JP7166587B2 - Monitoring system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a surveillance system, and more particularly to a system that utilizes multiple aircraft to monitor a specific area.

Patent Literature 1 proposes a search work support system that automatically makes plans for search work using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Patent Literature 2 proposes a signal source search method and a signal source search system that enable a small unmanned aerial vehicle to search for a signal source.

JP 2014-162316 A Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-112370

By the way, in recent years, from the viewpoint of ensuring safety in territorial waters and airspace, it has become necessary to constantly or temporarily monitor specific areas, and this has become an important issue in terms of national defense. The above-described Patent Documents 1 and 2 are not suitable for wide area monitoring work.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system for performing surveillance work using a plurality of aircraft in a specific area.

According to the invention,
A surveillance system comprising a storage device storing a plurality of surveillance aircraft and a control device configured to be able to communicate wirelessly with the storage device,
When the surveillance flying object detects that the storage device has arrived at the target area, the surveillance flying object starts flying from the storage device, acquires image information of the target region by the camera unit, and transmits it to the storage device,
The storage device performs flight control of the plurality of surveillance aircraft through communication, and transmits the received video information to the control device.
A monitoring system is obtained.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a system for performing surveillance work using a plurality of flying objects in a specific area.

1 is a schematic diagram of an air vehicle identification system according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a management server in FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of an authentication terminal in FIG. 1; FIG. FIG. 2 is an image diagram showing the system of FIG. 1 and registration steps; Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating the authentication steps of the system of Figure 1; 2 is a flow of processing of a registration step in FIG. 1; 2 is a flow of processing of an authentication step in FIG. 1;

The contents of the embodiments of the present invention are listed and explained. A monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention has the following configuration.
[Item 1]
A surveillance system comprising a storage device storing a plurality of surveillance aircraft and a control device configured to be able to communicate wirelessly with the storage device,
When the surveillance flying object detects that the storage device has arrived at the target area, the surveillance flying object starts flying from the storage device, acquires image information of the target region by the camera unit, and transmits it to the storage device,
The storage device performs flight control of the plurality of surveillance aircraft through communication, and transmits the received video information to the control device.
Monitoring system.
[Item 2]
The monitoring system according to item 1,
the enclosure is transported over the target area by any air vehicle;
said surveillance vehicle initiates said flight over said sky;
Monitoring system.
[Item 3]
The monitoring system according to item 1 or item 2,
When the surveillance flying object under control management existing in the control management area moves to the control management area of another storage device, the storage device stops the control management of the surveillance flying object;
The other storage device starts the flight control under its own control and management of the surveillance vehicle that has moved.
Monitoring system.
[Item 4]
The monitoring system according to any one of items 1 to 3,
The management device has a display unit, acquires the position information of the surveillance aircraft through the storage device, and displays the flight information of the surveillance aircraft specified by the position information on the display unit. visualizing by representing the route history using a first color and representing other portions with a second color different from the first color;
Monitoring system.
[Item 5]
A monitoring system according to item 4,
The management device changes the first color displayed on the display unit to a second color over time,
Monitoring system.

<Details of Embodiment>
A monitoring system according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<Overview>
A surveillance system according to an embodiment of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as "system") finds objects and collects information (photographs) using a plurality of drones (surveillance aircraft) in a specific area such as on the ocean or on land. It is a system for

More specifically, it realizes a wide-area search for an object by controlling multiple drones. That is, a canister loaded with a plurality of drones is released in the air, and a drone is ejected from the released canister and made to fly, thereby deploying the drone in the target airspace.

Drones in the present embodiment are called drones, multi-copters, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), RPAS (remote piloted aircraft systems), or UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems). Sometimes.

Airborne objects mainly refer to objects that move in the air, but also include, for example, flying objects that have only functions for land use or water use, or have a locomotion function that combines these uses.

<Configuration>
As shown in FIG. 1 , the system includes a management server 1 , a canister 20 , and a glider (surveillance vehicle) 30 and a drone (surveillance vehicle) 31 stored in the canister 20 . The management server 1 , the glider 30 and the drone 31 are configured to be able to communicate with each other via the canister 20 .

