WO2023189613A1

WO2023189613A1 - Information processing device

Info

Publication number: WO2023189613A1
Application number: PCT/JP2023/010145
Authority: WO
Inventors: 圭祐中島; 広樹石塚; 昌志安沢; 真幸森下
Original assignee: 株式会社Ｎｔｔドコモ
Priority date: 2022-03-29
Filing date: 2023-03-15
Publication date: 2023-10-05

Abstract

In the present invention, the operations of a drone 10a and a drone 10b are controlled by different subjects, and in a case where an operation control device 20a has not ascertained flight plan information or cargo information of the drone 10b, and an operation control device 20b has not ascertained flight plan information or cargo information of the drone 10a, if the drones 10a and 10b are to land at a shared destination during a shared time period, a conflict can occur between the landing operations of these drones. Upon detecting that drones 10 are going to land at a shared destination during a shared time period, a server device 30 determines the order in which the drones 10 are to land at the destination, and then outputs information concerning the determined order to a control device which controls the flights of the drones 10.

Description

information processing equipment

The present invention relates to technology for landing multiple aircraft at a common destination.

With the spread of unmanned flying vehicles called drones, various mechanisms have been proposed for using drones to deliver packages. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a mechanism in which a landing pad is provided in a landing zone of a drone's destination and the drone is guided to the landing pad using a visual support device, an optical support device, or a radio support device.

Patent No. 6622291

By the way, especially when multiple drones are managed by different entities, each of these drones may accidentally try to land at a common destination at a common time. In such a case, the landing operations of these drones compete, and as a result, there is a risk that the drones will collide with each other during the landing operations of each drone, or that the luggage held by the drones may be damaged.

An object of the present invention is to resolve conflicts in the landing operations of multiple aircraft landing at a common destination.

The present invention includes a detection unit that detects that a plurality of flying objects land at a common destination in a common time zone, and a detection unit that detects that a plurality of flight objects land at a common destination in a common time zone; The aircraft is characterized by comprising a landing order determining unit that determines the order in which the aircraft land at the destination, and an output unit that outputs information regarding the determined order to a control device that controls each of the aircraft. An information processing device is provided.

According to the present invention, when a plurality of aircraft that land at a common destination are managed by different operators, it is possible to resolve conflicts in the landing operations of these aircraft.

1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a drone management system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of drone 10 concerning the same embodiment. It is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of server device 30 concerning the same embodiment. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of a server device 30. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating data stored in a storage unit 34 of a server device 30. FIG. It is a diagram illustrating the positional relationship between the landing area and the landing position of the drone 10 at the destination. It is a diagram illustrating the positional relationship between the landing area and the landing position of the drone 10 at the destination. It is a diagram illustrating the positional relationship between the landing area and the landing position of the drone 10 at the destination. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of drone conflict avoidance processing performed by the server device 30. FIG. It is a figure which illustrates the positional relationship between the landing area of the drone 10, and a landing position in a modification. It is a figure which illustrates the positional relationship between the landing area of the drone 10, and a landing position in a modification. It is a figure which illustrates the positional relationship between the landing area of the drone 10, and a landing position in a modification. It is a figure which illustrates the positional relationship between the landing area of the drone 10, and a landing position in a modification.

[composition]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a drone management system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The drone management system 1 includes a plurality of (two in FIG. 1)

drones

10a and 10b that fly in the air and deliver cargo to a destination, an operation management device 20a that manages the operation of the drone 10a, and an operation control device 20a that manages the operation of the drone 10b. A traffic control device 20b that performs management, and a server device that performs processing to avoid conflict between the landing operations of the plurality of

drones

10a and 10b when the

drones

10a and 10b land at a common destination in a common time zone. 30, and a wireless communication network 40 that communicably connects each of these devices. The wireless communication network 40 is a system that implements wireless communication, and may be, for example, equipment compliant with a 4th generation mobile communication system or equipment compliant with a 5th generation mobile communication system. Note that although two drones and two operation management devices are shown in FIG. 1, there may be more drones and two operation management devices.

The

drones

10a and 10b are unmanned flying objects that fly in the air. The drone 10 flies from a departure/arrival point called a base or hub to a destination with cargo loaded thereon, and delivers the cargo to the destination. Hereinafter, the plurality of

drones

10a and 10b will be collectively referred to as a drone 10.

The operation management device 20a stores flight plan information regarding the flight date and time, flight route, and flight altitude of the drone 10a, and baggage information regarding the baggage to be delivered by the drone 10a, and remotely controls the drone 10a according to the flight plan information. The remote control by the operation management device 20a is mainly performed between the above-described departure and arrival point and the destination area of the drone 10a, or between the areas above the plurality of destination areas of the drone 10a. Flight is performed under autonomous control by the drone 10a itself in the area between the destination area and the landing area of the drone 10a. There may be a plurality of drones whose operation is managed by the operation management device 20a.

