JP2001306143A - Flight control system for unmanned helicopter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a flight control system for an unmanned helicopter which can quickly clearly identify a predicted path based on the inputted flight data and discriminate the deviation with an actual flight path in real-time. SOLUTION: In the flight control system of the unmanned helicopter having a personal computer 14 with a monitor 15 in the ground side and a microcomputer 20 in the airframe side which carry out the operation control of the airframe through the microcomputer 20 on the basis of the command data for the flight inputted in the personal computer 14, a predicted flight path is calculated on the basis of the command data for the flight, and this predicted flight path is displayed in the monitor 15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flight control system for an unmanned helicopter that autonomously controls the operation of an aircraft via a microcomputer on the aircraft side based on a flight instruction input to a personal computer on the ground.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Autonomous flight systems for unmanned helicopters have been developed. In this autonomous flight system, a flight control device including a personal computer is installed on the ground side, a flight command is transmitted from the personal computer to a microcomputer on the fuselage side, and the aircraft is caused to fly in accordance with command data from the ground. The PC on the ground has various built-in arithmetic processing circuits and memory circuits.
It has input operation means such as a keyboard and a mouse, and a display monitor. The flight command data is input to this personal computer and transmitted to the aircraft.

[0003] A drive control device comprising a microcomputer is provided on the body side. The microcomputer on the fuselage side includes an arithmetic processing circuit and a memory circuit, and drives actuators such as an engine and a rotor via a drive circuit (built-in microcomputer) in accordance with flight command data from a personal computer on the ground to fly the fuselage. Let it.

The airframe is provided with a sensor for detecting the position and orientation of the airframe, such as a GPS or a gyro, and the detection data is sent from a microcomputer on the airframe to a personal computer on the ground. The actual trajectory of the aircraft in flight can be confirmed in real time based on the detected data such as the position.

On the other hand, a movement control device and a movement monitoring device for controlling the movement of such a mobile body such as an unmanned helicopter are described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-19854. The movement control device described in this publication has a GPS receiver, an IC card, and a controller mounted on an unmanned helicopter, and the IC card stores flight data of a planned movement route including coordinate data of a flight point, speed data, and altitude data. You. The controller compares its own position data received from the GPS receiver with the flight data read from the IC card, calculates the deviation, and drives the helicopter to return to the expected route based on the deviation.

Further, the movement monitoring device described in this publication measures its own position using a GPS receiver of a helicopter, and transmits this current flight position data to a remote control device on the ground. The remote control device includes a display having a concentric distance gauge, and a current position is displayed on the distance gauge with a reference position such as a starting point as a center, so that the distance from the starting point can be known. The altitude and speed are indicated by numbers, and the azimuth is indicated by arrows. With such a display, the actual moving state of the unmanned helicopter is monitored in real time.

[0007]

However, the apparatus described in the above publication does not have a structure for visually recognizing a planned flight path based on the flight data input to the IC card, and does not have a configuration for making a scheduled trajectory based on the input flight data. Cannot be visually confirmed, it is not possible to quickly determine whether the planned route is optimal or not, and if there is an erroneous input of the planned route, there is a risk of overlooking this. In addition, since the current position during the flight is displayed only on the concentric distance gauge at a point indicating the relative position to the starting point, the ground operator can see the trajectory of the planned flight path and the trajectory of the actual flight path. The deviation cannot be recognized in real time, and prompt action cannot be taken when an abnormality occurs.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned prior art, and enables an unmanned helicopter flight capable of quickly and clearly discriminating an expected trajectory based on input flight data and discriminating a deviation from an actual flight trajectory in real time. The purpose is to provide a control system.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a personal computer having a monitor on the ground side, a microcomputer mounted on the fuselage side, and based on flight command data input to the personal computer, are provided. In a flight control system for an unmanned helicopter that controls the operation of an airframe via the microcomputer, an expected flight trajectory is calculated based on the flight command data, and the estimated flight trajectory is displayed on the monitor. Provide a flight control system.

[0010] According to this configuration, the predicted flight trajectory based on the flight command data input to the personal computer is displayed on the monitor screen, so that the planned route can be clearly and quickly confirmed before the flight, and the predicted trajectory can be confirmed. By displaying the actual flight trajectory together with the actual flight trajectory during the flight, the deviation between the actual flight route and the planned route can be accurately determined in real time.

