KR100950420B1 - Uav collision avoidance system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An UAV collision avoidance system is provided to avoid the collision of unmanned aerial vehicles with low costs by visualizing a front image of the unmanned aerial vehicles and flight information. CONSTITUTION: An unmanned aerial vehicles collision avoidance system includes a front observation camera(330), an unmanned aerial vehicles(300), ground radio communications equipment(200), and ground control equipment(100). The unmanned aerial vehicles wirelessly transmits the flight information including an image obtained by the front observation camera, altitude, speed, heading, pitch, roll, and constellation of the unmanned aerial vehicles. The ground control equipment displays the image obtained by the front observation camera and flight information which are received by the ground control equipment on the screen.

Description

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Collision Avoidance System {UAV Collision Avoidance System}

The present invention relates to a collision avoidance system for an unmanned aerial vehicle, and more particularly, a front vision camera is mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle to superimpose the front vision image and flight information data on a ground control device so that a pilot can cope with a collision risk of an unmanned aerial vehicle. To an unmanned aerial vehicle collision avoidance system.

In general, an unmanned aerial vehicle refers to an aircraft which operates by controlling from the ground instead of directly boarding the pilot.

Such unmanned aerial vehicles are more efficient, more stable, and more cost effective than manned aircraft in conducting dangerous operations with high potential for loss of life, such as reconnaissance activities against enemy lines in combat situations and missile attacks on targets. Can be.

The conventional unmanned aerial vehicle has no device capable of checking the front of an aircraft (unmanned aerial vehicle), unlike a manned aerial vehicle in which a pilot directly rides and visually checks visual information.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, the unmanned aerial vehicle is controlled by a pilot looking at a monitor showing only flight information such as speed, altitude, heading, roll, and pitch of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

In this case, the conventional unmanned aerial vehicle ground control equipment preloads terrain elevation data for each coordinate of the Korean peninsula in a control computer, and compares the terrain elevation data corresponding to the coordinates of the unmanned aerial vehicle with the altitude value of the unmanned aerial vehicle at that time. Inform a warning.

However, unmanned aerial vehicle control, which relies only on flight information shown on a monitor screen, has a problem in that the pilot's response to a situation in which protrusion or precise control is not required because the visual information is not given to the pilot.

That is, a conventional unmanned aerial vehicle uses a pilot data using only the data of altitude, speed, heading, flute, roll, etc. of the unmanned aerial vehicle, which is flight information data. There is a problem with this.

In addition, coordinate elevation data of coordinates mounted in the control computer has an error of several meters to several tens of meters, and surrounding features (eg, apartments, buildings, transmission towers, etc.) during takeoff and landing of the unmanned aerial vehicle that fly at low altitude. There is a risk of collision, and there is a problem that must be entirely at the discretion of the drone pilot.

In addition, the unmanned aerial vehicle may be equipped with a traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS), which is a collision avoidance device, but the TCAS has a problem that is quite expensive.

In addition, since the built-in or external video board of the conventional ground control equipment develops the software using the SDK provided by the video board manufacturer, when the video board is discontinued, the software can no longer be used. When replacing the board, there is a problem in that the developed software has to be modified to use the replaced video board.

The present invention has been proposed to solve the problems of the prior art, and receives the front image of the front vision camera (CCTV, CCD, near infrared camera, etc.) mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle flight information (altitude, speed, heading, Pitch, roll, and unmanned aerial vehicle sensor data, position coordinates, etc., as shown below) and displayed on the monitor screen of the ground control equipment so that the front view and flight information of the unmanned aerial vehicle can be simultaneously viewed like the pilot of a manned aircraft. An object of the present invention is to provide an unmanned aerial vehicle collision avoidance system that enables information to be avoided at low cost.

In addition, another object of the present invention is to mount the image software using the DirectX SDK of Microsoft (MS) in the ground control equipment, unmanned aerial vehicle regardless of hardware in the environment using the Windows operating system (OS, Operating System) of Microsoft company It is possible to provide an unmanned aerial vehicle collision avoidance system that can not only process front images of a vehicle but also superimpose flight information of the unmanned aerial vehicle with real-time digital video (front image).

