WO2023276033A1

WO2023276033A1 - Artificial satellite control device

Info

Publication number: WO2023276033A1
Application number: PCT/JP2021/024711
Authority: WO
Inventors: 華帆榊原
Original assignee: ＳｐａｃｅＥｎｔｅｒｔａｉｎｍｅｎｔ株式会社
Priority date: 2021-06-30
Filing date: 2021-06-30
Publication date: 2023-01-05

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a novel technology which utilizes, in the entertainment field, flight control by a plurality of artificial satellites having a light source. [Solution] The present invention is an artificial satellite control system that controls the posture of a plurality of artificial satellites each having a light source unit provided in a fixed manner, the system thereby utilizing projection light from the light source units to express a prescribed object. The system comprises: a control signal generation means that generates a control signal for expressing an object; a provision means that provides the control signal to an artificial satellite; and a posture control means that controls the posture of the artificial satellite on the basis of the control signal. Due to the above configuration, the orientation of the light source is changed by controlling the posture of the artificial satellite, and this makes it possible to control the orientation of the light source without the need for an additional mechanism such as a light source drive unit.

Description

satellite controller

The present invention relates to a satellite control device that expresses a predetermined object by controlling a plurality of satellites equipped with light sources.

In recent years, various technologies using multiple satellites have been proposed.

Patent Documents 2 and 3 disclose a technology that enables observation of characters and figures by flying multiple artificial satellites in formation.

JP 2012-183855 A JP 2018-184080 A

All of the above technologies use an artificial satellite having a light source and a light source driving unit that changes the direction of the light source, and the number of parts increases, the weight increases, and the reliability is reduced due to failure of the driving unit. Problems such as degradation may occur.

Therefore, one object of the present invention is to provide a novel technology that utilizes a flight by a plurality of satellites (hereinafter referred to as formation flight) using an artificial satellite having a light source in the entertainment field. .

The technology described in the above-mentioned third technology employs a method in which a light source driving unit such as a motor is provided to drive the light source and change the direction of the light source. However, the inventor of the present invention developed a new physical mechanism (light source driving unit) in this way, and if a motor or the like were to be driven each time the light source was to emit light, it would become impossible to drive due to the effects of metal fatigue and the like. I found a risk that there is a risk of failure. In such a case, since it is not realistic to repair the artificial satellite existing in outer space, further activities are impossible.

On the other hand, the inventor of the present invention uses an attitude control mechanism, which is a part of the basic control of a satellite, to change the direction of the entire satellite body. We focused on eliminating the need for new development. Moreover, there are various mechanisms for the attitude control means of the artificial satellite itself, and there are many attitude control devices with high performance and resistance to deterioration. The present invention is based on such findings.

That is, according to the present invention,
a light source;
a body portion provided with the light source portion;
an attitude control unit that controls the attitude of the main body;
A satellite having
The posture control unit controls the posture of the main body so that the light emitted from the light source unit is observable in a predetermined irradiation area,
Satellite,
is obtained.

Moreover, according to the present invention,
A satellite control system that expresses a predetermined object using light emitted from a light source by controlling the attitude of a plurality of satellites equipped with a light source,
a control signal generating means for generating a control signal for representing the object;
providing means for providing the control signal to the satellite;
a satellite control system including attitude control means for controlling the attitude of the satellite based on the control signal;
is obtained.

According to the present invention, since the direction of the light source is changed by controlling the attitude of the artificial satellite itself, it becomes possible to control the direction of the light source without requiring an additional mechanism such as a light source driving section. .

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the system by embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the artificial satellite of FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the artificial satellite of FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which the attitude of the artificial satellite of FIG. 3 is controlled; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing how the artificial satellites in FIG. 1 irradiate light from light sources while performing formation flight; FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which both the attitude of the artificial satellite of FIG. 3 and the light source are controlled;

