JP7489344B2 - Terrain information management system and work machine - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a terrain information management system and a work machine.

When using computerized construction and automated construction with work machines, it is extremely important to understand the constantly changing topographical information of the work site. In addition, improving the accuracy of topographical information is essential as it affects the accuracy of construction at the work site.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology for improving the accuracy of terrain information, which includes a control system for a work machine that includes an acquisition unit that acquires multiple pieces of current terrain data that indicate the current terrain of a work site where a work machine is working, and a synthesis unit that generates synthetic current terrain data for the work site based on the multiple pieces of current terrain data acquired by the acquisition unit and in accordance with predetermined rules.

International Publication No. 2017/115879

In the above-mentioned conventional technology, for example, the accuracy of the composite current terrain data synthesized using multiple current terrain data is improved by considering the priority of the current terrain data that is set based on the measurement accuracy of each measurement method. However, the accuracy of the current terrain data used to synthesize the composite current terrain data is influenced not only by the simple measurement accuracy of each measurement method, but also by various factors such as the work site environment, so there is a possibility that the accuracy of the composite current terrain data cannot be sufficiently obtained.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above, and aims to provide a terrain information management system and a work machine that can obtain more accurate current terrain data.

The present application includes multiple means for solving the above problem. One example of such a means is a topographical information management system that includes multiple topographical measurement devices that acquire current topographical data of at least a portion of a work site where a work machine is working, a position and orientation measurement device that measures position and orientation information, which is information about the position and orientation of the topographical measurement devices at the work site, and a topographical information management device that generates and stores composite current topographical data, which is current topographical data for a predetermined topographical data acquisition range at the work site, based on the multiple current topographical data acquired by the topographical measurement devices and the position and orientation information calculated by the position and orientation measurement device. The topographical information management device acquires environmental information, which is information about the surrounding environment of each of the multiple topographical measurement devices at the work site, and sets a priority for each of the multiple topographical measurement devices based on the acquired environmental information for each unit section set by virtually dividing the work site into a predetermined size, and generates the composite current topographical data by synthesizing the current topographical data for each unit section in the topographical data acquisition range based on the set priority.

The present invention makes it possible to obtain more accurate current topographical data.

1 is a diagram showing a schematic external view of a hydraulic excavator, which is an example of a work machine. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a control system of a hydraulic excavator together with related configurations. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a vehicle body coordinate system. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between a vehicle body coordinate system, a sensor coordinate system, and a site coordinate system. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a work site where a hydraulic excavator is performing work. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a work site where a hydraulic excavator is performing work. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a topographical information management system. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating example components of a topographical information management system. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating example components of a topographical information management system. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating example components of a topographical information management system. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a topographical information management system at a work site. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a topographical information management system at a work site. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of point cloud data. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of point cloud data. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of grid data. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of grid data. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of table data of grid data in a topographical database. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a priority DB. 13 is a flowchart showing the contents of a process performed by a priority calculation unit; FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of setting a priority setting area. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of setting a priority setting area. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of setting a priority setting area. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of setting a priority setting area. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of setting a priority setting area. 10 is a flowchart showing the contents of processing by a topographical data synthesis unit; FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a state of a work site in a second embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a state of a work site in a second embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing functional blocks of a topographical information management system according to a second embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of setting a priority setting area. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of setting a priority setting area. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of setting a priority setting area. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of setting a priority setting area. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of setting a priority setting area. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of setting a priority setting area. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a work site in a third embodiment; FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a work site in a third embodiment; FIG. 13 is a diagram showing functional blocks of a topographical information management system according to a third embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a state of a work site in a fourth embodiment; FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a state of a work site in a fourth embodiment; FIG. 13 is a diagram showing functional blocks of a topographical information management system according to a fourth embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of work area information. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of work area information.

The following describes an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a hydraulic excavator equipped with a front working implement is used as an example of a work machine, but the present invention is not limited to this and can also be applied to other work machines operating at a work site (construction site).

First Embodiment
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

<Hydraulic Excavator 101>
Fig. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic external view of a hydraulic excavator, which is an example of a work machine according to the present embodiment, and Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a control system of the hydraulic excavator together with related configuration.

1 and 2, the hydraulic excavator 101 includes an articulated front work machine 110 formed by connecting multiple driven members (boom 111, arm 112, bucket 113) that each rotate vertically, and an upper rotating body 131 and a lower running body 132 that form a vehicle body 130, with the upper rotating body 131 being rotatable relative to the lower running body 132. The base end of the boom 111 of the front work machine 110 is supported on the front of the upper rotating body 131 so as to be rotatable in the vertical direction, one end of the arm 112 is supported on an end (tip) different from the base end of the boom 111 so as to be rotatable in the vertical direction, and the bucket 113 is supported on the other end of the arm 112 so as to be rotatable in the vertical direction. The boom 111, arm 112, bucket 113, upper rotating body 131, and lower traveling body 132 are driven by hydraulic actuators, namely, a boom cylinder 121, an arm cylinder 122, a bucket cylinder 123, a swing motor 124, and left and right traveling motors 125, 126 (only the right one is shown in FIG. 1, and the other one is indicated by its reference number in parentheses).

The cab 151 for the operator is located at the top front of the upper rotating body 131. The cab 151 is provided with multiple operation levers 152 that output operation signals for operating the hydraulic actuators 121 to 126. Note that in FIG. 2, only one of the multiple operation levers 152 is shown as a representative. The operation of the hydraulic actuators 121 to 126 is assigned to each of the multiple operation levers 152. For example, a pair of left and right operation levers is assigned to the operation of the hydraulic actuators 121 to 124, each of which can be tilted forward, backward, left and right, and includes a detection device (not shown) that electrically detects the amount of tilt of the lever, which is the operation signal, i.e., the lever operation amount, and outputs the lever operation amount detected by the detection device to the main controller 162 that constitutes the control system of the hydraulic excavator 101 via electrical wiring. Similarly, another pair of left and right operation levers is assigned to the operation of the hydraulic actuators 125 and 126.

The operating lever 152 may be a hydraulic pilot type, and a pilot pressure according to the operating direction and amount of the operating lever 152 operated by the operator may be supplied to the control valve 141 as a drive signal to drive the hydraulic actuators 121 to 126.

The cab 151 is also equipped with a monitor 153 that functions as a display device to notify the operator of information and as an input device to allow the operator to input information, as well as a buzzer (not shown) that notifies the operator of various conditions by means of warning sounds and voices. The screen of the monitor 153 has, for example, a touch panel formed on its surface, and the touch panel can function to receive input from the operator.

The operation of the boom cylinder 121, arm cylinder 122, bucket cylinder 123, swing motor 124, and left and right travel motors 125, 126 is controlled by a control valve 145 that controls the direction and flow rate of hydraulic oil supplied to each hydraulic actuator 121-126 from a hydraulic pump 142 driven by a prime mover such as an engine 143. The control valve 145 is controlled by a drive signal (pilot pressure) output from a pilot pump (not shown) via a pilot valve 144. The operation of each hydraulic actuator 121-126 is controlled by the main controller 162 controlling the pilot valve 144 based on an operation signal from an operating lever 152.

Two GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receivers 171, 172 are arranged side by side at the rear of the upper part of the upper rotating body 131. Hereinafter, when distinguishing between these GNSS receivers 171, 172, the one arranged on the left side will be referred to as the left GNSS receiver 171 and the one arranged on the right side will be referred to as the right GNSS receiver 172. The GNSS receivers 171, 172 have the function of receiving positioning signals output from GNSS satellites flying far above, calculating the position of the hydraulic excavator 101 in the Earth coordinate system based on the received positioning signals, and outputting the calculated position information. In addition, since the relative positions of the GNSS receivers 171, 172 with respect to the upper rotating body 131 are fixed, the orientation of the upper rotating body 131 can be calculated from the deviation of the position information measured by the two GNSS receivers 171, 172.

