JPH09301300A - Method for detecting obstruction at landing site for automatic landing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for detecting obstruction at landing site for an automatic landing device which can automatically detect existence of the obstruction at landing site and measure size of the obstruction which are judging reference of landing or not to a target landing site in a moon, planet survey instrument. SOLUTION: Existence of obstruction in a target landing site and its surrounding is determined and its size is detected by mounting an irradiation device 15 for irradiating to different points on a ground by a parallel plurality of beam in the sky of target landing site, a camera 16 for observing surface irradiation point of a projected beam, and processing units 17, 18 for processing an observed image and calculating irradiation point position and determining flatness and irradiating on the surface by a plurality of linear parallel beams and observing an irradiated pattern on the ground of the projected beam by the camera 16 and extracting respective lines from the observed image by image processing and determining continuity of respective extracted line in the processing units 17 and 18.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic landing device mounted on a spacecraft such as a moon or a planet, for automatically measuring the presence or absence of an obstacle at a landing point, which is a criterion for determining whether or not to land at a target point. Method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 shows the structure of a landing gear for the moon landing in the Apollo project, for example. In the figure, 1 is a lunar lander, 2 is an attitude control device for the lunar lander, 3 is a position control device for the lunar lander, 4 is a position control command device from an astronaut to the position control device, 5 is an astronaut, 6
Is an observation window at a landing point, 7 is a coordinate measuring scale drawn as a fixed pattern on the observation window, and 8 is a landing target point.

In the conventional apparatus configured as described above, the astronaut 5 first sets a command to the attitude control device 2 of the lunar module so that the landing attitude becomes a preset landing attitude, and then the landing attitude. Automatically hold. After that, the descent is started on the surface of the moon, but when descending, a command is set to the position control device 3 of the lunar module so that the descent will follow the preset position / speed pattern, and automatic descent will be performed. Let This descent pattern is for guiding to the landing target point 8 set by pre-observation from the ground, but the details after approaching to the final landing permission judgment of the lunar lander 1 to the landing target point 8 Topographical observations are necessary.
Therefore, when descending, the astronaut 5 will see the observation window 6
Perform the descent while observing whether the landing target point 8 is suitable for landing. Here, the astronaut 5 finds that the landform of the landing target point 8 is unsuitable for landing due to observation from the observation window 6.
If the astronaut 5 determines that the astronaut 5 is to reset a new landing target point in the position control device 3. For this purpose, the astronaut 5 uses a scale 7 for measuring the coordinates of the landing points, which is drawn on the observation window 6 as a fixed pattern.
The position control device 3 controls so that the coordinate origin of the coordinate measuring scale 7 coincides with the landing target point 8. Therefore, in order to change the landing target point 8, which point on the coordinate measuring scale 7 should be changed. It suffices to indicate to the position control device 3 whether or not it is the landing target point. For this reason, the astronaut 5 searches through the observation window 6 for a suitable landing point, measures the new landing target point coordinates on the coordinate measurement scale 7 marked on the observation window 6, and measures the lunar lander. A new landing target point coordinate is input to the position control command device 4. As a result, the position control device 3
Controls the lunar lander 1 towards a new landing target. By continuing this process, the lunar lander 1
Is guided over the lunar surface suitable for landing.

[0004]

Since the conventional lunar landing gear is constructed as described above, the astronaut determines whether or not to land at the landing point, and cannot be used for automatic landing. In addition, it is also possible to transmit images to the ground and make an operator's decision on landing on the ground, considering the communication time delay between the moon, planets and the ground, and in the ground line, the judgment within a short time. There was a problem that it was difficult to use for landing permission judgment.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and automatically determines the presence or absence of an obstacle and the size of an obstacle at a target landing point by a light projecting device, a camera, and a processing device. It is an object of the present invention to obtain a landing point obstacle detection method for an automatic landing gear capable of

[0006]

A method for detecting an obstacle at a landing point of an automatic landing gear according to a first aspect of the present invention irradiates a plurality of parallel line-shaped beams onto the ground surface, and a camera projects a projected beam onto the ground surface. After observing the irradiation pattern of each line and extracting each line by image processing from the observed image, the processor determines the continuity of each extracted line to determine the presence or absence of obstacles at the target landing site and its surroundings. It is the one.