In addition, another object of the present invention is to capture the front video of the unmanned aerial vehicle to shoot the front view camera when the drone pilot needs, and the unmanned aerial vehicle front video superimposed with the unmanned aerial vehicle flight information through the internal or external image board It is to provide an unmanned aerial vehicle collision avoidance system that can be output to the outside again.

As a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, the unmanned aerial vehicle collision avoidance system according to the present invention, as described in claim 1, in the ground control system of the unmanned aerial vehicle, equipped with a front vision camera, An unmanned aerial vehicle that wirelessly transmits images and flight information including altitude, speed, heading, pitch, roll, and position coordinates of the unmanned aerial vehicle; A ground radio communication device which receives the image of the front vision camera and the flight information signal of the unmanned aerial vehicle from the unmanned aerial vehicle; And a ground control device shown on the monitor by overlapping the image of the front vision camera and the flight information received by the ground radio communication device.

The front vision camera is any one of a CCTV, a CCD or a near infrared camera, as described in claim 2.

The unmanned aerial vehicle includes an on-board communication device for detecting flight information of the unmanned aerial vehicle and converting the detected flight information signal and the image of the front vision camera into an RF signal as described in claim 3; And an antenna for transmitting the converted RF signal from the onboard communication equipment to the terrestrial wireless communication equipment.

The terrestrial radio communication device may include: an antenna for receiving the propagated RF signal as described in claim 4; And a modem converting the RF signal into an analog image and flight information signal and transmitting the same to the ground control equipment.

The ground control equipment includes an image board for converting an analog image signal transmitted from the modem into a digital image signal as described in claim 5; Control with a video output function for outputting the digital video signal converted from the video board as an image, an image superimposition function for superimposing the flight information on the digital image, and an image storage function for storing the image. Computer; characterized in that it comprises a.

As described in claim 6, the image software is capable of image processing irrespective of the type of the image board using the DirectX SDK of Microsoft Corporation.

The image software uses a method of sharing one image buffer as described in claim 7, and performs the image output function by using the DirectShow SDK of DirectX of Microsoft Corporation, which is not limited by hardware characteristics. It features.

The image software connects a video mixing render filter between the image input filter and the image output filter to mix the image output from the DirectShow and the GDI (Graphic Design Interface) of the Window Application as described in claim 8. And by connecting the Video Mixing Render filter and the Window window, the image overlapping function is performed.

As described in claim 9, the image storing function is a still image in which one frame image data obtained by the image sample extraction filter is stored in a memory and then converted into a DDB (Digital Dependent Bitmap) format and stored. Storage function; After converting each image frame extracted during video storage to DDB format, the flight information shown on the image is drawn to the GDI, and then converted to DIB (Digital Independent Bitmap) format and converted into an avi file. And a video storing function for storing.

The video board is a built-in video board embedded in the control computer as described in claim 10.

The video board is a USB type external video board installed outside the control computer as described in claim 11.

The control computer is equipped with a Windows-based OS-based operating system, as described in claim 12.

The unmanned aerial vehicle collision avoidance system according to the present invention having the above configuration is equipped with a front vision camera in the unmanned aerial vehicle, so that the pilot can check the situation in front of the unmanned aerial vehicle in real time, and can control and avoid the collision of the unmanned aerial vehicle like the manned aircraft. It works.

In addition, the ground control equipment is equipped with video software using Microsoft (MS) company's DirectX SDK, and the unmanned aerial vehicle's forward image and the flight information of the unmanned aerial vehicle are superimposed on the monitor of the ground control equipment, so that the situation of the unmanned aerial vehicle can be viewed in real time. It can monitor and check flight information of unmanned aerial vehicle at the same time.

In addition, in the environment using the Windows operating system (OS) of the MS company, it is possible to perform image processing functions such as image output of the front image of the unmanned aerial vehicle and image overlapping with the unmanned aerial vehicle flight information regardless of hardware. There is.

In addition, there is an effect that can transmit the superimposed digital image to the outside through the image board.

In addition, there is an effect that can be used in combination with a flight attitude instrument of a conventional unmanned aerial vehicle.

The terms or words used in this specification and claims are not to be construed as limiting in their usual or dictionary meanings, and the inventors may appropriately define the concept of terms in order to best explain their invention in the best way possible. It should be interpreted as meaning and concept corresponding to the technical idea of the present invention based on the principle that the present invention. In the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted in order to clearly describe the present invention, and the same reference numerals will be used for components having the same functions and functions when describing the embodiments of the present invention.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

2A is an actual view in which the front vision camera 330 is mounted in front of the unmanned aerial vehicle 300, and FIG. 2B is an enlarged photograph of a portion in which the front vision camera 330 is mounted.

