TWI596043B - Unmanned aerial device and orientation method thereof - Google Patents

Description

Unmanned aerial vehicle and its correction positioning method

The present invention relates to an unmanned aerial vehicle and a method for correcting and positioning the same, and more particularly to an unmanned aerial vehicle capable of flying after being thrown and a method for correcting and positioning the same.

In recent years, the development of unmanned aerial vehicles has been changing with each passing day. Whether it is a four-rotor aircraft or a helicopter-type aircraft, it is becoming more mature in terms of manufacturing technology and cost control. With the development of unmanned aerial vehicles, the level of application is becoming more and more extensive. For example, photography and control are all areas where unmanned aerial vehicles are often used.

Taking photography as an example, as the price of unmanned aerial vehicles declines, its application in photography is not limited to aerial photography or filming. The general public can also easily own unmanned aerial vehicles for photo or film shooting. One of the common uses is to take a self-portrait with an unmanned aerial vehicle, and to throw the unmanned aerial vehicle into the air, and then control the camera module on the unmanned aerial vehicle to take pictures of the user. However, in the case of such a throwing unmanned aerial vehicle, in order to ensure that the photographic module on the unmanned aerial vehicle is still aimed at the user after being thrown into the air, it is usually necessary to adjust the photographic module to the user before throwing; Carefully control the thrown force to avoid the lens of the camera module being turned due to improper force control and unable to align with the user. It is not convenient to use. Even if you pay great attention to the use, the unmanned aerial vehicle may still cause the photography mode due to external factors such as wind direction. The lens of the group is deflected and cannot be satisfactorily obtained.

An object of the present invention is to provide an unmanned aerial vehicle and a positioning correction method thereof, which can reduce the influence of deflection at the time of throwing.

The unmanned aerial vehicle includes a flight power module, a first sensor, a second sensor, a third sensor, and a processor. The first sensor, the second sensor, and the third sensor are respectively connected to the processor signal. The first sensor can generate an acceleration change record based on the movement of the unmanned aerial vehicle and transmit it to the processor. The second sensor can record a rotation angle change according to the movement of the unmanned aerial vehicle and transmit it to the processor. The third sensor provides absolute orientation and is transmitted to the processor. The unmanned aerial vehicle has a reference surface; when the unmanned aerial vehicle rotates, the reference surface turns.

When the unmanned aerial vehicle is thrown at the throwing position, the processor determines the first time point to be thrown and the second time point after the suspension in the air; and judges the first time according to the acceleration change record and the rotation angle change record. The relative position change relationship between the point and the second time point. Then, the corrected rotation amount is determined based on the relationship between the absolute orientation and the relative position. Finally, the flight power module is controlled by correcting the rotation amount so that the reference surface approaches the throwing position.

The calibration positioning method comprises: determining a first time point when the unmanned aerial vehicle is thrown; determining a second time point after the unmanned aerial vehicle is suspended in the air; recording the acceleration change provided by the first sensor and the rotation provided by the second sensor The angle change record determines the relative position change relationship of the unmanned aerial vehicle between the first time point and the second time point; determines the corrected rotation amount according to the absolute position and relative position change relationship provided by the third sensor; and controls the unmanned according to the corrected rotation amount The aircraft is rotated so that the reference face approaches the throwing position.

By the aforementioned unmanned aerial vehicle and its positioning correction method, the unmanned aerial vehicle can be rotated more accurately to the desired surface of the user after being thrown, or adjust its position in the air to reduce the time when the user throws The effect of the way of exerting force.

100‧‧‧Unmanned aerial vehicles

101‧‧‧ Ontology

110‧‧‧First sensor

120‧‧‧Second sensor

130‧‧‧ third sensor

150‧‧‧ processor

170‧‧‧ Flight Power Module

190‧‧‧ storage device

160‧‧‧Trigger unit

200‧‧‧Reference-oriented

300‧‧‧Image capture unit

500‧‧‧Users

710‧‧‧Characteristics

720‧‧‧ Looking forward to objects

1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of an unmanned aerial vehicle; FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method for correcting positioning; FIG. 3A to FIG. 3C are schematic diagrams of an embodiment of a user operating an unmanned aerial vehicle; FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic view of another embodiment of an unmanned aerial vehicle; FIG. 6 is a flow chart of another embodiment of a method for correcting positioning; FIG. 7 is a schematic view of an embodiment of an operating state of an unmanned aerial vehicle; FIG. 8B is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of image comparison identification; FIG. 8C is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of an unmanned aerial vehicle operating state; FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of an unmanned aerial vehicle.

The invention provides an unmanned aerial vehicle and a method for correcting and positioning the same. In a preferred embodiment, the unmanned aerial vehicle includes a quadrotor, but is not limited thereto, and may include a helicopter or other type of unmanned aerial vehicle.

Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of an embodiment of an unmanned aerial vehicle. As shown in FIG. 1 , the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 includes a body 101 and a flight power module 170 . a first sensor is disposed in the body 101 110. The second sensor 120, the third sensor 130, and the processor 150. The first sensor 110, the second sensor 120, and the third sensor 130 are respectively connected to the processor 150. The first sensor 110 can generate an acceleration change record according to the movement of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 and transmit it to the processor 150. In the preferred embodiment, the first sensor 110 is a G sensor that measures the acceleration on the three axes. The second sensor 120 can generate a rotation angle change record according to the movement of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 and transmit it to the processor 150. In the preferred embodiment, the second sensor 120 is a gyroscope that measures the angular velocity to determine the amount of change in rotation on a certain axis. However, in various embodiments, the second sensor 120 can also be combined with two or more other angular velocity sensors to provide values of angular velocity. The third sensor 130 can provide absolute orientation and communicate to the processor 150. In the preferred embodiment, the third sensor 130 is an electronic compass (E-compass). As shown in FIG. 1 , preferably, the first inductor 110 or the second inductor 120 is disposed closer to the center of gravity of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 than the third inductor 130 to improve the accuracy of the numerical measurement.

As shown in FIG. 1, the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 has a reference facing surface 200, that is, the orientation of a particular surface location on the body 101. When the body 101 is rotated, the reference facing 200 is turned as the position of the particular surface is rotated. In the preferred embodiment, the image capturing unit 300 is disposed on the body 101 at the specific surface position. The orientation of the lens in the image capturing unit 300 is equivalent to the reference surface 200. However, in different embodiments, other electronic units may be disposed at the specific surface position, and the rotational positioning may be performed by the correction positioning method provided by the present invention. In the preferred embodiment, the absolute orientation provided by the third inductor 130 is based on the reference orientation 200 as a basis for measurement; in other words, the third inductor 130 provides the absolute orientation of the reference orientation 200 at the moment of measurement.

The flying power module 170 is connected to the body 101 and controlled by the processor 150. To adjust the power and direction of flight. Taking a quadrotor as an example, the flight power module 170 has a total of four sets of propellers to provide flight power and control the direction of movement.

2 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of a method of correcting positioning. Step 2010 involves dropping the unmanned aerial vehicle from the throw position into the air for flight. Step 2030 includes determining when the unmanned aerial vehicle is thrown as the first time point. As shown in Figure 3A, the user 500 is ready to throw the aircraft 100 out at the throw position. In the preferred embodiment, the processor 150 determines the first time point thrown by the user according to the acceleration change record provided by the first sensor 110 and the rotation angle change record provided by the second sensor 120. For example, the user 500 may reciprocate the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 before and after the throw to aim the direction of the throw and measure the thrown force. When the acceleration change record and the rotation angle change record are comprehensively analyzed by the processor 150 to display such a reciprocating movement path, the first time point is determined when the trajectory of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 is out of the path. In other words, since the processor 150 can combine the movement change trajectory of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 from the acceleration change record and the rotation angle change record, the feature of the trajectory can be moved to determine the first time point. In another example, the processor 150 may also determine the first time point thrown by the user according to the acceleration change record provided by the first sensor 110 or the rotation angle change record provided by the second sensor 120, for example. When the measured acceleration value reaches a maximum at a certain time point, or the acceleration value in a certain direction suddenly changes after a certain time point, it is judged that the point is the first time point.

In a preferred embodiment, the acceleration change record includes acceleration values at various points in time over a continuous period of time; in other words, the form of the acceleration change record can be presented in a series of acceleration values at different points in time. Since the change of the angular velocity value at each time point is related to the rotation angle, the rotation angle change record is preferably similar to the above acceleration change record. The manner of presenting, for example, may include angular velocity values at different time points in a continuous period of time, but is not limited thereto.

FIG. 3B shows that when the user 500 throws out the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 at the first time, the processor 150 is processed by the acceleration change record, the rotation angle change record, or the combination of the two, and then processed. The controller 150 immediately controls the flight power module 170 to gradually provide flight power so that the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 prepares for autonomous flight as it moves along the throwing trajectory. As shown in FIG. 3C, when the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 reaches the dead position, the processor 150 controls the flight power module 170 to provide flight power while stabilizing the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 in the airborne position in the air. When the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 is stably suspended in the air, step 2050 is performed to determine the second time point when the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 is stably suspended in the air. "Stop" refers to a flight state in which the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 maintains a substantially constant spatial position at a certain height, and may also be referred to as "stagnation" or "stagnation". In a preferred embodiment, the processor 150 determines the second time point based on the combination of the acceleration change record provided by the first sensor 110 and the rotation angle change record provided by the second sensor 120, for example, recording and rotating according to the acceleration change. The angular change record combines the path trajectory of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 to determine the second time point in which the suspension is stably suspended in the air. However, in different embodiments, the second time point may also be determined by the acceleration change record or the rotation angle change record.

