KR20210010164A - System and method for managing cluster flight of unmanned aerial vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system for the group flight management of an unmanned aerial vehicle includes: an unmanned aerial vehicle photographing a photography target area for obtaining images while performing group flights over the photography target area by using GPS position information, and including one master unmanned aerial vehicle, while performing long-range photography while moving in the photography target area and setting routes for a plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles to perform short-range photography based on the long-range photography, and the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles photographing short-range images while performing group flight by moving to a photography position based on the set routes; and a group flight management server managing the group flight control of the unmanned aerial vehicle. The group flight management server includes: a diagnosis part confirming a route departure or malfunction occurrence in each of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles; and a flight control part, if the route departure or malfunction occurrence is confirmed by the diagnosis part, controlling the remaining normal sub unmanned aerial vehicles (normal unmanned aerial vehicles) such that the unmanned aerial vehicles continue to perform a mission of a sub unmanned aerial vehicle (faulty unmanned aerial vehicle) confirmed to have the route departure or malfunction occurrence. Therefore, the present invention is capable of preventing accidents such as the breakage of a facility or injuries to people.

Description

Cluster flight management system and method of unmanned aerial vehicle {SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING CLUSTER FLIGHT OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE}

Embodiments of the present invention relate to an unmanned aerial vehicle, and more particularly, to a system and method for managing swarm flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle.

In recent years, as the technology of unmanned aerial vehicles develops rapidly, the demand for them has exploded around the world. The unmanned aerial vehicle is an unmanned aerial vehicle that can be controlled by wireless radio waves through remote control or automatic control without a pilot on board, and is generally called a drone, and is equipped with a camera, sensor, ultrasonic equipment, communication system, and the like.

The unmanned aerial vehicle was started for military use, but in recent years, it is widely used for various purposes such as high altitude shooting and product delivery, pesticide spraying, air quality measurement, forest fire monitoring and extinguishing, communication, disaster environment response, research and development, etc. It has been reborn as a cheap Kidult product, so that even individuals can buy it without burden.

In this situation, in recent years, due to the rapid development of communication and computing technology, multiple unmanned aerial vehicles form a formation rather than simply flying a single unmanned aerial vehicle, and thus, it is suitable for swarm flight that performs special and complex missions such as disaster relief and reconnaissance. There is an active research on the Korean market.

However, when performing swarm flight using the conventional unmanned aerial vehicle as described above, the precision of GPS is low, and there is a high possibility of collision between adjacent unmanned aerial vehicles in a situation where a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles are simultaneously controlled in a narrow space. When a collision occurs between unmanned aerial vehicles, there is a problem of economic loss due to damage of the unmanned aerial vehicle, as well as enormous disruption to work performed through swarm flight. In addition, according to the prior art, since the unmanned aerial vehicle in which the problem has occurred is left without joining (returning) to the crowded flight line, there is a problem such as an accident in which the unmanned aerial vehicle falls or collides, injuring people or destroying facilities. .

As a related prior art, there is Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2019-0014418 (name of invention: cluster driving control system and method, publication date: 2019.02.12).

One embodiment of the present invention is not limited to restoring the remaining unmanned aerial vehicles except for the unmanned aerial vehicle for which failure or deviation (error) was confirmed when performing the mission of the swarm flight, and the mission of the unmanned aerial vehicle with the error It provides a cluster flight management system and method of an unmanned aerial vehicle that can be controlled to perform the subsequent flight.

The problem to be solved by the present invention is not limited to the problem(s) mentioned above, and another problem(s) not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

The cluster flight management system of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention performs photographing for obtaining an image while flocking through a photographing target region using GPS location information, and performing long-distance photographing while moving the photographing target region. One master unmanned aerial vehicle that sets a path of a plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles to perform short-range photographing based on the long-distance photographing, and a plurality of subs that photograph a short-range image while moving to a photographing position based on the set path and performing a cluster flight Unmanned aerial vehicle including unmanned aerial vehicle; And a cluster flight management server that manages cluster flight control of the unmanned aerial vehicle, wherein the cluster flight management server includes: a diagnosis unit that checks the occurrence of a failure or deviation of each of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles; And when the occurrence of the failure or deviation of the path is confirmed by the diagnosis unit, the mission of the sub unmanned aerial vehicle (error unmanned aerial vehicle) in which the occurrence of the failure or deviation is confirmed is followed by the remaining normal sub unmanned aerial vehicle (normal unmanned aerial vehicle). It includes a flight control unit that controls to perform.

