KR20220094322A - Autonomous spraying device for irregularly-shaped driving environment - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is an autonomous pest control device suitable for an irregular traveling environment. The autonomous pest control device of the present invention comprises: a communication unit; a sensing unit for generating sensing information including at least any one of traveling environment sensing information, rotation sensing information, and posture status sensing information; a route determination unit for analyzing map information on an area to be controlled to determine an optimal route for performing a pest control process from at least one traveling route ranging from a starting point to a destination; a steering control unit for controlling individual steering shafts joined respectively to a plurality of wheels and controlling a steering angle of each wheel; an operation control unit for controlling operation and braking of the plurality of the wheels to adjust a traveling speed; a pest control unit for performing a pest control process on crops disposed on the optimal route when traveling under control of the operation control unit; a control signal generation unit for generating a control signal in order to follow the optimal route determined by the route determination unit; and an integrated control unit for controlling operation of each unit according to the control signal generated by the control signal generation unit. Accordingly, a difference in a rotational radius of each wheel is compensated when the autonomous pest control device is turned, thereby allowing the autonomous pest control device to perform steering more freely in an irregular traveling environment and perform stable traveling.

Description

An autonomous driving control device suitable for atypical driving environments {AUTONOMOUS SPRAYING DEVICE FOR IRREGULARLY-SHAPED DRIVING ENVIRONMENT}

The present invention relates to an autonomous driving control device suitable for an atypical driving environment.

In general, farmers who grow grains, vegetables, fruits, etc. perform control operations using pesticides that can prevent pests and diseases in order to increase yields. At this time, since the conventional pest control device is in the form of spraying while moving the spraying area, such as worn or driven by an operator, there is a problem in that the operator is exposed to a harmful control solution to the human body.

Recently, in order to improve this, most farms are promoting the safety of farmers by spraying pesticides, that is, control solutions, using automatic or unmanned control devices. 2015. 07. 06., Registration date: 2017. 07. 24., "Unmanned control system", hereinafter referred to as 'Prior Art 1'), Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 10-1312462 (Application date: 2010. 10. 22., Registration date: 2013. 09. 23., "Unmanned control system", hereinafter referred to as 'Prior Art 2'), etc. have been proposed.

Here, Prior Art 1 to Prior Art 2 introduce the technical configuration of an unmanned control system that performs control while autonomously moving along a guide line installed on the ground, but corresponds to a rail rather than an autonomous driving control device that can be used in various environments. Since it is only an unmanned control system that moves along the pre-installed guide line, there was a hassle that farmhouse officials had to install and manage the guide line, and it was accompanied by the problem that it was not possible to properly cope with obstacles on the driving path.

On the other hand, in the case of a general vehicle, when turning, a difference in the turning radius between the inner wheel and the outer wheel steered in the turning direction occurs. of the steering system to ensure natural rotation.

However, in the Ackerman steering method, when the road surface on which the vehicle is driven is uneven, that is, in an atypical driving environment, when the same rotational force is provided to the left and right wheels located on the drive shaft, idling is induced by different road surface conditions in which the left and right wheels are in contact with each other. It is not suitable because the driving vehicle may slip or lean to one side.

On the other hand, since the autonomous driving control system is driven in an atypical driving environment of a farmhouse, individual control of each wheel is performed to enable stable driving while performing more free steering in an atypical driving environment rather than the aforementioned Ackerman steering method. There is a need for steering control technology through

An object of the present invention is to provide an autonomous driving control device suitable for an atypical driving environment by compensating for a difference in the turning radius of each wheel through a steering compensation algorithm rather than a mechanical Ackerman steering method to solve the above problems.

