JP6991387B1 - Aircraft control system and airframe control method - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is an airframe control system capable of guiding an airframe even when the airframe cannot be controlled by remote control or autonomous control. SOLUTION: The aircraft control system includes an air vehicle that moves by autonomous control based on remote instruction or autonomous control by a program, and a communication device capable of communicating with the air vehicle, wherein the communication device is a remote instruction or program. When it receives uncontrollable information indicating that the autonomous control of the flight object cannot be performed by A reception unit that receives an input instruction for putting the aircraft into a desired moving state and a first transmission unit that transmits a control command based on the input instruction to the aircraft are provided. It includes a plurality of drive units responsible for movement, and a manual control unit in which the flying object receives control commands and controls the drive units according to the control commands. [Selection diagram] Fig. 1

Description

The present invention relates to an air vehicle control system for controlling an air vehicle and a vehicle body control method.

In recent years, by arranging wireless communication base stations at high altitudes, the communication area of the base stations has become wider, so HAPS (High Altitude Platform), which is known as a high altitude platform for mounting wireless stations on aircraft that fly at high altitudes A communication system using System) has been developed.

For example, an unmanned aerial vehicle, which is an example of HAPS, is often controlled by control signals such as GPS (Global Positioning System) transmitted from satellites and ground base stations, but it manages spoofing GPS signals and unmanned aerial vehicles. It is also assumed that an unmanned aerial vehicle will be hijacked and illegally operated by hacking a computer.

Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for autonomously moving an unmanned aerial vehicle to a safe area when remote control becomes impossible (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-64903

By the way, although such an unmanned aerial vehicle is controlled based on instructions from the ground or controlled to navigate autonomously according to a predetermined program, it may not be able to accept the drive under the control due to some kind of equipment abnormality or the like. There is a problem of having sex.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides an air vehicle control system capable of guiding the air vehicle to a safe place when the movement control by the processor mounted on the air vehicle becomes ineffective. The purpose is to provide.

In order to solve the above problems, the flight object control system according to the present invention includes an flight object that moves by autonomous control based on remote instructions or autonomous control by a program, and a communication device that can communicate with the flight object. In the control system, the communication device includes a first receiver that receives uncontrollable information indicating that the flight object cannot be autonomously controlled by remote instruction or a program, and a plurality of communication devices that move the flight object according to the uncontrollable information. Acquisition unit that acquires estimated information that estimates the state of each of the driving units of the A first transmitter that transmits a control command to bring the aircraft into a desired movement state according to an input instruction, and the aircraft includes a plurality of drive units that are responsible for the movement of the aircraft. An autonomous control unit that controls multiple drive units based on remote instructions or a program, a second receiver unit that receives control commands, and a manual control unit that receives control commands and controls the drive units according to control commands. And prepare.

In the above-mentioned flight object control system, the desired movement states are the first movement of the flight object in the desired direction in the horizontal direction, the second movement of the flight object in the vertical direction, and the third movement of acceleration / deceleration of the flight object. The estimated information may be any of the two, and the estimated information may be information indicating which of the plurality of driving units the driving unit that realizes the desired moving state is.

In the above-mentioned flight object control system, the control command may include information for designating one of the first movement, the second movement, and the third movement, and the control direction in each movement.

In the above-mentioned flight object control system, the flight object includes a second transmission unit that transmits drive information indicating the movement state of the flight object and the drive state and time of a plurality of drive units to a communication device at predetermined time intervals. The control system learns the relationship between the moving state of the flying object at each time and the driving states of the plurality of driving units based on the plurality of driving information transmitted from the second transmitting unit, and generates a learning model. The unit, the detector that detects that the aircraft is in an uncontrollable state where the aircraft cannot be controlled by remote instruction or autonomous control by a program, and the drive information and the current time that was last transmitted from the second transmitter. Based on this, an estimation unit that estimates the driving states of a plurality of driving units of the flying object and generates estimation information may be provided, and the acquisition unit may acquire the estimation information estimated by the estimation unit.

In the above-mentioned flying object control system, the flying object transmits a first path for transmitting a control signal from the autonomous control unit to each of the plurality of drive units and a control signal based on a control command from the manual control unit to each of the plurality of drive units. It is determined whether or not the control can be executed by the switching unit that switches between the second path to be transmitted and the autonomous control unit, and if it is determined that the control cannot be executed, the first path to the second path to the switching unit are determined. It may be provided with a switching control unit instructing the control system to be switched.

In the above-mentioned flight object control system, the control command may include a command instructing the switching unit to switch the control system from the first path to the second path.

According to the flight object control system according to the present invention, when the flight object becomes uncontrollable, the movement state of the flight object is estimated and the driving unit related to various movements is estimated, and a simple control command is used. Since it can be switched to manual control, the aircraft can be guided safely.

It is a figure which shows the system configuration example of the aircraft body control system. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of an air vehicle. It is a block diagram which shows the configuration example of a base station. It is a block diagram which shows the configuration example of a terminal. It is a figure which shows the configuration example of switching between autonomous control and manual control. It is a sequence diagram which shows the operation example of the flying object control system which concerns on the generation of a learning model. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example of the flying object which concerns on the process of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the configuration example of the base station which concerns on the process of FIG. It is a sequence diagram which shows the operation example of the flying body control system when the flying body cannot control independently. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example of the flying object which concerns on the process of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example of the base station which concerns on the process of FIG.