The flight control unit acquires history information related to the mission performance of the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle from a database in order to control the normal unmanned aerial vehicle to subsequently perform the mission of the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle, and shares the history information with the normal unmanned aerial vehicle. can do.

The flight control unit acquires sensing data on the distances of each of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles through distance sensors mounted on each of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles, and uses the sensing data to within a preset distance from the error unmanned aerial vehicle. It is possible to select a nearby normal unmanned aerial vehicle, and transfer the history information to the selected normal unmanned aerial vehicle.

After transmitting the control command or report signal according to wireless communication to each of the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles through the master unmanned aerial vehicle, the diagnostic unit determines whether the corresponding response signal is received within a predetermined time or more than a predetermined number of times, and , On the basis of the result of the determination, the occurrence of the failure or deviation of the path may be confirmed.

The flight control unit transmits a return command to the normal unmanned aerial vehicle in normal operation except for the error unmanned aerial vehicle, so that each of the normal unmanned aerial vehicles performs its own return to its original position according to the return process included in the return command. Can be controlled.

The erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle measures the distance to an obstacle close to the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle through a distance sensor mounted therein, and if the measured distance is within a preset range, the fault occurs or falls due to the departure of the path. Alternatively, a control command for decelerating the speed or turning rapidly by a certain angle may be generated so as to prevent accidents in which a person is injured by a collision or destroys a facility.

The unmanned aerial vehicle further includes a spare unmanned aerial vehicle for replacing the mission performance of the error unmanned aerial vehicle, and the flight control unit arranges the spare unmanned aerial vehicle at a position spaced apart from the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles during swarm flight, When the occurrence of the failure or departure of the path is confirmed by the diagnosis unit, the spare unmanned aerial vehicle is placed in a position for performing the mission of the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle by transmitting a replacement command to the master unmanned aerial vehicle. It can be controlled to replace the mission performance of the error unmanned aerial vehicle.

A method for managing a cluster flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of, by a diagnostic unit of a cluster flight management server, confirming occurrence of a failure or deviation of each of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles; And when the occurrence of the failure or departure of the path is confirmed by the diagnosis unit, the flight control unit of the cluster flight management server performs the mission of the sub unmanned aerial vehicle (error unmanned aerial vehicle) in which the occurrence of the failure or departure is confirmed. And controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle (normal unmanned aerial vehicle) to perform subsequently.

The controlling of the normal unmanned aerial vehicle to subsequently perform the mission of the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle may include obtaining history information related to the mission performance of the faulty unmanned aerial vehicle from a database; And it may include the step of sharing the history information with the normal unmanned aerial vehicle.

The step of sharing the history information with the normal unmanned aerial vehicle may include: obtaining sensing data regarding distances of each of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles through distance sensors mounted on each of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles; Selecting a normal unmanned aerial vehicle close to the error unmanned aerial vehicle within a preset distance using the sensing data; And it may include the step of transmitting the history information to the selected normal unmanned aerial vehicle.

A method for managing a cluster flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of: measuring a distance from an obstacle adjacent to the unmanned aerial vehicle through a distance sensor in which the unmanned aerial vehicle is installed in error; And when the measured distance is within a preset range, the speed is controlled to reduce the speed so that the error unmanned aerial vehicle falls or collides due to the occurrence of the failure or departure of the path, thereby injuring a person or destroying the facility. Or generating a control command for rapid rotation by a predetermined angle.

A method for managing a cluster flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises: disposing, by the flight controller, a spare unmanned aerial vehicle at a location spaced apart from the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles during a cluster flight; And when the occurrence of the failure or departure of the path is confirmed by the diagnosis unit, the flight control unit transmits a replacement command to the master unmanned aerial vehicle to place the spare unmanned aerial vehicle at a position for performing the mission of the error unmanned aerial vehicle. It may further include controlling the preliminary unmanned aerial vehicle to replace the mission performance of the error unmanned aerial vehicle.

