JP2020108981A - Automatic takeoff/landing charging system - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an automatic takeoff/landing charging device capable of certainly and safely performing takeoff, landing, and charging when flying a flying object autonomously.SOLUTION: An automatic takeoff/landing charging device recognizes a flying object 1 to which a flying object position publicly announcing mark 13 is attached by an imaging device 3 attached to a takeoff/landing board 2, and obtains positional information on the flying object. By comparing an error between the positional information of the flying object and the takeoff/landing board, a control device 4 corrects a position of the flying object so as to locate the flying object immediately above the takeoff/landing board. By repeating these until the flying object lands, landing accuracy can be improved. The takeoff/landing board has a power supply device of a battery, and supplies power when the flying object lands on the takeoff/landing board and charging terminals 7 and 8 are connected.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an automatic take-off and landing charging system that enables an aircraft to take off and land automatically and be charged.

In recent years, due to the improvement of performance of air vehicles such as small airplanes and small helicopters, improvement of remote control technology, and spread of civilian goods such as GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) From the deck) by remote control or by a program built into the air vehicle to automatically take off, fly within the planned range, return to the installation position of the departure and arrival deck after the flight is completed, and further land on the departure and arrival deck automatically Some have a mechanism (see Patent Document 1).

When automatically taking off, flying, or landing an air vehicle, it is difficult to control the take off or landing, and particularly the control to land the air vehicle at a predetermined position is difficult. Therefore, in order to autonomously fly an air vehicle, it is required to establish a technology that enables safe and reliable automatic takeoff and landing with simple control.

Note that Patent Document 1 discloses a landing support system for landing a small aircraft at a predetermined position and a navigation device for landing the aircraft at a target point based on image recognition. There is disclosed an automatic landing guidance method for guiding vertical takeoff and landing using the image pickup device.

Japanese Patent No. 569039 JP-A-5-24589

According to the configuration of Patent Document 1, the image pickup device and the control unit for processing the picked-up image are provided in the flying body, so that the battery consumption increases as the weight of the flying body increases, and the flight time becomes relatively long. It is expected to shorten. On the other hand, according to the present invention, the above-mentioned problem is solved by providing a known flying body position mark on the flying body side and providing an imaging device and a control unit for processing the picked-up image on the takeoff/landing board side.

According to the configuration of Patent Document 2, it is considered that it is not possible to cope with the approach of the air vehicle from directions other than the direction in which the speedometer and the image sensor face. On the other hand, according to the present invention, there is no dependence on the approach direction of the flying body, and the above limitation does not occur.

The present invention provides an automatic take-off and landing charging device capable of reliably and safely taking off, landing, and charging when an air vehicle is autonomously flying.

The present invention is an automatic take-off and landing charging system having a takeoff and landing board, a charging device, and an aircraft, wherein the takeoff and landing board processes an image captured by the imaging device and an image acquired by the imaging device, and navigates the aircraft. A control device for controlling the means, and the control device calculates a positional relationship between the takeoff and landing platform and the flying object based on an image of a known flying object position mark of the flying object acquired by the imaging device. The present invention relates to an automatic take-off and landing charging system that controls the take-off and landing of the aircraft based on the calculation result.

The charging device has a power feeding device for a battery of the flying object, and the power feeding device relates to an automatic take-off and landing charging system that feeds power when the flying object is landing on the takeoff/landing board.

The flight body has a navigation means and a flight body position known mark, and the control device obtains a reference position of the flight position known mark by image processing of the flight position known mark imaged by the imaging device, The present invention relates to an automatic take-off and landing charging system that guides take-off and landing of an aircraft based on the relationship between a reference position of a well-known aircraft position mark and a reference position of a takeoff and landing board.

The flying object has a flying object position well-known mark, the control device has a recognition pattern for recognizing the flying object position well-known mark, the control device based on the recognition pattern from the image captured by the imaging device The present invention relates to an automatic take-off and landing charging system for recognizing a well-known mark of a flying body position and guiding the flying body so that the center of the image of the well-known flying body position mark becomes the center of the image.

The present invention relates to an automatic take-off and landing charging system that measures the altitude of the flying body based on the size of the recognized landmark of the flying body position.

A GPS device is provided on the flying body, the takeoff and landing plate is provided at a known position, and the control device is based on the position of the flying body and the known position acquired by the GPS device. The present invention relates to an automatic take-off and landing charging system that controls the flight by obtaining the positional relationship with.

A GPS device is provided on the flying body, the takeoff and landing plate is provided at a known position, and the control device is based on the position of the flying body and the known position acquired by the GPS device. The flight control is performed by obtaining the positional relationship with the flight control device, and the control device obtains the reference position of the flight control device known mark by the image processing of the flight control device known landmark imaged by the imaging device. The present invention relates to an automatic take-off and landing charging system that controls landing of an aircraft based on the relationship between the reference position of 1 and the reference position of the aircraft.

