JP6572020B2 - Vehicle with vehicle - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle equipped with a flying object, and more specifically, a vehicle that allows an autonomously flying object to be wired to the vehicle and obtains ambient environment information with the flying object to enable efficient traveling. About.

In disaster-stricken areas such as volcanic eruptions and nuclear power plant accidents, and dangerous places such as battlefields, transport unmanned vehicles, perform civil engineering work, and acquire environmental information such as topography. Sometimes.
In addition, in order to protect vast places such as airports and air bases from terrorism, unmanned vehicles equipped with monitoring sensors such as cameras may be used as vehicles for monitoring.

The unmanned vehicle travels by remote control, autonomous traveling, or an intermediate method combining these (semi-autonomous), and it is necessary to acquire environmental information around the vehicle for traveling.
In other words, in order for an unmanned vehicle to travel, it recognizes an obstacle that the vehicle should avoid, stops in front of the obstacle, bypasses the obstacle (hereinafter collectively referred to as obstacle avoidance). It is important to acquire information on the surrounding environment of the vehicle and accurately recognize the presence and position of the obstacle.

The obstacle avoidance can be performed by obtaining environmental information on the topography, roads, buildings, etc. of the place where the vehicle travels or where the vehicle is working from an existing map or the like prepared in advance.
However, in disaster-affected areas, environmental information posted on existing maps may differ from the actual environment.
Also, for defense applications such as battlefields, it may be necessary to drive on an undeveloped road surface that is not listed on a general map, or an existing road may be destroyed by an attack from an enemy. The environmental information obtained from the map is often different from the driving environment, especially when there are battles, and there are moving obstacles. Change.
Similarly, in the case of a vehicle that performs civil engineering work, the surrounding environment is dynamically changed by the civil engineering work performed.
Therefore, based on a map prepared in advance, it is not possible to travel while avoiding obstacles.

  In Patent Document 1, an image taken from the sky acquired by a satellite or an aircraft is processed and transmitted to an unmanned vehicle, whereby navigation to the unmanned vehicle can be performed even in a dynamically changing complex environment. It is disclosed that it can be done.

US Patent Specification US2005 / 0195096

  However, in the case described in Patent Document 1, when an unmanned vehicle travels between forests and valleys, it is difficult to capture information from the sky or acquire information from an aircraft or satellite. Effective ambient environment information may not be obtained, and efficient driving may not be possible.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems of the prior art, and the object of the present invention is to obtain information on the surrounding environment of the vehicle even when traveling in a forest or a valley, and to improve efficiency. The object is to provide a vehicle that enables efficient driving.

  As a result of intensive studies to achieve the above object, the present inventor has connected the vehicle and the flying object with a wire, and made the flying object fly away from the vehicle to acquire the surrounding environment information, thereby The present inventors have found that the object can be achieved and have completed the present invention.

That is, the vehicle of the present invention includes (1) a plurality of flying objects that fly by remote control and / or autonomy , a housing device that houses the flying body, and a plurality of cables that connect the plurality of flying bodies and the housing device. And a vehicle comprising a vehicle arithmetic device ,
The housing device includes a cable winding device, the cable is a power supply and communication cable, the plurality of flying bodies includes a wireless communication device, and another flying body that acquires ambient environment information. The one flying body and the other flying body are connected to different cables, wirelessly transmitted by the one flying body, and traveled by acquiring ambient environment information by the other flying body. It is characterized by that.
(2) The vehicle according to item (1), wherein a flight area is set for each of the plurality of flying bodies, and the flight areas are different from each other.
(3) The vehicle according to (1) or (2), wherein the housing device has a cable cutting function.
(4) Item (1) above, further comprising a wireless communication device, transmitting the ambient environment information to the commanding device, and traveling based on remote control and / or commands from the commanding device. The vehicle according to any one of to (3).

  According to the present invention, the vehicle is equipped with a flying body that autonomously flies to obtain the surrounding environment information. Therefore, the surrounding environment of the vehicle can be obtained in a forest or a valley where it is difficult to obtain the environment information by photographing from a satellite or an aircraft Information can be acquired. In addition, since the above-mentioned flying object and the vehicle are connected by wire, communication between the flying object and the vehicle is ensured even in a place where wireless communication is likely to be interrupted due to an obstacle or the like, and there is no restriction on the flight time and the surrounding environment continues. Information can be acquired, and even larger data can be transmitted and received in real time, so detailed ambient environment information can be obtained. In addition, since the winding device for applying tension to the cable is provided, the slack of the cable that prevents the vehicle from traveling is prevented, and a vehicle that can efficiently travel is provided.

