WO2018012768A1

WO2018012768A1 - System and method for sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle

Info

Publication number: WO2018012768A1
Application number: PCT/KR2017/006890
Authority: WO
Inventors: Seung Mo Kim; Jae Sook JUNG; Koo Po Kwon; Tae Young Chung
Original assignee: Cj Korea Express Corportaion
Priority date: 2016-07-15
Filing date: 2017-06-29
Publication date: 2018-01-18
Also published as: CN109476375A

Abstract

Disclosed are a system and method for sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle. The system includes a crash sensing device detachably mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle and configured to sense a crash situation by measuring flight condition information about the unmanned aerial vehicle and to cut off power supplied to the unmanned aerial vehicle and drive a parachute apparatus when a crash situation is sensed, and the parachute apparatus connected to the crash sensing device and mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SENSING AND CONTROLLING THE CRASH OF AN UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE

The present invention relates to a system and method for sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle and, more particularly, to a system and method for sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle, wherein a parachute apparatus is automatically released by sensing the crash situation of an unmanned aerial vehicle.

Recently, an unmanned aerial vehicle used in various fields, such as distribution delivery, a disaster relief and broadcasting leisure, has many advantages of convenience, rapidness and economic feasibility, but also has a high danger of a crash attributable to a change in the external environment, such as the wind, and poor driving. If an unmanned aerial vehicle is damaged, economic losses are great because the unmanned aerial vehicle and its related parts are expensive. Moreover, when the unmanned aerial vehicle crashes, a danger of secondary damage to persons and substitutes in addition to economic losses attributable to damage to the unmanned aerial vehicle itself is also serious.

As described above, a conventional unmanned aerial vehicle has not been prepared for a crash accident when it crashes due to a sudden change in the weather or air current or a machine malfunction while flying. Accordingly, there are problems in that an expensive unmanned aerial vehicle and devices mounted on the vehicle, such as a camera, are damaged, property damage is caused due to a collision against a house, and a passerby is injured upon colliding against the passerby.

[Prior Art Document]

[Patent Document]

(Patent Document 1) Prior Art1: Korean Patent No. 1,609,103 (April 04, 2016)

An object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle, which can sense a crash situation by measuring flight conditions, such as the pitch and roll slopes, yaw angular acceleration, crash speed and altitude of a flight vehicle, from various angles.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle, wherein the batteries of an unmanned aerial vehicle, crash sensing device and parachute apparatus are unified to enable an emergency landing by cutting off power supplied to the unmanned aerial vehicle in time when a crash situation is generated and automatically releasing the parachute apparatus at the same time.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle, which can notify an operator of a crash location by automatically estimating the crash location after a parachute apparatus is released.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle, including an unmanned aerial vehicle including a main body, a plurality of arms formed along the circumference of the main body, rotor rotation blades provided at the respective ends of the arms, and a battery which supplies power to a driving motor for rotating the rotor rotation blades, a parachute apparatus mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle, and a crash sensing device detachably mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle and configured to sense a crash situation by measuring flight condition information about the unmanned aerial vehicle and to drive the parachute apparatus when a crash situation is sensed.

The system for sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle may further include a management apparatus configured to receive the flight condition information or landing location of the unmanned aerial vehicle from the crash sensing device based on low energy long-range wireless communication (LoRa).

The flight condition information may include at least one value of a roll slope, pitch slope, yaw angular acceleration, altitude and crash speed.

The crash sensing device may estimate a landing location according to a crash when a normal operation of the parachute apparatus is sensed.