The contents of the embodiments of the present invention are listed and explained. The present invention has the following configurations.
[Item 1]
a light source;
a body portion provided with the light source portion;
an attitude control unit that controls the attitude of the main body;
A satellite having
The posture control unit controls the posture of the main body so that the light emitted from the light source unit is observable in a predetermined irradiation area,
Satellite.
[Item 2]
The artificial satellite according to claim 1,
The attitude control unit continuously controls the attitude of the satellite main body so that the light emitted from the light source unit can be observed in a predetermined irradiation area.
Satellite.
[Item 3]
The artificial satellite according to claim 1 or claim 2,
The light source unit has an LED,
Equipped with an optical part including a lens that transmits the light irradiated by the LED,
Satellite.
[Item 4]
A satellite according to claim 3,
The optical unit is configured to be able to adjust the divergence angle of the irradiation light of the LED,
Satellite.
[Item 5]
The artificial satellite according to claim 3 or claim 4,
The optical unit is configured to be able to change the direction of the irradiation light of the LED,
Satellite.
[Item 6]
The artificial satellite according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The artificial satellite, wherein the light emitted from the light source has a wavelength in the visible light region.
[Item 7]
The artificial satellite according to claim 1 or claim 2,
The light source unit has a plurality of light source elements,
Satellite.
[Item 8]
The artificial satellite according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
The attitude control unit is obtained by diverting part or all of the function of performing attitude control of the artificial satellite,
Satellite.
[Item 9]
The artificial satellite according to any one of claims 1 to 8,
The light source unit is fixed to the main body unit without displacing its orientation,
Satellite.
[Item 10]
By controlling the attitude of an artificial satellite having a light source, a main body provided with the light source, and an attitude control section for controlling the attitude of the main body, the light emitted from the light source is observed in a predetermined irradiation area. irradiate as possible,
Satellite control method.
[Item 11]
A satellite control system including a satellite controller, ground equipment, and a satellite,
The artificial satellite has a light source, a main body provided with the light source, and an attitude control section for controlling the attitude of the main body. irradiating the irradiation light from the light source unit so as to be observable in a predetermined irradiation area,
The satellite control device transmits a signal for controlling the attitude of the main body to the satellite via the ground facility.
Satellite control system.
[Item 12]
A satellite control system that expresses a predetermined object using light emitted from a light source by controlling the attitude of a plurality of satellites equipped with a light source,
a control signal generating means for generating a control signal for representing the object;
providing means for providing the control signal to the satellite;
and attitude control means for controlling the attitude of the satellite based on the control signal.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<Overview>
A satellite control system according to an embodiment of the present invention controls the attitude of a plurality of satellites equipped with light sources and flying in formation on a predetermined orbit while maintaining a predetermined distance from each other. It is an observable representation of an object.

<Hardware configuration example>
As shown in FIG. 1, this system includes a user terminal, a satellite control device, ground equipment, and a satellite group consisting of a plurality of satellites. Terminals other than these may be added, or all or part of the functions of these terminals may be integrated by cloud computing technology and logically configured as one or more terminals.

A series of processes by the system and terminals described in this specification may be implemented using software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. It is possible to prepare a computer program for realizing each function according to the present embodiment and implement it in a PC or the like. It is also possible to provide a computer-readable recording medium storing such a computer program. The recording medium is, for example, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a flash memory, or the like. Also, the above computer program may be distributed, for example, via a network without using a recording medium.

<User terminal>
The user terminal constitutes part of the system by executing information processing through communication with the satellite controller. Examples of user terminals include general-purpose computers such as workstations and personal computers, and mobile communication devices such as smartphone terminals and tablet terminals.

A user terminal should at least have general functions such as a processor, memory, storage, transmission/reception unit, and input/output unit. A user inputs image information to a user terminal using input means (means for operating and acquiring information such as a mouse, keyboard, touch pen, camera, scanner, etc.). The input image information is transmitted to the satellite controller via the network through the transmitting/receiving unit.

<Satellite controller>
The satellite controller constitutes a part of the system by performing information processing through communication with the user terminal and ground equipment. For example, it can be configured by any of hardware provided in a computer, DSP (Digital Signal Processor), and software. For example, when configured by software, it is actually configured with a computer CPU, RAM, ROM, etc., and is realized by running a program stored in a recording medium such as RAM, ROM, hard disk, or semiconductor memory.

<Ground equipment>
Ground facilities programmatically control the satellites in all orbital planes. Ground equipment includes, for example, a ground antenna device, a communication device connected to the ground antenna device, a computer, and the like. A ground facility forms a formation flight by communicating with each satellite. The ground equipment has functions such as a track control signal generation unit and an analysis prediction unit. The communication device transmits and receives a signal for tracking and controlling each artificial satellite, and transmits an orbit control signal to each artificial satellite. The analysis prediction unit analyzes and predicts the orbit of the satellite. The orbit control signal generator generates an orbit control signal to be transmitted to the satellite. The trajectory control signal generation unit and the analysis prediction unit of this embodiment realize the function of formation flight.

<Satellite>
As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, the artificial satellite according to this embodiment is configured to be able to fly in orbits of planets, satellites, etc. (geostationary orbit, geostationary transfer orbit, etc.). The artificial satellite includes a light source section and a body section. The main unit includes a satellite control unit, a transmission/reception unit, a propulsion unit, an attitude control unit, a power supply unit, and the like.