[0011] In a preferred configuration example, the flight command data can be input by pointing on a screen of the monitor with a pointer.

According to this configuration, the flight route can be easily designated and stored by clicking the designation button of the flight command data displayed on the icon or the like on the monitor screen with the pointer such as a mouse.

In another preferred configuration example, the flight command data can be input to the personal computer by numerical instructions.

According to this configuration, the flight instruction data can be numerically input by keyboard operation or the like, so that the flight route can be specified and stored with high accuracy.

In a further preferred embodiment, the actual flight trajectory is displayed on the monitor in real time together with the predicted flight trajectory.

According to this configuration, the operator on the ground looks at the actual flight trajectory and the expected trajectory displayed on the monitor screen, and can quickly and clearly determine how much the current flight trajectory deviates from the planned trajectory. Since the current flight position can be identified and constantly compared with the planned route to identify the current flight position, it is possible to quickly cope with an abnormality or the like, thereby enabling highly reliable and reliable autonomous flight.

By using the speed command data, when inputting the command value, the command value can be input with the same feeling as the actual flight control, and the moving state of the aircraft can be easily understood intuitively. Easier to do. In particular, back and forth, left and right,
It is easy to understand that the speed command values for up, down, and rotation are appropriately input as time elapses during the operation of the unmanned helicopter. When one or more sets of speed command values for front and rear, left and right, up and down, and rotation and valid time of the speed command value are input in advance, not only during flight but also before flight However, since the trajectory of the planned flight path can be drawn ahead of time, it is possible to deal with the abnormality with a margin.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a control flow of the entire autonomous flight system according to the present invention.
The operator (operator) 1 can fly while inputting flight instruction data directly during the flight (block 2), or input and store the instruction data prior to the flight before the flight, and store this during the flight. Can be read out and made to fly (block 3). In the case of the advance instruction, the flight data of the planned route is input to a personal computer installed on the ground side, and this is programmed and stored as a series of flight operation sequences (block 4). I do. In this case, the flight data or program stored in the personal computer can be transmitted to the unmanned helicopter (body), stored in the memory of the microcomputer mounted on the body, and the program can be read out from the microcomputer during flight to autonomously fly.

Command values input to such a flight program generally include speed command data, position command data, acceleration command data, and the like. By using the speed command data, when inputting the command value, the command value can be input with the same feeling as the control feeling during actual flight, and the moving state of the aircraft is intuitively understood and the data input is facilitated. . Therefore, it is easy to fly by such a speed command input during normal flight. In some cases, it is desired to set a route by directly specifying a target point on a map. In such a case, it is preferable to use a position command. The present embodiment is based on the premise that the system flies by a speed command input using a flight program based on the speed command data, and further enables input of position command data in a flight system based on the speed command data, which is converted into speed data. As a result, the program for speed command data can be used as it is.

Therefore, the input flight data can be four speed command values and time command values for front / rear, left / right, up / down, and rotation (azimuth) (block 5). Based on the input four speed command values, four speed commands are issued from the personal computer (or microcomputer) (block 6), and the driver 7 of the body is operated to fly the unmanned helicopter 8.

Instead of the four speed command values, four-position command data for instructing the position on the flight path in four directions of front and rear, left and right, up and down, and rotation may be input as the input flight data ( Block 9). In this case, as described later, a target position may be designated on a map screen of the monitor, or a numerical value may be input to an icon or the like on the screen. In addition, a passing time, a flight speed, and the like may be input together.

In the case of the four-position command, for example, two positions, a starting point and a target point, are designated. Alternatively, one or more passing flight points may be designated between the starting point and the target point. Alternatively, speed command data may be input between two points whose positions are designated. Furthermore, it is also possible to instruct only the four directions of the starting point, and thereafter to issue a speed instruction. Thus, for example, a flight trajectory program is formed in advance based on the speed command data, and the position of one point in the flight trajectory is designated by the position command data so that the flight can be performed at different positions in the same flight trajectory shape. According to this configuration, in the case of repeatedly flying at different positions on the same shape flight trajectory path, for example, if only the position data of the starting point of each different position is specified, the program is automatically set by the program without specifying other positions. Is set to Therefore, the number of input data can be significantly reduced.