In order to achieve this object, an autonomous driving control device suitable for an atypical driving environment according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a communication unit; a sensing unit for generating sensing information including at least one of driving environment sensing information, rotation sensing information, and posture state sensing information; a path determining unit that analyzes map information of a control target area and determines an optimal path for performing a control operation among at least one driving route corresponding to a departure point to a destination; a steering control unit for controlling individual steering shafts respectively coupled to the plurality of wheels, and for adjusting a steering angle of each wheel; a driving control unit for controlling driving and braking of the plurality of wheels and adjusting driving speed; a control unit for performing control operations on crops disposed on the optimal path when driving under the control of the driving control unit; a control signal generating unit generating a control signal for following the optimal path determined by the path determining unit; an integrated control unit for controlling the operation of each unit according to the control signal generated by the control signal generating unit; may include

Here, the steering control unit estimates a rotation direction and a rotation angle for each wheel according to a road surface condition in contact with each wheel in an atypical driving environment based on the sensing information, and compensates for a difference in the rotation radius between each wheel when turning. a steering compensation part generating corrected steering information; may include

And, the control signal generating unit generates a correction control signal for controlling at least one of the steering control unit, the driving control unit and the control unit by reflecting the corrected steering information, and the control signal generating unit generates the correction control signal In this case, the integrated control unit may control the operation of each unit according to the correction control signal.

As described above, according to the present invention, atypical driving by compensating for the difference in the turning radius of each wheel when turning the autonomous driving control device through steering compensation instead of the mechanical Ackerman steering method using the skid steering method and steering each wheel. It has the effect of enabling stable driving while performing more free steering in the environment.

1 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of an autonomous driving control device suitable for an atypical driving environment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, but already known technical parts will be omitted or compressed for the sake of brevity of description.

Prior to the detailed description, the autonomous driving control device suitable for the atypical driving environment of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as 'autonomous driving control device') can be operated by a user, and an optimal driving route is determined based on map information of the control target area. It can be set to perform unmanned control operations. For reference, the autonomous driving control device may be provided in a form in which a control device for performing a control operation is combined with an autonomous driving vehicle (eg, an industrial machine such as a tractor) of a driving method suitable for driving in an atypical environment.

Referring to FIG. 1 , an autonomous driving control unit 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a communication unit 110 , a sensing unit 120 , a path determination unit 130 , a steering control unit 140 , and a driving control unit 150 . , a control unit 160 , a control signal generation unit 170 , and an integrated control unit 180 .

The communication unit 110 is configured to communicate with a user terminal (not shown) through a wired/wireless communication network. More specifically, the communication unit 110 may communicate with a communication target, that is, a user terminal through a wireless network, and in this case, wireless communication is a mobile communication network such as a next-generation wireless communication network after 4G, 5G and 5G, or RF, etc. This can be done through wireless data communication. For reference, the user terminal may be provided with a smart phone, tablet, notebook, desktop PC, etc. capable of communicating with the autonomous driving control device 100 . In addition, of course, it may be provided in the form of a server.

For reference, the communication unit 110 provides control information for individually controlling the driving of the autonomous driving control device 100 input from an external user through data communication with the user terminal and the control operation to be performed through the control unit 170 to be described later. can receive

The sensing unit 120 is configured to generate sensing information including at least one of driving environment sensing information, rotation sensing information, and posture state sensing information. In this case, the sensing unit 120 may include various sensors such as a camera, radar, lidar, ultrasonic sensor, infrared sensor, GPS (Global Positioning System), inertial measurement unit (IMU), wheel speed sensor, etc. .

Here, through each sensor configured in the sensing unit 120, the driving environment detection information including the road surface condition during the driving of the autonomous driving control device 100, surrounding structures including crops, moving objects, locations, etc., and the autonomous driving control device 100 ), rotation detection information including the rotation direction of each wheel according to the road surface condition regardless of driving in curved sections and straight sections, along with the rotation direction during the turning operation of the autonomous driving control device 100, including speed and attitude angle while driving posture state detection information can be detected.

