JP2019014317A - Flight control device and unmanned aircraft including the same - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a flight control device that can efficiently provide special autonomous flight operation, and to provide an unmanned aircraft including the same.SOLUTION: A flight control device mounted to an unmanned aircraft includes: a main control part for controlling flight operation of the unmanned aircraft; and a sub control part for generating a pseudo signal with the same system as that of a signal that is output by a receiver that receives a manipulation signal from an operator and capable of inputting the pseudo signal into the main control part. There is provided an unmanned aircraft including the same.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to unmanned aerial technology.

  Patent Document 1 below discloses a flight control device including a sub-control device that can interrupt processing of a main control device that controls the flight operation of an unmanned aerial vehicle.

International Publication No. 2017/026337

  A small unmanned aerial vehicle represented by a multicopter includes a control device called a flight controller that controls the flight operation of the aircraft. Some flight controller products on the market have an autopilot function. The autopilot function is a function for autonomously flying the aircraft along a flight plan created by the pilot. In a general autopilot flight plan, you can specify the takeoff and landing point of the aircraft, the longitude and latitude of the flight route, the altitude during flight, the speed, the azimuth of the nose, etc. In addition, some flight controllers specializing in aerial photography can specify the start / end of photographing with a camera, PTZ operation, and the like.

  However, these autopilot functions merely execute a combination of general-purpose operations sequentially. In the autopilot flight plan, a sensor that is not a peripheral device of the flight controller (for example, a laser distance measuring sensor directed to the side mounted separately) cannot be used. Also, it is not possible to dynamically change the flight operation to be executed according to the situation at the time of flight (except for the fail-safe function). That is, with the conventional autopilot function, it is difficult to flexibly and accurately perform a flight operation for an uncommon special application.

  And there are many barriers to extending the autopilot function of existing flight controller products. For example, when the source code of the firmware is not disclosed, the function can be expanded only within the range allowed by the API provided by the manufacturer. On the other hand, in the case of open source, it is necessary to perform analysis including source code analysis, modification, testing including basic functions, and maintenance of all functions, resulting in enormous man-hours. In particular, the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle or a flight controller used for each aircraft may be different, and it is inefficient to implement the same extended function in various modes according to the flight controller.

  In view of the above problems, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a flight control device capable of efficiently realizing a special autonomous flight operation and an unmanned aircraft including the same.

  In order to solve the above problems, a flight control device of the present invention is a signal that is mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle and that is output from a main control unit that controls the flight operation of the unmanned aircraft and a receiver that receives a steering signal from the pilot. And a sub-control unit capable of generating a pseudo signal that is a signal of the same system and inputting the pseudo signal to the main control unit.

  By providing a sub-control unit in the flight control device, for example, a commercially available flight controller product is used as the main control unit, and only flight operations that cannot be realized with the autopilot function of the flight controller are realized with pseudo signals. Is possible. In general, most of the output signals of the receiver are standardized. Therefore, the same pseudo signal can be input as an instruction having the same meaning to various flight controller products. Flight controller products that cannot be connected to a receiver, that is, flight controller products that cannot input a pseudo signal, are considered to be only a very few exceptional products, if any. That is, based on the main control unit with a track record as a product that has already been completed, only a difference function from the autopilot function is prepared separately, and this is input to the main control unit as a signal from a receiver Thus, a special autonomous flight operation can be efficiently realized.

  Further, it is preferable that the sub-control unit has a storage unit, and a pseudo signal routine that is a temporal generation pattern of the pseudo signal is registered in the storage unit.

  By registering the pseudo signal routine in the storage unit of the sub-control unit in advance, the pilot can easily cause the unmanned aircraft to perform a desired autonomous flight operation by calling the pseudo signal routine at an arbitrary timing. it can.

  In addition, the flight control device of the present invention further includes a flight control sensor group that is a plurality of sensors that detect the attitude and / or flight position of the aircraft, and the sub-control unit uses the detected value of the flight control sensor group. Based on this, it is preferable that the generation content of the pseudo signal can be dynamically changed.