The crash sensing device may include a power interface unit connecting to the unmanned aerial vehicle and including a first power interface unit configured to be supplied with power from a battery of the unmanned aerial vehicle and a second power interface unit configured to supply power to the unmanned aerial vehicle, a parachute apparatus power connection unit connecting to the parachute apparatus, a first relay supplied with power from the first power interface unit and configured to transfer the power to a second relay, a second relay supplied with power from the first relay and configured to supply the power to the parachute apparatus through the parachute apparatus power connection unit, a sensor unit configured to measure the flight condition information of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and a micro controller unit (MCU) configured to sense a crash situation of the unmanned aerial vehicle based on the flight condition information measured by the sensor unit and to stop a rotation of the rotor rotation blades by cutting off the power of the battery supplied to the driving motor of the unmanned aerial vehicle and drive the parachute apparatus by supplying the cut-off power of the battery as power for driving the parachute apparatus when the crash situation is sensed.

The crash sensing device may further include a wireless communication unit configured to send the flight condition information or crash current-condition information to a management apparatus.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a crash sensing device mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle, including a power interface unit for connection to the unmanned aerial vehicle, a parachute apparatus power connection unit for connection to a parachute apparatus, a sensor unit configured to measure flight condition information about the unmanned aerial vehicle, and an MCU configured to sense a crash situation based on the flight condition information measured by the sensor unit and to cut off power supplied to the unmanned aerial vehicle and drive the parachute apparatus when a crash situation is sensed.

The power interface unit includes a first power interface unit supplied with power from the battery of the unmanned aerial vehicle and a second power interface unit configured to supply power to the unmanned aerial vehicle. In the case of a crash situation, the MCU may cut off the power of the unmanned aerial vehicle by cutting power supplied to the second power interface unit and may supply power to the parachute apparatus by supplying the parachute apparatus power connection unit with power supplied by the first power interface unit.

The MCU may compare the flight condition information with predefined crash sensing setting information and may recognize the flight condition information as a crash situation if a crash sensing factor deviating from the crash sensing setting information is present.

The MCU may estimate a landing location according to a crash when a normal operation of the parachute apparatus is sensed.

The crash sensing device may further include a wireless communication unit configured to send the flight condition information or crash current-condition information to an external device.

Furthermore, the crash sensing device may further include an initialization switch configured to initialize values of crash sensing factors.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle, including the steps of (a) sensing, by a crash sensing device mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle, a crash situation by measuring flight condition information about the unmanned aerial vehicle and (b) cutting off, by the crash sensing device, power supplied to the unmanned aerial vehicle and driving a parachute apparatus mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle when a crash situation is sensed.

The method may further include the steps of receiving unmanned aerial vehicle master information, crash sensing setting information, and current wind speed/wind direction information from a management apparatus in which a crash sensing program has been installed and initializing values of crash sensing factors based on a take-off point, prior to the step (a).

Furthermore, the method may further include the step (c) of estimating a landing location according to a crash when a normal operation of the parachute apparatus is sensed and sending the estimated landing location to a management apparatus after the step (b).

The step (a) may include the steps of measuring flight condition information including at least one of a roll slope, pitch slope, yaw angular acceleration, altitude and crash speed and comparing the measured flight condition information with preset crash sensing setting information and sensing the measured flight condition information as a crash situation if a crash sensing factor deviating from the crash sensing setting information is present.

The aforementioned "method of sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle" may be implemented in a program form and then recorded on a recording medium readable by an electronic device or distributed through a program download management apparatus (e.g., a server).

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, damage to the unmanned aerial vehicle and secondary accident damage according to a crash can be minimized by automatically sensing a crash situation in real time and releasing the parachute apparatus.

Furthermore, the system can be used in various unmanned aerial vehicle industries because the crash sensing device for sensing a crash situation by independently sensing a flight condition can be mounted on various vehicle bodies without depending on the type of model of an unmanned aerial vehicle and has secured safety by sensing crash situations from various angles.

Furthermore, since the batteries of the unmanned aerial vehicle, crash sensing device and parachute apparatus are unified, power supplied to the unmanned aerial vehicle is cut off in time when a crash situation is generated and at the same time, the parachute apparatus is automatically released to enable an emergency landing.

Furthermore, an operator can easily find the parachute apparatus because a crash location is automatically estimated after the parachute apparatus is released and an operator is notified of the crash location.

