JP2018117268A - Unmanned aircraft - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology of an unmanned aircraft, in which the throughput of cellular communication is less likely to decrease.SOLUTION: An unmanned aircraft includes: three or more antennas 24 which are different from each other in the directivity direction; and a cellular communication part 11 for performing cellular communication using an antenna having smaller influence of an interference wave as compared with other antennas out of three or more antennas 24. A part of an airframe of the unmanned aircraft is used as three or more antennas 24. The cellular communication is performed using the antenna having smaller influence of the interference wave as compared with the other antennas out of three or more antennas 24, thereby the throughput of cellular communication is less likely to decrease.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to communication technology for unmanned aerial vehicles such as drones.

  A demonstration experiment for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle such as a drone by cellular communication is performed (for example, see Non-Patent Document 1).

  NTT DoCoMo, Inc., “Full-scale launch of“ DOCOMO Drone Project ””, [online], October 19, 2016, [Search January 6, 2017], Internet <URL: https: //www.nttdocomo .co.jp / info / news_release / 2016/10 / 19_06.html>

  In the air where unmanned aerial vehicles fly, there are few obstacles unlike the ground, so the signals from other base stations other than the base station on which the cellular communication device mounted on the unmanned aircraft performs cellular communication interferes. May come as a wave. For this reason, there is a problem that the throughput of the cellular communication may be reduced by an interference signal from another base station only by mounting an ordinary antenna for cellular communication on the unmanned aircraft.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an unmanned aerial vehicle in which the throughput of cellular communication is not easily lowered.

  An unmanned aerial vehicle according to an aspect of the present invention uses three or more antennas having different directivity directions, and an antenna that is less affected by interference waves than other antennas among the three or more antennas. A cellular communication unit that performs cellular communication, and a part of the airframe of the unmanned aerial vehicle is used as three or more antennas.

  By performing cellular communication using an antenna that is less affected by interference waves than other antennas among the three or more antennas, it is difficult to reduce the throughput of cellular communication.

The figure for demonstrating the example of the antenna arrangement | positioning in an unmanned aircraft. The figure for demonstrating the other example of antenna arrangement | positioning in an unmanned aircraft. The figure for demonstrating the other example of antenna arrangement | positioning in an unmanned aircraft. The figure for demonstrating the example of an unmanned aircraft. The figure for demonstrating the example of a hardware configuration.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an unmanned aerial vehicle.

  An unmanned aerial vehicle is an aircraft on which a person such as a drone is not boarded. The unmanned aerial vehicle may be operated by a person by wireless operation, or may be capable of autonomous flight and need not be operated by a person by wireless operation.

  The unmanned aerial vehicle includes a disk-shaped base 1 provided in the center of the unmanned aerial vehicle and three or more struts 2 extending from the base 1 to the periphery of the unmanned aircraft. In the example of FIG. 1, six struts 2 are provided in the unmanned aircraft.

  The base 1 is provided with a cellular communication unit 11 that performs cellular communication with a base station. Although not shown in FIG. 1 for the sake of simplification of drawings, the base 1 is equipped with components necessary for flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle such as a flight controller, ESC (Electronic Speed Controller), and a battery. .

  A motor 21 for rotating the rotary blade 22 is provided at the tip of the column portion 2. Moreover, the support | pillar part 2 is provided with the leg part 23 extended in a downward direction. Further, the support column 2 is provided with an antenna 24. Here, the support | pillar part 2 is separated from the electronic device which may become a noise generation source, such as the cellular communication part 11 provided in the base 1. For this reason, by providing the antenna 24 in the support | pillar part 2, the influence of noise can be reduced and the throughput of cellular communication further improves.

  The antenna 24 uses a part of the unmanned aircraft body as an antenna. In the example of FIG. 1, the antenna 24 uses a part of the support column 2 as an antenna. More specifically, in the example of FIG. 1, the antenna 24 is configured by at least two rod-shaped bodies and a support body that supports these two rod-shaped bodies. Part of part 2 is used. For example, when the support column 2 is made of carbon, only the portion used as a part of the antenna of the support column 2 is made of metal such as aluminum.