According to the present invention, there is provided an automatic take-off and landing system having a flying body, a takeoff and landing board, and a charging device, wherein the flying body has a navigation means and a flying body position well-known mark, and the takeoff and landing board captures an image of the upper side. An imaging device and a control device for processing the image acquired by the imaging device and controlling the navigation means, the control device is based on the image of the flying object position known mark acquired by the imaging device, The positional relationship between the takeoff/landing board and the flight vehicle is calculated, and the takeoff/landing of the flight vehicle is controlled based on the calculation result. Therefore, a special detection device or the like for automatically performing the landing is not required, and the flight vehicle can be reliably performed. It is possible to provide a simple and inexpensive automatic take-off and landing charging system that can guide the vehicle to the take-off and landing landing.

The charging device has a power feeding device for the battery of the flying object, and the power feeding device feeds power in a state where the flying object lands on the takeoff and landing plate and the charging terminal is connected, so that autonomous flight can be repeated. it can.

The charging terminal provided on the aircraft has a battery charging power receiving terminal and a battery cell voltage monitoring output terminal, while the takeoff and landing platform has a battery charging power supply terminal and a battery cell voltage monitoring input terminal. Since there are, you can charge them by connecting them.

The flying body has a flying body position known mark, and the control device obtains a reference position of the flying body position known mark by image processing of the flying body position known mark imaged by the imaging device, and the flying body position known Since the takeoff and landing of the air vehicle is guided based on the relationship between the reference position of the mark and the reference position of the takeoff and landing pad, the landing can be guided with high accuracy.

A GPS device is provided on the flying body, the takeoff and landing plate is provided at a known position, and the control device is based on the position of the flying body and the known position acquired by the GPS device. Since the flight control is performed by obtaining the positional relationship with, the autonomous flight of the flying object can be realized with a simple configuration.

A GPS device is provided on the flying body, the takeoff and landing plate is provided at a known position, and the control device is based on the position of the flying body and the known position acquired by the GPS device. The flight control is performed by obtaining the positional relationship with the flight control device, and the control device obtains the reference position of the flight control device known mark by the image processing of the flight control device known landmark imaged by the imaging device. Since the landing of the flying body is controlled based on the relationship between the reference position of 1) and the reference position of the takeoff/landing board, flexible autonomous flight and highly accurate landing guidance can be performed.

Since the known flying body position mark has a light emitting means, it is possible to reliably guide the landing when it is difficult to recognize the flying body, such as when visibility is deteriorated by fog or the like, or at night.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the outline of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the flying object position well-known mark used for the said Example.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, the outline of the automatic take-off and landing charging system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Generally, when a rotary wing aircraft such as a drone lands, it first attempts to approach a fixed point, reaches the sky above the fixed point, then hover, and then descends vertically to land. Furthermore, in general, when charging the battery of an aircraft, charging is performed by contacting or non-contacting the power supply device and the battery. The present embodiment is a method of automatically inducing landing and charging according to such a procedure.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an apparatus used in the automatic landing guidance method according to this embodiment. 1 is a flying body, 2 is a takeoff/landing platform, 3 is an imaging device, 4 is a control device, 5 is a cooling fan, 7 is a charging terminal, 8 is a charging terminal, 9 to 12 are propellers, 13 is a mark for well-known flying body position, 14 Is a GPS sensor.

The well-known mark of the position of the flying object may be an LED provided on the flying object, a QR code may be provided on the flying object, a pattern may be provided on the flying object, or something that serves as a mark on the flying object. It may be provided, or the flying body may be shaped so as to serve as a mark.

The drone can change direction by changing the number of rotations of the propeller, and can move in the front, back, left, right, up and down directions. The drone refers to the air vehicle 1 shown in FIG. For example, in FIG. 1, if the rotational speeds of the propeller 9 and the propeller 10 are lowered, the propellers tilt toward the side where they are, so if the rotational speed is increased after that, the tilt is maintained at a predetermined value.

Next, the procedure for inducing landing using such a device will be described.

First, the drone is guided to the takeoff/landing platform 2 using the position information of the GPS sensor 14 like the flying body 1 in FIG. 1, and slowly descends the flying body 1.

When the drone reaches a position where it can be captured by the imaging device 3, an image of the drone's air vehicle 1 is captured.

The image signal output from the imaging device 3 is image-processed by the control device 4. FIG. 5 shows the positional relationship between the flying body 1, the flying body position known mark 13, and the image pickup device screen center 31 captured in the screen. The well-known flying body position marks 13 are extracted from the captured image 32, and the position of the center 30 of the flying body can be obtained by obtaining the barycentric positions of those positions. Next, the vertical deviation ΔLv1 and the horizontal deviation ΔLh1 with respect to the captured image screen center 31 are measured. When the aircraft to be guided is a drone as in this embodiment, the vertical deviation ΔLv1 corresponds to the feedback amount for the elevator, and the horizontal deviation ΔLh1 corresponds to the feedback amount for Ernon.