Similar to the operation management device 20a, the operation management device 20b stores flight plan information regarding the flight date and time, flight route, and flight altitude of the drone 10b, and baggage information regarding the baggage to be delivered by the drone 10b. remotely control the drone 10b according to the instructions. The remote control by the operation management device 20b is mainly performed between the above-mentioned departure and arrival point and the destination area of the drone 10b, or between a plurality of destination areas of the drone 10b. The flight is performed under autonomous control by the drone 10b itself in the area between the destination area and the landing area of the drone 10b. There may be a plurality of drones whose operation is managed by the operation management device 20b. Hereinafter, the plurality of

traffic management devices

20a and 20b will be collectively referred to as the traffic management device 20.

In addition, in this embodiment, as mentioned above, the section above the departure and landing place of the drone 10 and the destination depends on the remote control by the operation control device 20, and the section between the above destination and the landing position of the drone 10 depends on the remote control by the operation control device 20. This is achieved through autonomous flight by the drone itself, but it is not limited to this example. For example, the drone 10 may autonomously fly the entire area between the departure and landing points and the landing position of the destination without relying on remote control by the operation control device 20, or The aircraft may fly in accordance with the remote control of the operation control device 20 in all sections between the positions.

As mentioned above, the drone 10a and the drone 10b are operated by different entities. In other words, the operation management device 20a cannot know the flight plan information or baggage information of the drone 10b, and the traffic management device 20b cannot know the flight plan information or baggage information of the drone 10a. For this reason, the

drones

10a and 10b may accidentally try to land at a common destination during a common time period, and at this time a conflict between the landing operations of these

drones

10a and 10b may occur. Note that if the entity responsible for the operation management of the drone 10a and the drone 10b is the same, generally, the operations of the

drones

10a and 10b are controlled so that the

drones

10a and 10b do not land at the same destination during the same time period. Since the flight plan information will be created, it is considered that there will be no conflict between the landing operations of these

drones

10a and 10b.

When the server device 30 corresponding to the information processing device according to the present invention detects that a plurality of drones 10 land at a common destination in a common time zone, the server device 30 determines the order in which each drone 10 lands at the destination. Then, information regarding the determined order is output to a control device that controls the flight of each drone 10. This makes it possible to reduce the possibility that the drones will collide with each other or that the luggage will be damaged due to competing landing operations of the plurality of drones 10.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the drone 10. The drone 10 physically includes a processor 1001, a memory 1002, a storage 1003, a communication device 1004, an input device 1005, an output device 1006, a positioning device 1007, a sensor 1008, a flight drive mechanism 1009, a luggage loading mechanism 1010, and these are connected. It is configured as a computer device including a bus for In addition, in the following description, the word "apparatus" can be read as a circuit, a device, a unit, etc. The hardware configuration of the drone 10 may be configured to include one or more of each device shown in the figure, or may be configured not to include some of the devices.

Each function in the drone 10 is performed by loading predetermined software (programs) onto hardware such as the processor 1001 and the memory 1002, so that the processor 1001 performs calculations, controls communication by the communication device 1004, and controls the memory 1002 and the memory 1002. This is realized by controlling at least one of data reading and writing in the storage 1003, and by controlling the positioning device 1007, the sensor 1008, the flight drive mechanism 1009, and the luggage loading mechanism 1010.

The processor 1001, for example, operates an operating system to control the entire computer. The processor 1001 may be configured by a central processing unit (CPU) that includes interfaces with peripheral devices, a control device, an arithmetic unit, registers, and the like. Further, for example, a baseband signal processing unit, a call processing unit, etc. may be realized by the processor 1001.

The processor 1001 reads programs (program codes), software modules, data, etc. from at least one of the storage 1003 and the communication device 1004 to the memory 1002, and executes various processes in accordance with the programs. As the program, a program that causes a computer to execute at least a part of the operations described below is used. The functional blocks of the drone 10 may be realized by a control program stored in the memory 1002 and operated in the processor 1001. Various types of processing may be executed by one processor 1001, or may be executed simultaneously or sequentially by two or more processors 1001. Processor 1001 may be implemented by one or more chips. Note that the program may be transmitted to the drone 10 via the wireless communication network 40.

The memory 1002 is a computer-readable recording medium, and may be configured of at least one of ROM, EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), RAM, etc. Memory 1002 may be called a register, cache, main memory, or the like. The memory 1002 can store executable programs (program codes), software modules, etc. for implementing the method according to the present embodiment.

