KR20220161664A - Drone station and landing guide system for precise takeoff and landing in narrow spaces - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a drone station and landing guide system for precision take-off and landing in a narrow space and, more particularly, to a system in which a plurality of landing guide members are installed at regular intervals on the floor of a landing field so that not only can take-off and landing of a plurality of drones be made, but also a blocking member is installed on one side of the landing field to selectively open and close an upper part of the landing field in case of rain or bad weather so that the landing of the drone using image processing technology in the drone station provided to prevent damage to drones stored in the landing field can be guided. The drone take-off and landing guide system includes a support, a landing field, a side plate, a landing guidance member, and a blocking member.

Description

Drone station and landing guide system for precise takeoff and landing in narrow spaces}

The present invention relates to a drone station and landing guide system for precise take-off and landing in a small space, and more particularly, a plurality of landing guide members are installed at regular intervals on the floor of a landing field so that a plurality of drones can take off and land. In addition, a blocking member is installed on one side of the landing pad to selectively open and close the upper part of the landing pad in case of rain or bad weather to prevent damage to the drone stored in the landing pad. It is about a system that guides landing.

In general, an unmanned air vehicle (UAV; hereinafter referred to as a 'drone') is an air vehicle that follows a program input in advance by remote control from the ground without a pilot, or the air vehicle itself recognizes and determines the surrounding environment and flies by itself. Drones are advancing very rapidly because of their convenience, fast and safe performance of missions that are dangerous to pilots, limited by human capabilities, difficult to access due to pollution, or tedious for long periods of time.

[0003] Drones are classified into a fixed wing type, a rotary wing type, and a vertical take-off and landing type (VTOL) according to a flight method. Rotor-wing drones have advantages over fixed-wing drones in vigilance and reconnaissance in terms of vertical take-off and landing, forward and backward movement, and hoppering (stationary flight). Rotary wing drones are classified into multi-rotor type having several rotor blades, coaxial reversal type having two rotor blades rotating in opposite directions, and helicopter type according to their shape.

[0004] As a drone that flies a long distance, there is no suitable place to land when flying in a city, so a separate landing system must be built in a building, etc.

[0005] A conventional drone take-off and landing system is published in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2016-0065718.

[0006] This drone take-off and landing system includes a base 11 providing a floor on which a drone 30 takes off and lands, a storage unit 13 for storing an ID of the base, and a drone wirelessly approaching the base at a predetermined distance. and a first short-range communication module 15 for communication, wherein the first short-range communication module transmits the ID of the base to the drone when the drone approaches within a predetermined distance and receives a landing intention signal from the drone. It is configured to transmit landing guidance signals.

[0007] However, in the conventional drone take-off and landing system, there is a risk of damage to the drone due to exposure to rain and wind when the landed drone is exposed to the outside in bad weather, and only a single drone can take off and land, so the drone's take-off and landing efficiency There is a problem with this fall.

[0008] In addition, the drone take-off and landing system has a problem in that additional charging is impossible when the drone power is rapidly reduced because a separate charging device is not provided.

Therefore, there is a need for a long-endurance type hybrid drone that does not require charging.

In addition, in general, these patterns and image processing methods show a landing accuracy of 5 cm to 10 cm. Considering that the precision required for precise docking is millimeters, these previous technologies have limitations in their application. In addition, since the image processing process is complicated, an expensive processor must be used for real-time processing.

[0009] In addition, various landing patterns and image processing algorithms combined with them have been proposed, but considering that the positional precision for precision landing or docking of drones is millimeters, patterns to satisfy these specifications are insufficient.

Patent Document 1: Publication No. 10-2021-0059862 Patent Document 2: Publication No. 10-2021-0044671

An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, and a plurality of landing guidance members are installed at regular intervals on the bottom surface of the landing pad so that a plurality of drones can land, as well as landing on the landing pad. A blocking member is installed on one side to provide a drone station capable of preventing damage to drones stored in the landing pad by selectively opening and closing the upper end of the landing pad in case of rain or bad weather.

In addition, a drone landing guide system and method capable of guiding precision landing of a drone using landing pattern recognition and image processing technology are provided.