Communications according to this embodiment include carrier networks for mobile phones, smart phones, etc., and IP-based computer networks. Computer network is used here in a broad concept that includes the Internet built on interconnected IP networks.

The computer network may also include a wireless network constructed by wireless base stations (eg, WiFi) not shown. A carrier network and an IP network are connected, for example, via a gateway or the like, but are not limited to this.

Furthermore, the network may be configured by an LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) network. LPWA is a network using specified low-power radio stations as base stations. Examples include SIGFOX, LoRa (LoRa WAN), Wi-Fi HaLow, Wi-SUN, RPMA, Flexnet, IM920, Cat. M1, Cat. Standards such as NB1 can be applied as appropriate. Also, applicable networks are not limited to these, and general unlicensed bands and other bands can be applied.

<Hardware configuration>
<Management server 1>
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of the management server 1. As shown in FIG. Note that the illustrated configuration is an example, and other configurations may be employed.

As illustrated, the management server 1 is connected to a plurality of canisters 20 and constitutes part of the system. The management server 1 may be, for example, a general-purpose computer such as a workstation or personal computer, or may be logically realized by cloud computing.

The management server 1 includes at least a processor 10 , a memory 11 , a storage 12 , a transmission/reception section 13 , an input/output section 14 and the like, which are electrically connected to each other through a bus 15 .

The processor 10 is an arithmetic device that controls the overall operation of the management server 1, controls transmission and reception of data between elements, executes applications, and performs information processing necessary for authentication processing. For example, the processor 10 is a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and executes a program or the like stored in the storage 12 and developed in the memory 11 to carry out each information process.

The memory 11 includes a main memory composed of a volatile memory device such as a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), and an auxiliary memory composed of a non-volatile memory device such as a flash memory or a HDD (Hard Disc Drive). . The memory 11 is used as a work area for the processor 10, and stores a BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) executed when the management server 1 is started, various setting information, and the like.

The storage 12 stores various programs such as application programs. A database storing data used for each process may be constructed in the storage 12 .

The transmission/reception unit 13 connects the management server 1 to the network 10 . Note that the transmitting/receiving unit 13 may include a short-range communication interface of Bluetooth (registered trademark) and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy).

The input/output unit 14 is an information input device such as a keyboard and a mouse, and an output device such as a display.

A bus 15 is commonly connected to the above elements and transmits, for example, address signals, data signals and various control signals.

<Configuration of flying object>
As shown in FIG. 3, the drone 31 used in the system described above generally has the following configuration.

<Control part>
Equipped with a flight controller and sensors, it observes and estimates flight conditions, and calculates commands to be sent to the power unit to achieve desired operations.

The flight controller may have a programmable processor (e.g., central processing unit (CPU)) or the like, and may also have memory for storing logic code and program instructions that the flight controller is executable by. good.

The memory may include, for example, a separable medium such as an SD card or an external storage device. Data acquired from cameras and sensors may be communicated directly to and stored in memory. For example, still image/moving image data captured by a camera or the like is recorded in a built-in storage device or an external storage device.

Sensors in the control may include inertial sensors (accelerometers, gyro sensors, etc.), GPS sensors, proximity sensors (eg, LIDAR), or vision sensors (eg, cameras).

<Power part>
Equipped with thrust generators and thrust controllers such as motors, ESCs (Electronic Speed Controllers) and propellers, it receives signals from a flight controller and a transceiver to achieve desired flight. A gasoline engine or the like may be used as the thrust generator in addition to the electric motor.

<Transmitting/receiving section>
It has arbitrary communication means such as wired communication or wireless communication with other flying objects or pilots, and can transmit and receive arbitrary information to the control unit, power unit, etc.

<Power source>
Equipped with an energy source such as a battery. Not limited to electrical energy, chemical energy such as gasoline and energy conversion modules may be provided. Further, for example, a power storage module based on contactless power supply such as wireless power transmission may be provided.