For reference, the posture state detection information can be detected by the above-mentioned inertial sensor, which is a device that measures the speed, direction, gravity, and acceleration of a moving object. It can be used to estimate the position of a moving object and recognize the motion situation. In general, the inertial sensor has a built-in 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis accelerometer, so it is possible to measure the acceleration in the traveling direction, the lateral direction, and the height direction, and the angular velocity of roll, pitch, and yaw. By integrating the acceleration and angular velocity obtained from

The route determination unit 130 analyzes map information of the area to be controlled and determines an optimal route for carrying out the clean-up operation among at least one driving route from the starting point to the destination. At this time, the optimal path can be optimized according to the arrangement of crops in the control target area, and the path that allows the autonomous driving control device 100 to travel the shortest distance or the shortest time while performing control work on all crops is determined as the optimal path. it is preferable In this case, the control work on crops distributed in the control target area is not duplicated, and the route through which the appropriate level of control solution can be sprayed can be additionally reflected when determining the optimal route. For reference, the map information for the control target area may be input through the user terminal, but the autonomous driving control device 100 drives around the outskirts of the target area before performing the control operation. Of course, it may be generated through the sensing unit 120 .

In addition, due to the characteristics of the atypical driving environment in which the autonomous driving control device 100 is driven, it may be necessary to change the preset driving route due to the curvature of the ground or obstacles. Of course, by reflecting the sensing information collected in real time from the middle sensing unit 120, the optimized driving route, that is, the optimal route can be reset.

The steering control unit 140 controls individual steering shafts respectively coupled to a plurality of wheels, and is configured to adjust a steering angle of each wheel. In this case, the autonomous driving control device 100 of the present invention may be applied with a skid steering method for more free steering in an atypical driving environment. For example, when driving in an atypical environment in which the road surface condition is not good, the rotational speed of each wheel, that is, the torque may be individually controlled to enable stable driving.

For example, the steering control unit 140 may be provided as a hydraulic steering system that controls the steering of each wheel by adjusting the flow rate and hydraulic pressure of the fluid pipe in consideration of the atypical driving environment.

In addition, the steering control unit 140 estimates the rotation direction and rotation angle for each wheel according to the road surface condition in contact with each wheel in an atypical driving environment based on the sensing information sensed by the sensing unit 120, and the autonomous driving control unit 100 . In this case, the corrected steering information may be derived through a steering compensation algorithm for compensating for a difference in the turning radius between each wheel.

For example, the corrected steering information estimates the rotation direction and rotation angle of each wheel that changes in real time according to the road surface condition, that is, the curvature of the road surface, from the driving environment detection information, rotation detection information, and posture state detection information, and generates a control signal to be described later. It may be steering control information in which the difference between the predetermined steering angle for each wheel and the estimated steering angle, that is, the actual steering angle, is calculated by the unit 170 and compensated for the difference.

As another example, the corrected steering information estimates the rotation direction and rotation angle of each wheel according to the atypical driving environment from the sensing information, and stably drives the optimal path determined by the path determining unit 130 for each wheel. It may be steering control information calculated by calculating the rotational speed, ie, torque, of each wheel to be compensated for according to the difference in the turning radius.

That is, the present invention proposes a steering control technology according to steering compensation rather than mechanical Ackerman steering using skid steering and steering of each wheel.

If corrected steering information is generated through the steering compensation part 141, the control signal generating unit 170 to be described later reflects the corrected steering information to the steering control unit 140, the driving control unit 150 and the control unit to be described later. A correction control signal for controlling at least one of (160) may be generated.

The driving control unit 150 is configured to control driving and braking of a plurality of wheels and to adjust driving speed. That is, the control target controlled by the driving controller 150 may include devices mounted to operate the autonomous driving control device 100 .