According to a feature of the present invention for achieving the above object, the present invention is installed on the roof of a building or the top of a building, one end is fixed to the roof and the top of the building, and the other end protrudes upward. with a support; a landing pad installed on the upper surface of the support and having a square plate shape, on which a plurality of drones are seated; a side plate protruding upward along the rim of the landing site and forming a wall of the landing site; a landing guide member installed on the bottom surface of the landing pad, a plurality of which are installed at regular intervals on the bottom surface of the landing pad, and transmits a signal to the landing signal sensing member mounted on the lower surface of the drone to induce landing of the drone; It is installed on one side of the landing pad, and has a drone station including a blocking member that selectively opens and closes the upper end of the landing pad in case of rain or bad weather to prevent damage to the drone, and photographs the landing pad through a camera to make the landing An image capture unit for acquiring an image of the landing pattern of the pad; an image processing unit that searches for a first landing pattern from the image and performs a first image processing on the searched first landing pattern; and a flight control unit that moves and descends the drone so that the center of the first landing pattern and the center of the camera are aligned based on a result of the first image processing, wherein the image processing unit controls the image processing unit according to the descent of the drone. A second landing pattern is searched for, and an error is corrected so that the horizontal and vertical axes of the image and the horizontal and vertical axes of the second landing pattern are aligned by performing second image processing step by step on the searched second landing pattern, and the flight The control unit may control descent of the drone so that the drone lands at a central landing point of the second landing pattern based on a result of the second image processing.

In addition, the blocking member, a fixing bracket protrudingly installed at the ends of the side plates on both sides of the landing field and having a mounting hole formed at one end; rollers, both ends of which are inserted into and fixed to the mounting holes of the different fixing brackets, and are formed in the form of rollers and are rotatably installed on one side of the landing pad; a roller driving member fixed to an end of the roller and rotating the roller in both directions; It is installed in the form of winding a number of times on the outer circumferential surface of the roller, and is made of a flexible material and selectively opens and closes the upper end of the landing pad according to the rotation of the roller; characterized in that it comprises a.

In addition, the first landing pattern is a black circular pattern, the image processing unit searches for the first landing pattern through image binary processing based on a threshold, and when searching for the first landing pattern, the second landing pattern It is characterized in that all of them are treated in black.

In addition, the second landing pattern is characterized in that at least three cross patterns of different colors and sizes are overlapped based on the landing center point.

In the present invention, a plurality of landing guide members are installed at regular intervals on the bottom surface of the landing pad so that a plurality of drones can take off and land, and a blocking member is installed on one side of the landing pad so that the upper part of the landing pad is installed in case of rain or bad weather. It is configured to selectively open and close to prevent damage to drones stored in the landing pad.

In addition, since the upper part of the landing field can be selectively opened and closed, the drone parked at the landing field can be prevented from being damaged by external rain or wind in bad weather, thereby extending the lifespan of the drone.

In addition, precise landing of the drone can be guided using landing pattern recognition and image processing technology.

1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a preferred embodiment of a drone station according to the present invention
2 is a plan view showing the configuration of a preferred embodiment of a drone station according to the present invention.
3 is a side view showing the configuration of a preferred embodiment of a drone station according to the present invention.
4 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a landing pad constituting an embodiment of the present invention
Figure 5 is a perspective view showing a state in which the upper end of the landing pad is closed by the blocking film constituting the embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a diagram showing an image of a landing pattern applied to a drone landing guide system and method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a block diagram illustrating a drone landing guide system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a diagram showing a result of image processing of a first landing pattern according to an embodiment of the present invention.
9 to 12 are flowcharts illustrating a drone landing guide method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

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

The drone station according to the present invention is installed on the roof of a building or the top of a building, one end is fixed to the roof and the top of the building, and the other end protrudes upward, and the support 10 ) Is installed on the upper surface of the square plate shape, the landing pad 12 on which a plurality of drones D are seated, and protruding upward along the rim of the landing pad 12, the landing pad 12 The side plate 14 forming the wall of the and installed on the bottom surface of the landing pad 12, a plurality of are installed on the bottom surface of the landing pad 12 at regular intervals, mounted on the lower surface of the drone (D) The landing guidance member 40 for inducing the landing of the drone D by sending a signal to the landing signal detection member 1, which is installed on one side of the landing site 12, and the landing site 12 in case of rain or bad weather ) It consists of a blocking member 20 or the like that selectively opens and closes the upper end of the drone (D) to prevent damage.

The support 10 has a rectangular cross section and is made of a steel frame that becomes narrower toward the top. In addition to the steel frame, the support 10 may use a round bar-shaped reinforcing bar or pipe. The support 10 is vertically fixed to the roof of the building or the top of the building, and serves to support the landing pad 12, which will be described later, to be located higher than the upper side of the building.

A landing pad 12 is installed on the top of the support 10. The landing pad 12 is made of a rectangular plate having a predetermined thickness and is installed horizontally on the upper side of the support 10. A plurality of drones (D) can be seated on the upper surface of the landing pad (12), and serves as a station for temporary landing in weather conditions or when power supply to the drone (D) is required.

A side plate 14 is installed on the edge of the landing pad 12. The side plate 14 is made of a rectangular plate having a predetermined thickness, and is installed on the front, rear and both sides of the landing pad 12, respectively. The side plate 14 is vertically installed along the rim of the landing pad 12, forming a wall of the landing pad 12.

That is, the side plate 14 is installed on the front, rear and both sides of the landing pad 12, respectively, and serves to block foreign substances and wind introduced through the front, rear and side surfaces.

A blocking member 20 is installed at the left end of the side plate 14 . The blocking member 20 protrudes from the ends of the side plates 14 on both sides of the landing pad 12, and has a fixing bracket 22 having a mounting hole 24 formed at one end, and the fixing bracket 22 different from each other. Both ends are inserted and fixed into the mounting hole 24 of the roller 26, which is formed in the form of a roller and rotatably installed on one side of the landing pad 12, and is fixed to the end of the roller 26, A roller driving member 30 that rotates the roller 26 in both directions and is installed in a form wound around the outer circumferential surface of the roller 26 a number of times, and is made of a flexible material. As the roller 26 rotates, the landing pad It consists of a blocking film 28 or the like that selectively opens and closes the upper end of (12).

The fixing bracket 22 is made of a rectangular plate and is fixed to the left end of the side plate 14 installed on the front and rear sides of the landing pad 12, respectively. A mounting hole 24 penetrating back and forth is installed at the left end of the fixing bracket 22, and a rotation shaft (not shown) of a roller 26 to be described later is rotatably fixed. The right end of the fixing bracket 22 is fixed to the side plate 14 by a fastening bolt (not shown), and the left end protrudes to the left of the side plate 14 so that a roller 26 to be described later can be rotated. play a supporting role.

A roller 26 is installed inside the fixing bracket 22. The roller 26 has a cylindrical shape and is formed long in front and rear, and both ends are inserted into the mounting holes 24 of the fixing bracket 22 that are different from each other and are rotatably installed. A blocking film 28 to be described later is wound and stored on the outer circumferential surface of the roller 26 multiple times, and the blocking film 28 to be described later is drawn in and out according to the rotation of the roller 26 .

A blocking film 28 is installed on the outer circumferential surface of the roller 26 . The blocking film 28 is made of a flexible material, is wound around the outer circumferential surface of the roller 26, and according to the rotation of the roller 26, the blocking film 28 opens and closes the upper end of the landing pad 12. .

That is, since the blocking film 28 can open and close the upper end of the landing pad 12 according to weather conditions, damage to the drone D parked at the landing pad 12 can be prevented.

A roller driving member 30 is installed at the front end of the roller 26 . The roller driving member 30 is a general driving motor and a detailed description thereof will be omitted. The roller driving member 30 is coaxially coupled to a rotating shaft (not shown) of the roller 26 to rotate the roller 26 in both directions.

A roller cover 32 is installed on the outer circumferential surface of the roller 26 . The roller cover 32 is formed in a cylindrical shape with a hollow inside, and has an open front and rear surface. In addition, the roller cover 32 is formed in an open form on the right side and is installed to cover the left side of the roller 26 . The roller cover 32 is installed to surround the outer circumferential surface of the roller 26 and protects the blocking film 28 wrapped around the outer circumferential surface of the roller 26 .

A rain sensor 34 is installed on the upper side of the roller cover 32 . The rain sensor 34 is a general rain sensor and a detailed description thereof will be omitted. A plurality of the rain sensor 34 is installed along the upper surface of the roller cover 32 at regular intervals. The rain sensor 34 detects when a certain amount or more of moisture is detected and transmits it to the control unit, and accordingly, the blocking member 20 is operated to block the upper end of the landing pad 12.

A barrier guide rail 36 is installed at the upper end of the side plate 14 installed on the front and rear sides of the landing pad 12. The shielding film guide rail 36 has a "c" shape in cross section, is formed long to the left and right, and is installed to the upper end of the side plate 14 to be long to the left and right. A guide groove 38 is formed on the left or right side of the blocking film guide rail 36 . Both side surfaces of the blocking film 28 are inserted and fixed into the guide groove 38 .

That is, when the blocking film 28 is pulled in and out, both side surfaces of the blocking film 28 are inserted into the guide groove 38 to guide the left and right movement of the blocking film 28 .

A plurality of landing guide members 40 are installed at regular intervals on the upper surface of the landing pad 12. The landing guidance member 40 is formed in a disk shape having a predetermined thickness, the landing guidance body 42 installed on the upper surface of the landing pad 12, and installed on the upper surface of the landing guidance body 42 And, a plurality of radially installed at regular intervals based on the central axis of the landing guidance body 42, the landing guide sensor 44 for transmitting a landing guidance signal to the landing signal sensing member 1 of the drone D, A drone fixing part 46 protruding in a cylindrical shape in the center of the upper surface of the landing guidance body 42 and having a drone fixing groove 48 formed in the center and recessed downward, and the drone fixing groove 48 installed inside,

The landing guidance body 42 is formed in a disk shape as shown in FIGS. 4 to 5, and is fixed to the upper surface of the landing field 12. The landing guidance body 42 serves to support the lower part of the landing signal sensing member 1 installed in the center of the lower surface of the drone D when the drone D lands.

A landing guide sensor 44 is installed on the upper surface of the landing guidance body 42. The landing guide sensor 44 is a non-contact sensor, and various non-contact sensors such as infrared, ultrasonic, and RF sensors may be applied, and an infrared sensor will be applied here.

A plurality of the landing guide sensors 44 are installed on the upper surface of the landing guidance body 42 at regular intervals. The landing guide sensor 44 is radially installed at regular intervals based on the central axis of the landing guidance body 42, and serves to transmit a landing guidance signal according to the operation of the control unit.

That is, when a landing guidance signal is transmitted to the landing guide sensor 44, the landing signal detection sensor 4 of the drone D receives it, so that the drone D can accurately land.

A drone fixing part 46 is formed in the center of the upper surface of the landing guidance body 42. The drone fixing part 46 has a cylindrical shape with a hollow inside, and protrudes upward from the center of the upper surface of the landing guidance body 42. A drone fixing groove 48 is formed inside the drone fixing part 46, and is a part into which the fixing protrusion 2 of the drone D is inserted and fixed.

An adsorption member 60 is installed inside the landing guide member 40. The adsorption member is installed inside the landing guidance body 42 and the drone fixing part 46, and includes an air intake passage 62 for guiding air intake, and one end of the air intake passage 62 and When the fixing protrusion 2 of the landing signal sensing member 1 is inserted into the drone fixing groove 48, the drone fixing groove is formed along the inner circumferential surface of the drone fixing groove 48. It is composed of an air intake hole 64 for sucking air inside of 48 and an air intake member 66 connected to the other end of the air intake passage 62 and sucking air.

The air intake passage 62 is formed vertically along the inside of the landing guide body 42 and the drone fixing part 46, and is formed on both sides of the drone fixing part 46, respectively. The air intake passage 62 is a general air intake passage and a detailed description thereof will be omitted. One end of the air intake passage 62 is connected to an air intake hole 64 to be described later, and the other end is connected to an air intake member 66 to be described later to suck air inside the drone fixing groove 48 to be described later. Guide to the member 66 side.

An air intake hole 64 is connected to one end of the air intake passage 62 . The air intake hole 64 is penetrated along the inner circumferential surface of the drone fixing groove 48 to guide the air inside the drone fixing groove 48 toward the air intake passage 62.

An air intake member 66 is installed at the other end of the air intake passage 62 . The air suction member 66 is a general suction motor, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted. The air intake member 66 serves to firmly fix the fixing protrusion 2 mounted on the drone fixing groove 48 to the drone fixing groove 48 by sucking air from the drone fixing groove 48. do.

That is, when the air inside the drone fixing groove 48 is sucked in by the air suction member 66, a vacuum is generated inside the drone fixing groove 48, and thereby the fixed protrusion of the drone D. (2) is firmly fixed to the inside of the drone fixing groove 48.

Hereinafter, the operation of the drone station of the present invention having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6.

First, the drone D can automatically move a long distance under the control of a central control center (not shown), and a GPS sensor is mounted therein so that the long distance movement of the drone D can be achieved by autonomous flight according to location information. It is done.