Such 4-position command data is subjected to arithmetic processing (block 10), converted into speed data, and the drive device 7 is driven as a speed command (block 6) as described above. Further, when there are two or more target passage points as the input flight data, three position data of the four position command data are input (block 11), and based on the three position data and the flight conditions (block 12). Then, as described later, the optimum route between the two points is calculated (block 10), whereby the four speed data as the optimum route can be obtained and the flight can be automatically performed on the optimum route.

The flight program stored in the memory of the personal computer is processed by the personal computer to calculate an expected trajectory. In the present embodiment, the expected trajectory is displayed on the monitor (block 13).

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control system according to this embodiment. PC (main unit) 14 installed on the ground
Has a built-in arithmetic processing circuit, a monitor 15, a keyboard 16 and a mouse 17 as input means, and a memory 18. The processor has a built-in arithmetic processing circuit and a memory 6
The microcomputer 20 having 0 is mounted. The microcomputer 20 is connected with a GPS sensor 21 for position detection and a gyro sensor 22 for posture detection. PC 14 on the ground
And the microcomputer 20 on the aircraft side,
Data communication with each other is performed via the communication device 23.

The flight data including the speed command data or the position command data is input by inputting a numerical value from the keyboard 16 or by clicking the display screen of the monitor 15 with the mouse 17. An expected trajectory is calculated based on the input scheduled flight data, and the expected trajectory is displayed on the monitor 15.

On the aircraft side, the current position and attitude during flight are detected by the GPS sensor 21 and the gyro sensor 22, and actual flight data is transmitted to the personal computer 14 on the ground.
Sent to The personal computer 14 calculates display data of the actual flight trajectory from these flight data, and displays this on the monitor 15 together with the above-described predicted trajectory. Thereby, the deviation between the actual flight trajectory and the expected trajectory can be identified in real time on the monitor screen.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the entire autonomous flight system provided with the above control system. The body of the unmanned helicopter 8 includes an engine (not shown) as a drive source, a servo motor (not shown) for driving a throttle system and an attitude control system of the engine, a GPS sensor 21, a GPS antenna 21a, a gyro sensor 22, a microcomputer 20 ( 2) and the like, and a communication device (transceiver) 23 is connected to the microcomputer 20 (FIG. 2) via an I / F circuit 24.

On the other hand, a personal computer 14 installed on the ground has a GPS antenna 26 for receiving a signal from a GPS satellite 25, a GPS receiver 27, and a communication device (transmitter / receiver) 1.
9 is connected via an I / F circuit 28. In addition, in order to ensure the safety of the system, a backup transmitter 29 including a normal transmitter is provided, so that the pilot can perform a backup operation when a command is changed or an abnormality occurs or at other times.

In the flight system having such a configuration,
As described above, arithmetic processing including differentiation and integration is performed based on the four flight command data of front, back, left, right, up, down, and rotation inputted to the personal computer 14, and the elevator servo command in the front and rear direction and the aileron servo command in the left and right direction are performed. Issue a collective servo command in the vertical direction and a ladder servo command in the rotational direction.

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural explanatory view showing an example of a driving mechanism based on the servo commands in each of the above directions. Main rotor 30
Is connected to the actuator plate 32.
The actuator plate 32 is provided with vertically driven cylinders 33a, 33b, 33c at two places in front and one place at the back. The elevator servo control is based on the two cylinders 33a and 33b
Is fixed, and the cylinder 33c is driven later (or vice versa) to change the angle of the main rotor 30 in the front-rear direction, thereby controlling the forward / backward movement and the speed thereof. The aileron servo control uses the front two cylinders 33a,
33b is driven to change the inclination of the main rotor 30 in the left-right direction, and the left-right direction and the speed thereof are controlled.
Collective servo control includes three cylinders 33a, 33
3b and 33c are simultaneously driven in the same direction to rotate the rotor shaft 31.
Main rotor 3 via a main rotor connecting portion (not shown)
By changing the attack angle of 0 as shown by the arrow A, the airframe is raised or lowered. Rudder servo control is performed by controlling the rotation of a tail rotor (not shown).