Hereinafter, the flight object control system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<Overview>
As shown in FIG. 1, the flight object control system according to the present invention includes an flight object 100, a ground station 200, communication terminals 300a and 300b (sometimes collectively referred to as a communication terminal 300), and a satellite 400. And may be included. In the flight object control system shown in FIG. 1, the flight object 100 is a large (possibly small) aircraft that stays in the air and functions as a base station for terminals on the ground. The aircraft 100 is an aircraft constituting HAPS (High Altitude Platform System), which is a high altitude platform. Further, the flying object 100 is connected to the ground station 200 by wireless communication, and serves as a base station for the communication terminal 300a and the communication terminal 300b (hereinafter, collectively referred to as the communication terminal 300 unless otherwise specified). Provide wireless communication between a plurality of communication terminals 300. The ground station 200 may be a management device that manages the flying object 100 and the ground base station, which are the base stations of aviation, or may be the base station on the ground. The ground station 200 allocates a communication area provided to the communication terminal 300 by the flight body 100, controls the aircraft with respect to the flight body 100, and receives a report on the flight state and the communication provision status from the flight body 100. You may do it. Further, the communication terminal 300 is, for example, a mobile phone, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a mobile communication module, an IoT (Internet of Things) device, or the like. In the first embodiment, one aircraft 100 and one ground station 200 are shown, and two communication terminals 300 are shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and there may be more than one. Further, the base stations on the ground are configured to be connectable to each other via the communication network on the ground, and the communication terminal 300 can also communicate using the communication network.

The aircraft body 100 is basically driven by an instruction from the ground station 200 (instruction directly or via a satellite 400). Further, the flying object 100 may autonomously navigate by an automatic navigation program stored in advance.

Then, when the control by its own processor becomes ineffective for some reason, the flying object 100 is controlled by manual control from any of the ground station 200, the communication terminal 300, and the satellite 400 with a simple control command. , Move to a safe area. Hereinafter, the method for realizing manual control by this simple control command will be described in detail.

<Structure>
<Structure of flying object 100>
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the flying object 100.

The flying object 100 flies over the sky for a certain period of time. For example, the sky is a high altitude of about 20 km, and a fixed period is a period of several weeks, months, one year, or the like. As an example, the flying object 100 is a solar plane, a solar airship, or the like, and can fly for a long period of time as compared with a normal airplane or an airship. When the aircraft 100 flies, for example, in the stratosphere, the airflow is stable in the stratosphere, so that the aircraft 100 can stay in the air for a long period of time. The altitude at which the flying object 100 flies is not limited to about 20 km, and may be higher or lower than 20 km. Here, when the communication terminal 300 is a conventional terrestrial cellular type mobile terminal, the technical use distance capable of communicating with the base station, for example, about 100 km in the case of LTE. In this case, the altitude of the flying object 100 is about 50 km or less.

Further, the airship 100 may have a function of flying in the air in addition to the above example (solar play or solar airship), and is, for example, an airplane, an airship, a balloon, a helicopter, a drone, or the like. Further, the flying object 100 can be equipped with various sensors or various cameras. Examples of the sensor include, but are not limited to, a sensor capable of performing remote sensing by laser ranging or Doppler radar. Examples of cameras include, but are not limited to, visible light cameras, infrared cameras, and terrain cameras (stereoscopic cameras). The aircraft 100 is appropriate for the ground station 200 by transmitting the measurement results of these sensors and cameras and the acquisition result of information indicating the distribution of the communication terminal 300, which will be described later, to the ground station 200. It is possible to allocate various communication areas.

As shown in FIG. 2, the flying object 100 includes a communication unit 110, a manual control unit 120, a control unit 130, a storage unit 140, and a drive unit 150.

The communication unit 110 performs control link communication with the ground station 200 via a control link antenna (not shown), and transmits / receives information about the aircraft of the flying object 100. Here, the control link antenna is an antenna provided in the airframe of the airframe 100, and is an antenna used for communicating information about the airframe with the ground station 200. Further, the control link communication is a communication related to the control of the flying object 100, which is performed between the ground station 200 and the flying object 100, and is a communication using the control link antenna for the flying object 100. Further, the information about the aircraft is, for example, a control signal of the aircraft transmitted from the ground station 200 to the aircraft 100, or a status signal (state information) of the aircraft 100 transmitted from the aircraft 100 to the ground station 200. And so on. The airframe control signal is a signal indicating the control of the airframe, and the state signal is a signal indicating the flight state of the airframe, which are the current coordinates, speed, traveling direction, and tilt of the airframe, respectively. In addition to the level, sensing data sensed by various sensors for detecting the state of each part of the machine including the drive unit 150 and the surrounding situation is included.

Further, the communication unit 110 performs feeder link communication with the ground station 200 via the feeder link antenna (not shown). Here, the feeder link communication is a communication performed with the ground station 200 by using the feeder link antenna provided in the airframe of the flying object 100.