Furthermore, related technology application fields can be extended by applying the present invention to the intra-logistics operation field in convergence with drone-based unmanned distribution technologies, such as flight safety simulations and an unmanned delivery technology, through element technology applications, such as the analysis of crash sensing factors, the estimation of a crash location, and the utilization of LoRa wireless communication. Furthermore, the present invention is a drone application technology which can be practically applied to backward distribution environments and can lead the unmanned automation operation of a distribution terminal and parcel delivery service unmanned delivery into the right path.

Effects of the present invention are not limited to the aforementioned effects and may include various other effects within a range evident to those skilled in the art from the following description.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system for sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary diagram showing that a crash sensing device and a parachute apparatus have been mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary diagram showing that parachute apparatuses have been released according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

100: unmanned aerial vehicle 110: main body

120: arm 130: rotor rotation blade

140: support 200: crash sensing device

202: power interface unit

204: parachute apparatus power connection unit

206: sensor unit 208: MCU

210: wireless communication unit 212: power switch

214: initialization switch 216: time synchronization unit

218: memory 220: first relay

222: second relay 224: control interface unit

300: parachute apparatus 400: management apparatus

Hereinafter, a "system and method for sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle" according to embodiments of the present invention are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments to be described hereunder are provided in order for those skilled in the art to easily understand the technological spirit of the present invention, and the present invention is not restricted by the embodiments. Furthermore, contents represented in the accompanying drawings have been diagrammed to easily describe the embodiments of the present invention, and the contents may be different from actually implemented forms.

Elements to be described hereinafter are only examples for implementing the embodiments of the present invention. Accordingly, in other implementations of the present invention, different elements may be used without departing from the spirit and range of protection of the present invention.

Furthermore, each of the elements described hereinafter may be purely implemented using a hardware or software element, but may be implemented using a combination of various hardware and software elements that perform the same function. Furthermore, two or more elements may be implemented using a piece of hardware or software.

Furthermore, an expression that some elements are "included" is an expression of an "open type", and the expression simply denotes that the corresponding elements are present, but should not be construed as excluding additional elements.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system for sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram of an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an exemplary diagram showing that a crash sensing device and a parachute apparatus have been mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is an exemplary diagram showing that parachute apparatuses have been released according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the system for sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle includes a crash sensing device 200 mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle 100 and sensing the crash of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 and a parachute apparatus 300 operating when the crash of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 is sensed. In this case, the parachute apparatus 300 is driven by power of the battery of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100.

The unmanned aerial vehicle 100 may be a drone, for example.

Referring to FIG. 2, the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 includes a main body 110, a plurality of arms 120 formed along the circumference of the main body 110, rotor rotation blades 130 provided at the respective ends of the arms 120, and supports 140 formed under the main body 110.

Various parts, such as a battery (not shown) and a controller (not shown), are disposed within the main body 110. The battery is used as power for a driving motor (not shown) for driving the rotor rotation blades 130.

The supports 140 may function to absorb a shock generated when the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 lands and may support the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 against a surface so that the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 stands up on a landing surface.

The unmanned aerial vehicle 100 is the same as a conventional unmanned aerial vehicle, and a detailed description thereof is omitted.

The unmanned aerial vehicle 100 further includes a connection unit (not shown) which connects the crash sensing device 200 to one side of the main body 110.

When the crash sensing device 200 and the parachute apparatus 300 are mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 configured as described above, it may be the same as FIG. 3. In this case, FIG. 3 shows a case where two parachute apparatuses have been mounted. When the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 on which the crash sensing device 200 and the parachute apparatuses 300 have been mounted as in FIG. 3 crashes down, the crash sensing device 200 automatically releases the parachute apparatuses 300 as in FIG. 4.