The method of calculating the servo command value based on the flight speed data in the four directions will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a control signal diagram of data processing,
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the unmanned helicopter, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are a side view and a rear view, respectively, showing a state where the unmanned helicopter is turning right while moving forward.

This flight control system calculates a position command value by integrating the above-mentioned four types of speed command values, and calculates an attitude command value by differentiating the speed command value and multiplying by a coefficient. With the target value as a target value, a difference between the target value and each detection value of the position, speed, and attitude of the aircraft detected by the GPS sensor 21 and the gyro sensor 22 mounted on the unmanned helicopter is calculated, and the difference is used as a control command. A value (servo command value) is transmitted to a servomotor mounted on the body, and the speed and attitude of the body are controlled by the servomotor so that the difference becomes zero.

A more detailed calculation method is as follows. As shown in FIG. 6, the front and rear speed command values are vx, the left and right speed command values are vy, the up and down speed command values are vz, and the rotation speed command value is the rotation angular speed ω.

As described above, four types of speed command values v _x ,
When v _y , v _z , and ω are input to the personal computer 14, these velocity command values pass through the low-pass filter 34 and are set as target velocities v _x ^* , v _y ^* , v _z ^* , and ω ^*. The target velocities v _x ^* , v _y ^* , v _z ^* , and ω ^* are converted to earth coordinates and then time-integrated. In this way, by integrating the target speed with time, before and after the unmanned helicopter 8 in the earth coordinates,
The target positions x ^* , y ^* , z ^* , and Ψ ^{* in the} left, right, up, down (altitude), and rotation directions (azimuths) are obtained by the following equations, respectively. The azimuth angle Ψ ^* is a parameter indicating the attitude of the aircraft of the unmanned helicopter 8.

[0036] _{^{x * = ∫v x * dt y}} * = ∫v y * dt z * = ∫v z * dt Ψ * = ∫ω * dt In addition, the target speed _{^{v x *, v y *,}} v z *, By temporally differentiating ω ^* , the pitch angle θ and the roll angle φ are obtained as parameters indicating the target attitude of the unmanned helicopter 8.

Here, the target pitch angle θ ^* and the target roll angle φ ^*
Will be described with reference to FIG. 7 and FIG.

1) Pitch angle θ: As shown in the figure, when the thrust acting on the fuselage of the unmanned helicopter 8 is T, the mass of the fuselage is m, and the gravitational acceleration is g, the following equation is established from the balance of the vertical force. Note that the pitch angle θ is positive in the direction in which the nose of the unmanned helicopter rises.

[0039] mg = also Tcos (-θ) ... (1) , the inertial force acting on the aircraft is to become a m · dv _x / dt, the following equation is satisfied because the balance of the front and rear direction of the force.

M · dv _x / dt = Tsin (−θ) (2) The following equation is derived from the above equations (1) and (2). tan (−θ) = (dv _x / dt) / g Here, if θ is small, tan (−θ) = − θ
Therefore, the pitch angle θ is obtained by the following equation. θ = − (dv _x / dt) / g (3)

2) Roll angle φ: The following equation is established from the balance of the vertical force. mg = Tcos φ (4) Further, since the centrifugal force acting on the airframe is mv _× ω, the following equation is established from the balance of the force in the left-right direction.

Mv _x ω = T sin φ (5) The following equation is derived from the above equations (4) and (5). tanφ = v _x ω / g Here, if φ is small, it can be considered that tanφ = φ, and thus the roll angle φ is obtained by the following equation. φ = v _x ω / g (6)

Similarly, the pitch angle θ and the roll angle φ when the unmanned helicopter 8 turns right while moving to the right can be obtained by the following equations. θ = v _y ω / g (7) φ = (dv _y / dt) / g (8)

Here, assuming that the balance posture angles in the hovering (stop) state are θ ₀ and φ ₀ , then (3),
From formulas (6), (7) and (8), pitch angle θ and roll angle φ
Is determined by the following equation. θ = θ ₀ − (dv _x / dt) / g + v _y ω / g (9) φ = φ ₀ + (dv _y / dt) / g + v _x ω / g (10)

