KR102340192B1 - UWB(Ultra Wide Band) sensor-based UAM landing control System and Method of thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an ultra-wide band (UWB) sensor-based UAM landing control system and a method thereof. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a charging system comprises: a UAM including a UWB transmitter; UWB receivers placed on four corners of a landing point of the UAM, receiving time information from the UWB transmitter, tagging the time information, and estimating the distance information; and an integrated controller receiving the distance information estimated by the UWB receivers, and controlling the landing induction of the UAM. Here, the integrated controller is able to store a landing block map which is made into N units of blocks for the landing of the UAM, determine the landing point of the UAM by considering the received distance information, wherein the determination of the landing point includes the determination of a point of a block to be landed for each UAM by searching in the landing block map based on a priority, and compare the determined landing point with the distance of the UWB receivers to control the landing induction of the UAM.

Description

UWB (Ultra Wide Band) sensor-based UAM landing control system and method of thereof

The present invention relates to an ultra-wide-band sensor-based landing control system and method, and more particularly, to a system and method for performing landing control by blocking a landing position and checking distance information of a landing aircraft.

The UWB (Ultra Wide Band) sensor is an ultra-wideband radar communication technology with a bandwidth of 25% or more of the center frequency and a frequency bandwidth of 500 MHz or more by using a low-power, short pulse wavelength in nanoseconds. As an example, in the case of Apple iPhone 11, support for a short-distance-based air-drop wireless data transmission function and a wireless car key function using a UWB sensor is mentioned.

Accordingly, the present invention intends to propose a system and method for inducing a more accurate and safe UAM landing based on a UWB sensor.

The present invention intends to propose an ultra-wideband sensor-based landing assistance system and method.

The present invention intends to propose a system and method for performing landing control by checking distance information.

An object of the present invention is to propose a landing control system and method based on an ultra-wideband sensor for performing landing control by blocking a possible landing position and checking distance information of a landing aircraft.

Landing control system according to an embodiment of the present invention, the aircraft including an ultra-wideband (UWB) transmitter; Ultra-wideband (UWB) receivers provided at four corners of the landing point of the aircraft, the UWB receiver receives time information from the UWB transmitter and predicts distance information by tagging the time information, and the UWB and an integrated controller for receiving estimated distance information from a receiver and controlling the landing guidance of the aircraft, wherein the integrated controller performs time information synchronization based on a positioning system (GPS) and measures the distance based on the time information Stores a landing block map that is blocked into N blocks for based on the search and determining the point of the block to land on for each aircraft; and comparing the determined distance between the landing point and the UWB receiver to control the landing guidance of the aircraft.

According to an embodiment, the integrated controller designates a center of gravity for each landable block, and stores an equation of a circle indicating a physical distance value of each sensor from each center of gravity and coordinate information of the center point.

According to an embodiment, the integrated controller determines whether or not to descend the aircraft using the altitude information of the aircraft obtained through each UWB receiver and distance information between each UWB receiver, and confirms the altitude information of the aircraft. / Landing is determined, and the update of the block to be landed is performed in consideration of the determined take-off/landing information.

In the landing control method according to an embodiment of the present invention, time information synchronization is performed based on a positioning system (GPS), and a landing block map blocked into N blocks for distance measurement based on the time information is stored. step; Receiving distance information from an ultra-wideband (UWB) receiver; determining the landing point of the aircraft (UAM) in consideration of the received distance information, wherein the determination of the landing point is searched based on the priority in the landing block map and determining the point of the block to be landed for each aircraft includes; and controlling the landing guidance of the aircraft by comparing the determined distance between the landing point and the UWB receiver.

According to an embodiment, the storing of the landing block map may include specifying a center of gravity for each landable block, and storing the equation of a circle indicating the physical distance value of each sensor at each center of gravity and the coordinate information of the center point. It is characterized in that it includes a step.

The controlling of the landing guidance of the aircraft according to an embodiment may include: determining whether to descend the aircraft using altitude information of the aircraft obtained through each UWB sensor and distance information between each UWB sensor; The method may further include determining takeoff/landing by checking the altitude information of the aircraft, and updating the block to be landed in consideration of the determined takeoff/landing information.