The crash sensing device 200 is detachably mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle 100, and senses a crash situation by independently measuring flight condition information without depending on the unmanned aerial vehicle 100. If a crash situation is sensed, the crash sensing device 200 cuts off power of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 and drives the parachute apparatus 300. Furthermore, after the parachute apparatus 300 operates, the crash sensing device 200 may estimate a landing location and send the estimated landing location to a management apparatus 400.

The crash sensing device 200 includes a power interface unit 202 for connection to the unmanned aerial vehicle 100, a parachute apparatus power connection unit 204 for connection to the parachute apparatus 300, a sensor unit 206 and a micro controller unit (MCU) 208.

The power interface unit 202 includes a first power interface unit 202a supplied with power from the battery of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 and a second power interface unit 202b configured to supply power to the unmanned aerial vehicle 100.

The first power interface unit 202a is supplied with power from the battery of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100. That is, when a crash situation of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 is sensed, the first power interface unit 202a cuts off power of the battery supplied to the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 and supplies the power of the battery as power for driving the parachute apparatus 300. Accordingly, the power supplied through the first power interface unit 202a is supplied to a second relay 222 through a first relay 220. The second relay 222 supplies the power to the parachute apparatus 300 through the parachute apparatus power connection unit 204.

When power of the battery of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 is exhausted, the second power interface unit 202b functions to supply power of a battery (not shown) included in the crash sensing device 100 to the unmanned aerial vehicle 100.

The parachute apparatus power connection unit 204 connects to the parachute apparatus 300 and supplies power thereto. The parachute apparatus power connection unit 204 is configured to connect one or more parachute apparatuses. The parachute apparatus power connection unit 204 supplies the parachute apparatus 300 with power supplied through the second relay 222. That is, the parachute apparatus power connection unit 204 supplies the parachute apparatus 300 with power supplied by the battery of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 or a separated dedicated battery.

The sensor unit 206 measures flight condition information about the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 and sends the measured flight condition information to the MCU 208. In this case, the flight condition information may be the values of crash sensing factors, such as a roll left/right slope, a pitch up/down slope, a yaw angular acceleration, crash speed and an altitude.

The sensor unit 206 may include a 9-axis IMU sensor, a gyro sensor, a compass sensor, an altitude sensor, an acceleration sensor, an infrared sensor and/or an ultrasonic sensor.

The MCU 208 senses a crash situation of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 based on flight condition information measured by the sensor unit 206. When the crash situation is sensed, the MCU 208 cuts off power supplied to the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 and drives the parachute apparatus 300.

That is, the MCU 208 compares the flight condition information with predefined crash sensing setting information. If, as a result of the comparison, a crash sensing factor deviating from the crash sensing setting information is present, the MCU 208 recognizes such a situation as a crash situation. In this case, the crash sensing setting information may include a threshold altitude setting value, pitch and roll slope setting values, an angular acceleration setting value, a crash speed setting value, a safe altitude setting value and an altitude change setting value.

For example, if a pitch or roll slope of the vehicle body is a slope setting value or more although a vehicle body restoration limit is taken into consideration, the MCU 208 may recognize it as a crash situation. Furthermore, if yaw angular acceleration per unit time rises to an angular acceleration setting value or more, the MCU 208 may recognize it as a crash situation. Furthermore, if an altitude change per unit time increases or decreases to a preset altitude change setting value or more based on a measured flight altitude, the MCU 208 may recognize it as a crash situation. Furthermore, if a current flight altitude drops to a preset safe altitude setting value or less, the MCU 208 may recognize it as a crash situation. Furthermore, the MCU 208 analyzes a standard atmospheric reference atmosphere temperature, air density, and the weight, area and altitude change of the vehicle body per unit time and estimates a crash speed according to a change over time. If the estimated crash speed is a preset crash speed setting value or more, the MCU 208 may recognize it as a crash situation.

