CN112911932A

CN112911932A - Travel route generation device, travel route generation method, travel route generation program, and unmanned aerial vehicle

Info

Publication number: CN112911932A
Application number: CN201980069757.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 和气千大; 柳下洋; 村云泰
Original assignee: Nileworks Inc
Current assignee: Nileworks Inc
Priority date: 2018-10-23
Filing date: 2019-10-18
Publication date: 2021-06-04
Anticipated expiration: 2039-10-18
Also published as: JPWO2020085239A1; WO2020085239A1; CN112911932B; JP6982908B2

Abstract

Provided is a travel route generation device for generating a travel route for enabling an unmanned aerial vehicle to perform a predetermined task as desired even during autonomous driving and for enabling the effect of the task to occur over the entire work area. A travel route generation device (1) generates a travel route of an unmanned aerial vehicle (100) flying in a work area (80), and is provided with a route generation unit (40) which generates at least a main scanning route (812r) on which the unmanned aerial vehicle scans the work area by moving in sequence in a direction different from the direction of the reciprocating movement while reciprocating in the work area, and sub-scanning routes (814r, 815r) on which the unmanned aerial vehicle continuously scans a turn-back area of the sub-forward return route on the main scanning route in a direction different from the direction of the reciprocating movement of the main scanning route.

Description

Travel route generation device, travel route generation method, travel route generation program, and unmanned aerial vehicle

Technical Field

The invention relates to a travel route generation device, a travel route generation method, a travel route generation program, and an unmanned aerial vehicle.

Background

In order to grasp the growth state of crops, a method is known in which a working area is photographed from above by an unmanned aerial vehicle (unmanned aerial vehicle, multi-rotor helicopter) or the like and the photographed image is analyzed (for example, patent document 1). In narrower farmland, the condition that is fit for using unmanned aerial vehicle rather than someone's aircraft or helicopter is more.

In japan, even in a typical farmland with narrow and complicated terrains, the unmanned aerial vehicle can fly autonomously with minimum manual manipulation, and growth monitoring can be performed efficiently and accurately by accurately knowing the absolute position of the unmanned aerial vehicle in units of centimeters during flight by using a technique such as a quasi zenith satellite System or an RTK-GPS (Real Time Kinematic-Global Positioning System).

As an index for grasping the growth state, the occurrence state of pests, components accumulated in leaves, and the like are known. For example, pests of plants such as plant hoppers are mostly produced in the root parts of grain stalks. In particular, in the case of rice, if an image of the shape of leaves when subjected to wind is obtained, the amount of accumulated silicon can be grasped, and the growth degree of rice can be estimated based on the grasped amount of accumulated silicon, thereby optimizing the fertilizer plan. In addition, in the same manner as in the case of the medicine dispensing drone which dispenses the medicine to the work area, a technique for generating a travel route for dispensing the medicine to the work area without omission even during autonomous driving is necessary.

The drone flies above the working area at a given height, but there are cases where the crop growing in the working area falls due to the downwash generated by the rotating wings of the drone. Particularly, when the unmanned aerial vehicle scans the working area back and forth, crops are laid down in various directions in a turning-back area where the unmanned aerial vehicle turns back. Therefore, it is difficult to perform predetermined operations, that is, photographing and medicine distribution, by the drone in the turning-back area as desired. For this reason, a technique is required that enables a predetermined task performed by the unmanned aerial vehicle to be completed as desired even during autonomous driving, and that generates a travel route for causing an effect based on the task to occur over the entire work area.

Patent document 2 discloses a travel route generation system that generates a round trip travel route that travels round trip in a work area and a round travel route that rounds along an outer peripheral shape. The system contemplates ground-based travel type machines such as seedling planting devices.

Patent document 3 discloses a travel route generation device that generates a route when an outline of a work area has a concave portion that partially enters the inside. Patent document 4 discloses an autonomous travel route generation system that generates a travel route that bypasses an obstacle present in a travel area.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: JP patent publication No. 2003-9664

Patent document 2: JP patent publication No. 2018-117566

Patent document 3: JP patent publication No. 2018-116614

Patent document 4: JP patent publication No. 2017-204061

Disclosure of Invention

(problems to be solved by the invention)

Provided is a travel route generation device for generating a travel route for enabling an unmanned aerial vehicle to perform a predetermined task as desired even during autonomous driving and for enabling the effect of the task to occur over the entire work area.

(means for solving the problems)

In order to achieve the above object, a travel route generation device according to an aspect of the present invention generates a travel route of an unmanned aerial vehicle flying in a work area, and includes a route generation unit that generates at least a main scanning route on which the unmanned aerial vehicle scans the work area while moving back and forth in the work area and sequentially moving in a direction different from a direction of the back and forth movement, and a sub-scanning route on which the unmanned aerial vehicle continuously scans a turning area on the main scanning route that turns back from the main scanning route to the turning area while moving back and forth in the direction different from the direction of the back and forth movement of the main scanning route.

The sub-scanning paths may be generated along at least 1 pair of end sides opposed to each other.

The sub-scanning path may be generated as a circulating path that circulates an inner periphery of the working area.

The unmanned aerial vehicle may include a camera, a rotary wing, and a flight control unit, and may be configured to perform growth monitoring of the crop by imaging the crop in the working area with the camera, and the camera may be configured to image the crop in the turning-back area while flying on the sub-scanning path.

The unmanned aerial vehicle may include a drug control unit that distributes a drug to the working area, and a rotary wing, and the drug control unit may stop drug distribution in the turnaround area when the unmanned aerial vehicle is flying on the main scanning path, and may perform drug distribution in the turnaround area when the unmanned aerial vehicle is flying on the sub-scanning path.

In order to achieve the above object, an unmanned aerial vehicle according to another aspect of the present invention is an unmanned aerial vehicle capable of flying over the air in a work area, the unmanned aerial vehicle flying on a first flight path along 1 pair of opposite edges of the work area and a second flight path along which the unmanned aerial vehicle scans the work area while reciprocating between the 1 pair of edges, and a turnaround area for the reciprocating movement overlaps with the first flight path.

The second flight path may be a flight path that surrounds an inner circumference in the work area.

The unmanned aerial vehicle may include a camera for imaging the crop in the work area, a rotary wing, and a flight control unit, and the camera may image the crop in the turning area while flying on the first flight path.

The unmanned aerial vehicle may include a chemical control unit that distributes chemicals to the work area, and a rotary wing, and the chemical control unit may stop the chemical distribution in the turning-back area when the unmanned aerial vehicle flies on the second flight path, and may perform the chemical distribution in the turning-back area when the unmanned aerial vehicle flies on the first flight path.

In order to achieve the above object, a travel route generation method according to still another aspect of the present invention is a travel route generation method for generating a travel route for an unmanned aerial vehicle flying in a work area, the travel route generation method including a step of generating at least a main scan route on which the unmanned aerial vehicle scans the work area while moving back and forth in the work area and sequentially moving in a direction different from a direction of the back and forth movement, and a sub scan route on which the unmanned aerial vehicle continuously scans a turn-back area on the main scan route, the turn-back area being turned back from the forward route to the return route, in the direction different from the direction of the back and forth movement of the main scan route.