The UAM landing control system and method using a UWB sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention has the advantage of being able to land a maximum number of UAMs by checking a predefined landing block and taking priority into consideration.

In addition, the present invention has the advantage of being able to see the effect of performing the maximum landing guidance at a lower cost by adding only the UWB transmitter/receiver sensor (MCU) and the integrated controller hardware (HW) in configuring the landing system. .

In addition, the present invention has the advantage of determining an accurate landing point by performing distance prediction in consideration of time information, and supporting/inducing a safer and more accurate landing of the aircraft through this.

1 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of a UWB-based UAM landing aid according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a diagram schematically illustrating UAM landing processing based on a UWB sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention;
3 is a diagram schematically illustrating an initialization procedure for inducing landing between UWB sensors according to an example of the present invention.
Figure 4 is a diagram schematically showing the calculation of the center of gravity and distance of the landing blocks A, E according to an example of the present invention.
5 is a diagram schematically illustrating a UWB distance storage and landing point derivation method in an overlapping section according to the present invention.
6 is a diagram schematically illustrating a landing point determination of an integrated controller according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7A and 7B are diagrams schematically illustrating a process in which an integrated controller determines a landing block according to a priority according to an embodiment of the present invention;
8 and 9 are diagrams schematically illustrating sensor distance collection and maneuvering direction determination according to an example of the present invention.
10 is a diagram schematically illustrating a landing space update of an integrated controller according to an example of the present invention.
11 and 12 are diagrams schematically illustrating status updates during takeoff and landing according to an example of the present invention;

Terms used in the embodiments of the present invention are selected as currently widely used general terms as possible while considering the functions in the present invention, which may vary depending on the intention or precedent of a person skilled in the art, the emergence of new technology, etc. . In addition, in a specific case, there is a term arbitrarily selected by the applicant, and in this case, the meaning will be described in detail in the description of the corresponding invention. Therefore, the term used in the present invention should be defined based on the meaning of the term and the overall content of the present invention, rather than the name of a simple term.

Embodiments of the present invention can apply various transformations and can have various embodiments, and specific embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the detailed description. However, this is not intended to limit the scope of the specific embodiments, and it should be understood to include all transformations, equivalents, and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the invention. In describing the embodiments, if it is determined that a detailed description of a related known technology may obscure the subject matter, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Terms such as first, second, etc. may be used to describe various elements, but the elements should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another.

The singular expression includes the plural expression unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In the present application, terms such as "comprises" or "consisting of" are intended to designate that the features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof described in the specification exist, and are intended to indicate that one or more other It should be understood that this does not preclude the possibility of addition or presence of features or numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a 'module' or 'unit' performs at least one function or operation, and may be implemented as hardware or software, or a combination of hardware and software. In addition, a plurality of 'modules' or a plurality of 'units' are integrated into at least one module and implemented with at least one processor (not shown) except for 'modules' or 'units' that need to be implemented with specific hardware. can be

In an embodiment of the present invention, when a part is "connected" with another part, it is not only "directly connected" but also "electrically connected" with another element interposed therebetween. also includes In addition, when a part "includes" a certain component, this means that other components may be further included rather than excluding other components unless otherwise stated.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail so that those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains can easily implement them. However, the present invention may be implemented in several different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. And in order to clearly explain the present invention in the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted, and similar reference numerals are assigned to similar parts throughout the specification.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described a UAM landing assistance system and method based on the UWB sensor. The UWB sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention is a sensor that grafts a technology used in radar to the security field, and performs motion and distance estimation using an ultra-wideband frequency. The sensor is designed not to be affected by external environments such as temperature, humidity, etc., and thus has an advantage in that the rate of misinformation is low. In addition, with the development of technology, it is possible to support efficiency according to commercialization technology, miniaturized module design, and low power consumption.

1 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration diagram of a UWB-based UAM landing aid according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First of all, UAM is an abbreviation of Urban Air Mobility, which means a service that includes a vehicle capable of vertical take-off/landing and high-speed flight. system that manages Accordingly, it includes roles such as airspace assignment, flight permit, and monitoring monitoring essential for flight, and at the same time includes monitoring a large number of UAM aircraft in real time.

In order to land the UAM safely and as much as possible in the designated landing space, it is possible to derive the location of the landing point by using image and lidar sensor-based object detection/recognition and distance estimation technology. Here, the safe landing of the aircraft is possible only when the accuracy of the detection/recognition, the distance estimation, and the false detection rate of the object are low. Therefore, in one embodiment of the present invention, it is intended to propose a method to assist landing based on distance measurement by mounting a UWB sensor on each aircraft and installing a UWB sensor at the landing site, and through this, more accurately and safely UAM landing guidance to support This is because more accurate distance measurement is possible by using the high resolution of the nanosecond pulse of the UWB sensor. Therefore, using this technology, it is possible to land a large number of UAMs in a small area. Accordingly, with reference to FIG. 1, a UWB sensor-based UAM landing aid system will be described in detail. According to an embodiment, the present invention will be described with an example of a system configured on the premise that UAMs of the same aircraft land at intervals of time.

Referring to FIG. 1 , the UAM landing aid system based on the UWB sensor consists of one UWB transmitter at the bottom of the UAM aircraft and a total of four UWB receivers at the landing site of the aircraft.

Accordingly, the UAM 100 attaches one sensor for UWB signal transmission to the lower center of the aircraft. Next, four UWB receivers are attached to each corner of the pre-designated landing site, and four controllers (MCU, Micro Controller Unit) that can handle them are installed. Each MCU (MCU1, MCU2, MCU3, MCU4) receives time information from the UWB transmitter, tags the time information received from the transmitter, finally calculates the distance, and transmits it to the integrated controller 105 .

Here, the integrated controller 105 serves to inform the UAM 100 through wireless communication at which location to land the UAM 100 by collecting the processed data from the UWB reception controller. Additionally, the integrated controller 105 performs synchronization of time information based on GPS for distance measurement based on time information, and divides a total of N pre-defined landing points for landing guidance (variably according to the size of the landing point) equally), the landing positions can be defined in advance for each zone.

2 is a diagram schematically illustrating UAM landing control processing based on a UWB sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention.

When the UAM arrives near the GPS-based landing point and at least one of the UWB receivers receives distance data, it performs landing assistance processing. The integrated controller collects distance information from each UWB receiver and guides the landing to the location where the landing point has been determined. . A detailed description of each module will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 to 12 .

The initialization 200 of the integrated controller is shown in FIG. 3 . 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating an initialization procedure for inducing landing between UWB sensors according to an example of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3 , an initialization procedure for the integrated controller for inducing landing between UWB sensors is performed in the system start stage ( 305 ). At this time, the center of gravity for each landing block and the distance for each sensor are defined and stored in advance in the integrated controller (310). The definition of the center of gravity for each landing block and the distance for each sensor is by defining the center of gravity point for each actual landing block and defining the equation of a circle indicating the actual physical distance value of each sensor from each center of gravity and coordinate information of the center point in advance. can be saved In this case, the coordinate position is defined as (0,0) for UWB receiver No. 1, and x, y coordinate values are stored in m units. This may be illustrated in the form of FIG. 4 . 4 is a diagram schematically illustrating the calculation of the center of gravity and distance of landing blocks A and E according to an example of the present invention.

The purpose of defining the center of gravity for each landing block and the distance for each sensor and storing it in the integrated controller in advance is to safely guide the UAM to a designated location. Thereafter, the initialization of the integrated controller is terminated (315).

Here, if you draw a circle whose radius is the distance of each UWB receiver from the center point of each landing block, it can be seen that four circles intersect one center point at the same time. This is the only section where the distance between each sensor by altitude can only show the position where all four circles overlap. This refers to the left side of FIG. 5 . If the distance by altitude is stored only based on the location of two UWB receivers, there may be a section where the distances between the UWB sensors match in the section where points other than the center point overlap. This can lead to errors in guiding the landing site. Referring to the right side of FIG. 5 , it can be seen that a section having the same distance occurs at positions A and B.

Accordingly, the integrated controller collects distance information from each UWB receiver (205) and determines a landing point (210). More specifically, FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically illustrating a landing point determination of an integrated controller according to an embodiment of the present invention. This includes the process of determining where to land in the integrated controller before landing the UAM. After defining each zone as a block by blocking the landing points, the possible landing position of the aircraft is determined from the integrated controller.