Step 2060 includes determining a relative position change relationship of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 between the first time point and the second time point according to the acceleration change record and the angle change record. In a preferred embodiment, the relative position change relationship may be a direction vector of the dead position relative to the throw position. When the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 is stably located in the vacant position, as shown in FIG. 3C, the direction vector between the vacant position and the throwing position of the user is Δd, that is, the relative positional change relationship between the two positions. Δd can be decomposed into _{Δd xy in the} horizontal direction and Δd _{z in the} vertical direction, and Δd _xy and Δd _z can be obtained by combining the acceleration change record and the rotation angle change record, and then obtaining Δd.

Step 2070 includes determining the corrected rotation amount according to the absolute orientation provided by the third inductor 130 and the aforementioned relative position change relationship Δd. As shown in the top view of FIG. 4, when the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 is in the dead position, the third sensor 130 preferably refers to the reference surface 200 as a reference point, and measures the absolute position of the reference point at each time point. However, in different embodiments, the third sensor 130 may also use other reference positions on the body 101 as reference points to measure the absolute position. Based on the measured absolute orientation, the current direction vector V of the reference face 200 can be obtained. In this embodiment, the processor 150 can derive θ as the corrected rotation amount according to the following formula. The vector inner product formula is as follows: V . △dxy=| V ||Δdxy|cos θ

Step 2090 includes controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 to rotate with a corrected amount of rotation such that the reference facing 200 faces the throwing position. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, the processor 150 controls the flight power module 170 in accordance with the corrected amount of rotation θ such that the reference face 200 is rotated to the user 500 facing the position in the throw position. At this time, taking a picture with the image capture unit can include the user in the range of the photo.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 further includes a storage device 190 coupled to the processor 150. The storage device 190 can be a built-in or external memory, hard disk or the like for storing digital data. The storage device 190 stores an expected relative position change relationship. The "expected relative position change relationship" is preferably set for the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 to be set and used by the user. The relative position difference of 500 in the horizontal direction or the vertical direction, for example, the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 is set to fly 3 meters above the user 500, and 5 meters away from the user in the horizontal direction to obtain a better photo shooting distance. . Therefore, in the embodiment of FIG. 6, the correction positioning method may further include a step 6010 of comparing the aforementioned relative position change relationship and the expected relative position change relationship to generate a corrected displacement amount. Next, in step 6030, the processor 150 can control the flight power module 170 according to the corrected displacement amount to move the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 to the originally set height and distance, as shown by the broken line position in FIG. In addition, in order to cooperate with different shooting modes, such as a wide-angle mode or a close-up mode, the storage device 190 may have different arrays of expected relative position change relationships to be selected to match different requirements for flight height and distance in different shooting modes.

Fig. 8A is another embodiment of a correction positioning method. In this embodiment, the method further includes the step 8010: the image capturing unit captures the image toward the throwing position. As shown in FIG. 8B, the captured image may include the user 500 or other objects in the direction of the throw position. In step 8030, the processor 150 analyzes the image to identify feature objects 710 in the image, such as a human face. The processor 150 further analyzes the basic information of the feature object 710. In a preferred embodiment, the basic information includes object size, occupied pixels, or other information that may be analyzed. Next, in step 8050, the processor 150 compares the object basic information with the expected object basic information stored in the storage device 190 to generate a corrected displacement amount. It is expected that the basic information of the object can be set to the size, the pixel, or other basic information that the object should have in the photograph. As shown in FIG. 8B, the size of the feature object 710 is taken as the basic information of the feature object 710, and the basic information of the object 720 is expected to be the size that the feature object 710 should have in the photo. By comparing the difference between the two, the corrected displacement amount can be obtained, for example, a certain distance should be moved toward the user 500, so as to obtain the basic information of the characteristic object 710 that meets the expected result in the photograph taken. Next in step 8070, the processor 150 controls the flight power module according to the corrected displacement amount to move the unmanned aerial vehicle to an appropriate operating position, as shown in FIG. 8C.

Figure 9 shows another embodiment of an unmanned aerial vehicle. In this embodiment, the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 further includes a trigger unit 160 and is preferably disposed on the body 101. The trigger unit 160 can be triggered according to the user's throwing action to generate a trigger signal. The processor 150 can determine the first time point to be thrown according to the trigger signal. In the preferred embodiment, trigger unit 160 can be a button. When the user holds the unmanned aerial vehicle 100, the trigger unit 160 can be pressed by hand; when the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 is thrown, the trigger unit 160 can generate a trigger signal due to the release of the user's hand. However, in various embodiments, the trigger unit 160 can also be an infrared occlusion device, a piezoelectric material, or other types of electronic devices.