  The sub-control unit can dynamically change the flight operation instructed to the unmanned aircraft based on the detection value of the flight control sensor group, thereby expanding the range of autonomous flight operations that can be realized by the sub-control unit. The accuracy of operation can be improved.

  At this time, it is preferable that the main control unit and the sub control unit have separate flight control sensor groups.

  Since the sub-control unit has a flight control sensor group separately from the main control unit, the type of flight control sensor group provided in the aircraft, its mounting method (internal or external to the main control unit), main control The function of the sub-control unit is avoided from being restricted by the specifications of the unit (whether or not the sensor detection value can be transferred, etc.), and the original function of the sub-control unit can be exhibited by various aircraft.

  In addition, the flight control device of the present invention may further include a receiver that receives a steering signal from a pilot, and the receiver may be connected to the sub-control unit.

  Since the receiver is connected to the sub-control unit, it is possible to easily switch between manual operation by the operator and control of the aircraft by the pseudo signal. When the operator performs manual control, the receiver signal input to the sub-control unit may be transferred to the main control unit as it is.

  The flight control device of the present invention may further include a receiver that receives a steering signal from a pilot, and the sub-control unit may include a macro recording unit that records a signal output from the receiver. .

  For example, when a pseudo signal routine is newly created, the pseudo signal routine is efficiently operated by actually maneuvering the aircraft and recording the output signal of the receiver at that time, and creating the pseudo signal routine based on this. Can be created.

  Moreover, in order to solve the said subject, the unmanned aircraft of this invention is equipped with the flight control apparatus of this invention, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

  For example, when a pseudo signal routine is newly created, the pseudo signal routine is efficiently operated by actually maneuvering the aircraft and recording the output signal of the receiver at that time, and creating the pseudo signal routine based on this. Can be created.

  As described above, according to the flight control device of the present invention and the unmanned aircraft including the same, it is possible to efficiently realize a special autonomous flight operation.

It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of the multicopter concerning each embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the multicopter of 1st Embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of the special autonomous flight operation | movement using a pseudo signal routine. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the multicopter concerning 2nd Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the multicopter concerning 3rd Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described. Each of the embodiments described below is an example in which the flight control device of the present invention is mounted on a multicopter which is a small unmanned rotorcraft. The aircraft to which the flight control device of the present invention can be applied is not limited to a multicopter. The flight control device of the present invention is applicable to helicopters, fixed wing aircraft, and VTOL aircraft (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) as long as it is an unmanned aerial vehicle.

[First Embodiment]
(Configuration overview)
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a multicopter 1 according to each embodiment including the present embodiment (hereinafter, also referred to as “this example”). The multicopter 1 of this example is a hexacopter in which six rotors 26 are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. The multicopter 1 includes a camera 15 that captures the front d (heading direction) of the aircraft. The camera 15 is supported by the posture stabilization device 151. In addition, the posture stabilizing device 151 is provided with a laser distance measuring sensor 70 that measures the distance from the camera 15 and a peripheral object existing in front of the aircraft.

(Functional configuration)
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the multicopter 1 of this example. The functions of the multicopter 1 mainly include a flight control device 10a having a main control unit 11 and a sub control unit 12, a rotor 26 that is a plurality of brushless motors, an ESC 25 (Electric Speed Controller) that is a drive circuit of the rotor 26, a sub It comprises a receiver 14 connected to the control unit 12 and a battery 19 for supplying power to them. Note that a general flight controller product is used for the main controller 11 in this example.

  The main controller 11 includes a main controller 20 that is a microcontroller. The main controller 20 is a central processing unit CPU 21, a memory 22 including a storage device such as a RAM, a ROM, and a flash memory, and a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation: pulse) that controls the rotational speed of each rotor 26 via the ESC 25. (Width modulation) controller 23.

  The main control unit 11 further includes a flight control sensor group 30 including an IMU 31 (Inertial Measurement Unit), a GPS antenna 32, an atmospheric pressure sensor 33, and a geomagnetic sensor 34, and these are included in the main control device 20. It is connected.