  An example of the antenna 24 is a Yagi antenna. The Yagi antenna is composed of three or more rod-shaped element portions that respectively serve as a reflective element, an excitation element, and a waveguide element, and a rod-shaped support that supports these rod-shaped elements. When a Yagi antenna is used as the antenna 24, a part of the support portion 2 may be used as the support.

  Each antenna 24 is set so that directivity directions are different from each other. For example, the directivity is set in the extending direction of the support column 2 where the antenna 24 is provided. In the example of FIG. 1, the support column 2 extends in different directions from the center of the unmanned aerial vehicle. Therefore, by setting the directivity in the extending direction of the support column 2 where the antenna 24 is provided, The directivity directions of the antennas 24 are set to be different from each other.

  In FIG. 1, an example of the directivity of the antenna 24 is indicated by a dotted line. Note that the directivity indicated by the dotted line is described in a simplified manner and does not represent the actual directivity of the antenna 24. The same applies to the directivity indicated by the dotted line in the other drawings.

  The directivity of each antenna 24 may be set to be different from each other also in the height direction. For example, the directivity of a part of the antennas 24 in the antenna 24 is set to be directed upward from the horizontal direction, and the directivity of the other antennas in the antenna 24 is directed downward from the horizontal direction. It may be set.

  Unmanned aerial vehicles may fly higher than the base station, or may fly lower than the base station. By setting the directivities of the antennas 24 to be different from each other even in the height direction, even when the unmanned aircraft flies higher than the base station, the unmanned aircraft flies lower than the base station. Even if it exists, the reduction of a throughput can be prevented.

  For example, an antenna having a gain of 4 dBi or more is used as the antenna 24.

  The cellular communication unit 11 performs cellular communication using the antenna 24 that is less affected by interference waves than other antennas among the three or more antennas 24. This makes it difficult for cellular communication throughput to decrease. When there are two or more antennas 24 that are less affected by the interference wave, the diversity effect can be obtained, so that the throughput of the cellular communication becomes more difficult to decrease.

[Modifications, etc.]
An antenna 24 may be provided on the body portion of the unmanned aerial vehicle other than the support column 2. In other words, the antenna 24 may use a part of an unmanned aerial vehicle other than the support column 2 as a part. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the antenna 24 may be provided on the leg 23 so that a part of the leg 23 is used as a part of the antenna. In the example of FIG. 2, the antenna 24 is provided only on the two legs 23 in front of the sheet of FIG. 2, but the antenna 24 may be provided on the other legs 23.

  In addition, when the antenna 24 is provided in the leg part 23, you may set so that the directivity of the antenna 24 provided in the support | pillar part 2 may face upwards rather than a horizontal direction.

  As the antenna 24, a linear antenna other than the Yagi antenna may be used. For example, a loop antenna may be used as the antenna 24. In this case, for example, a part of the support part 2 and the leg part 4 are used as a loop antenna.

  Further, a planar antenna such as a patch antenna may be used as the antenna 24. Further, a slot antenna may be used as the antenna 24. In this case, for example, a slot antenna having a waveguide as a body portion such as a post portion 2 of an unmanned aerial vehicle is used.

  The directionality of the antenna 24 may be mechanically changeable. For example, the direction of the directivity of the antenna 24 provided on the support column 2 or the leg portion 23 can be changed by mechanically changing the orientation of the support column 2 or the leg portion 23 on which the antenna 24 is provided. Good.

  In addition to the antenna 24, an omni antenna may be provided in the unmanned aircraft. An omni antenna is provided in the base 1, for example. An example of the directivity of the omni antenna and the antenna 24 when the omni antenna is provided on the base 1 is shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, examples of directivity of the omni antenna and the antenna 24 are indicated by dotted lines.

  As the omni antenna, for example, a dipole antenna can be used. This dipole antenna is designed, for example, to have a peak directly below. For example, two support columns 2 whose extending directions form an angle of 180 degrees with each other can be used as a dipole antenna. Further, in consideration of polarization, two support columns 2 whose extending directions form an angle of 90 degrees with each other may be used as a dipole antenna.

  The cellular communication unit 11 may use an omni antenna as a transmission antenna. This is because since it is not known in which direction the base station is, transmission is preferably performed in all directions with an omni antenna.

