CN114928812B

CN114928812B - Emergency search device, system and method for aircraft

Info

Publication number: CN114928812B
Application number: CN202210503746.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张红莉; 何东林; 刘翱; 何龙
Original assignee: Second Research Institute of CAAC
Current assignee: Second Research Institute of CAAC
Priority date: 2022-05-10
Filing date: 2022-05-10
Publication date: 2023-12-15
Anticipated expiration: 2042-05-10
Also published as: CN114928812A

Abstract

The application belongs to the technical field of aviation safety guarantee, and particularly relates to an aircraft emergency searching device, an aircraft emergency searching system and an aircraft emergency searching method; the searching device comprises a group of unmanned aerial vehicles, and each unmanned aerial vehicle comprises: the ELT signal monitoring machine is used for acquiring and processing target signals in real time; the positioning module is used for self positioning; a clock module for time-stamping the target signal; an onboard communication module; and the airborne information processing module is used for calculating the accurate position information of the monitoring target, synchronizing the accurate position information to other unmanned aerial vehicles, carrying out final positioning on the monitoring target and sending the obtained related information to the outside. According to the aircraft emergency searching device, system and method, the unmanned aerial vehicle group is used for carrying the ELT signal monitoring machine, and the local area searching can be effectively carried out by combining the advantages of local autonomy and flexible movement, so that the problems of the existing searching and rescuing system are solved, and the aviation emergency signal acquisition capacity and timeliness under the complex environment are improved.

Description

Emergency search device, system and method for aircraft

Technical Field

The application belongs to the technical field of aviation safety guarantee, and particularly relates to an aircraft emergency searching device, an aircraft emergency searching system and an aircraft emergency searching method.

Background

In recent years, the accident of the aircraft, which happens many times in the world and in the home, cannot be effectively positioned and rapidly rescued, and the important loss is caused to personnel and property. Therefore, how to quickly and accurately position the accident site after the aircraft is in danger and lost is a great problem to be solved by the aviation industry, and the rescue efficiency is improved.

An aircraft emergency position indicator (Emergency Locator Transmitter, hereinafter referred to as ELT) can emit a distress signal when an aircraft is in danger, provides important clues for searching and rescue positioning, and is an important device in the distress stage of the aircraft. Currently, the transmission of ELT alarm signals is mainly completed by a global satellite search and rescue system (COSASAS-SARSAT). The system is intended to provide global search and rescue services using satellites, service objects including aircraft, ships, and individuals. The COSPAS-SARSAT system consists of three parts, namely a satellite space segment, a distress indication mark and ground processing. When in danger, the emergency positioning device can send 406MHz signals outwards through a manual or automatic triggering mode (such as express/acceleration disorder, heavy impact, water inflow and the like), and the random interval of each sending is 47.5s to 52.5s. The signals carrying the information of the identity, state and the like of the aircraft are received and forwarded through satellites, then the information is received and calculated by Local User Terminals (LUTs) distributed throughout the world, the position of the aircraft in distress is calculated and sent to a search and rescue Mission Control Center (MCC), and then the relevant search and Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) in the distress area is informed to search and rescue through the Internet. The 406MHz signal has 112bits or 144bits signals with different lengths, the short code does not carry position information, and the long code carries position information.

However, the 406MHz emergency signal is based on the COSAS-SARSAT system, so that the number of data stream transfer nodes is large, the operation flow and the information path are long, and the real-time performance is poor. Meanwhile, the limited number of the COSPAS-SARSAT low-orbit satellites causes coverage blind areas to exist in satellite constellations, and the ELT alarm information of the aircraft in danger of the blind areas can not be received, or the ELT alarm information received by the satellites can not be timely transmitted to the ground LUT. If the distress position of the aircraft is in environments such as mountain areas, forests and the like, the communication environment is complex, and the satellite is far away from the ground, so that ELT alarm information transmission can be influenced, and signals cannot be effectively detected.

At present, although the unmanned aerial vehicle target positioning technology is widely applied to the fields of rescue and relief work, topographic survey, reconnaissance monitoring and the like, the existing unmanned aerial vehicle target positioning technology still cannot meet the positioning and emergency rescue requirements of the aircraft in distress due to the following problems:

1) The main target positioning method of the existing unmanned aerial vehicle mainly comprises active positioning and passive positioning, wherein the active positioning mainly takes a gesture measurement/photometry ranging positioning model as a main basis, photoelectric reconnaissance equipment is required to complete target tracking and laser ranging functions, and the cost is high; the passive positioning is realized by acquiring a target image through a camera and acquiring a target position through an image processing algorithm, the method has higher precision but poor real-time performance, an image library needs to be established in advance, and the environmental condition is very critical for the method. In actual use, the high-precision positioning and emergency rescue scene of the distress aircraft with high requirements on real-time performance are not high in applicability of the existing unmanned aerial vehicle target positioning method;

2) Currently, the autonomous positioning target of a typical unmanned aerial vehicle can not be realized under the condition of sight distance, and the target can not be accurately positioned under the condition of uncertainty of the position of a distress aircraft.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve at least one technical problem existing in the prior art, the application provides an aircraft emergency searching device, an aircraft emergency searching system and an aircraft emergency searching method.