The GNSS receivers 171 and 172 constitute a position measurement device that measures the position of the hydraulic excavator 101, which is a work machine, at the work site and outputs the measurement results as position information.

Inertial measurement units (IMUs) 181 to 184 are respectively arranged on the boom 111, arm 112, bucket 113, and upper rotating body 131. Hereinafter, when it is necessary to distinguish between these inertial measurement units 181 to 184, they will be referred to as the boom inertial measurement unit 181, the arm inertial measurement unit 182, the bucket inertial measurement unit 183, and the upper rotating body inertial measurement unit 184, respectively.

The inertial measurement units 181-184 measure angular velocity and acceleration. Considering the case where the driven members 111-113 and the upper rotating body 131 on which the inertial measurement units 181-184 are arranged are stationary, the orientations (ground angles) of the driven members 111-113 and the upper rotating body 131 can be detected as posture information based on the direction of gravitational acceleration in the IMU coordinate system set in the inertial measurement units 181-184 (i.e., the vertical downward direction) and the mounting state of the inertial measurement units 181-184 (i.e., the relative positional relationship between the inertial measurement units 181-184 and the driven members 111-113 and the upper rotating body 131). Then, the relative angles of the driven members 111-113 and the upper rotating body 131 can be calculated from the detection results of the inertial measurement units 181-184. In addition, the rotation angle of the upper rotating body 131 can be detected based on the angular velocity detected by the inertial measurement unit 184. In other words, the inertial measurement units 181-184 can be considered angle detectors that detect the relative angle between the driven members 111-113 and the upper rotating body 131. Note that instead of the inertial measurement units 181-184, angle detection devices provided at the connection parts of the driven members 111-113 or the rotation part of the upper rotating body 131 may be used.

In addition, an inertial measurement device 173 is arranged on the upper rotating body 131 to detect the inclination angle of the hydraulic excavator 101 relative to the direction of gravity as posture information.

Here, the inertial measurement units 181-184 and 173 constitute a posture information detection device that detects information related to the posture of the hydraulic excavator 101, which is a work machine, and outputs the detection results as posture information.

On the upper rotating body 131, for example, above the cab 151, a topography measuring device 100 is disposed, which measures the topography around the hydraulic excavator 101 and outputs the measurement results as topography data. The topography measuring device 100 is, for example, an external sensor such as a stereo camera, a laser scanner, or a millimeter wave radar. The topography data output from the topography measuring device 100 is, for example, point cloud data indicating the topography in a vehicle body coordinate system (described later) that is fixedly set with respect to the vehicle body 130 (upper rotating body 131). The topography measuring device 100, for example, periodically automatically measures the topography around the hydraulic excavator 101 and outputs it as topography data. Note that the mounting position of the topography measuring device 100 is not limited to the above, and it may be disposed in a position and posture that allows the topography around the hydraulic excavator 101 to be sufficiently measured. Furthermore, the measurement timing by the topography measuring device 100 is not limited to the above, and for example, topography measurement may be performed when the hydraulic excavator 101 assumes a predetermined posture or when instructed by the operator.

The control system of the hydraulic excavator 101 includes a main controller 162 that controls the overall operation of the hydraulic excavator 101, and an information controller 161 that controls information related to the hydraulic excavator 101. Although not shown, the main controller 162 is hardware equivalent to a computer having a processing device (e.g., a CPU), a storage device (e.g., semiconductor memory such as a ROM or RAM) in which the program executed by the processing device and data required for the execution of the program are stored. Similarly, the information controller 161 is hardware equivalent to a computer in which a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 1611 as a processing device, a storage device (e.g., semiconductor memory such as a ROM 1613 or a RAM 1612) in which the program executed by the CPU 1611 and data required for the execution of the program are stored, and an external interface 1614 are connected by a bus 1615. Note that when the information controller 161 is configured using integrated circuits such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), some or all of the functions of the information controller 161 may be realized by these integrated circuits.

The control system of the hydraulic excavator 101 also includes a storage device 155 for storing various information, and a wireless communication device 157 for communicating with the outside. The storage device 155 is, for example, configured with a hard disk drive or a large-capacity flash memory, and includes a topography database 155a, a soil database 155b, a work area database 155c, and a priority database 155d. The storage device 155 also stores vehicle body parameters 155e, such as the boom length, arm length, bucket size, and dimensional values (described below) of the measurement area of the hydraulic excavator 101, as well as design data representing the completed shape of the work site. The wireless communication device 157 is, for example, a communication device for connecting to a wireless LAN (Local Area Network), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (registered trademark), a mobile line, etc.

The information controller 170 is connected to the main controller 162, the GNSS receivers 171, 172, the inertial measurement units 173, 181-184, the monitor 153, the storage device 155, and the wireless communication device 157 via the external interface 1614.

<Coordinate system>
The vehicle body coordinate system, the sensor coordinate system, and the site coordinate system used in this embodiment, and the relationship between these coordinate systems will be described below.

Figure 3 shows the vehicle body coordinate system. Figure 4 shows the relationship between the vehicle body coordinate system, the sensor coordinate system, and the site coordinate system.

In FIG. 3, the vehicle body coordinate system 900 is a coordinate system that is fixed with respect to the vehicle body 130, and is an orthogonal coordinate system that has its origin at the point where the central axis of the hydraulic excavator 101 intersects with the ground below the lower running body 132, has an X-axis that is positive in the right direction in the left-right direction perpendicular to the central axis of rotation, a Y-axis that is positive in the front-to-rear direction perpendicular to the central axis of rotation, and a Z-axis that is positive upward in the direction along the central axis of rotation.

In FIG. 4, the sensor coordinate system 910 is a coordinate system that is fixed relative to the topography measuring device 100, and is, for example, a cartesian coordinate system consisting of a Y axis with the forward direction being positive, an X axis with the rightward direction being positive, and a Z axis with the upward direction being positive. Similarly, the site coordinate system 930 is a cartesian coordinate system that is set with a reference point set within the work site as its origin, with the Y axis passing through the origin on a horizontal plane, the X axis being positive in the left-right direction on the horizontal plane when looking from the origin in the positive direction of the X axis, and the Z axis being positive in the vertical upward direction.

Considering a certain measurement point 920 in FIG. 4, the measurement point 920 is expressed as Ps (xs, ys, zs) on the sensor coordinate system 910. The measurement point 920 is also expressed as Pv (xv, yv, zy) on the vehicle body coordinate system 900. In other words, the relationship between the vehicle body coordinate system 900 and the sensor coordinate system 910 is expressed by the following (Equation 1) to (Equation 3).

Rsv shown in the above (Equation 2) is a rotation matrix from the sensor coordinate system 910 to the vehicle body coordinate system 900, and the variables αs, βs, and γs are the angles between the X-axes, Y-axes, and Z-axes of the sensor coordinate system 910 and the vehicle body coordinate system 900, respectively. When the topography measuring device 100 is fixed to the hydraulic excavator 101, these angles are constant, so the amount of calculation can be reduced, for example, by measuring the attitude of the topography measuring device 100 in the vehicle body coordinate system 900 in advance and storing it in the storage device 155 in advance. Note that when the topography measuring device 100 performs topography measurement while changing its attitude relative to the hydraulic excavator 101, an attitude measuring sensor may be attached to the topography measuring device 100, and the coordinate transformation matrix may be calculated using the angle detected by the attitude measuring sensor.

