JP2021160579A - Drone guiding method and device thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a drone guiding method and a device thereof in which a railway track is set as a preset flight path, automatic flight of drone can be performed, setting and change of the flight path can be made with simple work, and costs of a guiding facility can be reduced as much as possible.SOLUTION: A guiding tag 5 in which railway information and position information in a railway are recorded is provided in a railway formation 4 installed along a railway track 2, the information recorded in the guiding tag 5 is recognized by recognition means 6 provided in a drone 3, and thereby the drone is caused to fly along the railway formation.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a drone guiding method and an apparatus thereof for allowing a drone to fly along a preset flight path, and particularly relates to a drone guiding method and an apparatus thereof preferably used for railway lines.

In recent years, drones that fly by remote control or automatic control have become widespread, and an imaging device such as a camera is mounted on the drone to take aerial photographs of places that are difficult for humans to approach.

A technique for guiding the flight of such a drone is shown in, for example, Patent Document 1.

This technology acquires the actual position information of the drone obtained from GPS or the like, and makes the drone fly while comparing the acquired position information with the position information of a preset flight path.

Such drone guidance technology has the convenience of automatically flying the drone.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2020-46380

However, in this technology, the system for setting the flight path of the drone, the work of inputting the flight path of the drone in advance into this system, the system for actually locating the drone, and the actual position of the drone are preset. You will need a system that includes software to match the flight path.

For this reason, there is a problem that a special trained technician is required to preset the flight path and change the flight path, and the equipment for guiding the drone tends to be expensive and complicated. ..

On the other hand, the use of drones for logistics is being considered, but in most of these logistics, goods are once collected at a major collection facility and then transported from this collection facility to individual delivery destinations by automobile or the like. Here, the drone is supposed to be used for transporting goods between a plurality of collection facilities.

When transporting goods by such a drone, the distance between collection facilities is often long, and there are many obstacles, such as buildings and power transmission facilities, between the collection facilities.

In order to avoid these obstacles, it is considered to set a flight route along a road with relatively few obstacles.

With such a flight route setting method, the drone cannot fly linearly between the collection facilities, and the flight distance becomes long.

In addition, electric wires and communication lines are laid in a complicated manner above the road, and the laying state cannot be confirmed accurately. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid these when setting the flight route. It makes it difficult to set the flight path of the drone.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and by focusing on a railway line and setting this railway line as a preset flight route, it is possible to perform automatic flight of a drone. The problem to be solved is to provide a drone guidance method and its device that can set and change the flight route with a simple operation and can reduce the cost of the guidance equipment as much as possible. ..

The drone guidance method of the present invention is a drone guidance method for guiding a drone along a railway line, and guides in which route information and position information in the line are recorded in a line structure installed along the railway line. A tag is provided, and the information recorded in the guidance tag is recognized by the recognition means provided on the drone, whereby the drone is made to fly along the route structure.

According to the drone guidance method configured in this way, the drone performs automatic flight while recognizing the guidance tag provided in the route structure by the recognition means.

Here, by providing a collection facility for goods at an appropriate position on the railway line, it is possible to transport the goods between the collection facilities.

Then, the flight path of the drone can be set by a simple operation such as attaching the guidance tag to the route structure.

In addition, it is possible to set or change the flight path of the drone simply by providing a recognition means for recognizing the guidance tag on the drone, and it is possible to realize simplification and price reduction of the guidance system required for drone guidance. ..

On the other hand, on railway lines, route information, location information of facilities such as stations, distance information from the starting point, etc. have already been added, and the flight route can be easily set in advance by recording this information in the guidance tag. This also makes it possible to simplify the work of setting the flight path.

Furthermore, railway lines are installed avoiding obstacles such as buildings and power transmission lines on all lines, and in most cases, the upper part of the railway line is widely open.
Therefore, when setting the flight path of the drone, there are few restrictions due to obstacles, and from this point as well, the flight path setting work can be simplified.

In addition, railway lines will be installed by connecting facilities such as stations as linearly as possible.
Therefore, since the drone can be flown in a straight line, the flight path can be shortened as much as possible and the transport time can be shortened.

As the line structure, a wire, a suspension line, or a trolley line is used.

The information of the guidance tag can be recorded by a one-dimensional code such as a bar code or a QR code which is a three-dimensional code, and the recognition means can be configured by a bar code reader or a QR code reader.