It is the schematic which shows an example of the vehicle of this invention. It is the schematic which shows an example of the flying body of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the state which accommodated the flying body. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the state which has acquired ambient environment information.

The vehicle which acquires the ambient environment information of the present invention by a flying object will be described in detail.
As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle of the present invention includes a flying object, a housing device that houses the flying body, a power supply / communication cable that connects the flying body and the housing device, and a vehicle arithmetic device. Depending on the device, a drive-by-wire device, a wireless communication device and the like are provided.

<Aircraft>
The above-mentioned flying object is obtained by flying by remote control and / or autonomously to acquire the surrounding environment information. As shown in FIG. 2, the surrounding environment information acquisition sensor, the flying sensor, the flying object calculation device, the flying device, the flight A body power supply device is provided, and if necessary, a wireless communication device, a GPS receiver, and the like are provided.

Here, remote maneuvering refers to sending a maneuver or command using an electric signal from a commanding device at a remote location to fly or run a robot such as a flying object or a vehicle. It is not necessary to perform all the operations necessary for driving and running from a remote location.
Autonomous means that the computing device mounted on the robot determines what to do based on information such as the situation of the robot and the surrounding environment, and then flies or travels. Remote control may be involved.

  The flying object may have any basic flight function, and examples thereof include a drone, a multicopter, a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), and the like.

  The flying object is connected to the vehicle by a cable that performs power feeding and communication, performs wired communication with the vehicle using the cable, and receives power from the vehicle in a wired manner. One or more of the above flying bodies are mounted on one vehicle.

The flying body overcomes the winding force of the winding device provided in the accommodation device, flies, moves and stops, and acquires information on the surrounding environment.
In the present invention, since the power supply to the flying object is performed by wire, it is not necessary for the flying object to be equipped with a battery, the weight of the aircraft can be reduced, and a high-output motor or the like can be used. It will not affect the flight.

  When the flying object is not flying, the cable is wound up by the winding device of the flying object storage device provided in the vehicle shown in FIG. 1, and is stably held in the vehicle as shown in FIG.

The ambient environment information acquisition sensor acquires ambient environment information for creating an environment map around the vehicle. Examples of the ambient environment information acquisition sensor include sensors such as a camera and a laser range finder (LRF), and one or more of them can be provided. By using multiple types of sensors, it is possible to acquire detailed and accurate ambient environment information.
The acquisition of the ambient environment information is not limited to during flight, but can be performed even in a state of being accommodated in an accommodation device as shown in FIG.

In the case of using a plurality of flying bodies, all the flying bodies may be equipped with a plurality of types of sensors, or different types of sensors may be mounted for each flying body.
By installing the same sensor on all the aircraft, it is possible to sense a wide range in a short time, and by installing different types of sensors, the weight of the aircraft can be reduced, Flight is possible.

  The ambient environment information acquisition sensor operates based on a command from a flying object calculation device described later, and information obtained by the surrounding environment information acquisition sensor is sent to the flying object calculation device.

  The camera may be a monaural camera or a stereo camera capable of measuring distance by phase difference. Examples of the camera include a visible light camera and an infrared camera.

  The laser range finder (LRF) scans the surroundings with a plurality of lasers, and measures the distance between the surrounding topography and objects at high speed.

  The flight sensor detects the state of the flying object necessary for the flight, and includes a posture sensor such as a gyro sensor, an altitude sensor, a speed sensor, and the like, and information from each sensor is sent to a flying object calculation device described later. It is done.

  The flying object calculation device calculates a flight path based on a command transmitted from the vehicle via the communication cable and / or a command set in advance, and together with information from the flight sensor, Is calculated, the position, altitude, and attitude of the flying object are controlled, and the state of the flying object is transmitted to the vehicle arithmetic device. The calculation of the flight path may be performed together with the ambient environment information acquired by the flying object.

  The flying object calculation device enables autonomous flight, and even when a plurality of flying objects are operated simultaneously, the flying object can be monitored and remotely controlled by a small number of persons.