Further, the communication unit 110 provides service link communication to the communication terminal 300 via the service link antenna (not shown). The service link communication is a communication that provides a communication service with another communication terminal 300 to the communication terminal 300 by using the service link antenna provided in the flying object 100.

Further, the communication unit 110 transmits uncontrollable information when there is an abnormality in the flying object 100 according to the instruction from the control unit 130. The communication unit 110 transmits uncontrollable information via any one or a plurality of control links, feeder links, and service links. The uncontrollable information may be transmitted to a device capable of wirelessly controlling the flying object 100 from the outside.

The manual control unit 120 manually controls the drive unit 150 according to a control command received via the communication unit 110, that is, a control command transmitted from the second reception unit 132. The control command for controlling by the manual control unit 120 can only be controlled by a simple instruction content.
(1) Which of the 360 degrees in the horizontal direction is the direction of travel (first movement)?
(2) Whether it goes up or down (second move)
(3) Whether to increase or decrease the speed (third move),
Only three types of control are performed. The control command includes only an instruction as to which of the above three types of control is to be performed and the control content for each control. In the case of the control of (1), the control command includes an identifier for designating the drive unit 150 that controls the first movement and information for designating the direction of movement. The direction of movement may be specified, for example, north, south, east, or west, or may be specified at an angle with respect to a predetermined direction. In the case of the control of (2), the control command includes an identifier that specifies the drive unit 150 that controls the second movement, and information that specifies whether to ascend or descend. In the case of the control of (3), the control command includes an identifier that specifies the drive unit 150 that controls the third movement, and information that specifies whether to increase or decrease the speed. By formatting the control command in such a format, it is possible to control the movement of the flying object 100 with a small amount of information.

The control unit 130 is a processor having a function of controlling each part of the flying object 100. The control unit 130 may be realized by a single core or a multi-core.

The control unit 130 includes an autonomous control unit 131, a second reception unit 132, a second transmission unit 133, an abnormality detection unit 134, a switching unit 135, and a switching control unit 136 as functions realized by the control unit 130. Be prepared.

The autonomous control unit 131 drives each of the drive units 150 based on sensing data from various sensors (not shown) provided in the own machine according to the autonomous flight program 141 stored in the storage unit 140. Control the movement of your own machine.

The second receiving unit 132 receives a control command for manual control from any of the ground station 200, the communication terminal 300, and the satellite 400 via the communication unit 110. When the second receiving unit 132 receives the control command, the second receiving unit 132 transmits the received control command to the manual control unit 120.

The second transmitting unit 133 collects sensing data (including the control state and the driving state of the driving unit 150) coming up from various sensors (not shown) provided in each unit of the flying object 100, and the communication unit 110. It has a function of transmitting to the ground station 200 as drive information via the above. The transmission of the drive information by the second transmission unit 133 may be performed at regular time intervals, randomly, or according to an instruction from the ground station 200. Basically, the second transmission unit 133 transmits the drive information at regular time intervals. The drive information may include at least the drive state of each part of the drive unit 150, the movement state of the flying object 100, and the time when each sensing data is sensed.

The abnormality detection unit 134 detects an abnormality when an abnormality has occurred in the own aircraft, that is, each part of the flying object 100. The abnormality in the present embodiment is an abnormality in which the control unit 130 cannot control the drive unit 150. For example, when the control unit 130 does not return a response signal to the control signal to the drive unit 150. It may be detected that there is an abnormality. The method of detecting an abnormality is not limited to this, and an abnormality of various devices may be detected by an independently provided sensor or the like. When the abnormality detection unit 134 detects an abnormality, the abnormality detection unit 134 transmits uncontrollable information indicating that the ground station 200 or the like has an abnormality via the communication unit 110.

The switching unit 135 is controlled by the autonomous control unit 131 according to the instruction from the switching control unit 136, that is, the control unit 130 controls the drive unit 150 from its own processor and the manual control unit 120 controls the drive unit 150. It has a function to switch between. Further, the switching unit 135 is a control of the drive unit 150 by the autonomous control unit 131, and may be configured to switch between the main control and the sub control.

The switching control unit 136 controls the switching unit 135 to prioritize the instruction from the control unit 130 of the own machine or the manual control based on the control command from the external device for the control to the drive unit 150. Has a function to switch between. The switching control unit 136 may further have a function of switching between the main control and the sub control and transmitting the instruction from the control unit 130 to the drive unit 150.

The storage unit 140 has a function of storing various programs and data required for the operation of the flying object 100. The storage unit 140 can be realized by, for example, an HDD (Hard Disc Drive), an SSD (Solid State Drive), a flash memory, or the like, but the storage unit 140 is not limited thereto. The storage unit 140 stores, for example, an autonomous flight program 141 for autonomously driving and controlling the aircraft 100 based on sensing data obtained from various sensors. The autonomous flight program 141 is a program for moving (driving) the flying object 100 based on its own state information acquired by the flying object 100.

