RU2557085C1 - Apparatus for controlling robotic vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: radio engineering, communication.

SUBSTANCE: apparatus includes a narrow-band transceiver of an operator fitted with an antenna and a control panel with display means, and a narrow-band transceiver of the robotic vehicle fitted with an antenna and actuating elements. Controllers control the receivers and transmitters of the narrow-band transceivers of the operator and the robotic vehicle. Antennae of the narrow-band transceivers of the operator and the robotic vehicle are omnidirectional. The apparatus includes wideband transceivers of the operator and the robotic vehicle, each fitted with at least one narrow-beam antenna. The controllers also enable to connect the narrow-band and wideband transceivers.

EFFECT: high reliability of apparatus owing to reduction of the effect of interference distortions.

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Description

The invention relates to radio-technical devices for controlling a robotic vehicle (RTS), for example, moving in a pipeline and having manipulators mounted on carts, and can be used for tele-inspection of the inner surface of a pipeline, a subway tunnel, basements (underground garages), etc.

A control device for a robotic vehicle is known, which is part of a gas pipeline automated inspection system containing a broadband operator transceiver equipped with an omnidirectional antenna and a control panel, a broadband transceiver of a robotic vehicle equipped with an omnidirectional antenna and actuators, wherein the broadband transceivers are respectively connected to the control panel and executive bus interface elements Type TCP / IP, for example, 802.11b. (US, No. 6697710).

In this technical solution, the moving means is made in the form of a self-propelled train assembled from separate modules of a cylindrical shape and pivotally connected to each other, the drives of the running mechanisms of each of the modules are made of magnets and electromagnetic coils, cameras and lamps are installed at the end of the extreme modules. The control device operates at a frequency of 2.4 GHz, has a single antenna with a circular radiation pattern on transceivers.

The advantages of this system are: the ability to rotate the robot and move it in the bends of the pipe; the ability to control the robot and register data by the operator outside the pipeline when moving the robot inside the pipe, a large length of the television inspection, not limited by the length of the cable.

A limitation of this technical solution is: small diameters from 150 mm to 220 mm of inspected pipelines due to the use of an electromagnetic displacement drive through separate modules. In fact, the wall of the pipeline is the body of the control device - a kind of waveguide that does not cause re-reflections and interference of radio waves, so it is possible to use an omnidirectional antenna. The technical capabilities of this configuration make it possible to control the RTS at distances of up to 500 m. With an increase in the range, as well as with the movement of the RTS, there is an increase in the number of errors in the control channel, and sometimes temporary fading of the signal. The known device cannot be used in pipelines of large diameters, as well as in tunnels and basements due to the re-reflections of radio waves arising in them.

Known mobile robot containing placed in the housing of the device for moving the robot, an obstacle detection unit, a unit for determining the current location of the robot and a unit for observing the space in front of the robot, connected via corresponding information channels to the control unit, a power source connected to the first terminals with the corresponding terminals of the detection unit obstacles, a unit for determining the current location of the robot and a unit for observing the space in front of the robot connected to the input output of the at least one surveillance camera mounted on the chassis for moving the robot. The robot has a moving means with a mobile station located on it, configured to access the Internet, and a remote control made in the form of at least one personal computer connected by an information channel to the mobile station. The device for moving the robot is made in the form of a self-moving trolley, which is kinematically connected with a moving means, on the axes of the driving wheels of the self-moving trolley there are drive elements of DC motors, which are connected to the second terminals of the power source by the leads, and the control inputs - to the outputs of the control unit, on the disks driven wheels of a self-propelled truck mounted photopulse sensors connected by outputs to the inputs of the unit for determining the distance traveled by the robot, and accelerometers, p Connected by the outputs to the inputs of the acceleration measuring unit during the movement of the robot, the obstacle detection unit is equipped with at least one ultrasonic signal transmitter and at least one ultrasonic signal receiver mounted on the housing of the self-propelled cart. The unit for determining the distance traveled by the robot and the unit for measuring acceleration when the robot is moving are placed on the body of the self-moving carriage and connected with its conclusions to the third terminals of the power source, and the control unit for additional information channels is connected to the unit for determining the distance traveled by the robot, the unit for measuring acceleration during robot movement, and a mobile station communication and at least one personal computer, and the power source of the fourth conclusions connected to the corresponding conclusions of the station and mobile communications and at least one personal computer (RU, No. 2274543).