In order to achieve the above object, a travel route generation program according to still another aspect of the present invention is a travel route generation program for generating a travel route for an unmanned aerial vehicle flying in a work area, the travel route generation program causing a computer to execute a command for generating at least a main scan route on which the unmanned aerial vehicle scans the work area while moving back and forth in the work area and sequentially moving in a direction different from a direction of the back and forth movement, and a sub scan route on which the unmanned aerial vehicle continuously scans a turn-back area on the main scan route, the turn-back area being turned back from the forward path to the return path, in the direction different from the direction of the back and forth movement of the main scan route.

The computer program can be provided by downloading it via a network such as the internet or recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM.

Effects of the invention

It is possible to generate a travel path for causing a given job performed by the unmanned aerial vehicle to be completed as desired even while autonomously driving and causing an effect based on the job to occur throughout the entire work area.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing a first embodiment of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the drone.

Fig. 3 is a right side view of the drone.

Fig. 4 is a rear view of the drone.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the above-described drone.

Fig. 6 is an overall conceptual diagram of a medicine dispensing system provided in the above-described drone.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram representing the control functions of the drone described above.

Fig. 8 is an overall conceptual diagram illustrating the states of the travel route generation device according to the present invention and the base station and the mobile station connected via the network.

Fig. 9 is a functional block diagram of the travel route generation device.

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a work area in which the travel route generating device generates a travel route, an entry prohibition area determined in the vicinity of the work area, and a movable area generated in the work area.

Fig. 11 is a schematic view showing a state in which the movable area is divided into an irregular-shaped area, an outer peripheral area, and an inner area.

Fig. 12 shows an example of a moving area in which the division necessity determining unit of the travel route generating device performs the division processing, (a) shows an example of a moving area having a concave portion formed by 2 sides, and (b) shows an example of a moving area having a concave portion formed by 3 sides.

Fig. 13 is a flowchart showing a process of dividing the moving area by the area division necessity/unnecessity determination unit.

Fig. 14 is a flowchart showing a process of generating the outer peripheral area, the inner area, and the irregular-shaped area and specifying the route generation target area by the area specifying unit included in the travel route generation device.

Fig. 15 is an example of a route generated in the route generation target area by the route generation unit included in the travel route generation device.

Fig. 16 is a flowchart showing a process of the route generation unit generating a travel route in the route generation target area.

Fig. 17 is a conceptual diagram showing a situation in which the above-described unmanned aerial vehicle flies above the crop in the working area, (a) is a diagram showing a situation in which the straw root is photographed, (b) is a diagram showing a situation in which the ear tip is photographed, and (c) is a diagram showing a situation in which the unmanned aerial vehicle moves without being photographed.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The drawings are all illustrations. In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation, specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. However, embodiments are not limited to these specific details. In addition, well-known structures and devices are schematically shown to simplify the drawings.

In the present specification, the unmanned aerial vehicle refers to all aircraft having a plurality of rotary wings regardless of power units (electric power, prime mover, etc.), a manipulation manner (whether wireless or wired, and whether autonomous flight type or manual manipulation type, etc.). The unmanned aerial vehicle is an example of a mobile device, and can appropriately receive information on a travel route generated by the travel route generation device according to the present invention and fly along the travel route.

As shown in fig. 1 to 5, the rotary wings 101-1a, 101-1b, 101-2a, 101-2b, 101-3a, 101-3b, 101-4a, and 101-4b (also referred to as rotors) are means for flying the drone 100, and it is preferable to have 8 rotary wings (4 sets of 2-stage rotary wings) in consideration of the balance between the stability of flight, the size of the body, and the amount of battery consumption.

The motors 102-1a, 102-1b, 102-2a, 102-2b, 102-3a, 102-3b, 102-4a, and 102-4b are units (typically, motors, but may be engines, etc.) that rotate the rotary wings 101-1a, 101-1b, 101-2a, 101-2b, 101-3a, 101-3b, 101-4a, and 101-4b, and 1 motor is provided for one rotary wing. The motor (102) is an example of a propeller. The axes of the upper and lower rotating wings (e.g., 101-1a and 101-1b) and their corresponding motors (e.g., 102-1a and 102-1b) within the 1-suit are on the same line and rotate in opposite directions to each other for stability of the flight of the drone, etc. Although not shown, the positions of a part of the rotary wing 101-3b and the motor 102-3b are self-explanatory, and if there is a left side view, they are shown. As shown in fig. 2 and 3, the radial members for supporting the propeller guard provided to prevent the rotor from interfering with foreign matter are not horizontal but have a tower-like structure. This is to promote buckling of the member to the outside of the rotor blade at the time of collision, and to prevent interference with the rotor.

The medicine nozzles 103-1, 103-2, 103-3, and 103-4 are means for spreading medicine downward, and 4 nozzles are provided. In the specification, the term "chemical" generally refers to a liquid or powder spread on a working area, such as an agricultural chemical, a herbicide, a liquid fertilizer, an insecticide, seeds, and water.

The medicine tank 104 is a tank for storing medicines to be distributed, and is provided at a position close to the center of gravity of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 and lower than the center of gravity from the viewpoint of weight balance. The medicine hoses 105-1, 105-2, 105-3, and 105-4 are means for connecting the medicine tank 104 to the medicine nozzles 103-1, 103-2, 103-3, and 103-4, and are made of a hard material, and may also serve to support the medicine nozzles. The pump 106 is a unit for ejecting the medicine from the nozzle. The drone 100 includes a medicine control unit 1002 (see fig. 8) as a software resource that controls the pump 106 to adjust the amount of medicine discharged. The medicine control unit 1002 may be configured in the flight controller 501 described later.

Fig. 6 shows an overall conceptual diagram of a system using an embodiment of the usage of medicine scattering by the drone 100 according to the present invention. The figure is a schematic view, and the scale is not accurate. The operator 401 is a unit for transmitting an instruction to the drone 100 by an operation of the user 402 and displaying information (for example, a position, a medicine amount, a remaining battery amount, a camera image, and the like) received from the drone 100, and may be implemented by a portable information device such as a general tablet terminal that runs a computer program. The unmanned aerial vehicle 100 according to the present invention is controlled to fly autonomously, but may be manually operated during basic operations such as takeoff and return operations and during emergency operations. An emergency operation machine (not shown) having a function dedicated to emergency stop may be used in addition to the portable information device (the emergency operation machine is preferably a dedicated device having a large emergency stop button or the like so as to be able to quickly take measures in an emergency). The operator 401 and the drone 100 perform wireless communication based on Wi-Fi or the like.

The work area 403 is a farmland, a field, or the like to which the medicine is to be applied by the drone 100. In fact, the topography of the work area 403 may be complicated and a topographic map may not be obtained in advance, or the topographic map may be different from the situation of the site. Typically, work area 403 is adjacent to a house, hospital, school, other crop work area, road, railroad, or the like. Further, obstacles such as buildings and electric wires may be present in the work area 403.

