JPH1172558A - Target-locating device and landing-guiding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately locate a position by performing capturing and tracking with a millimeter wave radar that is hardly affected by, for example, weather for a flying object that tries to land and performing capturing and tracking by switching to a stereo camera near a landing point. SOLUTION: A millimeter wave radar device 11 receives a signal that is reflected from a target flying object 21 and outputs it to a control device 13 as position information. A stereo camera device 12 similarly outputs the signal to a control device 13. The control device 13 controls target position information that is outputted from each of the millimeter wave radar device 11 and the stereo camera device 12, controls the millimeter wave radar device 11 so that the flying object 21 can be captured and tracked near a landing point based on the information, and controls the stereo camera device 12 so that the flying object 21 can be captured and tracked on landing. The target position information is transmitted from the control device 13 to a control device 32 via a line 31. The control device 32 guides the flying object 21 near a point 0 based on inputted target position information from the millimeter wave radar device 11 and controls the flying object 21 so that it lands at the point 0 with a small space.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a target locating device and a landing guidance device used for accurately guiding a vehicle to a narrow landing space even in bad weather, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, devices for accurately locating a target position include optical sensors such as radar devices and stereo cameras. Incidentally, each of these devices has a problem.

[0003] First, in the optical sensor, the target position can be located with high accuracy with respect to the target, but the orientation distance tends to be significantly shortened due to weather conditions such as rain and fog. In the radar device, the target position can be determined without being largely affected by the weather.However, when the target position is determined using a radar device in a low frequency band, the angular resolution is increased due to the low frequency used. Therefore, the size of the antenna is increased. Furthermore, in order to obtain the distance resolution, a method of shortening the transmission pulse width or a method using a frequency modulation transmission method such as chirp modulation is used.
In any case, it is necessary to increase the frequency bandwidth. If the used frequency is low, it is difficult to secure the frequency bandwidth.

[0004]

As described above, the conventional target position locating device has a problem that it is difficult to construct a device which is hardly affected by the weather and can perform a precise target position locating operation. have.

[0005] It is an object of the present invention to reduce a decrease in the orientation distance due to weather or the like when guiding a flying object to a landing space.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a target locating device and a landing guidance device capable of performing precise position locating near a landing point.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A target locating apparatus according to the present invention obtains first target position information of a flying object by acquiring and tracking a flying object to be landed from a maximum detection distance. A radar device, obtaining first target position information of the flying object from the millimeter wave radar device near the landing point of the flying object and taking over target tracking, and second target position information more precise than the first target position information And the first target position information of the millimeter wave radar device and the second target position information of the stereo camera device, and the millimeter is used to capture and track the flying object to near the landing point. And a control device for controlling the wave radar device and controlling the stereo camera device so as to capture and track the flying object when the flying object lands.

According to this configuration, the flying object to be landed is captured and tracked from the maximum detection distance of the millimeter wave radar device to the vicinity of the landing point by the millimeter wave radar device which is hardly affected by the weather and the like. In the vicinity of the landing point, the stereo camera device is switched to a stereo camera device having high orientation accuracy to perform capturing and tracking.

[0008] As a result, it is possible to reduce a decrease in the positioning distance due to the weather and the like for the flying object to be landed, and to perform a precise target location near the landing point. A landing guidance device according to the present invention captures and tracks a flying object to be landed from a maximum detection distance, thereby obtaining first target position information of the flying object, and a landing of the flying object. In the vicinity of the point, the first target position information of the flying object is obtained from the millimeter wave radar device, and the target tracking is taken over.
A stereo camera device that obtains second target position information more precise than the target position information of the stereo camera device, and manages first target position information of the millimeter wave radar device and second target position information of the stereo camera device. A control device that controls the millimeter-wave radar device to capture and track the body near the landing point, and controls a stereo camera device to capture and track the flying object when the flying object lands; and a millimeter-wave radar device. Based on the output first target position information, the target flying object is guided to the vicinity of the landing point, and based on the second target position information output from the stereo camera device, the flying object is directed to the landing point. And a control device for performing control so as to guide the vehicle.