The description of this invention stipulates that this robot can be used to diagnose pipelines, hidden cavities, underground utilities in the presence of a non-aggressive medium.

The advantage of this device is the ability to control the robot from a remote distance via the Internet, since the well-known mobile robot is a self-propelled cart with a trailer on which there is a remote control in the form of a PC (laptop) with a cell phone connected to it (mobile communication station) having Internet access. A computer through which control takes place over several hundred or thousands of kilometers also has Internet access using a cell phone.

However, the use of such a robot for pipeline inspection is impractical because when moving the robot inside the pipe, the pipeline wall is shielding and it is almost impossible to establish stable communication of the mobile station (cell phone) over the Internet when the robot is inside the pipe.

A control device for a robotic vehicle is known, which is part of a robotic pipeline inspection system containing a narrow-band operator transceiver equipped with an omnidirectional antenna and a control panel with display means, a narrow-band transceiver of a robotic vehicle equipped with an omnidirectional antenna and actuators (RU, U1, No. 133896) .

This device uses the transmission and reception of signals over a narrowband communication channel.

The advantage of this device is the ability to provide stable radio communications for large diameter pipelines.

However, during the television inspection of extended limited environments, such as mines, tunnels, collectors, underground rooms and the communications located in them, problems arise in maintaining a stable radio communication due to interference distortion of radio signals.

A control device for a robotic vehicle is known, which is part of a robot in the form of a truck and contains a narrow-band operator transceiver equipped with an antenna and a control panel with display means, a narrow-band transceiver of a robotic vehicle equipped with an antenna and actuators, controllers that respectively serve to control receivers and narrow-band transmitter transmitters of the operator and narrow-band transceiver of robots nnogo vehicle. (US No. 5736821).

In this device, the narrow-band transceivers of the operator and the robotic vehicle are equipped with two linear polarization antennas: one antenna is horizontal for transmitting control commands and telemetry, and the other is vertical for transmitting image signals. In addition, means are used to maintain the horizontal and vertical position of the antennas when the cart is tilted. In order to reduce signal distortion associated with the interference of the radio wave, it is proposed to use frequencies lower than the cutoff frequency of the waveguide — the walls of the pipe body, for example, for a pipe diameter of 10 cm, less than 1.758 GHz, while the lateral branch pipes of the gas pipe branches with a diameter of less than 10 cm , do not affect the stability of radio transmission and reception.

However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that with an increase in the diameter of the main pipeline or with the television inspection of confined spaces of complex shape, interference distortions still occur due to re-reflections of the radio signal. In addition, the use of two antennas for the separate reception of telecontrol commands and video streaming complicates the design when using narrow-band transceivers.

The closest is a robotic vehicle control device comprising a narrow-band operator transceiver equipped with an antenna and a control panel with display means, a narrow-band robot transceiver equipped with an antenna and actuators, a broadband operator transceiver and a broadband robot transceiver, each equipped with an antenna the controllers that are implemented provide connection of narrowband and broadband transceivers operator and robotic vehicle respectively one controller coupled to the bus of data exchange with a remote control with display means, and the other - with the actuating elements (RU, №2210491).

In this device, narrow-band transceivers serve only to transmit commands, and broadband transceivers serve only to transmit video images, not commands, therefore, the known device does not allow to compensate for interference distortions of extended limited media, such as: the inner surface of a branched pipeline with connected equipment, the subway tunnel, basement premises.

The problem solved by the invention is the improvement of technical and operational characteristics during television inspection in extended limited environments.

The technical result that is obtained by carrying out the invention is to increase the reliability of the device by reducing the influence of interference distortion of the signal and improving the reliability of the transmission and reception of telecontrol, telemetry and video streaming commands.

To solve the problem with achieving the specified technical result in a known control device for a robotic vehicle containing a narrowband operator transceiver equipped with an antenna and a control panel with display means, a narrowband transceiver of a robotic vehicle equipped with an antenna and actuators, a broadband operator transceiver and a broadband robotic transceiver vehicle, each of k of which is equipped with an antenna, controllers that are configured to connect the narrow-band and broadband transceivers of the operator and the robotic vehicle, respectively, one controller is connected by a data exchange bus to the control panel with display means, and the other to actuators, according to the invention of the narrow-band transceiver of the operator and narrow-band robotic vehicle transceiver are omnidirectional, each wide the operator’s broadband transceiver and the robotic vehicle’s broadband transceiver is equipped with two narrowly directional antennas and is equipped with an adder / splitter, the broadband transceiver input / output is connected to two narrowly directional antennas through the adder / splitter, with the narrow-beam antenna width α being α ≤180 °, and the distance L ≤180 °, and the distance L ≤180 °, and the distance L between narrowly directed antennas - L> α.

Additional embodiments of the device are possible, in which it is advisable that:

- each of the controllers was connected to narrow-band transceivers by a serial interface bus RS232, or RS422, or RS485, or LON, or KAN;

- each of the controllers is connected to broadband transceivers by an interface bus such as TCP / IP - Ethernet, or IEEE 802.11, or Wireless Ethernet, or SLIP, or Token Ring, or ATM, or MPLS.

The indicated advantages of the invention, as well as its features, are explained using embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 depicts a generalized functional diagram of a device;

FIG. 2 is the same as FIG. 1, when two narrowly oriented antennas are used in broadband transceivers;

FIG. 3 - a block diagram of the algorithm of the controller in transmission mode;

FIG. 4 is the same as FIG. 3, in reception mode.

The control device of a robotic vehicle (Fig. 1) contains a narrow-band operator transceiver 1 equipped with an antenna 2 and a control panel 3 with display means 4 (interconnected in a known manner, for example, as in RU, No. 13389, via the RS data bus 5 -485 or as in US, No. 5736821) and a narrow-band transceiver 1 of a robotic vehicle (RTS) equipped with an antenna 2 and actuators 6. The controllers 7 respectively serve to control the narrow-band receivers and transmitters the main transceiver 1 of the operator and the narrow-band transceiver 1 of the robotic vehicle. Narrow-band transceivers 1 and antennas 2 for the operator and for the robotic vehicle are identical.

Antennas 2 narrow-band transceiver 1 operator and narrow-band transceiver 2 RTS made omnidirectional (with a circular radiation pattern). The device has a broadband transceiver 8 operator and a broadband transceiver 8 RTS. Each of the broadband transceivers 8 is equipped with at least one narrowly directed antenna 9 and the controller 7, made identical. The controllers 7 are configured to connect narrow-band transceivers 1 and broadband transceivers 8. Accordingly, one controller 7 is connected by a data exchange bus 5 to a control panel 3 with display means 4, and the other controller 7 is connected to actuating elements 6. Each of the controllers is connected by a serial interface bus 10 RS232 with narrow-band transceivers 1, and bus 11 of the TCP / IP type interface with wide-band transceivers 7.

To reduce the influence of interference distortion of the signal, the width α of the radiation pattern of a narrowly directed antenna 9 is selected satisfying: α≤180 °.

The serial bus 10 may be RS232, or RS422, or RS485, or LON, or KAN.

The interface bus type 11 TCP / IP can be Ethernet, or IEEE 802.11, or Wireless Ethernet, or SLIP, or Token Ring, or ATM, or MPLS.

In the device (Fig. 2), each broadband transceiver 7 is provided with two narrowly directed antennas 9 and an adder / splitter 12. The input / output of wideband transceiver 8 is connected to two narrowly directed antennas 9 through an adder / splitter 12.

To exclude the mutual influence of narrowly directed antennas 9, the distance L between narrowly directed antennas 9 is selected: L> α, where α is the width of the radiation pattern of narrowly directed antennas 9.

The control device of the robotic vehicle (Fig. 1) operates as follows.

The command from the control panel 3 (the mouse, joystick, trackball, keyboard, etc.) with the means of 4 displays (monitor, touch screen) is reorganized by the digital converter of the console 3 into a standard protocol and in the form of a code message in a format that allows you to define the presence of an error enters via the data exchange bus 5 to the input device of controller 7. Controller 7, when transmitting commands, functions in the port replicator mode (Fig. 3). In this case (similar to US, No. 5736821), the controller 7 connects the transmitters of the narrow-band transceiver 1 and broadband transceiver 8 to the bus 10 of the RS232 type serial interface with carrier frequencies 433, or 466, or 833 MHz of the command signals and to the bus 11 of the TCP / IP interface with carrier frequencies of 2, 4 or 5.2 GHz.

Both when transmitting and receiving radio signals, the serial interface bus 10 can be RS232, or RS422, or RS485, or LON, or KAN, etc., and the TCP / IP interface bus 11 can be Ethernet, or IEEE 802.11, or Wireless Ethernet , or SLIP, or Token Ring, or ATM, or MPLS, etc.

Radio-frequency signals at the mentioned frequencies are emitted in the direction of the RTS omnidirectional antenna 2 (with a circular radiation pattern) of narrow-band transceiver 1 and narrow-directional antenna 9 (α≤180 °) of broadband transceiver 8 of the operator’s equipment. Since the carrier frequencies of narrowband and broadband channels vary significantly, the omnidirectional antenna 2 of the narrow-band transceiver 1 of the RTS receives the signals of the narrow-band transceiver 1 of the operator’s equipment, and the narrow-directional antenna 9 of the broadband transceiver 8 of the RTS-wideband transceiver 8 of the operator’s equipment. Information about the directed command from the ADC receiver of the narrow-band transceiver 1 and from the ADC receiver of the broadband transceiver 8 via bus 10 of the serial interface of type RS232 and bus 11 of the interface of type TCP / IP is received respectively by controller 7.

In the receive mode, the controller 7 (Fig. 1) operates according to the following algorithm (Fig. 4).

The command signals on buses 10 and 11 are received in the block of command signatures, where they are compared with the signature patterns. If there are no errors and the accepted command matches the template, the command is considered true. The decision blocks “Do the signatures coincide?” Have two outputs. In the case of the decision “No”, the algorithm is exited, the signals do not arrive at the executive elements 6, but are sent to the non-execution command generation unit, which is transmitted from the RTS controller 7 via buses 10 and 11 to the DACs of the transmitters of narrow-band transceiver 1 and broadband transceiver 8 Rs. Narrow-band transceiver 1 and broadband transceiver 8 of the RTS sends a message about the failure of the equipment of the operator (Fig. 1).

If there is information “Yes” (Fig. 3) at the output of one of the decision blocks and “No” at the output of another decision block, at least one of the “Yes” signals is input to the block that performs the “OR” function, from the output of which the current team is sent to the executive elements. If there is information “Yes” at the outputs of both decision blocks, the controller 7 implements a function of the type of operator “exclusive OR”. In order to improve performance and increase the reliability of control, priority is given to data received from a broadband channel.

These algorithms (Fig. 3, 4) are implemented on the sbRIO controller using LabVIEW software.

Executive elements 6 (Fig. 1) are wheel drives, camera drives, lighting equipment, etc. After working out the command received by the data exchange bus 5, similarly to the one described above for the operator’s equipment in the transmission mode, an execution command is generated by the digital converters of the actuating elements 6, which is reorganized into a standard protocol and enters the RTS controller 7 in the form of a code message on the data exchange bus 5 . In transmission mode, the RTS controller 7 operates in accordance with the algorithm (Fig. 3). On buses 10, 11, the signal about the completed command is respectively transmitted to the transmitters of narrow-band transceiver 1 and broadband transceiver 8 of the RTS and transmitted to the operator’s equipment with an omnidirectional antenna 2 and a narrow-directional antenna 9 RTS.

When receiving radio signals about the execution of commands by a narrow-band transceiver 1 and broadband transceiver 8 of the operator’s equipment, the controller 7 operates exactly in accordance with the algorithm of FIG. 3, and the “actuating elements” in this block diagram are the control panel 3 with display means 4. The default command is handled similarly. Upon receipt of a command about the failure by the actuating element 6 of the specified action from the RTS controller 7, unlike other known devices, the operator has the opportunity to use, for example, the commands “forward”, “back”, “turn”, etc., until stable radio communication is achieved on at least one of the channels.

Thus, since it uses practically functionally identical equipment of the operator and the RTS for control, in which the controllers 7 operate according to the same algorithms, as well as through the use of two data transmission channels - narrowband and broadband, in which each of the channels has significantly different frequencies, and so on how narrow-band transceivers 1 with omnidirectional antennas 2 and wide-band transceivers 8 with narrowly directed antennas 9 are used both for the operator’s equipment and for the RTS, о it is possible to increase the reliability of the device by reducing the influence of interference distortion of the signal in various extended environments, which are a kind of device case (large pipelines, mines, tunnels, collectors, underground rooms and the communications located in them), and to improve the reliability of the transmission and reception of telecommand commands, telemetry and video streaming.

As studies have shown, it is possible to increase the reliability of the device and improve the reliability of transmission and reception if each broadband transceiver 7 is equipped with two narrowly directed antennas 9 and an adder / splitter 12 (Fig. 2). The input / output of the broadband transceiver 8 is connected to two narrowly directed antennas 9 through an adder / splitter 12. When using two narrowly directed antennas 9, the distance L between the narrowly directed antennas 9 can be selected: L> α, where α is the beam width of the narrowly directed antenna 9, while mutual influence of these antennas is excluded.

The device (Fig. 2) works exactly the same as the control device of a robotic vehicle (Fig. 1). Passive adders and splitters (with the exception of directional NO couplers) are reciprocal multipole devices, i.e. the adder can be used as a splitter (splitter), and vice versa. In the transmission mode of the radio signal by the operator’s equipment, the adder / splitter 12 is a splitter and the output of the transmitter of the broadband transceiver 8 is connected in phase to two narrowly directed antennas 9 that emit a high-frequency signal from the operator’s equipment in the direction of the RTS. And in the mode of receiving a radio signal, the adder / splitter 12 is an adder and the input of the receiver of the broadband transceiver 8 is connected to two narrowly directed antennas 9 that receive a high-frequency signal from the RTS. The adder / splitter of 12 RTS works similarly.

As a result of the tests, it was found that the use of a narrow-band channel does not reduce the number of errors in the broadband channel, but reduces the consequences of the effect of signal fading in it. Accordingly, the reliability of the control device is increased. And the number of errors is reduced by using broadband transceivers 8 (for example, multi-antenna, with different polarization and in different ranges).

In addition, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that at least two separate broadband transceivers 8, each of which has two narrowly directed antennas 9, and two separate broadband transceivers 8 for RTS with the same antennas operating at different carrier frequencies, such as 2.4 GHz and 5.2 GHz.

The invention does not exclude other technical improvements, and the scope of patent claims is generally presented in an independent claim.

The most successfully declared robotic vehicle control device is industrially applicable for conducting a television inspection of underwater or underground sections of large trunk pipelines, as well as mines, tunnels, collectors, underground rooms with communications located in them, and other extended objects with a limited complex cross section.

Claims (3)

1. The control device of a robotic vehicle, comprising a narrow-band operator transceiver, equipped with an antenna and a control panel with display means, a narrow-band transceiver of a robotic vehicle, equipped with an antenna and actuators, a broadband operator transceiver and a broadband transceiver of a robotic vehicle, each of which is equipped with an antenna, controllers that are made by connecting buses broadband and broadband transceivers of the operator and the robotic vehicle, one controller is connected by a data bus with the control panel to the display means, and the other to the actuators, characterized in that the antennas of the narrow-band transceiver of the operator and the narrow-band transceiver of the robotic vehicle are omnidirectional, each broadband transceiver operator and broadband robotic vehicle transceiver with COROLLARY has two highly directional antennas and provided with a combiner / splitter, the input / output broadband transceiver is connected to two highly directional antennas through the adder / splitter, wherein the width of the pattern of the α highly directional antenna - α≤180 °, and the distance L between the antennas highly directional - L> α. 2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that each of the controllers is connected to narrowband transceivers by a serial interface bus RS232, or RS422, or RS485, or LON, or KAN. 3. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that each of the controllers is connected to the broadband transceivers by an interface bus such as TCP / IP - Ethernet, or IEEE 802.11, or Wireless Ethernet, or SLIP, or Token Ring, or ATM, or MPLS.

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