The flying object calculation device converts the information acquired by the ambient environment information acquisition sensor into a format suitable for communication, and transmits the information to the vehicle via a communication cable.
From the viewpoint of processing capacity, a vehicle computing device mounted on a vehicle, which will be described later, generally creates an environmental map using the acquired ambient environment information, but when the flying object computing device has sufficient processing capacity This may be done by the flying object arithmetic unit.

  The flying device is a device for flying a flying object, and examples thereof include a rotor. The flying device operates according to a command from the flying object calculation device.

The aircraft power supply device is a DC / DC converter or the like that inputs power supplied from a vehicle through a power supply cable, converts the voltage into a voltage suitable for each device inside the aircraft, and supplies the power.
In addition, when the electric power sent from a vehicle is alternating current, an AC / DC converter is normally needed.

  Further, the flying object can be used not only as a sensor for acquiring ambient environment information, but also as a mobile antenna for performing wireless communication with a commanding device or another vehicle. A (Global Positioning System) receiver or the like may be provided.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the flying object is equipped with a wireless communication device and a GPS receiver so that the flying object is above the obstacles such as trees as shown in FIG. 4 even in places where radio waves are difficult to communicate. By making it fly, a radio wave link can be established, and wireless communication and acquisition of position information are possible.

Furthermore, in the communication between the vehicle and another vehicle, the communication between the vehicle and the command device, the communication between the other vehicle and the other vehicle, and the communication between the other vehicle and the command device, the vehicle Can be a relay station to expand the communication range.
These communications are effective not only when the vehicle is in a place such as a forest or a valley, but also when it is in a place where radio waves are difficult to communicate, such as between buildings in an urban area.
In order to establish these communications, it is generally considered that a wireless communication device is mounted on a balloon or the like instead of a flying object and raised to the sky. However, the antenna in wireless communication has a tendency that the directivity in the vertical direction becomes narrower (the directivity becomes higher) as a longer communication distance is realized, and thus control of the antenna direction is important.
Therefore, since the flying object capable of attitude control can easily maintain the attitude of the antenna constant, communication with higher quality than that of the balloon can be established particularly when there is wind in the sky.

When operating a plurality of flying objects, it is not necessary for all the flying objects to have a wireless communication device, and the flying objects that perform wireless communication and the flying objects that acquire ambient environment information may be operated separately. For example, for a flying object that performs wireless communication, the flying object that obtains ambient environment information is allowed to fly in front of the vehicle by flying at a high altitude above the vehicle. And acquisition of ambient environment information can be performed simultaneously.
Further, by changing the role of the flying object, the number of sensors mounted on one flying object is reduced, and the flying object is reduced in size and can fly flexibly.

By acquiring the surrounding environment information with the above-mentioned flying object, it is possible not only to acquire a wide range of surrounding environment information, but also to obtain the surrounding environment information from a bird's-eye view, compared with the case where the surrounding environment information is obtained with a sensor provided in the vehicle itself. Since it can be obtained, it is possible to recognize even an obstacle behind the obstacle in the foreground at an early stage.
Therefore, it becomes possible to find obstacles at an early stage and to plan a detour route, and the number of stops and turnovers to avoid the obstacles is reduced, so that the average traveling speed of the vehicle increases, and as a result Driving and work efficiency can be improved.

<Container>
The above-described accommodation device stably holds the flying object on the vehicle when the flying object is not flying, and is installed on the roof or the loading platform of the vehicle.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the housing device includes a cable winding device that winds a cable that connects the flying object and the vehicle. The cable winding device detects the tension of the cable when the flying object is flying, and automatically winds the cable so that the slack of the cable that prevents traveling of the vehicle does not occur. Always adjust.

In addition, when a cable winding command is received from a vehicle arithmetic device described later, the cable is immediately wound with a force stronger than the propulsive force of the flying object. By winding the cable quickly, the cable connecting the flying object is prevented from being caught by an obstacle or the like.
In the unlikely event that the cable becomes entangled with an obstacle and the vehicle travel is obstructed, the cable is disconnected and the flying object is discarded along with the cable.
Specifically, if the tension of the cable exceeds a preset value for a certain period of time, it is automatically determined that the cable has been tangled, and the cable is cut with a cutter attached to the winding device, or the above cable The tension information is transmitted to the commanding device, and the cable is cut with the cutter attached to the winding device according to the command of the remote operator.