According to this configuration, by transmitting the target position information of the flying object obtained by the millimeter wave radar device and the target position information of the flying object obtained by the stereo camera device to the control device, the control device can land. Guide the flying object to the vicinity of the landing point using the target position information from the millimeter wave radar device that is hardly affected by the weather, etc., and near the landing point, the target position from the stereo camera device with good positioning accuracy Information is used to guide to the landing point. As a result, it is possible to accurately guide the flying object to the landing point without being affected by the weather or the like.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a system configuration as an embodiment of a target locating device and a landing guidance device according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a millimeter-wave radar device, and a flying object 21 (a helicopter in the drawing) which is a target object within a maximum detection distance (point indicated by X1 in the drawing) of the device. To capture and track. Reference numeral 12 in the figure denotes a stereo camera device, which captures and tracks the flying object 21 near the landing point O (a point indicated by X2 in the figure). The millimeter wave radar device 11 and the stereo camera device 12 are housed in a housing 1 made of, for example, a gimbal.

The millimeter wave radar device 11 receives a signal reflected from the target flying object 21 and outputs the signal to the control device 13 as target position information. Similarly, the stereo camera device 12 receives the signal reflected from the flying object 21 and outputs the signal to the control device 13 as target position information. The control device 13 manages target position information output from each of the millimeter-wave radar device 11 and the stereo camera device 12. Based on the target position information, the control device 13 captures the flying object 21 to the vicinity of the landing point O and The millimeter wave radar device 11 is controlled so as to track, and the stereo camera device 12 is controlled so as to capture and track the flying object 21 when the flying object 21 lands. The target position information is transmitted from the control device 13 via the line 31 to the control device 3.
2 is transmitted.

The control device 32 guides the flying object 21 to the vicinity of the landing point O on the basis of the input target position information from the millimeter-wave radar device 11, and the input of the stereo camera device 12 near the landing point O. Is controlled so that the flying object 21 lands on the landing point O in the small space based on the target position information from the vehicle. In this case, the control device 32
For example, a flight instruction based on voice information or the like is given to the flying object 21 via a line 33 formed of a wireless channel or the like.

Here, the millimeter wave radar device 11, the stereo camera device 12, and the control device 13 constitute a target locating device according to the present invention, and further include a control device 32 to provide a landing guidance device according to the present invention. Make up.

The housing 1 includes a movable first housing 1a.
And the second housing 1b on the fixed side. As shown in FIG. 2A, the first housing 1a is
2C, it is rotatable in the direction shown by the arrow Y1-Y2 in the figure, and as shown in FIG. 2B, its rotating part 1d rotates in the direction shown by the arrow Z1-Z2 in the figure. It is free. For this reason, in the millimeter wave radar device 11 and the stereo camera device 12, the first housing 1a
By moving in c and 1d in the directions indicated by arrows Y1-Y2 in the drawing or in the directions indicated by arrows Z1-Z2 in the drawing, it becomes possible to capture and track the moving flying object 21.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the orientation coverage and the approach route of the flying object 21 by the millimeter wave radar device 11 and the stereo camera device 12. FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the orientation error of the millimeter wave radar device 11 and the stereo camera device 12 and the direct distance to the target.

In FIG. 3, the vertical axis shows the altitude with respect to the target, and the horizontal axis shows the horizontal distance from the landing point O with respect to the target, for example. X in FIG. 3 indicates a flight path in which the flying object 21 moves from the point X1 to the point X2, as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 4, the vertical axis represents the orientation error, and the horizontal axis represents the direct distance from the target, for example, from the landing point O. Also, M in FIG. 4 indicates the location error of the millimeter-wave radar device 11 for each direct distance, and S in FIG. 4 indicates the location error of the stereo camera device 12 for each direct distance.

That is, the millimeter-wave radar device 11 is configured as shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the coverage area extends farther than the stereo camera device 12. Further, the influence of the rainfall and fog on the orientation coverage area is smaller in the millimeter wave radar device 11 than in the stereo camera device 12.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, the stereo camera device 12 has a smaller orientation error at a short distance (near the landing point O) than the millimeter wave radar device 11. For this reason,
The flying object 21 can be guided to land accurately at the landing point O which is a small space. Further, even at a close distance, the stereo camera device 12 is not significantly affected by rainfall, fog, and the like.

Further, the minimum detection distance of the millimeter wave radar device 11 cannot be shortened like the stereo camera device 12 by the transmission blind (reception suspension period of the transmission pulse emission time).