The drive unit 150 has a function of driving the movement of the flying object 100. The drive unit 150 may be a propeller as an example, but is not limited to the propeller. Further, the flying object 100 includes a plurality of driving units 150 and is individually driven. Which of the above-mentioned first movement, second movement, and third movement is carried out by each of the drive units 150 is appropriately set and changed according to the situation of the flying object 100.

The above is a configuration example of the flying object 100.

<Structure of ground station 200>
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the ground station 200.

The ground station 200 may be a management device (Ground Control Station) that manages a plurality of base stations, or may be a base station. The ground station 200 may function as a device capable of manually controlling the flying object 100.

As shown in FIG. 3, the ground station 200 includes a communication unit 210, an input unit 220, a control unit 230, a storage unit 240, and an output unit 250.

The communication unit 210 is a communication interface having a function for executing communication with another device. The communication unit 210 may perform communication by any communication protocol as long as it can communicate with other devices. The communication unit 210 communicates with the flying object 100, the communication terminal 300, the satellite 400, and the like according to the instruction from the control unit 230.

The input unit 220 is an input interface having a function of receiving input from the operator of the ground station 200 and transmitting it to the control unit 230. The input unit 220 may be realized by a soft key such as a touch panel, or may be realized by a hard key. Alternatively, the input unit 220 may be a microphone for receiving voice input. The input unit 220 transmits, for example, a control command for controlling the flying object 100 to the control unit 230.

The control unit 230 is a processor having a function of controlling each unit of the ground station 200. The control unit 230 may be realized by a single core or a multi-core.

As the functions realized by the control unit 230, the control unit 230 includes a first reception unit 231, an acquisition unit 232, a reception unit 233, a first transmission unit 234, a learning unit 235, a detection unit 236, and an estimation unit. 237 may be provided.

The first receiving unit 231 receives uncontrollable information indicating that the flying object 100 cannot be autonomously controlled by a remote instruction or a program from the flying object 100 via the communication unit 210. When the first receiving unit 231 receives the uncontrollable information, the first receiving unit 231 transmits to that effect to the acquisition unit 232.

When the acquisition unit 232 receives the uncontrollable information from the first reception unit 231, the acquisition unit 232 acquires the estimation information that estimates the state of each of the plurality of drive units that move the flight object 100 at the present time from the estimation unit 237. Each state of the plurality of drive units 150 may be information indicating which drive unit 150 contributes to the direction control, the ascending / descending control, or the speed ascending / descending control of the flying object 100.

The reception unit 233 receives an input instruction for bringing the flying object 100 into a desired moving state, which is input from the operator of the ground station 200 or the like via the input unit 220. The reception unit 233 transmits a control command based on the received input instruction content to the first transmission unit 234.

The first transmission unit 234 transmits the control command received from the reception unit 233 to the flight object 100 via the communication unit 210. The control command may be transmitted via the satellite 400 instead of directly to the aircraft 100.

The learning unit 235 learns the relationship between the state information received from the flying object 100 via the flying object information 241 or the communication unit 210 stored in the storage unit 240, the time, and the environmental information, and learns the learning model 142. Has the function of generating. The learning unit 235 may generate a learning model 142 according to an input instruction from an operator or the like to the input unit 220, and each time new state information is registered in the flight object information 241 or a certain number of new ones. Learning may be performed every time the state information is registered in the flight object information 241.

The detection unit 236 receives the uncontrollable information transmitted from the flight object 100 via the communication unit 210, or detects a state indicating that the flight object 100 has an abnormality (for example, from the ground station 200). When there is no response to the transmitted instruction, or when the behavior is different from the transmitted instruction), it is detected that an abnormality has occurred in the flying object 100. When the detection unit 236 detects an abnormality in the flying object 100, the detection unit 236 notifies the estimation unit 237 to that effect.

The estimation unit 237 acquires the current time and environmental information when an abnormality in the flying object 100 is detected by the detection unit 236. The environmental information is the current weather, especially the weather information around the place where the flying object 100 is estimated to exist. Then, by inputting the acquired current time and environmental information into the learning model 142, the driving state of the driving unit 150 of the flying object 100, that is, what movement control each driving unit 150 is used for is used. To estimate. Then, the estimation information indicating the estimated result is transmitted to the manual control unit 120.

The storage unit 240 has a function of storing various programs and data required for operation by the ground station 200. The storage unit 240 can be realized by, for example, an HDD (Hard Disc Drive), an SSD (Solid State Drive), a flash memory, or the like, but the storage unit 240 is not limited thereto. The storage unit 240 stores, for example, the flight object information 241 and the learning model 142. The flight object information 241 is a set of state information of the flight object transmitted from the flight object 100, and is information necessary for generating the learning model 142. The learning model 142 is a model for estimating the moving state of the flight object 100, and is a model for learning at least the relationship between the flight object information, the time when each flight object information is acquired, and the environmental information at that time. The environmental information may be meteorological information around the flying object 100.

The output unit 250 has a function of outputting designated information according to an instruction from the control unit 230. The output by the output unit 250 may be either an image signal or an audio signal. In the case of output by an image signal, it may be output to a monitor provided in the ground station 200. Further, in the case of output by an audio signal, it may be output to a speaker provided in the ground station 200. The output unit 250 displays the estimated state of the flying object 100 on the monitor.
The above is a configuration example of the ground station 200.