When a current state is sensed as a crash situation, the MCU 208 cuts off power supplied to the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 and drives the parachute apparatus 300 by supplying the power as power for driving the parachute apparatus 300. That is, when a crash situation is recognized, the MCU 208 cuts off power of the unmanned aerial vehicle by cutting off power supplied to the second power interface unit 202b, and supplies the parachute apparatus power connection unit 204 with power supplied by the first power interface unit 202a through the first relay 220 and the second relay 222, thus supplying the power to the parachute apparatus 300. The parachute apparatus 300 to which the power is supplied automatically releases.

When a normal operation of the parachute apparatus 300 is sensed, the MCU 208 estimates a landing location according to a crash. That is, the MCU 208 estimates the landing location using a current flight altitude, crash speed and direction. In this case, a wind direction and a wind speed may be based on setting values prior to take-off.

For example, the MCU 208 estimates a terminal velocity and a ground surface arrival time from a point of time at which the parachute apparatus is driven after sensing the crash of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100, and estimates crash acceleration at each point of time by splitting the crash acceleration in seconds based on the estimated arrival time. Thereafter, the MCU 208 calculates the vector sum by converting the estimated crash acceleration and the measured wind direction/wind speed values into vector values, and may calculate a moving distance based on a starting point in the vertical direction because a vector sum for each point of time includes a calculated direction and acceleration. The MCU 208 may derive the final crash location radius assuming that the sum of horizontal moving distances at all of the points of time is the distance in which the location in the vertical direction is a middle point at a point of time at which a crash was generated.

In addition to the aforementioned mathematical calculation method, the MCU 208 may estimate a landing location according to a crash using GPS signals after a GPS module is mounted.

As described above, the MCU 208 controls an overall system, such as the analysis of flight condition information, the driving of the parachute apparatus and the cut-off of power.

The crash sensing device 200 configured as described above may further include a wireless communication unit 210 configured to send flight condition information or crash current-condition information to the management apparatus 400. In this case, the crash current-condition information may include a landing location. The wireless communication unit 210 may be, for example, an LoRa wireless communication module, that is, low energy long-range wireless communication.

Furthermore, the crash sensing device 200 may further include a power switch 212 configured to control power of the crash sensing device 200 and an initialization switch 214 configured to initialize the values of crash sensing factors prior to take-off. When the initialization switch 214 is pressed, a current altitude, slope, etc. are corrected based on a take-off point.

Furthermore, the crash sensing device 200 may further include a time synchronization unit 216 configured to synchronize and adjust the internal time of the device as a current time in real time.

Furthermore, the crash sensing device 200 may further include memory 218 on which log data is recorded. In this case, the log data 200 may include flight dates and times, flight condition information measured by the sensor unit 206, and landing locations estimated by the MCU 208.

Furthermore, the crash sensing device 200 may further include a control interface unit 224 configured to receive a signal from an unmanned aerial vehicle RC for the manual driving of the parachute apparatus.

The crash sensing device 200 including the aforementioned elements may be mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 in a main board form.

The parachute apparatus 300 is connected through the parachute apparatus power connection unit 204 of the crash sensing device 200 and mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle 100. When the parachute apparatus 100 is supplied with power through the parachute apparatus power connection unit 204, it is automatically released. In this case, the parachute apparatus 300 may be supplied with power from the battery of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 or a separated dedicated battery.

Although the parachute apparatus 300 is not equipped with a separate battery, the parachute apparatus can be driven because it uses power of the battery of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 as its driving power. Furthermore, the parachute apparatus 300 is driven independently of the state of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 through conjunction with the battery power of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the dualization of a separate battery.

As described above, the parachute apparatus 300 can be driven independently of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 because it is driven by the crash sensing device 200 without conjunction with the unmanned aerial vehicle 100.

One or more (e.g., 2) parachute apparatuses 300 may be mounted depending on loading weight including its own weight of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100. A plurality of the parachute apparatuses is designed to be released at the same time when a crash situation is generated.

Such a parachute apparatus 300 is a commercialized parachute apparatus, and a detailed description thereof is omitted.