For this reason, the present invention uses the millimeter-wave radar device 11 which is hardly affected by rainfall and fog at a long distance, and switches to the stereo camera device 12 which has a small positioning error at a short distance immediately before landing. Such as
It is a system that draws out the advantages of the two sensors and makes up for the disadvantages of each other.

The operation of the above embodiment including the millimeter wave radar device 11 and the stereo camera device 12 will be described below with reference to FIG. That is, when the flying object 21 attempts to land at the landing point O, the control device 13
The position 1 is transmitted to the millimeter wave radar device 11 via the line 14. At this time, the flying object 21 obtained by the control device 13
Is usually transmitted to the control device 13 via the line 31 after the control device 32 obtains the self-position information obtained by the navigation device (not shown) of the flying object 21 or the like, or Is obtained by a long distance sensor (not shown).

When the flying object 21 enters the orientation coverage C, the millimeter-wave radar device 11 catches this and then starts tracking.
Then, the position of the flying object 21 is instantaneously located, and the result of the orientation is transmitted to the control device 13 via the line 14 as target position information. The transmitted target position information is transmitted to the control device 32 via the line 31.

The control device 32 issues a flight instruction to the flying object 21 via the line 33 based on the input target position information. At this time, the orientation result of the millimeter wave radar device 11 is:
The target position information is transmitted to the stereo camera device 12 via the line 15, but the stereo camera device 12 has not started tracking since it is out of the coverage area.

Next, when the flying object 21 enters the orientation area B,
The stereo camera device 12 starts detection. The target position information detected by the stereo camera device 12 is transmitted to the control device 13 via the line 15. The control device 13 includes the target position information transmitted from the stereo camera device 12,
The flying object 2 that the millimeter wave radar device 11 has been tracking
1 is obtained, and when the correlation is obtained, it is switched to the orientation result of the stereo camera device 12, and this orientation result is transmitted to the control device 32 as target position information.

The above series of operations (target transfer)
Usually, the orientation coverage of the millimeter wave radar device 11 (B in FIG. 3)
+ C) and the orientation coverage (A + B in FIG. 3) of the stereo camera device 12 is performed while the flying object 21 exists in the coverage B.

Thereafter, the control device 32 guides the flying object 21 to the landing point O using the target position information of the stereo camera device 12. On the way, when the stereo camera device 12 is locked for tracking due to a temporary occlusion of the camera view, etc., since the millimeter wave radar device 11 continues tracking,
If complementation is performed using the target position information of the millimeter-wave radar device 11, the stereo camera device 12 can re-track according to the above-described procedure after the visibility occlusion is eliminated.

However, this complementation is established only in the area B
Is the case where the flying object 21 is located in the vehicle. When the flying object 21 is present in the cover area A, the latest target position information cannot be obtained from the millimeter wave radar device 11, but the complement is performed by the stereo camera device 1.
Re-acquisition may be performed by continuing to predict the target position using the target position information and the motion information at the time when the tracking lock 2 is turned off. In this case, since the distance is a short distance, the prediction accuracy is very good. However, it is needless to say that it is desirable to design the minimum detection distance of the millimeter wave radar device 11 to be as small as possible. When the flying object 21 is a helicopter or the like and has a hovering function, one of the methods is to make the flying object 21 stand by in the air until the visibility is eliminated.

In the above-described embodiment, when the millimeter wave radar device 11 and the stereo camera device 12 are mounted at different places in the housing 1 as shown in FIG. It is easy to imagine that it becomes difficult to obtain a correlation when transferring the target tracking because an error occurs during this time.

FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the present invention in which the millimeter wave radar device 11 and the stereo camera device 12 are mounted on the same gimbal 41. In this case, the millimeter wave radar device 11 and the stereo camera device 1
2, the positional relationship and the visual axis direction are invariable with each other, so that the deviation of the angle reference axis between the two devices 11, 12 is reduced,
The accuracy of the target tracking transfer will be improved. Also,
In the millimeter-wave radar device 11 and the stereo camera device 12, even if there is a displacement on the installation, the amount of the displacement does not change. Naturally, the displacement may be corrected geometrically before use.