The front vision camera 330 shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B photographs the front screen of the unmanned aerial vehicle in flight and transmits the video signal to the ground radio communication equipment 200 through real time wireless communication.

The front view camera 330, in place of expensive collision avoidance device such as TCAS, low cost CCTV or near-infrared camera, etc., as well as various cameras can be created.

The unmanned aerial vehicle 300 may include not only the front vision camera 330 but also a mounted communication device 320, an antenna 310, and various mission equipment (optical / infrared cameras, missiles, etc.).

The on-board communication device 320 converts an analog NTSC / PAL or RS-170 video signal of the front screen of the unmanned aerial vehicle 300 in flight photographed by the front vision camera 300 into an RF signal and then The antenna 310 mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle 300 transmits the same to the ground radio communication equipment 200.

In this case, various information including flight information of the unmanned aerial vehicle 300, such as altitude, speed, heading, pitch, roll, unmanned aerial vehicle position coordinates, engine temperature, RPM generator power, fuel amount, and also the onboard communication equipment 320 and antenna It is transmitted to the ground radio communication equipment 200 through 330.

3 and 4 are block diagrams of an unmanned aerial vehicle collision avoidance system according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the present invention includes a ground control device 100, a ground radio communication device 200, and an unmanned aerial vehicle 300.

The terrestrial radio communication device 200 receives the image of the front vision camera 330 and the flight information signal of the unmanned aerial vehicle 300 from the unmanned aerial vehicle 300, and the ground control equipment 100 receives the The terrestrial wireless communication device 200 superimposes the received image of the front vision camera 330 and the flight information signal to perform a function shown in the monitor 150.

The unmanned aerial vehicle 300 includes the front vision camera 330, and the like is described above.

The terrestrial radio communication device 200 includes a terrestrial antenna 210, a modem 220, and a communication controller 230.

The antenna 210 receives images captured by the front vision camera 330 transmitted from the unmanned aerial vehicle antenna 310 and various flight information signals of the unmanned aerial vehicle 300.

The modem 220 receives the flight information and the video signal from the antenna 210 and transmits the video signal to the image boards 130 and 140 (external or internal), and transmits the flight information to the communication controller 230. send.

The communication controller 230 transmits the flight information received from the modem 220 to the control computer 110 equipped with the image software and processes the data of the flight information at the control computer 100.

The ground control device 100 includes a control computer 110 on which the image software 120 is mounted, image boards 130 and 140, and a monitor 150.

The image board may be installed as a USB type external image board 130 (refer to FIG. 3) or an internal image board 140 (refer to FIG. 4) built in the control computer 110.

In this case, the external or embedded image boards 130 and 140 may be separately mounted as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, but may be selectively mounted together with the ground control equipment 100.

The video boards 130 and 140 convert the video signal from the modem 220, that is, the analog video signal photographed by the front vision camera 330 and transmitted through the terrestrial wireless communication device 200 into a digital video.

The control computer 110 equipped with the image software 120 receives image signals converted into digital images from the image boards 130 and 140 and performs image processing functions such as image output, image overlap, and image storage.

Hereinafter, a collision avoidance technique of the unmanned aerial vehicle 300 will be described in brief.

The image signal (analog) received by the terrestrial wireless communication device 200 is converted into a digital image signal by the image boards 130 and 140.

The converted digital image can be processed image regardless of the type of image board using the DirectX SDK of Microsoft Corporation.

The image software 120 using DirectX shows the digital image on the screen of the monitor 150, and the vehicle altitude, speed, heading, pitch, turn rate, ascent rate, unmanned aerial vehicle sensor data, etc. received from the unmanned aerial vehicle 300, and the like. The flight information is overlaid with the digital image and the screen (monitor 150) is shown so that the drone 300 pilot is the same as the manned pilot and simultaneously views the front image and the drone information at a low cost. Collision avoidance is possible.

That is, the image software 120 performs image processing (image output, image overlapping, etc.) on the digital image.

Next, a hardware independent image processing technique will be described.

