CN220606092U

CN220606092U - Dual-mode communication module and mobile robot

Info

Publication number: CN220606092U
Application number: CN202321930788.7U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 魏初舜
Original assignee: Suzhou Xiaoer Intelligent Robot Co ltd
Current assignee: Suzhou Xiaoer Intelligent Robot Co ltd
Priority date: 2023-07-21
Filing date: 2023-07-21
Publication date: 2024-03-15
Anticipated expiration: 2033-07-21

Abstract

The utility model discloses a dual-mode communication module and a mobile robot, and relates to the technical field of wireless communication. The output end and the power input end of the idle communication unit are both connected with the power management unit and used for low-speed wireless communication in an idle state, the power input end of the working communication unit is connected with the power management unit, the wired data end is connected with the external working unit and used for high-speed wireless communication in a normal working state, the power management unit is used for exiting a low-power consumption mode through a trigger signal of the idle communication unit and enabling the external working unit to enter the normal working mode, and the working communication unit is used for high-speed wireless communication in normal working and is used for low-speed wireless communication in idle working and realizing the function of a low-power consumption wireless switch by arranging the working communication unit, the idle communication unit and the power management unit.

Description

Dual-mode communication module and mobile robot

Technical Field

The utility model relates to the technical field of wireless communication, in particular to a dual-mode communication module and a mobile robot.

Background

Mobile robots are increasingly being used in various scenarios, such as 500 transfer robots deployed in a logistics warehouse. When the robot works, the mobile robot needs to quickly communicate with a robot control server through a WIFI network, and the state of the robot is fed back and an instruction is received; when the robot is idle, the robot needs to be in a low power consumption mode, and can receive instructions of a robot control server through a WIFI network so as to be put into operation again.

Generally, a mobile robot has a functional composition as shown in fig. 1. The mobile robot is connected with the robot control server through a WIFI network or a 4G/5G network provided by a mobile operator, so that the wireless communication module is generally a WIFI gateway or a 4G/5G module. Generally, a wireless communication module of an existing mobile robot is connected with a robot controller, and a specific action is sent by the robot controller, so that when the robot is idle, the wireless communication module and the robot controller are required to be kept in an electrified state. The wireless communication module and the robot controller have higher communication rate and higher operation performance in normal operation, and generally need to be composed of a processor with higher processing performance and an external DRAM, and the wireless communication module and the robot controller have W-level power consumption even in a low-power consumption mode, and the energy consumption of the wireless communication module and the robot controller is far higher than that of the low-power consumption Internet of things module in an mW level, so that the energy consumption of the existing mobile robot in an idle state has a great optimization space.

Disclosure of Invention

The utility model aims to provide a dual-mode communication module and a mobile robot.

The aim of the utility model can be achieved by the following technical scheme:

a dual mode communication module includes a working communication unit, an idle communication unit, and a power management unit.

The output end and the power input end of the idle communication unit are both connected with the power management unit and are used for low-speed wireless communication in an idle state.

The power input end of the working communication unit is connected with the power management unit, and the wired data end is connected with the external working unit and used for high-speed wireless communication in a normal working state.

The power management unit is used for exiting the low-power consumption mode through the trigger signal of the idle communication unit and enabling the external working unit to enter the normal working mode.

As a further scheme of the utility model: the idle communication unit is a low power wireless switch having at least one controllable switch. An external remote server communicates over a wireless network to indicate whether the controllable switch is closed or open.

As a further scheme of the utility model: the idle communication unit is a low power wireless switch having at least one output signal. An external remote server communicates over a wireless network to indicate whether the output signal is high or low.

As a further scheme of the utility model: the working communication unit and the idle communication unit are the same communication mode, and a common fixed communication base station is used.

As a further scheme of the utility model: the working communication unit and the idle communication unit are in different communication modes and communicate with an external remote server through two different wireless communication networks.

The utility model also discloses a mobile robot which comprises a communication device, a robot control server, a robot controller and a motor assembly.

The communication device is a dual-mode communication module.

The robot control server is connected with the working communication unit in a wireless communication mode.

The robot controller is connected with the output end of the working communication unit and the power management unit.

The motor assembly is connected with the power management unit and the robot controller.

