JP2016225983A - Relay system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a relay system which is capable of speedily going to a spot, safely acquiring information on the spot including an area difficult to approach, and relaying the information.SOLUTION: A relay system (10) which mediates transmission and reception of an information signal comprises a self-travellable vehicle (12), and an unmanned aircraft (11) mounted on the vehicle and capable of communication with the vehicle. The vehicle comprises spot information relay means (VFW) which receives information acquired by the unmanned aircraft and transfers the information to another place.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a relay system that mediates transmission / reception of information signals.

  Conventionally, a small unmanned aerial vehicle represented by an industrial unmanned helicopter has been expensive and difficult to obtain, and requires skill to operate in order to fly stably. However, in recent years, improvements in sensors and software used for unmanned aerial vehicle attitude control and autonomous flight have made significant progress, and this has significantly improved the operability of unmanned aircraft and made it possible to obtain high-performance aircraft at low cost. . From such a background, the application of a small multi-copter to various missions in a wide range of fields is now being tried, not only for hobby purposes.

  In news reports such as TV news, a satellite communication system called SNG (Satellite News Gathering) is used to transmit program materials such as video and audio to broadcast stations. In the SNG system, program material shot on site is transmitted to a broadcasting station via a relay device called a transponder provided in a communication satellite. In addition, a program material may be transmitted from the site to a broadcasting station by a satellite communication system called VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) mainly used for telephone or data communication. In addition, a system called IP-SNG in which a broadcast station receives program material transmitted by the VSAT system via the Internet has begun to be used.

JP 2002-027452 A

  When going to the site with a vehicle loaded with a portable camera or relay device, and using this as a relay station to broadcast and redistribute information collected on the site, the following problems may arise. The field referred to here is not limited to a news site such as an accident site or a disaster site, but also includes sites visited for the purpose of relaying events such as events or field surveys.

  If you go to the site with a single-seat vehicle such as a motorcycle or a trike instead of a relay vehicle such as a one-box car, large bus, truck, etc., the mobility on the site can be improved, but the driver, after arriving at the site, It is necessary to build a communication environment by yourself, make settings related to relaying, and perform shooting based on instructions from the relay destination, etc., and the driver does complicated work that requires knowledge of multiple different specialized fields alone. There must be. Even when a normal relay vehicle is used, the same problem may occur when one person goes to the site.

  Also, especially in the case of disaster-stricken sites, since the range of access is limited to ensure the safety of the media members, even if you go to the site by a relay car, collect enough materials to convey the situation of the site. May not be possible. In addition, when conducting a field survey, for example, in places where there are no high places or scaffolds, large-scale devices and mechanisms are required.

  In view of the above problems, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a relay system that can quickly go to the site, safely acquire information on the site including areas that are difficult to access, and relay the information. With the goal.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the relay system of the present invention includes a self-propelled vehicle and an unmanned aircraft mounted on the vehicle and capable of communicating with the vehicle, and the vehicle is acquired by the unmanned aircraft. It has a field information relay means for receiving the received information and transferring it to another place.

  By going to the site with a self-propelled vehicle and acquiring information on the site using an unmanned aerial vehicle, it is possible to safely acquire information on the site including areas that are difficult to access. The information acquired by the unmanned aerial vehicle is expected to be mainly video and audio, but any other information that can be transferred as a signal is information acquired by various sensors mounted on the unmanned aircraft. Also good.

  The vehicle may be a single-seat vehicle.

  By employing a single-seat vehicle such as a motorcycle or a trike as the vehicle of the present invention, it is possible to go to the site more quickly, and the mobility at the site can be improved.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said unmanned aircraft is a multicopter provided with a plurality of rotor blades.

  By acquiring on-site information using a multicopter that can be stopped in the air, desired information can be obtained more reliably and easily.

  The unmanned aircraft is preferably connected to the vehicle via a power line, and the unmanned aircraft is preferably capable of flying while receiving wired power supply from the vehicle.

  For example, when a vehicle is equipped with a large battery or generator for a multicopter, and the multicopter is caused to fly by wire feeding from here, it is possible to greatly extend the flight time of the multicopter. As a result, the restriction on the flight time at the site is relaxed, and it is possible to collect information over a sufficient time.

  The unmanned aircraft may be connected to the vehicle via a signal line, and the unmanned aircraft may communicate with the vehicle via the signal line.

  By connecting the multicopter and the vehicle with signal lines, communication quality and communication speed between the multicopter and the vehicle can be improved.

