CN114489128B

CN114489128B - Flight position planning method and device for relay unmanned aerial vehicle and electronic equipment

Info

Publication number: CN114489128B
Application number: CN202210069095.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张晋华
Original assignee: Beijing Yuandu Internet Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Yuandu Internet Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2022-01-20
Filing date: 2022-01-20
Publication date: 2023-04-07
Anticipated expiration: 2042-01-20
Also published as: CN114489128A

Abstract

The application provides a flight position planning method and device for a relay unmanned aerial vehicle and electronic equipment, wherein the relay unmanned aerial vehicle provides communication relay service for a ground control station and a task unmanned aerial vehicle, and the method comprises the following steps: acquiring position information of a ground control station, position information of a task unmanned aerial vehicle and a hovering radius of a relay unmanned aerial vehicle; planning a first hovering circle center of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle during hovering flight based on the position information and the hovering radius of the ground control station; planning a second circle center of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle during the hovering flight based on the position information and the hovering radius of the task unmanned aerial vehicle; and planning the target circle center of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle during the hovering flight based on the first circle center and the second circle center. According to the embodiment of the application, the communication distance of the unmanned aerial vehicle can be extended, and meanwhile the flexibility and the efficiency of the relay service are improved.

Description

Flight position planning method and device of relay unmanned aerial vehicle and electronic equipment

Technical Field

The application relates to the field of unmanned aerial vehicles, in particular to a flight position planning method and device for a relay unmanned aerial vehicle and electronic equipment.

Background

In the field of unmanned aerial vehicles, extending the communication distance of the unmanned aerial vehicle is an important means for improving the performance of the unmanned aerial vehicle. Because the unmanned aerial vehicle usually communicates through wireless mode, and the transmission of wireless signal is easily influenced by factors such as topography, obstacle, earth curvature, leads to communication distance to shorten greatly.

In the prior art, in order to extend the communication distance of the unmanned aerial vehicle, the communication distance of the unmanned aerial vehicle is generally extended by adopting a mode of erecting a relay base station. However, this method requires manpower to transport the relay base station to a high place for erection, and is inefficient.

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the present application is to provide a flight position planning method and apparatus for a relay unmanned aerial vehicle, and an electronic device, which can extend the communication distance of the unmanned aerial vehicle and improve the flexibility and efficiency of relay service.

According to one aspect of the embodiment of the application, a flight position planning method for a relay unmanned aerial vehicle is disclosed, the relay unmanned aerial vehicle keeps a stagnation state during hovering flight and provides communication relay service for a ground control station and a task unmanned aerial vehicle, and the method comprises the following steps:

acquiring position information of the ground control station, position information of the task unmanned aerial vehicle and a hovering radius of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle during hovering flight;

planning a first hovering circle center around which the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a hovering manner with the ground control station all the time based on the position information of the ground control station and the hovering radius;

planning a second circle center around which the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a hovering manner always keeping a communication with the task unmanned aerial vehicle on the basis of the position information of the task unmanned aerial vehicle and the hovering radius;

and planning the circle center of the target which is surrounded when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle keeps the panoramic flight with the ground control station and the mission unmanned aerial vehicle in the clear view all the time based on the first circle center of the circle and the second circle center of the circle.

According to an aspect of the embodiment of this application, a flight position planning device of relay unmanned aerial vehicle is disclosed, relay unmanned aerial vehicle keeps the state of staying empty when hovering to for ground control station and task unmanned aerial vehicle provide communication relay service, the device includes:

the acquisition module is configured to acquire the position information of the ground control station, the position information of the task unmanned aerial vehicle and the hovering radius of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle during hovering flight;

a first planning module configured to plan a first hovering circle center around which the relay unmanned aerial vehicle circles while hovering and flying in a clear view with the ground control station all the time based on the position information of the ground control station and the hovering radius;

a second planning module configured to plan a second hovering circle center around which the relay unmanned aerial vehicle circles while remaining in staring flight with the task unmanned aerial vehicle in a clear view all the time based on the position information of the task unmanned aerial vehicle and the hovering radius;

and the third planning module is used for planning the circle center of the target which is surrounded when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle keeps staring and flying in a clear view with the ground control station and the task unmanned aerial vehicle all the time based on the first circle center of the circle and the second circle center of the circle.

According to an aspect of an embodiment of the present application, an electronic device is disclosed, including: a memory storing computer readable instructions; a processor to read computer readable instructions stored by the memory to perform any of the above embodiments.

According to an aspect of embodiments of the present application, a computer program medium is disclosed, having computer readable instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor of a computer, cause the computer to perform any of the above embodiments.

According to an aspect of embodiments herein, there is provided a computer program product or computer program comprising computer instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium. The processor of the computer device reads the computer instructions from the computer-readable storage medium, and the processor executes the computer instructions to cause the computer device to perform the method provided in the various alternative implementations described above.

In the embodiment of the application, the circle center of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle during the hovering flight is planned, so that the relay unmanned aerial vehicle can fly in a hovering manner to provide communication relay service for the ground control station and the task unmanned aerial vehicle. For setting up fixed relay base station, the relay unmanned aerial vehicle in this application embodiment need not to consume a large amount of manpowers and builds relay base station, need not to consider the geographical environment between ground control station and the task unmanned aerial vehicle, can not only extend unmanned aerial vehicle's communication distance for providing relay service between the ground control station of optional position and the task unmanned aerial vehicle, has still promoted relay service's flexibility and efficiency.

Other features and advantages of the present application will be apparent from the following detailed description, or may be learned by practice of the application.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the application.

Drawings

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present application will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of communication between a ground control station and a drone according to one embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 shows a top view of a flight path of a relay drone according to one embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 shows a flowchart of a flight position planning method for a relay drone according to one embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 4 illustrates a top view of a circle center of a circle being moved horizontally along a vertical line according to one embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 is a top view illustrating a position relationship between the relay drone and the task drone around the center of a circle of the horizontal movement circle according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram of a uniform division of a circumferential route and selection of a plurality of equally spaced circumferential points according to one embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic diagram of determining whether a circumferential point is in common view with a ground control station according to one embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart for preferentially planning the center of a first spiral and then planning the center of a second spiral, according to one embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flow chart for preferentially planning the center of a first spiral and then planning the center of a second spiral, according to one embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 10 shows a block diagram of a flight position planning apparatus of a relay drone according to one embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 11 illustrates a hardware diagram of an electronic device according to one embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Example embodiments may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the examples set forth herein; rather, these example embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of example embodiments to those skilled in the art. The drawings are merely schematic illustrations of the present application and are not necessarily drawn to scale. The same reference numerals in the drawings denote the same or similar parts, and thus their repetitive description will be omitted.

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more example embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided to give a thorough understanding of example embodiments of the application. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the subject matter of the present application can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, steps, and so forth. In other instances, well-known structures, methods, implementations, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the application.

Some of the block diagrams shown in the figures are functional entities and do not necessarily correspond to physically or logically separate entities. These functional entities may be implemented in the form of software, or in one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits, or in different networks and/or processor devices and/or microcontroller devices.

The application provides a flight position planning method of a relay unmanned aerial vehicle, which is mainly used for planning the flight position of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle, so that the relay unmanned aerial vehicle can provide communication relay service for a ground control station and a task unmanned aerial vehicle.

A mission drone refers to a drone for performing a mission specified by a ground control station. For example: an unmanned aerial vehicle for executing a target search task, an unmanned aerial vehicle for executing a material delivery task, and the like.

And the ground control station refers to a station for specifying a task and controlling the task unmanned aerial vehicle to execute the specified task. The ground control station may be a terminal such as a mobile phone or a computer, or may be a communication base station. It should be noted that the ground in the embodiment of the present application is referred to a drone flying in the air. The ground in the embodiment of the application can be the surface of a road and can also be the surface of a building on the road.