The storage 1003 is a computer-readable recording medium, such as an optical disk such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc ROM), a hard disk drive, a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk (such as a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, or a Blu-ray disk). (registered trademark disk), smart card, flash memory (eg, card, stick, key drive), floppy disk, magnetic strip, etc. Storage 1003 may also be called an auxiliary storage device. Storage 1003 stores various programs and data groups.

The above processor 1001, memory 1002, and storage 1003 function as a control device that controls the flight of the drone 10.

The communication device 1004 is hardware (transmission/reception device) for communicating between computers via the wireless communication network 40, and is also referred to as a network device, network controller, network card, communication module, etc., for example. The communication device 1004 is configured to include a high frequency switch, a duplexer, a filter, a frequency synthesizer, etc. in order to realize frequency division duplexing and time division duplexing. A transmitting/receiving antenna, an amplifier section, a transmitting/receiving section, a transmission path interface, etc. may be realized by the communication device 1004. The transmitting and receiving unit may be physically or logically separated into a transmitting unit and a receiving unit.

The input device 1005 is an input device that accepts input from the outside, and includes, for example, keys, switches, microphones, and the like. The output device 1006 is an output device that performs output to the outside, and includes, for example, a display device such as a liquid crystal display, a speaker, and the like. Note that the input device 1005 and the output device 1006 may have an integrated configuration.

The positioning device 1007 is hardware that measures the position of the drone 10, and is, for example, a GPS (Global Positioning System) device. The drone 10 flies from its departure and landing place to the destination over the sky based on positioning by the positioning device 1007.

The sensor 1008 includes a distance sensor, a gyro sensor, a direction sensor, a lidar (light detection and ranging) sensor, an image sensor, or the like. These are used to control the flight of the drone.

The flight drive mechanism 1009 is a mechanism for the drone 10 to fly, and includes hardware such as a motor, a shaft, a gear, and a propeller.

The cargo loading mechanism 1010 is a mechanism for loading and unloading cargo on the drone 10, and includes hardware such as a motor, a winch, wires, gears, a locking mechanism, and a hanging mechanism.

Each device such as the processor 1001 and the memory 1002 is connected by a bus for communicating information. The bus may be configured using a single bus, or may be configured using different buses for each device. The drone 10 also includes hardware such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), and a field programmable gate array (FPGA). A part or all of each functional block may be realized by the hardware. For example, processor 1001 may be implemented using at least one of these hardwares.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of the server device 30. The hardware configuration of the server device 30 may be configured to include one or more of each device shown in FIG. 3, or may be configured not to include some of the devices. Further, the server device 30 may be configured by communicatively connecting a plurality of devices each having a different housing.

The server device 30 is physically configured as a computer device including a processor 3001, a memory 3002, a storage 3003, a communication device 3004, a bus connecting these, and the like. Each function in the server device 30 is performed by loading predetermined software (programs) onto hardware such as a processor 3001 and a memory 3002, so that the processor 3001 performs calculations, controls communication by a communication device 3004, and controls communications by a communication device 3004. This is realized by controlling at least one of data reading and writing in the storage 3003. Each of these devices operates using power supplied from a power source (not shown). Note that in the following description, the word "apparatus" can be read as a circuit, a device, a unit, etc.

The processor 3001, for example, operates an operating system to control the entire computer. The processor 3001 may be configured by a central processing unit (CPU) that includes interfaces with peripheral devices, a control device, an arithmetic unit, registers, and the like. Further, for example, a baseband signal processing unit, a call processing unit, etc. may be realized by the processor 3001.

The processor 3001 reads programs (program codes), software modules, data, etc. from at least one of the storage 3003 and the communication device 3004 into the memory 3002, and executes various processes in accordance with the programs. As the program, a program that causes a computer to execute at least a part of the operations described below is used. The functional blocks of the drone 10 may be realized by a control program stored in the memory 3002 and operated in the processor 3001. Various types of processing may be executed by one processor 3001, or may be executed by two or more processors 3001 simultaneously or sequentially. Processor 3001 may be implemented by one or more chips.

The memory 3002 is a computer-readable recording medium, and may be configured with at least one of ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, RAM, etc., for example. Memory 3002 may be called a register, cache, main memory, or the like. The memory 3002 can store executable programs (program codes), software modules, etc. for implementing the method according to the present embodiment.

The storage 3003 is a computer-readable recording medium, such as an optical disk such as a CD-ROM, a hard disk drive, a flexible disk, or a magneto-optical disk (for example, a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, or a Blu-ray (registered trademark) disk). ), smart card, flash memory (eg, card, stick, key drive), floppy disk, magnetic strip, etc. Storage 3003 may be called an auxiliary storage device. The storage 3003 stores at least programs and data groups for executing various processes as described below.

The communication device 3004 is hardware (transmission/reception device) for communicating between computers via the wireless communication network 40, and is also referred to as a network device, network controller, network card, communication module, etc., for example.