A landing signal detecting member 1 used during landing is installed at the center of the lower surface of the drone D. The landing signal detecting member 1 is composed of a landing signal detecting sensor 4, a fixed protrusion 2, and the like. The landing signal detection sensor 4 serves to guide the landing position of the drone D by receiving the landing guidance signal of the landing guide sensor 44.

When the weather deteriorates during the long-distance flight of the drone D or when power supply is required, the location information of the drone station is checked through the central control center, and accordingly, the drone D is moved to the nearest drone station to the nearest location. move

When the drone D approaches a location adjacent to the drone station, the landing guidance member 40 on which the drone D has not landed is operated among the plurality of landing guidance members 40 of the drone station.

The landing guidance sensor 44 of the landing guidance member 40 transmits a landing guidance signal, and the drone D to land according to the landing guidance signal of the landing guidance sensor 44 moves to the landing guidance member 40 It is moved to the upper side of and is seated on the upper side of the drone fixing part 46.

In addition, when it rains more than a certain amount due to bad weather, the rain sensor 34 installed on the upper side of the roller cover 32 detects it, and the blocking member 20 is operated by the control unit. As the roller 26 of the blocking member 20 rotates in one direction, the blocking film 28 moves along the upper end of the landing pad 12 from the left side to the right side as shown in FIG. 6 .

Therefore, depending on the weather conditions, the blocking film 28 is selectively operated to completely block rain or wind flowing into the landing pad to prevent damage to the plurality of drones D seated on the landing pad 12. have.

Meanwhile, the landing pattern of the landing pad representing the landing point of the drone includes a first landing pattern and a second landing pattern.

The first landing pattern may be formed in black as a circular pattern present in a rectangular background.

The second landing pattern may be formed by overlapping at least eight cross patterns of different colors and sizes based on the center point of the landing.

That is, the second landing pattern is a first cross pattern having the largest size among the at least eight cross patterns and having a first color, and a second color having a size smaller than that of the first cross pattern and having a different color from the first color. and a third cross pattern having a smaller size than the second cross pattern and having a third color different from the first and second colors.

Hereinafter, the landing pattern will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 6 . 6 is a diagram showing an image of a landing pattern applied to a drone landing guide system and method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 6, the landing pattern 100 has a black circular pattern 110 on a white background 105, and a cross pattern 120 gradually decreasing in size and thickness is designed therein. This landing pattern 100 can extract more and more accurate center and angle errors as the drone approaches, and induce precise landing and docking.

More specifically, the cross pattern 120 includes a red cross pattern 122, a green cross pattern 124, and a blue cross pattern 126. ) can be made including.

The RED cross pattern 122 has the largest size among the three cross patterns 122, 124, and 126 and may be made of red.

The GREEN cross pattern 124 is formed within the RED cross pattern 122, has a medium size among the three cross patterns 122, 124, and 126, and may be made of green.

The BLUE cross pattern 126 is formed within the GREEN cross pattern 124, has the smallest size among the three cross patterns 122, 124, and 126, and may be made of blue.

7 is a block diagram illustrating a drone landing guide system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 and 7, the drone landing guide system 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an image capture unit 210, an image processing unit 220, a flight control unit 230, and a control unit 240. can include

The image capturing unit 210 acquires an image of the landing pattern 100 of the landing pad by photographing the landing pad through a camera.

The image processor 220 searches for a first landing pattern, that is, a black circular pattern 110 from the image. At this time, the image processing unit 220 may search for the black circular pattern 110 through image binarization based on a threshold value.

The image processing unit 220 first image processes the searched first landing pattern. That is, when the image processing unit 220 searches for the black circular pattern 110 as shown in FIG. 8, all the cross patterns 120 corresponding to the second landing pattern in the landing pattern 100 are black. can be processed with

In other words, the image processing unit 220 may process all of the remaining patterns 110 and 120 as black except for the white background 105 .

The image processor 220 searches for the second landing pattern from the image as the drone descends. Specifically, when the drone moves and descends by the flight control unit 230 described later, the image processing unit 220 may search for the second landing pattern from the image.

At this time, the image processing unit 220 may check the number of pixels corresponding to the diameter of the circular landing pattern according to the descending of the drone. As a result of the check, if the number of pixels exceeds the reference number of pixels, the image processing unit 220 may search for the second landing pattern from the image.

On the other hand, as a result of the check, if the number of pixels is less than or equal to the reference number of pixels, the image processing unit 220 may search for the second landing pattern from the image after the drone moves and descends further. .

The image processor 220 performs second image processing on the searched second landing pattern step by step and corrects an error so that the horizontal and vertical axes of the image and the horizontal and vertical axes of the second landing pattern are aligned.

That is, when the image processing unit 220 searches for the second landing pattern, the first cross pattern, the second cross pattern, and the third cross pattern are searched in order, and the second image is searched for each cross pattern. Through processing, errors may be corrected so that the horizontal and vertical axes of the image and the horizontal and vertical axes of the second landing pattern are aligned.

For example, the image processing unit 220 may search the RED cross pattern 122, the GREEN cross pattern 124, and the BLUE cross pattern 126 in order, and perform error correction when searching for each pattern. For the second image processing may be performed.

To this end, the image processing unit 220 processes the first landing pattern as the same color as the color of the background surrounding the first landing pattern when searching for the first cross pattern, and the second cross pattern and the first landing pattern. All three cross patterns may be treated with the first color.

Taking the landing pattern 100 of FIG. 6 as an example, the image processing unit 220 processes the black circular pattern 110 as white when searching for the RED cross pattern 122, and the GREEN cross pattern ( 124) and the BLUE cross pattern 126 can all be treated as red. That is, the image processing unit 220 may process the entire cross pattern 120 as red.

Next, when searching for the second cross pattern, the image processing unit 220 may process the first cross pattern as the same color as the background color and process the third cross pattern as the second color. have.

Taking the landing pattern 100 of FIG. 6 as an example, the image processing unit 220 processes the RED cross pattern 122 as white when searching for the GREEN cross pattern 124, and the BLUE cross pattern ( 126) can be treated as green.

As such, in one embodiment of the present invention, when searching for the second landing pattern, the second image processing for error correction between the entire landing pattern 100 and the cross pattern 120 is performed step by step, so that the drone It is possible to prepare an environment to land accurately at the landing center point.

Meanwhile, after searching for the first cross pattern, the image processing unit 220 searches for the second cross pattern when the size of the first cross pattern in the image exceeds the reference pixel number, and the second cross pattern is searched for. After searching for a pattern, if the size of the second cross pattern in the image exceeds the reference pixel number, the third cross pattern may be searched for.

Referring to the landing pattern of FIG. 6 as an example, the image processing unit 220 searches for the RED cross pattern 122, and then in the image (an updated image newly captured through the camera in conjunction with the descent of the drone) The size of the RED cross pattern 122 may be compared with the number of reference pixels. As a result of the comparison, if the number of pixels corresponding to the size of the RED cross pattern 122 exceeds the reference number of pixels, the image processing unit 220 may search for the GREEN cross pattern 124 .

In addition, after searching for the GREEN cross pattern 124, the image processing unit 220 determines the size of the GREEN cross pattern 124 in the image (an updated image newly taken by the camera in conjunction with the descent of the drone). may be compared with the reference pixel number. As a result of the comparison, if the number of pixels corresponding to the size of the GREEN cross pattern 124 exceeds the reference pixel number, the image processing unit 220 may search for the BLUE cross pattern 126 .

The flight control unit 230 moves and descends the drone so that the center of the first landing pattern and the center of the camera are aligned based on the result of the first image processing.

That is, the flight control unit 230 moves and descends the center of the drone so that the drone is aligned with the center of the landing pad through a black circular pattern (processed all in black) based on the result of the first image processing. You can control it.

Based on the result of the second image processing, the flight control unit 230 controls descent of the drone so that the drone lands at the landing center point of the second landing pattern.

That is, the flight control unit 230 based on the result of the second image processing, the cross pattern 120 in stages from the largest RED cross pattern 122 to the smallest BLUE cross pattern error based on recognition Through calibration, the descent of the drone may be controlled so that the drone accurately lands at the landing center point.

The control unit 240 generally controls the operation of the drone landing guide system 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention, that is, the image capture unit 210, the image processing unit 220, and the flight control unit 230. You can control it.

9 to 7 are flowcharts illustrating a drone landing guide method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, referring to FIGS. 7 and 9 , in step 410, the flight control unit 230 of the drone landing guide system 200 may control the flight of the drone to the vicinity of the landing point using the GPS of the drone.

Next, in step 420, the image capture unit 210 of the drone landing guide system 200 captures the landing pad through a camera to acquire an image of the landing pattern of the landing pad.

Next, in step 430, the image processing unit 220 of the drone landing guide system 200 searches for a first landing pattern from the image.

Next, in step 440, the image processing unit 220 may determine whether the first landing pattern is found.

As a result of the determination, when the first landing pattern is not found ("No" direction of 440), the step 410 is returned.

On the other hand, as a result of the determination, if the first landing pattern is found (“yes” direction in 440), the image processing unit 220 performs a first image processing on the searched first landing pattern in step 450. (220) performs a first image processing on the searched first landing pattern.

Next, in step 460, the flight controller 230 moves and descends the drone so that the center of the first landing pattern and the center of the camera are aligned based on the result of the first image processing.

Next, if the number of pixels (Rb) corresponding to the diameter of the first landing pattern is smaller than or equal to the number of pixels (Tb) (“No” direction of 470), the flight control unit 230 Move and lower the drone.

On the other hand, if the number of pixels (Rb) corresponding to the diameter of the first landing pattern exceeds the reference number of pixels (Tb) (“yes” direction of 470), step A of FIG. 10 is performed.

That is, referring to FIGS. 7 and 10 , in step 510, the image processor 220 searches for a RED cross pattern.

Next, in step 520, the image processing unit 220 image-processes the RED cross pattern.

That is, referring to FIG. 6, the image processing unit 220 may process the black circular landing pattern as white in step 610, and process both the GREEN cross pattern and the BLUE cross pattern as red in step 620. .

Next, in step 530, the flight control unit 230 descends the drone when error correction by image processing in step 520 is performed.

At this time, if the number of pixels (Dr) corresponding to the size of the RED cross pattern is smaller than or equal to the reference number of pixels (Tr) (direction "No" of 540), the flight control unit 230 descends the drone.

On the other hand, if the number of pixels (Dr) corresponding to the size of the RED cross pattern exceeds the reference number of pixels (Tr) (“Yes” direction of 540), the image processing unit 220 in step 550 displays the GREEN cross Explore patterns.

Next, in step 560, the image processing unit 220 image-processes the searched GREEN cross pattern.

That is, referring to FIG. 7 , the image processing unit 220 may process the RED cross pattern as white in step 710 and process the BLUE cross pattern as green in step 720 .

Next, in step 570, the flight control unit 230 descends the drone when error correction by image processing in step 560 is performed.

At this time, if the number of pixels (Dg) corresponding to the size of the GREEN cross pattern is smaller than or equal to the reference number of pixels (Tg) (“No” direction of 580), the flight control unit 230 descends the drone.

On the other hand, if the number of pixels (Dg) corresponding to the size of the GREEN cross pattern exceeds the reference number of pixels (Tg) (“yes” direction of 580), in step 585, the image processing unit 220 performs the BLUE cross Explore patterns.

Next, in step 590, the image processing unit 220 image-processes the searched BLUE cross pattern.

That is, the image processing unit 220 may process the GREEN cross pattern as white. In other words, the image processing unit 220 may process all areas other than the BLUE cross pattern in the image of the landing pattern as white.

Next, in step 595, the comparison control unit 230 descends the drone when the error is corrected by image processing in step 590.

Accordingly, in one embodiment of the present invention, the descent of the drone is controlled by recognizing and correcting the first and second landing patterns through step-by-step image processing, so that the drone can accurately land at the center of the landing pad.

Example

1. Landing mode based on circular pattern search

The drone flies to the vicinity of the landing point using GPS, and then primarily searches for a black circular pattern using a camera. Circular patterns are searched using Thresholding and Binarization. The key here is to recognize and process all RGB cross patterns as black.

if Image_red(x,y) > 200 (Tr: threshold_red)

then Image(x,y) = 0 //handle black

if Image_green(x,y) > 200 (Tg: threshold_green)

then Image(x,y) = 0 // handle black

if Image_blue(x,y) > 200 (Tg: threshold_blue)

then Image(x,y) = 0 // handle black

Through this image processing, one simple black circular pattern 110 is distinguished from the white background 105 as shown in FIG. After calibration, the drone is moved. In the current mode, angular alignment is processed using a square white background (105).

2. Precision landing mode based on RGB cross pattern search

As the drone descends, the size of the black circular pattern increases. When the size of the circle diameter in the circular pattern image exceeds a certain number of pixels, the precision landing mode based on the cross pattern search is switched.

In the precise landing mode, both the white background and the black circular pattern are treated as white. First, the RED cross pattern is searched. In this case, both the GREEN cross pattern and the BLUE cross pattern are treated as red. The drone is controlled to align the xy axis (horizontal and vertical axis) of the camera image and the xy axis (horizontal and vertical axis) of the RED cross pattern and gradually descend.

If the size of the RED cross pattern in the image exceeds a certain number of pixels, the RED cross pattern is treated as white, and the GREEN cross pattern is searched for. In this case, the BLUE cross pattern is treated as green. The drone is controlled to align the xy axis of the camera image and the xy axis of the GREEN cross pattern and descend gradually.

Similarly, if the size of the GREEN cross pattern in the image exceeds a certain number of pixels, the RED cross pattern and the GREEN cross pattern are treated as white, and the BLUE cross pattern is searched for. The drone is controlled to align the xy axis of the camera image with the xy axis of the BLUE cross pattern, and finally lands gradually.

Embodiments of the invention include computer readable media containing program instructions for performing various computer implemented operations. The computer readable medium may include program instructions, local data files, local data structures, etc. alone or in combination. The media may be specially designed and configured for the present invention 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 recording media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs, magneto-optical media such as floptical disks, and ROMs, RAMs, flash memories, and the like. A hardware device specially configured to store and execute the same program instructions is included. Examples of program instructions include high-level language codes that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter, as well as machine language codes such as those produced by a compiler.

Although specific embodiments according to the present invention have been described so far, various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments and should not be defined, but should be defined by not only the scope of the claims to be described later, but also those equivalent to the scope of these claims.

As described above, the present invention has been described by the limited embodiments and drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and those skilled in the art in the field to which the present invention belongs can make various modifications and transformation is possible Therefore, the spirit of the present invention should be grasped only by the claims described below, and all equivalent or equivalent modifications thereof will be said to belong to the scope of the spirit of the present invention.

10. Support 12. Landing pad
14. Side plate 20. Blocking member
22. Fixed bracket 24. Mounting hole
26. Roller 28. Barrier
30. Roller driving member 32. Roller cover
34. Rain sensor 36. Block guide rail
40. Landing guidance member 42. Landing guidance body
44. Landing guide sensor 46. Drone fixing part
48. Drone fixing home
60. Adsorption member
210: image capturing unit
220: image processing unit
230: flight control
240: control unit

Claims (4)

a supporter installed on a roof of a building or on top of a building, one end fixed to the roof and the top of the building, and the other end protruding upward;
a landing pad installed on the upper surface of the support and having a square plate shape, on which a plurality of drones are seated;
a side plate protruding upward along the rim of the landing site and forming a wall of the landing site;
a landing guide member installed on the bottom surface of the landing pad, a plurality of which are installed at regular intervals on the bottom surface of the landing pad, and transmits a signal to the landing signal sensing member mounted on the lower surface of the drone to induce landing of the drone;
A drone station including a blocking member installed on one side of the landing pad and selectively opening and closing the upper end of the landing pad to prevent damage to the drone in case of rain or bad weather,
an image photographing unit that acquires an image of a landing pattern of the landing pad by photographing the landing pad through a camera;
an image processing unit that searches for a first landing pattern from the image and performs a first image processing on the searched first landing pattern; and
Based on the result of the first image processing, a flight control unit for moving and descending the drone so that the center of the first landing pattern and the center of the camera are aligned,
The image processing unit
As the drone descends, a second landing pattern is searched from the image, and the searched second landing pattern is processed into a second image step by step so that the horizontal and vertical axes of the image and the horizontal and vertical axes of the second landing pattern are aligned. correct errors as much as possible,
The flight control unit controls the descent of the drone so that the drone lands at the landing center point of the second landing pattern based on the result of the second image processing.
According to claim 1,
The blocking member,
A fixing bracket protruding from the ends of the side plates on both sides of the landing field and having a mounting hole formed at one end;
rollers, both ends of which are inserted into and fixed to the mounting holes of the different fixing brackets, and are formed in the form of rollers and are rotatably installed on one side of the landing pad;
a roller driving member fixed to an end of the roller and rotating the roller in both directions;
A drone landing guide system including a shielding film installed in a form wound around the outer circumferential surface of the roller and made of a flexible material to selectively open and close the upper end of the landing pad according to the rotation of the roller.
According to claim 1,
The first landing pattern is a black circular pattern,
The image processing unit searches for the first landing pattern through image binary processing based on a threshold, and when searching for the first landing pattern, the drone landing guide system, characterized in that all of the second landing pattern is processed in black .
According to claim 1,
The second landing pattern is a drone landing guide system, characterized in that formed by overlapping at least three cross patterns of different colors and sizes based on the landing center point.

Images