A relay drone refers to a drone for providing communication relay service to a ground control station and a mission drone. The task unmanned aerial vehicle needs to be communicated with the ground control station firstly, and then executes a specified task according to the communication content with the ground control station. Due to the limitation of the flight distance of the mission unmanned aerial vehicle, or due to the limitation of obstacles in the communication environment, or the limitation of the curvature of the earth, the mission unmanned aerial vehicle often cannot establish direct communication with the ground control station. In this case, the relay drone may be set to establish direct communication with the ground control station and to establish direct communication with the mission drone. Thus, a communication relay service is provided by the relay drone, so that the ground control station and the mission drone can establish and maintain communication.

In the embodiment of the application, the relay unmanned aerial vehicle keeps in a stagnation state during hovering flight and provides communication relay service for the ground control station and the task unmanned aerial vehicle.

In an embodiment, the relay drone is a fixed wing drone. If the fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle needs to maintain the relative stability of the flying position, the fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle needs to keep a stagnation state in a hovering flying mode, and further, communication relay service is stably provided for a ground control station and a task unmanned aerial vehicle.

The advantage of this embodiment lies in because fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicle compares in other unmanned aerial vehicles such as four rotor unmanned aerial vehicle, helicopter, flight height is higher and the time of endurance is longer. Therefore, the fixed-wing relay unmanned aerial vehicle can further expand the communication distance between the ground control station and the task unmanned aerial vehicle, further improve the stability of communication transmission and prolong the communication time.

Fig. 1 shows a communication schematic diagram between a ground control station and an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present application.

Referring to fig. 1, in this embodiment, in the communication environment between the ground control station and the mission drone, there is an obstacle. Due to the shielding of the obstacles, direct communication between the ground control station and the task unmanned aerial vehicle is difficult to establish in a wireless mode.

Therefore set up relay unmanned aerial vehicle. The relay unmanned aerial vehicle establishes direct communication with the ground control station and establishes direct communication with the task unmanned aerial vehicle. Through the communication relay service provided by the relay unmanned aerial vehicle, the ground control station establishes and maintains communication with the task unmanned aerial vehicle.

Therefore, the communication distance between the ground control station and the task unmanned aerial vehicle can be efficiently expanded by the relay unmanned aerial vehicle, and the stability of communication transmission is improved. Moreover, when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle is an unmanned aerial vehicle with a fixed wing, the flight height is higher, the endurance time is longer, the communication distance between the ground control station and the mission unmanned aerial vehicle is further expanded, the stability of communication transmission is further improved, and the communication duration is prolonged.

Fig. 2 shows a flight path top view of a relay drone according to an embodiment of the present application.

Referring to fig. 2, in this embodiment, the fixed-wing relay drone, when providing the communication relay service, flies around its circle center at a hover radius R, where the flight path is a circle. Through the flight of hovering, relay unmanned aerial vehicle keeps staying empty state to maintain relatively stable flight state. It should be pointed out that, each position of hovering in the unmanned aerial vehicle of relaying is all in same horizontal plane to make the control to the unmanned aerial vehicle of relaying simple and convenient more.

The hovering radius R of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle is generally fixed when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle leaves a factory, and the hovering radius R can be obtained by reading factory parameters of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle.

In one embodiment, the ground control station sends mission-related course information and mission-related control information to the mission-related drone through the relay drone.

Specifically, the ground control station sends the route information and the control information to the relay unmanned aerial vehicle, and the relay unmanned aerial vehicle sends the route information and the control information to the task unmanned aerial vehicle.

Fig. 3 shows a flowchart of a flight position planning method of a relay drone according to an embodiment of the present application, where the method includes:

step S110, acquiring position information of a ground control station, position information of a task unmanned aerial vehicle and a hovering radius of a relay unmanned aerial vehicle during hovering flight;

step S120, planning a first circle center of a circle around the relay unmanned aerial vehicle when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle keeps starching and flying in a clear view with the ground control station all the time based on the position information and the hovering radius of the ground control station;

step S130, planning a second circle center of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle around when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps the communication with the task unmanned aerial vehicle to hover and fly based on the position information and the hovering radius of the task unmanned aerial vehicle;

and S140, planning the circle center of a target spiral surrounded by the relay unmanned aerial vehicle when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle keeps staring and flying with the ground control station and the task unmanned aerial vehicle in a clear view all the time based on the first circle center of the spiral and the second circle center of the spiral.

In the embodiment of the application, the relay unmanned aerial vehicle provides the relay service during hovering flight, and the hovering radius of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle is generally fixed, so that the flight position of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle is planned, namely the hovering circle center around which the relay unmanned aerial vehicle is planned during hovering flight.

And acquiring the position information of the ground control station, the position information of the task unmanned aerial vehicle and the hovering radius of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle during hovering flight for planning the hovering circle center surrounded by the relay unmanned aerial vehicle during hovering flight.

And then planning a first circle center of the circle around the relay unmanned aerial vehicle during the hovering flight based on the position information and the hovering radius of the ground control station. When the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a circle around the first circle center of circle in a hovering mode, the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps a clear view with the ground control station.

And planning a second circle center of the hovering unmanned aerial vehicle surrounded by the relay unmanned aerial vehicle during hovering flight based on the position information and the hovering radius of the task unmanned aerial vehicle. When the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a circle around the second circle center in a circle in a hovering mode, the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps a clear view with the task unmanned aerial vehicle.

And then planning the circle center of the target circle surrounded by the relay unmanned aerial vehicle during the hovering flight based on the first circle center of the circle and the second circle center of the circle. When the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a circle around the circle center of the target in a spiral mode, the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps a visual communication with the ground control station and meanwhile keeps a visual communication with the task unmanned aerial vehicle.

Wherein, A and B are kept in a perspective, which means that the light emitted from A to B can directly reach B, and the light emitted from B to A can directly reach A. A and B are in full view, which shows that direct communication can be established between A and B in a wireless mode.

Therefore, in the embodiment of the application, the circle center of the circle surrounded by the relay unmanned aerial vehicle during the hovering flight is planned, so that the relay unmanned aerial vehicle can provide communication relay service for the ground control station and the task unmanned aerial vehicle during the hovering flight. For setting up fixed relay base station, the relay unmanned aerial vehicle in this application embodiment need not to consume a large amount of manpowers and builds relay base station, need not to consider the geographical environment between ground control station and the task unmanned aerial vehicle, can not only extend unmanned aerial vehicle's communication distance for providing relay service between the ground control station of optional position and the task unmanned aerial vehicle, has still promoted relay service's flexibility and efficiency.

In one embodiment, the circle center of the circle is planned according to the maximum flight height and the maximum communication distance of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle.

In this embodiment, the maximum flying height of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle is obtained, and the maximum communication distance between the relay unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground control station is obtained. And planning a first circle center of the circle based on the position information of the ground control station and the circle radius under the constraints of the maximum flying height and the maximum communication distance. And planning the second circle center of the circle in a circling manner based on the position information and the circling radius of the mission unmanned aerial vehicle under the constraint of the maximum flying height and the maximum communication distance.

Specifically, due to the objective limitation of physical conditions, the flight altitude of the relay drone and the communication distance between the relay drone and the ground control station are limited, and the maximum flight altitude and the maximum communication distance allowed by the relay drone are generally fixed. Therefore, when planning the first circle center of the circle or the second circle center of the circle, the height of the planned circle center of the circle needs to be guaranteed not to exceed the maximum flying height of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle, and the distance between the relay unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground control station when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a circle around the planned circle center of the circle needs to be guaranteed not to exceed the maximum communication distance all the time.