The system for sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle, configured as described above, may further include the management apparatus 400 configured to receive flight condition information or crash phenomenon information from the crash sensing device 200. The management apparatus 400 may perform low energy long-range wireless communication (LoRa) with the crash sensing device 200.

A crash sensing program is installed in the management apparatus 400. The management apparatus 400 may monitor the flight condition, degree of crash risk, landing location, etc. of the unmanned aerial vehicle using the crash sensing program in real time. The management apparatus 400 may estimate a landing location according to a crash using flight condition information received from the crash sensing device 200.

The management apparatus 400 may receive master information about a vehicle body on which the parachute apparatus 300 has been mounted, a current wind direction/wind speed, and crash sensing setting information through the crash sensing program, and may send the received information to the crash sensing device 200 connected thereto.

The operation of the system for sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle, configured as described above, is described below.

After the crash sensing device 200 and the parachute apparatus 300 are mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle 100, the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 is connected to the management apparatus 400 in which a crash sensing program has been installed. Thereafter, when master information about a vehicle body on which the parachute apparatus 300 has been mounted, a current wind direction/wind speed, and crash sensing setting information are input through the crash sensing program, the input information is transmitted to the crash sensing device 200. Thereafter, after the system is moved to a take-off place, when the initialization switch 214 of the crash sensing device 200 is pressed, a current altitude, slope, etc. are corrected based on the take-off point. When vehicle state data is collected in real time and displayed through the crash sensing program, take-off preparation has been completed. Accordingly, an operator can unstick the unmanned aerial vehicle 100.

The crash sensing device 200 senses a crash situation based on a point of time at which the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 rises to a preset threshold altitude or more and flies. When a crash situation is sensed, the crash sensing device 200 cuts off power supplied to the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 and drives the parachute apparatus 300. Furthermore, the crash sensing device 200 estimates a landing location according to the crash.

The crash sensing device 200 may send flight condition information and a landing location according to a crash to the management apparatus 400 on the ground within a maximum range of 5 km through LoRa wireless communication, thereby enabling real-time monitoring.

In the system for sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle which has been configured as described above, the parachute apparatus 300 is driven by a separate crash sensing device 200 without conjunction with the main body 110 of the unmanned aerial vehicle. Accordingly, the parachute apparatus 300 can be driven independently of the main body 110 of the unmanned aerial vehicle regardless of the type of model. The flight condition of the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 can be analyzed on the ground in real time and a crash location when the unmanned aerial vehicle crashes can be received through a crash sensing program based on low energy long-range wireless communication (LoRa). Accordingly, according to an embodiment of the present invention, while the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 having the crash sensing device 200 and the parachute apparatus 300 mounted thereon flies up to a destination after taking off, the unmanned aerial vehicle 100 can autonomously sense a crash situation, can automatically release the parachute apparatus 200 when a crash situation is generated, and can collect and analyze information about crash sensing factors in real time through a crash sensing program installed in the management apparatus 400 on the ground.

Referring to FIG. 5, in the state in which the parachute apparatus and the crash sensing device have been mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle, the crash sensing device initializes pieces of preset information (S502) and receives a current wind direction/wind speed and crash sensing setting information (S504). At this time, the crash sensing device has been initialized. If previous crash sensing setting information is used, steps S502 and S504 may be omitted.

When the system starts to take off, the crash sensing device measures flight condition information regarding crash sensing factors (S506), analyzes the measured flight condition information (S508), and determines whether the results of the analysis correspond to a crash situation (S510). That is, when a point of time at which the taken-off vehicle body rises to a preset threshold altitude or more and flies is reached, the crash sensing device compares the flight condition information with the crash sensing setting information. If, as a result of the comparison, it is found that a crash sensing factor deviating from the crash sensing setting information is present, the crash sensing device recognizes such a situation as a crash situation. For example, if the vehicle body drops to a safe altitude or less set when the vehicle body flies, the vehicle is estimated to fall free, or a change in the slope, angular acceleration, etc. deviates from a set range, the crash sensing device recognizes such a situation as a crash situation.