Therefore, the target pitch angle θ ^* and the target roll angle φ ^* can be obtained by the following equations using the target speeds v _x ^* , V _y ^* ω ^* . θ ^* = θ ₀ ^* − (dv _x ^* / dt) / g + v _y ^* ω ^* / g (9) ′ φ ^* = φ ₀ ^* + (dv _y ^* / dt) / g + v _x ^* ω ^* / g (10) '

On the other hand, the signal from the GPS satellite 25 shown in FIG. 3 is transmitted to the GPS antenna 21a and the GPS sensor 21 installed on the unmanned helicopter 8 and the GPS installed on the ground.
Received by the antenna 26 and the GPS receiver 27,
Position (latitude, longitude, and altitude) and speed (horizontal speed, left-right speed, and vertical speed) of the unmanned helicopter 8 in earth coordinates
Are detected, these are azimuth-converted to determine the values in the body coordinates, and the antenna correction (GPS antenna 21a
Is corrected not to be installed at the position of the center of gravity of the unmanned helicopter 8), and the position of the center of gravity of the aircraft (position x,
Detection data of the horizontal position y and the vertical position z) and the body weight center velocity (the front-rear direction speed v _x , the horizontal direction speed v _y, and the vertical direction speed v _z ) are obtained.

Further, the gyro sensor 22 installed on the unmanned helicopter 8 allows the attitude (pitch angle θ,
The roll angle φ, the azimuth Ψ, and the azimuth velocity ω) are detected.

The above detection data x, y, z, v _x , v _y , v
_{z, θ, φ, Ψ,} ω is sent to the PC 14 by the communication by the communication device 19, 23, the target value x ^* is the personal computer ^{14, y *, z *,} v x *, v y *, v z ^* , Θ ^* ,
φ ^*, Ψ ^*, ω ^* and the detected data _{x, y, z, v x} , v y,
Differences (errors) Δx, Δy, Δ from v _z , θ, φ, Ψ, ω
z, Δv _x , Δv _y , Δv _z , Δθ, Δφ, ΔΨ, Δω are obtained by the following equations.

[0049] ^{Δx = x * -x Δy = y} * -y Δz = z * -z Δv x = v x * -v x Δv y = v y * -v y Δv z = v z * -v z Δθ = θ ^* -θ Δφ = φ ^* -φ ΔΨ = Ψ ^* -Ψ Δω = ω ^* -ω

According to the above equations, the differences (errors) Δx, Δy, Δ
When z, Δv _x , Δv _y , Δv _z , Δθ, Δφ, ΔΨ, Δω are obtained, these are commanded as control commands (elevator servo command (front-back direction), aileron servo command (left-right direction), collective servo command (vertical direction). ) And a ladder servo command (rotation direction)) to the servomotor mounted on the body, and the servomotors send the differences Δx, Δy,
Δz, Δv _x , Δv _y , Δv _z , Δθ, Δφ, ΔΨ, Δω
The unmanned helicopter 8 flies along a predetermined course by feedback-controlling the speed and attitude of the aircraft so that is zero.

The predicted trajectory of the unmanned helicopter is calculated in advance based on the speed command value calculated and stored in advance and the time for giving the speed command value, and the predicted trajectory is displayed on the monitor of the personal computer.

There are the following two methods for storing the speed command value and the time for giving the speed command value. (1) A method in which the operation instruction button of the icon on the monitor screen of the personal computer is clicked with a pointer by a mouse operation, input, and stored. (2) A method of numerically inputting the speed instruction amount and its time from a keyboard.

In the method (1), the storing operation is very simple, and the storing can be performed without much time and effort. However, this method cannot indicate a highly accurate flight path.