<Configuration of communication terminal 300>
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the communication terminal 300.

As shown in FIG. 4, the communication terminal 300 includes a communication unit 310, an input unit 320, a control unit 330, a storage unit 340, and an output unit 350.

The communication unit 310 is a communication interface having a function for executing communication with another device. The communication unit 310 may perform communication by any communication protocol as long as it can communicate with other devices. The communication unit 310 communicates with the flying object 100, the ground station 200, etc. according to the instruction from the control unit 330.

The input unit 320 is an input interface having a function of receiving an input from the operator of the ground station 200 and transmitting the input to the control unit 330. The input unit 320 may be realized by a soft key such as a touch panel, or may be realized by a hard key. Alternatively, the input unit 320 may be a microphone for receiving voice input. The input unit 320 transmits, for example, a control command for controlling the flying object 100 to the control unit 330.

The control unit 330 is a processor having a function of controlling each unit of the ground station 200. The control unit 330 may be realized by a single core or a multi-core.

In addition to the function as a normal communication terminal, the control unit 330 may transmit a control command to the flying object 100 when an abnormality occurs, based on the input from the input unit 320, in the same manner as the ground station 200. .. Further, the control unit 330 may have the same functions as the control unit 230 of the ground station 200, for example, an estimation function and a learning function.

The storage unit 340 has a function of storing various programs and data required for the operation of the ground station 200. The storage unit 340 can be realized by, for example, an HDD (Hard Disc Drive), an SSD (Solid State Drive), a flash memory, or the like, but the storage unit 340 is not limited thereto.

The output unit 350 has a function of outputting designated information according to an instruction from the control unit 330. The output by the output unit 350 may be either an image signal or an audio signal. In the case of output by an image signal, it may be output to a monitor provided in the communication terminal 300. Further, in the case of output by an audio signal, it may be output to a speaker provided in the ground station 200. The output unit 350 displays the estimated state of the flying object 100 on the monitor.

The communication terminal 300 may be a communication terminal such as a normal smartphone or a mobile terminal having a function of communicating with another communication terminal by receiving a service provided by the ground station 200 or the flying object 100, but the communication terminal 300 may be a communication terminal. If the holder is a person who has the right to control the flying object 100 in an emergency, it may have a function of manually controlling the flying object 100 from the communication terminal 300.

<Structure of satellite 400>
The satellite 400 is a satellite that functions as a repeater that relays communication between the ground station 200 or the communication terminal 300 and the flying object 100.

The functional configuration of the satellite 400 is almost the same as that of the ground station 200 and the communication terminal 300, and when a control command for the flying object 100 is received from the ground station 200 or the communication terminal 300, the control command is relayed. Since the difference is in the point of transmission to the aircraft 100, detailed description using drawings will be omitted. Further, the satellite 400 may relay the signal from the flying object 100 and transmit it to the ground station 200 or the communication terminal 300.

<Control switching mechanism of the flight object 100>
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a specific example of the switching mechanism of the flying object 100 between the control by the processor and the manual control.

As shown in FIG. 5, the autonomous control unit 131 includes a propeller rotation main control unit 501 and a propeller rotation sub control unit 502, each of which is connected to a terminal of a switch 511. The propeller rotation main control unit 501 is a main control, and the propeller rotation sub control unit 502 becomes a sub control, and the propellers 150a to 150n as the drive unit 150 of the flying object 100 are controlled according to any of the controls. .. The control by the autonomous control unit 131 may be control based on a remote instruction from an operator such as the ground station 200 via the communication unit 110, or may be based on sensing data from a sensor according to the situation of the flying object 100. Although it may be autonomous control, all of them are common in that they are controlled by instructions from the control unit 130 as a processor.

The switch 511 is a switch having two input terminals and one output terminal, and the connection direction is switched by the control from the switching control unit 136. The switch 511 receives an input from either the propeller rotation main control unit 501 or the propeller rotation sub control unit 502, and outputs the received control content to the switch 512.

The output terminal of the switch 511 is connected to one of the input terminals of the switch 512. The switch 512 functions as a switching unit 135, and outputs either the control content from the autonomous control unit 131 or the control content from the manual control unit 120 from the output terminal and transmits the input to the drive unit 150. ..

The switching control unit 136 has a function of switching the connection state between the switch 511 and the switch 512. The switch 511 usually connects the propeller rotation main control unit 501 and the output terminal, and the propeller rotation main control unit 501 does not function for some reason, or the propeller rotation main control unit 501 instructs the drive unit 150. When the output of the switch becomes ineffective, the switching control unit 136 switches the connection state of the switch 511 to the propeller rotation sub control unit 502 side. The switching by the switching control unit 136 of the switch 511 may be based on an instruction from the autonomous control unit 131, or may be a case where the switching control unit 136 detects an abnormality in the propeller rotation main control unit 501. However, it may be based on an instruction from the ground station 200 or the like via the communication unit 110.