In this embodiment, 25 artificial satellites maintaining a 5×5 matrix formation are used. The number of satellites and the shape of the formation are not limited to this. By using the light source units of a plurality of artificial satellites, it is possible to express still images or moving images including graphics, characters, symbols, signs, signals, pictures, patterns, colors, etc., as will be described later.

It is also possible to express predetermined information like a two-dimensional barcode, depending on the position and the number of irradiation lights of the artificial satellite according to this embodiment. Also, by changing the timing of irradiation, it is possible to provide signal information containing more information. Furthermore, by relatively moving the artificial satellite (attitude control and continuing to irradiate the same irradiation area, etc.), it is possible to adjust the exposure time on the ground and express an arbitrary pattern. The information expressed in this manner can be obtained from the ground side by the function of the camera or the like of the user terminal, and the binary data can be encoded to restore the predetermined information.

A light source device is a luminous body such as a high-output LED light source or laser light source having a wavelength in the visible light region. The light source control device controls the operation of the light source device. Specifically, the light source control device controls the timing of light emission, flashing, brightness, color, light emission direction (optical axis), or a combination thereof. In this embodiment, the light source is fixed to the main body, and in the illustrated satellite, the orientation of the light source is also fixed and unchangeable. It should be noted that an optical section including a lens that transmits the irradiation light from the light source may be provided. Such an optical section makes it possible to adjust the angle of divergence of the light emitted by the light emitter and change the direction of the light emitted. Also, the light source section may have a plurality of light source elements.

The satellite control unit is equipped with a computer that controls the propulsion unit and the attitude control unit. Specifically, the satellite control unit controls the propulsion unit and the attitude control unit according to various signals transmitted from the ground equipment.

The transceiver unit communicates with the ground equipment. Specifically, the transmission/reception unit transmits various data related to the own satellite to the ground equipment. Also, the transmitting/receiving unit receives various signals transmitted from ground equipment.

The propulsion unit is a device that gives propulsion to the satellite, and changes the speed of the satellite. Specifically, an apogee kick motor, a chemical propulsion unit, an electric propulsion unit, or the like can be appropriately adopted as the propulsion unit.

Various systems such as spin system, triaxial system, bias momentum system, and zero momentum system can be adopted for the attitude control unit according to the present embodiment. The elements are controlled to change or maintain each attitude element in the desired direction. The attitude control section includes an attitude sensor, an actuator, and a controller. Attitude sensors include gyroscopes, orbital gyrocompasses, earth sensors, sun sensors, star trackers, thrusters and magnetic sensors. Actuators include attitude control thrusters, spin tables, momentum wheels, reaction wheels, control moment gyros, solar sails, magnetic torquers, and the like. The controller controls the actuators according to measurement data from the attitude sensor or various commands from ground equipment.

The power supply unit is equipped with devices such as solar cells, batteries, and power control devices, and supplies power to each device mounted on the satellite.

<Action>
Next, the operation of this system will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. As described above, the system represents a given object by controlling the attitude of multiple satellites with light sources.

As shown in FIG. 4, each artificial satellite changes the direction of the light emitted by the light source by diverting part or all of the attitude control function of the artificial satellite according to the control signal. As shown in FIG. 5(a), the group of artificial satellites performing formation flight is configured so that a predetermined object can be represented in the observation area A by controlling the respective light sources (see FIG. 1). As shown in FIG. 5(b), when it is desired to change the direction of the light emitted from the light source, the observation area is changed by changing the direction of the body of the satellite using the attitude control function of each satellite. A given object can be represented in B.

Since the positional relationship between the artificial satellite and the ground changes relative to each other, the attitude control section continuously controls the attitude of the main body so that even if the positional relationship changes, the light source It is also possible to keep the illumination light from the unit observably illuminated in a predetermined illumination area (for example, observation area A).

As shown in FIG. 6, the light source section may further include a light source control section for controlling the direction of the light source. In this case, in addition to the attitude control function of the main body, it is possible to change the direction of the trading company light by using both the light source driver Kudo.
<Generation of object information>
The object information described above is generated, for example, by the following steps, and the information is provided to the content providing device by the artificial guard control device.

The satellite controller accepts input of image information from the user. A user can transmit image information using his/her own terminal. The image information according to this embodiment is a still image or moving image including graphics, characters, symbols, signs, signals, pictures, patterns, colors, and the like. The satellite control device may be provided with a storage unit that stores image information registered in advance as a template, and may receive selection of image data from the user. It is also possible to store the image information input in the past and accept the selection of the image data in the same way. The applicant may draw image information with a touch pen, finger, or the like using a touch display or the like. In this case, conversion means may be provided for converting the drawn image information into an approximating figure. The system determines whether image information can be generated from still images or moving images based on information on the number of available satellites (to be described later), and if it can be generated, generates image information and provides it to the user. The satellite control device may accept inputs of brightness information for each light source, information on the color of light emitted by each light source, and information on timing of light emission for each light source.