The utility model has the beneficial effects that:

according to the dual-mode communication module, the working communication unit, the idle communication unit and the power management unit are arranged, the working communication unit is used for high-speed wireless communication in normal working, the idle communication unit is used for low-speed wireless communication in idle working, and the function of a low-power-consumption wireless switch is realized.

Drawings

The utility model is further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a prior art mobile robot;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a communication module of the present utility model;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a mobile robot of the present utility model;

FIG. 4 is a mobile robot idle state workflow diagram;

fig. 5 is a low power consumption principle of a WIFI idle communication unit.

Detailed Description

The following description of the embodiments of the present utility model will be made clearly and completely with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which it is apparent that the embodiments described are only some embodiments of the present utility model, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the utility model without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the utility model.

Referring to fig. 2, the present utility model is a dual-mode communication module, which includes a working communication unit, an idle communication unit, and a power management unit.

The output end and the power input end of the idle communication unit are connected with the power management unit. The power input end of the working communication unit is connected with the power management unit, and the wired data end is connected with the external working unit. The power management unit is used for exiting the low-power consumption mode through the trigger signal of the idle communication unit and enabling the external working unit to enter the normal working mode.

The working communication unit is used for high-speed wireless communication during normal working, and the idle communication unit is used for low-speed wireless communication during idle working, so that the function of a low-power-consumption wireless switch is realized.

The power management unit supplies power to the working communication unit and the idle communication unit independently, and the power is continuously supplied in a low-power consumption mode.

In some embodiments of the utility model, the idle communication unit is a low power wireless switch having at least one controllable switch. An external remote server communicates over a wireless network to indicate whether the controllable switch is closed or open.

In some embodiments of the utility model, the idle communication unit is a low power wireless switch having at least one output signal. An external remote server communicates over a wireless network to indicate whether the output signal is high or low.

The communication manner of the working communication unit and the idle communication unit is not limited, for example, in some embodiments, the working communication unit and the idle communication unit are the same communication manner, and a common fixed communication base station is used. The working communication unit and the idle communication unit are both in a WIFI communication mode, and a WIFI network consisting of one or more fixed WIFI routers is used, wherein the WIFI network is connected with the working unit and an external working control server. In order to further reduce the power consumption of the idle communication unit, the idle communication unit switches between an Active mode and a Light-sleep mode by taking the DTIM frame as a wake-up period, so that the power consumption of the idle communication unit is further reduced.

For example, in other embodiments, the active communication unit and the idle communication unit are different communication means, communicating with an external remote server via two different wireless communication networks.

In one embodiment of the present utility model, a mobile robot is also disclosed, as shown with reference to fig. 3-5, comprising a communication device, a robot control server, a robot controller, and a motor assembly.

The communication device is the dual-mode communication module.

In the low power consumption mode, the robot controller, the motor assembly and the working communication unit are all in a power-down state, and the power management unit also optionally enters the low power consumption state. The robot control server communicates with the idle communication unit, and the whole mobile robot exits the low power consumption mode through the output end of the robot control server.

And in a normal mode, the robot control server communicates with the working communication unit, so that the robot control server communicates with the robot controller.

It should be noted that, under the control of the power management unit, only the normal communication unit, the robot controller, the motor assembly and other components are powered during normal operation. When in an idle state, the power management unit is also in a low-power sleep state, the consumption current is less than 1mA, and only the idle communication unit is in a working state. The idle communication unit is used as a wireless wake-up switch, so that the power management unit can exit the low-power consumption mode, and the whole robot can enter a normal working state. The idle communication unit adopts a low-power-consumption internet of things switching technology, consumes current according to different communication technologies, and is less than 1mA, and the largest is tens of mA. Therefore, the idle power consumption of the mobile robot can be greatly reduced, and meanwhile, the function of starting and stopping the robot in a wireless mode can be realized.

Referring to fig. 4, the control process of the mobile robot includes:

1) The robot is powered on, enters a normal communication mode and communicates with the robot control server through a normal communication unit.

2) The robot is idle, and the robot control server informs the robot controller of entering an idle mode through the normal communication unit, and the robot controller further informs the power management unit of entering a low-power consumption mode.

