KR101846466B1 - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System Having Rotary Wing of Multi-Rotor Type - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a multi-rotor type rotary wing unmanned aerial vehicle system, comprising: a first unmanned aerial vehicle; and at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle coupled/separated via a bridge with the first unmanned aerial vehicle. The at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle moves to a target point after separation through relative positioning of the first unmanned aerial vehicle and the at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle.

Description

{Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System Having Rotary Wing of Multi-Rotor Type}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a multi-rotor type flywheel unmanned aerial vehicle system, and more particularly to a method for moving an unmanned aerial vehicle to a target point after separation.

Recently, multinational IT companies such as Google and Amazon have focused on using drones. For example, unmanned delivery systems, surveillance systems, and photographic systems are widely used. As commercial drones evolve, commercial demand, which is just 1% of the total drones market as of 2016, is expected to grow to 7% by 2023.

The drones are UAVs and at the same time they are hovering because they are rotating wings unlike fixed wing UAVs. In addition, since the rotor is of a multi-rotor type having a small size, it is more stable and safer than a helicopter having one rotor. Moreover, since it is based on a motor rather than an engine, it has excellent control performance and has a relatively low noise. That is, since it operates as a multi-rotor having a small size, it is relatively safe and has an advantage of being easy to operate in a complicated environment such as a city center.

In addition, since drones are closer to robots than traditional aircraft, it is relatively easy to integrate information communication technologies such as IoT. For example, it is very easy to attach and detach other equipment such as a camera.

However, the biggest weakness of the drones is operating time, because the drones are based on batteries using motors. It is not easy for the general drones to run for more than 20 minutes. Moreover, since the drones are small in size and are battery type, the loading load is small.

Also, since the drone is a multi-rotor type, there is a problem that it is vulnerable to disturbance as compared with a one-rotor having a large size. In order to be strong against disturbance, the size of the drone must be enlarged. These problems make it difficult to use the drones, especially in high-rise buildings in downtown buildings or in mountainous areas.

For example, when a fire occurs in a high-rise building, it is necessary to monitor the situation on the site before entering the rescue crew and inject the drone to get information about the survivor. Especially, when the indoor drone is put in the situation of the field structure compared to the ground driven robot that is driven by the wheel, the rate of rescue of the disaster site can be increased. However, the problem is that the size of the indoor drones must be small because the size of the drones is a safety problem when they are large, and it is very difficult for the small size drones to rise to the floor when a fire in a high-rise building occurs. In order to secure the operating time of the drone, it is necessary to save the battery. Even if it can go up to the high level, the battery consumption is so severe that it is difficult to perform the desired operation in the high-

Accordingly, a dron system capable of stably accessing a high-rise disaster site outdoors, such as a high-rise building, and entering the room and performing smoothly the mission has been demanded. In addition, when these drones operate, it is important to be able to reach the target point exactly.

KR20160106826, JP2016064768A, US8950698

The present invention is directed to solve the problem of operation of the above-mentioned unmanned aerial vehicle, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-rotor type airbag device capable of accurately separating an unmanned air vehicle from another unmanned air vehicle using a plurality of detachably- The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems.

The problems of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned problems, and other problems not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a multi-rotor type flywheel unmanned aerial vehicle system including a first unmanned aerial vehicle and at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle coupled to and separated from the first unmanned aerial vehicle through a bridge The at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle moves to the target point after the separation through the relative positioning of the first unmanned aerial vehicle and the at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle.

Preferably, the first unmanned aerial vehicle measures the position of the at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle, and transmits control information enabling the at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle to move. In this case, if the first unmanned aerial vehicle and the at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle are in an engaged state, the relative positioning value is determined using the bridge distance, and the first unmanned aerial vehicle and the at least one second unmanned air vehicle In the separated state, the relative positioning value can be determined using the radio distance measurement.

Preferably, the first unmanned aerial vehicle and the at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle each include a photographing unit, and the control unit of the first unmanned aerial vehicle determines a distance Z to a target point using an image obtained through each photographing unit .

When the distance Z is determined, the control unit of the first unmanned aerial vehicle transmits control information based on the distance Z to the control unit of the at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle, so that the at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle is separated, . ≪ / RTI > The at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle can correct the set travel route using the photographing unit when moving to the target point after the separation.

Preferably, the distance Z to the target point when the optical axis of the camera of the photographing unit of the at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle coincides with the first unmanned aerial vehicle is expressed by the following equation.