The base station 404 is a device that provides a master function of Wi-Fi communication and the like, and also functions as an RTK-GPS base station, and can provide an accurate position of the drone 100 (the master function of Wi-Fi communication and the RTK-GPS base station may be independent devices). The agricultural operations cloud 405 is a group of computers and related software typically operating on a cloud service, and may be wirelessly connected with the operator 401 through a mobile phone line or the like. The agricultural operation cloud 405 may perform processing for analyzing the image of the working area 403 captured by the drone 100 and grasping the growth condition of the crop to determine the flight path. In addition, the stored topographic information of the work area 403 and the like may be provided to the drone 100. Further, the history of the flight and captured images of the drone 100 may be accumulated, and various analysis processes may be performed.

Generally, the drone 100 takes off from a departure arrival site 406 located outside the work area 403 and returns to the departure arrival site 406 after the work area 403 has been broadcast with a medicament or when replenishment of a medicament or charging or the like is required. The flight path (entry path) from the departure/arrival point 406 to the target work area 403 may be stored in advance in the agricultural operation cloud 405 or the like, or may be input by the user 402 before the start of takeoff.

Fig. 7 shows a block diagram of control functions characterizing an embodiment of a medicament dispensing drone according to the invention. The flight controller 501 is a component responsible for controlling the entire unmanned aerial vehicle, and specifically may be an embedded computer including a CPU, a memory, related software, and the like. The flight controller 501 controls the flight of the drone 100 by controlling the rotational speeds of the motors 102-1a, 102-1b, 102-2a, 102-2b, 102-3a, 102-3b, 104-a, and 104-b by a Control unit such as an ESC (Electronic Speed Control) based on input information received from the operator 401 and input information obtained from various sensors described later. The actual rotational speeds of the motors 102-1a, 102-1b, 102-2a, 102-2b, 102-3a, 102-3b, 104-a, and 104-b are fed back to the flight controller 501, and it is possible to monitor whether or not normal rotation is performed. Alternatively, the rotary wing 101 may be provided with an optical sensor or the like, and the rotation of the rotary wing 101 may be fed back to the flight controller 501. The flight controller 501 is an example of the flight control unit 1001.

The software used by the flight controller 501 is preferably rewritable for function expansion, change, problem correction, and the like by a storage medium or the like or by Wi-Fi communication, USB, or other communication means. In this case, protection by encryption, checksum, electronic signature, virus detection software, and the like is performed so as not to rewrite unauthorized software. In addition, a part of the calculation processing used by the flight controller 501 in the control may be executed by another computer existing on the operator 401 or on the agricultural operation cloud 405 or other place. The flight controller 501 is highly important, and therefore, a part or all of its constituent elements can be duplicated.

The battery 502 is a unit that supplies electric power to the flight controller 501 and other components of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and may be a rechargeable type. The battery 502 is connected to the flight controller 501 via a power supply component including a fuse, a circuit breaker, or the like. The battery 502 may be a smart battery having a function of transmitting its internal state (stored electric power amount, accumulated usage time, etc.) to the flight controller 501 in addition to the power supply function.

The flight controller 501 can transmit and receive signals to and from the operator 401 via the Wi-Fi handset function 503 and further via the base station 404, receive a necessary instruction from the operator 401, and transmit necessary information to the operator 401. In this case, communication is encrypted, and thus it is possible to prevent unauthorized acts such as eavesdropping, impersonation, and theft of devices. The base station 404 has the functionality of an RTK-GPS base station in addition to the Wi-Fi based communication functionality. By combining the signal of the RTK base station with the signal from the GPS positioning satellite, the absolute position of the drone 100 can thus be measured with an accuracy of the order of a few centimeters by means of the GPS module 504. Since the GPS modules 504 are highly important, duplication/multiplexing is possible, and in order to cope with a failure of a specific GPS satellite, each redundant GPS module 504 is controlled to use another satellite.

The 6-axis gyro sensor 505 is a unit that measures accelerations in three directions orthogonal to each other of the drone body (further, a unit that calculates a velocity by integrating the accelerations). The 6-axis gyro sensor 505 is a unit that measures angular velocity, which is a change in the attitude angle of the unmanned aerial vehicle body in the 3 directions. The geomagnetic sensor 506 is a unit that measures the direction of the unmanned aerial vehicle body by measurement of geomagnetism. The air pressure sensor 507 is a unit that measures air pressure, and can indirectly measure the height of the drone. The laser sensor 508 is a means for measuring the distance between the unmanned aerial vehicle body and the ground surface by using reflection of laser light, and may use IR (infrared) laser light. The sonar 509 is a means for measuring the distance between the unmanned aerial vehicle body and the ground surface by using reflection of acoustic waves such as ultrasonic waves. These sensor classes may be chosen as a matter of cost goals, performance requirements of the drone. Further, a gyro sensor (angular velocity sensor) for measuring the inclination of the body, a wind sensor for measuring wind power, and the like may be added. In addition, these sensors may be duplicated or multiplexed. If there are a plurality of sensors for the same purpose, the flight controller 501 may use only one of the sensors and, when it fails, switch to an alternative sensor for use. Alternatively, a plurality of sensors may be used simultaneously, and when the respective measurement results do not match, it may be regarded that a failure has occurred.

The flow rate sensor 510 is a means for measuring the flow rate of the medicine, and is provided at a plurality of places on the route from the medicine tank 104 to the medicine nozzle 103. The insufficient liquid sensor 511 is a sensor for detecting that the amount of the medicine is equal to or less than a predetermined amount. The work area capturing camera 512 is a unit that captures the work area 403 and acquires data for image analysis, and is, for example, a multispectral camera. The obstacle detection camera 513 is a camera for detecting an obstacle of the drone, and is preferably a device different from the work area photographing camera 512 because the image characteristics and the orientation of the lens are different from those of the work area photographing camera 512. The switch 514 is a means for the user 402 of the drone 100 to make various settings. The obstacle contact sensor 515 is a sensor for detecting that the drone 100, particularly the rotor and propeller guard portions thereof, is in contact with an obstacle such as a wire, a building, a human body, a tree, a bird, or another drone. The cover sensor 516 is a sensor for detecting that the operation panel of the drone 100 or the cover for internal maintenance is in an open state. The medicine injection port sensor 517 is a sensor for detecting that the injection port of the medicine tank 104 is open. These sensors may be selected as alternatives according to the cost target and performance requirements of the drone, or may be duplicated/multiplexed. Further, a sensor may be provided in a base station 404, an operator 401, or other place outside the drone 100, and the read information may be transmitted to the drone. For example, a wind sensor may be provided at the base station 404, and information related to the wind force/direction may be transmitted to the drone 100 via Wi-Fi communication.