The switch 512 usually connects the switch 511 and each propeller (drive unit) 150a to 150n. When the switching control unit 136 receives an instruction indicating that manual control is to be performed via the communication unit 110 from any of the ground station 200, the communication terminal 300, and the satellite 400, the switching control unit 136 determines the connection state of the switch 512. , The connection is switched between the manual control unit 120 and the propellers 150a-150n.

Then, the control command received via the communication unit 110 is transmitted to each propeller (drive unit) 150a-150n via the manual control unit 120, and the propeller (drive unit) 150a-150n is directly controlled.

In this way, the propeller (drive unit) 150a-150n and the propeller rotation main control unit 501 and propeller rotation sub-control that control the propeller (drive unit) 150a-150n by switching the switches 511 and 512 by the switching control unit 136. The connection state with the unit 502 and the manual control unit 120 can be switched. Then, when the autonomous flight by the autonomous control unit 131 cannot be executed, the connection state of the switch 512 can be switched from the state shown in the figure so that the flight body 100 can be manually controlled.

<Operation>
FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing an example of interaction between the flight object 100 according to the flight object control system and the ground station 200. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the flying object 100 that realizes the exchange shown in FIG. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the ground station 200 that realizes the exchange shown in FIG. 6 to 8 show an operation for generating a learning model used for estimating the moving state of the flying object 100.

As shown in FIG. 6, the flying object 100 generates state information indicating the state of its own aircraft and transmits it to the ground station 200 (step 601). The state information includes information such as the flight speed of the flying object 100, the driving state of the driving unit 150, and the moving direction. The ground station 200 receives and stores the state information (step S602).

After a predetermined time has elapsed (for example, it may be 1 hour, 2 hours, 6 hours, etc., but it is not limited to this, and it may be shorter or longer than these times). The flying object 100 again generates state information indicating the state of its own aircraft and transmits it to the ground station 200 (step S603). The ground station 200 stores the received state information (step S604).

After accumulating a predetermined number of state information, the ground station 200 generates a learning model 142 used for estimating the moving state of the flying object 100 based on the accumulated state information (step S605).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the flying object 100 in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 7, the control unit 130 of the air vehicle 100 acquires state information indicating the state of its own aircraft from various sensors and drive units 150 provided in each unit of the air vehicle 100 (step S701).

The control unit 130 transmits the acquired state information to the ground station 200 via the communication unit 110 (step S702).

The control unit 130 determines whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the state information was transmitted (step S703). When the predetermined time has elapsed (YES in step S703), the process returns to step S701, and when the predetermined time has not elapsed (NO in step S703), the process waits.

As a result, the flying object 100 can sequentially transmit the state information indicating the state of the own aircraft to the ground station 200.

Next, an operation example of the corresponding ground station 200 will be described with reference to FIG.

The communication unit 210 of the ground station 200 receives the state information transmitted from the aircraft 100 (step S801). The communication unit 210 transmits the received state information to the control unit 230, and the control unit 230 stores the state information in the storage unit 240 (S802).

When a predetermined number of state information is stored in the storage unit 240, the learning unit 235 of the control unit 230 moves the flying object 100 based on each state information, the time at that time, and the environmental information at that time. Learn the state. That is, the learning unit 235 generates a learning model 142 that learns the relationship between the time and the driving state of the driving unit 150 of the flying object 100 corresponding to the environmental information, stores it in the storage unit 140 (step S803), and processes it. To finish.

The learning model 142 generated by the learning unit 235 inputs time and environmental information, so that the current flying object 100 uses which driving unit 150 to travel in the horizontal direction, travel in the vertical direction, and accelerate / decelerate. Can be estimated.

FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram showing an example of interaction between the flight object 100 according to the flight object control system and the ground station 200. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the flying object 100 that realizes the exchange shown in FIG. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the ground station 200 that realizes the exchange shown in FIG. 9 to 11 show an operation of estimating the moving state of the flying object 100 and manually controlling it.

As shown in FIG. 9, when the flying object 100 detects an abnormality of its own aircraft, it generates uncontrollable information, and the flying object 100 detects that there is an abnormality in its own aircraft (step S901). When this abnormality is an abnormality in which the drive unit 150 cannot be controlled by the control unit 130, the flying object 100 transmits uncontrollable information to the ground station 200 (step S902).

Upon receiving the uncontrollable information, the ground station 200 estimates the moving state of the flying object using the learning model 142 (step S903). Then, the ground station 200 accepts the input of a simple command signal for manually controlling the flying object 100 based on the estimated moving state (step S904). The ground station transmits a control command to the aircraft 100 based on the input command signal (step S905).

Upon receiving the control command, the aircraft body 100 switches the control to manual control (step S906). Then, the flying object 100 is driven according to the received control command (step S907).

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the flying object 100 in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 10, the abnormality detecting unit 134 of the flying object 100 determines whether or not there is an abnormality in the own aircraft based on the effectiveness of control (whether or not there is ACK, etc.) on the sensor and the driving unit 150 provided in the flying object 100. Detect based on (step S1001). If no abnormality is detected (NO in step S1001), the process waits.