Here, f represents the focal length of the camera, b represents the distance between the cameras of the respective photographing units, and X _L and X _R represent the distances on the images acquired by the cameras of the photographing units, respectively.

1 is a schematic perspective view of an unmanned aerial vehicle system for explaining an operation method of a multi-rotor type flywheel unmanned aerial vehicle system according to the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the multi-rotor type flywheel unmanned aerial vehicle system shown in FIG. 1;
3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an operation method of a multi-rotor type rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention,
4A is a view for explaining a method of measuring a distance between a mother dron and a baby dron in a combined state,
4B is a view for explaining a method of measuring the distance between the mother drones and the baby drones,
FIG. 5 is a schematic view illustrating a method of operating a drone system according to an embodiment of the present invention;
6A and 6B illustrate an example of calculating the distance to the target window through the image obtained through the camera of the Dodron shown in FIG.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The advantages and features of the present invention, and the manner of achieving them, will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Is provided to fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art, and the invention is only defined by the scope of the claims.

The shapes, sizes, ratios, angles, numbers, and the like disclosed in the drawings for describing the embodiments of the present invention are illustrative, and thus the present invention is not limited thereto. In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail since they would obscure the invention in unnecessary detail. Where the terms "comprises", "having", "done", and the like are used in this specification, other portions may be added unless "only" is used. Unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, including the plural unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

In interpreting the constituent elements, it is construed to include the error range even if there is no separate description.

In the case of a description of the positional relationship, for example, if the positional relationship between two parts is described as 'on', 'on top', 'under', and 'next to' Or " direct " is not used, one or more other portions may be located between the two portions.

It is to be understood that elements or layers are referred to as being "on " other elements or layers, including both intervening layers or other elements directly on or in between. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification.

Although the first, second, etc. are used to describe various components, it goes without saying that these components are not limited by these terms. These terms are used only to distinguish one component from another. Therefore, it goes without saying that the first component mentioned below may be the second component within the technical scope of the present invention.

The sizes and thicknesses of the individual components shown in the figures are shown for convenience of explanation and the present invention is not necessarily limited to the size and thickness of the components shown.

It is to be understood that each of the features of the various embodiments of the present invention may be combined or combined with each other partially or entirely and technically various interlocking and driving is possible as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, It may be possible to cooperate with each other in association.

Hereinafter, an operation method of a multi-rotor type flywheel unmanned aerial vehicle system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In general, the drones refer to unmanned aerial vehicles (unmanned aerial vehicles) made in a form similar to a rotary wing aircraft. In terms of terminology, ICAO (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) and UA (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) Aircraft. In this specification, various embodiments of the drones will be described as an example of a multi-rotor type flywheel unmanned aerial vehicle using the term multi-rotor type flywheel unmanned aerial vehicle instead of the commercially used drones.

1 is a schematic perspective view of a rotary wing unmanned aerial vehicle system for explaining an operation method of a multi-rotor type rotary wing unmanned aerial vehicle system according to the present invention. Fig. 2 is a schematic view of a multi- Fig.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle system includes a first unmanned aerial vehicle 100 and a second unmanned aerial vehicle 200. The first and second unmanned aerial vehicles 100 and 200 have bodies 110 and 210 and wings 120 and 220 provided on the bodies 110 and 210 to provide a rotational force for flight do.

Meanwhile, the multi-rotor type unmanned aerial vehicle system shown in FIG. 1 is a type in which the first unmanned aerial vehicle 100 transports the second unmanned aerial vehicle 200. Therefore, it is preferable that the body 110 and the wing 120 of the first UAV 100 are formed to be larger than the body 210 and the wing 220 of the second UAV 200. The sizes of the bodies 110 and 210 of the unmanned aerial vehicles 100 and 200 and the sizes of the wings 120 and 220 can be appropriately determined in consideration of the resistance at the required flying height and the lifting force required for transportation.

The wireless transceivers 130 and 230 are provided on the bodies 110 and 210 of the first and second unmanned aerial vehicles 100 and 200, respectively. The first UAV 100 and the second UAV 200 can exchange signals with each other through the respective wireless transceivers 130 and 230. The unmanned aerial vehicles 100 and 200 can receive signals necessary for control or steering, for example, signals related to the tracking of the positions of the unmanned air vehicles 100 and 200, through the respective wireless transceivers 130 and 230 .

