KR20160148383A

KR20160148383A - Unmanned aerial vehicle and flying method of the same

Info

Publication number: KR20160148383A
Application number: KR1020150085376A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 안병길; 김환용
Original assignee: 엘지전자 주식회사
Priority date: 2015-06-16
Filing date: 2015-06-16
Publication date: 2016-12-26
Also published as: KR101758453B1

Abstract

A method of flying an unmanned aerial vehicle and an unmanned aerial vehicle is disclosed. The unmanned aerial vehicle according to the present invention includes a position sensing unit for sensing a position and altitude of an unmanned aerial vehicle; An obstacle detection unit mounted on the unmanned air vehicle and including a plurality of obstacle detection sensors for detecting obstacles around the obstacle; And a control unit for controlling the obstacle detection sensors disposed in other than the flight direction among the plurality of obstacle detection sensors to be turned off during the autonomous flight of the unmanned air vehicle.

Description

Technical Field [0001] The present invention relates to a method of flying an unmanned aerial vehicle and an unmanned aerial vehicle,

The present invention relates to a flight method of an unmanned aerial vehicle and an unmanned aerial vehicle.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) refers to an aircraft that is not used by humans. In other words, it refers to a flight that does not have a pilot and autonomously flying according to a pre-program or by recognizing and judging the environment (obstacle, route, etc.) itself. Recently, it is used for various purposes such as weather observation, terrain survey, reconnaissance, surveillance, etc., and its posture and position can be automatically controlled by an onboard computer mounted without a person on board, Various types and sizes of products are being developed as a platform to move to a desired position.

The autonomous flight unmanned aerial vehicle acquires information about the current position of the unmanned aerial vehicle at predetermined time intervals when the flight information is input, compares the current position of the unmanned aerial vehicle with the flight trajectory included in the flight information, Control the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle automatically while controlling.

In this way, the autonomous flight unmanned aerial vehicle can fly to the destination without the driver's operation if the destination is input. Therefore, in case of autonomous flight, if there are obstacles in the vicinity, it should be detected and avoided by itself. Therefore, a plurality of obstacle detection sensors are attached to the unmanned aerial vehicle. Generally, in order to detect obstacles on all sides, an obstacle detection sensor is attached to the front, rear, left and right directions of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and up and down directions.

On the other hand, in case of the unmanned air vehicle, the battery is operated by the battery power. Since the obstacle detection sensor is also operated by the battery, the use of the sensor is increased and the battery consumption is increased when the operation time is long.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an unmanned aerial vehicle and a flight method capable of reducing battery consumption.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an unmanned aerial vehicle comprising: a position sensing unit for sensing a position and altitude of an unmanned air vehicle; An obstacle detection unit mounted on the unmanned air vehicle and including a plurality of obstacle detection sensors for detecting obstacles around the obstacle; And a control unit for controlling the obstacle detection sensors disposed in other than the flight direction among the plurality of obstacle detection sensors to be turned off during the autonomous flight of the unmanned air vehicle.

When the unmanned aerial vehicle is above the predetermined altitude, the controller may control the sensor for detecting the downward obstacle of the unmanned aerial vehicle to be turned off.

When the unmanned aerial vehicle senses an obstacle, the controller may control to turn on the sensor that has been turned off.

When the flying direction is the upward direction, the controller may control to turn off only the sensor that detects the downward obstacle of the unmanned air vehicle.

The control unit may control the obstacle detection sensors to be turned on when the flying direction is the downward direction.

The control unit may control the output of the obstacle detection sensor to be lower when the flight place is indoors.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of flying an unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising: identifying a destination of the unmanned aerial vehicle and starting an autonomous flight; Turning on an obstacle detection sensor disposed in all directions simultaneously with the start of the autonomous flight; And turning off the sensors other than the obstacle detection sensor disposed in the flight direction of the unmanned air vehicle.

Turning on the obstacle detection sensor when the obstacle is detected in the flying direction; And turning off the obstacle detection sensor other than the flying direction after the obstacle avoidance.

When the flying direction is the upward direction, only the sensor for detecting the lower obstacle of the unmanned aerial vehicle can be turned off.

And turning off the sensor for detecting the lower obstacle of the unmanned aerial vehicle when the unmanned air vehicle has a predetermined altitude or higher.

As described above, the present invention can prevent the unnecessary sensors of the unmanned aerial vehicle from being operated, thereby reducing the consumption of the battery.

In addition, the present invention can reduce the battery consumption by preventing the output of the sensor during the indoor flight, as well as preventing the human body from being damaged.