Details of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and accompanying drawings.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the mission of the unmanned aerial vehicle in which the error occurred is not limited to returning the remaining unmanned aerial vehicles except for the unmanned aerial vehicle for which an error or path deviation (error) was confirmed when performing the mission of the swarm flight. You can control the flight so that the unmanned aerial vehicle will then perform.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an error occurs by measuring the distance to an obstacle with respect to an unmanned aerial vehicle in which an error has occurred, and decelerating the speed based on the measurement result, or by making a sudden rotation by a certain angle. It can prevent accidents such as destroying the facilities.

1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a cluster flight management system for an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of the cluster flight management server of FIG. 1.
3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a cluster flight process of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 to 6 are diagrams illustrating examples of a normal operation state and a failure state of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a flowchart illustrating a method of managing a cluster flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a flowchart illustrating a collision avoidance process between unmanned aerial vehicles in an embodiment of the present invention.

Advantages and/or features of the present invention, and a method of achieving them will become apparent with reference to the embodiments described later in detail together with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but will be implemented in a variety of different forms, only these embodiments make the disclosure of the present invention complete, and common knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention pertains. It is provided to completely inform the scope of the invention to those who have, and the invention is only defined by the scope of the claims. The same reference numerals refer to the same elements throughout the specification.

In addition, a preferred embodiment of the present invention to be implemented below is already provided in each system functional configuration in order to efficiently describe the technical components constituting the present invention, or system functions commonly provided in the technical field to which the present invention belongs. The configuration will be omitted as much as possible, and a functional configuration that should be additionally provided for the present invention will be mainly described. If a person of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs will be able to easily understand the functions of components previously used among functional configurations that are not shown below and are omitted, the configuration omitted as described above. The relationship between the elements and the components added for the present invention will also be clearly understood.

In addition, in the following description, "transmission", "communication", "transmission", "receive" of a signal or information, and other terms with similar meanings refer to direct transmission of signals or information from one component to another. Not only that, but it includes things that are passed through other components. In particular, "transmitting" or "transmitting" a signal or information to a component indicates the final destination of the signal or information and does not imply a direct destination. The same is true for "reception" of signals or information.

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

1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a cluster flight management system for an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1, the cluster flight management system 100 of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention may be configured to include an unmanned aerial vehicle 110, a cluster flight management server 120, and a database 130. .

The unmanned aerial vehicle 110 is an unmanned aerial vehicle in the form of an airplane or helicopter capable of flying and controlling by induction of radio waves, and is generally known as a drone. However, in the present invention, the unmanned aerial vehicle 110 may be understood as a concept including not only the drone but also sky lanterns using the drone as a power source.

The unmanned aerial vehicle 110 may perform a role of performing photographing for obtaining an image while flocking through a photographing target region using GPS location information. Here, the GPS location information may be understood as a concept including Real Time Kinematic (RTK)-GPS-based location information.

The RTK-GPS-based location information refers to an accurate coordinate of a current location determined in real time through the synthesis of coordinates acquired through a GPS satellite and location correction data transmitted from the cluster flight management server 120.

By using the RTK-GPS-based location information, the unmanned aerial vehicle 110 can check its own exact location information through information provided by GPS satellites and base stations while minimizing location errors that may occur in conventional GPS. .

Accordingly, the unmanned aerial vehicle 110 can acquire a long-range image and a short-range image of the target area while performing a cluster flight based on the precise coordinate information obtained according to high-precision position recognition.

Such unmanned aerial vehicle 110 may be configured to include one master unmanned aerial vehicle 111, one sub-master unmanned aerial vehicle 112, and a plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles 113.

The master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 may perform long-distance photographing while moving the photographing target area, and set a path of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles 113 to perform short-range photographing based on the long-distance photographing.

Here, the long-distance shooting means shooting while moving the shooting target area in the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 flying 150m from the ground, and the close-range shooting is a sub-master unmanned aerial vehicle that flies horizontally at a height of 25m from the ground. It means photographing while moving the distance photographing area in each of the 112 and the sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113 (see FIG. 3).

The plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles 113 may move to a photographing position based on a path set by the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 to capture a short-range image while performing a swarm flight. To this end, the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles 113 are divided into a plurality of groups, and each group may include one sub master unmanned aerial vehicle 112 and a plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles 113.

On the other hand, the unmanned aerial vehicle 110 may be configured to further include a spare unmanned aerial vehicle 114 to replace the mission performance of the error unmanned aerial vehicle 113. The preliminary unmanned aerial vehicle 114 will be described in detail later.

The cluster flight management server 120 performs a function of managing the cluster flight control of the unmanned aerial vehicle 110. To this end, the cluster flight management server 120 may include a diagnosis unit 210, a flight control unit 220, and a main control unit 230 as shown in FIG. 2. For reference, FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of the cluster flight management server 120 of FIG. 1.

The diagnosis unit 210 may check the occurrence of a failure or deviation of each of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles 113.

Specifically, the diagnosis unit 210 may transmit a control command or a report signal according to wireless communication to each of the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles 110 through the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111. Then, the diagnosis unit 210 may determine whether a response signal is received within a preset time or more than a preset number of times. The diagnosis unit 210 may check the occurrence of the failure or deviation from the path based on the result of the determination.

For example, after the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 transmits the control command (or report signal) to each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 110, it does not receive a response signal within a set time, or a response signal is received, but the set number of times (eg: It may be received less than 3 times). Alternatively, the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 may have a case in which the strength of the response signal received from the unmanned aerial vehicle 110 is less than a preset value. In this case, the diagnosis unit 210 may diagnose that a failure occurs in the unmanned aerial vehicle 110, specifically the sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113, or that the sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113 deviates from a path related to cluster flight. .

When the occurrence of the failure or departure of the path is confirmed by the diagnosis unit 210, the flight control unit 220 is the sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113 (hereinafter, referred to as'error unmanned vehicle' The remaining normal sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113 (hereinafter, referred to as'normal unmanned aerial vehicle') can be controlled so that the mission of) is subsequently performed.

To this end, the flight control unit 220 may obtain history information related to the mission performance of the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle 113 from the database 130 and share the history information with the normal unmanned aerial vehicle 113.

That is, the flight control unit 220 may acquire sensing data regarding the distance of each of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles 113 through a distance sensor (not shown) mounted on each of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles 113. have. The flight control unit 220 may select a normal unmanned aerial vehicle 113 that is close to the error unmanned aerial vehicle 113 within a preset distance using the sensing data. The flight control unit 220 can share the history information with the normal unmanned aerial vehicle 113 by transmitting the history information to the selected normal unmanned aerial vehicle 113.

The flight control unit 220 commands a return to the normal unmanned aerial vehicle 113 in normal operation except for the error unmanned aerial vehicle 113 when the occurrence of the failure or departure from the path is confirmed by the diagnosis unit 210 By transmitting, it is also possible to control each of the normal unmanned aerial vehicle 113 to perform its own return to its original position according to the return process included in the return command.

Here, the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle 113 may fail to return to the original position of the swarm flight line despite the return command. In this case, the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle 113 may fall or collide with an obstacle to injure a person or cause an accident to destroy a facility.

In order to prevent this, the flight control unit 220 measures the distance to an obstacle close to the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle 113 through a distance sensor mounted inside the corresponding sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113, and the measured distance When is within a preset range, the obstacle may be avoided by generating and executing a control command for deceleration control of the speed or rapid rotation by a predetermined angle.

Meanwhile, the flight control unit 220 may arrange the preliminary unmanned aerial vehicle 114 at a position spaced apart from the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles 113 at a predetermined interval during a swarm flight. This is to maintain the ranks of cluster flight by replacing the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle 113 with the spare unmanned aerial vehicle 114 in a situation where the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle 113 among the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles 113 occurs. to be.

That is, the flight control unit 220 transmits a replacement command to the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 when the failure or departure of the path is confirmed by the diagnosis unit 210 to provide the spare unmanned aerial vehicle 114 The erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle 113 may be placed at a location for performing a mission. Accordingly, the flight control unit 220 may control the preliminary unmanned aerial vehicle 114 to replace the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle 113 performing a mission.

The main control unit 230 may generally control operations of the cluster flight management server 120, that is, the diagnosis unit 210 and the flight control unit 220.

3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a cluster flight process of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 4 to 6 are diagrams illustrating a normal operation state and a failure state of the unmanned aerial vehicle in an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure shown to explain an example.