On the other hand, the method (2) takes time and labor for inputting and storing, but can indicate a highly accurate flight path. The above two methods can be appropriately selected and used depending on the purpose of flight.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a monitor screen displaying an expected trajectory. The monitor screen 15a has a map display unit 35 and an altitude display unit 36, and a flight area 39 is displayed on the map display unit 35. An instruction mark 37 indicating an unmanned helicopter is displayed on the map display unit 35. The instruction mark 37 rotates and moves in response to the helicopter's moving operation by clicking the maneuvering instruction button as described later. The instruction mark 37 moves on the screen and displays the expected trajectory 38. The predicted trajectory 38 in this example shows a trajectory that advances forward from the starting point P0 and proceeds to the left, changes its longitude (position in the left and right direction) as shown by the arrow, makes three reciprocations, and returns to the original starting point P0.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen for a storage operation by the method (1). An icon 40 having a plurality of operation instruction buttons 41 is displayed on the monitor screen 15a. The control instruction button 41 is used for “front”, “rear”,
"Right", "Left", "Up", "Down", "Rotate right",
It has a button indicating each direction such as "left rotation", a button indicating low-speed movement such as "late" and "slow right", and a "hover" button for instructing hovering. When each button is clicked with a pointer (not shown) operated by a mouse, the indication mark 37 in the map display unit 35 moves in the indication direction of the clicked button, and an expected trajectory 38 is displayed.
Is displayed. The flight path data obtained by operating the plurality of buttons is stored as a series of flight path programs in the memory of the personal computer at the clicked program storage position by clicking the program flight button 42 and the storage operation button 43.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen for a storage operation by the method (2). An icon 44 for program editing is displayed in the monitor screen 15a. In the table in the icon 44, a series of flight data in numerical order is numerically input by keyboard operation. The time is the time from the start of the flight control, and the time is the duration of the operation of the number. Therefore, the accumulated time becomes the time and can be automatically displayed. Numerical values of collective, elevator, aileron, rudder, and auxiliary (input at the time of operating the remote control) are input as necessary speed fields in the required fields. Also, numerical values of the movement amount are displayed for left and right (aileron), front and rear (elevator), altitude (collective), and yaw (azimuth by rudder). This movement amount data is obtained by multiplying the already input time and speed data, and is processed and displayed automatically in the personal computer. One flight program is formed by a series of flight data in time series, and the route is displayed on the map display unit 35 as an expected trajectory 38.

By displaying such a predicted trajectory of the flight route on a map screen displaying the flight area, the flight route can be visually confirmed in advance at the time of program creation, so that the planned route can be easily identified. And the optimal flight route is set quickly. In addition, the route can be easily modified or changed.

Such an expected trajectory is not only before the flight,
It can be displayed at any time during flight. During the flight, the position and attitude of the aircraft are detected by GPS sensors and gyro sensors,
By displaying the actual aircraft position and its orientation on the same screen as the expected trajectory, it is possible to determine in real time during the flight whether the current flight position deviates from the planned route and match the actual trajectory up to that point. By displaying, it is possible to easily and quickly determine the difference between the expected trajectory and the actual flight trajectory.

In the above embodiment, the steering command is input by a speed command value. However, there are cases where it is necessary to specify a position on the map and to input a target of an absolute position, such as moving the position as a target position. Even such an absolute position command value can be converted into a speed command value by a simple calculation process as described later. Thus, the flight control based on the position command value can be performed using the control program based on the speed command value as it is.

Even when the absolute position on the map is input as the command value of the target position, the expected trajectory can be displayed on the monitor screen of the personal computer as in the above-described embodiment. In this case, by designating the position data of two points, the departure position (or the current position) and the target position, an optimal flight route between the two points is automatically determined in consideration of flight conditions such as distance, time, and fuel efficiency. Can be set. This flight path is displayed on the monitor screen as an expected trajectory.

Also, between the starting point and the target position, 1
The intermediate target position data of a point or a plurality of flight passage points may be designated and input. When the intermediate position data of the flight target point is specified in this manner, the aircraft passes smoothly through the specified passing position according to the flight characteristics of the helicopter, that is, the straight line is drawn between the passing point and the preceding and following flight points. Instead of setting a route by tying together, the flight trajectory is automatically set as a smoothly curved continuous trajectory so that the direction and attitude of the aircraft do not change suddenly or discontinuously at the passing point, The operation is controlled according to the program of the flight trajectory.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a process for converting position command data into speed command data. The processing contents of steps S1 to S5 are as follows.

Step S1: A target position is designated on the map screen. As described below, the position specification method includes a method of directly clicking a point on the map with a mouse pointer on the monitor screen to specify the position, and a method of specifying the position by inputting a numerical value from a keyboard to an icon or the like on the screen. There are two ways. At this time, the target position coordinates are set to (X0, Y0).