  The cellular communication unit 11 performs cellular communication using an omni antenna when reception quality that can be determined by RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) or the like is good, and directivity when reception quality deteriorates. Cellular communication may be performed using the antenna 24 which is an antenna.

  If cellular communication is always performed using the antenna 24, which is a directional antenna, switching is necessary each time the base station deviates from the directivity of the directional antenna, so that control increases and power consumption may increase. There is. For this reason, the cellular communication unit 11 measures the signal quality at each antenna 24 when performing cellular communication with an omni antenna, and the reception quality that can be determined by RSRP or the like is smaller than a predetermined threshold value. In such a case, cellular communication may be performed using the antenna 24 having a high signal quality that can be selected based on the measured signal quality.

  The unmanned aerial vehicle may not be an unmanned aerial vehicle having the rotor blades illustrated in FIGS. For example, it may be an unmanned aerial vehicle having fixed wings shown in FIG. In this case, the antenna 24 which is a directional antenna is provided, for example, at the tip of the unmanned aircraft. Also in this case, a part of the tip of the unmanned aerial vehicle is used as the antenna 24. In FIG. 4, a place where the antenna 24 is provided is indicated by a reference numeral 24, and the description of the antenna 24 itself is omitted for simplification.

[Hardware configuration]
In the following description, the term “apparatus” can be read as a circuit, a device, a unit, or the like. The hardware configuration of the unmanned aerial vehicle may be configured to include one or a plurality of devices illustrated in FIG. 5 or may be configured not to include some devices.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the embodiment of the present invention. The unmanned aircraft may be physically configured as a computer device including a processor 1001, a memory 1002, a storage 1003, a communication device 1004, an input device 1005, an output device 1006, a bus 1007, and the like.

  Each function in the unmanned aerial vehicle reads predetermined software (program) on hardware such as the processor 1001 and the memory 1002, so that the processor 1001 performs an operation to perform communication by the communication device 1004, and in the memory 1002 and the storage 1003. This is realized by controlling reading and / or writing of data.

  For example, the processor 1001 controls the entire computer by operating an operating system. The processor 1001 may be configured by a central processing unit (CPU) including an interface with peripheral devices, a control device, an arithmetic device, a register, and the like.

  Further, the processor 1001 reads a program (program code), software module, and data from the storage 1003 and / or the communication device 1004 to the memory 1002, and executes various processes according to these. As the program, a program that causes a computer to execute at least a part of the operations described in the above embodiments is used. For example, the cellular communication unit 11 may be realized by a control program stored in the memory 1002 and operated by the processor 1001, and may be realized similarly for other functional blocks. Although the above-described various processes have been described as being executed by one processor 1001, they may be executed simultaneously or sequentially by two or more processors 1001. The processor 1001 may be implemented by one or more chips. Note that the program may be transmitted from a network via a telecommunication line.

  The memory 1002 is a computer-readable recording medium and includes, for example, at least one of ROM (Read Only Memory), EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like. May be. The memory 1002 may be called a register, a cache, a main memory (main storage device), or the like. The memory 1002 can store a program (program code), software module, and the like that can be executed to implement the unmanned aerial vehicle control method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The storage 1003 is a computer-readable recording medium, such as an optical disc such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc ROM), a hard disc drive, a flexible disc, a magneto-optical disc (eg, a compact disc, a digital versatile disc, a Blu-ray). (Registered trademark) disk, smart card, flash memory (for example, card, stick, key drive), floppy (registered trademark) disk, magnetic strip, and the like. The storage 1003 may be referred to as an auxiliary storage device. The storage medium described above may be, for example, a database, server, or other suitable medium including the memory 1002 and / or the storage 1003.

  The communication device 1004 is hardware (transmission / reception device) for performing communication between computers via a wired and / or wireless network, and is also referred to as a network device, a network controller, a network card, a communication module, or the like. For example, the cellular communication unit 11 described above may be realized by the communication device 1004.

  The input device 1005 is an input device (for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, a switch, a button, a sensor, or the like) that accepts an external input. The output device 1006 is an output device (for example, a display, a speaker, an LED lamp, etc.) that performs output to the outside. The input device 1005 and the output device 1006 may have an integrated configuration (for example, a touch panel).

  Each device such as the processor 1001 and the memory 1002 is connected by a bus 1007 for communicating information. The bus 1007 may be composed of a single bus or may be composed of different buses between devices.