<Cable>
The cable connects the vehicle and the flying object, performs communication between the vehicle and the flying object, and supplies power from the vehicle to the flying object. By connecting the vehicle and the vehicle with cables, communication can be established even in places where there are many obstacles such as forests where wireless communication is likely to be interrupted, enabling large capacity and stable communication compared to wireless communication . Furthermore, since power is supplied via a cable, it is possible to continuously fly and collect information without any restriction on the flight time.
In addition, since it is not necessary to mount heavy objects such as a battery and fuel on the flying object, the flying object can be reduced in size and weight, and the flying object can be operated with high mobility.

  Communication cable is information sent from the flying object such as information from the surrounding environment information acquisition sensor of the flying object, housekeeping information of the flying object, command from the commanding device via the vehicle, command from the vehicle, It is used for communication of information from the vehicle to the flying object such as housekeeping information of other flying objects.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the cable may be bundled with a power feeding cable and a communication cable, and may be rolled into one. PoE (Power over Ethernet (registered trademark)) that digitally modulates information and communicates with the power feeding cable. It is good.

<Vehicle calculation device>
A vehicle arithmetic device mounted on a vehicle has an environmental information processing function, a self-positioning function, a route planning function, a vehicle control function, and a flying object position / attitude detection function.

  The environmental information processing function is a function for generating an environmental map around the vehicle from the ambient environment information collected by the flying object. By generating a surrounding environment map, the presence / absence, position, size, etc. of an obstacle are recognized.

  The self location function is a function for recognizing its own position from the generated environmental map, odometry information such as vehicle speed, posture, and acceleration, and information such as GPS signals.

  The above route planning function is based on the coordinate map that should be set in advance, the accelerator / brake command (or speed command) received from the command device, and the steering command. This is a function for planning a route to travel while avoiding the above. The travel route is sequentially updated based on the updated environment map and the self-location.

  The vehicle control function is a function of controlling an accelerator, a brake, and a steering in order to travel on a planned travel route, and calculates a control amount of an actuator or the like that operates these, and transmits a signal.

  The flying object position / posture detection function uses the position of the vehicle as seen from the flying object and the state (housekeeping) information of the flying object among the surrounding environment information collected from the flying object. The relative position of is detected. And it is the function which determines the route made to fly to each flying body, and transmits instruction | command with respect to each flying body.

The flying object position / posture detection function prevents collision between flying objects and cable entanglement even when a plurality of flying objects are operated simultaneously.
For example, when n vehicles are mounted on a vehicle and operated, different flight areas whose surroundings are divided into 360 ° / n with respect to the vehicle are set, flight areas are assigned to the respective vehicles, and the flight areas The method of controlling so that it may not come out is mentioned. Furthermore, by providing a buffering area at the boundary between adjacent flight areas and controlling the aircraft so that the flying object does not enter the buffering area, it is possible to reliably prevent collision between the flying objects and cable entanglement.
Note that the setting of the flight area does not have to be equally divided. For example, many flying objects may fly in front of the vehicle.

  The flying object position / posture detection function transmits a return command to the flying object and / or a winding command to the accommodation device when a cable connecting the flying object may be caught by an obstacle. , Prevent cable tangling.

<Drive-by-wire device>
The drive-by-wire device has a function of operating the accelerator, the brake, and the steering by a predetermined amount by giving an electric signal thereto and setting the shift to a predetermined position. For a vehicle that does not have such a function, an actuator may be attached to an accelerator, a brake, a steering, a shift, or the like.

<Wireless communication device>
The wireless communication device performs communication with a command device, other manned vehicles and / or unmanned vehicles, flying objects, and the like, and includes a communication device and an antenna. The wireless communication device is provided in a vehicle and / or a flying object.
By providing the flying body with the wireless communication device, communication can be performed by flying the flying body in the sky even in places where radio waves such as forests, valleys, and buildings are difficult to reach.

<Vehicle>
The vehicle may have any basic driving function, and may be an engine vehicle, an electric vehicle, or a hybrid vehicle that combines these, and a wheeled type, a tracked (infinite track) type, Or the hybrid type etc. which combined these can be mentioned.
Although the vehicle of the present invention can travel by remote control and / or autonomous, a person can get on and travel by manned.

