JP6717727B2 - Flight object monitoring communication system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a system for detecting and reporting a fall of a flying object such as a drone.

Drones are being used more and more, but from the hobby range of operating drones like radio-controlled models, they are used for commercial purposes by attaching a camera to the drone and monitoring farmlands, ranches, forests, etc. within a range of several hundred meters. The number of cases has increased, and in the future, utilizing drones as a means of delivering parcels is being considered in demonstration experiments. However, drone crashes are not managed, and centralized control of when and where a crash occurred is becoming a social demand in the future as drone technology advances expand the flight range and become more versatile. ..

Patent Document 1 discloses a technique of attaching a GPS sensor to a drone and managing the movement trajectory of the drone, but a technique of detecting an abnormal state such as a collision with something during the flight of the drone or a crash is disclosed. It has not been.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2015-207149

As soon as an abnormal condition that occurs during flight of a flying object is detected, it is notified to the flying object management station wirelessly together with information on where the abnormality has occurred. To be able to understand the abnormal state of.

In the present invention, the flying object is physically coupled with a casing having a size of a matchbox (a flying object monitor) in addition to the flying object, and a shock sensor and a GPS sensor are provided in the casing. If the impact sensor output exceeds a certain set value, it is determined that a collision or a crash has occurred during flight, and along with the GPS information at that time, the flying object management station Contact me about that.

As a wireless communication system, power saving can be achieved by using a self-employed communication network, for example, an LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) system such as a LoRa communication system that is said to be usable in an area of about 20 kilometers.

If information on an abnormal state of a flying object such as a low battery level for driving the flight of the object from the flying object is obtained, the information is also reported to the flying object management station.

When the housing independent from the flying object monitors for abnormalities such as collision and crash of the flying object, it immediately notifies the flying object management station, so a system that can centrally manage the flight of many flying objects is provided. it can. Taking a drone as an example of a flying object, the drone has a wide variety of functions, ranging from those that can control and manage flight with GPS to those that do not have a built-in GPS function, but the present invention is a function owned by the drone. Regardless of the situation, abnormalities of flying objects can be managed independently.

In addition, by using the LPWA wireless system, power saving can be achieved as compared to mobile phone systems such as 3G and 4G as wireless communication systems.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a flying object monitoring communication system according to the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of the flying object monitor by this invention. It is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a wireless monitoring station according to the present invention. 1 shows an example of a communication sequence between a flying object monitor, a wireless monitoring station, and a flying object management station according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows the signal format of the communication signal by this invention. It shows an output waveform of the impact sensor of the present invention.

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

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a system of a communication system for monitoring a flying object according to the present invention, in which a flying object monitor (hereinafter referred to as “object”) 20 is physically connected to a flying object monitor (hereinafter referred to as “monitor”) 20. Accordingly, the monitor 20 wirelessly communicates with a wireless monitoring station (hereinafter referred to as a monitoring station) 30. The area monitored by one monitoring station 30 is a range in which wireless communication is possible, and a range of about 20 kilometers is possible in the LPWA wireless system. Any number of monitors flying in this range can be monitored by the monitoring station 30. As means for physically connecting the object 10 to the monitor 20, there may be screwing, screwing together with an electrical connection terminal, but any method may be used here.

The monitoring station 30 is connected to a flying object management station (hereinafter referred to as a management station) 50 via a public communication network 40, and the management station 50 manages flight of all flying objects.

In FIG. 1, one monitoring station 30 is connected to the management station 50, but in reality, information of many monitoring stations 30 can be aggregated in the management station 50 via the public communication network 40. is there. For example, the information of five monitoring stations in the same city can be centrally managed by one management station 50 in the city, or the management level can be performed at the level of prefecture, state, or the whole of Japan.

As the public communication network 40, a mobile telephone network, a telephone network, an internet network, or the like is appropriately selected and used.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the flying object monitor 20, which includes a GPS sensor 21, a flight trajectory memory 22, an object information memory 23, an impact sensor 24, a level determination circuit 18, a wireless communication circuit 25, a battery 26, and a monitor. An ID memory 27, a power supply control circuit 28, a clock 29, a timer 19, a start switch 17, and a connector 15. The battery is provided with a terminal A so that the battery voltage can be measured from the outside, and the battery voltage is checked before the flight starts.

The block in which the battery 26 is always energized is only the clock 29, and the impact sensor 24, the level determination circuit 18, and the timer 19 are always energized during flight, and the other blocks are energized as needed. The power supply control circuit 28 performs such energization control. Details of the control of the power supply control circuit 28 will be described later.