Step S2: Calculate the movement vector (ΔX, ΔY) by taking the difference from the current position coordinates (X, Y) of the body detected by the GPS sensor or the like. The calculation formula is as shown in the figure.

Step S3: Coordinate conversion is performed based on the azimuth angle Ψ of the body, and the movement vector (ΔX1, Δ
Y1) is calculated. The calculation formula is as shown in the figure. This is the target speed.

Step S4: Speed limit (Vxlimit,
Vylimit), a speed limit is designated and a speed command is given.

Step S5: A speed command value (Vx, Vy) is obtained.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a method of calculating a speed command value (a method of converting position data to speed data) for each direction of the four-direction data. (A) is before and after,
Left and right speed command values, (b) is vertical speed command value, (c)
Indicates a method of calculating the speed command value in the rotation direction.

The speeds in the front, rear, left and right directions are as shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, target position coordinate data 45 is input,
The difference between the target position data 45 and the current position data 46 is calculated by the subtractor 47, and is converted into body coordinates (block 48). Since the data of the target position and the current position are specified in earth coordinates, coordinate conversion according to the current orientation of the aircraft is performed to indicate which direction the earth coordinates (east, west, north and south directions) are for the aircraft in front, back, left and right. Will be needed. Subsequently, a predetermined gain is applied to each of the front, rear, left and right (block 49), and a speed limit is designated so as to be within a predetermined limit range (block 50), and a speed command value is obtained for the front and rear direction and the left and right direction.

Regarding the vertical direction and the rotation direction,
(B) As shown in (c), the target altitude data 51 and the target azimuth data 52 are input, and the difference between the target altitude data 51 and the current altitude data 53 and the current azimuth data 54 is calculated by the subtracter 4.
7 is calculated. The difference data is multiplied by a predetermined gain (block 49), a speed limit is specified so as to be within a predetermined limit range (block 50), and a speed command value is obtained in the vertical and rotational directions. In the vertical direction and the rotation direction, since the earth coordinates and the body coordinates are the same, no coordinate conversion is required.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of a screen showing a method of inputting a target position. The map display unit 35 and the altitude display unit 36 are displayed on the monitor screen 15a as described above, and the icon 51 for setting the target position is displayed.

A first method of inputting a target position is a method of designating a target position with a mouse pointer. In this case, by clicking the target position P on the map screen of the map display unit 35, the position coordinate data corresponding to the latitude and longitude of the earth coordinates is automatically input. For altitude,
The altitude of the altitude display section 36 can be designated by the pointer of the mouse with the pointer of the altitude display section 36 or the vertical operation instruction button in the icon 40 of FIG. The direction can also be designated by rotating the instruction mark 37 by clicking on the steering instruction button in the rotation direction in the icon 40 of FIG. 10 described above with a mouse. In this way, the position data for the four directions of the target position can be input by clicking the mouse.

The second method of inputting the target position is a method of instructing position data by inputting numerical values. This is performed by inputting respective numerical data by keyboard operation into the latitude, longitude, altitude, and azimuth fields represented by the icons 51 on the monitor screen. The azimuth correction value in the icon 51 is correction data based on the difference between the azimuths of the body coordinates and the earth coordinates.

By any of the above two methods, four position command values for the front, rear, left, right, up, and down directions of the flight target position can be input as the absolute position command data.

In the above embodiment, the position command data for the four directions necessary for specifying the position of the aircraft at the flight point and the like are input. However, it is not necessary to input all four position command data. One position command data is input, and the remaining data can be automatically obtained from the flight conditions. Thus, when two or more flight data points are input, a flight path is automatically set under optimum conditions by inputting a three-position command.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram of position determination for the remaining azimuths when three position commands for front / rear and left / right positions and altitude are input. When the above-mentioned three-position command of the target position is input, when moving from the current position to the target position, the following three types of azimuth setting methods can be considered. Move with the direction as it is First move the direction to the traveling direction and then move Move while changing the direction

