JP7069080B2 - Control system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a control device mounted on a moving body and tracking a target.

Conventionally, a control device has been realized in which an optical system such as a television camera and an optical system including a range finder such as a laser range finder are mounted on a moving body to track a target by an image signal (see Patent Document 1). ).

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-134028

It is desirable that the control device mounted on the moving object always tracks the target and maintain a state in which the ejector can be instructed to launch in a short time. However, when the monitoring device of the control device cannot operate across the blind area generated by the structure of the moving body, and the target being tracked straddles the blind area in a non-constant velocity linear manner due to the rotational motion of the moving body, the monitoring device Will interrupt the tracking of the target. Therefore, it is necessary to rotate the monitoring device in the direction opposite to the target to reorient to the target that has escaped from the blind area and restart the tracking of the target. In the redirection of the monitor, there is a problem that it takes time for the user to visually confirm the target and manually direct the monitor to the target.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to obtain a control device capable of shortening the time until re-tracking to a target after escaping from the blind region.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, the present invention is a control device mounted on a moving body. The control device has an imager that captures the image of the target and a rangefinder that measures the distance to the target, and is capable of turning and rotating in the up-down direction to monitor the target and detect the sway angle of the moving object. It is equipped with a gyro to control the direction of the monitor and a situation determination device to control the direction of the monitor. In the situation judgment device, a blind area is generated by the structure of the moving body in the monitoring of the monitoring device, the monitoring device cannot monitor across the blind area, and the target being tracked by the rotational movement of the moving body does not cover the blind area. When straddling a constant velocity linearly, the position where the target escapes from the blind area is predicted based on the information of the sway angle, the distance to the target, the monitoring range of the monitor, and the angle that becomes the blind area, and the monitor is predicted. It is characterized by directing to a position and resuming tracking of the monitor's target.

According to the present invention, the control device has an effect that the time until re-tracking to the target after escaping from the blind area can be shortened.

Diagram showing the operational status of the control system The figure which shows the relationship between the blind area by the structure of a moving body and the operating angle range of a monitoring machine, and the change of the position when a target crosses a blind area by the rotational movement of a moving body. Block diagram showing a configuration example of a control device Flow chart showing the operation of the status judgment device of the control device The figure which shows the example of the case where the processing circuit provided in the control device is composed of a processor and a memory. The figure which shows the example of the case where the processing circuit provided in the control device is configured by the dedicated hardware.

Hereinafter, the control device according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to this embodiment.

Embodiment.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an operating state of the control device according to the embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the case where the moving body 2 is a ship on the water surface 1 at sea will be described. It should be noted that this embodiment can also be applied to the case where the moving body 2 is a vehicle on the ground on the ground. In FIG. 1, the moving body 2 includes a monitoring device 3 of a control device that monitors a target 16 that is an injection target, and an ejector 4 that ejects the ejector to the target 16. The monitoring device 3 is provided with an imager as described later, and images the target 16 within the range of the viewing angle 15.

FIG. 2 shows the relationship between the blind region 20 of the structure 22 of the moving body 2 according to the present embodiment and the operating angle range 21 of the monitoring device 3, and the rotational movement of the moving body 2 causes the target 16 to cross the blind region 20. It is a figure which shows the change of the position at the time of doing. The operating angle range 21 is a monitoring range that can be monitored by the monitoring device 3. The monitoring machine 3 cannot monitor the target 16 over the entire 360 ° due to the structure 22 of the moving body 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the monitoring device 3 cannot monitor the target 16 and cannot track the target 16 in the blind area 20. Further, when the moving body 2 itself is rotating, even if the target 16 moves linearly at a constant velocity, the moving body 2 seems to move relatively linearly at a non-constant velocity. .. FIG. 2 shows how the target 16 crosses the blind region 20 in a non-constant linear manner when viewed from the rotating moving body 2. In FIG. 2, (1), (2), and (3) indicate the directivity direction of the monitoring device 3 and the position of the target 16 in each directivity direction of the monitoring device 3. The monitoring machine 3 can restart the tracking of the target 16 at the position where the target 16 is (3), that is, the position where the target 16 has escaped from the blind area 20.

The configuration and operation of the control device mounted on the moving body 2 will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the control device 30 according to the present embodiment. The control device 30 includes a monitoring device 3, a gyro 7, an image tracking processor 8, a tracking controller 9, an injection controller 10, and a display controller 11. The monitoring device 3 includes an image pickup device 5 and a range finder 6. The injection controller 10 has a status determination device 12.

The monitoring device 3 can rotate in the turning and elevation directions, and is directionally controlled with respect to the direction instructed by the display operating device 11 and the tracking controller 9. The monitoring machine 3 monitors the target 16. The imager 5 captures an image of the target 16 outside the blind area 20. The rangefinder 6 measures the distance from the target 16. The gyro 7 detects the sway angle of the moving body 2 and outputs it to the monitoring device 3, and controls the monitoring device 3 in the direction of canceling the sway.

The image tracking processor 8 detects a target signal indicating the position of the target 16 distinguished from the background based on the image captured by the imager 5. The image tracking processor 8 obtains the position of the target 16 as vertical and horizontal angles from the center of the screen. When the monitoring device 3 does not have a mechanical movable axis on the rotation axis, the image tracking processor 8 realizes the shaking correction by rotating the image in the rotation axis direction by using the signal of the gyro 7. The image tracking processor 8 outputs the image of the target 16 to the display controller 11.

The tracking controller 9 obtains the turning and depression / elevation angles in which the target 16 exists from the directional angles of the turning and elevation angles of the monitoring device 3 and the vertical and horizontal angles from the center of the screen obtained by the image tracking processor 8 and monitors them. Command the pointing angle to the machine 3. The injection controller 10 is connected to the injector 4 and controls the ejection of the ejector by the ejector 4. The display operation device 11 displays the image captured by the image pickup device 5 and also performs an operation for direction control of the monitoring device 3. Further, the display operating device 11 performs an operation of directing start / release and injection with respect to the injector 4 via the injection controller 10.

In the injection controller 10, the situation determination device 12 controls the direction of the monitoring device 3. Specifically, the situation determination device 12 suspends the direction of the monitoring device 3 when the target 16 is in the blind region 20, while the angle to the monitoring device 3 by the shaking signal of the moving body 2 from the gyro 7. Continue command calculation.

Further, the situation determination device 12 predicts the future position of the target 16 after escaping from the blind area 20 from the change in the distance between the control device 30 and the target 16 until the target 16 enters the blind area 20, and is a monitoring device. The elevation angle of 3 is controlled to be directed to the target 16. The situation determination device 12 has, for example, information on the sway angle of the moving body 2 detected by the gyro 7, the distance from the target 16 measured by the range finder 6, the monitoring range of the monitoring device 3, and the angle of the blind area 20. Etc. are used to predict the position where the target 16 escapes from the blind area 20. In the moving body 2, the positional relationship between the monitoring device 3 and the structure 22 of the moving body 2 is fixed and known. Therefore, the situation determination device 12 can hold information on the angle of the blind region 20 for the monitoring device 3 in advance. In the situation determination device 12, the target 16 is in the blind area in consideration of the maximum angular velocity of the monitoring device 3 so that the monitoring device 3 can detect the target 16 on the opposite side at the same time as the target 16 escapes from the blind area 20. Before escaping from 20, a signal is transmitted to the monitoring device 3 to start the direction of the target 16. At this time, the content instructed by the situation determination device 12 to the monitoring device 3 is that the target 16 in the blind area 20 sways from side to side due to the non-constant linear motion of the moving body 2 near the stern of the moving body 2. However, it is assumed that the monitoring device 3 has a hysteresis characteristic so as not to reciprocate in the turning direction.

Further, the situation determination device 12 has a sway correction angle with respect to the injector 4 based on the distance to the target 16 measured by the range finder 6 and the target angle indicating the position of the target 16 obtained by the tracking controller 9. Is obtained, and the injector 4 is controlled so that stable orientation is possible in space. The ejector 4 ejects an ejector to the target 16 to be tracked by the injection signal input from the injection controller 10.

As described above, in the situation determination device 12, the blind region 20 is generated by the structure 22 of the moving body 2 in the monitoring of the monitoring machine 3, the monitoring machine 3 cannot monitor across the blind area 20, and the moving body 2 is not monitored. When the target 16 being tracked straddles the blind region 20 in a non-constant linear manner due to the rotational motion, the position where the target 16 escapes from the blind region 20 is predicted. Specifically, the situation determination device 12 includes the sway angle of the moving body 2 detected by the gyro 7, the distance from the target 16 measured by the range finder 6, the monitoring range of the monitoring device 3, and the blind area 20. Based on the information of the angle, the position where the target 16 escapes from the blind area 20 is predicted. The situation determination device 12 directs the monitoring device 3 to the predicted position and restarts the tracking of the monitoring device 3 with respect to the target 16.

The operation of the control device 30 will be described with reference to a flowchart. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the status determination device 12 of the control device 30 according to the present embodiment. In the control device 30, the situation determination device 12 determines whether or not the target 16 is in the blind region 20 from the information from the range finder 6, the tracking controller 9, and the like (step S1). When the target 16 is outside the blind area 20 (step S1: No), the situation determination device 12 ends the operation according to the present embodiment. When the target 16 is in the blind region 20 (step S1: Yes), the situation determination device 12 predicts the position where the target 16 escapes from the blind region 20 (step S2). The situation determination device 12 redirects the monitoring device 3 to the predicted position of the target 16 (step S3), and causes the monitoring device 3 to resume tracking of the target 16 that has escaped from the blind area 20 (step S4).

Next, the hardware configuration of the control device 30 will be described. In the control device 30, the monitoring device 3 is a measuring instrument such as a camera or a radar. The gyro 7 is a sensor that detects the rotational angular velocity. The display operation device 11 is a monitor that displays an image or the like, and an interface that can accept operations from the user. The image tracking processor 8, the tracking controller 9, and the injection controller 10 are realized by a processing circuit. The processing circuit may be a processor and memory for executing a program stored in the memory, or may be dedicated hardware.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example in which the processing circuit included in the control device 30 according to the present embodiment is configured by a processor and a memory. When the processing circuit is composed of the processor 91 and the memory 92, each function of the processing circuit of the control device 30 is realized by software, firmware, or a combination of software and firmware. The software or firmware is written as a program and stored in the memory 92. In the processing circuit, each function is realized by the processor 91 reading and executing the program stored in the memory 92. That is, the processing circuit includes a memory 92 for storing a program in which the processing of the control device 30 is eventually executed. It can also be said that these programs cause the computer to execute the procedure and method of the control device 30.

Here, the processor 91 may be a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a processing device, a computing device, a microprocessor, a microcomputer, a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), or the like. Further, the memory 92 includes, for example, non-volatile or volatile such as RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM (Read Only Memory), flash memory, EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), and EPROM (registered trademark) (Electrically EPROM). This includes semiconductor memory, magnetic disk, flexible disk, optical disk, compact disk, mini disk, DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), and the like.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example in which the processing circuit included in the control device 30 according to the present embodiment is configured by dedicated hardware. When the processing circuit is composed of dedicated hardware, the processing circuit 93 shown in FIG. 6 may be, for example, a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmed processor, a parallel programmed processor, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or the like. FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) or a combination of these is applicable. Each function of the control device 30 may be realized by the processing circuit 93 for each function, or each function may be collectively realized by the processing circuit 93.

It should be noted that some of the functions of the control device 30 may be realized by dedicated hardware, and some may be realized by software or firmware. As described above, the processing circuit can realize each of the above-mentioned functions by the dedicated hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the target 16 to be tracked enters the blind area 20 by the structure 22 of the moving body 2, the control device 30 detects it from the rangefinder 6 and the gyro 7. The position where the target 16 escapes from the blind area 20 is predicted based on the information obtained. When the target 16 escapes from the blind area 20, the control device 30 redirects the monitoring device 3 to the target 16 and causes the monitoring device 3 to retrack the target 16. As a result, the control device 30 can reduce the time required for re-tracking to the target 16 after escaping from the blind area 20.

The configuration shown in the above embodiments shows an example of the contents of the present invention, can be combined with another known technique, and is one of the configurations as long as it does not deviate from the gist of the present invention. It is also possible to omit or change the part.

1 Water surface, 2 Moving object, 3 Monitor, 4 Ejector, 5 Imager, 6 Rangefinder, 7 Gyro, 8 Image tracking processor, 9 Tracking controller, 10 Emission controller, 11 Display controller, 12 Situation Judgment device, 15 viewing angle, 16 target, 20 blind area, 21 working angle range, 22 structure, 30 control device.

Claims (2)

It is a control device mounted on a moving body.
An imager that captures an image of the target and a rangefinder that measures the distance to the target, and a monitoring device that can rotate in the turning and elevation directions to monitor the target.
A gyro that detects the sway angle of the moving body,
A situation determination device that controls the orientation of the monitoring device, and
Equipped with
In the situation determination device, a blind region is generated by the structure of the moving body in the monitoring of the monitoring machine, the monitoring machine cannot monitor across the blind region, and the monitoring machine is tracking due to the rotational movement of the moving body. When the target straddles the blind region in a non-constant linear manner, the target is the target based on information of the sway angle, the distance from the target, the monitoring range of the monitoring device, and the angle of the blind region. Predicting the position to escape from the blind area, directing the monitoring machine to the predicted position, and restarting the tracking of the monitoring machine with respect to the target.
A control device characterized by that. An injection controller having the situation determination device is connected to an ejector that ejects an ejector with respect to the target.
The control device according to claim 1, wherein the control device is characterized by the above.

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