Before the product is released, the object 10 and the monitor 20 register their respective manufacturer names, serial numbers, and their functions with the management station 50, obtain their respective ID codes from the management station 50, and obtain the ID codes. Write it in the product at the factory. The function information of the object 10 includes a function of managing a flight locus with a built-in GPS sensor, the presence/absence of a connection terminal for connecting to the monitor 20, and when there is a connection terminal, the remaining battery level of the object 10 decreases at the connection terminal. There is a function of notifying the user of the fact, a function of receiving power from the monitor 20 when the battery level is low, and the like. The management station 50 comprehensively manages information about the products of all the objects 10 and the monitor 20, and determines whether an abnormality such as a crash occurs during the flight of the objects, whether the flight has finished safely after the start of flight, and the aircraft has landed normally. Grasp and manage. When the ID code is not given by the management station 50, the manufacturer name and the manufacturing number may be used as the ID code.

As described above, the monitor 20 is often made into a housing by itself, and the object 10 to be combined is often different each time it flies. Therefore, it is necessary to notify the management station 50 of the combination of the object 10 and the monitor 20 before the flight starts. When the object 10 is equipped with a connection terminal, the monitor 20 can automatically obtain the ID code of the object and report it to the management station 50 by communication immediately before or after the start of flight. If not, it is necessary to separately notify the management station 50 of the combination (each ID code) before the flight. As described above, this communication is necessary for the management station 50 to grasp and manage the object information during the flight, and whether the landing is normal after the start of the flight or whether an abnormal situation such as an accident is encountered during the flight. Is important to know. As a contact method, a telephone may be used, or application software for contact may be installed in a smartphone or the like and used.

When the flight of the object 10 is started, the start switch 17 on the monitor 20 is pressed to inform the management station 50 that the flight has started together with the ID code of the object 20 and the ID code of the monitor 20, but the object 10 has a connection terminal. If not, the wireless communication circuit 25 inquires the management station 50 about the function information of the object 10 and the like in order to obtain the ID code and the function information of the object 10. The communication sequence will be described later.

While the object 10 is in flight, the flight trajectory is generated from the clock 29 by the timer 19 to generate a constant periodic signal, GPS sensor information is obtained at that period, and the GPS information and time are written in the flight trajectory memory 22. Go out. When the object information memory 23 knows that the object 10 has the GPS function, it is not always necessary to store the flight trajectory, and when it is not necessary, the timer 19 is deactivated and the GPS sensor is disabled. 21. By stopping the periodic power supply to the flight trajectory memory 22, the power consumption of the monitor 20 can be further saved.

An abnormality during flight of the object 10 collides with an obstacle such as a tree or crashes, and the impact sensor 24 and the level determination circuit 18 for determining the impact level for detecting the abnormality are constantly supplied with power during flight. ing. The output voltage of the impact sensor 24 changes depending on the magnitude of the impact, and when the object 10 (1) lightly touches a tree or an electric wire during flight, (2) touches something and flies a little but meanders. (3) When something touches something and the flight becomes uncontrollable, or the object itself becomes uncontrollable and crashes on the surface of the ground or on the roof of a building, etc. ( 4) The output voltage and the voltage waveform are different when returning to the original landing point normally (normal landing).

Based on the output voltage and the waveform of the impact sensor 24, the level determination circuit 18 activates the wireless communication circuit 25 when the impact level is (2), (3), or (4), and at the point where contact occurs. The GPS information, the impact sensor output voltage, and the impact level are transmitted to the monitoring station 30 together with the monitor ID code. FIG. 6 shows the output waveform of the impact sensor. The output waveform of the impact sensor is a pulse-like analog waveform having an uphill and a downhill, but it is shown as an impulse in FIG. 6(a), (b), (c), (d), and (e), (a) is (1), (b) is (2), (c) at the above-mentioned impact level, respectively. ) Corresponds to (3), (d), (e) corresponds to (4). Fig. 6(c) shows that the impact sensor output voltage is large at the time of a crash, and it bounces several times due to the shock of a crash, while Fig. 6(d) shows how it normally slides down the runway like an airplane at normal landing. , Fig. 6(e) shows the state of vertical landing and bouncing once for normal landing.