The control unit 160 is configured to perform control operations on crops disposed on an optimal path when driving under the control of the drive control unit 150 . The distribution and topography of crops including the size and arrangement of crops in the control target area are reflected in the optimal path determined by the aforementioned path determining unit 130, and the control signal generating unit 170 to be described later is autonomous from the optimal path. Control including the distance, direction, height, and angle between crops from the spray nozzle of the control unit 160 when the driving control device 100 is running, and whether the spraying operation of the control unit 160 is performed, spraying direction and intensity, etc. You can determine work information. In this case, the control unit 160 performs the control operation according to the control operation information determined in advance by the control signal generating unit 170 .

For reference, the control unit 160 travels in an atypical environment, and based on the sensing information sensed by the sensing unit 120, calculates the distance, direction, height, angle, etc. between the actual spray nozzle and the crop, and calculates the predetermined in the prediction part. It may further include a correction part (not shown) to correct the control operation information to generate the corrected control operation information.

If the corrected control operation information is generated in the correction part, the integrated control unit 180 to be described later may control the control unit 160 in real time so that the control operation of the performed part can be performed according to the corrected control operation information.

The control signal generating unit 170 generates a control signal for following the optimal path determined by the path determining unit 130 . At this time, the control signal generated by the control signal generating unit 170 is a signal for controlling the driving so that the autonomous driving control device 100 can drive the optimal path and efficiently perform the control operation, and each section according to the optimal path The control signal is generated so that each unit is controlled according to the speed and steering of the autonomous driving control device 100 and whether or not the control unit 160 executes the control operation in advance.

For reference, when the control signal generating unit 170 generates the aforementioned correction control signal, the integrated control unit 180 to be described later may control the operation of each unit according to the correction control signal rather than the predetermined control signal. have.

In this case, the correction control signal may be a driving control signal in which steering compensation information is reflected, and the driving control signal referred to herein means a control signal of devices configured to perform a driving operation of the autonomous driving control device 100 .

The integrated control unit 180 is configured to control the operation of each unit according to the control signal or the correction control signal generated by the control signal generation unit 170 .

For reference, the autonomous driving control device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may additionally include other components in addition to the above-described components, and may not include some of the described components.

As described above, the detailed description of the present invention has been made by the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, but since the above-described embodiments have only been described with preferred examples of the present invention, the present invention is limited only to the above embodiments It should not be understood as being, and the scope of the present invention should be understood as the following claims and their equivalents.

100: autonomous driving control device suitable for atypical driving environment
110: communication department
120: sensing unit
130: path determination unit
140: steering control unit
141: steering compensation part
150: drive control unit
160: control unit
170: control signal generator
180: integrated control unit

Claims (3)

communication department;
a sensing unit for generating sensing information including at least one of driving environment sensing information, rotation sensing information, and posture state sensing information;
a path determining unit that analyzes map information of a control target area and determines an optimal path for performing a control operation among at least one driving route corresponding to a starting point to a destination;
a steering control unit for controlling individual steering shafts respectively coupled to the plurality of wheels, and for adjusting a steering angle of each wheel;
a driving control unit for controlling driving and braking of the plurality of wheels and adjusting driving speed;
a control unit for performing control operations on crops disposed on the optimal path when driving under the control of the driving control unit;
a control signal generating unit that generates a control signal for following the optimal path determined by the path determining unit;
an integrated control unit for controlling the operation of each unit according to the control signal generated by the control signal generating unit; characterized in that it comprises
An autonomous driving control device suitable for atypical driving environments.
According to claim 1,
The steering control unit estimates a rotation direction and a rotation angle for each wheel according to a road surface condition in contact with each wheel in an atypical driving environment based on the sensing information, and corrects steering to compensate for a difference in the turning radius between each wheel when turning a steering compensation part that generates information; characterized in that it comprises
An autonomous driving control device suitable for atypical driving environments.
3. The method of claim 2,
The control signal generating unit generates a correction control signal for controlling at least one of the steering control unit, the driving control unit, and the control unit by reflecting the corrected steering information,
When the control signal generator generates a correction control signal, the integrated controller controls the operation of each unit according to the correction control signal.

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