Further, the information of the guidance tag can be recorded as electronic information that can be wirelessly transmitted, and the recognition means can be used as a receiving means for receiving the transmitted electronic information.

The drone guidance device of the present invention is a drone guidance device that guides a drone along a railway line, and is provided in a line structure installed along the railway line to record line information and position information in the line. The guide tag is provided and a recognition means provided on the drone to acquire the information recorded on the guide tag is provided. It is characterized by being made to fly along the structure.

As the line structure, a wire, a suspension line, or a trolley line can be used.

Further, the information of the guidance tag can be recorded by a bar code or a QR code, and the recognition means can be configured by a bar code reader or a QR code reader.

The information of the guidance tag can be recorded as transmittable electronic information, and the recognition means can be configured by a receiving means that receives the transmitted electronic information.

By configuring the drone guidance device in such a configuration, the above-mentioned drone guidance method can be effectively implemented.

According to the present invention, by setting the railway line as a preset flight path, the drone can be automatically flown, and the flight path can be set or changed by a simple operation. It is possible to provide a drone guidance method and its device capable of reducing the cost of the guidance equipment as much as possible.

It is a front view which shows one Embodiment of the drone guidance device of this invention. An embodiment of the drone guidance device of the present invention is shown, and is an enlarged view of a main part showing a suspension line and a guidance tag. An embodiment of the drone guidance device of the present invention is shown, and it is an enlarged view of a main part showing a modified example of a suspension wire and a guidance tag. An embodiment of the drone guidance device of the present invention is shown, and it is an enlarged view of a main part showing a modified example of a suspension wire and a guidance tag. An embodiment of the drone guidance device of the present invention is shown, and it is an enlarged view of a main part showing a modified example of a suspension wire and a guidance tag.

First, prior to the drone guidance method of the present invention, an embodiment of a drone guidance device for effectively implementing the method will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 indicates the drone guidance device of the present embodiment.

The drone guidance device 1 of the present embodiment is designed to guide the drone 3 along the railway line 2, and is attached to the line component 4 installed along the railway line 2 and the line component 4. , The guidance tag 5 on which the route information and the position information on the route are recorded, and the recognition means 6 provided on the drone 3 and acquiring the information recorded on the guidance tag 5 are provided.

The line component 4 is suspended from a rail 8 forming a traveling track of a vehicle 7, a wire line 9 stretched above the vehicle 7 along the rail 8, and a suspension line 10 on the wire line 9. The trolley wire 11 to which the pantograph 12 mounted on the vehicle 7 is slidably contacted is included.

In the present embodiment, an example in which the electric wire 9 is used as the line configuration 4 will be described.

Induction tags 5 are attached to the electric wire 9 over the entire length at predetermined intervals in the length direction thereof.

The guidance tag 5 records route information (operation route, etc.) of the railway line 2, distance information from the starting point, and the like, and the flight route of the drone 3 is formed by the route information.

Then, these route information, distance information, and the like are coded by, for example, a large number of color combinations as shown in FIG.

In the present embodiment, an image recognition device is used as the recognition means 6, and the image recognition device acquires the route information and the distance information recorded on the guidance tag 5, and the flight path formed by the information is used. It is designed to fly along.

Here, the formation of the flight path of the drone 3 by the guidance tag 5 can be dealt with by recording the flight direction information for each of the guidance tags 5, but the information to be recorded increases.

In order to suppress such concerns, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of (two in the present embodiment) of the two guidance tags 5 are located in the imaging range of the recognition means 6. The installation interval of the guidance tag 5 is set.

Thereby, for example, the flight direction after passing through the guidance tag 5 rearward in the flight direction can be determined by comparing the route information of the guidance Doug 5 rearward in the flight direction with the route information in front of the flight direction.
Therefore, the flight path is formed without adding new recorded information.

Next, along with the operation of the drone guiding device 1 configured in this way, the drone 3 for explaining the drone guiding method of the present invention sequentially and continuously recognizes the guiding tag 5 provided on the electric wire 9 by the recognition means 6. By doing so, automatic flight is performed.

Here, by providing a collection facility for goods at an appropriate position on the railway line 2, it is possible to transport the goods between the collection facilities.

Then, the flight path of the drone 3 can be set by a simple operation such as attaching the guide tag 5 to the electric wire 9.