The first and second unmanned aerial vehicles 100 and 200 may include photographing units 150 and 250, respectively. Each of the photographing units 150 and 250 may photograph the surroundings of the unmanned air vehicles 100 and 200 while moving to generate an image and transmit the images to the controllers 140 and 240 through the wireless transceivers 130 and 230 . The photographed images can be used to monitor and analyze information on the coupling, separation, and movement of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100, 200.

The first UAV 100 and the second UAV 200 can be vertically connected to and disconnected from each other by the bridge 300 or the like. That is, the first and second unmanned aerial vehicles 100 and 200 may be connected to each other, move together, or move independently from each other. For example, the first unmanned aerial vehicle 100 may be coupled with the second unmanned aerial vehicle 200 to transport the second unmanned air vehicle 200 during a predetermined route, and may be detached after the second unmanned air vehicle 200 is transported .

Hereinafter, an operation method of the multi-rotor type rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle system described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2 will be described. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a method of operating a multi-rotor type flywheel unmanned aerial vehicle system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, although the first UAV 100 is outdoors and has a large size, the second UAV 200 connected to and separated from the first UAV by the bridge is smaller than the first UAV, It is utilized indoors. Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, the first unmanned aerial vehicle 100 will be abbreviated as Mother's Dawn, and the second unmanned air vehicle 200 will be abbreviated as Babydon.

As shown in FIG. 3, when a fire occurs in a high-rise building, fire trucks and the like are difficult to approach. In this case, the mother drones can be accessed in high tiers in combination with the baby drones for initial fire response and monitoring. At this time, the baby drones are in a stationary state in which no lift occurs. When the Mother Drones combine Baby Drones to reach the target altitude and location, they can reach the field entrance of the building layer where the catastrophe is most likely.

Then, while the mother drones are stably hovering at the target position, the baby drones are separated from the mother drones. Baby drones enter the building's disaster scene and the mother drones are controlled to be stationary at the detached location.

For this operation, the mother drone can be equipped with a fuel cell or a large capacity battery. Therefore, it can be hauled for a long period of time because of its large transportable weight, and thus it is possible to operate a very close proximity waiting operation in a disaster area of a high-rise building. On the other hand, Baby Drones can be equipped with less than adequate capacity batteries than Mother Drones. Therefore, since the operation time is short, it does not operate when moving to a desired position, and can enter the building and operate for the purpose of indoor operation or entry into the target area.

The mother drones are very strong against disturbance because they are large, but baby drones are relatively weak against disturbances. However, when the baby drones enter the room or otherwise operate, the image depends on the flight path. In this case, when the baby drones are shaken by the disturbance, many errors may occur in the image processing. On the other hand, because the mother drones are relatively disturbing, the images taken by the mother drones will be better than the baby drones.

Thus, a preferred embodiment of the present invention controls baby drone through the relative position of the baby drones relative to the mother drones, using precise relative positioning between the mother drones and the baby drones. That is, the mother drones can obtain the control information by grasping the position and the state of the baby drones, or can provide the calculated correction information for controlling the baby drones themselves. As a result, baby drones can move accurately to target points such as windows when entering buildings.

FIG. 4A is a view for explaining a method of measuring a distance between a mother dron and a baby dron, and FIG. 4B is a view for explaining a method of measuring a distance between the mother dron and the baby dron.

The mother drones measure the relative position with the baby drones so that the baby drones can transmit control information that can be moved. This relative location can, for example, use the GNSS RTK method.

GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) RTK (Real Time Kinematics) is a method of real-time positioning using a carrier signal among GNSS signals. A carrier signal is transmitted from the GNSS satellite to the Mother Drones and Baby Drones. This method can determine the relative position of the baby drones based on the mother drones, since the relative position can be determined with respect to the reference point which knows the position.

Ambiguity must be solved for the RTK, which can be solved very quickly if you know the distance between two drones. That is, when the two drones are coupled as shown in FIG. 4A, the distance of the two drones is the bridge length. On the other hand, when the two drones are separated as shown in FIG. 4B, the distance between the two drones can be determined using the radio distance measurement. In this way, if we know the distance between two drones, the ambiguity of RTK can be determined very quickly.

5 is a schematic view illustrating an operation method of an unmanned aerial vehicle system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The mother drones and the baby drones are equipped with cameras at respective photographing units and can determine the distance Z to the target point using the images obtained through the respective cameras. Thus, when the distance Z is determined in the mother drones, the mother drones send the control information to the baby drones so that the baby drones can be separated and moved to the target point.

