CN113271772B - Unmanned aerial vehicle system and control method of unmanned aerial vehicle system - Google Patents

Abstract

In a system for supplementing resources from a mobile object to an unmanned aerial vehicle, even if the resources stored in the unmanned aerial vehicle and the mobile object are insufficient during operation, the resources can be efficiently supplemented to the unmanned aerial vehicle and the mobile object. The drone system (500) comprises at least: a drone (100); a mobile body (406 a) that can be landed by the drone and that can move with the drone; and an operation determination device (40) that grasps the positions and states of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the mobile body, and determines the operations of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the mobile body. The moving body is provided with a loading room (821 a) capable of accommodating resources used by the unmanned aerial vehicle. The operation determination device includes: a mobile body resource acquisition unit (411) that acquires the amount of resources stored in the load chamber; and a resource replenishment determination unit (41) that determines replenishment of the resources to the mobile object when the amount of the resources satisfies a predetermined condition.

Description

Unmanned aerial vehicle system and control method of unmanned aerial vehicle system

Technical Field

The invention relates to an unmanned aerial vehicle system and a control method of the unmanned aerial vehicle system.

Background

The use of small helicopters (multi-rotor helicopters), commonly referred to as drones, is advancing. One of the important fields of application is the application of agricultural chemicals or liquid fertilizers to agricultural lands (farms) (for example, patent document 1). In narrower farmlands, the use of manned airplanes or helicopters is not suitable, and the use of unmanned aerial vehicles is suitable in many cases.

In japan, even in a typical farmland with a narrow and complicated terrain, the unmanned aerial vehicle can fly autonomously with minimum manual operations, and can efficiently and accurately broadcast a chemical 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).

On the other hand, it is difficult to say that safety is sufficiently considered in an autonomous flying type drone for agricultural chemical distribution. Since the weight of the unmanned aerial vehicle loaded with the chemical is several tens of kilograms, serious consequences may be caused in the event of an accident such as falling to a human body. In addition, in general, since the operator of the unmanned aerial vehicle is not a professional, a mechanism for preventing the malfunction is required, but consideration thereof is insufficient. Heretofore, although there is a safety technique of an unmanned aerial vehicle on the premise of human manipulation (for example, patent document 2), there is no technique for an autonomous flight type unmanned aerial vehicle that copes with medicine distribution for agricultural use in particular.

In addition, since the amount of resources such as batteries and medicines that can be mounted on the drone is limited, the drone needs to be replenished with resources during operation. For example, resources are stored in a mobile body such as a light truck waiting around a farm, and the unmanned aerial vehicle returns to the mobile body to replenish the resources while interrupting the work as appropriate. According to this configuration, since the replenishing means is mounted on the mobile body, the replenishing means can be made to wait in the vicinity of the farm during operation. That is, the unmanned aerial vehicle can supplement resources by flying for a short time, and is efficient both in terms of energy and time. However, the resources stored in the mobile body may be insufficient. Therefore, when the resources stored in the mobile unit are insufficient, a system for efficiently supplementing the resources to the mobile unit is required.

Patent document 3 describes a method for controlling an automated guided vehicle, including: the automated guided vehicle system includes a plurality of automated guided vehicles, a main route for guiding the automated guided vehicles to a working place, a charging unit for charging each automated guided vehicle, and a centralized control unit for determining the number of times each automated guided vehicle has been charged and instructing each automated guided vehicle to a predetermined operation in addition to inputting a travel request. In this control method, when the number of unprocessed travel requests is large and the number of expected travel requests decreases based on the empirically obtained data-based travel request frequency distribution, the automated guided vehicle starts traveling when the charging time reaches a predetermined time shorter than the reference charging time.

However, patent document 3 does not describe that a charging unit for charging an automated guided vehicle that performs work is further supplemented with resources.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2001-120151

Patent document 2: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2017-163265

Patent document 3: japanese patent laid-open publication No. Hei 4-127303

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

Provided is an unmanned aerial vehicle system capable of efficiently supplementing resources to an unmanned aerial vehicle and a mobile body even when the resources contained in the unmanned aerial vehicle and the mobile body are insufficient during operation in a system for supplementing resources from the mobile body to the unmanned aerial vehicle.

Means for solving the problems

To achieve the above object, an aspect of the present invention relates to an unmanned aerial vehicle system, at least comprising: an unmanned aerial vehicle that performs work in a work area; the moving body can be used for the unmanned aerial vehicle to land and can move together with the unmanned aerial vehicle; and an operation determination device that grasps positions and states of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the mobile body and determines operations of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the mobile body, wherein the operation determination device determines whether or not the mobile body is stopped at a predetermined landing position of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and causes the unmanned aerial vehicle to stand by in a work area of the unmanned aerial vehicle when the mobile body is not stopped at the predetermined landing position.

The operation determination device may be configured to cause the unmanned aerial vehicle to stand by in a work area of the unmanned aerial vehicle by hovering the unmanned aerial vehicle.

The operation determination device may be configured to, when the unmanned aerial vehicle is caused to stand by in a work area of the unmanned aerial vehicle by hovering the unmanned aerial vehicle, cause the unmanned aerial vehicle to land on a ground surface corresponding to the predetermined landing position if the moving body does not reach the predetermined landing position even when an electric storage amount of the unmanned aerial vehicle reaches a predetermined amount, or if the moving body is expected not to reach the predetermined landing position during a period from a point at which the unmanned aerial vehicle exits the work area to when the unmanned aerial vehicle reaches the predetermined landing position.

In order to achieve the above object, another aspect of the present invention relates to a method for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle system, the unmanned aerial vehicle system at least comprising: an unmanned aerial vehicle; the moving body can be used for the unmanned aerial vehicle to land and can move together with the unmanned aerial vehicle; and an operation determination device that grasps positions and states of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the moving body and determines operations of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the moving body, the control method of the unmanned aerial vehicle system including: judging whether the moving body stops at a preset landing position of the unmanned aerial vehicle; and a step of causing the unmanned aerial vehicle to stand by in a work area of the unmanned aerial vehicle when the mobile body is not stopped at the predetermined landing position.

Effects of the invention

In a system for supplementing resources from a mobile object to an unmanned aerial vehicle, even if the resources stored in the unmanned aerial vehicle and the mobile object are insufficient during operation, the resources can be efficiently supplemented to the unmanned aerial vehicle and the mobile object.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a drone provided in a drone system according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a front view of a drone provided in the drone system.

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 an overall conceptual diagram illustrating a second embodiment of a medicine dispensing system provided in the above-described drone.

Fig. 8 is an overall conceptual diagram illustrating a third embodiment of the medicine dispensing system provided in the above-described drone.

Fig. 9 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a farm on which the unmanned aerial vehicle performs work and a state of arrangement of an autopilot permission area on which the mobile body travels.

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram representing the control functions of the drone described above.

Fig. 11 is a schematic perspective view showing a state of the mobile unit of the present invention.

Fig. 12 is a schematic perspective view showing a state in which the upper panel on which the unmanned aerial vehicle is mounted of the moving body slides to the rear.

Fig. 13 is a functional block diagram relating to resource replenishment of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the moving object, which the unmanned aerial vehicle, the moving object, and the operation determination device of the present invention have.

Fig. 14 is a graph showing a relationship between a charging time and a charging rate of a battery of the drone.

Fig. 15 shows an example of the operations of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the mobile body during the period from the start to the end of all the operations, where (a) is a time chart, (b) is a graph showing the completion rate of the operations in the farm, and (c) is a graph showing the charging rate of a battery of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

Fig. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a GUI of an operator included in the above-described drone system.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out 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, certain 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.

First, the configuration of the drone included in the drone system of the present invention will be described. 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.).

