JP2001283400A - Unmanned aircraft control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an unmanned aircraft control system capable of collecting reconnaissance area information of a far distance, especially in a range out of a radio wave view, by allowing plural unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to fly in multi-target area of a wide range and dispensing with an operator and a control device in each reconnaissance aircraft. SOLUTION: Each of unmanned reconnaissance aircraft 3 to 5 transmits flying information and reconnaissance image information to a controlling unmanned aircraft 1 through an on-aircraft transmitting/receiving antenna 35. The aircraft 1 controls respective reconnaissance aircraft 3 to 5 and communicates control signals and acquired data with a ground control device 2. The device 2 receives the acquired data from the aircraft 1 and transmits a control signal to the aircraft 1. An arithmetic processing unit (APU) 12 arithmetically processes flying pattern information, the ID numbers of the aircraft 3 to 5, and a command signal such as a photographing control signal, outputs the processed results to a transmitter/receiver 13 and arithmetically processes the flying information of respective aircraft and various status information of reconnaissance image information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an unmanned aerial vehicle control system, and more particularly to an unmanned aerial vehicle control system for operating and controlling a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the recent development of electronic technology, automatic remote control of an aircraft or the like can be performed with high precision. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
A self-searching relative GPS weapon guidance system described in U.S. Pat. No. 61512 is known.

[0003] This publication describes a technique in which various weapon guidance systems are mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle, and a target is searched for in combination with a GPS (global positioning system) receiver to attack the target.

[0004] In a conventional operation method of a drone for reconnaissance in an unmanned air traffic control system, a single drone for reconnaissance controls flight, collects information, and transmits information by radio to a ground control device only within the effective radio wave range. Recording and playing back information. Therefore, not only is it impossible to perform long-range reconnaissance out of line of sight, but also to control multiple reconnaissance drones individually by having multiple ground controllers for a wide range or multi-target reconnaissance area And must fly through each reconnaissance area.

[0005]

In the above-mentioned conventional unmanned aerial vehicle control system, a single unmanned aerial vehicle for reconnaissance is controlled in flight only within an effective radio wave range, wirelessly transmits collected information to the ground, and controls the ground. Since the device wirelessly records and reproduces information transmitted wirelessly, it has a drawback that long-range reconnaissance outside the line of sight of radio waves is impossible.

[0006] Further, for a wide range and multi-target reconnaissance area, a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles for reconnaissance must be individually controlled by having a plurality of ground control devices, and each reconnaissance area must be flown. It has the disadvantage that an operator and a control unit are required for each reconnaissance drone.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to enable a reconnaissance drone to fly over a wide area and a multi-target area to collect reconnaissance area information at a long distance, particularly in a range outside the radio wave range, and to operate operating personnel and control for each reconnaissance drone. The object is to provide an unmanned control system that can be eliminated.

[0008]

The unmanned air traffic control system according to the present invention has a structure in which an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft operates with one ground control device.
Transmitting flight control commands and photographing control commands to a plurality of drones (hereinafter referred to as "reconnaissance drones") by radio transmission to the drones (hereinafter referred to as "control drones"); Discriminates the flight command for the own aircraft and the flight control command and the shooting control command for the reconnaissance drone with a body identification code, and the flight control command and the aircraft identification code for each of the reconnaissance drones together with the body identification code. Transmitting a shooting control command, each of the reconnaissance drones receives the flight control command and the shooting control command based on the aircraft identification code of its own device among the received flight control command and the shooting control command. According to the command, the flight control and photographing control of the own aircraft are performed, and each of the reconnaissance drones transmits flight information and reconnaissance image information to the control drone with the aircraft identification code, and The information received by the ground control equipment via the use drone is characterized by displaying the flight information and the reconnaissance image information based on the result of collation of said each unit identification code.

[0009] A plurality of drones for reconnaissance, a control drone for controlling these drones, and a ground controller communicating with the drone for control are provided. First and second on-board transmission / reception antennas for receiving a first control signal from the ground control device and transmitting acquired data from the plurality of reconnaissance drones to the ground control device;
A first transmission / reception device for transmitting and receiving the first control signal and the obtained data; and transmitting a second control signal to the plurality of reconnaissance drones, and transmitting the obtained data from the plurality of reconnaissance drones. Third and fourth on-board transmitting and receiving antennas for receiving; a second transmitting and receiving device for transmitting and receiving the second control signal and the acquired data; and a first control signal transmitted from the ground control device. An arithmetic processing unit that performs arithmetic processing and outputs the obtained data to the second transmitting / receiving apparatus, and inputs and performs various types of status information of the acquired data transmitted from the plurality of reconnaissance drones. Features.

