KR101987828B1 - Unmanned pesticide application method using autonomous vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an unmanned control method using an autonomous vehicle, capable of performing an efficient control process, which comprises: a first step of receiving range information on an agricultural pesticide spray target area through a user terminal connected in a wired and wireless manner; a second step of building three-dimensional map information; a third step of generating a traveling path; a fourth step of spraying an agricultural pesticide to fruits; a fifth step of resetting the traveling path; and a sixth step of terminating a control mode.

Description

Unmanned pesticide application method using autonomous vehicle}

The present invention relates to an unmanned control method using an autonomous vehicle.

In general, farmers growing grains, vegetables, fruits and the like use pesticides to prevent pests in order to increase yields.

However, the sprayed pesticides have a significant effect on the yield, but there is a problem that can pose a fatal life threat to consumers who consume crops, as well as users who use them.

According to the Rural Development Administration's long-term exposure to pesticide spray workers, farmers are seriously affected by pesticide exposure. Specifically, 23% of farmers complaining of pesticide poisoning symptoms among male farmers, and if the total is assigned to 1.5 million male farmers, about 345,000 people are suffering from pesticide poisoning.

In addition, symptoms of pesticide poisoning include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, as well as fatal symptoms such as dizziness, anxiety, shortness of breath, and paralysis, and depression. In particular, the risk of spraying pesticides using a manual backpack sprayer appears to be high.

In order to improve this, in recent years, many farms have been spraying pesticides using automatic control devices or unmanned control devices, thereby improving farmers' safety.

`` Korean Registered Patent Publication No. 10-1762929, Name of the Invention: Unmanned Control Machine, (Notice: August 04, 2017, Patent Holder: Jeonju University Industry-Academic Cooperation Group, Dongil E & G Co., Ltd.) It introduces the technical configuration of an unmanned control system that moves autonomously.

However, the above-described unmanned control unit of the prior art by identifying the surrounding features to determine the driving route, it is only an unmanned control unit that moves along the pre-installed guide line corresponding to the rail, not the autonomous driving control unit that can be used in various environments. In addition to the disadvantage of having to install and manage the guide line, there is a problem that can not properly cope with obstacles on the driving route.

In addition, the configuration for controlling the control direction, such as the control distance, the control angle is not disclosed, it seems that there is a difficulty in performing a more appropriate control operation according to the various arrangement of the tree.

Patent Document (0001) 『Korea Patent Registration Publication No. 10-1762929, Name of Invention: Unmanned Control Machine, (Notice: August 04, 2017, Patent Holder: Jeonju University Industry-Academic Cooperation Group, Dongil E & G Co., Ltd.』

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problem, and an object thereof is to provide an unmanned control technique that enables autonomous driving by generating a more appropriate driving route corresponding to various surrounding environments.

The problem to be solved by the present invention is not limited to the above-described problem, other technical problems that are not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

According to an aspect of the present invention, an unmanned vehicle control method of an unmanned vehicle installed with a pesticide spraying control device may include: a first step of receiving range information of a pesticide spraying target area through a user terminal connected to a wired or wireless network; The unmanned vehicle travels within a range of the pesticide spraying target region to obtain environmental information in the pesticide spraying target region, and uses the obtained environmental information to make a three-dimensional map of an area to which the unmanned vehicle will travel. A second step of building information; A third step of generating a driving route based on the constructed map information to minimize a moving distance of the unmanned vehicle in the pesticide application target area; A fourth step of, when the execution of the control mode is input through the user terminal, the unmanned vehicle moves along the driving path and operates the control unit to spray pesticides on fruit trees; A fifth step of recognizing ground curvature and obstacles on the driving path and resetting the driving path when the unmanned vehicle moves along the driving path; And a sixth step of ending the control mode of the unmanned vehicle after completing the driving route.

The second step may include generating the environment information by identifying a feature including the size of the fruit tree, the distribution of the fruit tree including the arrangement of the fruit tree, and a landmark in the pesticide application target area. In the third step, the starting point and the ending point of the driving path are set based on the feature including the landmark, and the inflection point or the turning point of the driving path is based on the distribution information of the fruit including the arrangement of the fruit. It may include; setting a.

The second step may include generating the environment information by identifying a feature including a size of the fruit tree, a distribution of the fruit tree including the arrangement of the fruit tree, and a landmark in the pesticide application target area. The fourth step includes controlling the pesticide spraying direction and pesticide spraying intensity of the plant by calculating an angle in a height direction between the controller and the fruit tree according to the distance between the unmanned vehicle and the fruit tree and the size of the fruit tree; And controlling the pesticide spraying direction and the pesticide spraying intensity of the control unit based on the attitude information of the unmanned vehicle by the curvature of the ground.

The fourth step may include controlling the spraying direction and intensity of the pesticide according to the direction of the wind in the pesticide spraying target region and the driving speed of the autonomous vehicle.

In addition, the fourth step may include a step of controlling the spraying of the pesticide of the control unit in the overlapped portion when the driving route of the unmanned vehicle is set.

Means for solving the above problems are merely exemplary and should not be construed as limiting the present invention. In addition to the exemplary embodiments described above, there may be additional embodiments described in the drawings and detailed description of the invention.

As described above, the present invention has the following effects.

First, by applying the pesticide to the fruit tree through the unmanned control system, not only to improve the safety of farmers, but also to implement autonomous driving to diversify the driving route of the unmanned control system, the control process is applied more widely to various terrains or trees. And effects that can be used.

Second, by controlling the direction and size of the control according to the size or arrangement of the tree, as well as reducing the amount of pesticide used, and includes the effect of performing an effective control process.

Third, by resetting the driving route according to the change of the surrounding environment and controlling the control operation according to the change of the surrounding environment, it is possible to suppress the excessive use of pesticides and to reduce the economic loss, as well as to reduce the contamination of the fruit.

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

1 is a block diagram showing an unmanned control system using an autonomous vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a flowchart illustrating an unmanned control method using an autonomous vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a state diagram showing the unmanned control process of the autonomous vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, and the well-known technical parts will be omitted or compressed for brevity of description.

1 is a block diagram showing an unmanned control system using an autonomous vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the unmanned control system using the autonomous vehicle of the present invention, when the user operates the autonomous vehicle, the autonomous vehicle generates map information of the target area by driving the outer periphery of the pesticide spray target area. In addition, by setting an optimized driving route of autonomous vehicles based on the map information, unmanned pesticide application can be applied to fruit trees, thereby reducing the risk of pesticide poisoning of farmers.

In addition, when it is necessary to change the driving route due to the curvature of the ground or obstacles, the optimized driving route is reset accordingly, the height of the fruit, the size of the fruit, the arrangement of the fruit, the curvature of the ground, the direction of the wind, etc. In consideration of this, the control device installed in the autonomous vehicle sprays pesticides, thereby reducing the amount of pesticides used and spraying the pesticides appropriately on the fruit trees, thereby increasing the yield and enabling economic fruit cultivation.

In order to perform the above-described function, the unmanned control system using the autonomous vehicle of the present invention includes a configuration of the user terminal 100, the running terminal 200 of the autonomous vehicle, and the control terminal 300 of the control unit.

The user terminal 100 is connected to the above-described driving terminal 200 and the control terminal 300 by wired or wireless communication to perform the driving operation of the autonomous vehicle and the spraying of the control device, or to individually control the operation performed. The desktop PC may be provided as a smart phone, a laptop computer, a tablet device, or the like.

In this case, the user terminal 100 may analyze and provide the driving function of the autonomous vehicle and the spraying function of the control device to the user, and the driving operation of the autonomous vehicle and the control unit may be visually, acoustically, or tactilely for the user's convenience. Can be arranged to provide feedback. To this end, the user terminal 100 may basically include a configuration of a device (GUI) and an operation device (PUI) for providing audiovisual information.

In this case, the user terminal 100 controls the structure (landmark) of the target area for pesticide application, the range (radius) of the target area, the rough arrangement of the fruit, the surrounding features such as the curvature of the ground and obstacles through the user's manipulation. You can receive the environment information to include.

In addition, the user terminal 100 is a three-dimensional map creation mode that allows the user to create a three-dimensional map of the pesticide application target area of the autonomous vehicle, driving route setting mode for setting the optimized driving route of the autonomous vehicle, A number of individual control modes can be set and controlled, including a control mode for controlling the control device, a control mode for terminating the control process caused by the movement of autonomous vehicles, and a control termination charging mode for charging the vehicle and the control device. have.

When the execution of the 3D mapping mode is input through the user terminal 100, the driving terminal 200 drives the autonomous vehicle to the pesticide spraying target region to generate a 3D map of the target region.

At this time, the autonomous vehicle sets the starting point of the driving route based on the structure (landmark) previously input through the user terminal 100, and drives the outer region of the fruit tree in the target area for spraying pesticides, and thus the 3D map of the target area. Create To this end, a self-driving vehicle may be equipped with a LiDAR, a CCD camera, a GPS (Global Positioning System) GPS, an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) inertial measurement device, and the like to generate a laser-scanned three-dimensional map.

LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging, laser radar) is a surveying device that can acquire high resolution 3D image information in a short time and uses laser pulses to determine the distance to the terrain and features. LiDAR's surveying technology is a concept similar to radar technology, but it is a method of determining the correct distance by measuring the time difference when the reflected wave returns by scanning a laser pulse to a terrain and a feature instead of a radio wave. Specifically, the device is configured to calculate a precise distance by firing a laser on an object, measuring a time until the reflected laser arrives, and multiplying the speed of light.

LiDAR is a point cloud data composed of altitude, reflection intensity, etc., and can acquire information on various structures including buildings and trees. In addition, LiDAR has very high reliability in that it has all three-dimensional information to be scanned, but at the same time, it has a high amount of data because of its high precision, and there are various types of obstacles such as surrounding buildings or trees near a specific structure. Therefore, in order to extract or model a structure from LiDAR data, a filtering process is required to minimize the influence of noise data.

The GPS satellite navigation apparatus calculates a time of arrival (TOA) for a signal transmitted from a satellite to reach a receiving apparatus by referring to the GPS satellite radio waves and calculates a distance. The GPS satellite navigation system has a disadvantage in that it is difficult to locate in a specific environment such as indoors because communication is possible only in the state of maintaining the line of sight (LOS) with the reception device due to the characteristics of the radio waves having a strong straightness.

To compensate for this, autonomous vehicles are equipped with IMU inertial measurement devices. The IMU inertial measuring device measures the speed, direction, gravity and acceleration of a moving object. The IMU-based position estimation is a device that recognizes the movement of pedestrians and moving objects using an accelerometer, an angometer, a geomagnetic machine, and an altimeter. to be. IMU's inertial measuring device is generally equipped with three-axis accelerometer and three-axis angular accelerometer to measure acceleration in the direction of travel, transverse direction and height, and to measure the rolling, pitch, yaw angular velocity. By integrating the acceleration and the angular velocity obtained from the IMU, the speed and attitude angle of the autonomous vehicle can be calculated.

In addition, after the 3D map information is constructed, the driving terminal 200 is inputted to execute the driving path setting mode through the user terminal 100 or optimized according to the arrangement of the fruit trees of the autonomous vehicle even without a separate execution instruction. Create a driving route.

In this case, the optimized driving route generated by the driving terminal 200 may be formed at the end of the fruit tree by forming an inflection point or a turning point of the driving path with reference to the arrangement of the fruit, as well as forming the driving distance with the shortest distance. A path may be provided to pass through the lateral or front and rear directions of the fruit tree so that the sprayed pesticides may be evenly sprayed in the front, rear, left and right directions of the fruit tree.

Here, the driving route may form a starting point of the driving route based on a previously inputted structure (landmark), and may be set based on the structure (landmark) or any particular fruit tree identified when the 3D map is created. Can be.

In addition, the driving terminal 200 may provide the user with the optimized driving route through the user terminal 100. In this case, the user verifies the optimized driving route through the user terminal 100 and then corrects driving. Of course, it is possible to correct the driving route of the autonomous vehicle by feeding back the route.

In addition, when the autonomous vehicle moves along the optimized driving route, the driving terminal 200 avoids the obstacle or the like when the driving route is not optimized due to an inclination due to the curvature or an obstacle not known. Can be reset.

Here, the reset driving path is reset in consideration of the efficiency of the fruit control operation. Specifically, when the driving route is changed by the obstacle, the ratio or direction of the pesticides controlled in the fruit tree may be changed, and in order to compensate for this, the direction in which the pesticides controlled are sprayed on the fruit tree rather than forming the driving path in the shortest distance. The ratio can be formed to be optimized.

On the other hand, when the execution of the control termination charging mode is input through the user terminal 100, the driving terminal 200 sets the route to guide the autonomous vehicle to be charged to the charging station at the end point of the optimized driving route. At this time, the path leading to the charging station may also be generated based on the structure (landmark).