In a first aspect, the application discloses an aircraft emergency search device, comprising at least one unmanned aerial vehicle group, each unmanned aerial vehicle group is formed by mutually networking at least four unmanned aerial vehicles, wherein each unmanned aerial vehicle comprises:

the ELT signal monitoring machine is used for acquiring a target signal in real time, processing the target signal and at least obtaining the identity information of a monitoring target, wherein the target signal is a 406MHz signal;

the positioning module is used for positioning the unmanned aerial vehicle;

the clock module is used for marking a time tag for the target signal acquired in real time;

the airborne communication module is used for networking with other unmanned aerial vehicles in the same group and carrying out real-time communication with the ground information processing center;

the system comprises an airborne information processing module, wherein the airborne information processing module of one unmanned aerial vehicle is set as a central node in at least four unmanned aerial vehicles in the same group, and the central node comprises:

The airborne information processing module serving as a central node is used for combining target signals which are transmitted by other unmanned aerial vehicles in a contract group and are aimed at the same monitoring target and have time labels, calculating the accurate position information of the monitoring target in real time through a multipoint positioning principle, transmitting the accurate position information to the other unmanned aerial vehicles in the same group and the ground information processing center in real time, controlling the current unmanned aerial vehicle to fly according to the accurate position information, and finally positioning the monitoring target and transmitting the final positioning information to the ground information processing center when the monitoring target position is finally reached;

and the airborne information processing module which is not used as the central node is used for controlling the current unmanned aerial vehicle to synchronously fly according to the accurate position information transmitted by the airborne information processing module which is used as the central node.

According to at least one embodiment of the present application, after the ELT signal monitor processes the target signal, if the target signal has a position protocol, first preliminary position information of the monitored target is obtained, and if the target signal does not have a position protocol, first azimuth area information of the monitored target is obtained;

The on-board information processing module as a central node is further configured to, before calculating the accurate position information of the monitored target:

controlling the current unmanned aerial vehicle to fly according to the first preliminary position information or the first azimuth area information, and synchronously transmitting the first preliminary position information or the first azimuth area information to other unmanned aerial vehicles in the same group; and

when the current unmanned aerial vehicle flies to a position or an area with a preset distance from the first preliminary position information or the first azimuth area information, calculating accurate position information and flying according to the calculated accurate position information;

correspondingly, the on-board information processing module not serving as the central node is used for:

and controlling the current unmanned aerial vehicle to fly according to the first preliminary position information or the first azimuth area information transmitted by the airborne information processing module serving as the central node and the accurate position information.

According to at least one embodiment of the present application, the communication information between the airborne communication module and the ground information processing center includes the identity information of the monitored target and the second preliminary location information or the second azimuth area information, which are obtained after the monitored target signal is processed, transmitted by the ground information processing center;

when the information transmitted by the ground information processing center is second preliminary position information, replacing the first preliminary position information with the second preliminary position information; and

when the information transmitted by the ground information processing center is the second azimuth area information, continuing to use the first azimuth area information to control the current unmanned aerial vehicle to fly;

and controlling the current unmanned aerial vehicle to fly according to the second preliminary position information or the first azimuth area information transmitted by the airborne information processing module serving as the central node and the accurate position information.

According to at least one embodiment of the present application, the on-board information processing module is further configured to, as a central node:

the method comprises the steps that target signals with time labels and position information of each unmanned aerial vehicle corresponding to the time labels, which are obtained in real time by all unmanned aerial vehicles in the same group, are sent to a ground information processing center through the airborne communication module; and

Receiving corrected position information for correcting the accurate position of the monitoring target from the ground information processing center through the airborne communication module; and

and if the corrected position information is received, the corrected position information is used for replacing the accurate position information calculated by the position information so as to control each unmanned aerial vehicle in the same group to fly.

According to at least one embodiment of the present application, each of the unmanned aerial vehicles further includes a photographing device and a storage module, and the on-board information processing module at least as a central node is further configured to:

after the current unmanned aerial vehicle flies to approach the monitoring target according to the accurate position information and the target is positioned, controlling the shooting device on the current unmanned aerial vehicle to take an image and/or video of the monitoring target; and

when the current unmanned aerial vehicle can communicate with the ground information processing center through the airborne communication module, transmitting the image and/or video information to the ground information processing center; or (b)

When the current unmanned aerial vehicle cannot communicate with the ground information processing center through the airborne communication module, the relevant information acquired by the ELT signal monitoring machine, the relevant information for multipoint positioning, the final positioning information and the image and/or video information shot by the shooting device are stored in the storage module, and various stored information is transmitted to the ground information processing center until the communication is restored.

In a second aspect, the present application also discloses an aircraft emergency search system, comprising:

at least one aircraft emergency searching device according to any of the first aspects;

the ELT signal ground monitoring station is used for acquiring the target signal in real time, wherein the target signal is from an aircraft emergency position indication mark or a global satellite search and rescue system of the monitoring target, the ELT signal ground monitoring station can process the target signal from the aircraft emergency position indication mark to obtain identity information of the monitoring target, and also obtain second preliminary position information of the monitoring target when the target signal is provided with a position protocol, and obtain second azimuth area information of the monitoring target when the target signal is not provided with the position protocol;

the ground information processing center is used for processing target signals from the global satellite search and rescue system, which are acquired by the ELT signal ground monitoring station, so as to at least obtain the identity information of the monitored target and the second preliminary position information or the second azimuth area information, transmitting the identity information of the monitored target and the second preliminary position information or the second azimuth area information to the corresponding aircraft emergency searching device through the ground communication module, and receiving information sent by the corresponding aircraft emergency searching device through the ground communication module.