FIG. 6 shows a third embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 6, the stereo camera device 12 includes:
At least the first camera 12a and the second
Camera 12b. The distance from the first camera 12a and the second camera 12b to the target is determined by the distance between the first camera 12a and the second camera 12b and the distance between the two cameras 12a and 12b that expect the same target. Once the target direction (angle) is known, it can be obtained by calculation using the principle of triangulation. Note that the target angle is obtained from the original function of the camera, so that the stereo camera device 12 can perform target position locating together.

The separation distance between the first camera 12a and the second camera 12b in the stereo camera device is sufficiently smaller than the orientation distance. However, according to the principle of triangulation, the greater the separation distance, the higher the measurement distance accuracy. Here, the first camera 12a and the second camera 12b
When the separation distance from the millimeter wave radar device 11 is increased,
When combined with the above, the entire device becomes larger.

Therefore, in the third embodiment, the first camera 12a and the second camera 12b of the stereo camera device 12 are arranged so as to be symmetrical about the millimeter wave radar device 11. The arrangement space required by one stereo camera device 12 is originally reduced. This makes it possible to reduce the size of the target location device,
In addition, the accuracy of the measurement distance to the target can be increased.

Also, in principle, the visual axis of the first camera 12a and the visual axis of the second camera 12b are
By disposing symmetrically with respect to one visual axis (r1 = r2), the visual axis of the stereo camera device 12 matches the visual axis of the millimeter wave radar device 11. For this reason, an error due to visual axis deviation between the target position locating results between the millimeter wave radar device 11 and the stereo camera device 12 is reduced.

The first camera 12a, the second camera 12b, and the millimeter-wave radar device are mounted on the same gimbal, and the first camera 12a and the second camera 12b
May be arranged symmetrically about the millimeter wave radar device 11.

Next, a target tracking method of the millimeter wave radar device 11 will be described as a fourth embodiment of the present invention. In each of the above embodiments, the millimeter wave radar device 1
Regarding 1, the target tracking method is not particularly limited.

That is, the millimeter wave radar device 11 is configured as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG.
The target is tracked by a conical tracking method in which the direction and position are finely obtained by rotating the slightly inclined beam. For this reason, the simplification of the transmission / reception system, that is, the
A system may be used, and coherency between transmission and reception is not required, and the size, weight, and cost of the device can be reduced.

In the conventional conical tracking method, the antenna beam rotation is obtained by rotating the feed horn 11b, which is angularly offset with respect to the fixed parabolic antenna 11a of the millimeter wave radar device 11, about the antenna visual axis.

Therefore, in the millimeter wave radar apparatus 11, the antenna tracking type conical tracking that obtains the rotation of the antenna beam by rotating the parabolic antenna 11a with the angle offset from the sensor visual axis while fixing the feed horn 11b as the target tracking method. By adopting the system, an expensive millimeter-wave power supply system can have a simple structure, thereby improving signal stability and reliability and realizing low cost.

In the fourth embodiment, the millimeter wave radar device 11 may be an electronic scanning antenna, and the stereo camera device 12 may have a wider field of view.
Therefore, a gimbal mechanism is not required, and the entire sensor can be fixed, so that the positioning accuracy can be improved.

In the fourth embodiment, the target tracking method of the millimeter wave radar device 11 can be freely selected, and different effects may be obtained. Regarding the wavelength range used by the stereo camera device 12,
You may make it select freely according to a use environment.

As described above, according to each of the above embodiments, the flying object 21 to be landed is hardly affected by the weather and the like from the maximum detection distance of the millimeter wave radar device 11 to the vicinity of the landing point O. The capture and tracking are performed by the millimeter wave radar device 11, and the capture and tracking are performed at the landing point O by switching to the stereo camera device 12 having high positioning accuracy.

Therefore, it is possible to reduce a decrease in the positioning distance of the flying object 21 to be landed due to the weather and the like, and it is possible to perform a precise target location near the landing point.
The flying object 21 obtained by the millimeter wave radar device 11
By transmitting the target position information of the flying object 21 and the target position information of the flying object 21 obtained by the stereo camera device 12 to the control device 32 via the control device 13, the control device 32
The flying object 21 to be landed is guided to the vicinity of the landing point O using the target position information from the millimeter wave radar device 11 which is hardly affected by the weather and the like. The vehicle is guided to the landing point O using the target position information from the device 12.