Referring to FIG. 6 , the integrated controller starts determining a landing point ( 605 ). At this time, according to an example of the present invention, the integrated controller may search the landing location based on the priority (610). Landing location priority-based search involves blocking landing locations and storing each landing block in the form of a map by an integrated controller.

For example, the priority of landing is determined from the upper left of the landing area to the right. In the present invention, it is possible to diagram the landing priority of the landing block map in alphabetical order. 7A and 7B are diagrams schematically illustrating a process in which the integrated controller determines a landing block according to a priority according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is an example of determining a landing block position for each aircraft. 7A shows that block A is determined as the landing position, and FIG. 7B shows block D is determined as the landing position. As described above, the integrated controller determines the landing block by checking the landing block priority (615), and ends the landing point determination processing (620).

Then, UAM landing guidance module processing is performed. It uses the pre-stored equation of the circle for each landing block and the coordinate information of the central point to estimate (projection) from the current UAM altitude to the ground, and then determines whether the coordinate information estimated from each UWB receiver matches the UAM landing. It involves the process of determining induction. Since the UWB sensor is a time-based distance measurement method, the UAM transmitter and receiver operate in synchronization with the GPS time.

Accordingly, the integrated controller performs each sensor distance collection 215 and UAM starting direction determination 220 . This includes the process 225 of determining whether the UAM is guided to the center point of the designated landing block while maintaining a certain altitude. The distance r projected to the ground is derived. At this time, the coordinates of the points where the four circles overlap are calculated by deriving the four r as the equation of a circle centered on each UWB receiver.

For example, assuming that the total length of the landing point is L x L m, the current altitude of UAM is hm, and the distances of UWB receivers 1, 2, 3, 4 from the UWB transmitter are d1, d2, d3, d4 m, then UWB Projection distances r1, r2, r3, and r4 can be obtained from receivers 1, 2, 3, and 4. When an equation of a circle is derived using the above values, it can be defined as in Equation 1 below.

That is, as shown in FIG. 8, when the landing point length L x L m altitude hm, the distance between UWBs d1, d2, d3, d4 m, and the projection distance r1, r2, r3, r4 m, the circle for the projection length is equations can be derived. Here, FIGS. 8 and 9 are diagrams schematically illustrating sensor distance collection and starting direction determination according to an example of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 9 , the coordinates of the points where all circles overlap are derived using the equation of the four circles and compared with the coordinates of the center of gravity of the landing point to determine the movement amounts dx and dy based on the landing point. The finally determined movement amount dx, dy is notified to the UAM using wireless communication. In other words, it determines the amount the UAM must move from the projection coordinates (x1, y1) where the four circles overlap and the center coordinates of the landing point (x2, y2). Accordingly, as much as dx = x2-x1, dy = y2-y1, the UAM is informed.

By determining the distance match between the UWB receivers (225), if the center point of the landing block and the point of the derived coordinates are less than or equal to xx %, it goes to the descending maneuver command module. If the center point of the landing block and the point of the derived coordinates exceed xx %, check whether the module (each sensor distance collection 215, determining the UAM maneuvering direction, and maintaining a certain altitude of the UAM is guided to the center point of the designated landing block) The determination process 225) is performed again. The error between the two coordinates is determined through the resolution of the UWB sensor and repeated experiments.

Thereafter, when the center point and the projection point of the landing block come within the error, a UAM descending command is performed ( 230 ). Since there is no guarantee that the aircraft descends vertically, if it is not in the UAM landing state after descending to a predetermined altitude, the integrated controller performs the process of collecting distance 215 and determining the maneuvering direction 220 again.

By determining the completion of the landing of the UAM (235), the integrated controller updates the landing location map according to the take-off/landing state.

10 is a diagram schematically illustrating a landing space update of an integrated controller according to an example of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 10 , in performing the landing capability update processing 1000 , the integrated controller distinguishes takeoff and landing of the UAM ( 1005 ) and performs a procedure.

Takeoff processing: During takeoff, the UAM sends a takeoff start signal to the integrated controller through wireless communication. After receiving the signal, the integrated controller periodically receives the altitude of the UAM, and when it reaches a certain altitude or higher (1010), it is determined that take-off is complete. Accordingly, the block of the take-off point is updated as a landing area (1030). 11 is a diagram schematically illustrating a landing block status update upon take-off according to an example of the present invention. As an example, it shows a case in which block C is updated to a landable state.