The drone is controlled so as to be located at the center of the imaging device 3. Control and descent are repeated until the drone lands. The positional relationship between the aircraft 1 and the center of the screen captured in the screen is a planar distance, and the farther the positional relationship between the drone and the imaging device 3 is, the greater the control amount. Here, in order to perform control so that the control amount becomes appropriate, for example, by referring to a table prepared in advance from the distance between the two points of the aircraft body position well-known mark 13 captured on the screen, the drone and the takeoff/landing board 2 There is a method of obtaining the positional relationship of.

When the distance between the landing board and the drone is less than a preset distance, the controller 4 of the takeoff/landing board 2 determines that the drone has landed, and transitions the controller 4 to the landing state.

Based on the landing state, the control device 4 of the takeoff/landing board 2 activates the cooling fan 5 to cool the drone battery 15 for a certain period of time.

Based on the landing state, the control device 4 of the takeoff/landing board 2 measures whether or not the charging terminal 8 is connected to the charging terminal 7 by measuring the voltage of the charging terminal 7 of the takeoff/landing board 2. That is, if voltage is applied, it can be determined that the connection is established.

The control device 4 of the takeoff/landing board 2 measures the voltage of the battery cell voltage monitoring input terminal 21 of the takeoff/landing board 2 based on the landing state, so that the battery cell voltage monitoring output terminal 20 is connected to the battery cell voltage monitoring input terminal 21. Identify if That is, if voltage is applied, it can be determined that the connection is established.

When the charging terminal 7 and the charging terminal 8 are connected, and the battery cell voltage monitoring input terminal 21 and the battery cell voltage monitoring output terminal 20 are connected, the power supply device 6 of the takeoff and landing platform 2 supplies power to the drone battery 15.

When the power supply device 6 sends a signal indicating full charge to the control device 4, the charging circuit is disconnected.

The control device 4 of the takeoff/landing board 2 transits to the standby state and maintains the standby state. In the standby state, the drone is ready to take off.

The takeoff of the drone may be a takeoff operation by human intervention, may be an automatic takeoff after a lapse of a certain time by a timer, or may be an automatic takeoff triggered by a sensor or the like.

1 Aircraft 2 Takeoff/landing board 3 Imaging device 4 Control device 5 Cooling fan 6 Power supply device 7, 8 Charging terminals 9-12 Propeller 13 Aircraft position known mark 14 GPS sensor 15 Battery 16, 20 Antenna 17 Transmitter 18 Flight controller 19 Reception Aircraft 20 Battery cell voltage monitoring output terminal 21 Battery cell voltage monitoring input terminal 30 Aircraft center 31 Captured image Screen center 32 Captured image

It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the outline of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the flying object position well-known mark used for the said Example. It is a figure which shows an example which calculates|requires the flying body position used for the said Example.

Claims (3)

An automatic takeoff and landing charging system having a takeoff and landing board, a charging device, and an aircraft.
The aircraft has a navigation means and an aircraft position well-known mark,
An imaging device provided to image the upper part on the surface of the takeoff and landing, and a control device for processing the image acquired by the imaging device and controlling the navigation means of the flying object,
The control device calculates a positional relationship between the takeoff and landing board and the flying object based on a known flying object position mark of the flying object acquired by the imaging device,
The control device obtains a reference position of the aircraft position known mark by image processing of the aircraft position known mark imaged by the image pickup device, and obtains a relationship with the reference position of the takeoff and landing plane,
Further, the size of the flying body position known mark image recognized by the control device, from the known value of the flying body position known mark, to measure the altitude of the flying body,
Inducing takeoff and landing of the aircraft based on the relationship between the reference position of the aircraft position known mark and the reference position of the landing plate and the measured altitude,
The automatic take-off and landing charging system, wherein the charging device has a power supply device for a battery of the flying object, and the power feeding device is configured to supply power when the flying object is landing on the takeoff and landing plate. The flying object has a flying object position well-known mark, the control device has a recognition pattern for recognizing a flying object position well-known mark image, the control device from the image captured by the imaging device to the recognition pattern The automatic take-off and landing charging system according to claim 1, wherein the aircraft body position known landmark image is recognized based on the image, and the aircraft is guided so that the center of the aircraft body position known landmark image is the image center. A GPS device is provided on the flying body, the takeoff and landing plate is provided at a known position, and the control device is based on the position of the flying body and the known position acquired by the GPS device. The automatic take-off and landing charging system according to claim 1, wherein flight control is carried out by obtaining a positional relationship with and the take-off and landing is controlled.