These three azimuth setting methods are determined by flight conditions between two points. It is most suitable when you want to move quickly at a very short distance. This is optimal when you want to move at the fastest speed when the moving distance becomes long. It is optimal if the target position is not a final target but a passing point. These three types of movement methods can automatically determine the azimuth command value by automatically determining the flight conditions at the target position. The flight conditions include, for example, minimizing travel time, maximizing flight speed, minimizing fuel consumption, and the like.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a method of determining the remaining direction by inputting three positions. First, it is determined whether or not two flight points have been input (step Q1). If there is no input data at two points, three position data before, after, left, right and up and down of the two flight points are input (step Q2). 2
When the point command data is input, it is determined whether there are three or more flight points (step Q3). If there are three or more points, the robot moves while changing the azimuth as described above (step Q4). If there are only two flight input points, it is determined whether the distance between the two points is equal to or greater than a predetermined value (step Q5). If the distance is longer than the predetermined value, the azimuth is changed to the traveling direction as described above, and then the vehicle moves (step Q6). If the distance is equal to or less than the predetermined value, the robot moves while keeping the azimuth as described above (step Q7).

In the case where a plurality of sets of flight command data consisting of speed command values and time for front / rear, left / right, up / down, and rotation are inputted, the flight is sequentially performed by each set of flight command data. When the speed command values of the front and rear sets are largely different, the acceleration or deceleration is made larger as the difference becomes larger.

[0081]

As described above, according to the present invention, the expected flight trajectory based on the flight command data input to the personal computer is displayed on the monitor screen, so that the planned route can be clearly and quickly confirmed before the flight. At the same time, by displaying the predicted trajectory together with the actual flight trajectory during the flight, the deviation between the actual flight path and the planned path can be accurately determined in real time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a control flow of the entire autonomous flight system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an entire autonomous flight system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural explanatory view showing an example of a driving mechanism by a servo command.

FIG. 5 is a control signal diagram of data processing.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an unmanned helicopter.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing a state where the unmanned helicopter is turning right while moving forward.

FIG. 8 is a rear view showing a state where the unmanned helicopter is turning right while moving forward.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a monitor screen displaying an expected trajectory.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen for a storage operation using a mouse.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen for a storage operation using a mouse.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a conversion process from position command data to speed command data.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a method of calculating a speed command value for each direction;

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of a screen showing a method of inputting a target position.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram of position determination for the remaining directions when a three-position command is input.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a remaining azimuth determination method based on three position inputs.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: operator, 8: unmanned helicopter, 14: personal computer, 15: monitor, 16: keyboard, 17: mouse,
18: memory, 19: communication device, 20: microcomputer, 2
1: GPS sensor, 22: gyro sensor, 23: communication device, 24: I / F circuit, 25: GPS satellite, 26: G
PS antenna, 27: GPS receiver, 28: I / F circuit, 29: Backup transmitter, 30: Main rotor, 3
1: rotor shaft, 32: actuator plate, 33a, 33
b, 33c: cylinder, 34: low-pass filter, 3
5: map display unit, 36: altitude display unit, 37: instruction mark, 38: expected trajectory, 39: flight area, 40: icon, 41: steering instruction button, 42: program flight button, 43: storage operation button, 44 : Icon, 45: target position data, 46: current position data, 47: subtractor,
51: target altitude data, 52: target azimuth data, 53:
Current altitude data, 54: current bearing data, 60: memory

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A personal computer having a monitor on the ground,
In a flight control system of an unmanned helicopter equipped with a microcomputer on the fuselage side and controlling the operation of the fuselage via the microcomputer based on the flight command data input to the personal computer, an expected flight trajectory is calculated based on the flight command data And
A flight control system for an unmanned helicopter, wherein the predicted flight trajectory is displayed on the monitor. 2. The flight control system for an unmanned helicopter according to claim 1, wherein said flight command data can be inputted by pointing on a screen of said monitor by a pointer. 3. The personal computer according to claim 1, wherein said flight command data can be inputted by numerically instructing said personal computer.
Or a flight control system for an unmanned helicopter according to item 2. 4. The flight control system for an unmanned helicopter according to claim 1, wherein an actual flight trajectory is displayed on the monitor in real time together with the predicted flight trajectory. 5. The flight command data according to claim 1, wherein one or more sets of speed command values for front / rear, left / right, up / down and rotation, or these speed command values and time are provided. The flight control system for an unmanned helicopter according to any one of the above.