<Other sensors/operation parts>
They may have sensors and operating mechanisms provided for purposes not directly involved in realizing flight, such as aerial photography and radio relay. Examples include a camera sensor, a temperature sensor, a gimbal mechanism, and an object drop mechanism, but are not limited to these depending on the mission of the aircraft. In this embodiment, in addition to the normal camera for collecting information on the target area, an infrared camera, an X-ray camera, or the like can be appropriately changed or added according to the information to be collected.

Operation of the system according to this embodiment consists of two phases. The operation when a suspicious ship is found in the sea area is described below.

<Phase 1>
Upon receiving a report from a fishing boat or information that a suspicious boat has been captured by radar detection, a manned airplane 10 loaded with a canister 20 rushes to the sea area. The means for transporting the canister 20 is not limited to the manned airplane 10, and any means capable of transporting the canister 20 may be used.

As shown in FIG. 4, the canister 20 is dropped into the sea area 50 when the manned aircraft 10 reaches the airspace of the target area. The canister 20 according to this embodiment has a substantially fish-shaped torpedo shape as shown in the figure, but it may be of any shape such as a cube or a sphere. It is sufficient that the glider 30 and the drone 31 can be stored inside.

After the canister 20 is dropped, a plurality of gliders 30 (and drones 31: not shown) are activated and ejected when a predetermined time has elapsed. The ejected glider 30 or drone 31 performs surveillance and tracking operations for the suspicious ship by its camera while flying in the sea area.

<Phase 2>
As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of canisters 20 according to this embodiment may be utilized. After the launch of the glider 30 and the drone 31 , the canister 20 floats on the sea and functions as a repeater for information communication of the glider 30 and the drone 31 . That is, it functions as a base station for communication of camera images and position information from the glider 30 and drone 31 . Further, the canister 20 may integrate and analyze information collected from the glider 30 and the drone 31 and transmit predetermined information to the glider 30 and the drone 31 according to the result.

The predetermined information includes, for example, information on the search coverage rate of the sea area. In this case, it is possible to apply a monitoring system that virtually meshes the sea area and performs monitoring based on the movement history of the glider 30 and the drone 31 that move within the area. Specifically, the monitoring device that constitutes the monitoring system includes an acquisition unit that acquires the current mesh positions where the glider 30 and the drone 31 exist, and a storage unit that stores the past mesh positions where the mobile device existed within a certain past period of time. , a calculation unit for calculating a destination mesh position to which the mobile device should move next based on the past mesh position and the current mesh position; and a transmission unit for transmitting information about the destination mesh position to the mobile device. good too.

The canister 20 communicates with the glider 30 and the drone 31 and also communicates with the management server 10 . In this case, in consideration of the search coverage rate obtained from a plurality of canisters 20, information about points where exploration has not ended or where a considerable amount of time has passed since exploration is completed is sent to each canister 20. It is also possible to

The plurality of canisters 20 used in the present embodiment may be transported by a single manned aircraft, or may be transported by a plurality of manned aircraft.

As shown in FIG. 5, the glider 30 is held and fixed to the holding portion 22 inside the canister 20 . The glider 30 (and the drone 31: not shown) may have, for example, a wing folding/deploying mechanism, if necessary.

As shown in FIG. 6, the canister 20 according to this embodiment has at least the following functions. That is, the canister 20 has the functions of an ejection signal receiving section, an ejection control section, a holding section, a holding release section, an ejection section, and a start signal transmission section. In addition, it is good also as providing further elements other than this.

As shown, the canister 20 is dropped when the manned aircraft reaches the airspace of the target area. Dropping may be performed under control from the manned aircraft side, or may be performed autonomously.

When detecting that the canister 20 has been dropped, the canister 20 generates and outputs an ejection signal according to preset altitude information, position information, and condition information. The injection signal is transmitted to the injection control section. The ejection control unit has a function of performing overall control for ejecting the glider 30 and the drone 31 from the canister 20 .