Each device such as the processor 3001 and the memory 3002 is connected by a bus for communicating information. The bus may be configured using a single bus, or may be configured using different buses for each device.

The server device 30 may be configured to include hardware such as a microprocessor, digital signal processor, ASIC, PLD, FPGA, etc., and a part or all of each functional block may be realized by the hardware. For example, processor 3001 may be implemented using at least one of these hardwares.

The hardware configuration of the traffic management device 20 is similar to that of the server device 30.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the server device 30. In the server device 30, the functions of the acquisition section 31, the detection section 32, the landing order determination section 33, the storage section 34, the landing position determination section 35, and the output section 36 are realized by the cooperation of each of the hardware described above. Ru.

The acquisition unit 31 acquires various data from the drone 10 and the operation management device 20 via the wireless communication network 40. For example, the acquisition unit 31 acquires from each drone 10 via the wireless communication network 40 a drone ID that identifies the drone and a drone ID that identifies nearby drones at the destination of the drone 10. The acquisition unit 31 also acquires data necessary for avoiding competing landing operations of a plurality of drones 10 at the destination of each drone 10 from each operation management device 20 via the wireless communication network 40. The data acquired by the acquisition unit 31 from the drone 10 and the operation management device 20 is stored in the storage unit 34.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating data acquired from the operation management device 20 and stored in the storage unit 34. As shown in FIG. 5, the management entity ID that identifies the entity responsible for operation management of each drone 10, the drone ID that identifies each drone 10, the package ID that identifies the package that each drone delivers, and the attributes of each package ( Baggage attributes (including type, size, weight, and priority) are stored in association with each other. In the example of FIG. 5, it is assumed that the management entity ID "R01" is identification information for identifying the operation management device 20a, and the management entity ID "R02" is identification information for identifying the operation management device 20b. Therefore, the drone ID, baggage ID, and baggage attributes associated with the management entity ID "R01" are data acquired by the acquisition unit 31 from the operation management device 20a, and the drone ID, baggage ID, and baggage attributes associated with the management entity ID "R02" are data acquired by the acquisition unit 31 from the operation management device 20a. The ID, luggage ID, and luggage attribute are data acquired by the acquisition unit 31 from the operation management device 20b. The priority included in the baggage attributes can be assigned arbitrarily or based on certain rules by the requestor who requested delivery of the baggage or by the operation management entity. For example, a package that the requester wants to deliver quickly or a package that the operation management entity wants to deliver with priority is given "1", meaning a higher priority, and other packages are given a higher priority. "0", meaning low priority, is assigned.

The data illustrated in FIG. 5 is extracted from the flight plan information and baggage information stored in each traffic management device 20 and sent to the server device 30, and is transmitted between each traffic management device 20 and the server device 30. Content is always in sync. In other words, when flight plan information and baggage information are registered or updated in each operation management device 20, the storage contents shown in FIG. 5 are also registered or updated in the server device 30 without delay.

Returning to the explanation of FIG. 4, the detection unit 32 detects that a plurality of drones 10 land at a common destination in a common time zone, based on the data acquired from each drone 10 by the acquisition unit 31.

The landing order determining unit 33 determines the order in which each of the drones 10 that are detected to land at a common destination in a common time zone will land at the destination. Specifically, the landing order determining unit 33 allows each drone 10 to land at the destination based on the baggage attributes (baggage type, size, weight, and priority) of the baggage to be delivered by each drone 10. Decide on the order. For example, the landing of the drone 10 holding baggage of food type is prioritized over the landing of other drones, or the landing of the drone 10 holding baggage larger than a threshold value is given priority over the landing of other drones. giving priority to the landing of the drone 10 that holds a load that weighs more than a threshold value than the landing of other drones; or giving priority to the landing of the drone 10 that holds a load that has a high priority of "1". for example, giving priority to the landing of other drones. The landing order determining unit 33 stores an algorithm for determining the landing order of the drone 10 by compositely combining the type, size, weight, and priority of the luggage included in the luggage attributes, The landing order of each drone 10 is determined according to the algorithm.

The landing position determining unit 35 determines the position at which each drone 10 will land at the destination. More specifically, the landing position determination unit 35 determines the location of each drone based on the size of the cargo to be delivered by each drone 10 and the area of the landing area where the drone 10 can land at the destination. 10 determines the landing position at the destination. The landing position determining unit 35 is configured to determine the landing position of the drone 10 based on the size of the cargo to be delivered by each drone 10 and the area of the landing area where the drone 10 can land at the destination. An algorithm is stored, and the landing position of each drone 10 is determined according to the algorithm.