The implementation of the planning of the center of the first spiral is described below.

In one embodiment, the first spiral center is obtained by vertically lifting and horizontally moving the initial spiral center at the preset position.

In this embodiment, the initial hover circle center at the preset position is vertically lifted and horizontally moved to obtain a candidate hover circle center within the maximum flying height and the maximum communication distance. And obtaining a candidate circular route obtained when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies around the candidate circle center based on the hovering radius and the candidate circle center. And selecting a first circle center from the candidate circle centers of the circle based on the candidate circular air routes and the position information of the ground control station.

Specifically, for the preset position of the center of the initial spiral circle, three dimensions of the center in space may be preset, or only the height of the center in space may be preset.

After the initial hovering circle center is determined at the preset position, the initial hovering circle center is vertically lifted to adjust the height of the initial hovering circle center, and the initial hovering circle center is horizontally moved to adjust the longitude and latitude of the initial hovering circle center, so that at least one candidate hovering circle center within the maximum flying height and the maximum communication distance is obtained. Wherein vertical refers to a direction perpendicular to the ground, and horizontal refers to a direction parallel to the ground.

And after the candidate circle center is obtained, combining the circle radius to obtain a candidate circular route corresponding to each candidate circle center. And then selecting a first circle center from the candidate circle centers of the circle on the basis of the candidate circular air routes and the position information of the ground control station.

In an embodiment, in the process of selecting the first circle center, the candidate circle center of the circle is obtained by preferentially adjusting the height of the initial circle center and then adjusting the longitude and latitude of the initial circle center.

In this embodiment, the initial circle center of the circle is vertically lifted according to the preset lifting step length, and the vertically lifted circle centers are screened according to the maximum flying height, so as to obtain a vertical circle center of the circle within the maximum flying height, wherein the vertical circle center includes the initial circle center of the circle. And horizontally moving each vertical spiral circle center according to a preset translation step length, and screening the circle centers after the horizontal movement according to the maximum communication distance to obtain candidate spiral circle centers within the maximum communication distance, wherein the candidate spiral circle centers comprise each vertical spiral circle center.

Specifically, according to a preset lifting step length, the initial circle center of the spiral is gradually lifted, or the initial circle center of the spiral is gradually lowered, so that a plurality of vertical circle centers including the initial circle center of the spiral are obtained. And when the circle center of the initial circle is vertically lifted, screening the circle center after vertical lifting according to the maximum flying height, and removing the circle center exceeding the maximum flying height. And particularly, in the process of gradually raising the initial circle center of the circle, when the circle center is raised, determining whether the raised circle center exceeds the maximum flying height of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle or not according to the raised circle center. If so, rejecting the circle, and not raising the circle center; if not, the center of the circle is taken as a vertical circle center, and the center of the circle is continuously raised until the center of the circle exceeds the maximum flying height.

Then gradually translating the vertical circle centers to the direction close to the ground control station according to the preset translation step length, or gradually translating the vertical spiral circle centers to the direction close to the task unmanned aerial vehicle to obtain candidate spiral circle centers containing the vertical spiral circle centers. When the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a hovering mode, the distance between the relay unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground control station exceeds the maximum communication distance to be eliminated. And particularly, in the process of gradually translating the vertical circle centers in the direction close to the mission unmanned aerial vehicle, every time the circle centers are horizontally moved in the direction close to the mission unmanned aerial vehicle, and for each circle center after the horizontal movement, whether the distance between the relay unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground control station exceeds the maximum communication distance during the hovering flight around the relay unmanned aerial vehicle is determined. If so, rejecting the image and not continuously moving horizontally to the direction; if not, the relay unmanned aerial vehicle is used as a candidate circle center of the circle, and the horizontal movement is continued towards the direction until the distance between the relay unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground station exceeds the maximum communication distance.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, after each vertical circle center is obtained, the horizontal movement may be performed to obtain the candidate circle center of the spiral, or after all the vertical circle centers within the maximum height are obtained, the horizontal movement may be performed to obtain the candidate circle center of the spiral.

The embodiment has the advantage that the effect of the height on the visibility is larger, so that the efficiency of selecting the first spiral circle center from the obtained candidate spiral circle centers is improved by preferentially adjusting the height and then adjusting the longitude and latitude.

In one embodiment, the height of the center of the initial hover is the minimum flying height of the relay drone.

In one embodiment, the coordinates of the center of the initial spiral are (x 1, y1, h 1), and the height is h1. The maximum flying height of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle is recorded as h2. The step size of the rise and fall is denoted as K. The translation step is denoted as S. Wherein h1 is less than h2.

In this embodiment, starting from the height h1, the initial circle center of the spiral is gradually raised by K distance units until the initial circle center is raised to the height h2, so as to obtain a plurality of vertical circle centers. The coordinates of the centers of the vertical circles are sequentially (x 1, y1, h 1), (x 1, y1, h1+ K), (x 1, y1, h1+ 2K) and up to (x 1, y1, h 2) in sequence from low to high.

And then gradually translating the vertical spiral circle centers by S distance units to obtain a plurality of candidate spiral circle centers.

In one embodiment, the height of the center of the initial hover is the maximum flying height of the relay drone.

In one embodiment, the coordinates of the center of the initial hover are (x 1, y1, h 2), and the height of the center of the initial hover is the maximum flying height h2 of the relay drone. The minimum flying height of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle is recorded as h1. The step size of the rise and fall is denoted as K. The translation step is denoted as S. Wherein h1 is less than h2.

In this embodiment, starting from the height h2, the initial circle center of the spiral is gradually decreased by K distance units until the initial circle center is decreased to the height h1, so as to obtain a plurality of vertical circle centers. The coordinates of the centers of the vertical circles are sequentially (x 1, y1, h 2), (x 1, y1, h 2-K), (x 1, y1, h 2-2K) and (x 1, y1, h 1) in sequence from high to low.

In one embodiment, in the process of selecting the first circle center, the vertical circle center is horizontally moved along the perpendicular of the projection line between the vertical circle center and the ground control station.

In this embodiment, a straight line connecting the vertical circle center of the circle and the ground control station is obtained. And projecting the straight line connecting line to a horizontal plane where the center of the vertical spiral circle is located to obtain a projection line, and obtaining a perpendicular line of the projection line in the horizontal plane where the center of the vertical spiral circle is located. And horizontally moving the vertical circle center of the circle along the vertical line according to a preset translation step length.

Specifically, for any vertical spiral circle center, the horizontal plane where the vertical spiral circle center is located is determined. And connecting the vertical spiral circle center with a ground control station to obtain a straight line connecting line between the vertical spiral circle center and the ground control station. And projecting the straight line connecting line to a horizontal plane where the center of the vertical spiral circle is located to obtain a projection line. And drawing a perpendicular line of the projection line in a horizontal plane where the center of the vertical spiral circle is located. And the vertical circle center is moved horizontally step by step according to the translation step length along the vertical line, so that a new candidate circle center is obtained in each moving step.

In this embodiment, the center of the vertical spiral is moved horizontally along the vertical line of the projection line, which is equivalent to moving left and right with the ground control station as a reference. By the method, the candidate circle center obtained by horizontal movement can more easily bypass the obstacle between the relay unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground control station, and the first circle center can be more efficiently selected on the basis.

It should be noted that this embodiment is merely an exemplary illustration. In the process of selecting the first circle center, the vertical circle center can be moved horizontally along other directions.

FIG. 4 illustrates a top view of an embodiment of the present application showing horizontal movement of the center of a circle about a vertical line.

Referring to fig. 4, in this embodiment, in the process of planning the flight position of the relay drone, an old circle center of the vertical circle centers needs to be moved horizontally, so as to supplement the obtained new circle center with a candidate circle center.