The landing point obstacle detection method for an automatic landing gear according to the second aspect of the present invention irradiates a plurality of line-shaped parallel beams on the ground surface with different widths, and a camera projects the projected beam on the ground surface. Of the obstacle pattern at the target landing point and its surroundings is detected by observing the irradiation pattern of each line and extracting each line from the observed image by image processing, and then determining the continuity of each line extracted by the processing device. It's something that you do.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Embodiment 1. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 to 8 are the same as FIG. In the figure, 9 is an automatic landing gear, 10 is a spacecraft attitude control device, 11 is an inertial navigation device, 12 is a spacecraft position control device, 13 is a radio altimeter, 14 is an accelerometer, and 15 is a parallel slit light irradiation device. , 16 is an observation camera, 17 is an image processing device, 18 is an obstacle detection device, 19 is a spacecraft, 20
Indicates the thruster of the spacecraft.

An exploration device for the moon, planets, etc. is guided to the landing target point 8 from the orbit by an automatic landing device 9. At this time, the attitude control device 10 of the spacecraft in the automatic landing gear 9 uses the attitude and the attitude rate data obtained from the inertial navigation device 11 to adjust the attitude of the spacecraft thruster 20 to the preset landing attitude. Take control. In addition, the position control device 12 of the spacecraft is the moon obtained from the radio altimeter 13,
Based on the altitude information up to the surface of planets and the speed and position data obtained by integrating the data of the accelerometer 14, search to fly to the landing target point 8 along the preset flight route. Position control is performed by the thruster 20 of the machine. Here, when it is determined from the altitude information from the radio altimeter 13 that the spacecraft has reached an altitude of several tens of meters near the landing target point 8, altitude data and acceleration from the radio altimeter 13 to the surface of the moon and planets. The position control device 12 carries out position control for maintaining a constant altitude and a lateral position based on lateral speed and position information obtained by integrating the data of the total. At this time, the thruster 20 of the spacecraft is used.

While the spacecraft 19 is maintaining and maintaining altitude,
Near the ground surface above the landing target point 8, the slit light irradiating device 15 irradiates parallel slit light onto the ground surface in the vicinity of the point just below the probe 19, and the observation camera 16 observes the image of the irradiation point. In the image processing device 17, after the bright spots on the ground surface are extracted by the image pre-processing, a line is extracted from the bright spots. The line extraction extracts continuous line segments by tracing the contour line. In the obstacle detection device 18, the pixel data that forms the extracted line segment is used, and the curvature calculation along the extracted line is performed according to the equation (1). A portion having a curvature value larger than a preset threshold value is considered to be a portion where the slit light is observed to be curved due to an obstacle, and thus is an obstacle existing portion. On the contrary, a portion where the curvature is smaller than a preset threshold value is a portion where a large obstacle does not exist, and the presence or absence of the obstacle can be detected.

[0011]

[Equation 1]

Embodiment 2. 2 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 to 8 are the same as FIG. In the figure, 9 is an automatic landing gear, 10 is a spacecraft attitude control device, 11 is an inertial navigation device, 12 is a spacecraft position control device, 13 is a radio altimeter, 14 is an accelerometer, 1
6 is an observation camera, 17 is an image processing device, 18 is an obstacle detection device, 19 is a spacecraft, 20 is a spacecraft thruster, and 2 is a spacecraft.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a parallel slit light irradiating device having a variable slit width.