In addition, the flight path of the drone 3 can be set or changed simply by providing the drone 3 with a recognition means 6 that recognizes the guidance tag 5, and the guidance system required for drone guidance can be simplified and the price can be reduced. can do.

On the other hand, on the railway line 2, route information, location information of facilities such as stations, distance information from the starting point, and the like have already been added, and the flight route can be recorded by diverting these information to the guidance tag 5. It can be easily set in advance, which also simplifies the flight path setting work.

Furthermore, the railway line 2 is installed avoiding obstacles such as buildings and power transmission lines on all the lines, and since the upper part thereof is widely open, there are restrictions due to obstacles when setting the flight route of the drone. From this point as well, the flight route setting work can be simplified.

In addition, the railway line 2 is installed by connecting facilities such as stations as linearly as possible.
Therefore, since the drone 3 can be flown as linearly as possible, the flight path can be shortened as much as possible and the transport time can be shortened.

Each component shown in the above embodiment is an example, and can be variously changed based on design requirements and the like.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the information of the guidance tag 5 is recorded by a one-dimensional code such as a barcode 13, or as shown in FIG. 4, it is recorded by a QR code 14 which is a three-dimensional code, or a recognition means. 6 may be configured by a barcode reader or a QR code reader (not shown).

Further, the information of the guidance tag can be recorded as electronic information that can be wirelessly transmitted, and the recognition means can be used as a receiving means for receiving the transmitted electronic information.

As the line structure, a wire, a suspension line, or a trolley line can be used.

Further, the information of the guidance tag can be recorded by a bar code or a QR code, and the recognition means can be configured by a bar code reader or a QR code reader.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the information recorded in the guidance tag 15 is used as transmittable electronic information, and the recognition means provided in the drone 3 receives the transmitted electronic information. The receiving means 15 can be used.

Here, the guidance tag 15 is a RAM 17 that stores route information, position information, and the like, a transmitter 18 that wirelessly transmits these information to the drone 3, and a controller that controls writing to the RAM 17 and the operation of the transmitter 18. 19 is provided.

1 Drone guidance device 2 Railway line 3 Drone 4 Line structure 5 Guidance tag 6 Recognition means 7 Vehicle 8 Rail 9 Wire 10 Suspension line 11 Tram line 12 Pantograph 13 Bar code 14 QR code (registered trademark)
15 Induction tag 16 Receiving means 17 RAM
18 transmitter 19 controller

Claims (14)

It is a drone guidance method for guiding a drone along a railway line, and a guidance tag that records route information and position information in the line is provided in a line structure installed along the railway line, and this guidance is provided. A drone guidance method characterized in that the drone is made to fly along the line structure by recognizing the information recorded on the tag by a recognition means provided on the drone. The drone guidance method according to claim 1, wherein the line component is a wire. The drone guidance method according to claim 1, wherein the line structure is a suspension line. The drone guidance method according to claim 1, wherein the route structure is a trolley line. The drone guidance method according to claim 1, wherein the information of the guidance tag is recorded by a bar code, and the recognition means is a bar code reader. The drone guidance method according to claim 1, wherein the information of the guidance tag is recorded by a QR code (registered trademark), and the recognition means is a QR code reader. The drone guidance method according to claim 1, wherein the information of the guidance tag is recorded as electronic information that can be wirelessly transmitted, and the recognition means is a receiving means. A drone guidance device that guides a drone along a railroad line, and is provided on a line structure installed along the railroad line, and has a guide tag that records line information and position information in the line, and the drone. It is provided with a recognition means for acquiring the information recorded on the guidance tag, and the drone is made to fly along the route structure based on the information recorded on the guidance tag obtained by the recognition means. A drone guidance device characterized by the fact that it has been done. The drone guidance device according to claim 8, wherein the line component is a wire. The drone guidance device according to claim 8, wherein the line structure is a suspension line. The drone guidance device according to claim 8, wherein the route structure is a trolley line. The drone guidance device according to claim 8, wherein the information of the guidance tag is recorded by a bar code, and the recognition means is configured by a bar code reader. The drone guidance device according to claim 8, wherein the information of the guidance tag is recorded by a QR code, and the recognition means is configured by a QR code reader. The drone guidance device according to claim 8, wherein the information of the guidance tag is recorded as electronic information that can be transmitted, and the recognition means is a receiving means.

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