In this embodiment, the center of the old spiral is connected to the ground control station, and a straight line connecting the center of the old spiral and the ground control station is obtained. And projecting the straight line connection line to the horizontal plane where the circle center of the old spiral is located to obtain a projection line c as shown in the figure.

The perpendicular of the projection line c is drawn through the center of the old circle, and the perpendicular k is obtained as shown in the figure. And then horizontally moving the circle center of the old spiral along the vertical line k to obtain the new circle center of the spiral as shown in the figure.

Fig. 5 shows a top view of a position relationship between the relay drone and the task drone before and after the center of the circle of the horizontal movement circle according to an embodiment of the present application.

In this embodiment, after the center of the old spiral is moved horizontally, the new center of the spiral as shown in the figure is obtained. Under the condition of consistent height, compared with the hovering flight around the old hovering circle center, the relay unmanned aerial vehicle is closer to the task unmanned aerial vehicle when hovering around the new hovering circle center, and the possibility of always keeping the sight with the task unmanned aerial vehicle is higher.

In one embodiment, whether the candidate circle center corresponding to the candidate circular route is the first circle center is determined according to whether the circle points on the candidate circular route are all kept in sight with the ground control station.

In this embodiment, digital Elevation Model (DEM) data between the ground control station and the mission drone is obtained. And selecting at least two circumferential points contained in the candidate circumferential route, and determining whether each circumferential point keeps the visibility with the ground control station or not based on the position information of the ground control station and the DEM data. And determining the candidate circle center corresponding to each circumferential point and the candidate circular route kept in full view by the ground control station as a first circle center.

Specifically, aiming at any candidate circumferential route, in order to determine whether the candidate circle center corresponding to the candidate circumferential route is the first circle center, a plurality of circumferential points on the candidate circumferential route are selected. And then whether the circumferential points are in the sight of the ground control station or not is determined based on the position information of the ground control station and the DEM data. And if the circle points are kept in sight with the ground control station, determining the candidate circle center corresponding to the candidate circular route as a first circle center. If one of the circle points is not in full sight with the ground control station, the candidate circle center corresponding to the candidate circular route is not determined as a first circle center.

The more the circle points selected on each candidate circular navigation line, the more accurate the center of the first spiral circle obtained on the basis.

In one embodiment, the candidate circumferential route is uniformly divided, a plurality of equally spaced circumferential points on the circumferential route are selected and obtained, and whether the circle center of the candidate circle corresponding to the candidate circumferential route is the first circle center meeting the requirement is judged according to whether the circumferential points are all kept in full view with the ground control station.

It can be understood that, in another embodiment, a plurality of circumferential points on the candidate circumferential route may also be randomly selected and obtained, and then, according to whether all the circumferential points keep a clear view with the ground control station, whether the candidate circle center corresponding to the candidate circumferential route is the first circle center meeting the requirement is determined.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating uniform division of circumferential paths and selection of a plurality of equally spaced circumferential points according to an embodiment of the present application.

Referring to fig. 6, in this embodiment, the circumferential course is equally divided into n parts, resulting in n circumferential points p1, p2 at equal intervals, up to pn. Wherein n is an integer of 2 or more.

Further, it is determined whether all of the n circumferential points remain in view of the ground control station. If the n circle points are kept in full view with the ground control station, the candidate circle center of the circle corresponding to the circle route is used as a first circle center. Otherwise, the candidate circle center corresponding to the circular route is not taken as a first circle center.

In one embodiment, if the straight line segment obtained by connecting the circumferential point and the ground control station is not interrupted by the obstacle, the circumferential point and the ground control station are determined to keep the communication.

In one embodiment, whether the circumferential point is in communication with the ground control station is determined based on the height difference between the selected line segment on the straight line segment connected with the ground control station and the projection point of the relief surface.

In this embodiment, a straight line segment obtained by connecting the circumferential point with the ground control station is obtained. And selecting at least two line segment points on the straight line segment, and acquiring the height difference between each line segment point and the projection point of the surface of the landform based on DEM data. And if the height difference corresponding to each line segment point is larger than a preset height threshold value, determining that each circumferential point keeps the visibility with the ground control station.

Specifically, for any circumferential point, in order to determine whether the circumferential point and the ground control station keep a perspective, the circumferential point and the ground control station are connected to obtain a straight line segment which respectively takes the circumferential point and the ground control station as end points. And selecting a plurality of line segment points on the straight line segment, and projecting each line segment point to the relief surface described by the DEM based on DEM data to obtain the relief surface projection point corresponding to each line segment point. And then taking the distance between the line segment point and the corresponding projection point of the relief surface as the corresponding height difference. It should be noted that, if the line segment point is located on the geomorphic surface, the corresponding height difference is greater than 0; if the line segment point is located below the topographic surface, the corresponding height difference is less than 0.

And if the height difference between each line segment point and the corresponding relief surface projection point is greater than a preset height threshold value, determining that the circumference point and the ground control station keep the visibility. And if the height difference between a line segment point and the corresponding projection point of the relief surface is smaller than or equal to the preset height threshold, determining that the circumference point is invisible to the ground control station.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a determination of whether a circumferential point is seen through a ground control station according to an embodiment of the present application.

Referring to fig. 7, in one embodiment, let the coordinates of the ground control station be (xa, ya, za), and let the coordinates of a circumferential point be (xb, yb, zb). In order to determine whether the circumference point and the ground control station are in full view or not, the circumference point and the ground control station are connected to obtain a straight line segment, the straight line segment is uniformly divided into m parts to obtain m segment points p1 and p2, and the m segment points are up to pm. Wherein pm is the circumferential point; m is an integer of 2 or more.

For any line segment point pi (i is an integer of 1 to m) on the straight line segment, the coordinate (xi, yi, zi) of pi can be obtained by the following formula.

Δx＝(xb-xa)/m

Δy＝(yb-ya)/m

Δz＝(zb-za)/m

(xi,yi,zi)＝(xa+i*Δx,ya+i*Δy,za+i*Δz)

And converting the obtained coordinates (xi, yi, zi) of the pi into longitude and latitude, further inquiring the geomorphic height h _ ti of the pi at the geomorphic surface projection point ti in a DEM database according to the longitude and latitude, further calculating the difference between the zi and the h _ ti, and obtaining the height difference between the pi and the geomorphic surface projection point ti. As shown, the height difference between p1 and the relief surface projection point t1 is | p1t1|, the height difference between p2 and the relief surface projection point t2 is | p2t2|, and the height difference between pm and the relief surface projection point tm is | pmtm |.

And if the height difference corresponding to each pi is larger than a preset height threshold value, determining that the circumferential point pm is in communication with the ground control station. Otherwise, it is not seen through.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first spiral center and the second spiral center can be planned in parallel. The first spiral center may be planned first and then the second spiral center, or the second spiral center may be planned first and then the first spiral center.

It should be noted that, when the first circle center and the second circle center are planned in parallel and the second circle center is planned first and then the first circle center is planned, the implementation process of planning the second circle center is the same as the implementation process of planning the first circle center. Therefore, when describing the implementation process of planning the center of the second spiral in the parallel planning process, the implementation process of planning the center of the first spiral is not repeated.

In the following, an implementation process of planning the second circle center in the process of planning the first circle center and the second circle center in parallel is described.

In one embodiment, the second circle center is obtained by vertically lifting and horizontally moving the initial circle center of the spiral at the preset position.

In this embodiment, the initial hover circle center at the preset position is vertically lifted and horizontally moved to obtain a candidate hover circle center within the maximum flying height and the maximum communication distance. And obtaining a candidate circular route obtained when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies around the candidate circle center in a hovering mode based on the hovering radius and the candidate circle center. And selecting a second circle center from the candidate circle centers of the circle based on the candidate circular air routes and the position information of the task unmanned aerial vehicle.