First, referring to Fig. 2, the cluster flight management server 120 controls the movement of the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 to the origin position (P00) of the shooting target area. At this time, the origin position of the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 In addition, from the next position after the origin position, the distance as much as the one-time shooting area of the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 is calculated in advance in the X-axis or Y-axis direction. You can calculate the shooting location by calculating the coordinates of P01 or P10 so that you can move.

The master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 that has moved to the origin position of the specific shooting target area calculates the location information where each of the sub-master unmanned aerial vehicle 112 and the sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113 will be located at the current location, and the sub-master unmanned aerial vehicle Position coordinates are transmitted to each of the aircraft 112 and the sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113 so that they can be moved to the original position.

Thereafter, the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 performs long-distance photographing at the current location, and then calculates a photographing range of each of the sub-master unmanned aerial vehicle 112 and the sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113 within the distance photographing image range. , The sub-master unmanned aerial vehicle 112 and the sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113 each perform a path setting so that they can capture a short-range image while flocking horizontally.

For example, the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 has one sub-master unmanned aerial vehicle 112 and two sub unmanned aerial vehicles 113 collectively fly in a horizontal straight line based on a long-distance photographed image captured at the location P00 of the target area. When the route is set so that a short-range image can be photographed through, one sub-master unmanned aerial vehicle 112 and two sub-unmanned aerial vehicles 113 perform short-range photographing as an optimal path that can minimize the moving distance and time. Set the movement path to be performed. At this time, the movement path of the short distance shooting set by the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 may be arbitrarily changed according to the shooting terrain or environment.

In addition, when each unmanned aerial vehicle 110 performs position movement according to a set path, the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 is the sub-master unmanned aerial vehicle 112 and the sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113 based on GPS coordinates. ) It calculates the relative position coordinates according to each cluster flight configuration method, distance, and photographing area, and transmits the location information to be moved to each of the sub-master unmanned aerial vehicle 112 and the sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113.

For reference, the process of performing the path setting so that the short-range image can be captured is the last shooting according to the long-distance shooting path of the shooting target area (e.g., set in the order of P01, P02, P03, P13, P12, P11, P10). It can be repeatedly performed up to the location, and if the shooting target area is small enough to cover all of the shooting target area with a single long-distance shooting from the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111, it ends with one long-range shooting and route setting. Can be.

As described above, when the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 performs long-distance photographing and a path setting for short-range photographing based on this, each of the sub-master unmanned aerial vehicle 112 and the sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113 is in a bundle (group) form. Move to and perform close-range photography while performing a swarm flight.

At this time, when the sub-master unmanned aerial vehicle 112 and the sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113 each move according to a path set by the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 to perform short-range photographing, the distance between each other is close A collision may occur due to a control failure or path deviation.

In order to prevent this, the unmanned aerial vehicle 110 checks the distance to the other unmanned aerial vehicle 110 based on the detection signal measured by the radar sensor provided by itself, and then the distance to the other unmanned aerial vehicle 110 is within a preset distance. When approaching, it moves by a preset distance in the direction of 90 degrees from the approach direction, and if the other unmanned aerial vehicle 110 is not detected within the preset distance by re-checking the distance with the other unmanned aerial vehicle 110, it moves to the original coordinates to fly. do.

In addition, when each unmanned aerial vehicle 110 performs location movement according to a set path and performs long-distance and short-range image capture, check the occurrence or departure of the path of other unmanned aerial vehicles 110, and the occurrence or departure of the path When this is confirmed, the unmanned aerial vehicle 110, that is, the rest of the unmanned aerial vehicle 110 operating normally except for the error unmanned aerial vehicle 113, that is, the normal unmanned aerial vehicle 113, is controlled to return to its original position.

For example, FIG. 4 shows a normal operating state in which a request and a response (ACK) are normally performed between the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 and the sub master unmanned aerial vehicle 112 and the sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113, Both the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111, the sub-master unmanned aerial vehicle 112, and the sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113 can return to their normal original positions after a photographing operation.

In such a normal operation state, as shown in FIG. 5, when a failure or deviation of the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 is confirmed, the sub-master unmanned aerial vehicle 112 becomes a master and switches to a preset communication channel. A return command is transmitted to each of the sub unmanned aerial vehicles 113 to return to the original position by a preset return processor. In addition, the sub-master unmanned aerial vehicle 112 transmits a return command to each of the sub unmanned aerial vehicles 113, and then returns to the original position through the return processor when a predetermined time elapses.

As another example, as shown in FIG. 6, when a failure or deviation of the sub-master unmanned aerial vehicle 112 is confirmed, the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 is a sub-master unmanned aerial vehicle 112 of which failure or deviation is confirmed. ) In addition to transmitting a return command to the other sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113 to return to the original position according to the return processor. In addition, the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111 transmits a return command to the sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113 that is normally driven, and then returns to its original position through the return processor when a predetermined time elapses.

When both the long-distance and short-range photographing in each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 110 are terminated, the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111, the sub-master unmanned aerial vehicle 112, and the sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113 each return to the take-off and landing ground. Thereafter, the cluster flight management server 120 collects a long-distance photographed image and a short-range photographed image of the target region from each of the master unmanned aerial vehicle 111, the sub-master unmanned aerial vehicle 112, and the sub unmanned aerial vehicle 113, respectively. do.

The apparatus described above may be implemented as a hardware component, a software component, and/or a combination of a hardware component and a software component. For example, the devices and components described in the embodiments include, for example, a processor, a controller, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a digital signal processor, a microcomputer, a field programmable array (FPA), It can be implemented using one or more general purpose computers or special purpose computers, such as a programmable logic unit (PLU), a microprocessor, or any other device capable of executing and responding to instructions. The processing device may execute an operating system (OS) and one or more software applications executed on the operating system. In addition, the processing device may access, store, manipulate, process, and generate data in response to the execution of software. For the convenience of understanding, although it is sometimes described that one processing device is used, one of ordinary skill in the art, the processing device is a plurality of processing elements and/or a plurality of types of processing elements. It can be seen that it may include. For example, the processing device may include a plurality of processors or one processor and one controller. In addition, other processing configurations are possible, such as a parallel processor.

The software may include a computer program, code, instructions, or a combination of one or more of these, configuring the processing unit to behave as desired or processed independently or collectively. You can command the device. Software and/or data may be interpreted by a processing device or to provide instructions or data to a processing device, of any type of machine, component, physical device, virtual equipment, computer storage medium or device. , Or may be permanently or temporarily embodyed in a transmitted signal wave. The software may be distributed over networked computer systems and stored or executed in a distributed manner. Software and data may be stored on one or more computer-readable recording media.

7 is a flowchart illustrating a method of managing a cluster flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The cluster flight management method of an unmanned aerial vehicle described herein is only one embodiment of the present invention, and various steps may be added as necessary, and the following steps may also be performed by changing the order. The invention is not limited to each step and its sequence described below.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 7, in step 710, the diagnosis unit 210 of the cluster flight management server 120 may check the occurrence of a failure or deviation of each of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles 113.

As a result of the confirmation, if the occurrence of a failure or deviation of the path is confirmed (in the direction of "Yes" in 720), the flight control unit 220 of the cluster flight management server 120 performs the mission of the error unmanned aerial vehicle 113 in step 730 History information related to may be obtained from the database 130.

Next, in step 740, the flight control unit 220 acquires sensing data regarding the distance of each of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles 113 through distance sensors mounted on each of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles 113. can do.

Next, in step 750, the flight controller 220 may select a normal unmanned aerial vehicle 113 that is close to the error unmanned aerial vehicle 113 within a preset distance using the sensing data.

Next, in step 760, the flight control unit 220 transfers the history information to the selected normal unmanned aerial vehicle 113, and the normal unmanned aerial vehicle 113 performs the mission of the error unmanned aerial vehicle 113. Can be controlled to perform.

On the other hand, as a result of the confirmation, if the occurrence of a failure or deviation of the path is not confirmed (in the "No" direction of 720), it may return to step 710.

8 is a flowchart illustrating a collision avoidance process between unmanned aerial vehicles in an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 8, in step 810, each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 110 may check a detection signal measured by a radar sensor provided by itself.

Next, in step 820, each of the unmanned aerial vehicle 110 may check the distance to the other unmanned aerial vehicle 110.