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 8 rotary wings (4 sets of 2-stage rotary wings) are provided in consideration of the balance between the stability of flight, the size of the airframe, and the amount of power consumption. Each of the rotary wings 101 is arranged on four sides of the main body 110 of the drone 100 by an arm extending from the main body 110. That is, the rotary wings 101-1a and 101-1b are arranged on the left rear side in the traveling direction, the rotary wings 101-2a and 101-2b are arranged on the left front side, the rotary wings 101-3a and 101-3b are arranged on the right rear side, and the rotary wings 101-4a and 101-4b are arranged on the right front side. Note that, in the unmanned aerial vehicle 100, the direction toward the lower side of the paper in fig. 1 is the traveling direction. Rod-like legs 107-1, 107-2, 107-3, 107-4 extend downward from the rotation axis of the rotary wing 101, respectively.

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.) for rotating 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. For stability of the flight of the drone, etc., the axes of the upper and lower rotating wings (e.g., 101-1a and 101-1 b) within the 1 casing, and their corresponding motors (e.g., 102-1a and 102-1 b), are on the same line and rotate in opposite directions to each other. 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 during collision, and to prevent interference with the rotor.

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

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 diagram, and the scale is inaccurate. In the same figure, the drone 100, the operator 401, the small-sized mobile terminal 401a, the base station 404, and the moving object 406a are connected to the farm management cloud 405. These connections may be wireless communication by Wi-Fi, mobile communication system, or the like, or may be partially or entirely wired.

The unmanned aerial vehicle 100 and the moving object 406a transmit and receive information to and from each other, and perform coordinated operations. The moving object 406a has a departure arrival point 406. The unmanned aerial vehicle 100 includes a flight control unit 21 that controls the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100, and also includes a functional unit for transmitting and receiving information to and from the moving object 406a.

The operator 401 is a unit for transmitting instructions to the drone 100 by the operation of the user 402 and displaying information (e.g., a position, a medicine amount, a remaining battery amount, a camera image, etc.) received from the drone 100, and may be implemented by a portable information device such as a general tablet terminal running 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 operator (not shown) having a function dedicated to emergency stop may be used in addition to the portable information device. The emergency operator may be a dedicated device provided with a large emergency stop button or the like so as to quickly take measures in an emergency. Further, separately from the operator 401, a small-sized portable terminal 401a, for example, a smartphone, which can display a part or all of information displayed on the operator 401, may be included in the system. In addition, the following functions may be provided: the operation of the drone 100 is changed based on information input from the small portable terminal 401a. The small-sized portable terminal 401a can be connected to the base station 404, for example, and can receive information and the like from the agricultural operation cloud 405 via the base station 404.

The farm 403 is a farm field, a field, or the like to be applied with a chemical by the drone 100. Actually, the topography of the farm 403 may be complicated and a topographic map may not be obtained in advance, or the topographic map may be different from the situation on the spot. Typically, the farm 403 is adjacent to a house, hospital, school, other crop farm, road, railroad, or the like. Further, there may be an intruding object such as a building or an electric wire in the farm 403.

The base station 404 is a device that provides a master function of Wi-Fi communication or the like, and may function as an RTK-GPS base station, and may provide an accurate position of the drone 100 (may be a device in which the master function of Wi-Fi communication and the RTK-GPS base station are independent). The base station 404 may communicate with the agricultural operation cloud 405 using a mobile communication system such as 3G, 4G, and LTE. In the present embodiment, the base station 404 is mounted on the mobile body 406a together with the departure/arrival point 406.

The agricultural operations cloud 405 is a group of computers and associated 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 agriculture operation cloud 405 may perform processing for analyzing the image of the farm 403 photographed by the drone 100 and grasping the growth condition of the crop to determine the flight route. In addition, the stored topographic information of the farm 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.

The small-sized portable terminal 401a is, for example, a smartphone or the like. Information on the action predicted for the travel of the drone 100, more specifically, information on the scheduled time at which the drone 100 returns to the departure arrival point 406, the content of the work to be performed by the user 402 when returning, and the like are appropriately displayed on the display unit of the small-sized portable terminal 401a. Further, the operations of the drone 100 and the moving object 406a may be changed based on an input from the small-sized portable terminal 401a. The small portable terminal 401a can receive information from each of the drone 100 and the moving body 406a. In addition, information from the drone 100 may be transmitted to the small portable terminal 401a via the moving body 406a.

Typically, the drone 100 takes off from a departure arrival site 406 located outside the farm 403 and returns to the departure arrival site 406 after the farm 403 has broadcast the medicament, or when replenishment of medicament or charging or the like is required. The flight path (entry path) from the departure/arrival point 406 to the target farm 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.

As in the second embodiment shown in fig. 7, the medicine distribution system of the drone 100 according to the present invention may be configured as follows: the drone 100, the operator 401, the small portable terminal 401a, and the agriculture operation cloud 405 are connected to the base station 404, respectively.

As in the third embodiment shown in fig. 8, the medicine distribution system of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 according to the present invention may be configured as follows: the drone 100, the operator 401, and the small portable terminal 401a are connected to the base station 404, respectively, and only the operator 401 is connected to the agriculture operation cloud 405.

As shown in fig. 9, the drone 100 flies over the farms 403a, 403b, completing the operations in the farms. The moving body 406a automatically travels in the automatic driving permission area 90 provided in the periphery of the farms 403a, 403b. The automatic driving permission area 90 is, for example, a field lane. The farms 403a, 403b and the automatic driving permission area 90 constitute a working area. The automatic driving permission area 90 is divided into a movement permission area 901 in which the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 cannot land and a landing permission area 902 in which the mobile body 406a can move and the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 can land on the mobile body 406a, although the mobile body 406a can move. The reason why the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 cannot land is, for example, that barriers 80 such as guardrails, utility poles, electric wires, warehouses, graves, and the like are provided between the district and the farm 403 a.

In the present embodiment, a plurality of drones 100a and 100b (hereinafter, also referred to as a first drone 100a and a second drone 100 b) can fly simultaneously on 1 farm 403a (an example of a work area) and perform work individually. The work performed by the first drone 100a is an example of a first work, and the work performed by the second drone 100b is an example of a second work. The first work includes an operation of flying on the first travel path 51 set to cover the entire first work area 403c as a part of the farm 403 a. The second work includes an operation of flying on the second travel route 52 set to cover the entire second work area 403d, which is an area other than the first work area 403c in the farm 403 a. The drones 100a and 100b broadcast a chemical or photograph the inside of the farm 403a while flying along the first and second travel paths 51 and 52.

The first travel route 51 includes a start point 51s, a work completion route 51a, an inoperative route 51b, and an end point 51e. The first unmanned machine 100a starts flying from the start point 51s and flies to the end point 51e. A path on which the drone 100a has flown is set as the work completion path 51a, and a path scheduled to fly next is set as the non-work path 51b. Similarly, the second travel route 52 includes a start point 52s, a work completion route 52a, an unproductive route 52b, and an end point 52e. The second drone 100b starts flying from the start point 52s and flies to the end point 52e. The route on which the drone 100b has flown is set as the work completion route 52a, and the route scheduled to fly next is set as the non-work route 52b.

A plurality of moving bodies 406A and 406B (hereinafter, also referred to as a first moving body 406A and a second moving body 406B) travel within the automatic driving permission area 90. The plurality of drones 100a and 100B and the plurality of moving objects 406A and 406B included in the drone system 500 are connected to each other via a network, and are collectively managed by the operation determination device 40 described later in fig. 13.

In the present embodiment, the number of unmanned aerial vehicles and mobile bodies is the same, but may be different. When the number of unmanned planes is the same as the number of mobile bodies, each mobile body can carry 1 unmanned plane, and therefore all unmanned planes can be loaded on the mobile bodies and carried into the unmanned planes from outside the work area. Although the mobile body cannot supplement resources to a plurality of drones at the same time, all of the drones can be supplemented with resources at the same time according to a configuration in which the same number of drones and mobile bodies are included in the drone system 500.

The operation determination device 40 may be an independent device, or may be mounted on any configuration included in the unmanned aerial vehicle system 500, such as a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles 100a and 100B, a plurality of mobile bodies 406A and 406B, or the agricultural operation cloud 405.

The drone 100 takes off from the mobile 406a to complete the job within the farms 403a, 403b. During the work in the farms 403a, 403b, the drone 100 interrupts the work as appropriate and returns to the mobile body 406a to replenish the battery 502 and the medicine. When the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 completes the work on a given farm, the vehicle 406a moves to the vicinity of another farm, and takes off the vehicle 406a again to start the work in the other farm. In this way, the movement of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 in the autopilot permission area 90 is performed while being mounted on the mobile body 406a in principle, and the mobile body 406a carries the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 to the vicinity of the farm where the work is performed. According to this configuration, the battery 502 of the drone 100 can be saved. Further, since the mobile body 406a stores the battery 502 and the medicine that can be replenished to the unmanned aerial vehicle 100, the mobile body 406a moves to the vicinity of the farm where the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 is working and waits, and according to this configuration, the resources can be efficiently replenished to the unmanned aerial vehicle 100.

The area other than the automatic driving permission area 90 is an automatic driving non-permission area 91. The automatic drive permission area 90 and the automatic drive non-permission area 91 are divided by dividing means 407a, 407b, 407c, 407d, 407 e. The automatic driving permission area 90 and the automatic driving non-permission area 91 are formed continuously on a road other than the partition by various obstacles, and the partition members 407a, 407b, 407c, 407d, and 407e may be disposed on the road. In other words, the partition members 407a, 407b, 407c, 407d, and 407e are disposed at the entrances to the automatic driving permission area 90.

The dividing means 407 is a means for dividing the farm 403 and the area around the farm, that is, the moving body 406a, and the work area in which the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 moves during work, and is, for example, a color traffic cone (registered trademark), a triangular traffic cone, a traffic cone pole, a road block, a field arch, a fence, or the like. The dividing unit 407 may be physically divided or may be divided by light such as infrared rays. The dividing section 407 is mainly used to notify an intruder outside the work area that the work is in progress to restrict entry into the work area. Therefore, the member is a member that can be visually recognized even from a remote place by an intruder. Further, since the partition member 407 is set by the user 402 at the start of the job, it is preferable to facilitate setting and removal. A plurality of dividing components 407 may be included within the drone system 500. The dividing means 407 can detect whether or not an intruder has intruded into the work area, and transmit the intrusion information to the moving body 406a, the operator 401, the small-sized portable terminal 401a, and the like. Further, intruders include people, cars, and other moving objects.

Fig. 10 shows a block diagram representing the control functions of an embodiment of a pharmaceutical dispensing drone according to the invention. The flight controller 501 is a component responsible for controlling the entire drone, and may specifically be an embedded computer including a CPU, a memory, related software, and the like. The flight controller 501 controls the rotation Speed 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, thereby controlling the flight of the drone 100. 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.

Software used by the flight controller 501 can be rewritten by a storage medium or the like or by communication means such as Wi-Fi communication or USB for function expansion, change, problem correction, or the like. 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, part or all of its constituent elements can be duplicated.

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, the communication may be encrypted, and thus, it is possible to prevent unauthorized acts such as eavesdropping, impersonation, and theft of the device. 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 and the signal from the GPS positioning satellite, the absolute position of the drone 100 can be measured with an accuracy of several centimeters by the flight controller 501. The flight controllers 501 are highly important, and thus can be duplicated or multiplexed, and in order to cope with a failure of a specific GPS satellite, each redundant flight controller 501 may be 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 unmanned aerial vehicle body, and further calculates a velocity by integration of the accelerations. The 6-axis gyro sensor 505 is a means for measuring angular velocities, which are changes in the attitude angles of the drone body in the three directions. The geomagnetic sensor 506 is a unit that measures the direction of the unmanned aerial vehicle body by measurement of the 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 reflection of laser light, and may be an IR (infrared) laser. 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 can be chosen according to cost targets, 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 a failure occurs, 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 multispectral camera 512 is a unit that photographs the farm 403 and acquires data for image analysis. The intruder detection camera 513 is a camera for detecting an intruder of the drone, and is a different device from the multispectral camera 512 because the image characteristics and the orientation of the lens are different from the multispectral camera 512. The switch 514 is a means for the user 402 of the drone 100 to make various settings. The intruder contact sensor 515 is a sensor for detecting contact of the drone 100, particularly a rotor and a propeller guard portion thereof, with an intruder such as an electric wire, a building, a human body, a tree, a bird, or another drone. Further, the intruder contact sensor 515 may be replaced with a 6-axis gyro sensor 505. 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 can be chosen as performance requirements based on the cost goals of the drone, or can be duplicated/multiplexed. Further, a sensor may be provided in a base station 404, an operator 401, or another 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 generates a control signal to the pump 106 to adjust the medicine ejection amount and stop 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. Instead of LEDs or in addition to them, display units such as liquid crystal displays can also be used. 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 519 is an optional component for communicating with an external computer or the like, for example, for transmitting software. 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. In addition, instead of the Wi-Fi slave function, the communication can be performed by a mobile communication system such as 3G, 4G, and LTE. 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 unmanned aerial vehicle 100 in flight, and therefore in such a case, the transmission of the situation by sound 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 according to cost targets and performance requirements of the drone, or may be duplicated/multiplexed.

● Construction of moving body

The moving object 406a shown in fig. 11 and 12 receives information of the drone 100 and appropriately notifies the user 402 or receives an input from the user 402 and transmits the input to the drone 100. Further, the mobile body 406a can move with the drone 100 mounted thereon. The movable body 406a can be autonomously moved in addition to being driven by the user 402. The mobile body 406a in the present embodiment is assumed to be a vehicle such as an automobile, more specifically, a light truck, but may be an appropriate mobile body such as an electric train that can travel on land, or may be a ship or an aircraft. The drive source of the mobile body 406a may be an appropriate drive source such as gasoline, electric power, fuel cell, or the like.

The moving body 406a is a vehicle in which the riding seat 81 is disposed forward in the traveling direction and the loading platform 82 is disposed rearward. The 4 wheels 83 as an example of the moving means are arranged on the bottom surface side of the moving body 406a so as to be drivable. The user 402 can get on the seat 81.

The passenger seat 81 is provided with a display unit 65 that displays the moving object 406a and the status of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100. The display unit 65 may be a device having a screen or may be realized by a mechanism that projects information to the front windshield. In addition to the display unit 65, a rear display unit 65a may be provided on the rear surface side of the vehicle body 810 covering the seat 81. The angle of the rear display section 65a with respect to the vehicle body 810 can be changed in the left and right directions, and the user 402 who works behind the loading platform 82 and in the left and right sides can acquire information by viewing the screen.

At the left end of the front portion of the loading table 82 of the moving body 406a, a base station 404 having a shape in which a disk-shaped member is coupled above a round bar protrudes from above the passenger seat 81. Further, the shape and position of the base station 404 are arbitrary. With the configuration in which the base station 404 is located on the passenger seat 81 side of the loading platform 82, the base station 404 is less likely to interfere with the take-off and landing of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 than with the configuration located behind the loading platform 82.

The loading table 82 includes a loading chamber 821 for storing the battery 502 of the drone 100 and the medicine to be replenished to the medicine tank 104 of the drone 100. The loading room 821 is a region surrounded by the vehicle body 810 covering the seat 81, the rear panel 822, the 1-side panels 823, and the upper panel 824. The rear plate 822 and the side plates 823 are both referred to as "fenders". A rail 825 is disposed along the upper end of the side plate 823 to the vehicle body 810 on the rear surface side of the seat 81 at each of the upper ends of the rear plate 822. The upper panel 824 mounts the drone 100, becomes a departure/arrival area, which is a departure/arrival point 406 capable of taking off and landing, and is slidable forward and backward in the traveling direction along the rails 825. The rails 825 serve as ribs protruding upward from the plane of the top panel 824, and prevent the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 placed on the top panel 824 from slipping out of the left and right ends of the moving body 406a. Further, a rib 8241 projecting upward is formed behind the upper panel 824 to the same extent as the rail 825.

A warning lamp 830 for displaying a state indicating that the unmanned aerial vehicle system 500 is in operation may be disposed on the upper portion of the vehicle body 810 and on the rear side of the rear plate 822 in the traveling direction. The warning lamp 830 may be a display for distinguishing the job from other than the job by color matching, blinking, or the like, or may display characters, patterns, or the like. In addition, the warning lamp 830 on the upper portion of the vehicle body 810 can be extended above the vehicle body 810 to be displayed on both sides. With this configuration, even when the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 is disposed on the loading platform 82, the warning can be visually recognized from the rear. Further, the warning can be visually recognized from the front in the traveling direction of the moving object 406a. By allowing the warning lamp 830 to be visually recognized from the front and the rear, the labor for providing the dividing member 407 can be partially omitted.

The upper panel 824 may be slid manually or automatically by a rack and pinion mechanism or the like. When the top panel 824 is slid backward, the loading chamber 821 can be loaded with or unloaded with articles from above the loading table 82. In addition, in a state where the upper panel 824 slides to the rear, the upper panel 824 is sufficiently separated from the vehicle body 810, and therefore the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 can take off and land at the departure arrival point 406.

On the upper panel 824, 4 foot receiving portions 826 capable of fixing the feet 107-1, 107-2, 107-3, 107-4 of the drone 100 are provided. The foot receiving portions 826 are, for example, disk-shaped members each having a truncated cone-shaped upper surface and provided in 1 number at positions corresponding to the 4 feet 107-1, 107-2, 107-3, and 107-4 of the drone 100. The bottom of the truncated cone-shaped recess of the leg receiving portion 826 and the tips of the legs 107-1, 107-2, 107-3, and 107-4 may be formed to be fittable to each other. When landing on the foot receiving portion 826, the feet 107-1, 107-2, 107-3, 107-4 of the drone 100 slide along the conical surface of the foot receiving portion 826, and the front ends of the feet 107-1, 107-2, 107-3, 107-4 are guided to the bottom of the conical frustum. The drone 100 can be automatically or manually fixed to the foot receiving section 826 by an appropriate mechanism, and the drone 100 can be safely transported without excessive vibration or dropping of the drone 100 even when the moving body 406a carries the drone 100 and moves. Further, the moving body 406a can detect whether or not the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 is fixed to the foot receiving portion 826.

A circle lamp 850 for displaying a reference of the takeoff and landing position of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 is disposed in a substantially central portion of the upper panel 824. The circular lamp 850 is formed of a plurality of luminous bodies arranged in a substantially circular shape, and the luminous bodies can blink one by one. In the present embodiment, 1 circular lamp 850 is configured by 4 large light emitters 850a arranged at approximately 90 degrees on the circumference and 2 small light emitters 850b arranged at equal intervals between the large light emitters 850 a. The circle lamp 850 displays the flying direction of the drone 100 after takeoff or the flying direction when landing by lighting 1 or more of the light groups 850a, 850 b. The circular lamp 850 may be constituted by 1 ring-shaped light emitter which can be partly flickered.

Regarding the 1-pair side plates 823, the sides of the bottom are hinged to the loading table 82, enabling the side plates 823 to be tilted outward. In fig. 9, a state in which the side plate 823 on the left side in the traveling direction is tilted outward is shown. When the side plate 823 is tilted outward, the stored articles can be stored and taken out from the side of the moving body 406a. The side plate 823 is fixed substantially in parallel to the bottom surface of the loading chamber 821, and the side plate 823 can be used as a work table.

The form switching mechanism is constituted by 1 pair of rails 825. The hinge connecting the side plate 823 and the loading table 82 may be included in the form switching mechanism. In a state where upper panel 824 is disposed so as to cover the upper side of loading compartment 821 and side panel 823 is raised to cover the side surface of loading compartment 821, moving body 406a moves. When the moving body 406a is stationary, the upper panel 824 is switched to a state of sliding to the rear or a state of falling down the side panel 823, and the user 402 can enter the loading chamber 821.

The drone 100 can be replenished with the battery 502 while landed at the departure arrival point 406. The replenishment of the battery 502 includes the charging of the built-in battery 502 and the exchange of the battery 502. The charging device in which the battery 502 is stored in the loading room 821 can charge the battery 502 stored in the loading room 821. The drone 100 may include a supercapacitor mechanism instead of the battery 502, and may store a supercapacitor charger in the loading room 821. In this configuration, when the drone 100 is fixed to the foot receiving section 826, the battery 502 mounted on the drone 100 can be quickly charged via the feet of the drone 100.

The drone 100 can replenish the medicine stored in the medicine tank 104 in a state of being landed at the departure arrival point 406. The loading room 821 can store appropriate components such as a dilution and mixing tank for diluting and mixing the drug, an agitation mechanism, and a pump and a hose for sucking the drug from the dilution and mixing tank and injecting the drug into the drug tank 104. A refill hose that can be connected to an inlet of the medicine tank 104 may be disposed to extend from the loading chamber 821 to above the upper plate 824. The concentrated drug and water are injected into the loading chamber 821, and diluted and mixed in the dilution and mixing tank, thereby generating a drug of a predetermined concentration. In the following description, the action of replenishing the loading room 821 with the medicine includes not only the action of directly injecting the medicine of the concentration to be distributed by the drone 100 into the loading room 821 but also the action of injecting the concentrated medicine and water.

On the upper surface side of the upper panel 824, a waste liquid tank 840 and a waste liquid hole 841 are formed for guiding the medicine discharged from the medicine tank 104. The waste liquid tank 840 and the waste liquid hole 841 are arranged in 2 pieces, respectively, and the waste liquid tank 840 is located below the medicine nozzle 103 regardless of whether the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 lands on the left or right of the moving body 406a. The waste liquid tank 840 is formed substantially straight along the longitudinal direction of the moving body 406a along the position of the chemical nozzle 103, has a predetermined width, and is slightly inclined toward the passenger seat 81 side. Waste liquid grooves 840 are formed with waste liquid holes 841 penetrating upper panel 824 to guide the chemical liquid into loading chamber 821, respectively, at the end portions on the passenger seat 81 side. The waste liquid hole 841 communicates with a waste liquid tank 842 provided substantially directly below the waste liquid hole 841 in the loading chamber 821.

When the medicine is injected into the medicine tank 104, a gas release operation is performed in which gas (mainly air) filled in the medicine tank 104 is discharged to the outside. At this time, an operation of discharging the medicine from the discharge port of the medicine tank 104 is required. After the operation of the drone 100 is completed, the medicine tank 104 needs to be operated to discharge the medicine. With the configuration in which the waste liquid tank 840 and the waste liquid hole 841 are formed in the upper panel 824, when the chemical injection and discharge are performed to the chemical tank 104 with the drone 100 being placed on the upper panel 824, waste liquid can be guided to the waste liquid tank 842, and the chemical injection and discharge can be performed safely.

● Configuration of unmanned aerial vehicle, moving body, and operation determination device included in unmanned aerial vehicle system

As shown in fig. 13, the drone system 500 includes the drone 100, a first moving object 406A, a second moving object 406B, and the motion determination device 40. The unmanned aerial vehicle 100, the first mobile object 406A, the second mobile object 406B, and the operation determination device 40 are configured to be connected to each other via a network NW, for example. The network NW may be entirely wireless, or may be partly or entirely wired. The specific connection relationship is not limited to the same drawing, and the respective components may be directly or indirectly connected.

In the present embodiment, the number of the unmanned aerial vehicles is 1, and the number of the moving bodies is 2, but these numbers may be equal to or more than these. In addition, unmanned aerial vehicle and moving body both can be the same, also can the number be different. The plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles can take off and land at each of the plurality of mobile bodies 406A and 406B, and can supplement resources. Further, the replenishment of resources is a concept including the replenishment of the battery 502 and the replenishment of the medicine.

The drone 100 includes a flight control unit 21, a mounted resource acquisition unit 22, and a battery 502.

The flight control unit 21 is a functional unit that operates the motor 102 of the drone 100 and controls the flight, take-off, and landing of the drone 100. The flight control unit 21 is realized by, for example, the function of the flight controller 501.

The mounted resource acquiring unit 22 is a functional unit that acquires the amount of resources mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle 100, that is, the amount of power stored in the battery 502 and the amount of medicine. The mounted resource acquiring unit 22 includes a stored electricity amount acquiring unit 221 and a medicine amount acquiring unit 222.

The stored electric energy acquisition unit 221 is a functional unit that acquires the stored electric energy of the battery 502 mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle 100. The charge capacity of the battery 502 is energy that can operate the drone 100 without resource replenishment. The battery 502 may be any form of energy supply mechanism such as a primary battery, a secondary battery, a capacitor, or a fuel cell.

The stored electric energy amount acquisition unit 221 may acquire information from another configuration for measuring the stored electric energy amount of the battery 502, or the stored electric energy amount acquisition unit 221 itself may measure the stored electric energy amount of the battery 502.

The medicine amount obtaining unit 222 is a functional unit that estimates the current storage amount of the medicine in the medicine tank 104. The medicine amount obtaining section 222 may estimate the storage amount from the weight of the drone 100 measured by the weight measuring section 211 a. The medicine quantity acquiring unit 222 may have a function of estimating the height of the liquid level in the medicine tank 104, for example. The medicine amount obtaining unit 222 may estimate the amount of stored medicine by using a liquid level meter, a water pressure sensor, or the like disposed in the medicine tank 104. When the drone 100 is in operation, the medicine quantity acquiring unit 222 may calculate the medicine discharge quantity by integrating the discharge flow rate from the medicine tank 104 measured by the flow rate sensor 510, and estimate the reserve quantity by subtracting the medicine discharge quantity from the medicine quantity loaded first.

The first moving object 406A includes a loading room 821a, a storage resource acquiring unit 31a, a landing detecting unit 32a, and a replenishing unit 33a. The second moving object 406B includes a loading room 821B, a storage resource acquiring unit 31B, a landing detecting unit 32B, and a replenishing unit 33B. The first mobile body 406A and the second mobile body 406B have substantially the same configuration. Loading chambers 821a and 821b have the same configuration as loading chamber 821 described above.

The accommodated resource acquisition units 31a and 31B are functional units that measure the amount of resources owned by the mobile bodies 406A and 406B. The amount of resources includes the number of batteries 502 that have been charged and the amount of drugs. Additionally, the amount of resources may be the charge reserve of the device charging the battery 502. In the case where the drones 100a and 100b are configured to be driven by a fuel cell, the amount of fuel gas, such as hydrogen gas, that can be stored in the drones 100a and 100b may be used. The amount of resources prepared in the moving objects 406A and 406B may be acquired by manual input from the user 402, or may be automatically acquired. As an example of the configuration for automatically obtaining the dose, a configuration may be adopted in which the weight of the loading chamber 821 is measured within a predetermined range in order to obtain the dose. In addition to the configuration for measuring the weight of the loading room 821 within a predetermined range, the configuration for measuring the amount of charge of the battery 502 may be provided in order to obtain the number of charged batteries 502.

The landing detection units 32a and 32B are functional units that detect whether or not the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 lands on the moving bodies 406A and 406B. The landing detection units 32a and 32B detect whether or not the drone 100 lands on the moving objects 406A and 406B, for example, by a configuration in which the legs 107-1 to 107-4 of the drone 100 are detected by touch switches, electrostatic capacitance sensors, or the like mounted on the leg receiving unit 826. In the case where a plurality of drones 100 are included in the drone system 500, the landing detection sections 32a, 32b can identify which drone 100 has landed by acquiring the information specific to the drone 100 from the feet 107-1 to 107-4. The landing detection units 32a and 32b may acquire the position information of each drone 100 by RTK-GPS or the like, and identify the drone 100 that has landed.

The supplement units 33a and 33B are functional units that supplement resources to the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 that lands on the moving bodies 406A and 406B. As described above, the replenishing units 33a and 33B can charge the battery 502 mounted on the drone 100 landed on the moving bodies 406A and 406B. The replenishing portions 33a and 33b can replenish the medicine stored in the medicine tank 104.

The operation determination device 40 is a functional unit that determines the operation plan of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 and the mobile body 406a. The operation determination device 40 includes a resource replenishment determination unit 41, a notification unit 42, a priority switching unit 43, a charging schedule unit 44, and a landing position determination unit 45.

The resource replenishment determination unit 41 determines whether or not the amount of resources stored in each of the mobile units 406A and 406B satisfies a predetermined condition, and determines a functional unit for replenishing the mobile units 406A and 406B with the resources.

The resource replenishment determination unit 41 includes a mobile object resource acquisition unit 411 that acquires the amount of resources stored in the mobile objects 406A and 406B. The mobile resource acquisition unit 411 acquires the amount of resources stored for each of the plurality of mobile objects 406A and 406B included in the drone system 500. The mobile object resource acquisition unit 411 can acquire the amount of resources by the housing resource acquisition units 31a and 31B that the mobile objects 406A and 406B have, respectively.

The resource replenishment determination unit 41 determines to replenish the mobile objects 406A and 406B with resources when, for example, the amount of resources accommodated in the mobile objects 406A and 406B is smaller than a predetermined amount. When the drone system 500 includes a plurality of moving objects 406A as in the present embodiment, it is determined whether or not a supplemental resource is required for each of the moving objects 406A and 406B.

The resource replenishment determination unit 41 may refer to the operation plan of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100, and determine to replenish the movable bodies 406A and 406B with the resources when the amount of the resources stored in the movable bodies 406A and 406B is lower than a planned value to be replenished to the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 in the operation plan. When the unmanned aerial vehicle system 500 includes a plurality of moving bodies 406A as in the present embodiment, the replenishment of resources to the moving bodies 406A, 406B can be determined with reference to a plan for replenishment of each moving body 406A predetermined in the work plan.

The resource replenishment determination unit 41 determines to move the mobile objects 406A and 406B for which the replenishment of resources is determined to a position where the resources can be replenished (hereinafter, also referred to as "stock replenishment spot"). The position where the resource can be supplemented is, for example, the end of the automatic driving permission region 90 of the mobile bodies 406A and 406B. The end of the automatic driving permission area 90 includes all boundary portions of the automatic driving permission area 90 and the automatic driving non-permission area 91. The user 402 transports the resource from a separately provided warehouse to the vicinity of the outer periphery of the automated driving permission area 90. With the configuration in which the moving bodies 406A and 406B move to the end of the autonomous driving permission area 90 for resource replenishment, the user 402 can approach the moving bodies 406A and 406B from outside the autonomous driving permission area 90, and can replenish the resources to the moving bodies 406A and 406B. If an intruder such as a person or a vehicle including the user 402 intrudes into the automatic driving permission area 90, there is a risk of collision with the moving objects 406A and 406B or the unmanned aerial vehicle 100. When an intruder intrudes into the autonomous driving permission zone 90, the moving bodies 406A and 406B or the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 may be stopped from operating. According to this configuration, the user 402 can replenish the resources without intruding into the autonomous driving permission area 90, and therefore, the moving bodies 406A and 406B and the operation of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 can be continued safely.

When the mobile bodies 406A and 406B need to replenish the stock, the resource replenishment determination unit 41 notifies various components in the drone system 500, such as the operator 401 and the small-sized portable terminal 401a, of the replenishment via the notification unit 42. The notification unit 42 is a functional unit that transmits information indicating that stock replenishment is necessary to various configurations in the unmanned aerial vehicle system 500.

The operator 401 and the small-sized portable terminal 401a which have received the notification notify the user 402 to urge the mobile bodies 406A and 406B to replenish the stock. At this time, the operator 401 and the small-sized portable terminal 401a can display the amount of resources to be replenished for each of the mobile bodies 406A and 406B with reference to the job plan. The operator 401 and the small-sized portable terminal 401a can calculate an expected time at which the unmanned aerial vehicles 100a and 100b are expected to return for replenishment or a required time until return based on the current time, with reference to the work plan, and display information indicating when replenishment of resources is required. According to this configuration, even when the user 402 is located far from the farms 403a and 403b, the small-sized portable terminal 401a can receive a notification of the replenishment of the stock. In this system, since the drones 100a and 100B and the moving objects 406A and 406B automatically operate, the work of the user 402 is almost limited to the stock replenishment of the moving objects 406A and 406B. Thus, by enabling the remote user 402 to be informed of inventory replenishment information, it is not necessary for the user 402 to be located at the farms 403a, 403b at all times.

Further, the operator 401 and the small portable terminal 401a can display the current positions and the work states of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 and the moving body 406a, that is, information indicating whether the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 is on broadcasting, shooting, or preparation, and information indicating whether the moving body 406a is moving, together with the above-described information. The operator 401 and the small-sized portable terminal 401a can display information indicating the progress status of the work on the farm 403, that is, whether the work is being performed or waiting for the intervention of the user 402, the presence/absence of completion of the work, and the work completion rate.

The small-sized portable terminal 401a may display only a part of the information displayed on the operator 401, and may further notify only a part of the information by another notification means such as a sound. For example, the following configurations are possible: when it is necessary to supplement resources to the mobile body 406a, when all the tasks are completed and the mobile body needs to be cleaned up, and the like, the small-sized portable terminal 401a displays only information at a time point when intervention of the user 402 is necessary and information related to prediction at each time point. Further, the user 402 may be notified at a time point when the mobile body 406a needs to be replenished with resources, a time point when all jobs are completed, and a time point when an abnormality occurs.

The stock may be replenished from another moving object having sufficient resources, or from a separately provided warehouse. The operator 401, the small portable terminal 401a can display from which the resource is replenished. By replenishing from another moving body, the procedure for storing the moving body in the warehouse after completion of the work can be shortened. Therefore, the resource replenishment determination unit 41 can determine to replenish the resource with priority from another mobile object. The resource replenishment determination unit 41 may compare the total amount of the stock owned by the mobile body 406a included in the unmanned aerial vehicle system 500 with the amount of the resource necessary for all the jobs, and determine to replenish the stock from a separately provided warehouse when the total amount of the stock is less than the amount of the resource necessary for all the jobs.

When the total amount of stock owned by the mobile body 406A is equal to or more than the amount of resources necessary for all the jobs, the resource replenishment determination unit 41 determines to move the resources from the mobile body 406A to the mobile body 406B, and determines to move at least one of the mobile body 406A and the mobile body 406B so that the distance between the mobile body 406A and the mobile body 406B becomes shorter. That is, mobile 406A having sufficient resources may approach mobile 406B that needs inventory replenishment, or mobile 406B may approach mobile 406A. Further, both the moving body 406A and the moving body 406B may move to a shorter distance. At this time, the operator 401 and the small portable terminal 401a notify the user 402 of which moving body the large amount of stock needs to be moved from.

When the supplement to the mobile object 406a is completed, the resource supplement determination unit 41 moves the mobile object 406a to a position suitable for the return of the drone 100. This position is, for example, a position before the moving body 406a moves for stock replenishment. In addition, it is possible to move to another position suitable for the return of the drone 100, depending on the situation.

The priority switching unit 43 is a functional unit that prioritizes the total operation time and the total amount of stored electricity by the operation determination device 40 to determine the operation schedule and switch the operation schedule. When the user 402 is located near the farm 403 to monitor the work, it is preferable to end the work quickly, while when the user 402 is located at a remote place, it is preferable to give priority to the total amount of stored electricity and to save the work cost. The priority switching unit 43 may determine the priority based on an input from the user 402. The priority switching unit 43 may be configured to be able to switch the priority, by determining whether or not the user 402 is monitoring the work on the farm 403 based on the positional information of the small-sized portable terminal 401a owned by the user 402.

The charging schedule unit 44 determines a charging schedule for charging the battery 502 of the drone 100 with an amount of stored electricity corresponding to the total charging rate. The charging plan is a part of the work plan, and includes the timing when the drone 100 returns to the moving bodies 406A, 406B to perform charging, the charging time, and the number of times of charging. The timing of charging is, for example, a time at which charging is performed or an elapsed time from a predetermined reference time point such as a takeoff time of the drone 100 to a time point at which charging is performed. The charging time is a time during which charging is performed in each charging. The number of times of charging is the number of times of charging performed within the work plan.

The charging planning unit 44 includes a charging rate acquisition unit 441, a required charging rate acquisition unit 442, and a charging rate/charging time storage unit 443.

The charging rate acquisition unit 441 is a functional unit that acquires the current charging rate of the battery 502 mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle 100. The charging rate is also referred to as SOC (state of charge), which is a rate of remaining after the discharged electric energy is removed from the state in which battery 502 is fully charged, and is also referred to as remaining capacity. The charging rate acquisition unit 441 acquires the stored electric energy amount from the stored electric energy amount acquisition unit 221 of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100. The charging rate acquisition unit 441 may be configured to measure the amount of charge of the battery 502 of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 that is in contact with the moving bodies 406A and 406B.

The required charging rate acquisition section 442 is a functional section that acquires the total charging rate required for completion of the work plan of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100. The operation plan is an operation performed in a flight covering all over 1 or more farms, and includes, for example, a chemical distribution and monitoring operation. The job plan includes the following actions: the drone 100 returns to the mobile bodies 406A, 406B to charge the battery 502, and starts the work on the farm again. The total charge rate also includes the amount of charge of the battery 502 required for return for charging. Since the action of charging is included in the job plan, the total charging rate may be a value exceeding 100%.

The charging rate and charging time storage portion 443 is a functional portion that stores the charging rate of the battery 502 in association with a required time for charging the drone having the charging rate by a given amount.

As shown in fig. 14, the charging rate of the battery 502 is non-linear with the required time. When the charging rate is low, the charging rate can be greatly increased by short-time charging. In the case where the charging rate is large, it takes more time to raise the charging rate. The charging rate and charging time storage portion 443 stores the correspondence relationship between the charging rate and the charging time shown in fig. 14. The charging rate and charging time storage 443 may store a plurality of combinations of charging rates and charging times as a table, or may store them in a numerical expression. The charging rate and charging time storage portion 443 may store different correspondence relationships for each individual battery 502. This is because the battery 502 deteriorates depending on the number of times of use and the like, and the correspondence relationship may differ for each battery 502. The charging rate and charging time storage unit 443 may be configured to call up a correspondence relationship used for calculation based on information stored in the battery 502, for example, a usage history. The charging rate/charging time storage portion 443 may be configured to calculate and store the correspondence relationship. The charging rate and charging time storage portion 443 may correct the correspondence relationship according to other factors such as temperature.

The charge schedule section 44 may predict a time point at which the charge amount of the battery 502 becomes less than a given amount, and decide a time point at which the drone 100 is returned. The charging scheduling unit 44 may be configured to be able to determine a condition for resuming the operation after the end of charging. For example, the charging planning unit 44 may be configured to end charging and resume the in-farm work when the charging rate reaches a predetermined condition. Further, the charging planning unit 44 may be configured to terminate the charging when the charging rate is equal to or higher than a predetermined value. The setpoint value can be, for example, less than 70% or less than 50%.

The energy involved in the action of the drone 100 consumes the stored amount of power of the battery 502, regardless of the rate of charge of the battery 502. That is, for example, the energy generated by discharging 90% of the battery 502 having a charging rate of 100% is substantially the same as the energy generated by discharging 10% of the battery 502 having a charging rate of 20%. On the other hand, as shown in fig. 14, the charging time varies depending on the charging rate, and in a range where the charging rate is low, the charging of the same amount of stored electricity is faster. Therefore, by determining the operation plan of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 to perform the operation while repeating the charging in a range in which the charging speed is high, which is a ratio of the charging rate to the charging time, the time required for the charging can be shortened, and the operation efficiency can be improved.

The charging planning unit 44 determines a charging plan that minimizes the total work time including the work interruption time for charging, based on the required time for charging, the charging rate obtained by the charging, and the flying time based on the charging rate.