Tsv shown in the above (Equation 3) is a translation vector from the origin of the vehicle body coordinate system 900 to the origin of the sensor coordinate system 910. In other words, (xt, yt, zt) is equal to the coordinates of the origin position of the sensor coordinate system 910 in the vehicle body coordinate system 900. The mounting position of the topography measuring device 100 is often fixed relative to the hydraulic excavator 101. For this reason, in this embodiment, the mounting position of the topography measuring device 100 on the hydraulic excavator 101 is measured in advance, and this measurement value is stored in advance in the storage device 155.

In addition, in FIG. 4, the measurement point 920 is expressed as Pv(xv, yv, zv) on the vehicle body coordinate system 900, and as Pg(xg, yg, zg) on the site coordinate system 930. In other words, the relationship between the vehicle body coordinate system 900 and the site coordinate system 930 is expressed by the following (Equation 4) to (Equation 6).

The Rvg shown in the above (Equation 5) is a rotation matrix from the vehicle body coordinate system 900 to the site coordinate system 930, and the variables θr, θp, and θy are the angles between the X-axes, Y-axes, and Z-axes of the vehicle body coordinate system 900 and the site coordinate system 930, respectively. The angles θr and θp can be obtained, for example, by using the attitude information of the hydraulic excavator 101 output by the inertial measurement unit 173 (attitude information detection device) mounted on the hydraulic excavator 101. The angle θy can be obtained, for example, by using the orientation of the hydraulic excavator 101 calculated from the positioning data received by the right GNSS receiver 171 and left GNSS receiver 172 mounted on the hydraulic excavator 101.

Tvg shown in the above (Equation 6) is a vector from the origin of the site coordinate system 930 to the origin of the vehicle body coordinate system 900. In other words, (x0, y0, z0) is equal to the coordinates of the origin position of the vehicle body coordinate system 900 in the site coordinate system 930. For these values, for example, the position of the hydraulic excavator 101 calculated from the positioning data received by the right GNSS receiver 171 and the left GNSS receiver 172 is used.

<Basic principles>
First, the basic principle of this embodiment will be described.

Figures 5 and 6 are diagrams illustrating the state of a work site where a hydraulic excavator is performing work.

As shown in FIG. 5, when managing the progress of a work site, an application is considered in which the information on the terrain measured by the hydraulic excavator 101 working at the work site 400 and the sensors installed at the work site is collected by wireless communication in the management server 310 and managed as the current terrain data of the work site. At this time, in order to manage the progress of work at the entire site, the management server 310 performs an integration process on the terrain information (current terrain data) sent from each sensor to generate terrain data (synthetic current terrain data). At this time, it is considered that there is an overlapping area 460 between sensors in the area measured by multiple measurement means. In such a case, more accurate terrain information can be obtained by combining the information from the two sensors, but in the situation of the work site, it is concerned that not only the accuracy information of each sensor but also the slope and soil quality of the place where the construction machine is working may affect the sensing results, reducing the accuracy of the integrated terrain data. Furthermore, in an environment where the sensor measurement results are affected by the external environment, comparing terrain information based solely on the accuracy of the sensor would require processing such as filtering the obtained terrain data to remove data other than the terrain, and monitoring the history of the attitude measurement sensors attached to the construction machinery and evaluating the sensor accuracy each time. This would increase the processing load and raise concerns about a decrease in the processing efficiency for terrain integration.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the area where the hydraulic excavator 101 is working is measured by both the on-site sensor 120 and the topography measurement sensor mounted on the hydraulic excavator 101, so that an overlapping area 460 occurs in the measurements. In this case, if only the measurement accuracy is taken into consideration, the measurement results of the on-site sensor 120 fixed on the site are considered to be highly accurate, so that the measurement results of the on-site sensor are considered to be integrated with a high priority in the topography data integration. However, in the overlapping area 460, the hydraulic excavator 101 is working, and if the measurement results of the on-site sensor 120 are adopted in this case, there is a high possibility that the front of the hydraulic excavator 101 will be reflected. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, in the block area 420 (described later) including the overlapping area 460, by increasing the priority of the topography measurement sensor mounted on the hydraulic excavator 101, efficient topography integration is possible without performing processing to remove the reflection of the front of the hydraulic excavator 101 from the measurement data of the on-site sensor.

The present invention provides a topographical information management system that reduces the need for processing to remove noise from measurement data and enables efficient topographical information integration by taking into account the machine's positional relationship and work site environmental information such as the surrounding soil type and slope in the topographical integration process.

<Topographical Information Management System>
The topography information management system in this embodiment comprises a plurality of topography measurement devices 100 which acquire current topography data for at least a portion of a work site where a work machine is performing work, a position and orientation measurement device 200 which measures position and orientation information which is information regarding the position and orientation of a terrain calculation device at the work site, and a topography information management device 300 which generates and retains synthetic current topography data which is current topography data for a predetermined topography data acquisition range at the work site based on the plurality of current topography data acquired by the topography measurement devices and the position and orientation information calculated by the position and orientation measurement device. The topography information management device 300 acquires environmental information which is information regarding the surrounding environment of the plurality of topography measurement devices at the work site, and for each unit section set by virtually dividing the work site into a predetermined size, sets a priority for each of the plurality of topography measurement devices based on the acquired environmental information, and synthesizes the current topography data for each unit section in the topography data acquisition range based on the set priority to generate synthetic current topography data. In other words, the topographical information management system is not limited to being configured by the hydraulic excavator 101 equipped with the topographical measurement device 100, the position and orientation measurement device 200, and the topographical information management device 300, but can also be configured to include a field-installed sensor 140, a total station 213, a server 310, etc., which will be described later. Below, a detailed description will be given of the functions and an example configuration of the topographical information management system according to this embodiment.
Fig. 7 is a functional block diagram of the topographical information management system according to the present embodiment, in which various calculation processes executed by the topographical information management system are shown in functional blocks.

In FIG. 7, the topographical information management system is composed of a topographical measurement device 100 that measures the topography of the work site 400, a position and orientation measurement device 200 that measures the position and orientation of the topographical measurement device 100 in the site coordinate system 930, and a topographical information management device 300 that manages the topographical data acquired by the topographical measurement device 100.

<Topography measuring device 100>
The terrain measuring device 100 measures the terrain of the work site 400 where a work machine 101 is working. The terrain measuring device 100 uses a terrain measuring sensor 130 such as a stereo camera or a laser scanner. Note that instead of using a distance sensor, for example, a measurement method that uses the travel trajectory of the work machine 101 as terrain data, or a measurement method that combines position information of the tip of the front work implement with cylinder pressure information of the boom cylinder, arm cylinder, and bucket cylinder to use information on the bucket tip position when a load is applied to the front work implement as terrain data may be used.

The topographical measurement device 100 outputs current topographical data in a format represented by point cloud data 500 (described later) in a sensor coordinate system 910. The topographical information management device 100 also has a coordinate conversion unit 710, which converts the point cloud data 500 in the sensor coordinate system 910 output from the topographical measurement sensor 130 into point cloud data 500 (described later) in a site coordinate system 930 using position and orientation information output from a position measurement device 200 (described later).

<Position and Orientation Measurement Apparatus 200>
The position and orientation measurement device 200 is a device that measures the position and orientation in a site coordinate system 930 (described later) of the topography measurement device 100 that measures the topography of the work site 400. For example, a GNSS receiver or a total station (hereinafter referred to as TS) is used as the position measurement device 210. For example, an IMU is used as the orientation measurement device 223. The position and orientation measurement device 200 also has a position and orientation calculation unit 720, and outputs position and orientation information in the site coordinate system 930 of the topography measurement device 100 using information obtained from the position measurement device 210 and the orientation measurement device 220.