For this reason, regardless of the influence of weather, etc.,
The flying object 21 can be accurately guided to the landing point. Further, the millimeter-wave radar device 11 and the stereo camera device 12 are mounted on the same gimbal 41, or the stereo camera device 12 utilizes the fact that the stereo camera device 12 has the first camera 12a and the second camera 12b. The first camera 1 is symmetrical about the wave radar device 11.
By disposing the 2a and the second camera 12b, it is possible to reduce the deviation of the angle reference axes of the two devices 11 and 12, and to improve the accuracy of the target tracking transfer.

Further, the target tracking method of the millimeter wave radar device 11 is variously modified to a conical tracking method or the like, so that
It is possible to simplify the transmission / reception system, to reduce the size, weight, and cost of the device. Further, the millimeter wave radar device 11
Is an electronic scanning antenna, and the stereo camera device 12 has a wide field of view, so that a required coverage area can be achieved without having a gimbal mechanism.

In each of the above embodiments, a corner reflector for millimeter-wave radar and a marker for stereo camera, which serve as a locating reference, are installed on the flying object 21 to improve the detection probability of the target and the locating accuracy. You may.

The present invention is not necessarily limited to the above-described embodiments, and may be variously modified without departing from the scope of the present invention. That is.

[0049]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
When guiding a flying object to a landing space, it is possible to provide a target locating device and a landing guidance device that can reduce a decrease in a locating distance due to weather or the like and can perform precise position locating near a landing point.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a target locating device and a landing guidance device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view shown for describing details of the housing in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relationship between the orientation coverage of the millimeter-wave radar device and the stereo camera device and the approach route of the flying object in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a relationship between the positioning accuracy of the millimeter wave radar device and the stereo camera device and the direct distance to a target according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a state in which a millimeter wave radar device and a stereo camera device according to a second embodiment of the present invention are mounted on the same gimbal.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a stereo camera device according to a third embodiment of the present invention in a state where a millimeter wave radar device is sandwiched between first and second cameras.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining an example in which a target tracking method of a millimeter wave radar device is set to a conical tracking method in a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Housing | casing, 11 ... Millimeter wave radar apparatus, 12 ... Stereo camera apparatus, 12a, 12b ... 1st and 2nd camera, 13 ... Control apparatus, 14, 15, 31, 33 ... Line, 21 ... Flying object, 32 ... Control device, 41 ... Gimbal.

Claims (8)

[Claims] A millimeter wave radar device that obtains first target position information of the flying object by acquiring and tracking the flying object to be landed from a maximum detection distance; and A stereo camera device that obtains first target position information of the flying object from a millimeter wave radar device and takes over target tracking, and obtains second target position information that is more precise than the first target position information; and the millimeter wave radar. It manages the first target position information of the device and the second target position information of the stereo camera device, and controls the millimeter wave radar device to capture and track the flying object to near the landing point, A target control device for controlling the stereo camera device so as to capture and track the flying object when the flying object lands. 2. The target locating device according to claim 1, wherein the millimeter wave radar device and the stereo camera device are mounted on a single gimbal structure. 3. The stereo camera device includes at least first and second cameras, and the first and second cameras are symmetrically arranged around the millimeter wave radar device. The target locating device according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The first and second cameras and the millimeter wave radar device are mounted on a single gimbal structure, and the first and second cameras are mounted around the millimeter wave radar device. 4. The target locating device according to claim 2, wherein the target locating device is symmetrically arranged. 5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the target tracking system of the millimeter wave radar device is a conical tracking system.
Target locating device as described. 6. The target locating device according to claim 1, wherein the target tracking method of the millimeter wave radar device is an antenna rotating conical tracking method. 7. The target locating device according to claim 1, wherein the millimeter wave radar device is an electronic scanning antenna, and the stereo camera device has a wide field of view. 8. An air vehicle which is a target object based on the target locating device according to claim 1 and first target position information which is an output of the millimeter wave radar device of the target locating device. A control device that guides the vehicle to the vicinity of the landing point and performs control so as to guide the flying object to the landing point based on the second target position information output from the stereo camera device of the target locating device. A landing guidance device characterized by: