RU2755411C1 - Method for remote adjustment of flight mission of unmanned aerial vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: controlling.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to methods for remote control of unmanned aerial vehicles performing long-range flights - up to several thousand kilometers. The method for remote adjustment of the flight mission of an unmanned aerial vehicle includes preparing flight missions and organising a remote control circuit for changing segments of the flight path of the unmanned aerial vehicle. The flight missions of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the information materials used for the operation of on-board correction equipment thereof are therein prepared in advance as part of a single data package, and the condition of the unmanned aerial vehicle is monitored during the flight by issuing survey packages from the ground control station via a spacecraft to the unmanned aerial vehicle and receiving response messages by the ground control station via the spacecraft from the unmanned aerial vehicle in response to each survey package. When potentially dangerous conditions occur, a substitute flight mission is selected at the ground control station according to a combination of criteria for maximum proximity of the initial destination and the safety of the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and a short signal to change the flight mission is sent, permitting, among other things, allocation of a reserve destination or a complete change of the flight mission.

EFFECT: increased safety, reliability and efficiency of the UAV performing the mission of transporting a payload.

2 cl, 2 dwg

Description

The invention relates to methods for remote control of unmanned aerial vehicles (hereinafter - UAVs), performing flights over long distances - up to several thousand kilometers. The relevance of the task of correcting the flight task of such UAVs is due to the dependence of the safety indicators, reliability and efficiency of transporting the UAV payload to the destination on the surrounding background situation, in particular on the weather conditions realized at this destination or along the flight route to it. In the event of negative conditions for arriving at the designated point, in order to avoid irrecoverable loss of the UAV along with the payload, it is advisable to adjust the flight mission of the UAV by specifying the route of movement bypassing the formed dangerous area or changing the destination to a reserve one.

The known method of retargeting cruise missiles Tomahawk [1, 2], in which the corrective signal from the command post to the missiles is transmitted through a satellite communication system based on low-flying spacecraft. The system of control signals entering the on-board missile equipment allows the following types of control to be implemented.

1. Changing the parameters of the final section of the route to form the correction of the trajectory of the approach to the destination point with the changed direction of the approach.

2. Correction of the coordinates of the aiming point, with the specification of the height of the approach to the target and the dive angle.

3. Changing a fragment of a flight task from a number of pre-loaded ones, including a change in the aiming point.

At the same time, the implementation of the retargeting function in this way is determined by the requirements of the combat use of high-precision weapons, the possibility of losing a missile is not an exceptional situation, and the effectiveness of the combat mission in an organized counteraction (jamming situation) is achieved by increasing the assigned missile order.

In the general case, this method does not allow to correct a fragment of the rocket trajectory when performing its flight task, while maintaining the final segment specified in the flight task. The implementation of this function is possible only by specifying a copy of an existing flight task, with a modified fragment of the trajectory, which leads to the replication of aiming points and a reduction in the useful memory of the onboard equipment of the rocket.

The use of this method presupposes the mandatory presence of a special data transmission network with a deployed satellite constellation of low-flying spacecraft for communication of missiles in flight with a command post and organization of monitoring the state of missiles. This solution reduces the response time of the entire retargeting system, since spacecraft performing orbital motion participate in the delivery of control signals, thereby introducing the dependence of the time of adjustment on the efficiency of the satellite communication system itself. The efficiency of the satellite communication system is determined, among other things, by the completeness of the orbital constellation. Removing one or more spacecraft from the constellation also contributes to an additional increase in the time it takes to bring control signals to cruise missiles.

Due to the narrow specificity of the organization of the retargeting system of Tomahawk cruise missiles, the possibility of using this method in the civilian sector is not expected.

The closest in technical essence is the method [3], in which the control of the UAV on the cruising section, provided with the coverage of the satellite communication system, is carried out by means of this satellite communication system by transferring the coordinate correction to the route of its movement to the on-board equipment of the UAV. This method was chosen as a prototype of the proposed solution.

The disadvantage of this method is that it is applicable only under the condition of guaranteed absence of interference in the correction section and ensuring continuous control, since otherwise, if the control signal is lost, the UAV's autopilot will return it to the dangerous trajectory stored in its memory. In this case, the very formulation of the problem determines the appearance of a jamming situation caused by worsening weather conditions (the appearance of a thunderstorm front) or other factors.

It should be noted that this method does not use information resources designed to improve the accuracy of determining its own location, which can also lead to an emergency in the event of a UAV moving in difficult physical and geographical conditions.

In addition, this method allows only to provide a route correction on a certain section of the flight trajectory, leaving control at the final section of an autonomous optoelectronic control system, which excludes the possibility of a complete change of destination in the event of a dangerous situation immediately around it.

The technical result of the proposed invention is to improve the safety, reliability and, as a consequence, the efficiency of the UAV's performance of the task of transporting a payload, the achievement of which is achieved by taking into account the promptly emerging dangerous areas along the UAV's flight path.

The specified technical result is achieved by the fact that in the method of remote correction of the flight task of the UAV, including the preparation of flight tasks and the organization of the remote control loop for changing the sections of the flight trajectory of the UAV, the flight tasks of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and information materials used for the operation of its onboard correction means are prepared in advance as part of a single data package, and during the flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle, when potentially dangerous conditions arise, a short signal is sent to change the flight task, which allows, among other things, to set a reserve destination or change the entire flight task.

There is also an option in which the UAV flight task package additionally includes a flight task for a delayed flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle from a backup destination to the main destination, the arrival forecast to which allows potentially dangerous conditions to arise in it or around it during the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

FIG. 1 shows in general form an example of a UAV flight mission package.

The method of remote correction of the UAV flight task is implemented as follows. The flight task of the UAV (Fig. 1) is prepared in the form of a set of starting point 1, turning points of route 2, points of change of level altitude 3 and point of destination 4. The flight task of the UAV is completed with information resources 5, characterizing the properties of the terrain along the flight route and intended to increase the accuracy of determining the UAV's own coordinates by means of on-board correction equipment. The flight mission package is prepared in the form of a set of several interconnected flight missions with common points of departure 6, before reaching which the UAV trajectory can be selected. Flight missions combined into one package may have a common destination or geographically separated destination points 4. The package may also include flight missions for a UAV flight from a reserve destination to the main 7, performed after the flight conditions are normalized.

FIG. 2 shows the control loop of the UAV in flight, consisting of:

8. UAV ground control station;

9. Spacecraft - control signal repeater;

10. Onboard antenna feeder device;

11. Receiving and transmitting device;

12. Onboard UAV motion control system;

13. Onboard correction systems.

During the execution of the UAV flight task (Fig. 2), control of its state is organized by issuing interrogation messages from the ground control point (NCP) 8 through the spacecraft (SC) -repeater 9, the onboard antenna-feeder device (AFU) of the UAV 10, the onboard transceiver the device (PPU) of the UAV 11 into the on-board control system (BSU) of the movement of the UAV 12. In response to each interrogation message from the UAV, a response message is received, transmitted in the opposite direction. In the event of dangerous conditions along the UAV flight path that impede the execution of the flight task, the NCP 8 in the same communication path issues a command to change the flight task to the reserve one contained in the package loaded into the BSU UAV 12 package. The choice of a substitute flight task is carried out at the NCP 8 according to a set of criteria for maximum proximity of the initial destination and the safety of the UAV flight. BSU UAV 12, having received a command to change the flight task, assesses the possibility of its implementation, based on the residual energy characteristics of the UAV, and confirms the NPU 8 transition to a new flight task or reports the impossibility of such a transition. With a successful transition, the BSU of the UAV 12 ensures the switching of the on-board correction systems 13 to work with information resources corresponding to the corrected flight task.

The claimed method differs from the known solutions by the independence of input into the on-board equipment of the UAV data, which determine the trajectory parameters of the flight, formalized in the form of a packet of flight tasks and a signal to change the flight task. This solution makes it possible to increase the noise immunity of the UAV onboard equipment as a whole, eliminating the potential effect of interference arising in avoided hazardous areas. At the same time, the possibility of operation of the on-board UAV correction equipment remains.

The use of the proposed method makes it possible to exclude the passage of the UAV through potentially dangerous areas, the appearance of which is possible due to the considerable length of the UAV flight, thereby increasing the safety of the UAV and the reliability of delivery of the payload to the destination. In addition, the method eliminates a decrease in the accuracy of determining the UAV's own position and the likelihood of an emergency, which in turn increases the efficiency of the task of delivering a payload.

Sources of information:

1. Mark D. LoPresto, Ann F. Pollack, John Florence, Robert C. Ferguson, and Ian E. Feldberg. Operator Support Concepts for Tomahawk Strike Management. - Johns Hopkins APL technical digest, vol. 16, No. 2 (1995), pp. 148-159.

2. Mary L. Cummings. The need for command and control instant message adaptive interfaces: Lessons learned from Tactical Tomahawk human-in-the-loop simulations. - CyberPsychology & Behavior, vol. 7 (6), pp. 653-661, 2004.

3. Utility model RU No. 155323 U1, IPC B63C 13/18, B63D 43/00, published on September 27, 2015.

Claims (2)

1. A method for remote correction of a flight task of an unmanned aerial vehicle, including the preparation of flight tasks and the organization of a remote control loop for changing sections of the flight trajectory of an unmanned aerial vehicle, characterized in that the flight tasks of an unmanned aerial vehicle and information materials used for the operation of its onboard correction means, are prepared in advance as part of a single data package, and during the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle, its condition is monitored by issuing interrogations from the ground control point through the spacecraft to the unmanned aerial vehicle and receiving response messages from the ground control point through the spacecraft from the unmanned aerial vehicle in response to each interrogation message, and in the event of potentially dangerous conditions, a replacement flight task is selected at the ground control station according to the set of criteria close proximity of the initial destination and the safety of the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and a short signal is sent to change the flight task, which allows, among other things, to set a reserve destination or to change the entire flight task. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the package of flight tasks of the unmanned aerial vehicle additionally includes a flight task for a delayed flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle from a reserve destination to the main one, the forecast of arrival at which allows the occurrence of potentially dangerous conditions during the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

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