In addition, the driving terminal 200 may further improve the position estimation accuracy of the autonomous vehicle by correcting and providing the nonlinear position data of the optimized driving route calculated with the EKF filter built therein into linear position data. .

The control terminal 300 may control the control direction and the intensity of the control device installed or towed in the autonomous vehicle to reduce the use of pesticides sprayed on the fruit water, as well as to improve the spraying efficiency.

In detail, the control terminal 300 executes a control operation of the control unit when the execution of the control mode is input through the user terminal 100 or when the autonomous vehicle approaches the intended fruit while moving along the driving route. The direction of the nozzle and the strength of the pesticide sprayed through the nozzle may be adjusted in consideration of variables such as the distance between the fruit trees according to the arrangement of the fruits, the size of the fruit, the distance between the fruit and the control device, the direction and the strength of the wind.

In addition, based on the attitude information of the autonomous vehicle or the control unit provided through the driving terminal 200, the current position (height) and the direction of the nozzles installed in the control unit are calculated, and the injection of the nozzle integrated with the above-mentioned variable conditions of the fruit or the like. The magnitude of the direction and intensity can be calculated.

In addition, the control terminal 300 may calculate the arrangement of the fruit trees based on the 3D map information provided from the driving terminal 200 to allow the operation of the control device according to the presence or absence of the fruit fruit, or of course, driving In consideration of the fact that the control operations may also overlap according to the overlapping of the paths, the control process on the overlapping paths is performed only once, thereby eliminating the overlap of the control processes due to the overlapping paths, thereby reducing the amount of pesticide sprayed. .

2 is a flowchart illustrating an unmanned control method using an autonomous vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the unmanned control method using the autonomous vehicle of the present invention, first, a user designates a pesticide spraying target region through the user terminal 100, and quantity information and arrangement of fruit trees in the target region. Environmental information such as information, as well as general information on the target area such as specific structures (landmarks) within the target area, for example, environmental information including warehouses, large rocks, curved portions of the ground with steep slopes, and the like. (S1100)

After the above-described information is input, when the execution command of the 3D map preparation mode transmitted from the user terminal 100 is input, the driving terminal 200 drives an autonomous vehicle to drive the outside of the desired fruit group and fruit trees. By collecting the image information centered on the group and the location information of the image information to collect the three-dimensional map information of the pesticide application target area, to build the three-dimensional map information of the target area (S1200).

After the three-dimensional map information of the target area is generated, according to the execution command of the driving path setting mode input through the user terminal 100, the traveling path of the shortest distance is obtained, but the optimized driving path is maximized. Create (S1300)

In this case, the starting point of the driving route may be set based on a previously input structure (landmark), or may be set based on the structure identified in the 3D map information previously executed (S1310).

In addition, the inflection point or the turning point of the driving path is formed at the end of the fruit tree according to the arrangement of the fruit tree (S1320), or formed at the protruding portion of the fruit tree so that the distance between the control unit and the fruit tree can be maintained at an appropriate distance for spraying. .

The optimized driving route generated through the driving terminal 200 may be guided back to the user through the user terminal 100, and the user may drive by correcting and feeding back the optimized driving route guided through the user terminal 100. By providing the terminal 200, the optimized driving path automatically generated through the driving terminal 200 may be corrected (S1330).

Furthermore, unlike the generated 3D map information, when a sudden change in the ground curvature occurs on the driving route or an obstacle is installed and the driving route is disturbed, the driving terminal 200 transmits the generated driving route to the user's change command. Accordingly, or modified separately from the change command, it is possible to smoothly drive the autonomous vehicle. (S1340)

In this case, it is preferable that the modified driving route is modified so that the distance between the fruit trees is appropriate and the overlapping of the driving route is minimized. Here, the optimized driving route may be preferably formed to maximize the use efficiency of the pesticide sprayed on the fruit tree, but not simply to form the shortest distance, but to the shortest distance.

After the 3D map is created and the driving route is set as described above, when the execution of the control mode is input through the user terminal 100, the autonomous vehicle travels along the set driving route, and the autonomous vehicle is driven to the desired fruit tree. When approaching, the operation of the control unit is to proceed with the control process (S1400).