The ejection control unit controls the holding unit that holds the glider 30 and the drone 31 in the canister, and the activation signal transmission unit that transmits the activation signal to the glider 30 and the drone 31 .

The activation signal transmission unit transmits activation signals to the glider 30 and the drone 31 . This serves as a trigger to activate the glider 30 and the drone 31 . Alternatively, power may be supplied from the power supply on the canister side to be in a constantly activated state.

The holding section holds and fixes the glider 30 and the drone 31 . As for the holding method, for example, the frames of the glider 30 and the drone 31 may be sandwiched between them to hold them physically, or they may be held electromagnetically. Upon receiving a signal from the launch control unit, the hold release unit releases the hold of the glider 30 and the drone 31 to allow them to move freely. At the same time, the launcher launches the glider 30 and the drone 31 out of the canister 20 . As for the injection, an injection method that uses gunpowder, steam, or the like to give momentum, or a natural fall method can be used.

With the configuration described above, as shown in FIG. 6, the glider 30 and the drone 31 can be efficiently ejected from the canister 20 while the canister 20 is falling.

<Items related to other modifications>
The present invention may include the following configurations in parallel or in series.
[Item 6]
A monitoring device that monitors a monitoring area based on a movement history of a mobile device that moves within a virtual mesh monitoring area,
an acquisition unit that acquires a current mesh position where the mobile device exists;
a storage unit that stores past mesh positions where the mobile device existed within a certain past time;
a computing unit that computes a destination mesh position to which the mobile device should move next based on the past mesh position and the current mesh position;
a transmitter that transmits information about the destination mesh location to the mobile device;
surveillance equipment.
[Item 7]
The monitoring device according to item 1,
The computing unit weights the surrounding meshes within a predetermined distance from the current mesh position, and the greater the distance from the past mesh, the greater the weighting.
surveillance equipment.
[Item 8]
The monitoring device according to item 2,
further comprising an imparting unit that imparts a parameter that decreases from an initial value with the lapse of time from acquisition to each of the past mesh positions,
The weighting calculates the destination mesh position based on both the distance from the past mesh and parameters given to each of the past meshes.
surveillance equipment.
[Item 9]
The monitoring device according to any one of items 1 to 3,
The acquisition unit acquires the current mesh position and the past mesh position regarding another mobile device.
surveillance equipment.
[Item 10]
The monitoring device according to any one of items 1 to 4,
a display unit;
a display output unit that outputs the monitoring area, the current mesh position, and the past mesh position to the display unit;
surveillance equipment.

The above-described embodiments are merely examples for facilitating understanding of the present invention, and are not intended to limit and interpret the present invention. It goes without saying that the present invention can be modified and improved without departing from its spirit, and that equivalents thereof are included in the present invention.

1 management server 10 airplane 20 canister 30 glider (surveillance aircraft)
31 drone (surveillance flying object)

Claims (4)

A surveillance system comprising a storage device storing a plurality of surveillance aircraft and a control device configured to be able to communicate wirelessly with the storage device,
When the surveillance flying object detects that the storage device has arrived at the target area, the surveillance flying object starts flying from the storage device, acquires image information of the target region by the camera unit, and transmits it to the storage device,
The storage device performs flight control of the plurality of surveillance aircraft through communication, and transmits the received video information to the control device.death,
When the surveillance flying object under control management existing in the control management area moves to the control management area of another storage device, the storage device stops the control management of the surveillance flying object;
The other storage device starts the flight control under its own control and management of the surveillance vehicle that has moved. Monitoring system. A monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein
the enclosure is transported over the target area by any air vehicle;
said surveillance vehicle initiates said flight over said sky;
Monitoring system. A monitoring system according to claim 1 or 2 ,
The management device has a display unit, acquires the position information of the surveillance aircraft through the storage device, and displays the flight information of the surveillance aircraft specified by the position information on the display unit. visualizing by representing the route history using a first color and representing other portions with a second color different from the first color;
Monitoring system. A monitoring system according to claim 3 , wherein
The management device changes the first color displayed on the display unit to a second color over time,
Monitoring system.

Images