  The IMU 31 mainly includes an acceleration sensor and an angular velocity sensor. The GPS antenna 32 is precisely a navigation satellite system (NSS) receiver. The GPS antenna 32 acquires current longitude and latitude values and time information from a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) or a regional navigation satellite system (RNSS). The atmospheric pressure sensor 33 is an aspect of an altitude sensor that measures the flight altitude. The geomagnetic sensor 34 is an aspect sensor (electronic compass) that specifies the azimuth angle (heading direction) of the nose. The main control device 20 can acquire the position information of the own aircraft including the latitude and longitude of the aircraft, the altitude, and the azimuth angle of the nose in addition to the tilt and rotation of the aircraft by using the flight control sensor group 30. Has been.

  Registered in the memory 22 of the main controller 20 is a flight control program 221 which is a program for controlling the attitude and basic flight operation of the multicopter 1 during flight. The flight control program 221 controls the flight operation of the multicopter 1 while adjusting the rotational speed of each rotor 26 based on the information acquired from the flight control sensor group 30 and correcting the attitude and position disturbance of the airframe.

  In the memory 22, a flight plan 223 that is a parameter such as a flight path, a speed, and an altitude for flying the multicopter 1 is registered. The flight control program 221 can fly autonomously according to the flight plan 223 using a start instruction from the operator (transmitter 13) or a predetermined time as a start condition. In this example, such an autonomous flight function is called “autopilot”. The multicopter 1 of this example is basically assumed to fly by an autopilot, but it is also possible for the operator to perform manual operation sequentially using the transmitter 13.

  As described above, the main control unit 11 of the present example has an advanced flight control function, but the main control unit of the present invention does not always need to have the same function as the main control unit 11 of the present example. . The main control unit of the present invention can maintain the attitude of the multicopter 1 in the air horizontally, and some sensors are omitted from the flight control sensor group 30 as long as the aircraft's elevator, aileron, and yaw operations are possible. Further, the autopilot function may be omitted.

  The sub-control unit 12 includes a sub-control device 50 that is a microcontroller. The sub-control device 50 includes a CPU 51 that is a central processing unit, a memory 52 that is a storage unit such as a RAM, a ROM, and a flash memory, and a laser distance measuring sensor 70 that measures a distance from a peripheral object in front of the multicopter 1 d. have.

  And in the memory 52 of the sub-control device 50, a pseudo signal SP that is a signal of the same system as the signal S output from the receiver 14 that receives the steering signal from the pilot (transmitter 13) is generated and generated. A pseudo signal generation program 521 for inputting the pseudo signal SP from the pseudo signal output unit 53 to the main control unit 11 is registered.

  Note that “a signal of the same type as the signal S” is, for example, PWM, S. A serial bus system signal such as BUS (registered trademark of Futaba Electronics Co., Ltd.), a signal system such as PPM (Pulse Position Modulation), PCM (pulse code modulation).

  The flight control device 10a of the present example includes the sub-control unit 12, so that, for example, a commercially available flight controller product is used as the main control unit 10 as in this example, and the flight controller has an autopilot function. Only the flight operation that cannot be realized can be realized by the pseudo signal SP.

  Most receiver output signals are standardized. Therefore, the same pseudo signal can be input as an instruction having the same meaning to various flight controller products (main control units). Flight controller products that cannot be connected to a receiver, that is, flight controller products that cannot input a pseudo signal, are considered to be only a very few exceptional products, if any. That is, based on the main control unit with a track record as a product that has already been completed, only a difference function from the autopilot function is prepared separately, and this is input to the main control unit as a signal from a receiver Thus, it is possible to efficiently realize a special autonomous flight operation.

  Also, a pseudo signal routine 522 that is a temporal generation pattern of the pseudo signal SP is registered in the memory 52 of the sub-control unit 12. By registering the pseudo signal routine 522 in the sub-control unit 12 in advance, the pilot can call the pseudo signal routine 522 at an arbitrary timing and cause the multicopter 1 to perform a desired autonomous flight operation. The pseudo signal routine 522 may be executed as a subprogram of the pseudo signal generation program 521 or may be a set of parameters read into the pseudo signal generation program 521.