<Topographical information management device 300>
The topographical information management device 300 manages the topographical data of the work site 400 by aggregating the topographical data measured by the topographical measurement device 100 in the work site 400 and performing the processing described below. The topographical information management device 300 also has an area division unit 730, a priority calculation unit 740, a topographical data synthesis unit 750, and a topographical data output unit 760. The topographical information management device 300 also calculates the priority of each piece of topographical data using the point cloud data 500 in the site coordinate system 930 obtained from the topographical measurement device 100 and the position information obtained from the position and orientation measurement device 200, integrates the topographical data based on the calculated priority, and stores it in the topographical DB 155a. Furthermore, the data stored in the topographical DB 155a is output via the communication device 150 to the monitor of the management server 310, the work machine 101 performing work at the work site 400, etc.

The processing of the topographical information management device 100, the position and orientation measurement device 200, and the topographical information management device 300 may be performed by the same information controller 170, or each may have its own unique information controller 170. Furthermore, these programs are stored in advance, for example, in the storage device 163 of the information controller 170 where each processing is performed. Various data used in the processing of each part, and various data generated during processing, are stored in the RAM 1612 or storage device 155 of the information controller 170 where the processing is performed.

<Example of the configuration of a topographical information management system>
8 to 10 are diagrams showing examples of components of a topographical information management system, while Figs. 11 and 12 are diagrams showing examples of the configuration of a topographical information management system at a work site.

Figure 8 shows an example in which a topography measuring device 100 and a position and orientation measuring device 200 are installed on a work machine 101. In the work machine 101, the topography measuring device 100 corresponds to the topography measuring sensor 130 and the information controller 170 installed on the work machine 101, the position measuring device 210 corresponds to the right GNSS receiver 171 and the left GNSS receiver 172, and the orientation measuring device 220 corresponds to the angle detectors 181, 182, 183, and 184.

Figure 9 shows an example in which an information controller 170, a topography measuring device 130, and a position measuring device 210 are mounted on a tripod or the like. Hereinafter, these will be collectively referred to as the on-site sensor 140.

Figure 10 shows an example in which a work machine 101A is not equipped with a position measurement device or an attitude measurement device, and a total station 213 (hereinafter referred to as TS213) and angle detectors 221-224 are installed as position measurement devices.

Note that the components of the topographical information system are not limited to those illustrated in Figures 8 to 10, and various other configurations are possible.

Figure 11 shows an example in which terrain measurement is performed using a work machine 101 and a field-installed sensor 120 as terrain measurement sensors, and the collected data is integrated by the management server 310.

Figure 12 shows an example in which the on-site sensor 120 acts as a topographical information management device 300 to process topographical data collected by a topographical measurement sensor 130 attached to the hydraulic excavator 101, and the information controller 170 included in the on-site sensor 120 performs the processing described below to integrate the topographical information.

Note that the configuration of the topographical information system is not limited to the examples shown in Figures 11 and 12, and various other configurations are possible.

<Data format>
The following describes the types and formats of topographical data handled by the topographical measuring device 100 and the topographical information management device 300 in this embodiment. In this embodiment, topographical data in a point cloud format (hereinafter referred to as point cloud data 500) and topographical data in a grid format (hereinafter referred to as grid data 600) are handled.

Figures 13 and 14 are explanatory diagrams showing an example of point cloud data. In this embodiment, point cloud data 500, which is topographical data in a point cloud format, represents a set of points as shown in Figure 13, and is expressed in a format consisting of point information consisting of the X, Y, and Z coordinate values and point number of each point as shown in Figure 14.

Figures 15 and 16 are explanatory diagrams showing an example of grid data. In this embodiment, the grid data 600 is in a format in which the site coordinate system is divided into discrete grids as shown in Figure 15, and representative values of the heights of the points are stored. As shown in Figure 16, the grid data 600 has a predetermined grid size, and stores the data in an image-like format.

Note that the format of the terrain data is not limited to these, and the processing of the terrain information management system described below can be applied to terrain data in various data formats.

<Topographic DB155a>
FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of table data of grid data in the topographical database.

In this embodiment, the topography DB 155a is a database for integrating and managing the topography data measured by the topography measuring device 100. In the topography DB 155a in this embodiment, the grid data 600 is converted into table data in a grid format as shown in FIG. 17 to manage the topography data. For example, the table data of the grid data 600 is divided into a grid (hereinafter referred to as a block (unit section)) with a side length of L and a grid number of n×n, and an identifier of the area of each block is assigned and managed as one row of data. In this embodiment, identifiers IDx and IDy corresponding to the X direction and Y direction in the site coordinate system 930 are assigned as identifiers of the blocks, and the blocks are specified using the two identifiers. Although the calculation method of IDx and IDy is not particularly specified, in this embodiment, the identifier is defined by the coordinate value (Xleft, Yup) of the upper left corner of the block. In other words, the identifier is expressed by the following (Equation 7) and (Equation 8).

The length of one side L and the number of data n included in one side of each grid are set according to the resolution of the terrain data required by the application that uses the terrain data.

<Coordinate conversion unit 710>
First, a description will be given of the processing of the coordinate conversion unit 710 in the topographical measuring device 100. The coordinate conversion unit 710 converts the point cloud data 500 from the sensor coordinate system 910 to the site coordinate system 930 based on the position and orientation information of the topographical measuring device 100 output by the position and orientation measuring device 200, and outputs the converted data to the topographical information management device 300 via the communication device 150.

<Position and Orientation Calculation Unit 720>
Next, a description will be given of the processing of the position and orientation calculation unit 720 in the position and orientation measurement apparatus 200. The position and orientation calculation unit 720 calculates position and orientation information in the site coordinate system 930 of the topographic measurement apparatus 100 from the outputs of the position measurement apparatus 210 and the orientation measurement apparatus 220.

<Area division unit 730>
Next, the processing of the area division unit 730 in the topographical information management device 300 will be described. The area division unit 730 converts the grid data 600 into table-format data and stores it in the topographical DB 155a. The processing of the data extraction range calculation unit 220 starts, for example, when the power supply of the work machine 101 is turned on or when a specific application using topographical data is started to be used. When there is initial data to be inputted to the topographical DB 155a, the area division unit 730 divides the grid data 600 into blocks of length L. When there is no initial data to be inputted to the topographical DB 155a, the area division unit 730 sets the length L of one side of the block and the number n of data included in one side of the block. These set values of L, n, etc. are stored in the ROM 1613 of the information controller 170 where the processing of the topographical information management device 300 is performed.

<Priority Calculation Unit 740>
Next, the process of the priority calculation unit 740 in the topographical information management device 300 will be described.

Figure 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of a priority DB.

The priority calculation unit 740 calculates the priority of the topographical data output by the topographical measuring device 100 using the position and orientation information of the topographical measuring device 100 output from the topographical measuring device 100, and outputs the calculation result to the priority DB 155d. The priority DB 155d stores data in a table format. Each row stores, for example, IDx and IDy, which are identifiers of blocks, a date, and a priority PR(n). In this embodiment, an individual identifier ID(n) is set for each topographical measuring sensor 100. These individual identifiers ID(n) are stored in the ROM 1613 of the information controller 170, where the processing of the topographical information management device 300 is performed. In addition, the topographical information management device 300 performs a topographical data synthesis process using the information of the priority PR(n).