The flight controller 501 transmits a control signal to the pump 106, and adjusts the medicine ejection amount and stops medicine ejection. The current time point of the pump 106 (for example, the rotation speed) is fed back to the flight controller 501.

The LED107 is a display unit for notifying the operator of the drone of the status of the drone. The display unit may also use a display unit such as a liquid crystal display in place of or in addition to the LED. The buzzer 518 is an output unit for notifying the state (particularly, an error state) of the drone by a sound signal. Unlike the operator 401, the Wi-Fi handset function 503 is an optional component for communicating with an external computer or the like, for example, for transmitting software or the like. Instead of or in addition to the Wi-Fi handset function, other wireless communication means such as infrared communication, Bluetooth (registered trademark), ZigBee (registered trademark), NFC, or wired communication means such as USB connection may be used. The speaker 520 is an output unit that notifies the state (particularly, an error state) of the drone by a recorded voice, a synthesized sound, or the like. Depending on the weather conditions, it may be difficult to see the visual display of the drone 100 in flight, and therefore in such a case, the sound-based condition transmission is effective. The warning lamp 521 is a display unit such as a flash lamp that notifies the state (particularly, an error state) of the drone. These input/output units may be selected as alternatives according to the cost target and performance requirements of the drone, or may be duplicated/multiplexed.

The drone 100 requires a travel path for efficiently moving a work area of various shapes. For example, when monitoring the inside of a certain work area or when a medicine is to be dispensed to the work area, the drone 100 needs to fly above the work area without leakage. In this case, by making the flight on the same route as little as possible, battery consumption and flight time can be reduced. For this reason, the travel route generation device generates a travel route for the mobile device, such as the unmanned aerial vehicle 100, to efficiently move according to the coordinate information of the work area.

As shown in fig. 8, the travel route generation device 1 is connected to the drone 100, the base station 404, and the coordinate measurement device 2 via a Network (NW). The function of the travel route generation device 1 may be placed on the agricultural operation cloud 405 or may be placed on another device. The work area is an example of the object area. The drone 100 is an example of a mobile device.

The coordinate measuring device 2 is a device having the function of a mobile station of an RTK-GPS, and is capable of measuring coordinate information of a work area. The coordinate measuring device 2 is a small device that can be held by the user while walking, and is, for example, a rod-shaped device. The coordinate measuring device 2 may be a stick-like device having a length to such an extent that the upper end portion can be held upright by the user in a state where the lower end contacts the ground. The number of coordinate measuring devices 2 that can be used to read the coordinate information of a certain work area may be 1 or more. According to the configuration that the plurality of coordinate measuring devices 2 can measure the coordinate information related to the working area at 1, the plurality of users can walk in the working area while holding the coordinate measuring devices 2, respectively, and thus the measuring work can be completed in a short time.

In addition, the coordinate measuring device 2 can measure information of an obstacle in the work area. The obstacles include various objects that do not require medicine scattering or monitoring, such as walls, facades, electric poles, electric wires, and the like, which pose a risk that the drone 100 will collide with.

The coordinate measuring apparatus 2 includes an input unit 201, a coordinate detecting unit 202, and a transmitting unit 203.

The input unit 201 is provided at the upper end of the coordinate measuring apparatus 2, and is, for example, a button for receiving a pressing operation by a user. When the user measures the coordinates of the lower end of the coordinate measuring apparatus 2, the user presses the button of the input unit 201.

The input unit 201 is configured to be able to input information that is distinguishable from the coordinates of the outer periphery of the work area or the coordinates of the outer periphery of the obstacle. Further, the input unit 201 can input the coordinates of the outer periphery of the obstacle in association with the type of the obstacle.

The coordinate detecting unit 202 is a functional unit capable of detecting 3-dimensional coordinates of the lower end of the coordinate measuring apparatus 2 by appropriately communicating with the base station 404.

The transmission unit 203 is a functional unit that transmits the 3-dimensional coordinates at the lower end of the coordinate measuring apparatus 2 at the time of the input to the input unit 201 to the operator 401 or the travel route generation apparatus 1 via the network NW. The transmission unit 203 transmits the 3-dimensional coordinates in the order of pointing (pointing).

In the step of reading the coordinate information of the working area, the user moves the coordinate measuring device 2 in the working area. First, the 3-dimensional coordinates of the operation area are obtained. The user performs pointing on the end point or edge of the work area using the input unit 201. Next, the user performs pointing on the end point or edge of the obstacle using the input unit 201.

The 3-dimensional coordinates at the end point or the end side of the working area transmitted through the fixed point are divided into 3-dimensional coordinates of the outer periphery of the working area and 3-dimensional coordinates of the obstacle and received by the travel route generation device 1. In addition, the fixed point 3-dimensional coordinates may be received by the receiving portion 4011 of the operator 401 and displayed by the display portion 4012. The operator 401 may determine whether the received 3-dimensional coordinates are suitable as 3-dimensional coordinates of the periphery of the work area or the obstacle, and prompt the user to perform re-measurement through the display portion 4012 when it is determined that re-measurement is necessary.

As shown in fig. 9, the travel route generation device 1 includes a target area information acquisition unit 10, a movement-permitted area generation unit 20, an area preparation unit 30, a route generation unit 40, and a route selection unit 50.

The target area information acquiring unit 10 is a functional unit that acquires information on 3-dimensional coordinates transmitted from the coordinate measuring apparatus 2.

As shown in fig. 10, the movement-permitted region generating unit 20 specifies the movement-permitted region 80i in which the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 moves within the working region 80, based on the 3-dimensional coordinates acquired by the target region information acquiring unit 10. The movement permitted area generation unit 20 includes an entry prohibited area determination unit 21 and a movement permitted area determination unit 22.

The no-entry zone determining unit 21 is a functional unit that determines the no-

entry zones

81b, 82b, 83b, 84b, and 85b of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 based on the 3-dimensional coordinates of the

obstacles

81a, 82a, 83a, 84a, and 85a acquired by the target zone information acquiring unit 10 and the type of the obstacle. The no-

entry regions

81b, 82b, 83b, 84b, 85b are regions including the

obstacles

81a, 82a, 83a, 84a, 85a and regions around the obstacles. The no-

entry regions

81b, 82b, 83b, 84b, and 85b are regions having an extension in the 3-dimensional direction defined by the horizontal direction and the height direction, and are, for example, rectangular parallelepiped regions drawn with the

obstacles

81a, 82a, 83a, 84a, and 85a as the centers. The entry prohibition area may be a spherical area drawn with the obstacle as the center. The drone 100 flies in the air, and therefore can fly over an obstacle based on the height of the obstacle. According to the configuration in which the space above the obstacle is not regarded as the no-entry zone based on the height direction size of the obstacle, the vehicle can fly efficiently in the work zone without excessively circumventing the obstacle.