Landing processing: Upon landing, the UAM sends a landing start signal to the integrated controller via wireless communication. After receiving the signal, the integrated controller periodically receives the UAM altitude information. After that, the integrated controller compares the altitude of the landing site with the altitude of the UAM, and when it is less than xx% of the altitude of the landing site (1020), it periodically asks the UAM whether the landing is complete or not. The difference between the altitude of the landing point and the UAM altitude is determined through each GPS resolution and repeated experiments. When the landing is completed (1025), the landing site is updated as an impossible landing area (1030). 12 is a diagram schematically illustrating a landing block status update upon landing according to an example of the present invention. As an example, as an example, it illustrates a case in which block C is updated to a non-landing state.

As described, using a UWB sensor, but using a predefined landing block map in a state in which time is synchronized with GPS time, the altitude information of UAM (Projection) and sensor information estimated from each UWB receiver (Projection) are taken into consideration. It provides a method to determine the UAM landing guidance by judging. At this time, it provides the advantage of guiding landing more accurately by designating the landing block by determining the sensor distance and the maneuvering direction. In addition, it has the advantage of being able to land as many UAMs as possible through the landing guidance considering priority. In addition, it has the advantage of inducing UAM landing more efficiently by updating the landing location map according to the take-off/landing state.

In the above, preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described and illustrated using specific terms, but such terms are only for clearly explaining the present invention, and the embodiments of the present invention and the described terms are the spirit of the following claims And it is obvious that various changes and changes can be made without departing from the scope. Such modified embodiments should not be individually understood from the spirit and scope of the present invention, but should be said to fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention.

UAM: 100
Integrated controller: 105

Claims (6)

performing time information synchronization based on a positioning system (GPS), and storing a block landing block map into N blocks for distance measurement based on the time information;
Receiving distance information from an Ultra Wide Band (UWB) receiver;
Determining a landing point of an aircraft (Urban Air Mobility: UAM) in consideration of the received distance information, wherein the determination of the landing point is searched based on a priority in the landing block map and the point of a block to be landed for each aircraft includes determining; and
Comprising the step of controlling the landing guidance of the aircraft by comparing the determined distance between the landing point and the UWB receiver,
Storing the landing block map comprises:
Designating a center of gravity point for each landable block, and storing an equation of a circle indicating a physical distance value of each sensor from each center point and coordinate information of the center point.
delete According to claim 1, The step of controlling the landing guidance of the aircraft,
determining whether to descend the aircraft using altitude information of the aircraft obtained through each UWB receiver and distance information between each UWB receiver; and
The landing control method further comprising the step of determining takeoff/landing by checking the altitude information of the aircraft, and updating the block to be landed in consideration of the determined takeoff/landing information.
Aircraft with Ultra Wide Band (UWB) transmitters (Urban Air Mobility: UAM);
UWB receivers provided at the four corners of the landing point of the aircraft; The UWB receiver receives time information from the UWB transmitter and predicts distance information by tagging the time information, and
and an integrated controller for receiving the predicted distance information from the UWB receiver and controlling the landing guidance of the aircraft,
The integrated controller performs time information synchronization based on a positioning system (GPS), stores a landing block map blocked into N blocks for distance measurement based on the time information, and considers the received distance information to determine a landing point of the aircraft, wherein the determination of the landing point includes determining a point of a block to be searched for based on a priority in the landing block map and to land for each aircraft; and comparing the determined distance between the landing point and the UWB receiver to control the landing guidance of the aircraft,
The integrated controller,
When the landing block map is stored, a center of gravity point for each possible landing block is designated, and an equation of a circle indicating the physical distance value of each sensor from each center point and coordinate information of the center point are stored. .
delete The method of claim 4, wherein the integrated controller,
It is determined whether the aircraft descends using the altitude information of the aircraft obtained through each UWB receiver and distance information between each UWB receiver,
Landing control system, characterized in that the take-off/landing is determined by checking the altitude information of the aircraft, and the update of the block to be landed is performed in consideration of the determined take-off/landing information.

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