Figure 19 is a flowchart showing the processing performed by the priority calculation unit. Figures 20 to 24 are diagrams showing examples of setting priority setting areas.

In FIG. 19, the priority calculation unit 740 performs processing for each topography measuring device 100 periodically or each time the topography measuring device 100 moves across a block.

First, the priority calculation unit 740 calculates the priority setting area 480 of the topographical measurement device 100 (step S100).

In this embodiment, the priority setting area 480 refers to a set of blocks that are the subject of calculation of the priority of the measurement data of the topography measuring device 100. The priority setting area 480 of the topography measuring device 100 is set based on the area in which the vehicle exists, for example, as shown in FIG. 20, by using the vehicle body position 1100 of the topography measuring device 100 as a reference, and sets the position and number of blocks around the topography measuring device 100 that are the subject of setting the priority setting area 480. In a machine that involves turning, such as the hydraulic excavator 101, the priority setting area 480 may be set based on the positional relationship of the work machine tip position 1200 in addition to the vehicle body position 1100, as shown in FIGS. 21 to 24. This work machine tip position 1200 is calculated by the attitude measuring device 220 attached to the front working arm and the position measuring device 210 attached to the vehicle body. The setting values of these priority setting areas 480 are stored in the ROM 1613 of the information controller 170 where the processing of the topography information management device 300 is performed.
In step S7400, the priority calculation unit 740 calculates block identifiers IDx and IDy for the blocks specified in the priority area 480 based on the vehicle body position 1100 and the work machine tip position 1200 and on information about the preset priority setting area.

Next, the priority calculation unit 740 acquires environmental information, which is information about the surrounding environment of the multiple topography measuring devices at the work site, for each block (unit section) of the calculated priority setting area 480 (step S110), determines whether the acquired environmental information satisfies a predetermined condition (step S120), and if the determination result is YES, lowers the priority of the topography measuring device (step S121), and if the determination result is NO, does not change the priority of the topography measuring device (step S122). The priority calculation unit 740 calculates the priority by performing the processes of steps S120 to S122 for all blocks (unit sections) of the priority setting area 480.

There are various possible methods for calculating the priority in the priority calculation unit 740 (steps S110, S120, S121, S122). For example, the environmental information is set to include position and orientation information, which is information about the positions and orientations of the multiple terrain measurement devices at the work site, and it is determined whether or not this environmental information satisfies a predetermined condition, i.e., whether or not at least a part of the terrain measurement device is included within the acquisition range of the current terrain data of each of the multiple terrain measurement devices. The priority is then determined by lowering the priority of a terrain measurement device that is determined to have at least a part of its own or other terrain measurement device included within the acquisition range of the current terrain data (i.e., a terrain measurement device that may include unnecessary information in the acquired current terrain data) relative to the priority of a terrain measurement device that is determined not to have unnecessary information included within the acquisition range of the current terrain data (i.e., a terrain measurement device that is expected to acquire current terrain data with relatively high accuracy).

The initial priority value set for each topography measuring device may be set, for example, so that the priority of the topography measuring device 130 installed on the work machine 101 performing the construction work is high, and further so that the priority of the block in which each topography measuring device is located is high.

In addition, in order to update the priority information, a process may be included in which, when new priority information is registered in the priority DB 155d, old priority information of the same topography measuring device is deleted. In addition, old data of priority information that is older than a certain period of time may be deleted based on the time information registered in the priority DB 155d.

<Topographical Data Synthesis Unit 750>
FIG. 25 is a flow chart showing the contents of the process of the topographical data synthesis unit.

The topographical data synthesis unit 750 integrates the point cloud data output by the topographical measurement device 100 as grid data with the topographical data in the topographical DB 155a.

In FIG. 25, the topographical data synthesis unit 750 first calculates the topographical measurement area 410 (step S200).

The topography measurement area 410 refers to the block area occupied by the topography data measured by the topography measurement device 100. The topography measurement area 410 can be determined, for example, by calculating the maximum and minimum values of the (X, Y) coordinate values of the point cloud data obtained from the topography measurement device 100, and calculating the block area contained in a rectangle whose vertices are these maximum and minimum values.

Next, the topographical data synthesis unit 750 obtains priority information for the block area to be processed from the priority DB 155d (step S210).

To obtain priority information, for example, the identifiers IDx(n) and IDy(n) of the block to be processed are used to search for information with a matching identifier in the priority DB 155d.

Then, the topographical data synthesis unit 750 compares the acquired priority information with the priority information in the topographical DB 155a, and performs a synthesis process between the topographical information in the topographical DB 155a and the topographical information output by the topographical measurement device 100 (step S220).

The method of combining the terrain information may involve, for example, combining using weighted values according to the magnitude of the priority, or using terrain data with a higher priority and discarding the lower one. In addition, taking into account the priority of the terrain data used in the terrain combination process, the priority of the combined terrain data is calculated and stored in the terrain DB 155a.

The topographical data synthesis unit 750 performs the processes of steps S210 and S220 for all the topographical data output by the topographical measurement device 100, and then ends the process.

<Terrain data output unit 760>
The terrain data output unit 760 outputs the terrain data in the terrain DB 155a in response to a request from an application or the like operating on the information controller 170 of the hydraulic excavator 101. A data output request to the terrain DB 155a requests the range of required terrain data by, for example, specifying the identifiers, IDx, and IDy of the block to be output.

In the present embodiment configured as described above, the terrain information output by the terrain measuring device 100 is integrated by taking into account the priority according to the vehicle body position, which makes it possible to integrate terrain according to the conditions of the construction site 400, and high-quality terrain information can be obtained efficiently.

Second Embodiment
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figures 26 to 34. In the figures, the same members as those in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

This embodiment takes into account soil information at the construction site and integrates topographical data obtained from multiple topographical measurement devices.

Figures 26 and 27 show the state of the work site in this embodiment.

In FIG. 26, two hydraulic excavators 101 are working at the construction site 400. FIG. 27 is a diagram showing priority information in the priority DB 155d at this time. At this time, the terrain measurement sensors 130 mounted on each hydraulic excavator have an overlapping area 460 where the measurement areas 410 of each hydraulic excavator overlap. Also, assume that one of the two hydraulic excavators is working in a soft ground area 470. In this case, it is considered that the accuracy of the terrain data in the overlapping area 460 is higher for the terrain measurement device 130 installed on the hydraulic excavator working in a place with stable ground. Therefore, in this embodiment, by setting the priority of the measurement range of the terrain measurement device 100 installed on the hydraulic excavator 101 located above the soft ground area 470 as shown in FIG. 27 to a low priority by the process described later, it is possible to integrate the terrain according to the situation of the construction site 400, and to efficiently obtain high-quality terrain information.

<Topographical Information Management System>
In this embodiment, the environmental information includes soil information, which is information on the soil quality of at least each unit plot at the work site, and the topography information management device of the topography information management system determines, based on the soil information, whether or not each of the multiple topography measuring devices is located on a soil base that has been set in advance to be soft, and performs a process of lowering the priority of a topography measuring device that has been determined to be located on a soil base that has been set in advance to be soft, relative to the priority of a topography measuring device that has been determined to be located on a soil base that has been set in advance to be hard (i.e., not soft).

Figure 28 shows the functional blocks of the topographical information management system in this embodiment.

In FIG. 28, the topographical information management system includes a topographical measurement device 100, a position and orientation measurement device 200, and a topographical information management device 300.