  The unmanned aerial vehicle has one or more photographing means, and the on-site information relay means of the vehicle selects one of the photographing means automatically or according to an instruction from the other place. It is preferable to transfer the video and / or audio acquired by the selected photographing means to the other place.

  By acquiring video and audio on-site with the unmanned aircraft, for example, the situation of dangerous areas that are difficult to enter can be safely imaged and relayed from the sky, and the objects of field investigations can be imaged and relayed from the air in multiple ways. It becomes possible to do.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the vehicle further includes a control signal relay unit that receives a control signal of the unmanned aircraft transmitted from the other place and transfers the control signal to the unmanned aircraft.

  The receiver at the relay destination (other place) of the information acquired by the unmanned aircraft can remotely control the unmanned aircraft, so that the receiver can directly obtain the information he / she wants without going through on-site personnel. It is possible to control an unmanned aerial vehicle. Also, in this case, the on-site personnel need only drive the vehicle to the site, for example, even when going to the site with a single-seat vehicle, the driver must have mastered unmanned aircraft maneuvering techniques. There is no.

  As described above, according to the relay system of the present invention, it is possible to quickly visit the site, and it is possible to safely acquire and relay information on the site including areas that are difficult to access.

It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of a relay system and a management center. It is a flowchart which shows the collection method of the field information by a relay system and a management center.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing functional configurations of the relay system 10 and the management center 50 according to the present embodiment. The relay system 10 of this embodiment goes to an accident site, a disaster site, an event venue such as an event, or an on-site site such as an on-site survey by a self-propelled vehicle, and uses the unmanned aircraft equipped with a camera to transmit the video and audio of the site. It is a system that acquires and transfers this to other places in real time.

[overall structure]
The relay system 10 according to the present embodiment includes a trike 12 (three-wheeled motorcycle) that is a single-seat vehicle, and a multicopter 11 that is an unmanned aircraft that is mounted on the loading platform of the trike 12 and configured to communicate with the trike 12. Has been. The trike 12 is connected to the Internet I via a mobile communication network such as 3G / HSPA (High Speed Packet Access), LTE (Long Term Evolution), or Wimax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access). It is set to be able to communicate with other places.

[Configuration of multicopter]
The aircraft of the multicopter 11 is mainly equipped with a flight controller FC, a rotor 25 that is a plurality of rotor blades, and a camera 41 that can photograph the periphery of the multicopter 11.

  Each rotor 25 includes a DC motor, a blade attached to the output shaft thereof, and an ESC (Electric Speed Controller). The ESC is connected to the flight controller FC and the DC motor, and the ESC rotates the DC motor at a speed instructed by the flight controller FC. The number of rotors of the multicopter 11 is not particularly limited, and the rotor 25 (main rotor) has one helicopter, the rotor 25 has eight octocopters, and the like, depending on the required flight stability, allowable cost, etc. Can be appropriately changed to those having more than eight rotors 25.

  The flight controller FC includes a control device 20, and the control device 20 includes a CPU 21 that is a central processing unit and a memory 22 that is a storage device such as a RAM and a ROM. The flight controller FC transmits a control signal to the ESC of each rotor 25 via a PWM controller (not shown).

  The flight controller FC further includes a flight control sensor group 23 and a GPS receiver 24 (hereinafter collectively referred to as “sensors”), and these are connected to the control device 20. The flight control sensor group 23 of the multicopter 11 in this embodiment includes an acceleration sensor, an angular velocity sensor, an atmospheric pressure sensor (altitude sensor), a geomagnetic sensor (orientation sensor), and the like. The control device 20 can acquire the position information of the own aircraft including the latitude and longitude of the aircraft, the flight altitude, and the azimuth angle of the nose, in addition to the inclination and rotation of the aircraft, using these sensors and the like.

  In addition, the multicopter 11 according to the present embodiment includes an operation signal receiver 34 that receives the operation signal of the multicopter 11 transmitted from the trike 12, and an on-site video and audio (hereinafter referred to as “ And a video / audio transmitter 42 for transmitting to the trike 12. In the relay system 10 of this embodiment, these pieces of information are transmitted and received by short-range wireless communication. For example, the multicopter 11 and the trike 12 are connected by signal lines 72 and 73, and these pieces of information are transmitted and received by wired communication. May be. By connecting the multicopter 11 and the trike 12 with the signal lines 72 and 73, the flight range of the multicopter 11 is limited, but the communication quality and communication speed between the multicopter 11 and the trike 12 are limited. Can be improved.