Referring to FIG. 5, the mother drones and the baby drones are combined and approach the building window near the target location. Baby drones do not work at this time. When moving, each dron shoots a target window through the camera. In this way, the images taken by Dudron can be transferred to the Mother Dron and transferred to the Mother Dron. This is because Baby Drones have relatively low power MCUs due to their weight limitations, but Mother Drones can be equipped with high power MCUs. Therefore, the basic operation is preferably performed by the control unit of the mother drones.

The distance Z to the target window can be calculated through the image obtained through the Dodron camera. Once the distance Z is determined, the control information based on this is transmitted to the baby drones, and then, depending on the camera of the mother drones, the z is updated in real time through the image captured by the mother drones, and the baby drones are controlled precisely Can be performed.

The control information for movement may be sent directly to the baby drones, or only the correction information may be transmitted for self calibration of the baby drones. At optimal timing for separation, Baby Drones enter the window as soon as possible after detaching from the bridge. The baby drones are mainly used by sensors to control the movement path when the obstacle is detected.

6A and 6B illustrate an example of calculating the distance to the target window through the image obtained through the camera of the Dodron shown in FIG.

In FIG. 6A, the cameras of the Mother Drones and Baby Drones are aligned on the optical axis, and the focal length is all f. b is the distance between the focus of the mother drones camera and the focus of the baby drones camera, and the window of the building the baby drones are trying to enter, P, is the target point. In this case, the following proportional expression is established.

6B, the distance Z to the target point P can be calculated as follows. First, since the optical axes coincide, the positions in the Y-axis direction are equal to each other. In this case, the triangles (1) and (2) combined with the triangles (1) are similar to each other,

Z: f = b: (X _L + X _R )

Respectively. Therefore, the distance Z from the baby drill to the target point P is calculated as follows.

Here, f represents the focal length of the camera, b represents the distance between the cameras of the respective photographing units, and X _L and X _R represent the distances on the images acquired by the cameras of the photographing units, respectively.

In this way, the baby drones can receive the entry distance Z information calculated in the mother drones and move to the target point. At this time, the set route can be continuously corrected using the camera.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to those embodiments and various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. . Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are intended to illustrate rather than limit the scope of the present invention, and the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments. Therefore, it should be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative in all aspects and not restrictive. The scope of protection of the present invention should be construed according to the following claims, and all technical ideas within the scope of equivalents should be construed as falling within the scope of the present invention.

100: First unmanned vehicle
110: First unmanned aerial vehicle body
120: First unmanned aerial vehicle wing part
130: first unmanned aerial vehicle radio transmission /
140: First unmanned aerial vehicle control unit
150: First unmanned aerial photographing part
200: the second unmanned vehicle
210: second unmanned vehicle body
220: second unmanned aerial wing part
230: second unmanned aerial vehicle radio transmission /
240: a second unmanned aerial vehicle control unit
250: second unmanned aerial photographing part
300: Bridge

Claims (7)

In a multi-rotor type flywheel unmanned aerial vehicle system,
A first unmanned aerial vehicle;
And at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle coupled to and separated from the first unmanned aerial vehicle through a bridge,
Wherein the first unmanned aerial vehicle and the at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle each have a photographing unit,
The controller of the first unmanned aerial vehicle determines the distance Z to the target point and the relative position to the second unmanned aerial vehicle using the image obtained through each photographing unit,
When the distance Z and the relative position are determined, the control unit of the first UAV uses the distance Z and the relative position to control the control unit of the at least one second UAV, based on the distance Z and the relative position And the at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle is separated according to the transmitted control information and moved to the target point. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the first unmanned aerial vehicle measures the position of the at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle, and transmits control information enabling the at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle to move. 3. The method of claim 2,
Determining a relative positioning value using the bridge distance when the first unmanned aerial vehicle and the at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle are in an engaged state,
Wherein the relative positioning value is determined using a radio distance measurement when the first unmanned aerial vehicle and the at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle are in a separated state. delete delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle corrects the set travel route using the photographing unit when moving to the target point after the separation. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the distance Z to the target point when the optical axis of the camera of the photographing unit of the at least one second unmanned aerial vehicle coincides with the first unmanned aerial vehicle is expressed by the following equation.

Here, f represents the focal length of the camera, b represents the distance between the cameras of the respective photographing units, and X _L and X _R represent the distances on the images acquired by the cameras of the photographing units, respectively.

Images