With the aforementioned unmanned aerial vehicle and its positioning correction method, the unmanned aerial vehicle can accurately rotate the reference surface to the direction expected by the user after being thrown, thereby reducing the force applied by the user when throwing. influences. In addition, with the foregoing embodiments, the unmanned aerial vehicle can be further adjusted to position itself after being thrown to meet the needs of the user.

The present invention has been described by the above embodiments, but the above embodiments are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to be limiting. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the embodiments specifically described herein may have other modifications of the embodiments. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is intended to cover such modifications and are only limited by the scope of the appended claims.

100‧‧‧Unmanned aerial vehicles

170‧‧‧ Flight Power Module

200‧‧‧Reference-oriented

500‧‧‧Users

Claims (13)

An unmanned aerial vehicle correction positioning method, wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle is provided with a first inductor, a second inductor and a third inductor, and has a reference surface, the unmanned aerial vehicle is thrown from a throwing position Flying to the air, the method comprising the steps of: determining a first time point at which the unmanned aerial vehicle is thrown; determining a second time point after the unmanned aerial vehicle is suspended in the air; providing according to the first sensor And determining a relative position change relationship of the unmanned aerial vehicle between the first time point and the second time point according to the acceleration change record and the rotation angle change record provided by the second sensor; according to the third sensor Determining a corrected rotation amount according to an absolute orientation and the relative position change relationship; controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle rotation according to the corrected rotation amount to face the reference position toward the throwing position; and setting the unmanned aerial vehicle to the reference surface An image capturing unit captures an image toward the throwing position; analyzing the image to identify a feature in the image and taking Basic information of one of the objects; basic information about the object and one of the storage devices stored in the unmanned aerial vehicle, expecting the basic information of the object to generate a corrected displacement amount; and controlling the unmanned aerial based on the corrected displacement amount The appliance moves. The method for correcting positioning according to claim 1, wherein the determining the relative position change The step of the relationship includes the third sensor providing the absolute orientation of the reference face. The method for correcting positioning according to claim 1, wherein the step of determining the first time point comprises recording an acceleration change according to the first sensor, a rotation angle change record provided by the second sensor, or two The combination of the person to judge the first point in time. The method for correcting positioning according to claim 1, wherein the step of determining the first time point comprises: setting a trigger unit on the unmanned aerial vehicle; and simultaneously triggering the trigger unit when the unmanned aerial vehicle is thrown To determine the first point in time. The method for correcting positioning according to claim 1, wherein the step of determining the second time point comprises recording an acceleration change according to the first sensor, a rotation angle change record provided by the second sensor, or both The synthesis is to judge the second time. The method for correcting positioning according to claim 1, further comprising: comparing a relative position change relationship and an expected relative position change relationship stored in a storage device in the unmanned aerial vehicle to generate a corrected displacement amount. And controlling the movement of the unmanned aerial vehicle based on the corrected displacement amount. An unmanned aerial vehicle is thrown into the air for flight from a throwing position, the unmanned aerial vehicle is provided with a reference surface and includes: a flight power module providing flight power; and a first sensor providing an acceleration change record a second sensor providing a rotation angle change record; a third sensor providing an absolute orientation; an image capture unit for capturing an image toward the throwing position; a storage device storing a basic information of the expected object; and a processor determining a first time point to be thrown and a second time point after being suspended in the air; and recording according to the acceleration change and the rotation angle change record Determining a relative position change relationship between the first time point and the second time point; determining a corrected rotation amount according to the absolute position and the relative position change relationship; and determining the corrected rotation amount to control the flight power module Orienting the reference surface toward the throwing position; the processor analyzes the image to identify one of the feature objects in the image and obtain basic information about the object; and compares the basic information of the object with the basic information of the expected object And generating a corrected displacement amount; and controlling the flight power module to move according to the corrected displacement amount. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 7, wherein the third sensor provides the absolute orientation of the reference face. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 7, wherein the processor determines the first time point based on the acceleration change record, the rotation angle change record, or a combination of the two. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 8, wherein the processor determines the second time point based on the acceleration change record, the rotation angle change record, or a combination of the two. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 7, further comprising a trigger unit, wherein the trigger unit generates a trigger signal according to the triggering action, and the processor determines the first time point according to the trigger signal. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 7, further comprising a center of gravity position; wherein the first sensor or the second sensor is disposed closer to the center of gravity than the third sensor. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 7, further comprising a storage device, wherein the storage device stores an expected relative position change relationship; wherein the processor compares the relative a position change relationship and the expected relative position change relationship to generate a corrected displacement amount; and controlling the flight power module to move according to the corrected displacement amount.