The output unit 36 outputs information regarding the landing order determined by the landing order determining unit 33 and the landing position determined by the landing position determining unit 35 to the control device that controls each drone 10. As described above, in this embodiment, control when the drone 10 lands from above the destination to the destination is performed by a control device including the processor 1001, memory 1002, and storage 1003 of each drone 10. Therefore, the output unit 36 outputs the above to the control device of each drone 10 via the wireless communication network 40, and in response, the control device of each drone 10 outputs the landing order outputted from the output unit 36. and the landing position, the drone 10 is landed.

Note that when the control when the drone 10 lands from above the destination to the destination is performed by each operation control device 20, the output unit 36 outputs each operation control device corresponding to the control device that controls each drone 10. The above output is performed to the management device 20. In response to this, each operation management device 20 remotely controls each drone 10 to land in accordance with the landing order and landing position output from the output unit 36.

[motion]
Next, the process when the drone 10 lands will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. Note that, before the process shown in FIG. 6 is started, the data illustrated in FIG. 5 is extracted from the flight plan information and baggage information stored in each operation management device 20 and transmitted to the server device 30, and is stored in the storage unit 34. It is assumed that it is stored in .

When each drone 10 reaches the destination above the ground based on the positioning by the positioning device 1007, it shifts to a landing phase in which it lands on the ground or floor of the destination. During this landing phase, each drone 10 determines whether the other drone 10 is descending to the ground or floor of a common destination. This determination may be made, for example, by mutually notifying each other's drone IDs and operating states through wireless communication that is possible within a predetermined distance, or by using each other's sensors 1008 (image sensor, ranging sensor, or lidar sensor). etc.) etc.) to recognize the position and behavior of other drones 10 and the drone ID written on the casing of the drone 10. In this way, if each of the plurality of drones 10 determines that another drone 10 is descending within a predetermined distance (for example, 5 meters) from itself, at least one of the plurality of drones 10 transmits the drone ID of the other drone 10 along with its own drone ID to the server device 30 via the wireless communication network 40.

The acquisition unit 31 of the server device 30 acquires the above-mentioned plurality of drone IDs from the drone 10. Then, the detection unit 32 detects, based on the plurality of drone IDs acquired by the acquisition unit 31, that the plurality of drones 10 corresponding to these drone IDs are about to land at a common destination in a common time zone. Detected (step S11; YES).

Next, the landing order determining unit 33 determines the order in which each of the drones 10 detected to land at a common destination in a common time zone will land at the destination (step S12). As described above, the landing order determining unit 33 determines the landing order of the drones 10 by combining data included in the baggage attributes stored in association with each drone ID in the storage unit 34.

For example, the landing order determining unit 33 determines the landing order of the drone 10 by considering firstly the priority, secondly the type of baggage, thirdly the size of the baggage, and fourthly the weight of the baggage. . Specifically, the landing order determining unit 33 gives top priority to the landing order of the drone 10 holding the baggage whose priority is "1". As a result, the landing order is determined according to the intention of the person requesting the delivery of the package or the entity responsible for operation management.

Next, if the priorities are the same, "1" or "0", priority is given to the landing order of the drone 10 whose cargo type is a predetermined type (for example, food, etc.). This results in a landing order that prioritizes the types of packages that are considered to need to be delivered quickly.

Next, if the priority is the same, "1" or "0", and the landing order cannot be determined depending on the type of baggage, the landing order of the drone 10 holding a larger baggage is determined. Priority shall be given. This is because the landing area where the drone 10 can land at the destination may not be very large, so it is desirable to give priority to larger luggage.

If the order of landing cannot be determined based on the priority, the type of baggage, and the size of the baggage, priority is given to the landing order of the drone 10 holding heavier baggage. Since energy consumption is large when the drone 10 is holding a heavy load, it is desirable to prioritize heavier loads in the landing order in consideration of saving energy consumption and the possibility of the drone 10 crashing. Note that the method of determining the landing order of the drones 10 based on the baggage attributes as described above is merely an example, and methods other than the above may be adopted.

Once the landing order is determined, the landing position determining unit 35 determines the position where each drone 10 will land (step S13).

Here, FIGS. 7 to 9 are diagrams illustrating the positional relationship between the landing area of the drone 10 at the destination and the landing position of each drone 10. The position and size of the landing area at each destination may be registered in advance in the server device 30 for each destination, for example, or the drone 10 may use the sensor 1008 (image sensor, ranging sensor, or lidar sensor) to identify the landing area. It may be specified based on sensing data obtained by sensing the ground. This sensing data is, for example, image data taken of the destination, and represents the position and size of the flat ground or floor surface on which the luggage is placed at the destination. The landing position determination unit 35 allows more drones 10 to land and place their luggage in the landing area. The landing position of each drone 10 is determined from a position close to the edge of the landing area (if the landing area is rectangular, a position close to one side of the area) according to the landing order of each drone 10.

