual Wheel Weight or ?xed in-ground static scales, tape measures, and

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

support of military and humanitarian operations. The pro cess of manually Weighing and measuring all vehicles and cargo subject to these transshipment operations is time consuming, labor-intensive, and most importantly is prone

calculators to determine vehicle axle Weights, total vehicle and cargo Weight and center of balance for vehicles and cargo to be transshipped via railcar, ship, or airlifted in

This invention Was made With Government support under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 awarded to UT-Bat

to human errors that can result in safety hazards and inac

telle, LLC, by the US. Department of Energy. The Govem

curate data. The identi?cation, Weight and center of balance information on each piece of cargo and vehicle must be

ment has certain rights in this invention.

manually entered into logistics load planning systems intro ducing the high likelihood of human key-stroke error into the deployment preparation process. Incorrect information introduced into the Defense Transportation System (DTS)

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to US. Pat. No. 5,998,741

can negatively impact onWard movement of cargo and

“System and method for accurately Weighting and charac teriZing moving vehicles” issued Dec. 7, 1999, and US. Pat. No. 6,459,050 “Method and apparatus for converting static in-ground vehicle scales into Weigh-in-motion systems”, issued Oct. 1, 2002; all herein incorporated by reference.

vehicles in theater, needlessly delaying essential supplies 20

services cannot be overstated. In austere areas of operations, scales may not be available at all, and the vehicle and cargo Weight and center of balance must be estimated. This process is even more susceptible to human error. The lack of

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 25

Weighing vehicles and other cargo before loading them

deployment of US. military forces. Rolling stock and other 30

Weight in the aircraft. The Weighing and measuring of equipment and cargo are vital to the safety of the aircraft, the

ally enter it into the AALPS system. Each of these steps in the process is prone to human error. By establishing auto

mated data exchange links between (1) WIM-II and the vehicle RFID tags, and (2) WIM-II device and AALPS,

areas.

vehicle ID and WIM-II data could be automatically trans ferred to AALPS, thus eliminating those human errors and at the same time expediting the process.

Military procedure requires all equipment to be Weighed before loading, Without guesswork or estimates. Each loca

tion requires speci?cally recalculating Weight and center of

In the private sector, considerable effort has been made by the federal and state transportation agencies and motor carriers to increase the ef?ciency of enforcement operations

at the highWay Weigh-stations. For example, operational 45

tests and regional deployments such as Advantage I-75, Heavy Vehicle Electronic License Plate Program (HELP) Crescent project, Prepass and Commercial Vehicle Informa tion Systems and NetWorks (CVISN) are making great strides toWards improving the productivity of both enforce

50

ment of?cers and motor carriers at Weigh stations. One of the

Wheel-Weigh manual portable scales and tape measures are

used to Weigh military equipment and to determine the center of balance. Individual Wheel-Weigh scales are placed under each Wheel, and all Wheels must be on the scales at the

signi?cant technical advances that have helped lead to these

same time, to ensure accuracy.

improvements is the development of Weigh-in-motion sys tems. In conjunction With other technologies, Weigh-in

After Weighing the individual Wheels or Wheel sets, the next step is to measure the distance betWeen the axles,

calculate the center of balance, the individual axle Weights, and the total vehicle Weight. The Air Force loadmaster uses the center-of-balance data and total vehicle Weight to plan a speci?c load for each aircraft. The process is time-consuming, exhausting, and prone to error, especially under adverse Weather conditions. Placing the individual Wheel-Weigh manual portable scales under the Wheels of the vehicle also presents a safety haZard. The process requires 6 to 10 soldiers. The data acquired is used by the loadmaster to determine the loading of the aircraft. No Air Force pilot Will take off (and should not) Without clearance from the loadmaster, Who is responsible for air

craft safety With respect to loading.

The Army identi?es the vehicles and manually enters the data into Transportation Coordinators’ Automated Informa tion for Movements System II (TC-AIMS II) and then manually calculates vehicle axle Weights and balance data and manually records and transfers this data to Automated

Air Load Planning System (AALPS) personnel Who manu

creW, and any passengers. Errors can be fatal. In-ground static scales and tape measures are used for Weighing and determining center of balance and are available at most air bases in the United States, but not in remote or undeveloped

balance, and taking into account the effects of altitude, temperature, runWay length, and aircraft type. US. military forces today are deployed globally and rapidly, often in areas With little infrastructure, rarely includ ing an in-ground static Weigh scale. For Wheeled vehicles, if an in-ground ?xed Weigh scale is not available, individual

a standardized airlift-Weighing system for joint service use also creates redundant Weighing and manual data entry requirements at the cost of scarce resources and time.

onto aircraft in a theater of operations is critical to the

cargo must be Weighed and measured accurately to calculate the center of balance of each item for proper distribution of

and equipment to the end-user/ soldier. The importance of having correct, timely information in the DTS for use by all

motion systems are used to screen out overWeight commer 55

cial vehicles approaching the Weigh stations. Unfortunately, a large majority of carriers are not participating in the programs such as Advantage I-75 and are still required to

stop at the Weigh-stations. Furthermore, although existing commercially available WIM systems can be use as screen 60

ing devices they do not provide the accuracy required (