JP2713172B2 - Mobile parking guidance device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle guidance apparatus for parking a moving object such as an aircraft or a vehicle, and more particularly to a moving device for accurately parking the moving object at a predetermined position. The present invention relates to a body parking guidance device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Accurate parking is often required of various moving objects such as aircraft, especially when positional relations with other objects are concerned. For example, an aircraft that has landed on an airport runway is headed to a predetermined docking or parking position to unload passengers and luggage. In order for the passenger entrance of the aircraft to be docked to the passenger access facility of the building, the aircraft must be accurately guided and parked.

Conventionally, a pilot in a cockpit controls an aircraft in accordance with a flag signal of a worker on the ground and stops the aircraft at a desired position. That is, a reference line in the form of projecting the center axis of the fuselage of the aircraft and a stop line indicating the position where the front wheels should stop are drawn in advance on the road surface of the approach road of the aircraft, so that the worker can see the pilot. On a platform provided on a vehicle, the shift of the aircraft with respect to these lines on the road surface is visually measured, and a guidance instruction is given by hand gesture.

[0004] In such guidance by an operator,
Visual inspection is not accurate unless the operator is skilled. As a result, when the front wheels of the aircraft are aligned with the stop line, the parking may end in a state where the aircraft is inclined with respect to the reference line. In the case of the above-mentioned docking and the like, extremely high-precision parking may be required in an aircraft.If the vehicle is parked obliquely with respect to a reference line, even if one of the ramp positions satisfies the request, other parking may be required. In the ramp position, the request was not satisfied, and it was necessary to perform the operation for parking again.

[0005] Therefore, it has been proposed to embed a number of load sensors on the road surface, detect the current position of the aircraft, and display the current position on the display panel behind the parking position.

In Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. Sho 62-163499, a straight ahead target bar and a ground sign are arranged at a parking area to be guided, and two forward and straight forward checking cameras and two Each of the road surface position checking cameras is installed. Then, by processing each image obtained from these four cameras installed on the aircraft, the aircraft is parked at a desired parking position.

Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-89519, one or a plurality of scanning lines are emitted from a moving body such as an aircraft from the front in the traveling direction. The moving angle of the moving body and the deviation of the moving position are automatically determined from the scanning line pattern of the portion hitting the moving body. That is, for example, when the aircraft enters along the reference line from an extension of the above-described reference line, it is determined that the scanning line pattern corresponding to the aircraft is symmetric with respect to the center of the aircraft. Can be. If the position of the aircraft is tilted or misaligned with respect to the guidance direction,
Since the scanning line pattern is asymmetrical left and right, the state can be determined.

[0008]

However, the method of guiding a moving object such as an aircraft by embedding a large number of load sensors on the road surface is not preferable because it is necessary to modify the road surface on which the moving object moves. In addition, it is necessary to incorporate a dedicated circuit device into the moving body itself, which is practically impossible.

In the method proposed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 63-163499, it is necessary to install four cameras on a moving body such as an aircraft. For this reason, the equipment on the moving body side required for guidance becomes large, and similarly, it is difficult to realize the equipment.

Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 4-89519, a scanning line such as a laser beam is emitted to scan a moving body and analyze the pattern of the scanning line. Unless the change in the shape of the protruding portion during tilting of the body is accurately grasped, there is a drawback that accurate positional information of the moving body cannot be obtained by simply analyzing the scanning line pattern. . For example, aircraft have various shapes, and in order to accurately analyze the scanning pattern and perform parking with high accuracy, it is necessary to increase the number of scanning lines such as lasers and complicate the processing procedure for analysis However, there was a problem that implementation was similarly difficult.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a parking guide system for a mobile unit that can accurately park the mobile unit at a desired position with a relatively simple configuration.

[0012]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided: (a) the moving body is provided at the end side of the direct portion of the approaching path;
(B) imaging means arranged with the optical axis coincident with the entrance;
From the image of the moving object imaged by the imaging means,
When the moving object is viewed from the front,
Extract two targets of known size
Target extraction means, and (c) extraction of these from moving object images
Size discriminating means for discriminating the sizes of the two target objects thus obtained
And (d) the known size of the two targets and the
Mobile body tilt with respect to approach path using different size
(E) the inclination determination means for calculating the degree of the inclination
Tilt display means for displaying the degree of tilt determined by another means
Are provided in the parking guidance device.