FIG. 1 illustrates a concept of flight control of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a block diagram showing the internal structure of the unmanned aerial vehicle.
3 illustrates an obstacle detection sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for flying an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

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

FIG. 1 illustrates a concept of flight control of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1, the flight control of an unmanned aerial vehicle includes a remote controller 10 for outputting a control signal for controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle on the ground, an unmanned aerial vehicle 20 adjusted according to a control signal of the remote controller 10, The destination of the unmanned air vehicle 20 for the flight control will be described in detail below.

The unmanned air vehicle 20 includes a power source unit 21, a wireless communication unit 22, a position sensing unit 23, an obstacle sensing unit 24, a driving unit 25, and a control unit 26.

The power supply unit 21 may be a battery that is used to supply power required for the operation of the unmanned air vehicle 20. In FIG. 1, the obstacle sensing unit 24 is connected to the obstacle sensing unit 24. However, the obstacle sensing unit 24 supplies power to all parts requiring power for operation.

The wireless communication unit 22 receives a control signal of the remote controller 10 for controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle and transmits various information generated in the wireless air vehicle to the remote controller 10 or the ground control unit.

The position sensing unit 23 is used to calculate the current position of the unmanned aerial vehicle. The position sensing unit 23 includes various sensors such as an inertial measurement unit (IMU), a GPS sensor, a gyro sensor, an altitude sensor, And transmits the measured attitude, position information, and the like to the control unit 26 in real time.

The obstacle sensing unit 24 may be an obstacle sensing sensor such as a laser sensor or an ultrasonic sensor for sensing an obstacle around the unmanned aerial vehicle and measuring a distance to the obstacle. The laser sensor or the ultrasonic sensor operates by receiving power from the power source unit 21 and emits a laser or an ultrasonic wave to detect the existence of an obstacle around the obstacle and the distance to the obstacle. Since these sensors must detect obstacles existing on all sides of the unmanned aerial vehicle, several sensors are used in the outer part of the unmanned aerial vehicle. For example, it can be mounted on the front, rear, top, bottom, left and right directions of the unmanned aerial vehicle. FIG. 3 shows an example in which an obstacle detection sensor is attached to the unmanned aerial vehicle 20. Since the unmanned aerial vehicle can proceed in four directions without distinction between front and rear, the concepts of forward and rearward are relative and can vary depending on the direction of flight. 3, an example in which the front sensor S1, the rear sensor S2, the upper sensor S3, the lower sensor S4, and the right sensor S5 are mounted is shown as an example. Although the left sensor is mounted on the opposite side of the right sensor S5, it is not shown in the drawing.

The driving unit 25 controls the movement of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to a control signal to the control unit 26 using a servo motor.

The control unit 26 receives data from the wireless communication unit 22, the position sensing unit 23, and the obstacle sensing unit 24, and controls the overall unmanned aerial vehicle flight state. That is, when the destination information is input through the remote controller, the wireless communication unit detects the current position and controls the flight operation so as to reach the destination according to a predetermined program. The control unit 26 controls the autonomous flight mode, the manual flight mode, and the autonomous / manual flight simultaneous flight mode according to a signal received from the remote controller 10.

In particular, the control unit 26 controls the on / off state of the obstacle sensing unit 24. It is possible to reduce the power consumption of the power source unit 21 by controlling only the sensor mounted in the flight direction of the unmanned air vehicle and controlling the remaining units to be turned off.

When the flight destination is entered and the first flight begins, all the sensors are turned on and follow the flight path after takeoff. If all the sensors are kept on continuously after takeoff, the sensor will continue to operate even though there are no obstacles around, which consumes unnecessary energy. Accordingly, the controller turns off the remaining sensors except for the sensors mounted in the flight direction, thereby reducing unnecessary battery consumption.

When the destination is inputted, the route is determined according to the program and the direction of flight is determined according to the program. Therefore, the direction can be automatically recognized, and the current direction of the flight can be detected in real time You can also check.

Table 1 below shows examples of on / off control of the obstacle detection sensor.

As shown in Table 1, when the control unit 26 advances the unmanned air vehicle, only the sensors disposed in front of the flying object are turned on and the remaining sensors are turned off. Likewise, the control unit 26 controls only the rear sensor when backing up, the left sensor only when flying to the left, the right sensor only when advancing to the right, the upper sensor only when ascending, Are turned off.

When an obstacle is detected in any direction during the flight, all the sensors are turned on so that the collision with the obstacle can be prevented as much as possible. In the case of stopping, only the lower sensor is controlled to be turned on.