According to at least one embodiment of the present application, when the information sent from the aircraft emergency searching device is received through the ground communication module, the ground information processing center is further configured to:

and calculating the accurate position information of the monitoring target through a multipoint positioning principle, comparing the obtained accurate position information with the accurate position information transmitted by the aircraft emergency searching device, and if the result is inconsistent, taking the accurate position information calculated by the aircraft emergency searching device as corrected position information and transmitting the corrected position information to the corresponding aircraft emergency searching device through the ground communication module.

According to at least one embodiment of the present application, the aircraft emergency search system further comprises:

the alarm display device is used for displaying and releasing the received alarm information to be displayed;

correspondingly, the ground information processing center is further used for:

transmitting the obtained identity information of the monitoring target and second preliminary position information or second azimuth area information to the alarm display device as alarm information to be displayed; and

Transmitting the image and/or video information which is sent by the aircraft emergency searching device and aims at the monitoring target to the alarm display device as alarm information to be displayed; and

matching the identity information of the monitoring target with an aviation emergency rescue database to obtain extension information related to the monitoring target, and transmitting the extension information to the alarm display device as alarm information to be displayed; and

and transmitting final positioning information of the monitoring target as alarm information to be displayed to the alarm display device.

In a third aspect, the application also discloses an aircraft emergency searching method, which comprises the following steps:

firstly, acquiring a target signal in real time through an ELT signal ground monitoring station, wherein the target signal is from an aircraft emergency position indication mark or a global satellite search and rescue system of a monitoring target;

processing a target signal from an aircraft emergency position indication mark through the ELT signal ground monitoring station or processing the acquired target signal from a global satellite search and rescue system through a ground information processing center to at least obtain identity information and second preliminary position information or second azimuth area information of a monitoring target;

Step three, the ground information processing center sends the identity information of the monitoring target obtained in the step two and second preliminary position information or second azimuth area information to a corresponding aircraft emergency searching device through a ground communication module;

fourthly, at least four unmanned aerial vehicles serving as the same group in the aircraft emergency searching device perform networking communication with each other through respective airborne communication modules, and an airborne information processing module of one unmanned aerial vehicle is determined to serve as a central node;

meanwhile, all ELT signal monitoring machines on the unmanned aerial vehicle acquire and process target signals in real time, and time tags are marked on the target signals acquired in real time through a clock module;

the airborne information processing module serving as a central node receives the second preliminary position information or the second azimuth area information through the airborne communication module of the airborne information processing module and synchronously transmits the second preliminary position information or the second azimuth area information to other unmanned aerial vehicles in the same group, so that all unmanned aerial vehicles synchronously fly according to the second preliminary position information or the second azimuth area information;

step five, when all unmanned aerial vehicles fly synchronously to a position or an area determined by the second preliminary position information or the second azimuth area information has a preset distance, the airborne information processing module is combined with target signals which are transmitted by other unmanned aerial vehicles in a contract group and are aimed at the same monitoring target and have time labels as a central node, the accurate position information of the monitoring target is calculated through a multipoint positioning principle, and the accurate position information is transmitted to other unmanned aerial vehicles in the same group and the ground information processing center, so that the unmanned aerial vehicle group flies synchronously according to the accurate position information;

And step six, when all unmanned aerial vehicles synchronously fly to reach the position of the monitoring target, the airborne information processing module is used as a central node to carry out final positioning on the monitoring target, and the final positioning information is sent to the ground information processing center.

According to at least one embodiment of the present application, in the fourth step, the ELT signal monitor processes the target signal to obtain first preliminary location information or first location area information of the monitored target;

in the fourth step, before the airborne information processing module serving as the central node synchronously transmits the second preliminary location information or the second azimuth area information to other unmanned aerial vehicles in the same group, the method further includes:

when the information transmitted by the ground information processing center is only second azimuth area information, the first azimuth area information is adopted to replace the second azimuth area information; and

when the communication connection with the ground information processing center is judged to be disconnected, using the first preliminary position information or the first azimuth area information;

further, in the fourth step, the method further includes:

transmitting the target signals with the time labels and the position information of each unmanned aerial vehicle corresponding to the time labels, which are acquired in real time by all unmanned aerial vehicles in the same group, to the ground information processing center; and

The ground information processing center calculates the accurate position information of the monitoring target through a multipoint positioning principle, compares the obtained accurate position information with the accurate position information transmitted by the aircraft emergency searching device, takes the accurate position information calculated by the ground information processing center as corrected position information if the result is inconsistent, and sends the corrected position information to the corresponding aircraft emergency searching device through the ground communication module;

correspondingly, the fifth step further includes:

the airborne information processing module is used as a central node, and the received corrected position information is used for replacing the accurate position information calculated by the central node so as to control each unmanned aerial vehicle in the same group to fly;

further, in the sixth step, when the monitoring target position is finally reached, the method further includes:

the airborne information processing module is used as a central node to control a shooting device on the current unmanned aerial vehicle to shoot images and/or videos of the monitoring target; and

transmitting the image and/or video information to a ground information processing center when communication between the current unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground information processing center is good; or (b)