The distance from the outer edge of the obstacle to the outer edge of the no-

entry regions

81b, 82b, 83b, 84b, 85b is determined according to the type of the

obstacles

81a, 82a, 83a, 84a, 85 a. The distance from the outer edge of the obstacle to the outer edge of the no-

entry regions

81b, 82b, 83b, 84b, and 85b increases as the risk of collision of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 increases. For example, in the case of a house, a range of 50cm from the outer edge of the house is defined as an entry-prohibited area, and a range of 80cm from the outer edge of the electric wire is defined as an entry-prohibited area. This is because, in the case of the electric wire, in addition to the failure of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100, an accident such as a power failure or a breakage of the electric wire may occur at the time of a collision, and therefore, the risk level at the time of a collision is considered to be higher. The no-entry zone determining unit 21 stores in advance an obstacle table in which the type of obstacle and the size of the no-entry zone are associated with each other, and determines the size of the no-entry zone based on the acquired type of obstacle.

The movement-permitted region determining unit 22 is a functional unit that determines the movement-permitted region 80 i. Regarding the planar direction of the movement permission area 80i, it is assumed that the coordinates on the plane acquired by the target area information acquisition section 10 of the work area 80 are at the outer peripheral position of the work area 80. The movement-allowable-area determining unit 22 determines the range of the movement-allowable area 80i in the height direction by adding the height of the crop and the margin at which safety can be secured during flight control to the coordinates of the movement-allowable area 80i in the height direction acquired by the target-area information acquiring unit 10. The movement-permitted region determining unit 22 determines the movement-permitted region 80i by removing the no-

entry regions

81b, 82b, 83b, 84b, and 85b from the region inside the region surrounded by the 3-dimensional coordinates.

As shown in fig. 11, the area preparation unit 30 is a functional unit that divides the movement-allowable area 80i determined by the movement-allowable area generation unit 20 into areas that fly in different route patterns. The area defining unit 30 can define the inside of the movement allowable area 80i as divided into 1 or more regular shape areas 81i and 1 or more irregular shape areas 82i and 83i having smaller areas than the regular shape areas 81 i.

The route pattern is a rule for automatically generating a route according to the shape of a certain area in order to fly the area in a full-scale manner. The path patterns are roughly classified into path patterns for a regular-shaped area and path patterns for an irregular-shaped area.

The route pattern for the regular shape area 81i includes an outer pattern that circles the inner circumference of the regular shape area 81i, and an inner pattern that moves sequentially in a direction different from the direction of the circular route while reciprocating inside the circular route, thereby scanning (i.e., scan) substantially the entire area inside the area. In the regular shape area 81i, an area flying according to the peripheral mode is referred to as a peripheral area 811i, and an area flying according to the medial mode is referred to as a medial area 812 i. The features of the irregular shaped zone, the peripheral zone and the inner zone will be described later.

The region specification unit 30 includes a region division necessity determination unit 31, a regular shape region generation unit 32, and an irregular shape region generation unit 33.

The partition necessity determining unit 31 is a functional unit that determines whether or not the movement-allowable partition needs to be divided into a plurality of regular shape partitions. In particular, when the movement-permitted region is in a concave polygonal shape when viewed from above, the region division necessity/unnecessity determination unit 31 divides the movement-permitted region. The concave polygon is a polygon having at least 1 of the inner angles of the polygon being an angle exceeding 180 °, in other words, a polygon having a concave shape.

The steps of determining whether or not the partition necessity determining unit 31 needs to divide the movement permitted partition 90i and perform partition will be described with reference to fig. 12 (a), (b), and fig. 13.

When the movement-permitted area 90i shown in fig. 12 (a) is viewed from above, there is a concave portion 93i formed by 2 sides, i.e., the side 91i and the side 92 i. Therefore, as shown in fig. 13, when the division necessity determining unit 31 determines that the concave portion 93i composed of 2 sides exists (S11), the longer side 91i of the 2

sides

91i and 92i is set as the determination target side, and the length is calculated (S12). The division necessity determining unit 31 does not perform division when the movement-allowable area 90i does not find a recess.

When the length of the side 91i is equal to or greater than a predetermined value determined according to the effective width of the drone 100, the area division necessity/unnecessity determination unit 31 determines that division of the area including the side 91i is necessary (S13), and divides the movement-permitted area 90i into 2 areas 901i, 902i (S14). Next, it is determined whether or not there is a recess in the divided region (S15). If a recess is found, the process returns to step S12. If no recess is found, it is determined that no further division is necessary, and the process is terminated.

Dividing line 94i is a side of the edge constituting the smaller region after division, and is determined to be parallel to edge 95i opposed to dividing line 94 i. With this configuration, when the drone 100 flies back and forth in the divided zones, the drone can fly more fully in the zones.

At least 1 regular shape region can be generated in each of the plurality of regions generated by the region division necessity determining unit 31. The regular shape area 81i has a shape and an area that can generate an outer peripheral area 811i and an inner area 812i within the area. The outer peripheral area 811i is a ring-shaped area having the effective width of the drone 100, and the inner area 812i needs to have a width obtained by removing the overlap allowable width from the effective width of the drone 100. Therefore, the division necessity determining unit 31 divides the division area when the length of the side (91i) is equal to or greater than a value obtained by removing the overlap allowable width from 3 times the effective width of the drone 100. The effective width of the drone 100 is, for example, a spreading width of a medicine in the case of a medicine spreading drone. In addition, the effective width of the drone 100 is a width that can be monitored in the case of a monitoring drone.

In the movement-allowable area 100i shown in fig. 12 (b), there is a concave portion 110i formed by adjoining 3 sides 111i, 112i, and 113i in this order when viewed from above. Therefore, as shown in fig. 13, when the division necessity determining unit 31 determines that the concave portion 110i composed of the 3 sides 111i to 113i exists (S11), the length is calculated with the longer side 111i of the sides 111i and 113i facing the concave portion 110i as the determination target side (S12). When the length of the side 111i is equal to or greater than a predetermined value determined according to the effective width of the drone 100, the area division necessity/unnecessity determination unit 31 determines that division of the area including the side 111i is necessary (S13), and divides the movement-permitted area 100i into 2

areas

1001i and 1002i by the division line (121i) (S14).

Next, it is determined whether or not there is a recess in the divided region (S15). If a recess is found, the process returns to step S12. In the example of the movement-permitted region 100i, the region division necessity/unnecessity determination unit 31 determines that the divided regions need to be further divided (S13), and further divides the region 1001i into 2 regions 1003i and 1004i by the division line 122i (S14).

Dividing

lines

121i, 122i are defined from both ends of a bottom side 113i of the concave portion 110i toward the left and right end sides 101i, 102i of the movement allowable area 100 i. The

dividing lines

121i and 122i are sides of the edge constituting the smaller region after division, and are determined to be parallel to the opposing

edges

103i and 104 i. With this configuration, when the drone 100 flies back and forth in the divided zones, the drone can fly more fully in the zones.

The area division necessity determining unit 31 may be configured to determine whether or not to divide the target area, instead of the movement-permitted area.

The regular shape area generating unit 32 is a functional unit that generates a regular shape area for each of 1 or more areas generated by the area division necessity determining unit 31.