  The unmanned aerial vehicle includes hardware such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), and a field programmable gate array (FPGA). Some or all of the functional blocks may be realized by the hardware. For example, the processor 1001 may be implemented by at least one of these hardware.

  Each aspect / embodiment described herein includes LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE-A (LTE-Advanced), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, 4G, 5G, FRA (Future Radio Access), W-CDMA. (Registered trademark), GSM (registered trademark), CDMA2000, UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, UWB (Ultra-WideBand), The present invention may be applied to a Bluetooth (registered trademark), a system using another appropriate system, and / or a next generation system extended based on the system.

  Information or the like can be output from the upper layer (or lower layer) to the lower layer (or upper layer). Input / output may be performed via a plurality of network nodes.

  Input / output information and the like may be stored in a specific location (for example, a memory) or may be managed by a management table. Input / output information and the like can be overwritten, updated, or additionally written. The output information or the like may be deleted. The input information or the like may be transmitted to another device.

  The determination may be performed by a value represented by 1 bit (0 or 1), may be performed by a true / false value (Boolean: true or false), or may be performed by comparing numerical values (for example, a predetermined value) Comparison with the value).

  Each aspect / embodiment described in this specification may be used independently, may be used in combination, or may be switched according to execution. In addition, notification of predetermined information (for example, notification of arrival at the destination) is not limited to explicitly performed, but is performed implicitly (for example, notification of the predetermined information is not performed). Also good.

  Although the present invention has been described in detail above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described herein. The present invention can be implemented as modified and changed modes without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention defined by the description of the scope of claims. Therefore, the description of the present specification is for illustrative purposes and does not have any limiting meaning to the present invention.

  Software, whether it is called software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or other names, instructions, instruction sets, codes, code segments, program codes, programs, subprograms, software modules , Applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, execution threads, procedures, functions, etc. should be interpreted broadly.

  Also, software, instructions, etc. may be transmitted / received via a transmission medium. For example, software may use websites, servers, or other devices using wired technology such as coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair and digital subscriber line (DSL) and / or wireless technology such as infrared, wireless and microwave. When transmitted from a remote source, these wired and / or wireless technologies are included within the definition of transmission media.

  Note that the terms described in this specification and / or terms necessary for understanding this specification may be replaced with terms having the same or similar meaning.

  As used herein, the terms “system” and “network” are used interchangeably.

  A base station may accommodate one or more (eg, three) cells (also referred to as sectors). When the base station accommodates a plurality of cells, the entire coverage area of the base station can be divided into a plurality of smaller areas, and each smaller area can be divided into a base station subsystem (for example, an indoor small base station RRH: Remote). Communication service can also be provided by Radio Head). The term “cell” or “sector” refers to part or all of the coverage area of a base station and / or base station subsystem that provides communication services in this coverage. Further, the terms “base station”, “eNB”, “cell”, and “sector” may be used interchangeably herein. A base station may also be referred to in terms such as a fixed station, NodeB, eNodeB (eNB), access point, femtocell, small cell, and the like.

  A mobile station that is an unmanned aerial vehicle is defined by those skilled in the art as a subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, It may also be called mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, client, or some other appropriate terminology.

  As used herein, the phrase “based on” does not mean “based only on,” unless expressly specified otherwise. In other words, the phrase “based on” means both “based only on” and “based at least on.”

  As long as the terms “including”, “comprising”, and variations thereof are used herein or in the claims, these terms are inclusive of the term “comprising”. Intended to be Furthermore, the term “or” as used herein or in the claims is not intended to be an exclusive OR.

  Throughout this disclosure, if articles are added by translation, for example, a, an, and the in English, these articles must be clearly indicated otherwise in context, Including multiple things.

Claims (2)

3 or more antennas with different directivity directions,
A cellular communication unit that performs cellular communication using an antenna that is less affected by interference waves than other antennas among the three or more antennas,
A part of the unmanned aircraft body is used as the above three or more antennas.
Unmanned aerial vehicle. An unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 1,
Including a rotor wing supported by a support post extending from the center of the unmanned aerial vehicle,
A part of the fuselage of the unmanned aircraft is a part of the column part.
Unmanned aerial vehicle.

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