That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the moving body
With the optical axis aligned with the end of the straight part of the approach path
Steps are arranged, and eyes that are symmetrically arranged on the moving body
Determine the size of each target on the imaging surface, and
If the sizes of the
If the moving direction of the moving object is
It discriminates that it is inclined from the direction and displays it.

In the second aspect of the present invention, the moving object is an example.
And two targets are the suction of the engine pod.
This indicates that it is a stoma.

[0015]

[0016]

[0017]

[0018]

[0019]

[0020]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to embodiments.

FIG. 1 shows a parking guidance apparatus for a mobile unit according to this embodiment.
An example of a parking area when the aircraft was applied to aircraft parking was shown.
Things. At the tarmac, several cruises are set at predetermined intervals.
Aircraft 10₁, 10_Two, ... is parked
You. Aircraft 10 currently trying to park_ThreeAhead of
, A parking guidance device 11 is arranged, beside it
A pole 12 is set up to indicate that parking is being performed.
Have been. Each aircraft 10 parked on the road surface
₁, 10_TwoWhite line (guideline) 1 to guide
3₁, 13_Two, ... is drawn. Aircraft 10_ThreeIs
Corresponding white line 13 _ThreeForward along the parking guidance device 11
Stop at a predetermined distance from the vehicle.

The parking guidance device 11 has a display plate 15 vertically mounted on a front portion of a base 14. An imaging unit 16 of a television camera (CCD camera) is provided above the display panel.
Is attached. Segment optical axis showing an imaging direction of the imaging unit 16 (not shown) is projected on the road surface, of the corresponding white line 13 _3, at least the aircraft 10 ₃ coincides with the final straight portion near a position to stop The parking guidance device 11 is arranged as described above. A display unit 17 is disposed below the imaging unit 16 on the display panel, and the distance to the parking position and the amount of deviation of the aircraft 10 from the left and right with respect to the white line 13 are visually displayed here. I have.

In this embodiment, the parking guidance device 11 and the pole 12 are individually moved one after another to the place where the aircraft 10 is parked. For example, they are movably arranged on rails. Alternatively, they may be automatically moved to a place where they park.

FIG. 2 shows how the aircraft is guided forward by the parking guidance device. Aircraft 1
0 _3, already moved in the direction of the imaging unit 16 of the television camera along the white line 13 ₃ as described. This aircraft 1
0 to ₃ of the main wing 21 the engine pod 22 _{1-22 4} which houses the engine symmetrically are arranged. At the front of the engine pod 22 _{1-22 4,} the fan and the air inlet is arranged. Imaging unit 16 captures an image of the aircraft 10 ₃ at an angle in the range indicated by the solid line, and inputs it to the image processing apparatus 23. In this example, the image processing device 23 extracts the images of the _two engine pods 22 ₂ and 22 ₃ , and calculates the distance to the parking position and the presence or absence of the displacement of the aircraft 10 ₃ with respect to the white line 13 ₃ based on the extracted images. It has become.

FIG. 3 shows an example of an image sent to the image processing device of the parking guidance device. Each engine pod 22 _{1-22 4} air inlet is black even during the day, and has a circular shape. Further, the range in which these exist in the image is limited to some extent. Accordingly, the tracking for extracting each particular ₂ two engines pods 22, 22 ₃ of these engine pod 22 _{1-22 4} from each image 31 of one sheet sent from the image pickup unit 16 of FIG. 2 It is quite possible to set the windows 32, 33.

After the two tracking windows 32 and 33 are set as shown in FIG. 4, the center of gravity is calculated for the air inlets 34 and 35 existing in these windows, and their coordinate values are obtained. And the midpoint 36 of these coordinate values
Find the coordinate value of. Now, the direction orthogonal to the parallel to the road surface white line 13 ₃ (Fig. 2) taken in the X-axis and the intersection of the white lines 13 _3, X = "0", the center of gravity of the two air inlet 34 and 35 midpoint if the value of X-coordinate of 36 is "0", the central axis of the fuselage of the aircraft 10 ₃ will be correctly located on the white line 13 _3. On the other hand, when the value of the X coordinate of the midpoint 36 is a positive value or a negative value, it is checked whether or not these values are within an allowable range. _The display unit 17 shown in FIG. 1 indicates in which direction and how much the ₃ deviates from the white line 133.