When the communication between the current unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground information processing center is disconnected, storing the related information acquired by the ELT signal monitoring machine, the related information for multipoint positioning, the final positioning information and the image and/or video information shot by the shooting device into a storage module, and transmitting various stored information to the ground information processing center until the communication is restored;

further, the aircraft emergency searching method further comprises the following steps:

step seven, the ground information processing center transmits the identity information of the monitoring target and the second preliminary position information or the second azimuth area information obtained after the ELT signal ground monitoring station calculates the target signal to an alarm display device for display and release; and

transmitting the image and/or video information aiming at the monitoring target and sent by the aircraft emergency searching device to an alarm display device for display and release; and

matching the identity information of the monitoring target with an aviation emergency rescue database to obtain extension information related to the monitoring target, and transmitting the extension information to an alarm display device for display and release; and

And transmitting final positioning information of the monitoring target to an alarm display device for display and release.

The application has at least the following beneficial technical effects:

1) According to the aircraft emergency searching device, system and method, the unmanned aerial vehicle group is utilized to carry the ELT signal monitoring machine, the complex flow of the COSAS-SARSAT system is not needed, and the local area searching can be effectively carried out by combining the advantages of local autonomy and flexible movement, so that the problems that the current 406MHz signal transmission flow of the COSAS-SARSAT system is long, satellite constellations have dead areas, environment complex signals cannot be effectively transmitted and the like are effectively solved, and the aviation emergency signal acquisition capacity and timeliness under the complex environment are improved;

2) According to the aircraft emergency searching device, system and method, the target can be accurately positioned by utilizing the multi-point positioning of the unmanned aerial vehicle group, so that the defect that the COSPAS-SARSAT system has large target positioning error (the error is possibly kilometer level) is overcome, and the accurate positioning of the target can be realized through a group of at least four unmanned aerial vehicles; meanwhile, the active target positioning means of the existing typical unmanned aerial vehicle carrying photoelectric reconnaissance equipment is greatly influenced by the environment and has high cost, and the passive target positioning means of the unmanned aerial vehicle carrying a camera is poor in instantaneity and needs to be built in advance; the method can simultaneously solve the defects of a typical active passive unmanned aerial vehicle target positioning method and meet the real-time requirement of target positioning and the requirement of complex environment signal receiving capability in an aviation rescue scene; moreover, the current typical unmanned aerial vehicle target positioning method cannot realize the function of automatically searching the target under the condition of beyond-view distance, and the application provides the method for automatically searching the target under the condition of beyond-view distance of the unmanned aerial vehicle group.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a single unmanned aerial vehicle in an aircraft emergency search device of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of operation of a single unmanned aerial vehicle in the aircraft emergency search device of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the aircraft emergency searching device of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a multi-point location by a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles in an aircraft emergency search device according to the present application;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an aircraft emergency search system according to the present application;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating operation of an ELT signal ground monitoring station in the aircraft emergency search system of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of an information processing center in the emergency search system of the aircraft of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating operation of the aircraft emergency search system and method of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application will be described in more detail with reference to a specific example and the accompanying drawings in the embodiments. The described embodiments are some, but not all, embodiments of the application. The embodiments described below by referring to the drawings are illustrative and intended to explain the present application and should not be construed as limiting the application.

The aircraft emergency search device, system and method of the present application are described in further detail below with reference to fig. 1-8.

As shown in the upper right corner of fig. 5, the aircraft emergency searching device (i.e., the unmanned aerial vehicle group in the drawing) of the present application is an unmanned aerial vehicle group, and the unmanned aerial vehicle group is formed by mutually networking at least four unmanned aerial vehicles.

Each unmanned aerial vehicle can adopt a plurality of known suitable unmanned aerial vehicles, such as a multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle or a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle; the unmanned aerial vehicle comprises a conventional machine body (adopting a conventional layout of composite materials and capable of accommodating various devices and modules), a flight control platform (generally comprising a gyroscope, a GNSS/GPS module, an electromagnetic induction, an accelerometer and other sensors and a main control circuit, and a system integrating automatic flight and hovering functions), a power module (comprising a propeller, a motor, a battery, a steering engine and the like) and other structures; further, in this embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, each unmanned aerial vehicle further includes an ELT signal monitor, a positioning module, a clock module, an airborne communication module, and an airborne information processing module.

Specifically, the ELT signal monitoring machine adopts a known ELT signal monitoring device to monitor and acquire an ELT aviation emergency signal (namely a target signal), and processes the target signal to at least acquire identity information of a monitored target, wherein the target signal is a 406MHz signal.

The positioning module is used for self positioning of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and can be independently provided with a GNSS module for example or can be a self-contained GNSS module in a flight control platform of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

The clock module is used for marking time labels on target signals acquired in real time so as to perform clock synchronization.

The airborne communication module is used for networking with other unmanned aerial vehicles in the same group and real-time communication with the ground information processing center.