As a result of the confirmation, if the distance to the other unmanned aerial vehicle 110 is less than a preset value (“Yes” direction of 830), the unmanned aerial vehicle 110 in step 840 is 90 to the approach direction of the adjacent unmanned aerial vehicle 110 It is possible to avoid collisions between each other by moving a certain distance in an angle direction.

Next, the unmanned aerial vehicle 110 that has avoided the collision in step 850 may check the detection signal measured by the radar sensor.

Next, in step 860, the unmanned aerial vehicle 110 may check the distance to the other unmanned aerial vehicle 110.

As a result of the check, if the distance to the other unmanned aerial vehicle 110 is greater than or equal to the set value (in the "No" direction of 870), in step 880, the unmanned aerial vehicle 110 can move to the coordinates of the originally scheduled route. have.

The method according to the embodiment may be implemented in the form of program instructions that can be executed through various computer means and recorded in a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, etc. alone or in combination. The program instructions recorded on the medium may be specially designed and configured for the embodiment, or may be known and usable to those skilled in computer software. Examples of computer-readable recording media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tapes, optical media such as CDROMs and DVDs, and magnetic-optical media such as floptical disks. And hardware devices specially configured to store and execute program instructions such as magneto-optical media, and ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of the program instructions include not only machine language codes such as those produced by a compiler, but also high-level language codes that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like. The hardware device described above may be configured to operate as one or more software modules to perform the operation of the embodiment, and vice versa.

As described above, although the embodiments have been described by the limited embodiments and drawings, various modifications and variations are possible from the above description by those of ordinary skill in the art. For example, the described techniques are performed in a different order from the described method, and/or components such as a system, structure, device, circuit, etc. described are combined or combined in a form different from the described method, or other components Alternatively, even if substituted or substituted by an equivalent, an appropriate result can be achieved.

Therefore, other implementations, other embodiments, and equivalents to the claims fall within the scope of the following claims.

110: unmanned aerial vehicle
111: Master Unmanned Vehicle
112: submaster unmanned aerial vehicle
113: sub unmanned aerial vehicle
114: reserve unmanned aerial vehicle
120: cluster flight management server
130: database
210: diagnosis unit
220: flight control unit
230: main control unit

Claims (12)

