KR20220095620A - Apparatus and method for controlling unmanned aerial vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device, method, and computer program for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle. The device includes a sensing unit that senses environmental information in an environment to which the unmanned aerial vehicle belongs; a map data storage unit that stores map data; and a control unit that determines a plurality of first candidate crash sites that function as candidate sites in case of a crash of the unmanned aerial vehicle within a flight area determined based on set points of departure and destination of the unmanned aerial vehicle in consideration of predetermined flight information and object information defined in the map data for the unmanned aerial vehicle, determines one or more second candidate crash sites by filtering the plurality of first candidate crash sites determined using the environmental information sensed through the sensing unit, and then generates a flight path based on the determined second candidate crash sites to control the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle. The present invention can minimize damage when an unmanned aerial vehicle crashes due to sudden malfunction.

Description

UAV control device and method, computer program {APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE}

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle, and a computer program, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle, and a computer program for controlling the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle by determining a fall candidate point in the event of a fall of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) refers to a vehicle that autonomously or semi-automatically flies along a route set in advance or remotely controlled on the ground without a pilot directly boarding the vehicle, and is also called a drone.

UAVs are being used in various application fields such as surveillance and reconnaissance, broadcasting, parcel delivery, and agriculture, and the use and application range is expected to rapidly expand in the future. A convenient and safe living environment can be built by using an unmanned aerial vehicle, but on the contrary, adverse functions such as safety or privacy violations may occur due to user error, intentional or drone failure.

The above unmanned aerial vehicle may be in various dangers while flying, and as a result, a fall may occur. In the event of a fall due to a sudden abnormality of the drone, human damage to people on the ground may occur, and this damage is further aggravated when the drone falls in densely populated areas, urban areas, or hazardous areas.

Background art of the present invention is disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2003-0068871 (published on August 25, 2003).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle, and a computer program for minimizing damage caused by the fall when an unmanned aerial vehicle falls due to a sudden abnormal occurrence.

An unmanned aerial vehicle control apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes a sensing unit sensing environmental information of an environment to which an unmanned aerial vehicle belongs, a map data storage unit storing map data, and a flight area determined based on a departure point and a destination set for the unmanned aerial vehicle. In consideration of the flight information set for the UAV and the object information previously defined in the map data, a plurality of first fall candidate points functioning as candidate points in the event of a fall of the UAV are determined, and sensing is performed through the sensing unit. After determining one or more second fall candidate points in a way of filtering the determined plurality of first fall candidate points using the environmental information that is It characterized in that it comprises a control unit for controlling the.

In the present invention, the map data is characterized in that it is electronic map data with three-dimensional precision in which shape information and attribute information of an object are predefined as the object information.

In the present invention, the flight information of the unmanned aerial vehicle includes flight speed information and flight altitude information, and the controller includes, among a plurality of initial fall candidate points predefined in the map data within the flight area, the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle. In consideration of speed information and flight altitude information, it is characterized in that the plurality of first fall candidate points are determined in such a way as to determine a point where the fall of the unmanned aerial vehicle is possible.

In the present invention, the environmental information includes wind direction information and wind speed information, and the control unit determines the plurality of first fall candidate points, and then through the sensing unit in the hovering state of the unmanned aerial vehicle, the wind direction information and the wind speed information Characterized in filtering the plurality of first fall candidate points by obtaining a.

In the present invention, the control unit, the flight speed information of the UAV, the flight speed vector information of the UAV calculated from the vector sum between the wind direction information and the wind speed information, and height information of the plurality of first fall candidate points It is characterized in that the one or more second fall candidate points are determined by applying a predefined simulation algorithm.

In the present invention, the controller is determined by the difference between the horizontal distance between the UAV and the first fall candidate point assumed to be a predefined reference distance, the flight altitude information of the UAV and the height information of the first fall candidate point Using the vertical distance, and the flight speed vector information of the UAV, it is characterized in that the one or more second fall candidate points are determined in a manner of determining a point where the UAV can fall among the plurality of first fall candidate points. do.