If, as a result of the determination at step S510, it is determined that the results of the analysis correspond to a crash situation, the crash sensing device cuts off power supplied to the unmanned aerial vehicle (S512) and drives the parachute apparatus by supplying the power as power for driving the parachute apparatus (S514). The parachute apparatus is automatically released by the supply of the power.

The crash sensing device estimates a landing location for an emergency landing because the parachute apparatus has been driven (S516). In this case, the crash sensing device estimates the landing location using a current flight altitude, crash speed and direction. The crash sensing device sends the estimated landing location to the management apparatus having a crash sensing program installed therein.

The method of sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle may be written in the form of a program. Codes and code segments forming the program may be easily inferred by a programmer skilled in the art. Furthermore, a program regarding the method of sensing and controlling the crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle may be stored in an information storage medium readable by an electronic device and may be read and executed by an electronic device.

As described above, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains will appreciate that the present invention may be implemented in other detailed forms without changing the technological spirit or essential characteristics of the present invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the aforementioned embodiments are only illustrative and are not limitive. Furthermore, it is to be noted that the illustrated flowchart is merely sequential order illustrated to achieve the most preferred results in implementing the present invention, and other additional steps may be provided or some of the steps may be deleted.

Technological characteristics described in this specification and an implementation for executing the technological characteristics may be implemented using a digital electronic circuit, may be implemented using computer software, firmware, or hardware including the structure described in this specification and structural equivalents thereof, or may be implemented using a combination of one or more of them. Furthermore, an implementation for executing the technological characteristics described in this specification may be implemented using a computer program product, that is, a module regarding computer program instructions encoded on a kind of program storage media in order to control the operation of a processing system or for execution by the processing system.

As described above, this specification is not intended to limit the present invention by the proposed detailed terms. Accordingly, although the present invention has been described in detail in connection with the aforementioned embodiments, a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains may alter, change, and modify the embodiments without departing from the range of right of the present invention.

The range of right of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the detailed description, and the present invention should be construed as covering all of modifications or variations derived from the meaning and scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof.

Claims

A system for sensing and controlling a crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle, the system comprising:

an unmanned aerial vehicle comprising a main body, a plurality of arms formed along a circumference of the main body, rotor rotation blades provided at respective ends of the arms, and a battery which supplies power to a driving motor for rotating the rotor rotation blades;

a parachute apparatus mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle; and

a crash sensing device detachably mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle and configured to sense a crash situation by measuring flight condition information about the unmanned aerial vehicle and to drive the parachute apparatus when a crash situation is sensed,

wherein when the crash situation of the unmanned aerial vehicle is sensed, the crash sensing device controls the parachute apparatus so that the parachute apparatus is automatically released and driven by cutting off the power of the battery supplied to the driving motor of the unmanned aerial vehicle and simultaneously supplying the power to the parachute apparatus.
The system of claim 1, further comprising a management apparatus configured to receive the flight condition information or landing location of the unmanned aerial vehicle from the crash sensing device based on low energy long-range wireless communication (LoRa).
The system of claim 1, wherein the flight condition information comprises at least one value of a roll slope, pitch slope, yaw angular acceleration, altitude and crash speed.
The system of claim 1, wherein the crash sensing device estimates a landing location according to a crash when a normal operation of the parachute apparatus is sensed.
The system of claim 1, wherein the crash sensing device comprises:

a power interface unit connecting to the unmanned aerial vehicle and comprising a first power interface unit configured to be supplied with power from a battery of the unmanned aerial vehicle and a second power interface unit configured to supply power to the unmanned aerial vehicle;

a parachute apparatus power connection unit connecting to the parachute apparatus;

a first relay supplied with power from the first power interface unit and configured to transfer the power to a second relay;

a second relay supplied with power from the first relay and configured to supply the power to the parachute apparatus through the parachute apparatus power connection unit;

a sensor unit configured to measure the flight condition information of the unmanned aerial vehicle; and