At this time, the control operation is based on the distance between the control unit and the fruit tree towed by the self-driving vehicle or autonomous vehicle equipped with the control unit, the control nozzle installed in the control unit is rotated in the vertical direction with reference to Figure 3 (a) By controlling the spraying direction of the pesticide, it is possible to control the spraying strength of the sprayed pesticide (S1410).

In addition, the spraying direction and the strength of the pesticide may be controlled based on the attitude information of the autonomous vehicle equipped with the control device according to the curvature of the ground or the control device towed to the autonomous vehicle (S1420).

In addition, the spraying direction and the spraying strength of the pesticide may be controlled according to the direction and the intensity of the wind, and the spraying direction and the intensity of the pesticide may also be controlled in consideration of the running speed of the autonomous vehicle (S1430).

Furthermore, referring to FIG. 3 (b), the controller may be used when the driving path reset for the first time or the driving path reset by the obstacle as described above is overlapped, or when the number of permutations is uneven and the interval between the permutations is not constant. The spraying operation of the nozzle may be stopped to reduce the amount of pesticide used (S1440).

When the control process ends and reaches the end of the driving route, the autonomous vehicle moves to the charging station according to the control termination charging mode or the preset end setting through the user terminal 100, and the driving of the autonomous vehicle is terminated. It is switched to the charging process (S1500).

In this case, after the end of the control process, the end point of the guided driving route may also be set based on the structure (landmark).

As a result, the agricultural process is more universally applied to various terrains or trees by realizing autonomous driving to improve the safety of farmers by diversifying pesticides on fruit trees through unmanned control systems and diversifying the driving route of unmanned control systems. It includes the effects that can be applied and used, by controlling the direction and size of the control according to the size or arrangement of the trees, including the effect of reducing the amount of pesticide used, as well as performing an effective control process, changes in the surrounding environment By resetting the driving route according to the control operation according to the control, according to the suppression of excessive use of pesticides, including economic effects, as well as to reduce the contamination of the fruit.

As described above, the detailed description of the present invention has been made by the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, since the above-described embodiments have only been described with reference to preferred examples of the present invention, the present invention is limited to the above embodiments. It should not be understood that the scope of the present invention is to be understood by the claims and equivalent concepts described below.

100: user terminal
200: driving terminal
300: control terminal

Claims (5)

In the unmanned control method of an autonomous vehicle equipped with a pesticide sprayer,
A first step of receiving range information of a pesticide spraying target region through a user terminal connected to a wired or wireless network;
The autonomous vehicle travels within a range of the pesticide spraying target region to obtain environmental information in the pesticide spraying target region, and uses the obtained environmental information to make a three-dimensional map of an area to which the autonomous vehicle will drive. A second step of building information;
A third step of generating a driving route based on the constructed map information to minimize a moving distance of the autonomous vehicle in the pesticide application target region;
A fourth step of, when the execution of the control mode is input through the user terminal, the autonomous vehicle moves along the driving path and operates the control unit to spray pesticides on fruit trees;
A fifth step of recognizing ground curvature and obstacles on the driving path and resetting the driving path when the autonomous vehicle moves along the driving path; And
And after completing the driving route, terminating the control mode of the autonomous vehicle;
The second step,
And generating the environment information by identifying a feature including the size of the fruit tree, the distribution of the fruit tree including the arrangement of the fruit tree, and a landmark in the pesticide application target area.
The fourth step,
Controlling the pesticide spraying direction and pesticide spraying intensity of the plant by calculating an angle in the height direction between the controller and the fruit tree according to the distance between the autonomous vehicle and the fruit tree and the size of the fruit tree;
Controlling the pesticide spraying direction and the pesticide spraying intensity of the control unit based on the attitude information of the autonomous vehicle by the curvature of the ground; And
Controlling the spraying direction and intensity of the pesticide according to the direction of the wind in the pesticide spraying target region and the traveling speed of the autonomous vehicle;
Containing
Unmanned control method using autonomous vehicle. The method of claim 1,
The third step,
Setting a starting point and an end point of the driving route based on a feature including the landmark, and setting an inflection point or a turning point of the driving route based on distribution information of the fruit tree including the arrangement of the fruit trees; doing
Unmanned control method using autonomous vehicle. delete delete The method of claim 1,
The fourth step,
When the driving path of the set autonomous vehicle is superimposed, controlling the pesticide spraying of the control unit in the overlapped portion;
Unmanned control method using autonomous vehicle.

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