In the present invention, the controller generates a flight path of the UAV to pass through the determined second fall candidate point, and stores the flight path of the UAV when the flight of the UAV ends.

In a method for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an aspect of the present invention, in a flight area determined based on a departure point and a destination set for the unmanned aerial vehicle, the control unit considers flight information set for the unmanned aerial vehicle and object information predefined in map data. Determining a plurality of first fall candidate points that function as candidate points when the UAV falls, the control unit selects the plurality of first fall candidate points determined by using the environmental information sensed through a sensing unit installed in the UAV Determining one or more second fall candidate points in a filtering manner, the control unit, generating a flight path based on the determined second fall candidate points, and the control unit, according to the generated flight path and controlling the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

The computer program according to an aspect of the present invention is combined with hardware, and within a flight area determined based on the departure point and destination set for the UAV, flight information set for the UAV and object information previously defined in map data are considered to determine a plurality of first fall candidate points functioning as candidate points when the UAV falls, and filtering the determined plurality of first fall candidate points using environmental information of the environment to which the UAV belongs. Computer-readable for executing the steps of determining a second fall candidate point, generating a flight path based on the determined second fall candidate point, and controlling the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the generated flight path It is characterized in that it is stored in a storage medium.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the present invention primarily determines the fall candidate point of the UAV based on the object information of the flight information and the map data of the UAV, and the first determined fall candidate point using the actual environment information of the UAV After determining the final fall candidate point in a filtering method, a flight path is created based on the determined final fall candidate point to control the flight of the UAV, thereby inducing a fall to the fall candidate point in case of a sudden abnormality of the UAV. The damage caused by the fall can be minimized.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an unmanned aerial vehicle control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is an exemplary view showing a process of determining a second fall candidate point in the unmanned aerial vehicle control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of an unmanned aerial vehicle control apparatus and method and a computer program according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this process, the thickness of the lines or the size of the components shown in the drawings may be exaggerated for clarity and convenience of explanation. In addition, the terms to be described later are terms defined in consideration of functions in the present invention, which may vary according to the intention or custom of the user or operator. Therefore, definitions of these terms should be made based on the content throughout this specification.

1 is a block diagram for explaining an unmanned aerial vehicle control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an example showing a process of determining a second fall candidate point in an unmanned aerial vehicle control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention It is also

Referring to FIG. 1 , the apparatus for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle according to the present embodiment may include a sensing unit 100 , a map data storage unit 200 , and a control unit 300 .

The sensing unit 100 may be installed in the UAV, sense environmental information of the environment to which the UAV belongs, and transmit it to the control unit 300 to be described later. The environment information may include wind direction information and wind speed information, and for this, the sensing unit 100 may be implemented as a wind direction and wind speed sensor.

Map data may be stored in the map data storage unit 200 . The map data storage unit 200 may be implemented as a volatile storage medium and/or a non-volatile storage medium, for example, a read-only memory (ROM) and/or a random access memory (RAM). can be implemented as

In the present embodiment, the map data may be electronic map data with three-dimensional precision in which object information including shape information and attribute information of an object is predefined. Specifically, the electronic map data with three-dimensional precision includes lane marking information (shape information and attribute information of lanes, lane center lines, regulatory lines, road boundaries, and stop lines), sign facility information (traffic safety signs, road surface markings, and location information of signals). and property information), building information (building shape information and property information (size information such as area and height)), and other property information of the relevant area (river, forest, residential land, etc.) through MMS (Mobile Mapping System). It means precision road map data built within 20 cm accuracy.

In the map data as described above, the initial fall candidate point may be predefined. In this embodiment, a fall candidate point is a fall candidate point when the UAV falls, and is defined as a safe fall point to minimize damage caused by the fall of the UAV. Early fall candidate points may be predefined in the map data according to predefined criteria (eg, rivers, forests, building roofs, building roofs, points corresponding to residential land under construction).

The control unit 300 operates to generate a flight route of the UAV based on the departure point and destination of the UAV set by the operator, and to control the flight of the UAV according to the generated flight route. The control unit 300 for performing the above operation may be implemented as a processor, a central processing unit (CPU), or a system on chip (SoC), and operates an operating system or application to drive the control unit 300 . It is possible to control a plurality of hardware or software components connected to the , and perform various data processing and operations.

In this embodiment, the control unit 300 considers the object information predefined in the flight information set for the UAV and the map data within the flight area determined based on the departure point and destination set for the UAV, the candidate point when the UAV falls. After determining one or more second fall candidate points in a manner that determines a plurality of first fall candidate points functioning as, and filters a plurality of first fall candidate points using the environmental information sensed through the sensing unit 100 , it is possible to control the flight of the UAV by creating a flight path based on the determined second fall candidate point. Hereinafter, the control function of the controller 300 will be described in detail for each operation.

First, when the origin and destination of the unmanned aerial vehicle are set by the operator, the controller 300 may determine a flight area based on the set origin and destination. The flight area means a target area for determining a first fall candidate point to be described later, for example, the control unit 300 determines a straight path between the departure point and the destination, and corresponds to within a certain distance in a direction perpendicular to the determined straight path The area to be used can be determined as the flight area.

When the flight area is determined, the control unit 300 takes into account the flight information set for the UAV and the object information previously defined in the map data in the flight area, a plurality of first fall candidates functioning as candidate points when the UAV falls. The point may be determined, and the flight information of the UAV may include flight speed information and flight altitude information of the UAV set by the operator.

Accordingly, the control unit 300 determines a point where the drone can fall in consideration of the flight speed information and flight altitude information of the drone among a plurality of initial fall candidate points predefined in the map data within the aforementioned flight area. In this way, a plurality of first fall candidate points may be determined. For example, when the flight speed information exceeds a predefined threshold value, the control unit 300 includes rivers or forests among the initial fall candidate points in the first fall candidate points to induce the damage to be minimized during the fall. Also, it is possible to include a building having a height less than the flight altitude information in the first fall candidate point so that a point where the drone is physically possible to fall is included in the first fall candidate point.

The first fall candidate point determined through the above process corresponds to a point determined by considering only the object information of the UAV flight information and map data, and the environmental information indicating the current flight environment of the UAV, that is, wind direction information and wind speed information is not reflected. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the fall candidate point by reflecting the current wind direction information and wind speed information.

To this end, the control unit 300 may determine one or more second fall candidate points in a manner of filtering a plurality of first fall candidate points using the environmental information sensed by the sensing unit 100 . In this case, the control unit 300 may acquire wind direction information and wind speed information through the sensing unit 100 in the hovering state of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and the duration of the hovering state of the unmanned aerial vehicle may be variously selected and defined according to the intention of the designer. can be (eg 30 seconds).

When the wind direction information and the wind speed information are obtained, the controller 300 calculates the flight speed vector information of the UAV from the vector sum between the flight speed information of the UAV and the wind direction information and the wind speed information, and calculates the flight speed vector information and the plurality of second information. One or more second fall candidate points may be determined by applying the height information of the first fall candidate point to a predefined simulation algorithm.

As a specific method for determining the second fall candidate point, the control unit 300 is a horizontal distance between the UAV and the first fall candidate point assumed to be a predefined reference distance, flight altitude information of the UAV and the height information of the first fall candidate point One or more second fall candidate points may be determined by using the vertical distance determined by the difference between the two, and flight speed vector information of the UAV, in a manner of determining a point where the UAV can fall among a plurality of first fall candidate points. Here, the reference distance corresponds to a parameter predefined as a horizontal distance between the first fall candidate points at the time of the fall of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

Specifically, since the flight altitude information of the UAV is set by the operator, the difference between the flight altitude of the UAV and the height of the first fall candidate point, that is, the vertical distance, is fixed, whereas the fall point of the UAV is unpredictable. Since the horizontal distance between the UAV and the first fall candidate point in the above corresponds to a variable parameter, in this embodiment, the horizontal distance is assumed as a predefined reference distance, and then the UAV is located at the first fall candidate point through a simulation algorithm. Adopts a configuration for determining the second fall candidate point in a manner that determines whether or not can fall. That is, a point with the highest probability that the UAV can fall among the plurality of first fall candidate points is determined as the second fall candidate point.

2, it is assumed that the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is 100 m, the flight speed is +10 m/s, the wind direction and wind speed information is -3 m/s (headwind), and the reference distance is 20 m. . In this case, the flight speed vector information is calculated as +7 m/s.

In Figure 2 (a), the height of the first fall candidate point is 70 m, and thus the vertical distance is determined to be 30 m. When the drone falls, the time it takes to fall by the vertical distance of 30 m is about 2.45 sec (30 m = 0.5*g*t ² ), and the horizontal movement distance of the drone during 2.45 sec is 7 m/s * 2.45 sec = 17.15 m. is decided The determined horizontal movement distance is smaller than the above-mentioned reference distance, which means that when the UAV falls, it cannot fall to the first fall candidate point. excluded from

The height of the second fall candidate point in FIG. 2(b) is 50 m, and thus the vertical distance is determined to be 50 m. When the drone falls, the time it takes to fall by the vertical distance of 50 m is about 2.89 sec, and the horizontal movement distance of the drone for 2.89 sec is determined as 7 m/s * 2.89 sec = 20.23 m. The determined horizontal movement distance is greater than the above-mentioned reference distance, which means that when the UAV falls, it can fall to the first fall candidate point, so in the case of FIG. is decided

In the above-described manner, the second fall candidate point is determined among the plurality of first fall candidate points, and in this case, the control unit 300 may increase the reliability of the second fall candidate point by performing the above simulation algorithm for a plurality of reference distances. .

Thereafter, the controller 300 generates a flight path based on the second fall candidate point, and in this case, the controller 300 may generate a flight path of the unmanned aerial vehicle to pass through the second fall candidate point. In addition, the controller 300 may control the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the generated flight path.

When the flight of the UAV ends, the controller 300 may store the flight path of the UAV, and the flight path accumulated and stored for each flight of the UAV may be utilized to generate flight map data for the UAV later.

3 is a flowchart for explaining a method for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 3, and the description overlapping with the above will be omitted and the time series Described with a focus on the structural configuration.

First, the control unit 300 functions as a candidate point in the event of a fall of the UAV in consideration of the flight information set for the UAV and object information predefined in the map data within the flight area determined based on the departure point and destination set for the UAV. To determine a plurality of first fall candidate points (S100). In step S100, the control unit 300 determines a point where the drone can fall in consideration of flight speed information and flight altitude information of the drone among a plurality of initial fall candidate points predefined in the map data within the flight area. to determine a plurality of first fall candidate points.

Subsequently, the control unit 300 determines one or more second fall candidate points in a way that filters the plurality of first fall candidate points determined in step S100 using the environmental information sensed through the sensing unit 100 installed in the unmanned aerial vehicle. (S200). In step S200, the control unit 300 obtains wind direction information and wind speed information through the sensing unit 100 in the hovering state of the UAV, and calculates from the vector sum between the flight speed information of the UAV and the wind direction information and the wind speed information of the UAV. The flight velocity vector information and the height information of the plurality of first fall candidate points are applied to a predefined simulation algorithm to determine one or more second fall candidate points. Specifically, the control unit 300 is a horizontal distance between the UAV and the first fall candidate point assumed to be a predefined reference distance, the vertical distance determined by the difference between the flight altitude information of the UAV and the height information of the first fall candidate point, and One or more second fall candidate points are determined by using the flight speed vector information of the unmanned aerial vehicle to determine a point at which a fall of the unmanned aerial vehicle is possible among a plurality of first fall candidate points.