The difference between the X-coordinate values of the center point 36 of the center of gravity of the two air intake ports 34 and 35 is determined, and the difference between the X-coordinate values of the aircraft 10 ₃ and 2 is calculated.
One of by comparison with the actual value calculation for spacing of the air inlet 34 and 35, it is possible to determine whether the aircraft 10 ₃ approaches to what extent against parked position. This determination result regarding the distance is also displayed on the display unit 17 shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 shows an outline of the circuit configuration of the parking guidance apparatus according to the present embodiment. The parking guidance device 11 includes a CPU (central processing unit) 41 which is a center of various controls. The CPU 41 is connected to each unit in the apparatus via a bus 42 such as a data bus. The work memory 43 stores a program necessary for controlling the parking guidance device 11 and also stores image data and other temporarily necessary data. The disk controller 44 controls the input and output of the magnetic disk 45. The magnetic disk 45 includes the parking guidance device 1
1 and data such as the distance between air intake ports of various aircraft. Instead of the magnetic disk 45, a ROM having a relatively large capacity may be used for the same purpose. In the input circuit 46,
An operation panel 47 including a keyboard and the like is connected. From the operation panel 47, the type of the aircraft 10 to be parked is input, and a command to start or stop measurement is input.

The camera control device 48 includes a television (TV)
Camera 49 is connected. The camera control device 48 sends the image captured by the image capturing section 16 of the television camera 49 to the working memory 43 via the bus 42. The display control unit 51 displays the calculation result for parking on the display unit 17 in an easily understandable manner.

FIG. 6 shows an outline of a control flow of the parking guidance apparatus. The operator inputs from the operation panel 47 represents the data and height of the image pickup unit 16 of the spacing of the two air inlet 34, 35 of the aircraft 10 ₃ data (step S101). Instead of such an input, it may enter the model name of the aircraft 10 ₃ to be subjected to the tarmac. When the model name is input, the CPU 41 reads out data representing the interval between the air intake ports 34 and 35 from a table showing the model name and the interval between the two air intake ports 34 and 35 and reads the data in the corresponding area of the working memory 43. To be stored. The data representing the height of the imaging unit 16 is set to a default value prepared in advance unless the height is changed, and does not require an operator's input.

Thereafter, the aircraft 10_ThreeBut to some extent, tarmac
When approaching the place, the operator
Press the start button for start
102). At the same time, the TV camera 49 outputs an image.
Is started, and the CPU 41 executes
Jin pod 22₁~ 22_FourFeature extraction
(Step S103). And two of these
Jin pod 22_Two, 22 _ThreeTo extract each
Set racking windows 32 and 33 (step
S104). And the aircraft as already explained
10_ThreeIs white line 13 _ThreeIn which direction and how far
And the distance to the position where the vehicle should be parked
Step S105). And of these results,
Is displayed on the display unit 17 (step S106).

The display on the display unit 17 is performed, for example, as follows. That is, with respect to the distance to the position where the vehicle should be parked, a display is made such that the shorter the distance is, the fewer lamps light up. Immediately before the position where the vehicle should be parked, the word “STOP” (stop) is further illuminated in red.
The deviation with respect to the white line 13 _3, direction rough amount of displacement is displayed intelligibly using a graphic (graphic) as well.

The arithmetic operation for the aircraft 10 ₃ at a certain timing is performed, if the result is displayed, then the checking whether entered a command indicating the end of the measurement operator from the operation panel 47 is performed (step S
107). Unless the input of the command is performed (N), control is returned to step 104 again, the amount of deviation of after re-correcting the position of the tracking window 32, 33 that are set previously, the current aircraft 10 ₃ And the distance are calculated again (step S105). Then, the result is displayed on the display unit 17 as the latest information (step S106). In the same manner, instruction of the measurement end state control of the aircraft 10 ₃ is to be constantly displayed on the display unit 17 to performed. When a command to end the measurement is input (Step S107; Y),
All the control for parking is finished (END).