The topographical information management device 100 has a coordinate conversion unit 710, and the position and orientation measurement device 200 has a position and orientation calculation unit 720. The topographical information management device 300 has an area division unit 730, a priority calculation unit 740, a topographical data synthesis unit 750, and a topographical data output unit 760.

<Soil DB155b>
The soil DB 155b holds soil information of the construction site 400. Here, soil quality includes a value indicating the softness of the ground. As a method of acquiring soil data, for example, the softness of the ground measured before construction is held for each block area. In addition, the soil quality may be determined by measuring the change in the attitude of the work machine during construction. Note that soil information is held at least for each block area.

<Priority Calculation Unit 740>
29 to 34 are diagrams showing examples of setting priority setting areas.

The priority calculation unit 740 calculates the priority of the topography data output by the topography measuring device 100 using the position and orientation information of the topography measuring device 100 output from the topography measuring device 100 as well as the soil information at the construction site in the soil DB 155b, and outputs the calculation result to the priority DB 155d.

The priority calculation unit 740 calculates block identifiers IDx and IDy for blocks that are to be set as the priority setting area based on the vehicle body position 1100 and the work machine tip position 1200. The priority setting area 480 of the terrain measuring device 100 is set based on the measurement area of the terrain measuring sensor 130, for example, as shown in FIG. 29, with the vehicle body position 1100 of the terrain measuring device 100 as a reference. Note that in a machine that involves turning, such as the hydraulic excavator 101, the setting may be based on the positional relationship of the work machine tip position 1200 in addition to the vehicle body position 1100, as shown in FIGS. 30 to 34. Also, for the block 420 in which the terrain measuring device 100 exists, a priority calculation different from the priority setting area 480 calculated based on the measurement range of the terrain measuring device 100 may be performed in the process described below.

The priority calculation unit 740 also obtains the ground softness of the block specified in the priority setting area 480 from the soil DB 155b. Then, it sets the priority of the block specified in the priority setting area 480. In this embodiment, the priority setting method takes into account the softness of the ground beneath the hydraulic excavator 101 performing construction, and sets the priority of the machine performing construction on soft ground to a low priority. By lowering the priority of the topography data acquired by the topography measurement sensor 130 installed on the work machine performing construction on soft ground, it is possible to increase the priority of the measurement results of the topography measurement sensor installed on the work machine performing construction in a location with more stable ground.

The rest of the configuration is the same as in the first embodiment.

The present embodiment, configured as described above, can achieve the same effects as the first embodiment.

Third Embodiment
A third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figures 35 to 37. In the figures, the same members as those in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

This embodiment considers the slope of the work area at the construction site and integrates topographical data information obtained from multiple topographical measurement devices.

Figures 35 and 36 show the state of the work site in this embodiment.

In FIG. 35, two hydraulic excavators 101 are working at the construction site 400. FIG. 36 shows the priority information in the priority DB 155d at this time. At this time, the terrain measurement sensors 130 mounted on each hydraulic excavator have an overlapping area 460 where the measurement areas 410 of each hydraulic excavator overlap. Also, assume that one of the two hydraulic excavators is working on a slope. In this case, it is considered that the accuracy of the terrain data in the overlapping area 460 is higher for the terrain measurement device 130 installed on the hydraulic excavator working on flat ground. Therefore, in the third embodiment, by setting the priority of the measurement area of the terrain measurement device 100 (not shown in FIG. 36) installed on the hydraulic excavator 101 located on the slope as shown in FIG. 36 to a low priority by the process described later, terrain integration according to the situation of the construction site 400 is possible, and high-quality terrain information can be obtained efficiently.

<Topographical Information Management System>
In this embodiment, the environmental information includes at least topography information which is information relating to the shape of the terrain at the work site, and the topography information management device of the topography information management system determines, based on the topography information, whether or not the acquisition range of the current topography data for each of the multiple topography measurement devices includes topography that has been previously set as difficult-to-measure terrain for which it is difficult to acquire current topography data, and performs a process of lowering the priority of a topography measurement device which is determined to include difficult-to-measure terrain within its acquisition range of the current topography data relative to the priority of a topography measurement device which is determined not to include the difficult-to-measure terrain.

Figure 37 shows the functional blocks of the topographical information management system in this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 37, the topographical information management system consists of a topographical measurement device 100, a position and orientation measurement device 200, and a topographical information management device 300.

The topographical information management device 100 has a coordinate conversion unit 710, and the position and orientation measurement device 200 has a position and orientation calculation unit 720. The topographical information management device 300 has an area division unit 730, a priority calculation unit 740, a topographical data synthesis unit 750, and a topographical data output unit 760.

<Priority Calculation Unit 740>
The priority calculation unit 740 calculates the priority of the topographical data output by the topographical measuring device 100 using the position and orientation information of the topographical measuring device 100 output from the topographical measuring device 100 as well as the topographical data of the construction site 400 in the topographical DB 155a, and outputs the calculation result to the priority DB 155d.

The priority calculation unit 740 acquires the terrain data of the block specified in the priority setting area 480 from the terrain DB 155a. Then, it sets the priority of the block specified in the priority setting area 480. In this embodiment, the priority is set by taking into account the slope of the work site of the hydraulic excavator 101 performing the work, and setting a higher priority for the machine performing the work on flatter terrain. The slope is calculated using the average gradient of the terrain of the block area, etc. By lowering the priority of the terrain data acquired by the terrain measurement sensor 130 installed on the work machine performing the work on a steep slope, it is possible to increase the priority of the measurement results of the terrain measurement sensor installed on the work machine performing the work on a more stable site.

The rest of the configuration is the same as in the first embodiment.

The present embodiment, configured as described above, can achieve the same effects as the first embodiment.

<Fourth embodiment>
A fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figures 38 to 42. In the figures, the same members as those in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

In this embodiment, the working area 430 of the hydraulic excavator 101 at the construction site is taken into consideration, and information on topography data obtained by multiple topography measurement devices is integrated. Here, the working area refers to information on the area in which each work machine works, which is managed on a server by the construction manager.

Figures 38 and 39 show the state of the work site in this embodiment.

In FIG. 38, two hydraulic excavators 101 are working at the construction site 400. FIG. 39 shows the priority information in the priority DB 155d at this time. At this time, the terrain measurement sensors 130 mounted on each hydraulic excavator have an overlapping area 460 where the measurement areas 410 of each machine overlap. If the work areas of each work machine are managed by data using a server or the like installed at the construction site, the terrain data in the overlapping area 460 is obtained by using the measurement results of the terrain measurement sensor 130 installed on the work machine whose work area is the overlapping area 460, as the machine is less likely to be reflected, and the latest information can be obtained immediately after the work machine performs excavation, dumping, etc. Therefore, in the fourth embodiment, by setting the priority of the terrain data output by the terrain measurement device 100 (not shown in FIG. 39) installed on the hydraulic excavator 101 located on the slope as shown in FIG. 39 to a low value by the process described below, terrain integration according to the situation of the construction site 400 is possible, and high-quality terrain information can be obtained efficiently.

<Topographical Information Management System>
In this embodiment, the environmental information includes at least working area information which is information relating to the working area of the work machine, and the topography information management device of the topography information management system determines, based on the working area information, whether or not the working area is included within the acquisition range of the current topography data of each of the multiple topography measurement devices, and performs processing to increase the priority of a topography measurement device which is determined to have a working area included within the acquisition range of the current topography data relative to the priority of a topography measurement device which is determined not to have a working area included.

Figure 40 shows the functional blocks of the topographical information management system in this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 40, the topographical information management system includes a topographical measurement device 100, a position and orientation measurement device 200, and a topographical information management device 300.