As shown in fig. 11, the regular shape region generation unit 32 generates a convex polygon having the largest area as a regular shape region 81i inside the movement permission region 80 i. The convex polygon is a polygon with internal angles of less than 180 degrees.

As shown in fig. 2, the regular shape area generating unit 32 includes an outer peripheral area generating unit 321 and an inner area generating unit 322. In the example of fig. 11, the outer peripheral area generating unit 321 sets, as the outer peripheral area 811i, an annular area having an effective width of the drone 100, which forms the outer edge of the regular-shaped area 81 i. The inner area generation unit 322 sets the inner side of the outer area 811i as the inner area 812 i.

The irregular-shaped-region generating unit 33 is a functional unit that generates irregular-shaped regions in 1 or more regions generated by the region division necessity determining unit 31.

The irregular-shaped regions 82i and 83i are regions each having an area smaller than the area of the regular-shaped region 81i on average, and are regions where the outer peripheral region and the inner region cannot be defined. More specifically, regarding the irregular-shaped zones 82i, 83i, the length of the shortest side of the zone is smaller than the value obtained by removing the overlap allowable width from 3 times the effective width of the drone 100. In the example of fig. 11, 2 irregular-shaped regions 82i, 83i are prepared.

The route generation target area specifying unit 34 is a functional unit that determines whether or not the area is a route generation-enabled area for each of the specified

areas

811i, 812i, 82i, and 83i, and specifies an area to be subjected to route generation. This is because the regular shape region 81i and the irregular shape regions 82i and 83i may not be able to travel based on the shapes thereof. The route generation target area determination unit 34 determines whether or not the area is a route generation-enabled area, based on a predetermined value determined based on the traveling performance of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100. The travel performance of the drone 100 includes a run-up distance required until the drone 100 reaches constant-speed travel, and a stop distance required from constant-speed travel until the drone stops. In addition, the driving performance of the drone 100 includes the effective width in the medicine spreading, monitoring.

When the long side of the outer peripheral area 811i is smaller than a predetermined value determined based on the run-up distance required until the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 reaches the constant speed travel and the stop distance required to stop, the route generation target area determination unit 34 determines that no route is generated in the outer peripheral area 811 i. For example, when the long side of the outer peripheral region 811i is smaller than the sum of the run-up distance and the stop distance, it is determined that the route generation is not performed. When the shortest side of the outer peripheral area 811i is smaller than a predetermined value determined according to the effective width of the drone 100, no path generation is performed. More specifically, when the shortest side of the outer peripheral region 811i is smaller than the effective width of the drone 100, no path generation is performed. This is because, in the case of less than the given value, a path around the outer peripheral region 811i cannot be generated.

Similarly, when the long side of the inner zone 812i is smaller than a given value determined from the run-up distance required until the drone 100 reaches constant speed travel and the stop distance required to stop, the route generation target zone determination unit 34 determines not to perform route generation. For example, when the long side of the inner region 812i is smaller than the sum of the run-up distance and the stop distance, it is determined that the route generation is not performed. When the shortest side of the inner zone 812i is smaller than a given value determined according to the effective width of the drone 100, it is determined not to perform path generation. More specifically, when the shortest side of the inner zone 812i is smaller than a value obtained by removing the overlap allowance value from 2 times the effective width of the drone 100, no path is generated.

The route generation target area specifying unit 34 determines whether or not the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 can travel for each of the prepared irregular shaped areas 82i and 83 i. The path pattern for the irregularly shaped areas 82i, 83i is a path that flies in one direction in the longitudinal direction or a path that makes one round trip. For this reason, when the shortest sides of the irregular-shaped areas 82i, 83i are smaller than a given value determined in accordance with the effective width of the drone 100, the route generation target area determination unit 34 determines that the drone 100 is not traveling in the irregular-shaped area. More specifically, when the shortest side of the irregular shaped areas 82i, 83i is smaller than the overlap allowable value, it is determined that the vehicle is not running. The overlap tolerance may be, for example, 10% of the effective width of the drone 100.

When the longer sides of the irregular shaped areas 82i, 83i are smaller than a predetermined value determined from the run-up distance required until the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 reaches the constant speed travel and the stop distance required to stop, it is also determined that the vehicle is not traveling. For example, when the longer sides of the irregular shaped areas 82i, 83i are smaller than the total value of the run-up distance and the stop distance, the vehicle does not run.

The area specifying unit 30 may transmit information of the specified area to the operator 401 and display the information on the operator 401. In addition, when there is a region where the vehicle cannot travel, a warning may be issued by displaying the region.

In this example, the outer peripheral area 811i, the inner area 812i, and the irregular shaped area 83i are areas where traveling is possible, and the irregular shaped area 82i is an area where traveling is not possible.

The steps up to the acquisition of the target area information and the specification of the route generation target area, which have been described above, will be described with reference to fig. 14.

First, the object area information acquiring unit 10 acquires coordinate information on the work area (S21). Further, the object region information acquiring unit 10 acquires coordinate information on the obstacle (S22). The sequence of steps S21 to S22 is not fixed, and may be the same.

Next, the movement permission area generation unit 20 generates a movement permission area based on the coordinate information on the work area and the obstacle (S23).

The partition necessity determining unit 31 determines whether or not the movement-allowable partition needs to be divided, based on the shape and size of the movement-allowable partition (S24). When division is necessary, the area division necessity/unnecessity determination unit 31 divides the movement-permitted area into a plurality of areas (S25).

The regular shape area generation unit 32 generates a regular shape area for each of the movement permission area and the plurality of areas divided by the area division necessity determination unit 31, and further generates an outer peripheral area and an inner area for each regular shape area (S26).

The irregular-shaped area generating section 33 sets the area other than the regular-shaped area among the movement permission areas as the irregular-shaped area (S27).

Next, the route generation target area specifying unit 34 determines whether or not the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 can travel for each predetermined area (S28). When determining that the drone 100 cannot travel, the route generation target zone specification unit 34 removes the zone from the movement permission zone (S29). Finally, the route generation target area specifying unit 34 specifies a drivable area as the route generation target area (S30).

The route generation unit 40 shown in fig. 9 is a functional unit that generates a travel route from a route pattern in a route generation target area. The path generating unit 40 includes a main scanning path generating unit 41, an outer peripheral path generating unit 42, an irregular area path generating unit 43, and a path connecting unit 44.

As shown in fig. 9 and 15, the main scanning path generating unit 41 is a functional unit that generates the main scanning path 812 r. The main scanning path 812r is a path for reciprocally scanning the inner region 812 i. The main scanning path 812r is generated so as to be continuous along the direction of the longest long side 813i among the sides of the inner area 812i and to be converted in direction along the path of the short side 814i, which is the short side among the sides adjacent to the long side, and the side 815i facing the short side 814 i. As shown in fig. 15, the forward path and the backward path on the main scanning path 812r are generated in the inner area 812i, and the return area of the main scanning path 812r is generated in the outer area 811 i. The main scan path 812r is an example of a second flight path.