The airborne information processing module is used as a core processing unit of each unmanned aerial vehicle and used for various subsequent operations, in addition, in at least four unmanned aerial vehicles in the same group, one of the airborne information processing modules of the unmanned aerial vehicles can be preset as a central node, wherein:

the system comprises an airborne information processing module serving as a central node, a ground information processing center and a monitoring target processing center, wherein the airborne information processing module is used for integrating target signals which are transmitted by other unmanned aerial vehicles in a contract group and are aimed at the same monitoring target and have time labels, calculating the accurate position information of the monitoring target in real time through a multipoint positioning principle, transmitting the accurate position information to the other unmanned aerial vehicles in the same group and the ground information processing center in real time, controlling the current unmanned aerial vehicle to fly according to the accurate position information, and finally positioning the monitoring target when the monitoring target position is finally reached, and transmitting the final positioning information to the ground information processing center;

Wherein, the multi-point positioning principle can be seen in fig. 4, when two ELT signal monitors are mounted on unmanned aerial vehicles UAV1, UAV2 at different positions, 406MHz ELT signal from one aircraft (determined by distinguishing beacon ID in aircraft beacon identification information) is received by two receivers, and since the signal has been time-tagged by a clock module, the time TOA of arrival of the signal at the two receivers is based on the time TOA of arrival of the signal at the two receivers _UAV1 、TOA _UAV2 The signal arrival time difference (Time Difference of Arrival, TDOA) can be obtained, where a hyperbola is formed to the point where two drones (receivers) have the same distance difference, the focus being the UAV1, UAV2. And an unmanned aerial vehicle (receiver) is added, and under the condition of three unmanned aerial vehicles, two groups of unmanned aerial vehicles formed by two groups can form a hyperboloid in space, and a positioned target is fixed on the hyperboloid. And an unmanned aerial vehicle (receiver) is additionally arranged, and under the condition of four unmanned aerial vehicles, three pairs of hyperboloids are intersected, and the intersection point is the position coordinate of the positioned target. It will be appreciated that the more the number of unmanned aerial vehicles, the more accurate the position of the monitoring target is ultimately obtained, for which reason it is preferred in the present application that the number of unmanned aerial vehicles in each unmanned aerial vehicle group is at least four.

It should be noted that, the 406MHz target signal typically includes a location protocol (with location information) and/or a user protocol (without location information); when the ELT signal monitoring system comprises a position protocol and a user protocol, the ELT signal monitoring system can calculate a target signal, so that identity information and position information (namely subsequent first and second position information) of a monitored target can be obtained; when only the user protocol is included (i.e., the location protocol is not included), the ELT signal monitor can calculate the signal azimuth and the area (i.e., the subsequent first and second azimuth area information) of the monitoring target by analyzing the signal characteristics of the target signal, in addition to obtaining the identity information of the monitoring target.

It should be further noted that, when the 406MHz target signal does not include the location protocol, since the altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle in the flight state is generally higher than the ground monitoring station of the ELT signal on the ground, the result (i.e., the obtained signal azimuth and the area) obtained by using the ELT signal monitoring machine on the unmanned aerial vehicle to detect the target signal and perform the signal characteristic analysis on the target signal is generally more accurate than the result obtained by using the ground monitoring station of the ELT signal on the ground, for this reason, the priority of the first azimuth area information obtained by the ELT signal monitoring machine of the unmanned aerial vehicle is greater than the priority of the second azimuth area information obtained by the ELT signal ground monitoring station on the ground when the 406MHz target signal does not include the location protocol.

At this time, the above-mentioned on-board information processing module as a center node can also be used for, before calculating the accurate position information of the monitoring target:

controlling the current unmanned aerial vehicle to fly according to the first preliminary position information or the first azimuth area information, and synchronously transmitting the first preliminary position information or the first azimuth area information to other unmanned aerial vehicles in the same group; and when the current unmanned aerial vehicle flies to a position or an area with a preset distance from the preliminary position (namely, the position or the area determined by the first preliminary position information or the first azimuth area information) of the monitoring target, calculating the accurate position information and flying according to the calculated accurate position information.

It can be understood that, before the emergency searching device (i.e. the unmanned aerial vehicle group) of the aircraft works, the first situation is that an operator can carry the emergency searching device to a certain distance from a monitoring target in advance and then release the emergency searching device, and after the unmanned aerial vehicle group takes off, related operations such as calculating accurate position information and the like are performed after the target signal is monitored; in the second case, the unmanned aerial vehicle group may be released under the condition of the first preliminary position information or the first azimuth area information obtained by processing the target signal, so as to determine the preliminary flight direction of the unmanned aerial vehicle group, and after the unmanned aerial vehicle group is at a certain distance from the monitoring target, relevant operations such as calculating the accurate position information are performed.

In further embodiments of the present application, the communication information between the airborne communication module and the ground information processing center further includes identity information of the monitored target and second preliminary location information or second azimuth area information, which are obtained by resolving the monitored target signal and transmitted from the ground information processing center.

It will be appreciated that the ground information processing center is often advantageous in terms of equipment and means for capturing and processing target signals that include location protocols, and therefore, when the unmanned aerial vehicle receives that the ground information processing center transmission information is second preliminary location information, the second preliminary location information is preferably employed. That is, in the first flight phase of the unmanned aerial vehicle for the second case described above, the first preliminary location information is replaced with the second preliminary location information. Of course, for the case that the target signal does not include the position protocol, according to the above description, the unmanned aerial vehicle is still controlled to fly by preferentially using the first azimuth area information obtained by analysis of the ELT signal monitor on the unmanned aerial vehicle.