a micro controller unit (MCU) configured to sense a crash situation of the unmanned aerial vehicle based on the flight condition information measured by the sensor unit and to stop a rotation of the rotor rotation blades by cutting off the power of the battery supplied to the driving motor of the unmanned aerial vehicle and drive the parachute apparatus by supplying the cut-off power of the battery as power for driving the parachute apparatus when the crash situation is sensed.
The system of claim 5, wherein the crash sensing device further comprises a wireless communication unit configured to send the flight condition information or crash current-condition information to a management apparatus.
A crash sensing device mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising:

a power interface unit connecting to an unmanned aerial vehicle and comprising a first power interface unit configured to be supplied with power from a battery of the unmanned aerial vehicle and a second power interface unit configured to supply power to the unmanned aerial vehicle;

a parachute apparatus power connection unit connecting to an parachute apparatus;

a first relay supplied with power from the first power interface unit and configured to transfer the power to a second relay;

a second relay supplied with power from the first relay and configured to supply the power to the parachute apparatus through the parachute apparatus power connection unit;

a sensor unit configured to measure flight condition information of the unmanned aerial vehicle; and

a micro controller unit (MCU) configured to sense a crash situation based on the flight condition information measured by the sensor unit and to cut off power supplied to the unmanned aerial vehicle and drive a parachute apparatus when a crash situation is sensed.
The crash sensing device of claim 7, wherein the flight condition information comprises at least one value of a roll slope, pitch slope, yaw angular acceleration, altitude and crash speed.
The crash sensing device of claim 7, wherein the MCU performs control so that the parachute apparatus is automatically released and driven by cutting off power supplied to the second power interface unit so that power supplied to the unmanned aerial vehicle is cut off and simultaneously supplying power supplied from the battery of the unmanned aerial vehicle through the first power interface unit to the parachute apparatus through the parachute apparatus power connection unit when a crash situation of the unmanned aerial vehicle is sensed.
The crash sensing device of claim 7, wherein the MCU compares the flight condition information with predefined crash sensing setting information and recognizes the flight condition information as a crash situation if a crash sensing factor deviating from the crash sensing setting information is present.
The crash sensing device of claim 7, wherein the MCU estimates a landing location according to a crash when a normal operation of the parachute apparatus is sensed.
The crash sensing device of claim 7, further comprising a wireless communication unit configured to send the flight condition information or crash current-condition information to an external device.
The crash sensing device of claim 7, further comprising an initialization switch configured to initialize values of crash sensing factors.
A method of sensing and controlling a crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle, the method comprising steps of:

(a) sensing, by a crash sensing device mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle, a crash situation by measuring flight condition information about the unmanned aerial vehicle; and

(b) cutting off, by the crash sensing device, power supplied to the unmanned aerial vehicle and driving a parachute apparatus mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle when a crash situation is sensed,

wherein in the step (b), when a crash situation of the unmanned aerial vehicle is sensed, the crash sensing device performs control so that the parachute apparatus is automatically released and driven by cutting off power of a battery supplied to a driving motor of the unmanned aerial vehicle and simultaneously supplying the power to the parachute apparatus.
The method of claim 14, further comprising steps of:

prior to the step (a), receiving unmanned aerial vehicle master information, crash sensing setting information, and current wind speed/wind direction information from a management apparatus in which a crash sensing program has been installed; and

initializing values of crash sensing factors based on a take-off point.
The method of claim 14, further comprising a step (c) of estimating a landing location according to a crash when a normal operation of the parachute apparatus is sensed and sending the estimated landing location to a management apparatus after the step (b).
The method of claim 14, wherein the step (a) comprises steps of:

measuring flight condition information comprising at least one of a roll slope, pitch slope, yaw angular acceleration, altitude and crash speed; and

comparing the measured flight condition information with preset crash sensing setting information and sensing the measured flight condition information as a crash situation if a crash sensing factor deviating from the crash sensing setting information is present.