The flow from the start to the end of all the jobs will be described with reference to the example of fig. 15. As shown in fig. 15 (a), the total operation time is the sum of the moving body-inter-farm movement times 60a to 60h, the intra-farm operation times 61a to 61d, and the charging times 62a to 62 c. First, the drone 100 performs movement from the mobile 406a to the farm 403, consuming the mobile-farm movement time 60 a. When the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 arrives at the farm 403, the intra-farm work is performed for the intra-farm work time 61a to 61 d. The unmanned aerial vehicle 100 interrupts the intra-farm work as appropriate, returns to the mobile body 406a with the consumption of the mobile body-to- farm movement times 60b, 60d, and 60f, and charges the mobile body for the charging times 62a to 62 c. After a predetermined charging, the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 returns to the farm 403 at the moving- inter-farm moving times 60c, 60e, and 60g, and starts the intra-farm work again. When the work in the farm is completed, the work returns to the moving body 406a for a moving time 60h between the moving body and the farm, and the whole work is completed. Further, although the number of times of charging is 3 times in the present embodiment, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited thereto.

As shown in fig. 15 (b), the work completion rate of the work in the farm is 0% at the start time point of all the works. The work completion rate increases in the intra-farm work time 61a to 61d, while the work interruption time 63a to 63c other than the intra-farm work time 61a to 61d among the total work time does not change. The work completion rate reached 100% at the end of the farm work time 61 d.

As shown in fig. 15 (c), the charging rate of the battery 502 mounted on the drone 100 decreases at the flight times 64a to 64d other than the charging times 62a to 62c, and increases at the charging times 62a to 62 c. The rising state of the charging rates of the charging times 62a to 62c corresponds to fig. 14, and is nonlinear.

The total work time can be calculated by adding the total of the number of charges to the sum of the 1-time work interruption time 63a and the flight time 64b obtained based on the work interruption time, and the start and end moving times 60a and 60h, in addition to the flight time 64a based on the amount of electricity stored at the start of the work. The charging schedule unit 44 determines a charging schedule by determining a charging rate at the time of job interruption and a job interruption time of 1 time, which minimize the total job time.

The charging time 62c in the last charging in the entire job may be different from the other charging times 62a, 62b. In particular, the last charging time 62c may be shorter than the other charging times 62a, 62b. This is because the last intra-farm working time 61d in all the works is mostly shorter than the other intra-farm working times 61a to 61c, and therefore, only the amount of stored electricity required to complete the work may be charged. With such a configuration, the charging time 62c can be shortened, and the total work time can be shortened.

The landing position determination unit 45 is a functional unit that determines the landing positions of the unmanned aerial vehicles 100a and 100 b. For example, the landing position determination unit 45 is a functional unit that determines which of the plurality of moving objects 406A and 406B the unmanned aerial vehicle is to land on. In the configuration in which 1 drone system 500 has a plurality of moving objects 406A, 406B, the plurality of moving objects 406A, 406B are present around the farms 403a, 403B. According to the landing position determination unit 45, the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 can determine the moving objects 406A and 406B that meet the conditions more and land without landing on the moving objects 406A and 406B that were used to take off. The landing position determination unit 45 may determine to land the unmanned aerial vehicles 100a and 100B on the ground, not only on the moving bodies 406A and 406B. For example, as described later, when a plurality of drones want to land on the same moving bodies 406A and 406B, it can be determined that one drone is on standby while landing on the ground.

The landing position determination unit 45 includes a stored electricity amount acquisition unit 451 and a travel information acquisition unit 452.

The stored electricity amount acquisition unit 451 is a functional unit that acquires the stored electricity amount of the battery 502.

The movement information acquisition unit 452 acquires movement information of the moving objects 406A and 406B including the positions of the moving objects 406A and 406B and the arrival time required for the moving objects 406A and 406B to reach the predetermined landing position of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100. Further, the time required for arrival is a concept as follows: the time period from the current location to the planned landing position includes the time period from the time when the mobile units 406A and 406B start moving to the stock replenishment location, move to the stock replenishment location to perform the stock replenishment work, and move from the stock replenishment location to the planned landing position to the time when the mobile units reach the planned landing position. The movement information may include the amount of resources stored in the mobile bodies 406A and 406B, respectively. Further, the movement information may include information on whether the drone 100 lands on the moving bodies 406A, 406B.

The landing position determination unit 45 may determine the mobile bodies 406A and 406B having the resource amount that the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 needs to supplement, among the plurality of mobile bodies 406A and 406B, to land the unmanned aerial vehicles 100a and 100B. The landing position determination unit 45 may determine the moving object with the smallest possessed amount among the moving objects 406A and 406B that possess the resource amount that the unmanned aerial vehicles 100a and 100B need to supplement, to land the unmanned aerial vehicles 100a and 100B. The resource may be the amount of the battery 502 or the amount of the drug. The mobile bodies 406A and 406B may be selected based on the amount of possession of either the battery 502 or the medicine, depending on the type of resource replenished when the drone 100 lands. According to this configuration, since only a specific mobile object needs to be replenished with resources, the moving distance of the stocks of the mobile objects 406A and 406B and the number of times of replenishing the stocks can be reduced.

The landing position determination unit 45 may determine a moving object that causes the drone 100 to land on another drone 100 among the plurality of moving objects 406A and 406B. It is not possible to land one drone 100 on a moving body on which the other drone 100 lands. Therefore, according to this configuration, the plurality of drones 100a and 100B can land on the moving bodies 406A and 406B simultaneously without interference. That is, the resource can be replenished to the plurality of drones 100a and 100b at the same time, and the total operation time can be shortened, thereby efficiently performing the operation.

When a plurality of the drones 100a and 100b are scheduled to land on the same mobile body 406A and one drone 100a lands on the mobile body 406A when returning to the mobile body 406A, the landing position determination unit 45 may land the drone 100b on the ground for standby, and land the other drone 100b on the mobile body 406A after takeoff. At this time, the drone 100b may be configured as: the vehicle waits for landing while the amount of stored electricity required for landing on the mobile body 406A is secured.

When the mobile bodies 406A and 406B scheduled to land are moving to the stock replacement spot, the landing position determination unit 45 causes the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 to stand by in the farm 403. This is because stock replenishment of the moving body 406a is performed by a hand of a person, and thus the end time varies. In standby, the drone 100 hovers, so the amount of stored power gradually decreases. During standby, when the moving bodies 406A and 406B do not reach the planned landing position even when the remaining charge amount of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 becomes a predetermined value (for example, the charge amount necessary for landing toward the planned landing position), or when it is predicted that the moving bodies 406A and 406B do not reach the planned landing position during a period from the exit point of the farm 403 until the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 reaches the planned landing position, the landing position determining unit 45 lands the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 on the ground corresponding to the planned landing position. With this configuration, even if it takes time to replenish the inventory of the mobile body 406a, the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 can land safely. Further, the operator 401 or the small portable terminal 401a appropriately notifies information indicating that the drone 100 is to land and the reason.

● Composition of GUI specifying landing site

As shown in fig. 16, the operation screen 800 of the operator 401 is realized by a computer program operating on a smartphone or tablet terminal. Although an image of a specific farm is displayed on the operation screen 800, a menu screen for selecting a plurality of farms under the management of the user 402 may be displayed before the screen is displayed.

The operation screen 800 is provided with a peripheral device status display area 801, a flight status display area 802, a machine status display area 803, an altitude adjustment input unit 804, a map display area 805, a route information display area 806, an emergency correspondence button 807, and a landing point designation indicator 808.

The peripheral device status display area 801 displays the remaining battery level, the pump status, the remaining drug level, the communication status, the GPS reception status, and the like of the drone 100. The information is simplified as much as possible, and the operator is reliably informed of a highly important situation by changing the color or the like when an error occurs.

The flight status display area 802 displays the flight time, GPS coordinates, flying speed, altitude, and the like of the drone 100. Further, a progress bar (not shown) indicating the completion of the medicine dispensing may be displayed.