Table 2 below shows another example of on / off control of the obstacle detection sensor. The control unit 26 basically controls the sensors other than the obstacle detection sensors disposed in the flight direction to be turned off, but if the risk of collision is high, the sensors other than the direction of flight may be controlled to be turned on as needed.

As shown in [Table 2], the lower sensor may be turned off and the remaining sensors may be turned on when the sensor is turned on, or all sensors may be turned on when the sensor is turned off.

Although not shown in the table, the lower sensor may be turned off when the altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle is higher than a certain altitude. The altitude can be preset in consideration of the overall environment of the airplane, such as terrain and wind speed.

If the obstacle detection sensor of the unmanned aerial vehicle uses a device having a high energy density such as a laser sensor and a person is flying in the room, a part of the human body such as the eyes may be damaged. Therefore, the control unit 26 lowers the output of the obstacle detection sensor . At this time, the sensing sampling period or the number of pulses can be lowered to keep the output of the sensor low. In particular, since the moving speed is limited in the indoor environment, it is advantageous to lower the sensor output. Whether the room is indoors, the lighting is detected. If the brightness of the lighting is within the predetermined range, it can be judged as the room or the user can enter the indoor flight.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an autonomous flight method of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, if the destination is inputted, the current position and destination of the unmanned aerial vehicle are checked (S10), a route is set according to the autonomous flight program, and an autonomous flight is started (S20). At the start of the flight, all obstacle sensors mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle are turned on so that obstacles in all directions can be detected. It is desirable to detect obstacles in all directions because the risk of collision is higher than that during flight and the movement of unmanned aerial vehicle is unstable at the start of flight.

Once the flight is started, the sensors disposed in the remaining directions except the flight direction are turned off (S30). Even if an obstacle appears in the direction other than the flight direction, there is almost no possibility of collision, so unnecessary sensors can be turned off to reduce battery consumption. The sensor located in the on-flight direction detects whether there is an obstacle in the flight direction (S40) and performs the autonomous flight. At this time, the on / off of the sensor can be controlled by the same methods as in [Table 1] and [Table 2] described above.

If an obstacle is detected within a predetermined distance as a result of the detection, all obstacle detection sensors mounted on the unmanned air vehicle are turned on again to detect obstacles in all directions (S50).

Obstacle is avoided through obstacle detection (S60). After the obstacle is avoided, the sensors other than the direction of flight are turned off (S30), and autonomous flight is performed while detecting obstacles in the direction of flight.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Accordingly, the true scope of the present invention should be determined by the following claims.

10: remote controller 20: unmanned vehicle
21: power supply unit 22: wireless communication unit
23: Position sensing part 24: Obstacle sensing part
25: driving unit 26:
30: Destination

Claims

A position sensing unit for sensing the position and altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle;
An obstacle detection unit mounted on the unmanned air vehicle and including a plurality of obstacle detection sensors for detecting obstacles around the obstacle; And
And a control unit for controlling the obstacle detection sensors disposed in other than the flight direction among the plurality of obstacle detection sensors to be off when the unmanned aerial vehicle is in an autonomous flight.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the controller controls the sensor for detecting the downward obstacle of the unmanned aerial vehicle to be turned off when the unmanned aerial vehicle is at a predetermined altitude or higher.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the control unit controls the sensor to be turned on when the unmanned aerial vehicle senses an obstacle.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the controller controls to turn off only the sensor that detects the downward obstacle of the unmanned aerial vehicle when the flying direction is the upward direction.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the control unit controls all the obstacle detection sensors to be on when the flying direction is the downward direction.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the control unit controls the output of the obstacle detection sensor to be lower when the flying place is indoors.

Identifying the destination of the unmanned aerial vehicle and initiating an autonomous flight;
Turning on an obstacle detection sensor disposed in all directions simultaneously with the start of the autonomous flight; And
And turning off the sensors other than the obstacle detection sensors disposed in the flight direction of the unmanned air vehicle.

8. The method of claim 7,
Turning on the obstacle detection sensor when the obstacle is detected in the flight direction; And
Further comprising: after the obstacle avoidance, turning off an obstacle detection sensor other than the flight direction.

8. The method of claim 7,
And turning off only the sensor that detects the lower obstacle of the unmanned aerial vehicle when the flying direction is the upward direction.

8. The method of claim 7,
Further comprising the step of turning off a sensor for detecting a lower obstacle of the unmanned aerial vehicle when the unmanned aerial vehicle is above a predetermined altitude.