At this time, before calculating the accurate position information of the monitoring target, the on-board information processing module serving as the central node is configured to:

When the information transmitted by the ground information processing center is the second preliminary position information, the second preliminary position information transmitted by the ground information processing center is used for replacing the first preliminary position information so as to control all unmanned aerial vehicles to fly; when the information transmitted by the ground information processing center is the second azimuth area information, the first azimuth area information (to be explained, no matter the unmanned aerial vehicle or the ground is needed to be interpreted, the target signals are always consistent, so that the position information or the azimuth area information is obtained through processing) is used for controlling the current unmanned aerial vehicle to fly;

and when the current unmanned aerial vehicle flies to a position or an area determined by the second preliminary position information or the first azimuth area information has a preset distance, calculating accurate position information and flying according to the calculated accurate position information. The predetermined distance may be appropriately set according to the received power, the range, and the like of the ELT signal monitor on the unmanned aerial vehicle.

Further, in order to further improve the accuracy of the calculation of the accurate position of the monitored target or improve the error correction performance, the on-board information processing module serving as the central node is further configured to:

the method comprises the steps that target signals with time labels and position information of each unmanned aerial vehicle corresponding to the time labels, which are obtained in real time by all unmanned aerial vehicles in the same group, are sent to a ground information processing center through an onboard communication module; and receiving corrected position information (sources of which will be described in detail later) corrected for the accurate position of the monitoring target from the ground information processing center through the on-board communication module; and if the corrected position information is received, the corrected position information is used for replacing the accurate position information calculated by the position information so as to control each unmanned aerial vehicle in the same group to fly.

Furthermore, in the aircraft emergency searching device, the single unmanned aerial vehicle can further comprise a shooting device and a storage module. The photographing device can adopt, for example, a high-definition camera according to requirements.

Correspondingly, at least the on-board information processing module serving as the central node (i.e. other on-board information processing modules not serving as the central node may also be used for:

After the current unmanned aerial vehicle flies to approach to the monitoring target according to the accurate position information and the target is positioned, controlling a shooting device on the current unmanned aerial vehicle to shoot an image and/or video of the monitoring target; when the current unmanned aerial vehicle can communicate with the ground information processing center through the airborne communication module (namely, when the communication state is good), transmitting the image and/or video information to the ground information processing center; or when the current unmanned aerial vehicle cannot communicate with the ground information processing center through the airborne communication module (namely, when the communication cannot be performed due to the factors such as faults or signal differences), the relevant information acquired by the ELT signal monitoring machine, the relevant information for performing multi-point positioning, the final positioning information and the image and/or video information shot by the shooting device are stored in the storage module, and the stored information is transmitted to the ground information processing center until the communication is restored.

Further, the specific operation flow of a single unmanned aerial vehicle in the aircraft emergency searching device of the present application may be summarized as follows with reference to fig. 2:

the single unmanned aerial vehicle device is mainly responsible for completing the acquisition and processing of ELT emergency signals, and comprises three stages, namely real-time monitoring, acquisition, processing (resolving or signal characteristic analysis) and discrimination of 406MHz emergency signal frequency bands. Firstly, monitoring a 406MHz frequency band in real time, judging whether a signal is acquired and a time tag is marked on the signal in real time, then decoding the signal to obtain aircraft beacon identification information and coding protocol information, then judging the coding protocol information, if the acquired 406MHz emergency signal adopts a user protocol with position information, acquiring a coarse position (namely first preliminary position information) of the involved aircraft, if the acquired 406MHz emergency signal adopts the user protocol without position information, calculating a signal direction and a signal area (namely first direction area information) through signal characteristic analysis; it should be noted that, whether the single unmanned aerial vehicle is used as the central node or not, the first preliminary position information or the first direction area information is obtained through processing, but finally, the flight operation is required to be performed according to the first preliminary position information or the first direction area information transmitted by the unmanned aerial vehicle as the central node. And finally, the acquired real-time information with the time tag is sent to a central node of the unmanned aerial vehicle group for subsequent processing.

For a specific operation flow of the unmanned aerial vehicle group (i.e., four unmanned aerial vehicles) of the aircraft emergency searching device of the present application, referring to fig. 3, the following is summarized:

four unmanned aerial vehicles compose an unmanned aerial vehicle group, and the target accurate positioning is completed mainly through the multipoint positioning principle. One unmanned aerial vehicle in one unmanned aerial vehicle group is regarded as the central node of unmanned aerial vehicle group, can accomplish the target location calculation of one unmanned aerial vehicle group, passes back ground information processing center with information through airborne communication module simultaneously. When the communication signal is interrupted and the information cannot be transmitted back to the ground information processing center, the central node information processing module can process the information returned by the unmanned aerial vehicle group, and after the communication signals (4G/5G/satellite signals and the like) are recovered, the information and the processing result are synchronized to the ground information processing center. The airborne communication module on the unmanned aerial vehicle can realize mutual communication between the ad hoc network and the unmanned aerial vehicle group under the condition that a communication network signal is not good. After the target position information is obtained, the central node of the unmanned aerial vehicle group is synchronously transmitted to all unmanned aerial vehicles, and all unmanned aerial vehicles are controlled to move to the target position. After the target is positioned, the high-definition camera can collect the field condition data of the target, and the field condition data is transmitted back to the ground information processing center for further processing through a communication network.