Modified example

In the embodiment described above, the distance to the final parking and the displacement of the aircraft with respect to the white line are calculated on the assumption that the aircraft travels on the white line or in parallel with the white line. Decided to display. However, in actual cases, the aircraft may proceed with an inclination with respect to the white line indicating the traveling direction. In this case, the interval between the two predetermined engine pods is observed to be shorter than the actual situation, and until the final parking. Will cause an error in the calculation of the distance.

FIG. 7 is for explaining the principle of detecting the degree of inclination of the aircraft with respect to the white line. Similar to the above embodiment was extracted two engine pod 22 _2, 22 ₃ of the air inlet 34, 35 with a television camera 49, in turn, the diameter D _2, D ₃ on these images Determine. Aircraft 10 ₃ With (see FIG. 2) is in progress inclined relative white line 13 _3, the wing 21 is also white line 13 ₃
, And is inclined by a predetermined angle θ. At this time, the distance L ₂ from the television camera 49 to the air intake port 34 is the same as the distance L ₂ from the television camera 49 to the other air intake port 35. Distance L ₃ of up to is, as the angle θ is the greater, different come.

The size of the air inlet 34 and 35, since known in relation to the type of aircraft 10, by measuring the size on the image, inclined as exceeds the allowable range aircraft 10 ₃ in any direction Can be determined. Based on the result of this determination, an instruction to correct the inclination may be displayed on the display unit 17. Of course, the inclination angle may be actually measured using other data such as the interval between the two air intake ports 34 and 35, and may be displayed.

In FIG. 7, two air inlets 34, 3
5 shows the case at the position symmetrical with respect to the white line 13 _3, there is a case where the aircraft 10 ₃ exists deviated from the white line 13 _3. In this case, the deviation can be discriminated on the image as the deviation of the center coordinates of the two air intake ports 34, 35, and correction is made based on this to make the respective air intake ports 34, 35
Size determined of which direction the aircraft 10 ₃ may be to determine inclined.

In the embodiment described above, the aircraft in which the engine pods are symmetrically arranged has been described. However, it is needless to say that the present invention can be similarly applied to a moving body having a symmetrically identifiable mark. is there. The moving object is not limited to an aircraft, but naturally includes anything that moves and whose parking position is controlled.

[0040]

As described above in detail, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the optical axis is located at the end of the linear portion of the approach path of the moving body.
The imaging means is arranged so that
The size of each target on the imaging surface
Apart from that, we decided to compare this to a known size,
The degree of inclination of the moving object can be determined. The present invention
In the case of, the mobile body is securely parked without the labor of the worker
Information can be obtained.

[0041]

[0042]

[0043]

Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, when the moving object is an aircraft, the two targets are the intake holes of the engine pod, so that even during the daytime, this is accurately extracted as a black portion. However, there is an effect that information on parking of the aircraft can be given accurately.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a bird's-eye view showing an example of a parking lot when the parking guidance apparatus for a mobile object according to the present embodiment is applied to the parking of an aircraft.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing how the aircraft is guided forward by the parking guidance device in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view illustrating an example of an image transmitted to the image processing device of the parking guidance device in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a principle diagram showing a principle of determining whether or not an aircraft is deviated from a white line in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an outline of a circuit configuration of the parking guidance apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an outline of a control flow of the parking guidance apparatus of the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a principle diagram showing a principle of detecting an inclination of an aircraft in a modification of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 aircraft 11 parking guidance device 13 white line 16 imaging unit 17 display unit 21 main wing 22 engine pod 23 image processing device 34, 35 air intake 41 CPU 43 working memory 47 operation panel 49 television camera

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] (1) An end portion of a straight portion of an approach path of a moving body.
Imaging means arranged with the optical axis coincident with the approaching path of the moving object, and the image of the moving object taken by the imaging means.
When the moving object is viewed from the front,
Two previously target of known size their Re respectively extracts that
Target object extracting means; and a target object extracting means for extracting the two target objects extracted from the moving object image.
Size discriminating means for discriminating the size, discriminating the known size of the two targets from the image
The inclination of the moving body with respect to the approach path using the
Inclination determining means for calculating the degree, and inclination indicating the degree of inclination determined by the inclination determining means.
Parking means for moving objects, characterized by comprising oblique display means
Guidance device. 2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the moving object is an aircraft.
The object is an intake port of an engine pod.
3. The parking guidance device for a moving body according to claim 2.