The body condition display area 803 displays the current state of the drone 100, for example, during preparation for flight, during drug replenishment, during takeoff, during flight, emergency evacuation, and the like. Further, the notification of the next job and the action desire of the user (for example, "request preparation for drug replenishment") may be displayed.

The height adjustment input unit 804 is a user interface input unit implemented by buttons or the like for increasing and decreasing the current height of the drone 100. This is because, although the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 according to the present invention is autonomously flown in principle and the height is also automatically adjusted by the computer program, for example, an operator may want to make a fine adjustment of the height according to the height of the crop or the like.

The map display area 805 is a map of a farm including a target of medicine distribution, and may be an aerial photograph, a topographic map, or an overlay of these. The scale and position can be adjusted by gesture operation or the like. The current position of the drone 100 is displayed in real time in the map display area 805. The map display may be switched to or together with the map display to display the image of the farm 403 taken by the camera 712 of the drone 100.

The route information display area 806 is an area in which the route on which the unmanned aerial vehicle is to autonomously fly is displayed, which is calculated in advance by the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 or the agricultural operation cloud 405, within the manipulator. The route may be displayed by switching between a shooting-only plan and a pesticide application plan. In the pesticide application plan, a route giving priority to a required time, a route giving priority to battery consumption, or a route giving priority to minimizing leakage of the pesticide application may be displayed, and may be selected by the user. The medicine application completion area may be displayed by changing the color. Information on the position and size of an obstacle (wire, building, tree, etc.) in the farm, etc. can be displayed together with the route.

The emergency response button 807 is a button for transmitting an instruction in the event of an emergency such as a failure or collision of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100, and occupies a large portion of the operation screen 800 (typically, 1/3 or more of the entire screen space) in order to prevent an erroneous operation and to enable easy operation by the operator 402 in the event of an emergency. The action of the drone 100 in an emergency includes hovering (in-flight suspension), emergency return to the departure/arrival point 406, soft landing in the field, emergency stop of the motor, and the like, but one or more of these actions can be started by the emergency response button 807. In the example of fig. 16, hovering is initiated by a sliding operation and motor emergency stop is initiated by 4 consecutive taps, but other combinations of operations and processes may be used. The emergency operation button is made translucent and can see through the map information located behind, so as to effectively utilize the screen space as much as possible. In an emergency, an operation to be performed in the emergency may be displayed in text on the emergency operation button so that an operator who is not a professional may not be confused. The operation in the emergency is preferably a simple operation such as 4-tap on the button that does not cause a mistake even when the operator swings, and is also an operation that is less likely to cause an error. The emergency-support button 807 is disposed at a sufficient distance (typically 1 cm or more) from the edge of the screen, and with this configuration, it is less likely that a finger holding the smartphone or tablet pc touches the button, thereby causing an erroneous operation.

The landing site designation indicator 808 is an indicia showing the site at which the drone 100 intends to land. When the drone 100 flies on a path calculated in advance, the landing place is also determined in advance. However, there are cases where the user 402 wants to interrupt the work, and there are cases where an intervention operation is necessary in an emergency. For this purpose, the user 402 can specify the landing place of the drone 100 by operating on the operation screen 800 and arranging the land point specification mark 808. More specifically, the user configures the landing site designation indicator 808 by tapping or long-pressing a point on the map display area 805. With a configuration in which a point on the map can be specified by the GUI, an intuitive input of the landing point can be performed.

The mobile body 406a can be autonomously moved to a place corresponding to the position of the landing place specification flag 808 based on the configuration of the landing place specification flag 808. Further, this situation can be displayed on the GUI of the mobile body 406a, and the user 402 can move the mobile body 406a, so that navigation to the point can be displayed.

The operator 401 may have information on whether the drone 100 has taken off, permit designation of a landing place when the drone 100 has taken off, and prohibit designation of a landing place when the drone 100 lands. The intervention operation is an exceptional action, and an efficient and safe flight is achieved in terms of energy efficiency, required time, and the like by using the principle of flight on a planned route. Therefore, by permitting the user 402 to specify the landing place only when the intervention operation is performed during flight, the planned flight can be secured.

The operator 401 may permit the designation of a landing site on a pre-planned flight path and prohibit the designation of a landing site outside the flight path. That is, the landing site is at least one site among the farm 403, the takeoff site, and the entry/exit route from the takeoff site to the farm 403. This is because the planned flight path is a point where the user 402 can recognize the flight of the drone 100 and pay sufficient attention, and therefore has a high probability of ensuring the safety of landing. That is, according to the present configuration, even when the landing place is manually designated, the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 can be safely landed.

When the storage amount of the battery of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 unexpectedly becomes a given value or less, the operator 401 may perform display of a request for designation of a landing place on the operation screen 800. In this case, the operation screen 800 may display a range in which the vehicle can land according to the amount of power stored in the battery on the map. In addition, the operator 401 may permit the designation of a landing place in the touchable range and prohibit the designation of a landing place outside the range. The amount of stored electricity in the battery is reduced unexpectedly, for example, when the waiting time is long in a state where the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 is hovering while waiting for landing. According to this configuration, even when it becomes necessary to land unexpectedly, the landing place of the drone 100 can be secured based on the intention of the user 402.

In addition, although the description has been given taking an agricultural chemical-spreading drone as an example in the present description, the technical idea of the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to all drones for other purposes such as shooting and monitoring. The device is particularly suitable for self-acting machines. The mobile body is not limited to a vehicle, and may have an appropriate configuration.

(technically significant effects of the present invention)

In the unmanned aerial vehicle system according to the present invention, in the system for supplementing resources from a mobile body to an unmanned aerial vehicle, even when resources accommodated in the unmanned aerial vehicle and the mobile body are insufficient during operation, the resources can be efficiently supplemented to the unmanned aerial vehicle and the mobile body.

Claims (4)

1. An unmanned aerial vehicle system, comprising at least:

an unmanned aerial vehicle that performs work in a flight area;

the moving body can be used for the unmanned aerial vehicle to land and can move together with the unmanned aerial vehicle;

an operation determination device that grasps positions and states of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the mobile body, and determines operations of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the mobile body; and

a landing position determination unit that determines a predetermined landing position in a landing permission area that is an area where the unmanned aerial vehicle can land on the mobile object provided in the vicinity of the flight area,

the operation determination device determines whether or not the moving body stops at a predetermined landing position of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and causes the unmanned aerial vehicle to stand by in a flight area of the unmanned aerial vehicle when the moving body does not stop at the predetermined landing position.

2. The drone system of claim 1,

the action deciding device causes the unmanned aerial vehicle to stand by in a flight area of the unmanned aerial vehicle by hovering the unmanned aerial vehicle.

3. The drone system of claim 2,

the operation determination device may be configured to, when the unmanned aerial vehicle is caused to stand by hovering the unmanned aerial vehicle in a flight area of the unmanned aerial vehicle, cause the unmanned aerial vehicle to land on a ground corresponding to the predetermined landing position when the moving body does not reach the predetermined landing position even when an amount of stored electricity of the unmanned aerial vehicle is a predetermined amount or when the moving body is predicted not to reach the predetermined landing position during a period from a departure point of the flight area to the arrival at the predetermined landing position.

4. A control method of an unmanned aerial vehicle system, the unmanned aerial vehicle system comprising at least:

an unmanned aerial vehicle that performs work in a flight area;

the moving body can be used for the unmanned aerial vehicle to land and can move together with the unmanned aerial vehicle; and

an operation determination device that grasps positions and states of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the mobile body and determines operations of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the mobile body,

the control method of the unmanned aerial vehicle system comprises the following steps:

a step of determining a predetermined landing position in a landing permission area that is an area where the unmanned aerial vehicle can land on the moving body provided in the periphery of the flight area,

judging whether the moving body stops at a preset landing position of the unmanned aerial vehicle; and

and a step of causing the unmanned aerial vehicle to stand by in a flight area of the unmanned aerial vehicle when the mobile body is not stopped at the predetermined landing position.

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