In a second aspect, the present application further provides an aircraft emergency search system, as shown in fig. 5, which may include an aircraft emergency search device, an ELT signal ground monitoring station, a ground communication module, and a ground information processing center.

In particular, the number of aircraft emergency searching devices is at least one (i.e. at least one unmanned aerial vehicle group), and any of the aircraft emergency searching devices of the above first aspect may be employed.

The ELT signal ground monitoring station is used for acquiring a target signal in real time, wherein the target signal can come from an aircraft emergency position indication mark of a monitoring target or come from a global satellite search and rescue system (COSASAS-SARSAT system); the ELT signal ground monitoring station can process the target signal from the aircraft emergency position indication mark to obtain the identity information of the monitoring target, obtain the second preliminary position information of the monitoring target when the position protocol is carried in the target signal, and obtain the second azimuth area information of the monitoring target when the position protocol is not carried in the target signal.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the target signal transmitted by the aircraft emergency pilot may be obtained (or captured) directly, whether by an ELT signal monitor on the drone or by an ELT signal ground monitoring station; the target signal (or alarm signal) sent by the global satellite search and rescue system is required to be received and processed by known special ground receiving equipment, and then the processed target signal is sent to an ELT signal monitoring machine and an ELT signal ground monitoring station on the unmanned aerial vehicle, for example, so as to be acquired.

The ground information processing center is used for resolving the target signal from the global satellite search and rescue system, which is acquired by the ELT signal ground monitoring station, so as to at least acquire the identity information and the second preliminary position information or the second azimuth area information (the specific principle is the same as the above); the received or calculated identity information of the monitoring target and the second preliminary position information or the second azimuth area information are transmitted to a corresponding aircraft emergency searching device through a ground communication module so as to control the flight direction of the unmanned aerial vehicle in the aircraft emergency searching device in the initial stage; and the ground communication module is used for receiving information sent by the corresponding aircraft emergency searching device.

It will be appreciated that the specific content of the information sent from the aircraft emergency searching device may be suitably selected as required; in this embodiment, the information includes a target signal with a time tag obtained in real time by all the unmanned aerial vehicles in the same group and position information of each unmanned aerial vehicle corresponding to the time tag.

At this time, the ground information processing center is also configured to:

the accurate position information of the monitoring target is calculated through the multipoint positioning principle, the obtained accurate position information is compared with the accurate position information transmitted by the aircraft emergency searching device, if the result is inconsistent, the accurate position information calculated by the aircraft emergency searching device is used as corrected position information (corresponding to the corrected position information received by the unmanned aerial vehicle in the first aspect), and the corrected position information is transmitted to the corresponding aircraft emergency searching device through the ground communication module.

Furthermore, the aircraft emergency search system of the application can also comprise an alarm display device for displaying and releasing the received alarm information to be displayed.

At this time, the ground information processing center is also configured to:

the identity information of the monitoring target and the second preliminary position information or the second azimuth area information obtained after the target signal is processed by the self or ELT signal ground monitoring station are used as alarm information to be displayed and transmitted to the alarm display device; transmitting the image and/or video information aiming at the monitoring target and sent by the aircraft emergency searching device as alarm information to be displayed to the alarm display device; matching the identity information of the monitoring target with an aviation emergency rescue database to obtain extension information (which can comprise information such as ELT alarm signal frequency, signal strength, coding type, beacon ID, alarm occurrence longitude and latitude and the like) related to the monitoring target, and transmitting the extension information to the alarm display device as alarm information to be displayed; and transmitting the final positioning information of the monitoring target as alarm information to be displayed to an alarm display device.

The method comprises the steps of firstly, acquiring a target signal in real time through an ELT signal ground monitoring station, wherein the target signal is from an aircraft emergency position indicator or a global satellite search and rescue system of a monitoring target.

And step two, processing a target signal from an aircraft emergency position indication mark through an ELT signal ground monitoring station or processing the acquired target signal from a global satellite search and rescue system through a ground information processing center so as to at least obtain the identity information and the second preliminary position information or the second azimuth area information of the monitoring target.

And thirdly, the ground information processing center sends the identity information of the monitoring target obtained in the second step and the second preliminary position information or the second azimuth area information to a corresponding aircraft emergency searching device through the ground communication module.

The central node airborne information processing module receives second preliminary position information or second azimuth area information through the airborne communication module and synchronously transmits the second preliminary position information or the second azimuth area information to other unmanned aerial vehicles in the same group, so that all unmanned aerial vehicles synchronously fly according to the second preliminary position information or the second azimuth area information.

And fifthly, when all unmanned aerial vehicles synchronously fly to a position or an area determined by the second preliminary position information or the second azimuth area information has a preset distance, the target signals which are transmitted by other unmanned aerial vehicles in the central node airborne information processing module and are aimed at the same monitoring target and have time labels are combined, the accurate position information of the monitoring target is calculated through a multipoint positioning principle, and the accurate position information is transmitted to other unmanned aerial vehicles in the same group and the ground information processing center, so that the unmanned aerial vehicle group synchronously flies according to the accurate position information.