Then, the control unit 300 generates a flight path based on the second fall candidate point determined in step S200 (S300). In step S300, the control unit 300 creates a flight path of the unmanned aerial vehicle to pass through two fall candidate points.

Then, the controller 300 controls the flight of the UAV according to the flight path generated in step S300 (S400), and stores the flight path of the UAV when the flight of the UAV ends (S500).

On the other hand, the unmanned aerial vehicle control method according to the present embodiment may be combined with hardware and written as a computer program for executing steps S100 to S500 described above, and is stored in a computer-readable recording medium to operate the computer program. It may be implemented in a digital computer. The computer-readable recording medium includes magnetic media such as ROM, RAM, hard disk, floppy disk, and magnetic tape, optical media such as CD-ROM and DVD, and floppy disk. A hardware device specially configured to store and execute program instructions, such as a magneto-optical media, such as a flash memory, may correspond.

As described above, in this embodiment, the fall candidate point of the UAV is primarily determined based on the object information of the flight information of the UAV and the map data, and the first determined fall candidate point is filtered using the actual environment information of the UAV. After determining the fall candidate point, it controls the flight of the UAV by creating a flight path based on the determined final fall candidate point. can be minimized

Implementations described herein may be implemented in, for example, a method or process, an apparatus, a software program, a data stream, or a signal. Although discussed only in the context of a single form of implementation (eg, discussed only as a method), implementations of the discussed features may also be implemented in other forms (eg, as an apparatus or program). The apparatus may be implemented in suitable hardware, software and firmware, and the like. A method may be implemented in an apparatus such as, for example, a processor, which generally refers to a computer, a microprocessor, a processing device, including an integrated circuit or programmable logic device, or the like. Processors also include communication devices such as computers, cell phones, portable/personal digital assistants (“PDA”) and other devices that facilitate communication of information between end-users.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiment shown in the drawings, this is merely exemplary, and it is understood that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible by those of ordinary skill in the art. will understand Accordingly, the true technical protection scope of the present invention should be defined by the following claims.

100: sensing unit
200: map data storage unit
300: control unit

Claims (15)

a sensing unit for sensing environmental information of an environment to which the unmanned aerial vehicle belongs;
a map data storage unit for storing map data; and
In a flight area determined based on the departure point and destination set for the unmanned aerial vehicle, a plurality of functions serving as a candidate point in the event of a fall of the unmanned aerial vehicle in consideration of the flight information set for the unmanned aerial vehicle and object information previously defined in the map data are taken into account. After determining the first fall candidate point, and determining one or more second fall candidate points in a way that filters the determined plurality of first fall candidate points using the environmental information sensed through the sensing unit, the determined second fall a control unit for controlling the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle by generating a flight path based on the candidate point;
An unmanned aerial vehicle control device comprising a.
According to claim 1,
The map data is electronic map data with three-dimensional precision in which shape information and attribute information of an object are predefined as the object information.
3. The method of claim 2,
The flight information of the drone includes flight speed information and flight altitude information,
The control unit, among a plurality of initial fall candidate points predefined in the map data within the flight area, considers flight speed information and flight altitude information of the UAV to determine a point where the UAV can fall. UAV control device, characterized in that for determining the plurality of first fall candidate points.
4. The method of claim 3,
The environment information includes wind direction information and wind speed information,
The control unit, after determining the plurality of first fall candidate points, obtains the wind direction information and the wind speed information through the sensing unit in the hovering state of the UAV to filter the plurality of first fall candidate points, characterized in that drone control device.
5. The method of claim 4,
The control unit, the flight speed information of the UAV, the flight speed vector information of the UAV calculated from the vector sum between the wind direction information and the wind speed information, and the height information of the plurality of first fall candidate points in a predefined simulation UAV control device, characterized in that by applying the algorithm to determine the one or more second fall candidate points.
6. The method of claim 5,
The control unit, the horizontal distance between the UAV and the first fall candidate point assumed to be a predefined reference distance, the vertical distance determined by the difference between the flight altitude information of the UAV and the height information of the first fall candidate point, and Using the flight speed vector information of the UAV, the one or more second fall candidate points are determined in such a way as to determine a point where the UAV can fall among the plurality of first fall candidate points. .
The method of claim 1,
The controller is configured to generate a flight path of the UAV to pass through the determined second fall candidate point, and store the flight path of the UAV when the flight of the UAV ends.
In a flight area determined based on the departure point and destination set for the UAV, the controller takes into account the flight information set for the UAV and object information predefined in the map data, a plurality of functions serving as a candidate point in case of a fall of the UAV Determining the first fall candidate point of;
determining, by the control unit, one or more second fall candidate points in a manner that filters the determined plurality of first fall candidate points by using the environmental information sensed through the sensing unit installed in the unmanned aerial vehicle;
generating, by the control unit, a flight path based on the determined second fall candidate point; and
controlling, by the controller, the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the generated flight path;
UAV control method comprising a.
9. The method of claim 8,
The map data is an unmanned aerial vehicle control method, characterized in that the electronic map data with three-dimensional precision in which shape information and attribute information of an object are predefined as the object information.
10. The method of claim 9,
The flight information of the drone includes flight speed information and flight altitude information,
In the step of determining the first fall candidate point, the control unit,
Among a plurality of initial fall candidate points previously defined in the map data within the flight area, the plurality of first fall candidate points is determined in a manner that considers flight speed information and flight altitude information of the unmanned aerial vehicle to determine a point where the unmanned aerial vehicle can fall. 1 UAV control method, characterized in that determining the fall candidate point.
11. The method of claim 10,
The environment information includes wind direction information and wind speed information,
In the step of determining the second fall candidate point, the control unit,
After determining the plurality of first fall candidate points, in the hovering state of the UAV, the wind direction information and the wind speed information are obtained through the sensing unit to filter the plurality of first fall candidate points. .
12. The method of claim 11,
In the step of determining the second fall candidate point, the control unit,
By applying the flight speed vector information of the drone calculated from the vector sum between the flight speed information of the drone, the wind direction information and the wind speed information, and the height information of the plurality of first fall candidate points to a predefined simulation algorithm, UAV control method, characterized in that determining the one or more second fall candidate points.
13. The method of claim 12,
In the step of determining the second fall candidate point, the control unit,
The horizontal distance between the UAV and the first fall candidate point assumed to be a predefined reference distance, the vertical distance determined by the difference between the flight altitude information of the UAV and the height information of the first fall candidate point, and the flight of the UAV UAV control method, characterized in that for determining the one or more second fall candidate points in a manner of determining a point at which the UAV can fall among the plurality of first fall candidate points by using the velocity vector information.
9. The method of claim 8,
In the generating step, the control unit,
To generate the flight path of the unmanned aerial vehicle to pass through the determined second fall candidate point,
and storing, by the controller, the flight path of the unmanned aerial vehicle when the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle is terminated.
combined with hardware,
Within the flight area determined based on the departure point and destination set for the UAV, a plurality of first functions serving as candidate points in the event of a fall of the UAV in consideration of the flight information set for the UAV and object information predefined in the map data are taken into consideration. determining a fall candidate point;
determining one or more second fall candidate points in a way that filters the plurality of first fall candidate points determined by using the environmental information of the environment to which the unmanned aerial vehicle belongs;
generating a flight path based on the determined second fall candidate point; and
controlling the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the generated flight path;
A computer program stored in a computer-readable storage medium to execute the computer program.

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