Each of the plurality of reconnaissance drones receives fifth control signals from the control drone and transmits fifth and sixth on-board transmitting / receiving antennas; and A third transmission / reception device for transmitting / receiving a second control signal and the acquired data; and an autopilot device for controlling flight based on flight pattern information included in the second control signal from the control drone; G to get own location data
A PS device and a GPS antenna when connected thereto; and an imaging device for photographing a reconnaissance area by a photographing control signal included in the second control signal received from the ground control device via the control drone. It is characterized by doing.

The ground control device receives the acquired data from the control drone, and transmits a first control signal to the control drone; a ground transmitting / receiving antenna; the first control signal; A fourth transmitting and receiving device for transmitting and receiving the acquired data; a controlling device for performing data processing and control processing; an encoder for encoding a control command signal from the controlling device and decoding the obtained data from the fourth transmitting and receiving device / Decoder; and an image display device that displays the reconnaissance image information extracted by the control device from the decoded acquired data.

Further, the first and second control signals are flight pattern information for the plurality of reconnaissance drones, a reconnaissance drone identification code, and a photographing control signal.

Still further, the acquired data is flight information and reconnaissance image information of the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles for reconnaissance.

[0014]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the unmanned control system of the present invention.

The present embodiment shown in FIG. 1 has a plurality of drones 3, 4, and 5 for reconnaissance, and these drones 3, 4, and 5 for reconnaissance.
Control drone 1 that controls and controls
And a ground control device 2 for exchanging control signals and acquired data.

The control drone 1 receives a control signal from the ground control device 2 and transmits an acquisition data from the reconnaissance drones 3, 4, and 5 to the ground control device 2.
4, 14a, a transmitting / receiving device 11 for transmitting / receiving a control signal and acquired data, and a control signal to the drones 3, 4, and 5 for reconnaissance, and receiving data from the drones 3, 4, and 5 for reconnaissance. On-board transmitting / receiving antennas 15, 15a, transmitting / receiving device 13 for transmitting / receiving control signals and acquired data, flight pattern information to reconnaissance drones 3, 4, 5 transmitted from ground control device 2, reconnaissance drone Command signals such as an ID (identification code) and a photographing control signal are arithmetically processed and output to the transmission / reception device 13, and various statuses of flight information and reconnaissance image information of each aircraft transmitted from the reconnaissance drones 3, 4, and 5 And an arithmetic processing unit 12 for inputting information and performing arithmetic processing.

The ground control device 2 receives a data obtained from the control drone 1 and transmits a control signal to the control drone 1. A ground transmitting / receiving antenna 25 transmits and receives the control signal and the obtained data. 21, a control device 23 that performs data processing and control processing, and an encoder / decoder 22 that encodes a control signal from the control device 23 and decodes data obtained from the transmission / reception device 21.
And an image display device 2 for displaying the reconnaissance image information extracted by the control device 23 from the decoded acquired data.
And 4.

Further, each of the reconnaissance drones 3, 4 and 5 includes flight pattern information from the control drone 1 and the reconnaissance drone I
D, on-board transmission / reception antennas 35, 35a that receive command signals such as shooting control signals and transmit flight information and reconnaissance image information
And a transmission / reception device 31 for transmitting and receiving command signals, flight information, and reconnaissance image information, an automatic pilot device 32 for controlling flight based on flight pattern information from the control drone 1, and acquiring position data of the own aircraft. To control a GPS device 33, a GPS antenna 36, and a command signal (shooting start, stop, magnification) of a shooting control signal received from the ground control device 2 via the control drone 1 to shoot a reconnaissance area. Device 3
And 4.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.

First, the control unit U1 and the reconnaissance UAVs 3, 4, and 5 are provided with the
Assign a D number. Control device 2 of ground control device 2
In 3, data such as flight pattern information and photographing magnification is input to each reconnaissance drone for each aircraft ID number.

Command signals such as the flight pattern information, the ID of the unmanned aerial vehicle for reconnaissance, and the photographing control signal input by the controller 23 are encoded by the encoder / decoder 22, and transmitted via the transmitting / receiving device 21 and the ground transmitting / receiving antenna 25. Then, it is transmitted to the control drone 1 as a control signal. Similarly, the control device 23 transmits a flight control command to the control drone 1 to the control drone 1. Control drone 1
Sends the control signal and the flight control command received by the onboard transmission / reception antennas 14 and 14a to the processing unit 12 via the transmission / reception device 11, and the processing unit 12 transmits the flight control command of its own and the drones 3, 4, Divided into 5 command signals. The assigned command signals for the reconnaissance drones 3, 4, and 5 are simultaneously transmitted to the reconnaissance drones 3, 4, and 5 as time-series data.