  The memory 22 of the control device 20 stores a flight control program FCP in which a flight control algorithm for controlling the posture and basic flight operation of the multicopter 11 during flight is stored. The flight control program FCP adjusts the rotational speed of each rotor 25 based on the current position acquired from the sensor or the like according to the control signal received by the control signal receiver 34, and corrects the attitude and position disturbance of the aircraft. The copter 11 is allowed to fly.

  The memory 22 of the control device 20 stores a camera control program VCP that is a program for controlling the operation of the camera 41. The camera control program VCP controls the shooting direction, PTZ, and shooting mode of the camera 41 in accordance with the control signal received by the control signal receiver 34.

  Electric power to each device constituting the multicopter 11 of the present embodiment is power-fed via a power line 71 from a battery 60 loaded on a trike 12 described later. As a result, the flightable range of the multicopter 11 is limited, but the restriction on the flight time of the multicopter 11 at the site is relaxed, and it is possible to collect information over a sufficient time. . Instead of the battery 60, a generator using gasoline or gas as fuel, such as an inverter generator, may be employed.

  In the relay system 10 according to the present embodiment, the use of the multicopter 11 that is a rotorcraft that can be stationary in the air makes it possible to more reliably and easily obtain desired video and audio on site. For example, it is possible to safely shoot the situation of a dangerous area where it is difficult to enter from the sky, or to shoot the object of the field survey from the air in multiple ways. The unmanned aerial vehicle of the present invention is not limited to a rotary wing aircraft, and a fixed wing aircraft can also be adopted on condition that desired information can be acquired.

  Moreover, although the multicopter 11 of this embodiment mounts the camera 41 and transmits the image | video and audio | voice of the field image | photographed with the camera 41 to the trike 12, the information which the multicopter 11 acquires is not restricted to these. The information acquired by the multicopter 11 may be information that can be transferred as a signal. For example, a laser scanner may be mounted on the aircraft, and the survey information acquired thereby may be transmitted to the trike 12. In addition, the multicopter 11 according to the present embodiment includes one camera 41, but may include a plurality of cameras.

[Trike configuration]
Trike 12 is a single-seat three-wheeled bike. Three-wheeled bikes are more stable than two-wheeled bikes when parked or run at low speeds, and have a better loading capacity. In the relay system 10 according to the present embodiment, the use of the trike 12 as the transport means for the multicopter 11 enables personnel to quickly visit the site, and can exhibit high mobility at the site. It is said that. The transportation means of the multicopter 11 is not limited to the trike 12 and may be a normal two-wheeled motorcycle. Further, when the unmanned aircraft to be used is large or when a plurality of personnel are required on the site, a one-box car, a bus, a truck, or the like may be used.

  The trike 12 has on-site information relay means VFW that receives the on-site information acquired by the multicopter 11 and transfers it to the management center 50. The field information relay unit VFW includes a video / audio receiver 43 that receives the field information from the multicopter 11 and a video / audio transmitter 44 that transmits the received field information to the management center 50. The operations of the video / audio receiver 43 and the video / audio transmitter 44 are controlled by a control device (not shown) included in the trike 12. In addition, for example, a configuration in which a camera is mounted on the body of the trike 12 such as the front surface of the trike 12 and video and audio captured by the camera are transmitted by the video / audio transmitter 44 is also conceivable.

  The trike 12 also has a control signal relay means CFW that receives the steering signal of the multicopter 11 transmitted from the management center 50 and transfers it to the multicopter 11. The control signal relay means CFW includes a control signal receiver 32 that receives a control signal of the multicopter 11 from the management center 50, and a control signal transmitter 33 that transmits the received control signal to the multicopter 11. . The operations of the steering signal receiver 32 and the steering signal transmitter 33 are controlled by a control device (not shown) included in the trike 12.

  The trike 12 of the present embodiment communicates with the management center 50 using a mobile communication network, but the communication method between the trike 12 and the management center 50 is not limited to this, for example, a VSAT system, Inmarsat (registered trademark), Satellite communication such as Iridium (registered trademark) may be used, or these satellite communication and mobile communication network may be used in combination.

  Further, the trike 12 includes a winch 61 that feeds out and winds up the power line 71 that performs wired power feeding to the multicopter 11.

[Management Center Configuration]
The management center 50 is a facility or device that receives field information from the relay system 10 and remotely controls the multicopter 11.