The spacecraft such as the moon and planets is guided to the target landing point 8 from the orbit by an automatic landing device 9. At this time, the attitude control device 10 of the spacecraft in the automatic landing gear 9 uses the attitude and the attitude rate data obtained from the inertial navigation device 11 to adjust the attitude of the spacecraft thruster 20 to the preset landing attitude. Take control. In addition, the position control device 12 of the spacecraft is the moon obtained from the radio altimeter 13,
Based on the altitude information up to the surface of planets and the speed and position data obtained by integrating the data of the accelerometer 14, search to fly to the landing target point 8 along the preset flight route. Position control is performed by the thruster 20 of the machine. Here, when it is determined from the altitude information from the radio altimeter 13 that the spacecraft has reached an altitude of several tens of meters near the landing target point 8, altitude data and acceleration from the radio altimeter 13 to the surface of the moon and planets. The position control device 12 carries out position control for maintaining a constant altitude and a lateral position based on lateral speed and position information obtained by integrating the data of the total. At this time, the thruster 20 of the spacecraft is used. The probe 19 irradiates and irradiates with parallel slit light on the ground surface near the point just below the probe 19 by the slit light irradiation device 21 near the ground surface above the landing target point 8 while maintaining and maintaining the altitude. The image of the point is observed by the observation camera 16.

Here, the width of the slit light is variable, and if the size of the obstacle to be detected is L or more, the radio altimeter 1
Based on the altitude data of the spacecraft 19 by 3, the slit width is adjusted so that the interval of the slit light projected on the ground surface becomes L. In this case, the presence or absence of an obstacle can be detected by the same method as that shown in the first embodiment, but when the obstacle is continuously detected in N lines, the size of the obstacle is approximately LxN or more. , Lx (N + 1) or less. On the contrary, when the presence of the obstacle is not detected in any line, it is known that there is no obstacle having the size L or more at the observation point, and the size of the obstacle can be detected.

By the way, in the above description, the present invention is used in an automatic landing gear for a spacecraft such as a moon or a planet. However, a rendezvous for a spacecraft having a larger area than its own and a vertical takeoff and landing on the earth, etc. It goes without saying that it can also be used for.

[0016]

According to the landing point obstacle detection method of the automatic landing gear according to the first aspect of the invention, it becomes a criterion for judging whether or not landing is possible.
Since data for determining the presence / absence of obstacles at the target landing point and its surroundings are automatically obtained, it is extremely effective when used for an automatic landing device on the moon, planetary spacecraft, etc.

According to the method for detecting an obstacle at the landing point of the automatic landing gear according to the second aspect of the present invention, the presence / absence of an obstacle of a certain size or more at the landing target point and its surroundings and the size of the obstacle are determined. Since the data is automatically obtained, it is extremely effective when used for automatic landing gears on the moon and planetary spacecraft.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of a method for detecting an obstacle at a landing point of an automatic landing gear according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of a method for detecting an obstacle at a landing point of an automatic landing gear according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a conventional landing gear.

[Explanation of symbols]

January lander, February lander attitude control device, March lander position control device, 4 astronaut position control command device, 5 astronaut, 6 landing site observation window, 7 measurement scale , 8 landing target points, 9 automatic landing gear,
10 Attitude control device for spacecraft, 11 Inertial navigation device, 1
2 Position control device for spacecraft, 13 Radio altimeter, 14
Accelerometer, 15 parallel slit light irradiation device, 16 observation camera, 17 image processing device, 18 obstacle detection device, 19 probe, 20 thruster of probe, 21 irradiation device.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A step of irradiating a plurality of line-shaped parallel beams on the ground surface in the vicinity of the ground surface around a landing target point and observing an irradiation pattern of a light projection beam on the ground surface by the camera, The step of extracting each line by image processing of the observation image of the irradiation pattern of the light beam, the continuity of each line extracted in this step is judged by the processing device, and the presence or absence of obstacles at the target landing point and its surroundings is determined. And a landing point obstacle detection method for an automatic landing gear. 2. The parallel projection when irradiating a plurality of line-shaped parallel beams on the ground surface in the vicinity of the ground surface around the landing target point and observing the irradiation pattern of the projection beam on the ground surface by the camera. The method of detecting an obstacle at a landing point of an automatic landing gear according to claim 1, wherein the width of the light beam is changed.