3) The power management unit stops supplying power to the normal communication unit, the robot controller and the motor component, and the MCU enters a low-power consumption mode and waits for the wakeup of external IO.

4) The idle communication unit waits for a switching instruction of the robot control server. And when a startup instruction is received, the MCU of the power management unit is triggered by an IO signal, and enters a normal mode, so that power supply to the normal communication unit, the robot controller and the motor assembly is recovered.

Because of the higher communication rate, the normal communication unit generally adopts a WIFI communication mode or a 4G/5G communication mode; the idle communication unit can reference the low-power-consumption internet of things switch, and the selectable modes are many. The low-power-consumption internet of things switch is widely applied to the fields of the existing intelligent home, wide area internet of things and the like, and comprises a plurality of private communication network modes such as WIFI, zigBee, BLE, loRa, wiSUN, an NBiot (network access control) mobile operator communication network mode.

For indoor scenes, preferably, the normal communication unit and the idle communication unit both adopt a WIFI communication mode, so that a WIFI network consisting of 1 or more WIFI routers on site can be commonly used, only one communication network is used, the cost of related hardware is not increased, and the software development of a robot control server is unified.

For outdoor scenarios, WIFI is inconvenient to use, and a general 4G/5G module is used as a normal communication device, where it is preferable that the idle communication unit adopts a low-power wide area network technology such as NBIoT or LoRa. The NBIoT communication functionality is provided by the 4G base station simultaneously. The outdoor transmission distance of the LoRa can be several kilometers, so that the cost of the added hardware is less.

Low power consumption wake-up for a power management unit. The power management unit is generally composed of an MCU and an external control power switch which can be low in power consumption. Each power switch can be controlled by the IO of the MCU to supply power to the normal communication unit, the robot controller, the motor component and other components. The MCU provides a plurality of low-power consumption modes, the awakening modes in different modes are different, a manual can be checked, and generally, the awakening can be triggered by external IO. For example, the STM32L4 series has a plurality of low power consumption modes such as Sleep, lpSleep, stop0, stop1, stop2 and the like, and can be triggered by external specific IO interrupt, LPuart1, I2C3, COMP1, COMP2 and the like.

Aiming at the low-power-consumption Internet of things switch. WIFI, zigBee, BLE, loRa, wiSUN, NBIoT and the like, and reasonable internet of things modules are selected according to the needs.

In the above communication manner of the internet of things, the working power consumption of WIFI is generally the largest. Taking WIFI as an example, an ESP8684 MCU chip or a module ESP8684-MINI-1 designed based on it may be selected. According to the ESP8684-MINI-1U technical specification, ESP8684-MINI-1 supports 2.4GHz Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n) and Bluetooth small-size modules, an ESP8684 series chip, a RISC-V single-core processor, 14 GPIOs, an on-board PCB antenna or external antenna connection is built in. The ESP8684 series chip adopts advanced power management technology and can be switched between different power consumption modes. The power consumption modes supported by ESP8684 series chips are:

active mode: the CPU and the chip radio frequency are in a working state. The chip may receive, transmit and listen for signals. RX peak power consumption 65mA.

Modem-sleep mode: the CPU may be running and the clock frequency may be configurable. The baseband and radio frequency of the wireless communication module are turned off, but the wireless communication module may remain connected. Typical power consumption is 15.6mA.

Light-sleep mode: the CPU pauses operation. Any wake-up event (MAC, host, RTC timer or external interrupt) will wake up the chip. The wireless communication module may remain connected. Typical power consumption is 140uA.

Deep-sleep mode: the CPU and most of the peripheral devices are powered down, and only the RTC power management unit PMU is in a working state.

ESP8684 series chip Active mode RX peak power consumption is 65mA, and typical power consumption is about 30mA, and is acceptable for most mobile robots.

Preferably, the power consumption of the WIFI idle communication unit is further reduced. The method is to switch back and forth between an Active mode and a Light-sleep mode, the rotation interval is DTIM Becaon period, and the Becaon period is 100ms generally. DTIM (Delivery Traffic Indication Message) may be set on the WIFI router, and the DTIM is used in the conventional power saving mode, and the application of multiple points, that is, by the AP, sets an interval (default is a beacon time, 100 ms) of the DTIM, and sends multicast traffic according to this interval. Dtim=1 means that DTIM is contained in each beacon, dtim=2 means that one DTIM is contained in every two beacons, and so on. Taking dtim=3 as an example, the TIM element in a Beacon frame contains a counter to count down until the next DTIM comes. In a DTIM frame (a special TIM frame), this counter value is 0. The buffered broadcast and multicast data is transmitted after the DTIM Beacon. When receiving the DTIM frame, keeping the internal Active mode as 10ms, setting a timer 290ms to wake up, entering a Light-sleep mode, and receiving the DTIM frame again after wake up, wherein if a switch command exists, broadcasting and multicasting data after the DTIM frame are provided. As shown in fig. 5:

1) The WiFi idle communication unit receives TIM and DTIM frames sent by the WIFl base station in an Active mode, and counts DTIM values and beacon periods;

2) The WiFi idle communication unit sets a wake-up timer value to wake up before the arrival of the next DTIM frame and enters the Light-sleep mode.

3) And the WiFi idle communication unit is awakened by the timer to enter an Active mode, and receives the DTIM frame.

4) It is determined whether or not switch command data is received.

Taking dtim=3 as an example, the Active mode is 10ms and the light-sleep mode is 290ms in the total duration of 300ms, so that the average power consumption can be less than 2mA, and the power consumption of the WIFI idle communication unit is greatly reduced as a whole.

In particular, there are many open source schemes of wifi switches designed for ESP32-C2, several of which are listed below:

1) ESPHome: an intelligent home componentization platform specially designed for ESP8266/ESP 32. The intelligent home system can be quickly built by providing firmware, plug-in and Web interfaces. And the ESP32-C2 supporting document can be found on the ESPHome functional network, and the configuration file is written according to the document, so that the design of the wifi switch is realized.

2) Tasmota: an open source firmware supports many development boards of ESP8266/ESP32, including ESP32-C2. The wifi switch is relatively simple to develop by using Tasmota, and parameters can be configured through commands or Web interfaces after firmware is only required to be brushed in.

3) ESPurna: is also open source firmware, similar to Tasmota. The hardware that it supports is very extensive, including ESP32-C2. Similar to Tasmota, only after firmware is swiped in, configuration is performed through a Web interface.

4) Home Assistant: a popular open source smart home platform supports many different hardware devices, including ESP32-C2. Through the Home Assistant platform, ESP32-C2 can be connected to different devices and services, and intelligent control is achieved.

The above open source schemes are based on the wifi switch design of ESP32-C2, and a proper scheme is selected for development according to the requirement.

The foregoing describes one embodiment of the present utility model in detail, but the description is only a preferred embodiment of the present utility model and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the utility model. All equivalent changes and modifications within the scope of the present utility model are intended to be covered by the present utility model.

Claims

1. The dual-mode communication module is characterized by comprising a working communication unit, an idle communication unit and a power management unit;

the output end and the power input end of the idle communication unit are both connected with the power management unit and are used for low-speed wireless communication in an idle state;

the power input end of the working communication unit is connected with the power management unit, and the wired data end is connected with an external working unit for high-speed wireless communication in a normal working state;

2. The dual-mode communication module of claim 1, wherein the idle communication unit is a low-power wireless switch having at least one controllable switch; an external remote server communicates over a wireless network to indicate whether the controllable switch is closed or open.

3. The dual-mode communication module of claim 1, wherein the idle communication unit is a low-power wireless switch having at least one output signal; an external remote server communicates over a wireless network to indicate whether the output signal is high or low.

4. The dual-mode communication module of claim 1, wherein the active communication unit and the idle communication unit are the same communication mode using a common fixed communication base station.

5. The dual-mode communication module of claim 1, wherein the active communication unit and the idle communication unit are different communication modes, and communicate with an external remote server through two different wireless communication networks.

6. A dual mode communication module as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the power management unit independently powers the active communication unit and the idle communication unit.

7. A mobile robot, comprising:

a communication device being a dual mode communication module as claimed in any of claims 1-6;

a robot control server connected to the work communication unit in wireless communication;

the robot controller is connected with the output end of the working communication unit and the power management unit; and

and the motor component is connected with the power management unit and the robot controller.