It can be understood that the implementation process of this embodiment is the same as the implementation process of "obtaining the first spiral circle center by vertically lifting and horizontally moving the initial spiral circle center at the preset position", and therefore, the description thereof is omitted here.

In an embodiment, in the process of selecting the second circle center, the candidate circle center of the circle is obtained by preferentially adjusting the height of the initial circle center and then adjusting the longitude and latitude of the initial circle center.

In this embodiment, the initial circle center of the circle is vertically lifted according to the preset lifting step length, and the vertically lifted circle centers are screened according to the maximum flying height to obtain a vertical circle center of the circle, wherein the vertical circle center includes the initial circle center of the circle. And horizontally moving the vertical spiral circle center according to a preset translation step length, and screening the horizontally moved circle center according to the maximum communication distance to obtain a candidate spiral circle center, wherein the candidate spiral circle center comprises the vertical spiral circle center.

It can be understood that the implementation process of this embodiment is similar to the implementation process of "obtaining the candidate circle center of the spiral circle by preferentially adjusting the height of the initial circle center and then adjusting the longitude and latitude of the initial circle center in the process of selecting the first circle center", and therefore details are not described herein again.

In an embodiment, in the process of selecting the second circle center, the vertical circle center is horizontally moved along a projection line between the vertical circle center and the task unmanned aerial vehicle.

In this embodiment, a straight line connecting line obtained by connecting the vertical circle center of the circle with the task unmanned aerial vehicle is obtained. And projecting the linear connecting line to a horizontal plane where the center of the vertical spiral circle is located to obtain a projection line. And horizontally moving the vertical circle center of the circle according to a preset translation step length along the projection line.

Specifically, the horizontal plane where the center of any vertical spiral circle is located is determined according to the center of the vertical spiral circle. And connecting the vertical circle center of the circle with the task unmanned aerial vehicle to obtain a straight line connecting line between the vertical circle center of the circle and the task unmanned aerial vehicle. And projecting the straight line connecting line to a horizontal plane where the center of the vertical spiral circle is located to obtain a projection line. And horizontally moving the vertical circle center step by step according to the translation step length along the projection line, thereby obtaining a new candidate circle center of the circle at each moving step.

In the embodiment, the vertical circle center of the spiral moves horizontally along the projection line, which is equivalent to moving back and forth by taking the task unmanned aerial vehicle as a reference. By the method, the communication quality between the relay unmanned aerial vehicle and the task unmanned aerial vehicle can be adjusted more conveniently by the aid of the candidate circle center of the spiral obtained by the horizontal movement. Preferably, along this projection line, when progressively carrying out horizontal migration to this vertical circle center of circling near task unmanned aerial vehicle's direction, can progressively strengthen the communication quality between relay unmanned aerial vehicle and the task unmanned aerial vehicle.

In an embodiment, whether the candidate circle center corresponding to the candidate circular route is the second circle center is determined according to whether the circle points on the candidate circular route are all kept in sight with the mission unmanned aerial vehicle.

In this embodiment, DEM data between the ground control station and the mission drone is obtained. And selecting at least two circumferential points contained in the candidate circumferential route, and determining whether each circumferential point keeps the communication with the task unmanned aerial vehicle or not based on the position information of the task unmanned aerial vehicle and DEM data. And determining the candidate circle center of the circle corresponding to the candidate circular route of the task unmanned aerial vehicle for keeping the full view of each circular point as a second circle center of the circle.

It can be understood that the implementation process of this embodiment is the same as the implementation process of "determining whether the candidate circle center corresponding to the candidate circumferential route is the first circle center according to whether all the circumferential points on the candidate circumferential route keep a direct view with the ground control station", and therefore, the details are not described herein again.

In one embodiment, if a straight line segment obtained by connecting the circumferential point with the mission unmanned aerial vehicle is not interrupted by the obstacle, it is determined that the circumferential point and the mission unmanned aerial vehicle keep the sight.

In one embodiment, whether the circumferential point keeps the perspective with the mission unmanned aerial vehicle is determined based on the height difference between the selected line segment on the straight line segment obtained by connecting the circumferential point and the mission unmanned aerial vehicle and the projection point of the topographic surface.

In this embodiment, a straight line segment obtained by connecting the circumferential point and the task unmanned aerial vehicle is obtained. And selecting at least two line segment points on the straight line segment, and acquiring the height difference between each line segment point and the projection point of the surface of the landform based on DEM data. And if the height difference corresponding to each line segment point is larger than a preset height threshold value, determining that each circumferential point keeps the communication with the task unmanned aerial vehicle.

It can be understood that the implementation process of this embodiment is the same as the implementation process of determining whether the circle point keeps the perspective with the ground control station based on the height difference between the line segment selected on the straight line segment obtained by connecting the circle point and the ground control station and the projection point of the topographic surface, and therefore, the detailed description is omitted here.

The following describes an implementation process of preferentially planning the center of a first spiral and then planning the center of a second spiral.

In an embodiment, starting from an initial circle center of a preset position, the initial circle center of the circle is vertically lifted and horizontally moved, and when a candidate circle center of the circle is obtained every time the candidate circle center of the circle is moved, whether the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps a full view with the ground control station during the circle flying around the candidate circle center of the circle is detected based on the position information of the ground control station and the circle radius. And if the relay unmanned aerial vehicle keeps through sight with the ground control station all the time when circling around the candidate circle center, taking the candidate circle center as a first circle center.

And detecting whether the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps the sight with the task unmanned aerial vehicle when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a circle around the first circle center of the circle based on the position information and the circle radius of the task unmanned aerial vehicle. And if the relay unmanned aerial vehicle keeps the visual communication with the task unmanned aerial vehicle all the time when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a circling way around the first circling circle center, taking the first circling circle center as the second circling circle center.

Specifically, the center of a first circle is planned first. And starting to perform vertical lifting and horizontal movement continuously from the center of the initial spiral circle. Each movement results in a new candidate circle center. And detecting whether the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps the sight with the ground control station when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies around the candidate circle center every time a new candidate circle center is obtained. If yes, the candidate circle center of the spiral is used as a first circle center of the spiral. If not, the vertical lifting and the horizontal movement are continued. Preferably, during the moving process, the lifting device is lifted vertically and then moved horizontally after the lifting device is lifted vertically until the lifting device can not be lifted.

And whenever planning obtains a first circle center of circling that can make relay unmanned aerial vehicle keep the sight with ground control station all the time when the flight of circling, just detect this first circle center of circling again whether can also make relay unmanned aerial vehicle keep the sight with task unmanned aerial vehicle all the time when the flight of circling. If yes, the first spiral circle center is used as the second spiral circle center. If not, continuing to detect the next first spiral circle center, and repeating the steps until at least one second spiral circle center is detected.

It can be noted that in this embodiment, the second circle center is also the first circle center, so that the relay unmanned aerial vehicle can always keep a clear view with the ground control station and the task unmanned aerial vehicle when hovering and flying, and the second circle center can be directly used as the target circle center.

In an embodiment, since the flight position of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle can be determined as long as one target circle center can be obtained, in consideration of saving calculation power, once at least one second circle center is obtained by planning in the process of preferentially planning the first circle center and then planning the second circle center, the first circle center can be stopped from being planned continuously.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating the preferred planning of the center of a first spiral followed by the planning of the center of a second spiral according to an embodiment of the present application.