For example, for the landing area LA illustrated in FIG. 7, for the cargo held by the drone 10 that is ranked first in the landing order, a landing position PA1 is set near the edge of the landing area LA according to the size of the cargo. Then, for the baggage held by the drone 10 ranked second in the landing order, a landing position PA2 is determined at a location adjacent to the landing position PA1 according to the size of the baggage.

Further, for example, for the landing area LA illustrated in FIG. 8, landing positions PA1 to PA3 are determined so that all the luggage held by the drones 10 ranked first to third in the landing order can be placed. .

Further, for example, for the landing area LA illustrated in FIG. 9, the landing position PA1 for placing the luggage held by the drone 10 ranked first in the landing order can be determined, but the landing position PA1 for placing the luggage held by the drone 10 ranked second in the landing order can be determined. If the baggage is placed there, it will protrude outside the landing area LA, so the landing position PA2 for placing the baggage held by the drone 10, which is second in the landing order, cannot be determined.

Note that, at the stage of determining the landing position of the drone 10, if a package delivered in the past has already been placed in a landing area, the landing position determination unit 35 determines that the drone 10 The landing position of the drone 10 is determined in a landing possible area other than the baggage based on sensing data sensed by a distance sensor or lidar sensor.

Returning to the explanation of FIG. 6, if it is determined that all the drones 10 can land in the landing area in sequence (step S14; YES), the output unit 36 outputs the landing order determined by the landing order determining unit 33. Information regarding the landing order and the landing position determined by the landing position determination unit 35 is output to the control device that controls each drone 10 (step S15).

If it is determined that at least one of all the drones 10 cannot land in the landing possible area (step S14; NO), the output unit 36 controls the drones 10 that are capable of landing. For the device, information regarding the landing order determined by the landing order determining section 33 and the landing position determined by the landing position determining section 35 is output to the control device that controls the drone 10. On the other hand, the output unit 36 outputs a notification that landing is not possible to the control device that controls the drone 10 that cannot land (step S16).

The controller of the drone 10 that has been notified of the landing order and landing position controls the flight drive mechanism 1009 to land the drone 10 at the landing position according to the landing order, and after landing, controls the luggage loading mechanism 1010. The cargo is separated from the drone 10, that is, so-called unloading is performed. On the other hand, the control device of the drone 10 that has been notified of the impossibility of landing controls the flight drive mechanism 1009 to perform processing such as returning to the departure and landing place, for example.

According to the embodiment described above, when a plurality of drones 10 land at a common destination in a common time zone, the order and position in which each drone 10 lands at the destination is determined, and the determined order and position are determined. Information regarding the position order is output to a control device that controls the flight of each drone 10. This reduces the possibility that the drones will collide with each other or that the luggage will be damaged due to competing landing operations of the plurality of drones 10.

[Modified example]
The invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. The embodiment described above may be modified as follows. Furthermore, two or more of the following modifications may be implemented in combination.

[Modification 1]
The landing order determining unit 33 determines the order in which each drone 10 lands at the destination based on the size of each drone 10 and the area of a landing area where the drone 10 can land at the destination. It's okay. 10 and 11 are diagrams illustrating the positional relationship between the landing area LA of the drone 10 at the destination and the landing positions PA1 and PA2 of each drone 10. Here, D1 indicates the size of the drone 10a that lands at the landing position PA1, and D2 indicates the size of the drone 10b that lands at the landing position PA2. As illustrated in FIG. 10, when the shortest distance between D1 and D2 is less than a certain threshold, the landing order of the drone 10a that lands at the landing position PA1 and the drone 10b that lands at the landing position PA2 is as described above. As described in the embodiment, the landing order is determined so that the drones 10 land one by one based on the attributes of the baggage. On the other hand, as illustrated in FIG. 11, when the shortest distance between D1 and D2 is equal to or greater than the threshold, the drone 10a that lands at the landing position PA1 and the drone 10b that lands at the landing position PA2 land at the same time. The landing order can be determined as follows. This is because the separation distance between the drones 10 during simultaneous landing is equal to or greater than the threshold value, so there is a small possibility that the drones will collide with each other or that the luggage will be damaged due to competition in the landing operations of these drones 10. . In this way, it is possible to realize a landing mode in which multiple drones 10 land at the same time if there is enough space for the landing area relative to the size of each drone 10, and if there is not enough space, each drone 10 lands in turn. becomes.