  The management center 50 of the present embodiment includes a video / audio receiver 45 that receives the on-site information transmitted from the trike 12, a video / audio recording unit 46 that records the received on-site information, and the recorded video and audio. Is provided with a monitor 47 and a speaker 48. The operator of the management center 50 can monitor the situation around the multicopter 11 in real time by using the monitor 47 and the speaker 48.

  The management center 50 also includes a control terminal 31 that transmits a control signal to the multicopter 11. Thereby, the operator of the management center 50 can remotely control the multicopter 11 while confirming the situation around the multicopter 11. Since the operator of the management center 50 can remotely control the multicopter 11, the operator can directly operate the multicopter 11 in order to obtain the required information without using personnel on the site. Therefore, the on-site personnel only needs to drive the trike 12 to the site, and the driver does not need to have mastered the maneuvering technique of the multicopter 11.

  Note that the ability to remotely control the multicopter 11 from the management center 50 is not an essential requirement of the relay system of the present invention, and personnel on site may control the multicopter 11 in response to an instruction from the management center 50.

[Collecting on-site information]
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a method for collecting field information by the relay system 10 and the management center 50. The flow will be described below with reference to FIG.

  First, a trip 12 is made to the site where information is collected (S1). After arrival at the site, the driver of the trike 12 prepares the multicopter 11 for flight (S2), and notifies the operator of the management center 50 of the completion of preparation (S3). For the preparation completion notification to the management center 50, a general means such as a mobile phone may be used. For example, when the site is inaccessible to the mobile communication network, the communication means with the management center 50 at the site is used. It is also possible to send a signal.

  When receiving the preparation completion notification from the driver (S4), the operator of the management center 50 starts receiving the field information from the multicopter 11 (S5). Here, the trike 12 may automatically start the transfer of the field information, or may start the transfer after waiting for an instruction from the operator. The operator starts the operation of the multicopter 11 while visually confirming the situation around the multicopter 11 in real time with the monitor 47 and the speaker 48 of the management center 50 (S6). Here, for example, when the trike 12 includes a plurality of cameras, it is desirable that the operator can reproduce the on-site information while appropriately switching the target cameras. Further, when a camera is separately mounted on the body of the trike 12, it is desirable that the operator can reproduce the site information acquired by the multicopter 11 and the site information acquired by the camera of the trike 12 while switching appropriately. . When the on-site shooting is completed, the operator of the management center 50 returns the multicopter 11 to the trike 12 and notifies the end of the shooting to the driver of the trike 12 (S7).

  When the driver receives the photographing end notification (S8), the driver stores the multicopter 11 in the trike 12 (S9) and moves from the site (S10). For example, at this time, when simply moving the shooting site, the multicopter 11 is not stored in the trike 12, and the site is moved while tracking the trike 12 by the automatic tracking function (so-called follow me mode) of the multicopter 11. May be.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

10 Relay system 11 Multicopter (Unmanned aerial vehicle)
12 Trike (vehicle)
25 rotor (rotary wing)
31 Control terminal 34 Control signal receiver 41 Camera (photographing means)
42 Video / Audio Transmitter 45 Video / Audio Receiver 46 Video / Audio Recording Unit 47 Monitor 48 Speaker CFW Control Signal Relay Means VFW Site Information Relay Means 50 Management Center (Other)
60 Battery 71 Power line 72, 73 Signal line

Claims (7)

A relay system that mediates transmission and reception of information signals,
A self-propelled vehicle,
An unmanned aerial vehicle mounted on the vehicle and capable of communicating with the vehicle,
2. The relay system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle has field information relay means for receiving information acquired by the unmanned aircraft and transferring the information to another place.   The relay system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle is a single-seat vehicle.   The relay system according to claim 1, wherein the unmanned aircraft is a multicopter including a plurality of rotor blades.   The relay system according to claim 3, wherein the unmanned aircraft is connected to the vehicle through a power line, and the unmanned aircraft can fly while receiving wired power supply from the vehicle.   The relay system according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the unmanned aircraft is connected to the vehicle via a signal line, and the unmanned aircraft communicates with the vehicle via the signal line. The unmanned aerial vehicle has one or more photographing means;
The on-site information relay unit of the vehicle selects any of the imaging units automatically or in accordance with an instruction from the other location, and the video and / or audio acquired by the selected imaging unit is transmitted to the other location. The relay system according to claim 1, wherein the relay system transfers the relay system. 7. The vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising control signal relay means for receiving a control signal of the unmanned aircraft transmitted from the other place and transferring the control signal to the unmanned aircraft. The relay system according to any one of the above.

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