Referring to fig. 8, in this embodiment, a relay drone with a hovering radius R is initialized to reach a preset height h1, and hovers around an initial hovering circle center of the height h1. And then whether the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps the sight with the ground control station when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a circle around the initial circle center of circle of hovering is determined. If not, the height of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle is vertically adjusted, the longitude and latitude of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle are horizontally adjusted, and a new circle center of the circle is determined. And then determining whether the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps the sight with the ground control station when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies around the new circle center of the circle. And keeping the communication with the ground control station all the time until the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a hovering mode to obtain a corresponding first hovering circle center.

And then whether the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps the sight with the task unmanned aerial vehicle when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies around the first circle center of circle. If not, the height of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle is vertically adjusted, the longitude and latitude of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle are horizontally adjusted, and a new first circle center is determined. And then determining whether the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps the sight with the task unmanned aerial vehicle when flying around the new first spiral circle center. And keeping the communication with the task unmanned aerial vehicle all the time until the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a hovering mode to obtain a corresponding second hovering circle center. And determining the second spiral circle center as the target spiral circle center if the second spiral circle center is also the first spiral circle center.

In one embodiment, the center of the second spiral circle, which coincides with the center of the first spiral circle, is taken as the center of the target spiral circle.

Specifically, each first spiral circle center and each second spiral circle center are traversed, and if the second spiral circle center coinciding with the first spiral circle center is found, the second spiral circle center coinciding with the first spiral circle center is used as the target spiral circle center.

In one embodiment, the center of the target circle is found from the coincidence area of the area surrounded by the circumferential route.

In this embodiment, a first circumferential route obtained when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies around the first circle center is obtained based on the circle radius and the first circle center, and a first area surrounded by the first circumferential route is obtained. And obtaining a second circumferential route obtained when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies around the second circle center in a hovering manner based on the circle radius and the second circle center in the hovering manner, and obtaining a second area surrounded by the second circumferential route. An overlap region between the first region and the second region is acquired. And taking a first spiral circle center of a first circumferential route in the overlapping area or a second spiral circle center of a second circumferential route in the overlapping area as a target spiral circle center.

Specifically, each first circumferential route is obtained based on the circle radius and each first circle center. Each first circumferential route encloses a circular first area respectively. Similarly, each second circumferential route encloses a circular second area respectively.

Thereby acquiring the overlapping area between the first area and the second area. If a circumferential course is located in the overlapping area, the relay unmanned aerial vehicle can be always kept in communication with the ground control station and can also be always kept in communication with the mission unmanned aerial vehicle when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies on the circumferential course in a spinning mode. Therefore, the circle center of the circular route in the overlapping area is used as the circle center of the target circle. The circumferential route in the overlapping area can be a first circumferential route or a second circumferential route.

It should be noted that the circumferential route in the overlapping region refers to a circumferential route in which the enclosed region is completely inside the overlapping region. If only part of the area surrounded by a circumferential route is in the overlapping area, the circumferential route is not regarded as being in the overlapping area.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating the preferred planning of the center of a first spiral followed by the planning of the center of a second spiral according to an embodiment of the present application.

Referring to fig. 9, in this embodiment, a relay drone with a hover radius R is initialized to reach a preset height h1, and flies hovering around an initial hover center of the height h1. And then whether the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps the sight with the ground control station when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a circle around the initial circle center of circle of hovering is determined. If not, increasing the height of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle by K distance units.

If the height of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle is increased by K distance units, the height does not reach the maximum flying height h2, and the distance between the relay unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground control station does not reach the maximum communication distance D, whether the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps the visibility with the ground control station when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a circle around the initial circle center of circle of hovering is determined again.

If the height of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle reaches the maximum flying height h2 after K distance units are added, the longitude and latitude of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle are horizontally adjusted, a new circle center of the circle is determined in the plane of the height h2, and under the condition that the distance between the relay unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground control station is not more than the maximum communication distance D all the time when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle spirals around the new circle center of the circle, whether the relay unmanned aerial vehicle keeps the visibility with the ground control station all the time when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle spirals around the initial circle center is determined again.

And if the distance between the relay unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground control station is not more than the maximum communication distance D all the time when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a circling manner around the new circling circle center, the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps the visibility with the ground control station, and the circling circle center is determined as the first circling circle center.

And then whether the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps the sight with the task unmanned aerial vehicle when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies around the first circle center of circle. If not, horizontally adjusting the longitude and latitude of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle, and determining a new first circle center. And when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle spirals around the new first circle center, the distance between the relay unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground control station is not more than the maximum communication distance D all the time, and the relay unmanned aerial vehicle keeps the sight with the ground control station all the time, and whether the relay unmanned aerial vehicle keeps the sight with the task unmanned aerial vehicle all the time is determined. And keeping the relay unmanned aerial vehicle in full sight with the task unmanned aerial vehicle all the time when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a circle around the new first circle center of the circle in a circling manner, and obtaining a corresponding second circle center of the circle in a circling manner. And determining the second spiral circle center as the target spiral circle center if the second spiral circle center is also the first spiral circle center.

If the distance between the midway relay unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground control station is larger than the maximum communication distance D, the flight position planning of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle fails.

Fig. 10 shows a flight position planning apparatus for a relay drone according to an embodiment of the present application, where the relay drone maintains a dead space state during hovering flight and provides a communication relay service for a ground control station and a mission drone, and the apparatus includes:

the acquiring module 210 is configured to acquire position information of the ground control station, position information of the task unmanned aerial vehicle, and a hovering radius of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle during hovering flight;

the first planning module 220 is configured to plan a first hovering circle center around the relay unmanned aerial vehicle when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps hovering flight with the ground control station in a clear view based on the position information of the ground control station and the hovering radius;

a second planning module 230 configured to plan a second hovering circle center around which the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies hovering in a manner of always keeping visibility with the task unmanned aerial vehicle, based on the position information and the hovering radius of the task unmanned aerial vehicle;