When an abnormality is detected (YES in step S1001), the abnormality detection unit 134 generates abnormality information and transmits it to the ground station 200 via the communication unit 110 (step S1002). When the detected abnormality is an abnormality indicating that the control unit 150 cannot be controlled by the control unit 130, the abnormality information is transmitted to the ground station 200 as uncontrollable information.

After the control of the drive unit 150 by the control unit 130 becomes impossible, the second reception unit 132 determines whether or not the control command is received via the communication unit 110 (step S1003). If the control command has not been received (NO in step S1003), the system waits. When the control command has been received (YES in step S1003), the second receiving unit 132 transmits to that effect to the switching control unit 136. Then, the switching control unit 136 instructs the switching unit 135 to switch, and switches the control method from the autonomous control by the control unit 130 to the complete manual control (step S1004).

Then, the manual control unit 120 controls each drive unit 150 according to the transmitted control command (step S1005), and ends the process. Although not shown in FIG. 10, manual control may be performed until the safety of the flying object 100 is confirmed.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the ground station 200 in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 11, the control unit 230 of the ground station 200 receives the abnormality information from the flying object 100 via the communication unit 210 (step S1101).

Then, the control unit 230 acquires the environmental information at that time (step S1102). As an example, the control unit 230 may acquire environmental information from the homepage of the Japan Meteorological Agency or the like, but the control unit 230 is not limited to this.

Further, the control unit 230 acquires the current time (step S1103).

The estimation unit 237 inputs the acquired environmental information and the current time into the learning model 242, and estimates the moving state of the flying object 100. That is, the estimation unit 237 specifies the drive unit 150 that controls each of the first movement, the second movement, and the third movement in the flying object 100 (step S1104).

Based on the information estimated by the estimation unit 237, the operator of the ground station 200 determines in which direction the aircraft 100 is currently estimated to be moved, and indicates a drive unit 150 to be moved for that purpose. The input of the command signal indicating the identifier and the control direction thereof is received via the input unit 220 (step S1105).

Then, the first transmission unit 234 of the control unit 230 transmits a control command based on the received command signal to the flight object 100 via the communication unit 210 (step S1106), and ends the process. The transmission of the control command may be repeated until the safety of the flying object 100 is confirmed. The confirmation of the safety of the aircraft 100 may be the restoration of the control function of the drive unit 150 by the control unit 130 of the aircraft 100, or the landing of the aircraft 100 on the ground or at a safe place at sea. May be good.

<Summary>
According to the flight object control system according to the present embodiment, state information indicating the state of the flight object 100 is sequentially acquired, and the relationship between the acquired state information, environmental information, and time is learned to fly. When the control of the drive unit 150 by the control unit 130 of the body 100 becomes ineffective, it is possible to estimate the drive unit 150 that controls various movements of the flight body 100 at that time. Then, by estimating the drive unit 150, a simple control command indicating only the type of movement and the direction of movement (control direction) is transmitted from the ground station 200, and manual control of the flight object 100 is performed. By doing so, you can prepare for unforeseen circumstances.

<Modification example>
Needless to say, the flight object control system according to the above embodiment is not limited to the above embodiment, and may be realized by other methods. Hereinafter, various modification examples will be described.

(1) In FIGS. 6 to 8 of the above embodiment, the communication between the flying object 100 and the ground station 200 has been described, but the communication terminal 300 or the satellite 400 has the same function as the ground station 200. It may be held and configured to generate a learning model, or an external information processing device different from the device shown in FIG. 1 may generate the learning model 142. When the external information processing device generates the learning model 142, the ground station 200 and the communication terminal 300 do not have to include the learning unit, and instead acquire the learning model 142 from the external information processing device. Good as it is.

(2) In FIGS. 9 to 11 of the above embodiment, the description is made as an exchange between the flying object 100 and the ground station 200, but the manual control of the flying object 100 is executed from the specific communication terminal 300. Also, the communication terminal 300 may have the same function as the ground station 200. Further, when the communication terminal 300 does not hold the estimation unit 237 or the learning model 142, the communication terminal 300 accesses the information processing device holding the estimation unit 237 or the learning model 142 such as the ground station 200 to acquire the estimation information. After that, the aircraft 100 may be manually controlled.

(3) In FIGS. 6 to 11 of the above embodiment, the communication between the flying object 100 and the ground station 200 is shown, but the communication may be via the satellite 400. The same can be said when this is replaced by the exchange between the flying object 100 and the communication terminal 300.

(4) In the above embodiment, the communication between the ground station 200 and the flying object 100 when the control of the driving unit 150 by the controlling unit 130 of the flying object 100 becomes ineffective is not particularly limited. This may be communication via any of a control link, a feeder link, and a service link, as long as communication is possible.

(5) The program of each embodiment of the present disclosure may be provided in a state of being stored in a storage medium readable by a computer. The storage medium can store the program in a "non-temporary tangible medium". The storage medium can include any suitable storage medium such as HDD or SSD, or a suitable combination of two or more thereof. The storage medium may be volatile, non-volatile, or a combination of volatile and non-volatile. The storage medium is not limited to these examples, and may be any device or medium as long as the program can be stored.