The reconnaissance drones 3, 4, and 5 receive their own I / O signals from the command signals received by the onboard transmitting / receiving antennas 35 and 35a.
The flight control is performed by the autopilot 32 based on the command signal that matches the D number, and the imaging control is performed by the imaging device 34. The autopilot device 32 controls the flight of the own device based on the position of the own device and the flight pattern information from the GPS device 33. The flight information and reconnaissance image information of each reconnaissance drone are transmitted to the control drone 1 from the on-board transmission / reception antennas 35 and 35a via the transmission / reception device 31 with the ID number of the reconnaissance drone added.
The control drone 1 sends the flight information and the reconnaissance image information received by the transmission / reception device 13 via the on-board transmission / reception antennas 15 and 15a to the arithmetic processing device 12, and controls it as one frame data for each ID number of each reconnaissance drone. Onboard transmitting / receiving antenna 1 via transmitting / receiving device 11 together with flight information of
4 and 14a to the ground control device 2.

The ground control device 2 includes a ground transmitting / receiving antenna 25
The flight information of the control drone 1, the flight information of each of the reconnaissance drones 3, 4, and 5, and the reconnaissance image information received by the transmission / reception device 21 are transmitted to the encoder / decoder 22 for each ID number.
, And outputs it to the control device 23.
The control device 23 displays the flight status of the control drone 1 and each of the reconnaissance drones 3, 4, and 5, and controls the control device 2
The reconnaissance image information, which is the photographing data of each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 3, 4, and 5 extracted in 3, is displayed on the image display device 24.

Control drone 1 and reconnaissance drone 3,
In order to prevent interruption of the radio wave width range due to the attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle, two on-board transmitting / receiving antennas 14 and 1 are provided in 4 and 5 respectively.
4a and 35, 35a.

It is possible to operate the reconnaissance drones 3, 4, and 5 as a simulated aircraft for missile shooting training or a simulated missile for missile interception training.

For example, in fire-fighting training for missile shooting, the current practice is to use one unmanned aerial vehicle for targeting, enter the flight course several times, and fire missiles for each course. When the missile struck the target drone early and fired, no further training could be carried out. By using the unmanned aerial vehicle control system of the present invention, it is not necessary to go around the flight course many times, each unmanned aerial vehicle goes around a separate flight course, and each missile has a predetermined target. Drones can be targeted. As a result, there is no need to suspend missile firing training due to an early direct hit of the target drone or the like. Similarly, in missile interception training, although it was necessary to control as many target drones as possible in order to operate the target drone as a simulation of a multi-warhead missile etc., use the drone system of the present invention. As a result, a plurality of unmanned target vehicles can be controlled by one control device.

FIG. 2 is an operation conceptual diagram of the unmanned control system.

In FIG. 2, components corresponding to those shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals or symbols, and description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 2 shows that the flight of the reconnaissance drones 3, 4, and 5 is controlled by the control drone 1, and the reconnaissance drones 3, 4, and 5 are controlled.
Each image the ground areas 7, 8, 9 and transmit the imaged reconnaissance image information together with the flight information to the drone 1 for control,
The control drone 1 transmits and receives control signals, flight information, and reconnaissance image information to and from the ground control device 2.

As described above, in the operation of the unmanned reconnaissance aircraft,
A flight control command and a shooting control command are transmitted to the plurality of reconnaissance drones 3, 4, and 5 by radio transmission between the ground control device 2 and one control drone 1, and the control drone 1 is transmitted. Then the flight command for the own aircraft and the drones for reconnaissance 3, 4,
The flight control command and the shooting control command for the
Discrimination is performed by the D number, flight control of the own aircraft is performed, and a flight control command and a shooting control command are transmitted to each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 3, 4, and 5 together with the machine ID number.

Further, each of the reconnaissance drones 3, 4, and 5 receives a flight control command and a photographing control command that are collated based on the own body ID number of the received flight control command and photographing control command. The drones 3, 4, and 5 perform flight control and photographing control, and transmit flight information, reconnaissance image information, and flight information of the control drone along with the aircraft ID number of each reconnaissance drone. The ground controller 2 displays flight information and reconnaissance image information for each aircraft based on the result of collating the received information with each aircraft ID number. It is possible to control the flight of one drone for control from one ground control device.

Further, by the same method, it is possible to operate a multi-target device at a distance at the same time.

[0034]

As described above, the drone control system of the present invention controls a plurality of reconnaissance drones at the same transmission frequency at the same time by using a body ID number. So that the reconnaissance drone can be flown over a wider area and to multiple target areas to collect the reconnaissance area information at a long distance, especially outside the radio wave line of sight, and to display it in real time on the ground controller. Have.