and a third planning module 240 configured to plan a target circle center around which the relay unmanned aerial vehicle circles while keeping the flying of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle in a clear view with the ground control station and the mission unmanned aerial vehicle all the time based on the first circle center and the second circle center.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present application, the apparatus is configured to: acquiring the maximum flight height of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle, and acquiring the maximum communication distance between the relay unmanned aerial vehicle and a ground control station; planning a first circle center of a circle based on the position information of the ground control station and the circle radius under the constraint of the maximum flying height and the maximum communication distance; and planning a second circle center of the circle based on the position information and the circle radius of the mission unmanned plane under the constraint of the maximum flying height and the maximum communication distance.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present application, the first planning module is configured to: carrying out vertical lifting and horizontal movement on the initial hovering circle center at the preset position to obtain a candidate hovering circle center within the maximum flying height and the maximum communication distance; obtaining a candidate circular route obtained when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies around the candidate circle center based on the circle radius and the candidate circle center; and selecting a first circle center from the candidate circle centers of the circle based on the candidate circular air routes and the position information of the ground control station.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present application, the first planning module is configured to: vertically lifting the initial circle center according to a preset lifting step length, and screening the vertically lifted circle center according to the maximum flying height to obtain a vertical circle center, wherein the vertical circle center comprises the initial circle center; and horizontally moving the vertical spiral circle center according to a preset translation step length, and screening the horizontally moved circle center according to the maximum communication distance to obtain a candidate spiral circle center, wherein the candidate spiral circle center comprises the vertical spiral circle center.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present application, the first planning module is configured to: acquiring a straight line connecting line obtained by connecting a vertical spiral circle center with a ground control station; projecting the straight line connecting line to a horizontal plane where the center of the vertical spiral circle is located to obtain a projection line, and obtaining a perpendicular line of the projection line in the horizontal plane where the center of the vertical spiral circle is located; and horizontally moving the vertical circle center of the circle along the vertical line according to a preset translation step length.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present application, the first planning module is configured to: acquiring Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data between a ground control station and a task unmanned aerial vehicle; selecting at least two circumferential points contained in the candidate circumferential route, and determining whether each circumferential point keeps visibility with the ground control station or not based on the position information of the ground control station and DEM data; and determining the candidate circle center corresponding to each circumferential point and the candidate circular route kept in full view by the ground control station as a first circle center.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present application, the first planning module is configured to: acquiring a straight line segment obtained by connecting each circumferential point with a ground control station; selecting at least two line segment points on the straight line segment, and acquiring the height difference between each line segment point and the surface of the landform based on DEM data; and if the height difference corresponding to each line segment point is larger than a preset height threshold value, determining that each circumferential point keeps the visibility with the ground control station.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present application, the second planning module is configured to: carrying out vertical lifting and horizontal movement on the initial hovering circle center at the preset position to obtain a candidate hovering circle center within the maximum flying height and the maximum communication distance; obtaining a candidate circular route obtained when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies around the candidate circle center based on the circle radius and the candidate circle center; and selecting a second circle center from the candidate circle centers of the circle based on the candidate circular air routes and the position information of the task unmanned aerial vehicle.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present application, the second planning module is configured to: vertically lifting the initial circle center according to a preset lifting step length, and screening the vertically lifted circle center according to the maximum flying height to obtain a vertical circle center, wherein the vertical circle center comprises the initial circle center; and horizontally moving the vertical spiral circle center according to a preset translation step length, and screening the horizontally moved circle center according to the maximum communication distance to obtain a candidate spiral circle center, wherein the candidate spiral circle center comprises the vertical spiral circle center.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present application, the second planning module is configured to: acquiring a straight line connecting line obtained by connecting a vertical spiral circle center with a task unmanned aerial vehicle; and projecting the linear connecting line to a horizontal plane where the vertical spiral circle center is located to obtain a projection line, and horizontally moving the vertical spiral circle center along the projection line according to a preset translation step length.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present application, the second planning module is configured to: acquiring DEM data between a ground control station and a task unmanned aerial vehicle; selecting at least two circumferential points contained in the candidate circumferential route, and determining whether each circumferential point keeps the visibility with the task unmanned aerial vehicle or not based on the position information of the task unmanned aerial vehicle and DEM data; and determining the candidate circle center corresponding to the candidate circular route of which each circular point is kept in full view by the task unmanned aerial vehicle as a second circle center.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present application, the second planning module is configured to: acquiring a straight line segment obtained by connecting each circumferential point with the task unmanned aerial vehicle; selecting at least two line segment points on the straight line segment, and acquiring the height difference between each line segment point and the surface of the landform based on DEM data; and if the height difference corresponding to each line segment point is larger than a preset height threshold value, determining that each circumferential point keeps the communication with the task unmanned aerial vehicle.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present application, the first planning module is configured to: starting from an initial spiral circle center at a preset position, vertically lifting and horizontally moving the initial spiral circle center, and detecting whether the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps a full view with a ground control station when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a spiral mode around the candidate spiral circle center based on the position information and the spiral radius of the ground control station when a candidate spiral circle center is obtained through movement; if the relay unmanned aerial vehicle keeps through sight with the ground control station all the time when circling around the candidate circle center, taking the candidate circle center as a first circle center;

the second planning module is configured to: when a first circle center is obtained through planning, whether the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps a sight with the task unmanned aerial vehicle during the hovering flight around the first circle center is detected based on the position information and the hovering radius of the task unmanned aerial vehicle; and if the relay unmanned aerial vehicle keeps the visual communication with the task unmanned aerial vehicle all the time when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a circling way around the first circling circle center, taking the first circling circle center as the second circling circle center.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present application, the apparatus is configured to: and stopping continuously planning the first circle center in response to the at least one second circle center obtained by the planning.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present application, the third planning module is configured to: and taking the center of the second spiral circle which is coincident with the center of the first spiral circle as the center of the target spiral circle.

An electronic device 30 according to an embodiment of the present application is described below with reference to fig. 11. The electronic device 30 shown in fig. 11 is only an example, and should not bring any limitation to the functions and the scope of use of the embodiments of the present application.

As shown in fig. 11, the electronic device 30 is in the form of a general purpose computing device. The components of the electronic device 30 may include, but are not limited to: the at least one processing unit 310, the at least one memory unit 320, and a bus 330 that couples various system components including the memory unit 320 and the processing unit 310.

Wherein the storage unit stores program code executable by the processing unit 310 to cause the processing unit 310 to perform steps according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention described in the description part of the above exemplary methods of the present specification. For example, the processing unit 310 may perform the various steps as shown in fig. 3.

The storage unit 320 may include readable media in the form of volatile memory units, such as a random access memory unit (RAM) 3201 and/or a cache memory unit 3202, and may further include a read-only memory unit (ROM) 3203.

The storage unit 320 may also include a program/utility 3204 having a set (at least one) of program modules 3205, such program modules 3205 including, but not limited to: an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data, each of which, or some combination thereof, may comprise an implementation of a network environment.

Bus 330 may be one or more of several types of bus structures, including a memory unit bus or memory unit controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, a processing unit, or a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures.

The electronic device 30 may also communicate with one or more external devices 400 (e.g., keyboard, pointing device, bluetooth device, etc.), with one or more devices that enable a user to interact with the electronic device 30, and/or with any devices (e.g., router, modem, etc.) that enable the electronic device 30 to communicate with one or more other computing devices. Such communication may occur through input/output (I/O) interface 350. An input/output (I/O) interface 350 is connected to the display unit 340. Also, the electronic device 30 may communicate with one or more networks (e.g., a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), and/or a public network, such as the internet) via the network adapter 360. As shown, the network adapter 360 communicates with the other modules of the electronic device 30 over the bus 330. It should be appreciated that although not shown in the figures, other hardware and/or software modules may be used in conjunction with electronic device 30, including but not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data backup storage systems, among others.

Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily understand that the exemplary embodiments described herein may be implemented by software, or by software in combination with necessary hardware. Therefore, the technical solution according to the embodiments of the present application can be embodied in the form of a software product, which can be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (which can be a CD-ROM, a usb disk, a removable hard disk, etc.) or on a network, and includes several instructions to make a computing device (which can be a personal computer, a server, a terminal device, or a network device, etc.) execute the method according to the embodiments of the present application.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present application, there is also provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-readable instructions which, when executed by a processor of a computer, cause the computer to perform the method described in the above method embodiment section.

According to an embodiment of the present application, there is also provided a program product for implementing the method in the above method embodiment, which may employ a portable compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM) and include program code, and may be run on a terminal device, such as a personal computer. However, the program product of the present invention is not limited in this regard and, in the present document, a readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

The program product may employ any combination of one or more readable media. The readable medium may be a readable signal medium or a readable storage medium. A readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the readable storage medium include: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable disk, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated data signal may take many forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A readable signal medium may also be any readable medium that is not a readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as JAVA, C + +, or the like, as well as conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computing device, partly on the user's device, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computing device and partly on a remote computing device, or entirely on the remote computing device or server. In the case of a remote computing device, the remote computing device may be connected to the user computing device through any kind of network, including a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN), or may be connected to an external computing device (e.g., through the internet using an internet service provider).

It should be noted that although in the above detailed description several modules or units of the device for action execution are mentioned, such a division is not mandatory. Indeed, the features and functionality of two or more modules or units described above may be embodied in one module or unit, according to embodiments of the application. Conversely, the features and functions of one module or unit described above may be further divided into embodiments by a plurality of modules or units.

Moreover, although the steps of the methods herein are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this does not require or imply that the steps must be performed in this particular order, or that all of the depicted steps must be performed, to achieve desirable results. Additionally or alternatively, certain steps may be omitted, multiple steps combined into one step execution, and/or one step broken into multiple step executions, etc.

Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily understand that the exemplary embodiments described herein may be implemented by software, and may also be implemented by software in combination with necessary hardware. Therefore, the technical solution according to the embodiments of the present application can be embodied in the form of a software product, which can be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (which can be a CD-ROM, a usb disk, a removable hard disk, etc.) or on a network, and includes several instructions to enable a computing device (which can be a personal computer, a server, a mobile terminal, or a network device, etc.) to execute the method according to the embodiments of the present application.

Other embodiments of the present application will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention following, in general, the principles of the application and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the invention pertains. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the application being indicated by the following claims.

Claims

1. A flight position planning method for a relay unmanned aerial vehicle is characterized in that the relay unmanned aerial vehicle keeps a stagnation state when flying in a hovering mode and provides communication relay service for a ground control station and a task unmanned aerial vehicle, and the method comprises the following steps:

acquiring position information of the ground control station, position information of the task unmanned aerial vehicle, a hovering radius of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle during hovering flight, a maximum flight height of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle, and a maximum communication distance between the relay unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground control station;

under the constraint of the maximum flying height and the maximum communication distance, planning a first hovering circle center around which the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always flies in a hovering manner with the ground control station in a clear view based on the position information of the ground control station and the hovering radius;

under the constraint of the maximum flying height and the maximum communication distance, planning a second hovering circle center around the relay unmanned aerial vehicle when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always flies in a hovering manner with the task unmanned aerial vehicle in a clear view based on the position information of the task unmanned aerial vehicle and the hovering radius;

planning a target circle center around which the relay unmanned aerial vehicle circles while keeping clear view of the ground control station and the mission unmanned aerial vehicle in circling flight all the time based on the first circle center and the second circle center;

wherein under the constraint of the maximum flying height and the maximum communication distance, based on the position information of the ground control station and the hovering radius, planning a first circle center around which the relay unmanned aerial vehicle circles when hovering and flying with the ground control station in a clear view all the time, including:

performing vertical lifting and horizontal movement on the initial circle center of the spiral at a preset position to obtain a candidate circle center of the spiral within the maximum flying height and the maximum communication distance;

obtaining a candidate circular route obtained when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies around the candidate circle center based on the hovering radius and the candidate circle center;

and selecting the first circle center from the candidate circle centers of the circles based on the candidate circular routes and the position information of the ground control station.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the vertically lifting and horizontally moving an initial hover center at a preset position to obtain candidate hover centers within the maximum flying height and the maximum communication distance comprises:

vertically lifting the initial circle center according to a preset lifting step length, and screening the vertically lifted circle center according to the maximum flying height to obtain a vertical circle center, wherein the vertical circle center comprises the initial circle center;

and horizontally moving the vertical spiral circle center according to a preset translation step length, and screening the horizontally moved circle center according to the maximum communication distance to obtain the candidate spiral circle center, wherein the candidate spiral circle center comprises the vertical spiral circle center.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein horizontally moving the vertical circle center in accordance with a predetermined translation step comprises:

acquiring a straight line connecting line obtained by connecting the vertical spiral circle center with the ground control station;

projecting the straight line connecting line to a horizontal plane where the center of the vertical spiral circle is located to obtain a projection line, and obtaining a perpendicular line of the projection line in the horizontal plane where the center of the vertical spiral circle is located;

and horizontally moving the vertical circle center of the circle along the vertical line according to the preset translation step length.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the first circle center from the candidate circle centers based on the candidate circular routes and the position information of the ground control station comprises:

acquiring Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data between the ground control station and the task unmanned aerial vehicle;

selecting at least two circumferential points contained in the candidate circumferential route, and determining whether each circumferential point keeps a communication view with the ground control station or not based on the position information of the ground control station and the DEM data;

and determining the candidate circle center corresponding to the candidate circular route of which each circular point is kept in full view by the ground control station as the first circle center.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein selecting at least two circumferential points included in the candidate circumferential route, and determining whether each circumferential point is in a clear view of the ground control station based on the position information of the ground control station and the DEM data comprises:

acquiring a straight line segment obtained by connecting each circumferential point with the ground control station;

selecting at least two line segment points on the straight line segment, and acquiring the height difference between each line segment point and the landform surface projection point based on the DEM data;

and if the height difference corresponding to each line segment point is larger than a preset height threshold value, determining that each circumferential point keeps the visibility with the ground control station.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein planning a first circle center of a circle around which the relay drone orbits while hovering in sight with the ground control station at all times, based on the position information of the ground control station and the hovering radius, under constraints of the maximum flying height and the maximum communication distance, comprises:

starting from the initial circle center of the circle, vertically lifting and horizontally moving the initial circle center of the circle, and detecting whether the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps a full view with the ground control station when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies around the candidate circle center of the circle based on the position information of the ground control station and the circle radius when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle obtains one candidate circle center of the circle;

if the relay unmanned aerial vehicle keeps a full view with the ground control station all the time when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a circle around the candidate circle center, taking the candidate circle center as the first circle center;

under the constraints of the maximum flying height and the maximum communication distance, planning a second circle center around which the relay unmanned aerial vehicle circles when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a hovering manner with the task unmanned aerial vehicle all the time in a manner of keeping visibility, based on the position information of the task unmanned aerial vehicle and the hovering radius, including:

when a first circle center is obtained through planning, detecting whether the relay unmanned aerial vehicle always keeps a visual communication with the task unmanned aerial vehicle when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a circle around the first circle center based on the position information of the task unmanned aerial vehicle and the circle radius;

and if the relay unmanned aerial vehicle keeps a clear view with the task unmanned aerial vehicle all the time when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a circling manner around the first circling circle center, taking the first circling circle center as the second circling circle center.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

and stopping continuously planning the first circle center in response to the at least one second circle center obtained by planning.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein planning a target circle center around which the relay drone orbits while remaining in sight hovering flight with the ground control station and the mission drone all the time simultaneously based on the first circle center of hover and the second circle center of hover comprises:

and taking the second circle center which is coincident with the first circle center as the target circle center.

9. The utility model provides a flight position planning device of relay unmanned aerial vehicle which characterized in that, relay unmanned aerial vehicle keeps staying idle state when hovering flight to for ground control station and task unmanned aerial vehicle provide communication relay service, the device includes:

a first planning module configured to plan a first circle center around which the relay unmanned aerial vehicle circles when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies in a hovering manner always keeping visibility with the ground control station based on the position information of the ground control station and the hovering radius;

a third planning module configured to plan a target circle center around which the relay drone circles while keeping starkly flying with the ground control station and the mission drone all the time while based on the first circle center and the second circle center;

the apparatus is configured to: acquiring the maximum flight height of the relay unmanned aerial vehicle, and acquiring the maximum communication distance between the relay unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground control station; under the constraints of the maximum flying height and the maximum communication distance, planning the first circle center of the circle based on the position information of the ground control station and the circle radius; under the constraints of the maximum flying height and the maximum communication distance, planning the second circle center based on the position information of the task unmanned aerial vehicle and the circle radius;

the first planning module is configured to: carrying out vertical lifting and horizontal movement on the initial hovering circle center at a preset position to obtain a candidate hovering circle center within the maximum flying height and the maximum communication distance; obtaining a candidate circular route obtained when the relay unmanned aerial vehicle flies around the candidate circle center based on the hovering radius and the candidate circle center; and selecting the first circle center from the candidate circle centers on the basis of the candidate circular routes and the position information of the ground control station.

10. An electronic device, comprising:

a memory storing computer readable instructions;

a processor reading computer readable instructions stored by the memory to perform the method of any of claims 1-8.

11. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-readable instructions which, when executed by a processor of a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1-8.