  Further, the sub-control unit 12 of this example can acquire the detection value of the flight control sensor group 30 of the main control unit 11 from the main control unit 11. The pseudo signal generation program 521 of this example can be input to the main control unit 11 while dynamically changing the pseudo signal SP based on the detection value of the flight control sensor group 30. As a result, the range of autonomous flight operations that can be realized by the pseudo signal generation program 521 is expanded, and the accuracy of each operation is enhanced.

  Further, the receiver 14 of this example is connected to the sub-control unit 12. Since the receiver 14 is connected to the sub-control unit 12, manual control by the operator (transmitter 13) and control of the aircraft by the pseudo signal SP can be easily switched. When the operator performs manual control, the receiver signal S input to the sub-control unit 12 may be transferred to the main control unit 11 as it is.

(Execution example of pseudo signal routine)
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a special autonomous flight operation using the pseudo signal routine 522. FIG. 3 shows an operation example in which the camera 15 photographs the wall surface 90a of the building 90 in a remote place.

  The flight control device 10a of the multicopter 1 first causes the aircraft to fly autonomously to the vicinity of the building 90 by the autopilot function of the main control unit 11, and makes the nose face the wall 90a of the building 90 and hover (arrow line a ).

  When the sub-control unit 12 detects the end of the autopilot by the main control unit 11 (here, the airframe is stationary), the sub-control unit 12 executes a pseudo signal routine 522 represented by an arrow line b.

  The pseudo signal routine 522 of this example measures the distance between the camera 15 and the wall surface 90a by measuring the distance from the wall surface 90a with the laser distance measuring sensor 70, and captures the entire wall surface 90a with the camera 15. It is the operation. More specifically, starting from the stationary position p of the multicopter 1 (assuming that the stationary position p is a corner of the upper end of the wall surface 90a), the distance from the wall surface 90a is kept constant with the camera 15 facing toward the wall surface 90a. While maintaining (that is, keeping the detection value of the laser distance measuring sensor 70 constant), the aircraft is caused to fly horizontally by an aileron operation. After that, when it is detected that the wall 90a has been passed due to a sudden change in the detection value of the laser distance measuring sensor 70, the aircraft is lowered by a predetermined amount, and the aircraft is caused to fly horizontally in the opposite direction. By repeating this, the entire wall surface 90a is photographed while scanning the wall surface 90a from top to bottom.

  As described above, the pseudo signal routine 522 is a generation pattern of the pseudo signal SP over time. The main control unit 11 recognizes the pseudo signal SP as an output signal from the receiver 14. In other words, it is an illusion that the pilot is manually maneuvering using the transmitter 13.

  Here, the main controller 11 performs maintenance of the attitude of the multicopter 1, maintenance of longitude and latitude, altitude, nose azimuth, and control of the rotor 26 necessary for throttle, elevator, aileron, and yaw operations. Is called. Therefore, it is not necessary to consider these in the pseudo signal routine 522. That is, the pseudo signal SP generated by the pseudo signal generation program 521 based on the pseudo signal routine 522 may be a simple combination of instructions that can be expressed by a general control terminal such as a so-called propo.

  Furthermore, the pseudo signal generation program 521 can dynamically change the content of the pseudo signal SP to be generated based on the detection value of the flight control sensor group 30 and the detection value of the laser distance measuring sensor 70. More specifically, as described above, for example, the pseudo signal SP that keeps the distance from the wall surface 90a constant based on the detection value of the laser distance measuring sensor 70 is generated, or the pseudo signal routine 522 is changed. By structuring (programming by permutation / branching / repetition), for example, a sudden change of the laser distance measuring sensor 70 can be determined to exceed the wall surface 90a range, and the operation can be changed.

  When the sub-control unit 12 finishes executing the pseudo signal routine 522, the sub-control unit 12 causes the main control unit 11 to execute an autopilot operation for homing (arrow line c).

  The autopilot function provided in the main control unit 11 which is a general flight controller can only execute combinations of general-purpose operations sequentially, and can also dynamically change the operation according to the situation at the time of flight. Can not. That is, with the conventional autopilot function, it is difficult to realize an autonomous flight operation for an uncommon special application. On the other hand, the flight control apparatus 10a of the present example includes the sub-control unit 12 in addition to the main control unit 11, thereby making it possible to flexibly and accurately perform complicated autonomous flight operations according to a specific application. It is said that.