[Modification 2]
The landing position determination unit 35 may also use the size of each drone 10 to determine the landing position at which each drone 10 will land at its destination. 12 and 13 are diagrams illustrating the positional relationship between the landing area LA of the drone 10 at the destination and the landing positions PA1 and PA2 of each drone 10. Here, D1 indicates the size of the drone 10a that lands at the landing position PA1, and D2 indicates the size of the drone 10b that lands at the landing position PA2. As illustrated in FIG. 12, when the shortest distance between D1 and D2 is greater than or equal to a certain threshold (for example, 0), the landing position PA1 where the drone 10a lands and the landing position PA2 where the drone 10b lands, respectively. It is determined. On the other hand, as illustrated in FIG. 13, when the shortest distance between D1 and D2 is less than a threshold value (for example, 0), for example, the drone 10a lands first at the landing position PA1 and the next baggage is left behind. Since there is a possibility that the drone 10b landing at the landing position PA2 will come into contact with the drone 10b, the landing position determination unit 35 does not determine the landing position PA2. In other words, in this case, although the landing area LA is large enough to place the cargo to be delivered by the

drones

10a and 10b, there is a possibility that the cargo delivered by the drone 10a first will come into contact with the drone 10b. , the control device of the drone 10b will be notified of delivery impossibility.

[Modification 3]
If there is no landing position in the landing area, the drone 10 may deliver the cargo without landing. Methods for delivering packages without the drone 10 landing include, for example, dropping packages from the main body of the drone 10 (hereinafter referred to as direct dropping), and dropping packages from an altitude lower than the altitude of the main body of the drone 10 (hereinafter referred to as direct dropping). (hereinafter referred to as "suspension dropping"), and holding the cargo on a holder that can hold the cargo off the floor or ground at the destination (hereinafter referred to as "air holding"). Specifically, direct dropping involves releasing the cargo held by the drone 10 and dropping it to the ground or floor while the drone 10 is hovering at a predetermined altitude (for example, 1 m) at the destination. The device is separated from the mounting position of the drone 10 and dropped to the ground or floor. Suspension dropping is performed when the drone 10 is hovering at a predetermined altitude (for example, 1 m) of the destination, and the wire connected to the cargo being held is fed out from the winch to drop the cargo close to the ground or the floor. After lowering the device to a position (for example, 10 cm from the ground), the device is released from its hold and allowed to fall to the ground or floor. In air holding, a loop member attached to a baggage is passed through a holder such as a clothesline, and then the baggage is released from the hold and separated. A delivery method in which the drone 10 delivers the package without landing at the destination is referred to as a non-landing delivery method. Of these non-landing delivery methods, the impact on the package when directly dropped is the greatest, followed by the impact on the package when suspended, and the impact on the package when held in the air is the highest. It is extremely small. On the other hand, the time required to perform an air hold is the longest, followed by the time required to perform a suspension drop, and the time required to perform a direct drop is the smallest. Therefore, if the drone 10 for which the landing position determining unit 35 determines that there is no landing position is the drone 10 that delivers cargo, the output unit 36 outputs the most appropriate non-landing position based on the attributes of the cargo, etc. A method is selected, and the control device controlling the drone 10 is notified that the drone 10 will deliver the cargo to the destination without landing and of the selected non-landing delivery method. Thereby, even if there is no landing position in the landing possible area, the drone 10 can deliver the cargo without landing by an appropriate method.

[Modification 4]
The block diagram used to explain the above embodiment shows blocks in functional units. These functional blocks (components) are realized by any combination of hardware and/or software. Further, the means for realizing each functional block is not particularly limited. That is, each functional block may be realized by one physically and/or logically coupled device, or may be realized by directly and/or indirectly two or more physically and/or logically separated devices. (for example, wired and/or wireless) and may be realized by these multiple devices.
In short, each of the functions illustrated in FIG. 4 may be provided in any of the devices constituting the drone management system 1. For example, the drone 10 may have at least one or more functions among the detection unit 32, the landing order determination unit 33, the storage unit 34, and the landing position determination unit 35 that the server device 30 was equipped with in the above embodiment.

[Modification 5]
The flying object to which the present invention is applied is not limited to what is called a drone, but may have any structure or form as long as it is a flying object. Further, the flight purpose of the aircraft is not limited to transporting luggage, and the present invention is applicable to a case where a plurality of aircraft whose operations are managed by different entities land at a common destination in a common time zone.

[Other variations]
Each aspect/embodiment described herein applies to LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE-A (LTE-Advanced), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, 4G, 5G, FRA (Future Radio Access), W-CDMA. (registered trademark), GSM (registered trademark), CDMA2000, UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, UWB (Ultra-WideBand), The present invention may be applied to systems utilizing Bluetooth (registered trademark), other suitable systems, and/or next-generation systems extended based thereon.