A plurality of sub-unmanned aerial vehicles that perform shooting for image acquisition while flocking through the shooting target area using GPS location information, and performing long-distance shooting while moving the shooting target area, and performing short-range shooting based on the long-range shooting An unmanned aerial vehicle including one master unmanned aerial vehicle for setting a path, and a plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles for photographing short-range images while moving to a photographing location based on the set path and performing a cluster flight; And
A cluster flight management server that manages cluster flight control of the unmanned aerial vehicle
Including,
The cluster flight management server
A diagnostic unit for checking the occurrence of a failure or deviation of the path of each of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles; And
When the occurrence of the failure or departure of the path is confirmed by the diagnosis unit, the remaining normal sub unmanned aerial vehicle (normal unmanned aerial vehicle) performs the task of the sub unmanned aerial vehicle (error unmanned aerial vehicle) in which the occurrence of the failure or deviation is confirmed. Flight control to control
A cluster flight management system of an unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising: a.
The method of claim 1,
The flight control unit
In order to control the operation of the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle to be subsequently performed by the normal unmanned aerial vehicle, the history information related to the mission performance of the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle is obtained from a database, and the history information is shared with the normal unmanned aerial vehicle. A cluster flight management system for unmanned aerial vehicles.
The method of claim 2,
The flight control unit
A normal unmanned aerial vehicle that obtains sensing data on the distance of each of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles through a distance sensor mounted on each of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles, and approaches within a preset distance from the error unmanned aerial vehicle by using the sensing data A cluster flight management system of an unmanned aerial vehicle, characterized in that for selecting an aircraft and transmitting the history information to the selected normal unmanned aerial vehicle.
The method of claim 1,
The diagnosis unit
After transmitting a control command or report signal according to wireless communication to each of the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles through the master unmanned aerial vehicle, it is determined whether or not a response signal corresponding thereto is received within a preset time or more than a preset number of times, and the determination Cluster flight management system of an unmanned aerial vehicle, characterized in that to check the occurrence of the failure or departure of the path based on the result of.
The method of claim 1,
The flight control unit
Excluding the error unmanned aerial vehicle, by transmitting a return command to the remaining normal unmanned aerial vehicle, and controlling each of the normal unmanned aerial vehicle to perform its own return to its original position according to the return process included in the return command. A cluster flight management system for unmanned aerial vehicles.
The method of claim 1,
The error unmanned aerial vehicle is
A distance sensor is used to measure the distance to an obstacle close to the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle, and if the measured distance is within a preset range, a person may fall or collide due to the occurrence of the failure or departure from the path. A cluster flight management system for an unmanned aerial vehicle, characterized in that to generate a control command for decelerating a speed or rapidly rotating a certain angle so as to prevent an accident that hurts or destroys a facility.
The method of claim 1,
The unmanned aerial vehicle is
Further comprising a spare unmanned aerial vehicle for replacing the mission performance of the error unmanned aerial vehicle,
The flight control unit
During swarm flight, the preliminary unmanned aerial vehicle is placed at a position separated from the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles at a certain distance, but when the failure or departure of the path is confirmed by the diagnostic unit, a replacement command is transmitted to the master unmanned aerial vehicle. By arranging the preliminary unmanned aerial vehicle at a position for performing the mission of the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle, the preliminary unmanned aerial vehicle is controlled to replace the mission performance of the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle.
A plurality of sub-unmanned aerial vehicles that perform shooting for image acquisition while flocking through the shooting target area using GPS location information, and performing long-distance shooting while moving the shooting target area, and performing short-range shooting based on the long-range shooting An unmanned aerial vehicle including one master unmanned aerial vehicle for setting a path, and a plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles for photographing a short-range image while moving to a photographing location based on the set path and performing a cluster flight; And in the cluster flight management system of the unmanned aerial vehicle comprising a cluster flight management server for managing the cluster flight control of the unmanned aerial vehicle,
Checking the occurrence of a failure or deviation of the path of each of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles by a diagnosis unit of the cluster flight management server; And
When the occurrence of the failure or departure from the path is confirmed by the diagnosis unit, the flight control unit of the cluster flight management server performs the mission of the sub unmanned aerial vehicle (error unmanned vehicle) in which the occurrence of the failure or departure from the path is confirmed. Controlling the aircraft (normal unmanned aerial vehicle) to perform subsequently
Cluster flight management method of an unmanned aerial vehicle comprising a.
The method of claim 1,
The step of controlling the normal unmanned aerial vehicle to perform the mission of the error unmanned aerial vehicle subsequently
Obtaining history information related to the mission performance of the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle from a database; And
Sharing the history information with the normal unmanned aerial vehicle
Cluster flight management method of an unmanned aerial vehicle comprising a.
The method of claim 9,
The step of sharing the history information with the normal unmanned aerial vehicle
Obtaining sensing data regarding distances of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles through distance sensors mounted on each of the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles;
Selecting a normal unmanned aerial vehicle close to the error unmanned aerial vehicle within a preset distance using the sensing data; And
Transmitting the history information to the selected normal unmanned aerial vehicle
Cluster flight management method of an unmanned aerial vehicle comprising a.
The method of claim 8,
Measuring a distance between the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle and an obstacle adjacent to the erroneous unmanned aerial vehicle through a distance sensor mounted therein; And
When the measured distance is within a preset range, the speed is reduced or controlled to prevent an accident in which the faulty unmanned aerial vehicle falls or collides due to the occurrence of the failure or departure of the path to injure a person or destroy the facility. Generating a control command for rapid rotation by a certain angle
Cluster flight management method of an unmanned aerial vehicle, characterized in that it further comprises.
The method of claim 8,
Arranging, by the flight control unit, a preliminary unmanned aerial vehicle at a location spaced apart from the plurality of sub unmanned aerial vehicles during a swarm flight; And
When the occurrence of the failure or departure of the path is confirmed by the diagnosis unit, the flight control unit transmits a replacement command to the master unmanned aerial vehicle and places the spare unmanned aerial vehicle at a position for performing the mission of the error unmanned aerial vehicle, Controlling the preliminary unmanned aerial vehicle to replace the mission performance of the error unmanned aerial vehicle
Cluster flight management method of an unmanned aerial vehicle, characterized in that it further comprises.

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