Since only the observation of the impact sensor output waveform is not accurate in the determination of (3) and (4), the GPS information is observed at the same time when the impact sensor 24 outputs. If the impact sensor output voltage corresponds to cases (3) and (4) above, observe whether the position information of the GPS sensor has changed abruptly or gently, and in the case of abrupt change ( In Fig. 6(c), the GPS information corresponding to the three output waveforms changes greatly, and the change is gentle (Fig. 6(d), the GPS information in each output waveform changes slightly, Fig. 6(e) In (), if the GPS information is almost unchanged), it is judged that the landing has occurred. The idea (decision algorithm) for determining whether the vehicle is crashing or landing is that some algorithms are set in the level determination circuit 18 so that the algorithm that is as accurate as possible can be selected by continuously observing the actual flight. The most suitable algorithm is selected by the method described later while it is installed and the actual flight situation is observed. For example, Algorithm 1 may be optimal depending on the weight of the flying object, and Algorithm 2 may be determined when the weather is strong and windy.

The operation of the power supply control circuit 28 described above is shown in Table 1. (In FIG. 2, the output of the power supply circuit is drawn with a thick line, but the details of the control are shown in Table 1.)

As can be seen in Table 1, power is supplied to most blocks during communication, but communication is performed only at the beginning of flight, at the end of flight (normal landing and crash), and when reporting abnormal conditions. A communication time of about several seconds is sufficient. When the object 10 does not include the GPS sensor 21, the monitor 20 manages the flight trajectory, so the GPS sensor 21 and the flight trajectory memory 22 are supplied with power at a constant cycle of 5 minutes.

The power supply to the shock sensor 24 and the level determination circuit 18 is stopped when the flight is completed. This is because the shock sensor 24 reacts to the vibration when the monitor 20 is transferred while the flight is not in progress, and the abnormality is detected. This is because it is determined that the management station 50 cannot be contacted.

In such a use, the battery life of the monitor 20 will be usable for several years even if it flies for 2 hours every day, depending on the battery capacity and the operating time of the monitor 20. For such power saving, it is largely that the power supply control circuit 28 finely controls the power supply to each circuit as shown in Table 1 and that LPWA is used as a wireless communication system. To contribute. It should be noted that the monitor measures the battery voltage at the terminal A before the flight starts and checks whether the voltage is sufficient for the flight. FIG. 3 shows the internal configuration of the monitoring station 30.

The monitoring station 30 has a wireless communication circuit (2) 31 for LPWA as well as a wireless communication circuit 25 built in the monitor 20, and communicates with the monitor 20. One monitor station 30 monitors a plurality of monitors 20, and their flight states are managed by an object information management circuit 32. Since the flight states of a plurality of objects are communicated to the management station 50 via the public communication network 40, there is a public communication network connection circuit 33, and the public communication network includes an internet network, a public mobile telephone network, and a telephone line network. , Which is appropriately selected depending on the public communication network used by the management station 50.

Depending on the flight scale such as the number of objects 10 and the flight range, the monitoring station 30 may have the function of the management station 50 and the management station 50 may not be installed.

FIG. 5 shows a signal format of a communication signal communicated between the monitor 20 and the monitoring station 30, and the signal type of FIG. 5(a) shows a kind of the signal to be communicated. There are 9 types: “start flight”, “function question”, “function information”, “impact occurrence”, “argo change”, “abnormal occurrence”, “flight trajectory”, “fall crash”, and “normal landing”.

Table 2 shows when these signals are used.

When the object 10 does not have a connection terminal and the object monitor 20 cannot obtain the function code indicating whether the object 10 has an ID code or a GPS function, the "function inquiry" signal is transmitted to the management station 50. Is a question signal to be stored in the object information memory 23 of the object monitor 20, and when the start switch 17 of the monitor 20 is pressed, the monitor 20, the monitoring station 30, and the monitoring station 30 are monitored as in the communication sequence shown in FIG. Communication between the station 30 and the management station 50 is started. The start switch 17 is for declaring the start of flight. When the "function question" signal is not transmitted, the "start flight" signal is transmitted, and when the "function question" signal is transmitted, it is shown in FIG. Is transmitted after receiving the "function information" signal.

As shown in FIG. 5A, all the signals in Table 2 include the monitor ID, the time, and the information field, but some signals do not include the information field. Further, regarding the signal including the information field, the signal format of the information field is shown in FIGS. 5(b), (c), and (d). It should be noted that it is not always necessary for all signals except the "function inquiry" signal to transmit the object ID signal in addition to the monitor ID, because the management station 50 manages both the object ID and the monitor ID. The information managed by the management station 50 and the information are necessary from the viewpoint of confirming each flight, just in case, and may be transmitted.

In the “function information” signal of FIG. 5B, there are functions 1, 2, and 3, but the functions of the object 10 are shown as 1, 2 and 3 by way of example. There will be a flight trajectory management function, an internal abnormality notification function for flying objects, an external battery supply when the battery level is low, and even a built-in camera.