A direction along the long side 813i in which the path is continuously generated on the main scanning path 812r is also referred to as a main scanning direction, and a direction along the short side 814i is also referred to as a sub scanning direction. The angle formed by the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction is not limited to being orthogonal, and various angles can be generated. The travel path along the long side 813i may be parallel to the long side 813i, or may not be parallel. The travel paths along the long side 813i may be parallel to each other or may not be parallel to each other. That is, for the sake of explanation, the direction along the long side 813i is generically referred to as the main scanning direction, but the main scanning direction does not merely indicate a certain specific direction, but has a concept of a certain extent range smaller than 90 degrees.

The outer peripheral route generating unit 42 is a functional unit that generates a circumferential travel route 811r in the outer peripheral region 811 i. The round travel path 811r is a path that rounds on the outer peripheral area 811i 1 time. The round travel path 811r is a left turn in the present embodiment, but may be a right turn.

A part of the circular travel path 811r becomes

sub-scanning paths

814r and 815 r. In other words, the

sub-scanning paths

814r, 815r are generated as a circling path that encircles the inner circumference of the work area. The

sub-scanning paths

814r and 815r are traveling paths respectively generated continuously along at least 1 pair of edges, i.e., the edge 814i and the edge 815i, which face each other. In other words, the

sub-scanning paths

814r and 815r are traveling paths that fly in a sub-scanning direction, which is a direction different from the reciprocating direction of the main scanning path 812r, in a turn-back region that turns back from the forward path to the return path of the main scanning path 812 r. The

sub-scan paths

814r, 815r are examples of a first flight path.

According to the

sub-scanning paths

814r and 815r, when flying on the main scanning path 812r, the growth state can be grasped more accurately even in the turning region where the revolution is repeated. The reason and the method of grasping the growth state will be described below.

Fig. 17 shows a basic concept of the shooting mode of the working area shooting drone according to the present invention. In addition, this figure is a conceptual diagram, and the scale is not accurate. In general, in the drone 100, the airflow 601 generated by the rotating wing 101 flows backward in the traveling direction of the body. The airflow generated by the rotary wing 101 produces an effect of temporarily sweeping the crop in the working area. As is clear from the experiments by the inventors, since the crop most affected by the airflow generated by the rotary wing 101 of the drone 100 is located in a direction of about 60 degrees of depression behind the traveling direction of the drone 100, the work area imaging camera 512 can be provided at a position where the direction can be imaged. On the other hand, if the camera is designed to photograph only the area directly below the unmanned aerial vehicle, the unmanned aerial vehicle needs to be moved at an extremely low speed or to photograph in a hovering state in order to photograph the root and the side surfaces of the leaves, and efficient photographing cannot be performed.

Fig. 17 (a) represents the grain culm root photographing mode. The image of the bottom stalk root and the side surfaces of the leaves of the crop 602 generated by the down draft can be acquired by selectively capturing an image of the region 604 exposed to the upper space by the working area capturing camera 512 or capturing an image of a region wider than the region and extracting the region 604 obtained by image processing, at the rear of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 in the traveling direction. Since the image of the region 604 in which the side surfaces of the leaves are exposed greatly differs in brightness and saturation from the other regions, the side surfaces of the leaves can be easily extracted by image processing. In addition, the thickness and hardness of the leaf can be estimated from the curved shape of the leaf of the crop when it is exposed to wind.

Fig. 17 (b) represents the shoot mode. The basic idea is the same as in the straw root shooting mode, but by raising the height of the drone 100 higher than in the straw root shooting mode, the effect of the downdraft 601 blowing toward the crop 602 is reduced, and an area 605 in which the tip portion of the crop 602 is exposed to the air can be formed, and as in the straw root shooting mode, an image of only the tip portion of the ear can be efficiently acquired.

Fig. 17 (c) represents a normal movement pattern. In general, the height is further raised in the moving mode than in the shoot mode, and thus the effect of lodging the crop 602 is small. In order to minimize lodging by downdraft or damage to the rice ear without photographing the straw root or the ear tip, it is preferable to fly the drone 100 in a normal movement mode. In addition, during shooting, it is also preferable to set the normal movement mode, as well as the interruption of flight due to battery depletion and exchange or the like, and the movement at the time of restart. In this case, switching to the normal travel mode and returning to the straw root imaging mode or the ear tip imaging mode can be automatically performed by a program or the like mounted on the flight controller 501.

The switching of the grain stalk root shooting mode, the ear tip shooting mode, and the normal movement mode from one to another is performed, for example, by controlling the height of the drone 100. It is clear from the experiments of the inventor that the drone 100 can be controlled as follows: for example, the height in the grain stalk root shooting mode is set to about 0.9 m from the ground or 0.1 m from the ear tip, the height in the ear tip shooting mode is set to 1.1 m to 2.0 m from the ground or 0.3 m to 1.2 m from the ear tip, and the height in the normal movement mode is set to 2 m to 2.5 m or 1.2 m to 1.7 m from the ear tip. The height control is automatically performed by a program or the like installed in the flight controller 501.

In the grain stalk root photographing mode and the ear tip photographing mode, the drone 100 photographs the grain stalk root and the ear tip by generating a down flow 601 toward the crop 602 using the rotary wing 101. Therefore, in the region where the drone 100 spins the head, the down draft 601 is generated in a radial arc shape centered on the drone 100 toward the rear in the direction of travel. In this way, crops in the area where the image is taken do not fall down as intended, and it is difficult to perform appropriate image taking. Therefore, in the folded region on the main scanning path 812r,

sub-scanning paths

814r and 815r for performing constant velocity linear flight are generated separately from the main scanning path 812 r. That is, the work area imaging camera 512 images the crop in the return area while flying on the

sub-scanning paths

814r and 815 r. Since the crop swept by the descending airflow 601 is returned to a substantially upright state when the influence of the descending airflow 601 disappears, the crop can be laid down as desired based on the descending airflow 601 generated during constant-speed traveling when flying on the

sub-scanning paths

814r and 815r, and an image in which the growth state can be grasped can be acquired.

Further, when the medicine is to be distributed, the medicine control unit 1002 stops the medicine distribution in the turn-back area while flying on the main scanning path 812r, and performs the medicine distribution only in the forward path and the backward path. Further, the medicine controller 1002 spreads the medicine in the retracing region while flying on the

sub-scanning paths

814r and 815 r. If the medicine is scattered in the retrace area during the flight of the main scanning path 812r, the medicine is scattered in an excessive amount because the medicine is scattered in an overlapping manner with the scattering in the

sub-scanning paths

814r and 815 r. In addition, since acceleration and deceleration, yaw rotation, and the like are performed in the turning region during the flight of the main scanning path 812r, the flight speed is not constant and is very low, and it is difficult to achieve uniform and desired density distribution. In contrast, according to the configuration in which the medicine is distributed while flying in the

sub-scanning paths

814r and 815r, the medicine can be distributed while flying at a constant speed, and therefore the medicine can be uniformly distributed to the folding back area at a predetermined concentration.