<Operation>
Next, the operation of the vehicle will be described.
An arithmetic device (vehicle arithmetic device) mounted on the vehicle causes the flying object accommodated in the accommodation device to fly in accordance with a command from the command device or a preset command. And the electric power generated with the generator etc. which are mounted in an engine or a vehicle is supplied to a flying body via a cable.
The flying object flies around the vehicle in accordance with a command from the above-mentioned vehicle arithmetic unit while receiving power from the cable or autonomously, acquires ambient environment information, and connects the cable with the state of the flying object (housekeeping information). To the vehicle arithmetic device.

  The vehicle computing device processes ambient environment information received from each flying object and creates an environment map around the vehicle.

  Then, the created environment map is wirelessly transmitted to the command device and / or another vehicle. By transmitting the environmental map, it becomes possible to share the environmental map in the entire system including the command device and other unmanned vehicles, and it becomes possible to travel more efficiently.

  Further, the vehicle arithmetic device transmits an image around the vehicle to the command device in real time. An image around the vehicle is displayed on the commanding device, and when necessary, a command can be transmitted from the commanding device to remotely control the vehicle. In addition, the state of the flying object is also transmitted to the commanding device, and when necessary, the flying object can be remotely controlled via the vehicle computing device.

  When receiving the environmental map from the vehicle, the command device wirelessly transmits the environmental map to the other vehicle. When the vehicle receives an environmental map created by another vehicle from a command device or the like, the environmental map is shared, and a wide-range environmental map combined with the environmental map created by itself is obtained.

  And the said vehicle arithmetic device plans a driving | running route, updating a self position sequentially based on the command from a commanding device or the command set beforehand from the created environmental map and self position.

  The vehicle arithmetic device controls the accelerator, the brake, and the steering by the vehicle control function so that the vehicle travels along the planned travel route.

When acquiring the surrounding environment information by the flying object, the vehicle may be running or stopped.
When the vehicle is stopped, even if a plurality of flying objects are operated at the same time, it is possible to avoid collisions between the flying objects and cable entanglement by setting different flight areas as described above.

In addition, when the vehicle is running, there is a possibility that the cable may get entangled with an obstacle such as a tree. For example, for a flying object flying between trees, the angle between the flying object and the vehicle, the flying object and the vehicle, and the obstacle. It is predicted in advance that the cable will be entangled with the obstacle from the relative position with the object (tree), the flight path of the flying object, the speed of the vehicle, and the like.
And when there exists a possibility that a cable may get entangled, the said vehicle arithmetic device transmits a feedback command to a flying body, and / or transmits a cable winding command to the winding device of a storage device, and returns a flying body. .
However, when it is determined that the vehicle cannot be returned due to the cable being entangled and the vehicle is in a state of being hindered, the vehicle arithmetic device automatically transmits a cable cutting command to the winding device, or Then, the fact that the cable is tangled is transmitted to the commanding device, and after waiting for a command from the commanding device, a cable cutting command is transmitted to the winding device.
The take-up device that has received the cable cutting command cuts the cable, thereby ensuring traveling of the vehicle.

  The acquisition of the ambient environment information by the flying object is not necessarily performed by flying, and may be performed in a state of being accommodated in the vehicle, and the vehicle itself may not include the ambient environment information acquisition sensor.

  Also, when communicating with the commanding device or other vehicles, the vehicle may be running or stopped. By stopping the flying object above the obstacles such as trees and buildings and establishing a communication link via relay or directly, it is possible to enter an area where it was not possible to enter in the past. The range of action of the group can be expanded.

Claims (4)

A plurality of flying bodies to fly by remote control and / or autonomous, there the vehicle comprising: a housing unit that houses the the flight line body, and a plurality of cables connecting the plurality of aircraft and the receiving device, and a vehicle computing device And
The housing device includes a cable winding device,
The cable is a power supply and communication cable,
The plurality of flying bodies includes one flying body provided with a wireless communication device and another flying body that acquires ambient environment information,
The one flying object and the other flying object are connected to different cables, wirelessly transmitted by the one flying object, and traveled by acquiring ambient environment information by the other flying object. Vehicle. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a flight area is set for each of the plurality of flying bodies, and the flight areas are different from each other.   The vehicle according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the housing device has a cable cutting function.   The vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the surrounding environment information is transmitted to a commanding device and travels based on remote control and / or commands from the commanding device.

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