The present invention, by using the Direct Show SDK of Microsoft DirectX, not only can the image processing in the environment using the operating system (OS, Operating System) of Microsoft company, but also the flight information of the unmanned aerial vehicle, regardless of hardware It can be superimposed with real-time digital video.

In addition, the pilot can capture a video when necessary, the digital video superimposed the unmanned aerial vehicle flight information can be output to the outside again through the above-described internal or external image board (130,140).

Next, the image processing (image output, image overlapping, and image storage) technique of the detailed software by the image software 120 will be described.

Video output function

The image software implements an image output function using DirectShow provided by MS in a Windows OS based operating environment.

FIG. 5A is a block diagram showing a conventional video for window (VFW) data processing method, and FIG. 5B is a block diagram showing a data processing method by DirectShow used in the present invention.

5A and 5B, Source denotes a source filter, InPlace denotes a conversion filter, VidRen denotes a video render filter, and A, B, C, D, E, and F denote buffers, respectively.

The DirectShow is a software toolkit library made by Microsoft that provides high speed processing of image data in a Windows environment and provides components with functions necessary for image control. It provides improved functions in speed and processing than the existing VFW (Video For Window) method having a buffer.

In addition, since it automatically configures and processes the connection components suitable for the video input device, the portability is excellent because the hardware characteristics are not limited.

In addition, the DirectShow provides various filters for image output and connects them to generate an image output graph to drive an image output application.

In this case, the image software program of the present invention constructs an image processing DirectShow graph by connecting an input image input filter for receiving an image, a filter for image processing and storage, and an image output filter.

Video Overlap Function

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a method of implementing an overlay using a video mixing render filter, and FIG. 7 illustrates an image of a front vision camera superimposed on a monitor screen by an unmanned aerial vehicle collision avoidance system according to the present invention. It is explanatory drawing explaining the method to do.

Hereinafter, the image overlapping function according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

The flight information is shown on the front image so that the flight telegram can be viewed on the screen of the monitor 150 at the same time as the front image of the unmanned aerial vehicle 300 when performing the mission of the unmanned aerial vehicle 300.

The DirectShow provides a Video Mixing Render filter that can mix video output and the Graphic Design Interface (GDI) of a Window Application.

In this case, the Video Mixing Render filter is connected between the image input filter and the image output filter, and the connected Video Mixing Render filter is connected to the Window window, and the flight information is displayed on the screen through the Window window using the GDI function. Illustrated.

Flight information such as attitude, speed, altitude, heading, and roll of a vehicle (the unmanned aerial vehicle) is displayed on the window window using data (the flight information data, etc.) received when performing the mission of the unmanned aerial vehicle 300. The other background may be filled with white so as not to affect the image.

In addition, in the case of outputting the entire image, it is possible to implement a function of switching the screen to a single image by generating a window window having a full size of the output screen and changing the image output direction to the entire window.

Image storage function

8 is a block diagram illustrating a storage method of a still image and / or a moving image for image data or image information according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, a storage method of the still image and / or a moving image will be described with reference to FIG. 8.

The image captured by the front vision camera 330 is received by the terrestrial wireless communication device 200 and converted into digital image data (signal) through the image boards 130 and 140.

The digital image data is a device independent bitmap (DIB) and needs to be converted into a device dependent bitmap (DDB) in order to be shown on the window.

First, in still image storage, image data of one frame obtained by the image sampling filter is stored in a memory, and then converted into a DDB format.

Next, in the case of video recording, image data is continuously obtained and compressed through an image sampling filter, and then stored in an avi file format.

In this case, since the extracted image sample is pure image data, flight data display items do not appear.

Therefore, after saving the video, each frame extracted is converted to DDB format, and the flight information items shown on the image are drawn in GDI, and then converted into DIB format and stored.

The overall operation of the unmanned aerial vehicle collision avoidance system according to the present invention is as follows.

First, the on-board wireless communication device 200 converts an analog NTSC / PAL or RS-170 video signal of the front vision camera 330 mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle 300 into an RF signal. To transmit (propagate).

Second, the terrestrial radio communication device 200 receives the RF signal through the antenna 210, and the modem converts the RF signal back into an analog video signal (NTSC, PAL, RS-170). Send to the control equipment (100).

Third, the ground control equipment 100 converts the analog signal into a digital video signal by using the image board 140 or an external video board 130 built in the control computer 110. do.