The

sub-scanning paths

814r and 815r may be either in the same direction or in opposite directions. The

sub-scanning paths

814r and 815r may be in the same direction as or opposite to the direction in which the main scanning path 812r flies when returning from the forward path to the return path. The

sub-scanning paths

814r, 815r may also be generated as a circling travel path 811r circling the inner circumference of the regular shape area 81 i.

The irregular-shaped-area route generating section 43 is a functional section that generates an irregular-shaped-area travel route 83r in the irregular-shaped area 83 i. The irregular-shaped zone travel path 83r is a path that flies in one direction or a path that makes one round trip in the longitudinal direction of the irregular-shaped zone 83 i.

The path coupling portion 44 is a functional portion that couples the circulating travel path 811r, the main scanning path 812r, and the irregular-shaped-area travel path 83 r. According to this configuration, even when a route is generated by dividing the route into a plurality of sections, the overlapping of the routes can be minimized, and a travel route with good efficiency can be generated.

In each of the circumferential travel path 811r, the main scanning path 812r, and the irregular-shaped area travel path 83r, the crop is fallen down by the downdraft generated by the rotary wing 101 of the drone 100, and at least one of the straw root and the tip of the crop is exposed, so that the height and speed at which the work area imaging camera 512 can image are specified. With this configuration, the crops in the movement-permitted area 80i can be comprehensively photographed, and the growth status can be monitored.

In addition, the height and speed at which the medicine can reach are specified for each of the encircling travel path 811r, the main-scanning path 812r, and the irregular-shaped-area travel path 83 r. The target object reached by the medicament can be the straw root or the ear tip of the crop and can also be soil. With this configuration, the medicine can be entirely distributed to the movement permission area 80 i.

As shown in fig. 16, first, the outer peripheral route generating unit 42 generates a surrounding travel route 811r surrounding the outer peripheral area 811i (S41). Next, the main scanning path generating unit 41 mainly generates the main scanning path 812r that makes a round trip in the inner zone 812i (S42). The irregular-shaped-area path generating unit 43 generates an irregular-shaped-area travel path 83r that flies in one direction or reciprocates once in the irregular-shaped area 83i (S43). In addition, the sequence of steps S41 to S43 is not fixed, and may be performed simultaneously. The path coupling portion 44 couples the circulating travel path 811r, the main scanning path 812r, and the irregular-shaped-area travel path 83r (S44).

Since the regular-shaped area for generating the convex polygon is divided into the regular-shaped area and the irregular-shaped area to generate the travel route, and the inner area can also be generated as the convex polygon having a shape similar to the outer periphery of the regular-shaped area, the travel can be performed while minimizing the overlapping route. Therefore, the vehicle can travel in the target area in a short time. In other words, a travel route having good efficiency in terms of working time, battery consumption of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and medicine consumption can be generated. In addition, in the unmanned aerial vehicle for drug delivery, the possibility of overlapping drug delivery is reduced, and high safety can be maintained.

The route generation unit 40 shown in fig. 9 can generate a plurality of types of travel routes in the route generation target area. The route selection unit 50 can select and determine which travel route is to be used. The user can determine the travel route by visually observing the plurality of travel routes generated.

The route selector 50 can input priority information from the user. For example, the user inputs to the operator 401 which of the work time, the battery consumption amount of the drone 100, and the medicine consumption amount is given the highest priority. Further, the operator 401 can input the second priority index together. The route selection unit 50 selects a travel route that best matches the input priority order from among the plurality of travel routes. With this configuration, it is possible to efficiently generate a route in accordance with the user's policy.

According to this configuration, it is possible to generate a travel route for completing a predetermined task performed by the unmanned aerial vehicle as desired even during autonomous driving and generating an effect based on the task over the entire work area.

In addition, although the present description has been given by taking an agricultural drone for the purpose of medicine distribution or growth monitoring as an example, the technical idea of the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to all machines that autonomously operate. But also be applicable to the unmanned aerial vehicle who independently flies outside the agricultural usefulness. Further, the present invention can be applied to a ground-based self-propelled machine which autonomously operates.

(technically significant effects of the present invention)

The travel route generation device according to the present invention can generate a travel route for causing a predetermined task performed by the unmanned aerial vehicle to be completed as desired even during autonomous driving and causing an effect based on the task to occur over the entire work area.

Claims

1. A travel route generation device generates a travel route of an unmanned aerial vehicle flying in a work area,

the travel route generation device includes a route generation unit that generates at least a main scanning route and a sub-scanning route,

on the main scanning path, the unmanned aerial vehicle scans the working area by moving in sequence in a direction different from the direction of the reciprocating movement while reciprocating in the working area,

on the sub-scanning path, the unmanned aerial vehicle continuously scans a turn-back area on the main scanning path, which is turned back from the forward path to the return path, in a direction different from the direction of the reciprocating movement of the main scanning path.

2. The travel path generation device according to claim 1, wherein,

the sub-scanning paths are respectively generated along at least 1 pair of end sides facing each other.

3. The travel path generation device according to claim 2, wherein,

the sub-scanning path is generated as a circulating path that circulates an inner periphery of the working area.

4. The travel path generation device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein,

the unmanned aerial vehicle is provided with a camera, a rotary wing and a flight control part, and the camera is used for shooting the crops in the operation area so as to monitor the growth of the crops,

and when flying on the secondary scanning path, the camera shoots the crops in the turning area.

5. The travel path generation device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein,

the unmanned aerial vehicle is provided with a drug control part for spreading drugs to the operation area and a rotary wing,

the medicine control unit stops medicine distribution in the switchback area when flying on the main scanning path, and performs medicine distribution in the switchback area when flying on the sub-scanning path.

6. An unmanned aerial vehicle capable of flying overhead within an operating area, the unmanned aerial vehicle flying on a first flight path and a second flight path,

on the first flight path, the unmanned aerial vehicle flies along 1 opposite ends of the operation area, and on the second flight path, the unmanned aerial vehicle scans in the operation area while reciprocating between 1 opposite ends, and a turn-back area for reciprocating is overlapped with the first flight path.

7. The drone of claim 6,

the second flight path is a flight path that surrounds an inner circumference within the work area.

8. The drone of claim 6 or 7,

the unmanned aerial vehicle is provided with a camera for shooting the crops in the operation area, a rotary wing and a flight control part,

and when flying on the first flight path, the camera shoots the crops in the turning area.

9. The drone of any one of claims 6 to 8,

the medicine control unit stops medicine distribution in the turning-back area when flying on the second flight path, and performs medicine distribution in the turning-back area when flying on the first flight path.

10. A method for generating a travel route of an unmanned aerial vehicle flying in a work area,

the travel path generation method includes a step of generating at least a main scanning path and a sub scanning path,

11. A travel route generation program that generates a travel route of an unmanned aerial vehicle flying in a work area, the travel route generation program causing a computer to execute a command to generate at least a main scanning route and a sub-scanning route,