  The pseudo signal routine 522 of this example is independent of the autopilot operation of the main control unit 11, but it is allowed to interrupt by manual operation (pseudo signal SP) during autopilot by the main control unit 11. For example, a combination in which the flight route and altitude are set by the autopilot function of the main control unit 11 and only the azimuth angle of the nose during flight is controlled by the sub-control unit 12 is also conceivable.

  Moreover, although the sub-control part 12 of this example is equipped with the laser ranging sensor 70 as an example of the sensor which is not a peripheral device of the main control part 11, this is not an essential structure. Depending on the contents of the pseudo signal routine 522, the laser distance measuring sensor 70 may be omitted, or another device may be separately mounted.

[Second Embodiment]
Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the following description, the same or similar configurations as those of the previous embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals as those of the previous embodiment, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the multicopter 1 according to the second embodiment. In the flight control device 10 b of this example, in addition to the configuration of the flight control device 10 a of the first embodiment, the sub control unit 12 includes a flight control sensor group 60 separately from the main control unit 11. The sensors constituting the flight control sensor group 60 are the same as the flight control sensor group 30.

  Since the sub-control unit 12 has the flight control sensor group 60 separately from the main control unit 11, the type of the flight control sensor group 30 provided in the aircraft and the mounting method thereof (internal or external to the main control unit 11). In addition, it is avoided that the function of the sub-control unit 12 is restricted by the specifications of the main control unit 11 (whether or not the sensor detection value can be transferred, etc.), and the original function of the sub-control unit 12 is exhibited in various aircrafts. Is possible.

[Third Embodiment]
Hereinafter, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the following description, the same or similar configurations as those of the previous embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals as those of the previous embodiment, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the multicopter 1 according to the third embodiment. In addition to the configuration of the flight control device 10b of the second embodiment, the flight control device 10c of the present example is a macro recording unit that records a signal S output from the receiver 14 in the memory 52 of the sub-control unit 12. A program 523 is registered.

  Thus, for example, when a pseudo signal routine 522 is newly created, the aircraft is actually operated and the output signal S of the receiver 14 at that time is recorded, and the pseudo signal routine 522 is created based on this. The pseudo signal routine 522 can be efficiently created.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, the range of this invention is not limited to this, A various change can be added in the range which does not deviate from the main point of invention.

1 Multicopter (unmanned aircraft)
10a, 10b, 10c Flight control device 13 Transmitter 14 Receiver S Receiver output signal 11 Main controller 20 Main controller 221 Flight control program 222 Autonomous flight program 223 Flight plan 26 Rotor 30 Flight control sensor group 12 Sub-control unit 50 Sub-control device 52 Memory (storage unit)
521 Pseudo signal generation program 522 Pseudo signal routine 523 Macro recording program (macro recording means)
53 Pseudo signal output part PS Pseudo signal 60 Flight control sensor group

Claims (7)

A flight control device mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle,
A main control unit for controlling the flight operation of the unmanned aerial vehicle;
A sub-control unit capable of generating a pseudo signal that is a signal of the same type as a signal output from a receiver that receives a control signal from a driver, and capable of inputting the pseudo signal to the main control unit;
A flight control apparatus comprising: The sub-control unit has a storage unit,
The flight control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a pseudo signal routine that is a temporal generation pattern of the pseudo signal is registered in the storage unit. A flight control sensor group that is a plurality of sensors for detecting the attitude and / or flight position of the aircraft;
The flight control device according to claim 1, wherein the sub control unit can dynamically change the generation content of the pseudo signal based on a detection value of the flight control sensor group.   The flight control device according to claim 3, wherein each of the main control unit and the sub control unit has a separate group of flight control sensors. A receiver for receiving a steering signal from the pilot;
The flight control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the receiver is connected to the sub-control unit. A receiver for receiving a steering signal from the pilot;
The flight control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the sub control unit includes a macro recording unit that records a signal output from the receiver.   An unmanned aerial vehicle comprising the flight control device according to claim 1.

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