The order of the processing procedures, sequences, flowcharts, etc. of each aspect/embodiment described in this specification may be changed as long as there is no contradiction. For example, the methods described herein present elements of the various steps in an exemplary order and are not limited to the particular order presented. Each aspect/embodiment described in this specification may be used alone, may be used in combination, or may be switched and used in accordance with execution. In addition, notification of prescribed information (for example, notification of "X") is not limited to being done explicitly, but may also be done implicitly (for example, not notifying the prescribed information). Good too.

The information or parameters described in this specification may be expressed as absolute values, relative values from a predetermined value, or other corresponding information.

As used herein, the terms "determining" and "determining" may encompass a wide variety of operations. "Judgment" and "decision" are, for example, judging, calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., table , searching in a database or another data structure), and regarding confirmation (ascertaining) as a "judgment" or "decision." Also, "judgment" and "decision" refer to receiving (e.g., receiving information), transmitting (e.g., sending information), input, output, and access. (accessing) (for example, accessing data in memory) may include regarding it as a "judgment" or "decision." In addition, "judgment" and "decision" mean that things such as resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and comparing are considered to have been "determined" or "determined." may be included. In other words, "determination" and "determination" may include considering that some action has been "determined" or "determined."

The present invention may be provided as an information processing method or as a program. Such programs may be provided in the form recorded on a recording medium such as an optical disk, or may be provided in the form of being downloaded onto a computer via a network such as the Internet, and being installed and made available for use. It is possible.

Software, instructions, etc. may be sent and received via a transmission medium. For example, if the software uses wired technologies such as coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair and digital subscriber line (DSL) and/or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio and microwave to When transmitted from a remote source, these wired and/or wireless technologies are included within the definition of transmission medium.

The information, signals, etc. described herein may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips, etc., which may be referred to throughout the above description, may refer to voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or photons, or any of these. It may also be represented by a combination of

As used herein, any reference to elements using the designations "first," "second," etc. does not generally limit the amount or order of those elements. These designations may be used herein as a convenient way of distinguishing between two or more elements. Thus, reference to a first and second element does not imply that only two elements may be employed therein or that the first element must precede the second element in any way.

"Means" in the configurations of each of the above devices may be replaced with "unit", "circuit", "device", etc.

To the extent that the words "including," "comprising," and variations thereof are used in this specification or in the claims, these terms, like the term "comprising," are inclusive. intended to be accurate. Furthermore, the term "or" as used in this specification or in the claims is not intended to be exclusive or.

Throughout this disclosure, where articles have been added by translation, such as in English a, an, and the, these articles shall be used unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It shall include multiple items.

Although the present invention has been described in detail above, it is clear to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described in this specification. The present invention can be implemented as modifications and variations without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the claims. Therefore, the description in this specification is for the purpose of illustrative explanation and does not have any limiting meaning on the present invention.

1: Drone management system, 10a, 10b: Drone, 20a, 20b: Operation management device, 30: Server device, 31: Acquisition unit, 32: Detection unit, 33: Landing order determination unit, 34: Storage unit, 35: Landing Position determining unit, 36: Output unit, 40: Wireless communication network, 1001: Processor, 1002: Memory, 1003: Storage, 1004: Communication device, 1005: Input device, 1006: Output device, 1007: Positioning device, 1008: Sensor , 1009: Flight drive mechanism, 1010: Baggage loading mechanism, 3001: Processor, 3002: Memory, 3003: Storage, 3004: Communication device, LA: Landing area, PA1, PA2, PA3: Landing position, D1, D2: Flight body size.

Claims

a detection unit that detects that multiple aircraft land at a common destination in a common time zone;
a landing order determining unit that determines the order in which each of the flying objects that are detected to land at a common destination in a common time zone will land at the destination;
An information processing device comprising: an output unit that outputs information regarding the determined order to a control device that controls each of the flying objects.
The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the landing order determining unit determines the order in which the flying objects land at the destination based on attributes of luggage delivered by each of the flying objects.
3. The information processing device according to claim 2, wherein the attributes of the baggage include the type, size, or weight of the baggage.
The information processing device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the attribute of the package includes a priority given to the package.
The landing order determining unit determines the order in which each of the flying objects lands at the destination based on the size of each of the flying objects and the area in which the flying object can land at the destination. The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
6. The aircraft according to claim 1, further comprising a landing position determining unit that determines a position at which each of the flying objects detected to land at a common destination in a common time zone lands at the destination. The information processing device according to any one of the items.
The landing position determination unit determines the location of each of the aircraft based on the size of each of the aircraft or the size of the baggage to be delivered by each of the aircraft, and the area where the aircraft can land at the destination. The information processing device according to claim 6, wherein the information processing device determines a landing position at the destination.
When the flying object for which the landing position determining section has determined that there is no landing position is a flying object that delivers cargo, the output section sends a message to a control device that controls the flying object. The information processing device according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the information processing device notifies that the cargo will be delivered to the destination without the aircraft landing.