Further, by having the control drone, the control from the ground controller can input the flight pattern of each reconnaissance drone in advance and transmit it to each reconnaissance drone via the control drone. In addition, the operation of the ground control device is required only for the drone for control use, and there is an effect that the operation personnel and the control device for each drone for reconnaissance can be dispensed with.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of an unmanned control system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation conceptual diagram of an unmanned control system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Control drone 2 Ground control device 3,4,5 Reconnaissance drone 7,8,9 Surface area 11 Transmitter / receiver 12 Processing unit 13 Transmitter / receiver 14,14a Onboard transmit / receive antenna 15,15a Onboard transmit / receive antenna 21 Transmission / reception device 22 Encoder / decoder 23 Control device 24 Image display device 25 Ground transmission / reception antenna 31 Transmission / reception device 32 Autopilot device 33 GPS device 34 Imaging device 35, 35a On-board transmission / reception antenna 36 GPS antenna

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2F073 AA31 AB01 BB01 BC02 CC05 CC07 CC14 CC20 CD00 DD07 DE13 DE14 EF09 FF01 FG01 FG02 FG11 GG01 5H180 AA26 BB04 CC04 CC12 FF01 FF05 5J062 BB03 CC07

Claims (6)

[Claims] In an operation of an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, a ground control device transmits a plurality of unmanned aircraft (hereinafter, referred to as “reconnaissance drones”) to one unmanned aircraft (hereinafter, referred to as “control drones”) by wireless transmission. Send flight control command and shooting control command for
The control drone discriminates a flight command for itself and a flight control command and a shooting control command for the reconnaissance drone with a body identification code, and the aircraft identification code for each of the reconnaissance drones together with the body identification code. The flight control command and the shooting control command are transmitted, and each of the reconnaissance drones receives the flight control command and the shooting control command, and compares the flight control command based on its own body identification code. The command and the shooting control command perform flight control and shooting control of the own aircraft, and each of the reconnaissance drones transmits flight information and reconnaissance image information to the control drone together with the aircraft identification code, and The information received by the ground control device via the unmanned aerial vehicle may display the flight information and the reconnaissance image information based on the result of collation with each of the aircraft identification codes. Drone control system according to claim. 2. The control drone, comprising: a plurality of reconnaissance drones; a control drone controlling and controlling these reconnaissance drones; and a ground control device communicating with the control drone. A first and a second on-board transmission / reception antenna for receiving a first control signal from the ground control device and transmitting acquired data from the plurality of reconnaissance drones to the ground control device; A first transmitting / receiving device for transmitting / receiving the control signal and the obtained data; and a second transmitting / receiving device for transmitting a second control signal to the plurality of reconnaissance drones and receiving the obtained data from the plurality of reconnaissance drones. Third and fourth onboard transmitting and receiving antennas;
A second transmission / reception device for transmitting / receiving the second control signal and the obtained data; and a processor for calculating and outputting the first control signal transmitted from the ground control device to the second transmission / reception device An arithmetic processing unit for inputting various types of status information of the acquired data transmitted from the plurality of reconnaissance drones and performing arithmetic processing, and an arithmetic processing unit. 3. Each of the plurality of reconnaissance drones receives the second control signal from the control drone,
Fifth and sixth on-board transmitting and receiving antennas for transmitting the acquired data; a third transmitting and receiving device for transmitting and receiving the second control signal and the acquired data; and the second transmitting and receiving antenna from the control drone. An automatic pilot device for controlling flight based on flight pattern information included in the control signal; a GPS device for acquiring position data of the own device and a GPS antenna connected to the device; and a signal from the ground control device via the unmanned control device The unmanned air traffic control system according to claim 2, further comprising: an imaging device that captures an image of a reconnaissance area in response to a capture control signal included in the second control signal received in (2). 4. The ground control device receives the acquired data from the control drone and transmits the first control signal to the control drone; and the first control unit; A fourth transmission / reception device for transmitting / receiving signals and the obtained data; a control device for performing data processing and control processing; encoding a control command signal from the control device and decoding data obtained from the fourth transmission / reception device The encoder / decoder performing the reconnaissance image processing, and an image display device displaying the scout image information extracted by the control device from the decoded acquired data. 3. The unmanned control system according to 3. 5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the first and second control signals are flight pattern information for the plurality of reconnaissance drones, a reconnaissance drone identification code, and a photographing control signal. The unmanned control system according to 3 or 4. 6. The drone control system according to claim 2, wherein the acquired data is flight information and reconnaissance image information of the plurality of drones for reconnaissance.