And step six, when all unmanned aerial vehicles synchronously fly to reach the position of the monitoring target, the monitoring target is finally positioned by the airborne information processing module serving as the central node, and the final positioning information is sent to the ground information processing center.

Further, referring to the statement regarding the calculation of the target signal by the ELT signal monitor according to the first aspect, in the fourth step, the ELT signal monitor processes the target signal and then or simultaneously obtains the first preliminary location information or the first location area information of the monitored target.

At this time, in the fourth step, before the airborne information processing module serving as the central node synchronously transmits the second preliminary location information or the second azimuth area information to other unmanned aerial vehicles in the same group, the method further includes:

when the information transmitted by the ground information processing center is only the second azimuth area information, the first azimuth area information is adopted to replace the second azimuth area information; and

and when the communication connection with the ground information processing center is judged to be disconnected, replacing the previous second preliminary position information or second azimuth area information with the first preliminary position information or the first azimuth area information.

Further, as can be seen from the statements of the first aspect and the second aspect on the information sent from the aircraft emergency searching device, the information may include the target signal with the time tag acquired in real time by all the unmanned aerial vehicles in the same group and the position information of each unmanned aerial vehicle corresponding to the time tag.

In step four, the above information may be sent to a ground information processing center, and accordingly, the ground information processing center may calculate the accurate position information of the monitoring target, and produce corrected position information (when the comparison is inconsistent), and send the corrected position information to the corresponding aircraft emergency searching device.

Correspondingly, in the fifth step, the received corrected position information is used as the central node airborne information processing module to replace the accurate position information calculated by the central node airborne information processing module so as to control each unmanned aerial vehicle in the same group to fly.

Further, in combination with the statement of the first aspect about the photographing device and the storage module, in step six of the emergency searching method for an aircraft of the present application, when the monitoring target position is finally reached, the method further includes:

the method comprises the steps that an airborne information processing module serving as a central node controls a shooting device on a current unmanned aerial vehicle to shoot images and/or videos of a monitoring target; transmitting the image and/or video information to the ground information processing center when the communication between the current unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground information processing center is good; or when the communication between the current unmanned aerial vehicle and the ground information processing center is disconnected, storing the related information acquired by the ELT signal monitoring machine, the related information for multipoint positioning, the final positioning information and the image and/or video information shot by the shooting device into the storage module, and transmitting the stored various information to the ground information processing center until the communication is restored.

Also, in combination with the statement of the second aspect as set forth above regarding the warning display device, the aircraft emergency searching method of the present application further comprises the steps of:

step seven, the ground information processing center transmits the identity information of the monitoring target and the second preliminary position information or the second azimuth area information obtained after the ground monitoring station of the ELT signal calculates the target signal to the alarm display device for display and release; transmitting the image and/or video information aiming at the monitoring target and sent by the aircraft emergency searching device to the alarm display device for display and release; the identity information of the monitoring target is matched with the aviation emergency rescue database to obtain extension information related to the monitoring target, and the extension information is transmitted to the alarm display device for display and release; and transmitting final positioning information of the monitoring target to an alarm display device for display and release.

In conclusion, the aircraft emergency searching device, the system and the method provided by the application utilize the unmanned aerial vehicle group multi-point positioning method to position the involved aircraft with high precision, so that the power-assisted rescue personnel can quickly and effectively perform emergency rescue, and the emergency search and rescue efficiency and level are effectively improved.

The foregoing is merely illustrative of the present application, and the present application is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions easily contemplated by those skilled in the art within the scope of the present application should be included in the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. An aircraft emergency search device, comprising at least one unmanned aerial vehicle group, each unmanned aerial vehicle group is composed of at least four unmanned aerial vehicles mutually networking, wherein each unmanned aerial vehicle comprises:

the positioning module is used for positioning the unmanned aerial vehicle;

the airborne information processing module which is not used as the central node is used for synchronizing the current unmanned aerial vehicle to fly according to the accurate position information transmitted by the airborne information processing module which is used as the central node

After the ELT signal monitoring machine processes the target signal, if the target signal has a position protocol, obtaining first preliminary position information of the monitoring target, and if the target signal does not have the position protocol, obtaining first position area information of the monitoring target;

2. The aircraft emergency searching device according to claim 1, wherein the communication information between the airborne communication module and the ground information processing center includes identity information of the monitored target and second preliminary position information or second azimuth area information, which are obtained by processing the monitored target signal and transmitted from the ground information processing center;

3. The aircraft emergency search device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the on-board information processing module is further configured to, as a central node:

4. An aircraft emergency searching apparatus according to claim 3, wherein each of said unmanned aerial vehicles further comprises a camera and a memory module, and said on-board information processing module, at least as a central node, is further configured to:

5. An aircraft emergency search system, comprising:

at least one aircraft emergency searching device according to any one of claims 1 to 4;

6. The aircraft emergency search system of claim 5, wherein when receiving information sent from the aircraft emergency search device through the ground communication module, the ground information processing center is further configured to:

7. The aircraft emergency search system of claim 6, further comprising:

correspondingly, the ground information processing center is further used for:

8. An aircraft emergency searching method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein in the fourth step, the ELT signal monitor processes the target signal to obtain the first preliminary position information or the first azimuth area information of the monitored target;

further, in the fourth step, the method further includes:

correspondingly, the fifth step further includes: