WO2017168620A1

WO2017168620A1 - Unmanned aircraft flight control system, method, and program

Info

Publication number: WO2017168620A1
Application number: PCT/JP2016/060337
Authority: WO
Inventors: 俊二菅谷
Original assignee: 株式会社オプティム
Priority date: 2016-03-30
Filing date: 2016-03-30
Publication date: 2017-10-05

Abstract

[Problem] To cause an unmanned aircraft to fly to the location of a sensor that satisfies a predetermined condition. [Solution] This unmanned aircraft flight control system comprises: a reception means for receiving sensing data from sensors; a determination means for determining whether or not sensing data satisfies a predetermined condition; and a flight control means for causing an unmanned aircraft to fly to the location of a sensor corresponding to sensing data that is determined to satisfy the predetermined condition.

Description

Unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system, method and program

The present invention relates to a system, method, and program for controlling the flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle.

In recent years, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) is being considered. For example, it is considered to fly an unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a camera, a sensor or the like to a disaster area to check the state of the disaster area or to transport goods.

Patent Document 1 discloses a control system having a ground control device, a control unmanned aircraft that can communicate with the ground control device, and a reconnaissance unmanned aircraft that can communicate with the control unmanned aircraft.

JP 2001-283400 A

Conventionally, for example, when an abnormal value is generated in sensor data at a remote location and the unmanned aircraft is caused to fly to the remote location, it is necessary for the operator to perform the flight operation of the unmanned aircraft. This is a heavy burden on the pilot.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system, method, and program capable of automatically flying an unmanned aerial vehicle in a remote place that meets a predetermined condition.

An unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a reception unit that receives sensing data from a sensor, a determination unit that determines whether the sensing data satisfies a predetermined condition, and the determination unit includes a condition Flight control means for flying the unmanned aerial vehicle to the position of the sensor corresponding to the sensing data determined to satisfy the above.

The unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system according to an embodiment may include a registration unit that registers the position of the sensor. The above-described flight control means may cause the unmanned aircraft to fly to a position where a sensor corresponding to the sensing data determined by the determination means to satisfy the condition is registered.

The unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system according to an embodiment may include position detection means for detecting the position of the sensor. The above-described flight control means may cause the unmanned aircraft to fly to the detected position of the sensor corresponding to the sensing data determined by the determining means to satisfy the condition.

The above-described flight control means may cause the unmanned airplane to fly so as to pass through the positions of a plurality of sensors respectively corresponding to the plurality of sensing data determined by the determining means to satisfy the condition.

The unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system according to an embodiment may include sensor information that associates the type of sensing data with the type of unmanned aircraft. The above-described flight control means may cause the type of unmanned aircraft associated with the type of sensing data satisfying a predetermined condition in the sensor information to fly to the position of the sensor.

The above-described flight control means may set an operation after arrival at the sensor position to an unmanned aircraft that flies to the sensor position.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system, method, and program capable of automatically flying an unmanned aerial vehicle in a remote place that meets a predetermined condition.

The figure explaining the operation | movement outline | summary of an unmanned aircraft flight control system. The figure which shows the structural example of a control system. The figure which shows the structural example of a sensor management table. The figure which shows the structural example of flight control information. The flowchart which shows an example of a process of a control system.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The following description is an example of the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to this.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the operation outline of the unmanned aircraft flight control system 1.

The unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system 1 includes a control system 10, at least one sensor 4, and at least one unmanned aircraft 6.

The control system 10 can transmit and receive data to and from the sensor 4 and the unmanned aircraft 6 through a predetermined communication network 8. The communication network 8 is, for example, an Internet network, a LAN (Local Area Network), or a VPN (Virtual Private Network).

The sensor 4 senses (measures) various physical quantities such as sound, light, temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed, current, and voltage, and sends the sensing data (measurement data) to the control system 10 via the communication network 8. Send.

The control system 10 determines whether or not the sensing data received from the sensor 4 satisfies a predetermined condition. If the determination result is affirmative, the unmanned aircraft 6 is caused to fly to the position of the sensor 4. The control system 10 may determine the type of the unmanned aircraft 6 to fly according to the type of the sensor 4 that transmitted the sensing data that satisfies the condition.

For example, when the sensor 4 measures the dry state (humidity) of the land, the control system 10 may fly the unmanned aircraft 6 for water spraying to the position of the sensor 4 and spray water. .

For example, when the sensor 4 senses suspicious sound or light, the control system 10 may cause the unmanned aircraft 6 for video shooting to fly to the position of the sensor 4 and take a video.

Thereby, even if the operator does not operate the unmanned aircraft 6 to the position of the sensor 4, the unmanned aircraft 6 is automatically caused to fly to the position of the sensor 4 at a necessary timing, and necessary work is performed near the position of the sensor 4. Can be made. Details will be described below.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of the control system 10.

The control system 10 includes, as hardware, a CPU 40, a memory 42, a storage 46, a network I / F 44, and an internal bus 48 that interconnects these devices.

The network I / F 44 controls data transmitted to and received from the sensor 4 and the unmanned aircraft 6 via the communication network 8. The network I / F 44 may be a wired I / F or a wireless I / F. The network I / F 44 may be, for example, a NIC (Network Interface Card).

The CPU 40 implements various functions of the control system 10 by executing a program stored in the memory 42.

The memory 42 stores programs and data for realizing the functions of the control system 10. The memory 42 is, for example, a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), SRAM (Static Random Access Memory), or the like.

The memory 42 may store a reception unit 110, a flight determination unit 112, a flight control unit 114, a registration unit 116, and a position detection unit 118 as programs. These programs may be held in the storage 46 and read to the memory 42 as appropriate. Each program will be described later.

The storage 46 stores programs and / or data used in the control system 10. The storage 46 is, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), an SSD (Solid State Drive), or the like. The storage 46 may store a sensor management table 300 as data.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of the sensor management table 300.

The sensor management table 300 manages information on each sensor 4. The sensor management table 300 may include sensor ID 302, sensor position 304, sensor type 306, sensing data 308, condition 310, and unmanned aircraft type 312 as data items.

In the sensor ID 302, information for uniquely identifying the sensor 4 is stored.

In the sensor position 304, information indicating the position of the sensor 4 with the sensor ID 302 is stored. The sensor position 304 may store longitude and latitude (that is, absolute coordinates), and may store a direction and distance (that is, relative position) from a predetermined position (for example, the position of the unmanned aircraft 6).

In the sensor type 306, the type of the sensor 4 with the sensor ID 302 is stored. The sensor type 306 may store, for example, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, an air temperature sensor, a weather sensor, a wind sensor, a voltage sensor, and the like.

The sensing data 308 stores data measured by the sensor 4 with the sensor ID 302 (that is, sensing data). The sensing data 308 may store, for example, temperature, humidity, temperature, weather, and the like. That is, the data stored in the sensing data 308 may be different depending on the sensor type 306. The sensing data 308 may also store the date and time when the sensing data was measured.

The condition 310 stores the condition of the sensing data 308 for the unmanned aircraft 6 to start. For example, when the sensing data 308 satisfies the corresponding condition 310, the unmanned aircraft 6 may be started toward the sensor position 304. The condition 310 may store a plurality of conditions. For example, the condition 310 may store a condition such as “A1 or more and less than A2”.

The function type of the unmanned aircraft 6 is stored in the unmanned aircraft type 312. The unmanned aerial vehicle type 312 may store, for example, an unmanned aerial vehicle for spraying water, an unmanned aircraft for photographing, an unmanned aircraft for spraying agricultural chemicals, and the like. One unmanned aircraft 6 may have a plurality of functions.

Referring back to FIG. 2, each program will be described.

The receiving means 110 receives sensing data from the sensor 4 via the communication network 8. The receiving unit 110 may store the received sensing data in the sensing data 308 corresponding to the sensor ID 302 of the sensor data transmission source in the sensor management table 300.

The registration unit 116 registers the position of the sensor 4 in the sensor position 304 of the sensor management table 300. The registration unit 116 further includes the sensor management table 300 for the type of the sensor 4, the conditions for starting the unmanned aircraft 6 with respect to the sensing data measured by the sensor 4, and the type of the unmanned aircraft to be started when the conditions are satisfied. The sensor type 306, the condition 310, and the unmanned aircraft type 312 may be registered. Note that the administrator may manually register such information in the sensor management table 300 via the registration unit 116.

The position detecting means 118 detects the position of the sensor 4. The position detection unit 118 may detect the position of the sensor 4 based on the GPS information received from the sensor 4. Information for detecting the position of the sensor 4 is not limited to GPS information. For example, the position detection unit 118 may detect the position of the sensor 4 based on a signal transmitted and received by the sensor 4 with the radio base station. The position detection unit 118 may register the detected position of the sensor 4 in the sensor position 304 of the sensor management table 300. When the sensor 4 moves, the position detection unit 118 may periodically detect the position of the sensor 4 and update the sensor position 304 of the sensor management table 300.

Flight determination means 112 determines whether or not the sensing data satisfies a predetermined condition. The flight determination unit 112 refers to the sensor management table 300 and determines whether the sensing data 308 satisfies a condition 310 corresponding to the sensing data.

For example, the flight determination unit 112 refers to the record of the sensor ID 302 “1” in the sensor management table 300, and the sensing data 308 “80 ° C.” related to the sensor type 306 “temperature” is the condition 310 “50 ° C. or higher” (that is, It may be determined that the condition of a predetermined threshold or more is satisfied.

For example, the flight determination unit 112 refers to the record of the sensor ID 302 “2” in the sensor management table 300, and the sensing data 308 “30%” related to the sensor type 306 “temperature” is the condition 310 “less than 50%” (that is, It may be determined that the condition (below the predetermined threshold) is satisfied (that is, less than the predetermined threshold).

For example, the flight determination unit 112 refers to the record of the sensor ID 302 “4” in the sensor management table 300, and the sensing data 308 “rain” relating to the sensor type 306 “weather” does not satisfy the condition 310 “clear”. You may judge.

The flight control unit 114 causes the unmanned aircraft 6 to fly to the position of the sensor 4 that has transmitted the sensing data when the flight determination unit 112 determines that the sensing data satisfies the condition. For example, the flight control unit 114 determines that the sensing data 308 corresponding to the sensor ID 302 “1” in the sensor management table 300 satisfies the condition 310 in the flight determination unit 112, so the unmanned aircraft type 312 “A” May be caused to fly to the sensor position 304 “X1 degrees east longitude, Y1 degrees north latitude”.

When the flight determination unit 112 determines that each of the plurality of sensing data 308 satisfies the condition 310, the unmanned aircraft 6 may be caused to fly so as to pass through the plurality of sensor positions 304 respectively corresponding to the sensing data 308. . Further, the flight control means 114 may set an action after arriving at the sensor position 304 for the unmanned aerial vehicle 6 flying to the sensor position 304. These may be realized by the flight control unit 114 setting the flight control information 400 to the unmanned aircraft 6 and the unmanned aircraft 6 autonomously navigating based on the set flight control information 400. Hereinafter, further description will be given with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration example of the flight control information 400.

The flight control information 400 may be information that associates the order 402, the sensor ID 404, the sensor position 406, and the action 408.

The order 402 indicates the order of the sensor position 406 through which the unmanned aerial vehicle 6 passes.

Sensor ID 404 and sensor position 406 are the same as sensor ID 302 and sensor position 304 in FIG.

Action 408 indicates an action to be performed when the unmanned aerial vehicle 6 arrives at the sensor position 406.

For example, the flight determination unit 112 determines that the sensing data 308 of the sensor IDs 302 “1”, “2”, “10”, and “13” satisfy the condition 310 from the sensor management table 300 of FIG. To do. In this case, the flight control means 114 generates flight control information 400 that causes the unmanned aircraft 6 to fly in the order of sensor IDs 404 “1”, “10”, “2”, and “13”, for example, as shown in FIG. It's okay. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, for example, the flight control unit 114 “spreads agricultural chemicals” on the unmanned aircraft 6 at the sensor position 406 of the sensor ID 404 “1”, and “takes a picture at the sensor position 406 of the sensor ID 404“ 10 ”. The flight control information 400 for “spraying water” at the sensor position 406 of the sensor ID 402 “2” may be generated.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of processing of the control system 10.

The receiving means 110 receives the sensing data from the sensor 4 and stores it in the sensing data 308 corresponding to the sensor ID 302 in the sensor management table 300 (step S100).

The flight determination unit 112 refers to the sensor management table 300 and determines whether there is sensing data 308 that satisfies the condition 310 (step S102). If there is sensing data 308 that satisfies the condition 310 (step S102: YES), the flight determination unit 112 proceeds to step S104, and if not (step S102: NO), the process ends.

The flight control means 114 identifies the sensor position 304 associated with the sensing data 308 that satisfies the condition 310 from the sensor management table 300 (step S104).

Further, the flight control means 114 specifies the type 312 of the unmanned aerial vehicle 6 associated with the sensing data 308 that satisfies the condition 310 from the sensor management table 300 (step S106).

The flight control means 114 generates flight control information 400 including the identified sensor position 304, and registers the generated flight control information 400 in the unmanned aircraft 6 belonging to the identified unmanned aircraft type 312 (step S108). ). The unmanned aerial vehicle 6 may autonomously sail to the sensor position 406 included in the set flight control information 400 and execute an action 408 associated with the sensor position 406.

The embodiment described above is an example for explaining the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to the embodiment. Those skilled in the art can implement the present invention in various other modes without departing from the gist of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Unmanned aircraft flight control system 4 ... Sensor 6 ... Unmanned aircraft 10 ... Control system 110 ... Receiving means 112 ... Flight determination means 114 ... Flight control means 116 ... Registration means 118 ... Position detection means 300 ... Sensor management table 400 ... Flight control information

Claims

Receiving means for receiving sensing data of the sensor;
Determination means for determining whether or not the sensing data satisfies a predetermined condition;
Flight control means for flying an unmanned aerial vehicle to the position of the sensor corresponding to the sensing data determined to satisfy the condition;
An unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system comprising:
Registration means for registering the position of the sensor;
The unmanned aircraft flight control system according to claim 1, wherein the flight control unit causes the unmanned aircraft to fly to a position of a sensor corresponding to sensing data determined to satisfy the condition.
Having position detecting means for detecting the position of the sensor;
The unmanned aircraft flight control system according to claim 1, wherein the flight control unit causes the unmanned aircraft to fly to a position of a sensor corresponding to sensing data determined to satisfy the condition.
The said flight control means makes an unmanned airplane fly so as to pass through the positions of a plurality of sensors respectively corresponding to a plurality of sensing data determined to satisfy the condition. Unmanned aircraft flight control system.
2. The flight control unit according to claim 1, wherein the unmanned aircraft associated with the type of the sensor is caused to fly to the position of the sensor corresponding to the sensing data determined to satisfy the condition. Unmanned aircraft flight control system.
The unmanned aircraft flight control system according to claim 1, wherein the flight control unit sets an operation after arriving at the position of the sensor to the unmanned aircraft to fly to the position of the sensor.
A receiving step for receiving sensing data of the sensor;
A determination step of determining whether or not the sensing data satisfies a predetermined condition;
A flight control step of flying the unmanned aerial vehicle to the position of the sensor corresponding to the sensing data determined to satisfy the condition;
An unmanned aircraft flight control method comprising:
In the unmanned aircraft control system,
A receiving step for receiving sensing data of the sensor;
A determination step of determining whether or not the sensing data satisfies a predetermined condition;
A flight control step of flying the unmanned aerial vehicle to the position of the sensor corresponding to the sensing data determined to satisfy the condition;
An unmanned aircraft flight control program for running.