JP2009058255A - Laser isolation measuring system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a laser isolation measuring system capable of displaying a location of an obstacle identified based on location observation data on a static image. <P>SOLUTION: The laser isolation measuring system identifies a location of a power line and a location of obstacles thereto based on location observation data including data acquired by a laser distance-measuring section. A digital still camera is arranged with its imaging range pickup in a predetermined relationship to the scanning range by the laser distance-measuring device. The static image from the digital still camera is associated with the acquired data based on time information, etc. Thereby, a location of the obstacle identified based on the location observation data can be displayed on an image based on the static image. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a laser separation measurement system that specifies a position of a transmission line and surrounding obstacles using a laser distance measuring device mounted on an aircraft.

  For maintenance work of a transmission line, a laser separation measurement system that identifies the position of an obstacle such as a transmission line and surrounding trees and measures the distance between them is used.

  A conventional laser separation measurement system includes an aircraft-mounted device mounted on an aircraft such as a helicopter, and a data processing device that analyzes and processes position measurement data acquired by the aircraft-mounted device on the ground.

  The aircraft-mounted device includes a laser distance measuring unit. The laser distance measuring unit irradiates pulse laser light from above the power transmission line toward the power transmission line and its periphery, and detects the reflected light. As a result, the laser distance measurement unit acquires scanner angle measurement data indicating the irradiation direction (scanning angle) of the pulse laser beam and laser distance measurement data indicating the time from pulse laser beam irradiation to reflected light detection.

  The aircraft-mounted device includes a GPS unit and an inertial measurement unit. The GPS unit detects the position of the aircraft and the inertial measurement unit detects the attitude of the aircraft with high accuracy. Thereby, a GPS part and an inertia measurement part acquire the position data and attitude | position data regarding an aircraft.

  The airborne device further includes a video camera. The video camera captures an image of the scanning range of the laser distance measuring unit and acquires imaging data.

  The aircraft-mounted device associates data acquired by the laser distance measuring unit, the GPS unit, and the inertial measurement unit with each other using time information, and stores and holds the data as position observation data. Also, the same time information is embedded in the image data from the video camera and stored.

  The data processing device specifies the position of the transmission line and the position of an obstacle such as a tree based on the position observation data acquired by the aircraft-mounted device, and calculates the distance between them. Then, an obstacle whose distance from the transmission line is equal to or less than a predetermined value is specified as an obstacle to be excluded. In order to visually check the identified obstacle, the imaging data is retrieved based on the time information and displayed on the display. Thereby, the operator can confirm the obstacle to be excluded on the image (for example, discrimination of the tree species) (for example, refer to Patent Document 1 or 2).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-23263 Japanese Patent Application No. 7-43109

  In a conventional laser isolation measurement system, an image showing data arrangement in a virtual three-dimensional space obtained based on position observation data and an image based on imaging data are arranged in parallel on the display screen, and the operator Obstacles are confirmed by comparing images.

  However, position observation data usually includes variations and errors. In addition, the image data from the video camera has a low resolution and includes blurring due to the movement of the aircraft. Therefore, there is a problem in the comparison confirmation by the operator that there is a case where the position of the obstacle is wrong and the tree species or the like cannot be specified.

  Therefore, the present invention uses a digital still camera that is less likely to be shaken due to the movement of an aircraft, and displays the position of an obstacle identified based on position observation data on an image acquired by the digital camera, thereby achieving high accuracy. The objective is to provide a laser isolation measurement system that can visually check the position of obstacles and identify tree species.

  The present invention provides a digital still camera in a laser remote measurement system that specifies a position of a power transmission line and a position of an obstacle based on position observation data including acquired data from a laser distance measuring unit, the imaging range of which is Based on the position observation data by providing a predetermined relationship with the scanning range of the laser range finder and associating the still image data from the digital still camera with the acquired data based on time information The position of the identified obstacle can be displayed on an image based on the still image data.

  According to the present invention, the position of the obstacle specified based on the position observation data can be displayed on the image based on the still image data from the digital still camera with high resolution and little blur, so that the obstacle can be displayed. The position can be visually confirmed with high accuracy.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a laser separation measuring system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The illustrated laser separation measurement system is mounted on an aircraft such as a helicopter, and obtains position observation data relating to a power transmission line on the ground and surrounding objects from above, and position observation data acquired by the aircraft installation apparatus 10. And a data processing device 20 that performs analysis processing on the ground.

  The aircraft-mounted device 10 includes a laser distance measuring unit 11, a GPS / IMU (Global Positioning System / Inertial Measurement Unit) unit 12, a digital still camera unit 13, a control unit 14, and a data recording unit 15.

  The laser distance measuring unit 11 scans while irradiating the laser pulse light, and receives the reflected light. At that time, the laser distance measurement unit 11 acquires scanner angle measurement data representing the irradiation direction (scanning angle) and laser distance measurement data representing the time required from the irradiation of the laser pulse light to the reception of the reflected light.

  The GPS / IMU unit 12 receives a signal from a GPS satellite to determine the position of the laser distance measuring unit 11 (more precisely, its own), detects the attitude of the aircraft, and obtains position / attitude data. By using KGPS (Kinematic GPS) that uses the phase difference of signals from GPS satellites as the GPS / IMU unit 12, more accurate position / posture data can be obtained.

  The digital still camera unit 13 includes a high-resolution camera having a resolution of several million (for example, 2 million) pixels or more. The digital still camera unit 13 is installed so that the imaging range has a specific relationship with the scanning range of the laser distance measuring unit 11. For example, the digital still camera unit 13 is installed such that the center of the photographing range is a laser irradiation position when the laser scanning angle of the laser distance measuring unit 11 is 0 degrees (directly below the aircraft). The digital still camera unit 13 repeats imaging at a constant cycle (for example, 1 second) to obtain still image data.

  The control unit 14 controls the laser distance measuring unit 11, the GPS / IMU unit 12, and the digital still camera unit 13, and obtains scanner angle measurement data, laser distance measurement data, position / posture data, and still image data in synchronization. Like that. Note that the number of still image data acquisition times per unit time of the digital still camera unit 13 may be smaller than the number of other data acquisition times. In other words, while the digital still camera unit 13 obtains still image data once, the laser distance measuring unit 11 and the GPS / IMU unit 12 acquire scan data several times to several tens of times. Then, the control unit 14 records the obtained data in the data recording unit 15 in association with each other. These data are associated with each other using time information indicating the data acquisition time (for example, GPS time information included in the position data from the GPS / IMU unit 12). The control unit 14 further controls the operation of the entire laser distance measuring device.

  The data recording unit 15 records data associated with each other under the control of the control unit 14. The scanner angle measurement data, laser distance measurement data, and position / posture data associated with each other constitute position observation data.

  The data processing device 20 includes a data reading unit 21, a data processing unit 22, a display unit 23, and an input unit 24. The data processing device 20 is realized by a computer such as a personal computer, for example.

  The data reading unit 21 reads position observation data and still image data recorded in the data recording unit 15. The data reading unit 21 may be a reading device that reads data from a recording medium on which data is written by the data recording unit 15. Further, a device that reads data from the data recording unit 15 by communicating with the data recording unit 15 by wire or wireless may be used.

  The data processing unit 22 performs arithmetic processing on the position observation data read by the data reading unit 21. In addition, the data processing unit 22 receives an input from the input unit 24 as necessary, and causes the display unit 23 to display a processing result and the like.

  The display unit 23 displays the processing result of the data processing unit 22 under the control of the data processing unit 22.

  The input unit 24 receives an input operation by an operator and delivers the input command and information to the data processing unit 22.

  Next, the operation of the laser separation measuring system in FIG. 1 will be described.

  For example, an aircraft equipped with the aircraft-mounted device 10 flies along the power transmission line obliquely above the power transmission line to be measured.

  The laser ranging unit 11 periodically generates laser pulse light under the control of the control unit 14 and scans the laser pulse light so as to cross the power transmission line. The laser distance measuring unit 11 also detects the reflected light of the irradiated laser pulse light and measures the time from irradiation to reception of the reflected light. In this way, the laser distance measuring unit 11 acquires the scanner angle measurement data indicating the direction in which the laser pulse light is irradiated and the laser distance measurement data indicating the time from when the laser pulse light is irradiated until the reflected light is received. . The laser distance measurement unit 11 sequentially outputs the acquired scanner angle measurement data and laser distance measurement data to the control unit 14.

  On the other hand, the GPS / IMU unit 12 acquires position data representing the position of the laser ranging unit 11 and attitude data representing the attitude of the aircraft in synchronization with the laser ranging unit 11 and outputs them to the control unit 14.

  The digital still camera unit 13 acquires still image data in synchronization with the 1 / N (N: natural number) cycle of the operation of the laser distance measuring unit 11.

  The control unit 14 associates the data output from the laser ranging unit 11, the GPS / IMU unit 12, and the digital still camera unit 13 with each other based on the acquisition time, and stores them in the data recording unit 15 as position observation data and still image data. Record.

  The data recorded in the data recording unit 15 is then read by the data reading unit 21 and sent to the data processing unit 22.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the data processing unit 22. Hereinafter, the operation of the data processing unit 22 will be described with reference to FIG.

  After the start process and the initial setting, the data processing unit 22 calculates the position / attitude of the aircraft using the position / attitude data included in the position observation data read by the data reading unit 21 (step S201).

  Next, the data processing unit 22 determines the position of the measurement point (laser pulse light reflection point) based on the calculated position / attitude of the aircraft, the scanner angle measurement data and the laser distance measurement data included in the position observation data. Calculate (step S202). That is, the data processing unit 22 creates measurement point data indicating the position of the measurement point in the three-dimensional space. Then, the data processing unit 22 arranges the calculated measurement points in the virtual three-dimensional space.

  Next, the data processing unit 22 extracts only those corresponding to the power transmission line from the obtained positions of the measurement points, and specifies the power transmission line. Then, for each measurement point corresponding to the power transmission line, it is determined whether there is an obstacle (tree) nearby (steps S203 and S204). The determination is made based on whether or not the distance between the measurement point corresponding to the transmission line and the measurement point corresponding to the obstacle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance.

  If it is determined that there is an obstacle (YES in step S204), the still image data acquired at the time closest to the time when the position observation data corresponding to the measurement point is obtained is searched (step S205). Then, the data processing unit 22 projects the virtual three-dimensional space on the image based on the still image data (combines the data) based on the position of the aircraft at the time when the still image data was acquired (step S206). Thereby, the measurement points arranged in the virtual three-dimensional space are specified on the image based on the still image data. The data processing unit 22 displays the result on the display unit 23 (step S207). In this way, the position of the obstacle specified based on the position observation data is displayed on the image captured by the digital still camera.

  If it is determined that there is no obstacle (NO in step S204), the data processing unit 22 ends the operation.

  As described above, in the laser separation measurement system according to the present embodiment, the position of the obstacle specified based on the position observation data can be displayed on the image captured by the digital still camera. Thereby, the operator can visually confirm the tree which is the obstruction of the power transmission line without error. As a result, obstacles can be quickly identified at the obstacle removal (tree felling) site, and work efficiency and cost reduction can be realized.

  Although the present invention has been described with reference to one embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, although the aircraft mounting apparatus is used in the above embodiment, the position of the obstacle can be displayed on the image similarly even when laser ranging and imaging are performed from the ground.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the laser separation measuring system which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of the data processing part contained in the laser isolation measurement system of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Airplane installation apparatus 11 Laser ranging part 12 GPS / IMU part 13 Digital still camera part 14 Control part 15 Data recording part 20 Data processing apparatus 21 Data reading part 22 Data processing part 23 Display part 24 Input part

Claims (5)

In the laser distance measurement system that identifies the position of the transmission line and the position of the obstacle based on the position observation data including the acquired data from the laser distance measurement unit,
A digital still camera is provided such that the imaging range thereof has a predetermined relationship with the scanning range of the laser distance measuring device,
By associating still image data from the digital still camera with the acquired data using time information, the position of the obstacle specified based on the position observation data is displayed on the image based on the still image data. A laser separation measuring system characterized in that it can be displayed.   The laser distance measuring system according to claim 1, wherein the digital still camera repeats imaging at a constant cycle.   3. The laser separation measurement system according to claim 1, wherein the time information is GPS time information. An aircraft-mounted device that includes the laser ranging unit and the digital camera, and that acquires the position observation data and the still image data;
A data processing device that displays the position of the obstacle on an image based on the still image data based on the position observation data and the still image data;
The laser separation measuring system according to claim 1, 2, or 3.   The laser separation measurement system according to claim 4, wherein the aircraft-mounted device further includes a GPS receiver and an attitude measurement device.

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