The topographical information management device 100 has a coordinate conversion unit 710, and the position and orientation measurement device 200 has a position and orientation calculation unit 720. The topographical information management device 300 has an area division unit 730, a priority calculation unit 740, a topographical data synthesis unit 750, and a topographical data output unit 760.

<Work area DB 155c>
41 and 42 are diagrams showing an example of work area information.

The work area DB 155c holds the work area information of the construction site 400. The work area information 430 is information for managing the range in which each work machine performs work at the construction site 400 by a server or the like when multiple work machines 101 perform work at the construction site 400. The data representing the work area information 430 uses polygon format data as shown in FIG. 41, for example. This polygon format data is determined to be inside or outside by the order of the point sequence, and is composed of the coordinate values (Xw, Yw, Zw) of each point in the site coordinate system 930 and the point number No. as shown in FIG. 42. The work area DB 155c holds information on the work area 430, for example, together with the set time and the identifier ID (n) of the target work machine.

<Priority Calculation Unit 740>
The priority calculation unit 740 calculates the priority of the topography data output by the topography measuring device 100 using the position and orientation information of the topography measuring device 100 output from the topography measuring device 100 as well as the work area information 430 of the work machine at the construction site in the work area DB 155c, and outputs the calculation result to the priority DB 155d.

The priority calculation unit 740 also obtains working area information from the working area DB 155c and determines whether the block specified in the priority setting area 480 is the working area of the own machine. The working area can be determined by obtaining working area information of the own machine from the working area DB 155c and checking whether the block specified in the priority setting area 480 is included in the working area.

The priority calculation unit 740 also sets the priority of the block specified in the priority setting area 480. The priority setting method is to set the priority of a block specified in the priority setting area 480 high if that block is included in the work area. By increasing the priority of the topography data acquired by the topography measurement sensor 130 installed on the work machine performing work within the work area, it is possible to increase the priority of the latest topography information, which has less reflections of the machine.

The rest of the configuration is the same as in the first embodiment.

The present embodiment, configured as described above, can achieve the same effects as the first embodiment.

<Additional Notes>
The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and includes various modifications and combinations within the scope of the gist of the present invention. The present invention is not limited to those having all the configurations described in the above-mentioned embodiment, and includes those in which some of the configurations are deleted. The above-mentioned configurations, functions, etc. may be realized by designing a part or all of them, for example, in an integrated circuit. The above-mentioned configurations, functions, etc. may be realized by software by a processor interpreting and executing a program that realizes each function. Information such as a program, table, file, etc. that realizes each function may be configured to be placed in a memory, a recording device such as a hard disk or SSD (Solid State Drive), or a recording medium such as an IC card, SD card, or DVD.

100...topography measuring device, 101...hydraulic excavator, 110...front work machine, 111...boom, 112...arm, 113...bucket, 121...boom cylinder, 122...arm cylinder, 123...bucket cylinder, 124...swing motor, 125...travel motor, 126...travel motor, 130...vehicle body, 131...upper swing body, 132...lower running body, 141...control valve, 142...hydraulic pump, 143...engine, 144...pilot valve, 145...control valve, 151...operator cab, 152...operation lever, 153...monitor, 155...storage device, 155a...topography DB, 1 55b...soil quality DB, 155c...work area DB, 155d...priority DB, 155e...vehicle parameters, 157...wireless communication device, 161...information controller, 162...main controller, 170...information controller, 171...right GNSS receiver, 172...left GNSS receiver, 173...inertial measurement unit, 181-184...inertial measurement unit, 200...position and orientation measurement unit, 300...terrain information management unit, 900...vehicle body coordinate system, 910...sensor coordinate system, 920...measurement point, 930...site coordinate system, 1611...CPU, 1612...RAM, 1613...ROM, 1614...external I/F, 1615...bus

Claims (9)