The converted digital video signal is displayed on the screen of the monitor 150 by being overlaid and mixed with the flight information in the image software 120 developed based on the DirectShow on the control computer 110. The superimposed digital image may be transmitted to the outside through the image boards 130 and 140.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, the pilot outputs the forward situation of the unmanned aerial vehicle 300 by outputting the flight information of the unmanned aerial vehicle 300 as well as the input image of the forward vision camera 330. Since the flight information can be checked simultaneously while monitoring in real time, it is possible to cope with the collision risk during takeoff and landing during the day and night.

FIG. 9 is an actual view of the flight meter magnetic world shown on the screen of the monitor 150 by overlapping the forward image of the unmanned aerial vehicle 300 and the flight information by the image overlapping function according to the present invention.

In this case, an item overlapping the image (ie, flight information such as altitude, speed, heading, roll, coordinates, etc. of the unmanned aerial vehicle) is displayed on the monitor 150 by selecting an item desired by a pilot of the unmanned aerial vehicle. can do.

10A is an actual view showing the overall configuration of the ground control equipment 100, and FIG. 10B is an enlarged view of a portion of the monitor 150 shown in FIG. 10A.

1 is a configuration diagram of a flight instrument shown on the monitor screen of the unmanned aerial vehicle ground control equipment according to the prior art

2a and 2b is a photograph showing the actual appearance of the front vision camera mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle

3 and 4 is an overall operation configuration diagram of the unmanned aerial vehicle collision avoidance system according to the present invention

5A is a block diagram illustrating a video for window (VFW) data processing method;

5B is a block diagram illustrating a data processing method using DirectShow.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an implementation method of image overlay using a video mixing render filter. FIG.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a method of superimposing the image of the front vision camera and flight information on a monitor screen by an unmanned aerial vehicle collision avoidance system according to the present invention; FIG.

8 is a block diagram illustrating a method of storing still images and / or moving images of image data to image information.

9 is a real view of the flight meter own world shown on the screen of the monitor 150 by overlapping the front image and flight information of the unmanned aerial vehicle 300

10a and 10b is a real picture of the configuration and screen of the ground control equipment

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

100: ground control equipment 110: control computer

120: video software 130: external video board

140: built-in video board 150: monitor

200: ground radio communication equipment 210: antenna

220: modem 230: communication controller

300: unmanned aerial vehicle 310: antenna

320: mounted communication equipment 330: front vision camera

Claims (12)

delete delete delete delete In the ground control system of an unmanned aerial vehicle, A front vision camera composed of either a CCD or a near infrared camera to capture an image; On-board communication equipment for detecting flight information including altitude, speed, heading, pitch, roll, and position coordinates of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and converting the detected flight information signal and the image captured by the forward vision camera into respective RF signals. Wow; An unmanned aerial vehicle including an antenna for wirelessly transmitting each RF signal converted by the onboard communication equipment; An antenna for receiving the image of the front vision camera and the flight information signal as respective RF signals from the antenna of the unmanned aerial vehicle; Terrestrial wireless communication equipment including a modem for converting each RF signal received from the antenna into an analog image and flight information signal and transmitting the converted signal; An image board for converting an analog image signal transmitted from the modem into a digital image signal; A ground control device including a control computer for outputting the digital video signal converted from the video board as an image, superimposing flight information transmitted from the modem on the image, and displaying the digital image signal on a monitor; Unmanned aerial vehicle collision avoidance system comprising a. delete delete delete The method of claim 5, wherein the control computer, When storing the still image, one frame image data obtained by the image sample extraction filter is stored in a memory, and then converted into a DDB (Digital Dependent Bitmap) format to store the still image; After converting each video frame extracted during video recording to DDB format, the flight information shown on the video is converted into DIB (Digital Independent Bitmap) format and stored as an avi video file. Unmanned aerial vehicle collision avoidance system. The method of claim 5, wherein the image board, Unmanned aerial vehicle collision avoidance system, characterized in that the embedded image board embedded in the control computer. The method of claim 5, wherein the image board, Unmanned aerial vehicle collision avoidance system, characterized in that the external video board of the USB type installed outside the control computer. The method of claim 5, wherein the control computer, Unmanned aerial vehicle collision avoidance system characterized in that it is equipped with Windows-based OS-based operating system.

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