When the object 10 comes into contact with something during flight and the level determination circuit 18 determines (2), (3), or (4) described above, the "impact occurrence" signal is transmitted, but the information The format of the parts is shown in FIG. In FIG. 5C, the crest value of the pulse of the shock sensor output, the time when the crest value occurs, and the GPS value at that time are transmitted as one set for each generated pulse. For example, one set of information showing the output waveform of the impact sensor is transmitted in FIG. 6B, three sets in FIG. 6C, three sets in FIG. 6D, and two sets in FIG. 6E.

The flying object management station 50 constantly manages and observes the crest value, time, GPS value information and level determination information of the "impact occurrence" signal transmitted from all objects, and crashes or lands as described above. when the determining that it is better to change the algorithm for determination whether, and whether to 2 or to the algorithm 1 "level changing" signal, the number of the plurality of algorithms that are mounted to a level determination Priority determination circuit 18 Tell. As indicated by the dotted line in FIG. 4, the “level change” signal is sent by the flying object management station 50 to the monitor 20 as a reply when the flight start signal is received.

The "Flight trajectory" signal is shown in Fig. 5(d), and is transmitted following the "Abnormality occurrence" and "Crash occurrence" signals, but the information field is transmitted by combining the time and GPS value at regular intervals. It For example, if there are 50 pieces of flight trajectory information, 50 times and GPS values are linked and transmitted. The "flight trajectory" signal may be transmitted subsequent to the "normal landing".

The “abnormality occurrence” signal is for notifying that the object 10 has a function of notifying an abnormal state such as a decrease in the remaining battery level inside. Although the definition of the abnormal state of the object 10 is the specification itself of the object 10, an abnormal value according to the definition of the abnormality of the object is separately defined in the information field of the "abnormality occurrence" signal, and the value is indicated as the abnormal content. Be done. The management station 50 that has been notified of the abnormal state of the object 10 informs the administrator of the object 10 by telephone or the like and requests necessary measures such as flight stop.

When the object 10 and the monitor 20 are connected by the connector 15, and the content of the “abnormality occurrence” signal indicates that the battery level of the object 10 is low, the power supply control circuit 28 causes the object 10 with a low battery level to be discharged. It is also possible to take emergency measures such as supplying the battery power of the above using the battery power of the monitor 20.

Although the above-described embodiment is described in the image of a drone as a flying object, the flying object is not limited to a drone, and can be applied to, for example, a glider or an airship.

The monitor 20 of the present invention uses a self-employed wireless communication network to save power, and because it is self-employed, it does not require payment of a communication charge as with a public wireless communication network, and the monitoring station In addition, the system is characterized by being able to freely construct a system, and in cooperation with the management station that manages all flying objects, it enables the construction of a flying object management system at the national level.

The monitoring communication system of the present invention can be constructed by using a public mobile phone communication network called 3G or 4G as a wireless communication system instead of a self-employed communication system.

The flying object monitor according to the present invention can be attached to any flying object, and is extremely useful for a drone whose use is expected to increase rapidly in the future, for monitoring and reporting such as a crash. It can be realized at a size and price that can be sold at a mass retailer like a drive recorder that can be installed in a car, and is highly commercial.

10. Flying object 15. Connector 17. Start switch 18. Level determination circuit 19. Timer 20. Flying object monitor 21. GPS sensor 22. Flight trajectory memory 23. Object information memory 24. Impact sensor 25. Wireless communication circuit 26. Battery 27. Monitor ID memory 28. Power supply control circuit 29. Clock 30. Radio monitoring station 31. Wireless communication circuit (2)
32. Flying object information management circuit 33. Public communication network connection circuit 40. Public communication network 50. Flight Object Management Bureau

Claims (1)

A flying object monitor added to a flying object , a wireless monitoring station, and a system consisting of a flying object management station, wherein the flying object monitor and the wireless management station are connected by a low power consumption wireless communication network, The flying object monitor pre-assigned with a unique ID code includes a GPS sensor, a clock, an impact sensor, a level determination circuit, a wireless communication circuit, a power supply control circuit, a clock, and a battery, and the power supply control circuit, The impact sensor and the level determination circuit, the timepiece is always powered, the level determination circuit is equipped with a plurality of determination algorithms for determining the flight abnormality of the flying object, the output of the impact sensor exceeds a certain value, When it is determined by the level determination circuit that a flight abnormality has occurred, the level determination circuit determines the impact level from the impact sensor output and GPS information, and together with the impact level information, the crest value of the impact sensor, time, and GPS information. A shock generation signal including the signal is transmitted to the wireless monitoring station, and the flying object management station gives an instruction to select the plurality of algorithms while observing the shock generation signal received from the flying object monitor. A flying object monitoring communication system.

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