A plurality of topographical measurement devices for acquiring current topographical data of at least a portion of a work site where a work machine is to work;
a position and orientation measuring device that measures position and orientation information that is information regarding the position and orientation of the topography measuring device at the work site;
a topographical information management device that generates and stores composite current topographical data, which is current topographical data of a topographical data acquisition range that is predetermined for the work site, based on the plurality of current topographical data acquired by the topographical measurement device and the position and orientation information calculated by the position and orientation measurement device,
The topographical information management device includes:
acquiring environmental information that is information about the surrounding environment of each of the plurality of topographical measuring devices at the work site;
a step of: setting a priority level for each of the plurality of topographical measuring devices based on the acquired environmental information for each unit section that is set by virtually dividing the work site into a predetermined size;
based on the set priority, synthesize the current status topographical data for each unit block in the topographical data acquisition range to generate the synthesized current status topographical data;
the environmental information includes at least position and orientation information that is information regarding positions and orientations of the plurality of topographical measuring devices in the work site;
The topographical information management device includes:
determining whether or not at least a part of each of the plurality of topography measuring devices is included within an acquisition range of the current topography data of each of the plurality of topography measuring devices based on the position and orientation information;
A topographical information management system characterized in that the priority of a topographical measuring device that is determined to have at least a part of its own or another topographical measuring device included within the acquisition range of the current topographical data is lowered relative to the priority of the topographical measuring device that is determined not to be included within the acquisition range of the current topographical data. A plurality of topographical measurement devices for acquiring current topographical data of at least a portion of a work site where a work machine is to work;
a position and orientation measuring device that measures position and orientation information that is information regarding the position and orientation of the topography measuring device at the work site;
a topographical information management device that generates and stores composite current topographical data, which is current topographical data of a topographical data acquisition range that is predetermined for the work site, based on the plurality of current topographical data acquired by the topographical measurement device and the position and orientation information calculated by the position and orientation measurement device,
The topographical information management device includes:
acquiring environmental information that is information about the surrounding environment of each of the plurality of topographical measuring devices at the work site;
a step of: setting a priority level for each of the plurality of topographical measuring devices based on the acquired environmental information for each unit section that is set by virtually dividing the work site into a predetermined size;
based on the set priority, synthesize the current status topographical data for each unit block in the topographical data acquisition range to generate the synthesized current status topographical data;
The environmental information includes soil information, which is information on soil quality for each unit section at the work site,
The topographical information management device includes:
determining whether or not each of the plurality of topographical measuring devices is located on a ground having a soil type previously set to be soft based on the soil information;
A topographical information management system characterized in that the priority of a topographical measuring device determined to be located on ground whose soil type has been set in advance to be soft is lowered relative to the priority of the topographical measuring device determined to be located on ground whose soil type has been set in advance to be hard . A plurality of topographical measurement devices for acquiring current topographical data of at least a portion of a work site where a work machine is to work;
a position and orientation measuring device that measures position and orientation information that is information regarding the position and orientation of the topography measuring device at the work site;
a topographical information management device that generates and stores composite current topographical data, which is current topographical data of a topographical data acquisition range that is predetermined for the work site, based on the plurality of current topographical data acquired by the topographical measurement device and the position and orientation information calculated by the position and orientation measurement device,
The topographical information management device includes:
acquiring environmental information that is information about the surrounding environment of each of the plurality of topographical measuring devices at the work site;
a step of: setting a priority level for each of the plurality of topographical measuring devices based on the acquired environmental information for each unit section that is set by virtually dividing the work site into a predetermined size;
based on the set priority, synthesize the current status topographical data for each unit block in the topographical data acquisition range to generate the synthesized current status topographical data;
The environmental information includes at least topographical information that is information regarding the shape of the topography of the work site,
The topographical information management device includes:
determining whether or not a terrain that has been set in advance as a difficult-to-measure terrain from which it is difficult to acquire current topography data is included within an acquisition range of the current topography data for each of the plurality of topography measuring devices based on the topography information;
A topographical information management system characterized in that the priority of a topographical measurement device that is determined to have the difficult-to-measure topography included within the acquisition range of the current topographical data is lowered relative to the priority of the topographical measurement device that is determined not to have the difficult-to-measure topography included within the acquisition range of the current topographical data. A plurality of topographical measurement devices for acquiring current topographical data of at least a portion of a work site where a work machine is to work;
a position and orientation measuring device that measures position and orientation information that is information regarding the position and orientation of the topography measuring device at the work site;
a topographical information management device that generates and stores composite current topographical data, which is current topographical data of a topographical data acquisition range that is predetermined for the work site, based on the plurality of current topographical data acquired by the topographical measurement device and the position and orientation information calculated by the position and orientation measurement device,
The topographical information management device includes:
acquiring environmental information that is information about the surrounding environment of each of the plurality of topographical measuring devices at the work site;
a step of: setting a priority level for each of the plurality of topographical measuring devices based on the acquired environmental information for each unit section that is set by virtually dividing the work site into a predetermined size;
based on the set priority, synthesize the current status topographical data for each unit block in the topographical data acquisition range to generate the synthesized current status topographical data;
the environmental information includes at least working area information which is information regarding a working area of the work machine,
The topographical information management device includes:
determining whether or not the work area is included within an acquisition range of the current topography data of each of the plurality of topography measuring devices based on the work area information;
A topographical information management system characterized in that the priority of a topographical measuring device that is determined to have the work area included within the acquisition range of the current topographical data is increased relative to the priority of a topographical measuring device that is determined not to have the work area included . The topographical information management system according to any one of claims 1 to 4 ,
A topographical information management system characterized in that the topographical information management device sets the size of the unit area based on the resolution required for the synthetic current state topographical data by an external application that uses the synthetic current state topographical data. A work machine for performing work at a work site,
A topographical measurement device for acquiring current topographical data of at least a portion of the work site;
a position and orientation measurement device that measures position and orientation information which is information regarding the position and orientation of the work machine at the work site;
a topography information management device that generates and stores composite current topography data, which is current topography data for a predetermined topography data acquisition range at the work site, based on the current topography data acquired by the topography measurement device, current topography data acquired by other topography measurement devices at the work site, and the position and orientation information calculated by the position and orientation measurement device of the work machine,
The topographical information management device includes:
acquiring environmental information which is information regarding the surrounding environment of the topography measuring device of the work machine and the surrounding environment of another topography measuring device at the work site;
a step of setting a priority for each unit section set by virtually dividing the work site into a predetermined size, for the topography measuring device of the work machine and the other topography measuring devices based on the acquired environmental information;
based on the set priority, synthesize the current status topographical data for each unit block in the topographical data acquisition range to generate the synthesized current status topographical data;
the environmental information includes at least position and orientation information which is information regarding the positions and orientations of the work machine and other topographical measurement devices at the work site;
The topographical information management device includes:
determining whether or not at least a portion of the work machine and the other terrain measuring device is included within an acquisition range of the current terrain data of each of the work machine and the other terrain measuring device based on the position and orientation information;
a priority of a terrain measuring device when it is determined that at least a part of the terrain measuring device itself or another terrain measuring device is included within the acquisition range of the current terrain data is lowered relative to a priority of the terrain measuring device when it is determined that the part is not included. A work machine for performing work at a work site,
A topographical measurement device for acquiring current topographical data of at least a portion of the work site;
a position and orientation measurement device that measures position and orientation information which is information regarding the position and orientation of the work machine at the work site;
a topography information management device that generates and stores composite current topography data, which is current topography data for a predetermined topography data acquisition range at the work site, based on the current topography data acquired by the topography measurement device, current topography data acquired by other topography measurement devices at the work site, and the position and orientation information calculated by the position and orientation measurement device of the work machine,
The topographical information management device includes:
acquiring environmental information which is information regarding the surrounding environment of the topography measuring device of the work machine and the surrounding environment of another topography measuring device at the work site;
a priority is set for each unit section set by virtually dividing the work site into a predetermined size, for the topography measuring device of the work machine and for each other topography measuring device based on the acquired environmental information;
based on the set priority, synthesize the current status topographical data for each unit block in the topographical data acquisition range to generate the synthesized current status topographical data;
The environmental information includes soil information, which is information on soil quality for each unit section at the work site,
The topographical information management device includes:
determining whether or not the work machine and the other topography measuring device are located on ground whose soil type has been preset as being soft, based on the soil information;
A work machine characterized in that the priority of a topography measuring device determined to be located on ground whose soil type has been set in advance to be soft is lowered relative to the priority of the topography measuring device determined to be located on ground whose soil type has been set in advance to be hard . A work machine for performing work at a work site,
A topographical measurement device for acquiring current topographical data of at least a portion of the work site;
a position and orientation measurement device that measures position and orientation information which is information regarding the position and orientation of the work machine at the work site;
a topography information management device that generates and stores composite current topography data, which is current topography data for a predetermined topography data acquisition range at the work site, based on the current topography data acquired by the topography measurement device, current topography data acquired by other topography measurement devices at the work site, and the position and orientation information calculated by the position and orientation measurement device of the work machine,
The topographical information management device includes:
acquiring environmental information which is information regarding the surrounding environment of the topography measuring device of the work machine and the surrounding environment of another topography measuring device at the work site;
a step of setting a priority for each unit section set by virtually dividing the work site into a predetermined size, for the topography measuring device of the work machine and the other topography measuring devices based on the acquired environmental information;
based on the set priority, synthesize the current status topographical data for each unit block in the topographical data acquisition range to generate the synthesized current status topographical data;
The environmental information includes at least topographical information that is information regarding the shape of the topography of the work site,
The topographical information management device includes:
determining whether or not a terrain that has been set in advance as difficult-to-measure terrain for which it is difficult to acquire current terrain data is included within an acquisition range of the current terrain data of each of the work machine and the other terrain measurement device based on the terrain information;
a priority of the terrain measuring device when it is determined that the difficult-to-measure terrain is included within the acquisition range of the current topography data is lowered relative to a priority of the terrain measuring device when it is determined that the difficult-to-measure terrain is not included . A work machine for performing work at a work site,
A topographical measurement device for acquiring current topographical data of at least a portion of the work site;
a position and orientation measurement device that measures position and orientation information which is information regarding the position and orientation of the work machine at the work site;
a topography information management device that generates and stores composite current topography data, which is current topography data for a predetermined topography data acquisition range at the work site, based on the current topography data acquired by the topography measurement device, current topography data acquired by other topography measurement devices at the work site, and the position and orientation information calculated by the position and orientation measurement device of the work machine,
The topographical information management device includes:
acquiring environmental information which is information regarding the surrounding environment of the topography measuring device of the work machine and the surrounding environment of another topography measuring device at the work site;
a priority is set for each unit section set by virtually dividing the work site into a predetermined size, for the topography measuring device of the work machine and for each other topography measuring device based on the acquired environmental information;
based on the set priority, synthesize the current status topographical data for each unit block in the topographical data acquisition range to generate the synthesized current status topographical data;
the environmental information includes at least working area information which is information regarding a working area of the work machine,
The topographical information management device includes:
determining whether or not the work area is included within an acquisition range of the current topography data of each of the work machine and the other topography measuring device based on the work area information;
A work machine characterized in that the priority of the topography measuring device that is determined to have the work area included within the acquisition range of the current topography data is increased relative to the priority of the topography measuring device when it is determined that the work area is not included .

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