Next, the satellite controller acquires satellite information to determine whether it is possible to represent the object. For example, information such as the number of satellites (number of dots, etc.) required to represent the object, whether the formation flight is properly controlled, etc., but other information to be acquired There may be

Subsequently, the satellite control device generates a control signal for representing the object based on the input image information and the acquired satellite information (step S103). The control signal is in a predetermined format that can be read and interpreted by ground equipment.

In this embodiment, based on the generated control signal, a simulation is performed as to how the object will actually be represented, and a preview is performed so that it can be visually recognized by the user. The preview is output to the display of the user's terminal or the like. This allows the user to confirm in advance how the object will look.

Finally, the satellite controller transmits control signals to the ground equipment. In addition, the control signal may be transmitted to the ground equipment in advance in accordance with the timing of expressing the object, or may be transmitted in real time in consideration of the weather conditions and the possibility of observation from the ground. good too.

In the embodiment described above, by controlling the attitude of the artificial satellite whose direction of the light source is fixed, the optical axis is directed toward the observation site. According to such a configuration, an artificial satellite with a fixed light source can be used without preparing a structure for driving the light source. On the other hand, by controlling the light source driving section of the artificial satellite having a structure for driving the light source, the optical axis may be directed toward the observation site without controlling (or changing) the attitude of the artificial satellite. This eliminates the use of a propulsion unit for controlling the attitude of the satellite. Furthermore, both the attitude of the artificial satellite and the light source driver may be controlled by the required amount.

Alternatively, a reflecting mirror may be provided so that the irradiation light from the light source unit is reflected by the reflecting mirror and irradiated to the irradiation area.

The processes described using the flowcharts in this specification do not necessarily have to be executed in the illustrated order. Some processing steps may be performed in parallel. Also, additional processing steps may be employed, and some processing steps may be omitted.

The embodiments described above may be combined as appropriate and implemented. Also, the effects described herein are merely illustrative or exemplary, and are not limiting. In other words, the technology according to the present disclosure can produce other effects that are obvious to those skilled in the art from the description of this specification, in addition to or instead of the above effects.

Claims

a light source;
a body portion provided with the light source portion;
an attitude control unit that controls the attitude of the main body;
A satellite having
The posture control unit controls the posture of the main body so that the light emitted from the light source unit is observable in a predetermined irradiation area,
Satellite.
The artificial satellite according to claim 1,
The attitude control unit continuously controls the attitude of the satellite main body so that the light emitted from the light source unit can be observed in a predetermined irradiation area.
Satellite.
The artificial satellite according to claim 1 or claim 2,
The light source unit has an LED,
Equipped with an optical part including a lens that transmits the light irradiated by the LED,
Satellite.
A satellite according to claim 3,
The optical unit is configured to be able to adjust the divergence angle of the irradiation light of the LED,
Satellite.
The artificial satellite according to claim 3 or claim 4,
The optical unit is configured to be able to change the direction of the irradiation light of the LED,
Satellite.
The artificial satellite according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The artificial satellite, wherein the light emitted from the light source has a wavelength in the visible light region.
The artificial satellite according to claim 1 or claim 2,
The light source unit has a plurality of light source elements,
Satellite.
The artificial satellite according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
The attitude control unit is obtained by diverting part or all of the function of performing attitude control of the artificial satellite,
Satellite.
The artificial satellite according to any one of claims 1 to 8,
The light source unit is fixed to the main body unit without displacing its orientation,
Satellite.
By controlling the attitude of an artificial satellite that has a light source, a main body provided with the light source, and an attitude control section that controls the attitude of the main body, the light emitted from the light source is observed in a predetermined irradiation area. irradiate as possible,
Satellite control method.
A satellite control system including a satellite controller, ground equipment, and a satellite,
The artificial satellite has a light source, a main body provided with the light source, and an attitude control section for controlling the attitude of the main body. irradiating the irradiation light from the light source unit so as to be observable in a predetermined irradiation area,
The satellite control device transmits a signal for controlling the attitude of the main body to the satellite via the ground facility.
Satellite control system.
A satellite control system that expresses a predetermined object using light emitted from a light source by controlling the attitude of a plurality of satellites equipped with a light source,
a control signal generating means for generating a control signal for representing the object;
providing means for providing the control signal to the satellite;
and attitude control means for controlling the attitude of the satellite based on the control signal.