The flying object 100 or the ground station 200 can realize the functions of the plurality of functional units shown in each embodiment by reading the program stored in the storage medium and executing the read program, for example. Further, the program may be provided to the flying object 100, the ground station 200, the communication terminal 300, or the like via an arbitrary transmission medium (communication network, broadcast wave, etc.). The flying object 100, the ground station 200, and the communication terminal 300, for example, realize the functions of the plurality of functional units shown in each embodiment by executing a program downloaded via the Internet or the like. This program may be executed by the flying object 100, the ground station 200, the communication terminal 300, or the like.

The program can be implemented using, for example, a script language such as ActionScript or JavaScript (registered trademark), an object-oriented programming language such as Objective-C or Java (registered trademark), or a markup language such as HTML5. It is not limited to these.

At least a part of the processing in the ground station 200 may be realized by cloud computing composed of one or more computers. Further, each functional unit of the flying object 100, the ground station 200, and the communication terminal 300 may be realized by one or a plurality of circuits that realize the functions shown in the above embodiment, and the plurality of functional units may be realized by one circuit. The function may be realized.

100 Aircraft 110, 210, 310 Communication unit 120 Manual control unit 130, 230, 330 Control unit 140, 240, 340 Storage unit 150 Drive unit 200 Ground station 220, 320 Input unit 250, 350 Output unit 300 Communication terminal 400 Satellite

Claims (7)

An air vehicle control system including an air vehicle that moves by autonomous control based on remote instructions or autonomous control by a program, and a communication device that can communicate with the air vehicle.
The communication device is
A first receiving unit that receives uncontrollable information indicating that the flying object cannot be autonomously controlled by the remote instruction or the program.
An acquisition unit that acquires estimation information that estimates the state of each of the plurality of drive units that move the flying object according to the uncontrollable information.
A reception unit that receives an input instruction for bringing the flying object into a desired moving state based on the state of each of the plurality of driving units indicated by the estimated information.
A first transmission unit that transmits a control command for bringing the flying object into the desired moving state according to the input instruction is provided.
The flying object is
Multiple drive units responsible for the movement of the aircraft,
An autonomous control unit that controls the plurality of drive units based on the remote instruction or the program.
A second receiver that receives the control command,
An air vehicle control system comprising: a manual control unit in which the air vehicle receives the control command and controls the drive unit in accordance with the control command. The desired movement state is any one of the first movement of the flying object in the desired direction in the horizontal direction, the second movement of the flying object in the vertical direction, and the third movement of acceleration / deceleration of the flying object. Is it?
The flying object according to claim 1, wherein the estimated information is information indicating which of the plurality of driving units the driving unit that realizes the desired moving state is. Control system. 2. The control command is characterized in that it includes information for designating any of the first movement, the second movement, and the third movement, and a control direction in each movement. The aircraft control system described in. The flying object is
It is provided with a second transmission unit that transmits drive information indicating the movement state of the flying object and the drive state and time of the plurality of drive units to the communication device at predetermined time intervals.
The flying object control system is
A learning unit that learns the relationship between the moving state of the flying object at each time and the driving states of the plurality of driving units based on the plurality of driving information transmitted from the second transmitting unit, and generates a learning model. When,
A detection unit that detects that the flying object is in an uncontrollable state in which the flying object cannot be controlled by the remote instruction or the autonomous control by the program.
A presuming unit that estimates the driving state of the plurality of driving units of the flying object and generates the estimated information based on the driving information last transmitted from the second transmitting unit and the current time is provided.
The flight object control system according to claim 3, wherein the acquisition unit acquires the estimation information estimated by the estimation unit. The flying object is
A first path for transmitting a control signal from the autonomous control unit to each of the plurality of drive units, and a second path for transmitting a control signal based on the control command from the manual control unit to each of the plurality of drive units. A switching unit that switches between
It is determined whether or not the control can be executed by the autonomous control unit, and if it is determined that the control cannot be executed, the switching unit is instructed to switch the control system from the first path to the second path. The air vehicle control system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a switching control unit. The flight object control system according to claim 5, wherein the control command includes a command instructing the switching unit to switch the control system from the first path to the second path. A method for controlling an air vehicle in an air vehicle control system including an air vehicle that moves by autonomous control based on remote instructions or autonomous control by a program, and a communication device that can communicate with the air vehicle.
The communication device is
A first reception step of receiving uncontrollable information indicating that the vehicle cannot be autonomously controlled by the remote instruction or the program.
An acquisition step of acquiring estimation information that estimates the state of each of the plurality of driving units that move the flying object according to the uncontrollable information, and
A reception step for receiving an input instruction for bringing the flying object into a desired moving state based on the state of each of the plurality of driving units indicated by the estimated information.
According to the input instruction, the first transmission step of transmitting a control command for bringing the flying object into the desired moving state to the flying object is executed.
The flying object is
Multiple drive units responsible for the movement of the aircraft,
An autonomous control unit that controls the plurality of drive units based on the remote instruction or the program is provided.
The second reception step of receiving the control command and
A flying object control method comprising the manual control step in which the flying object receives the control command and controls the driving unit according to the control command.

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