JP2006213302A - Wide area/high-accuracy control system for mobile object through cellular phone network - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wide area/high-accuracy control system for a mobile object through a cellular phone network capable of dramatically enhancing the convenience and effects since the controllable range of the mobile object corresponds to the telecommunicable range of the cellular phone and is broadened not only around Japan but also worldwide, and enables moving images and highly fine images to be online transmitted from the mobile object to a remote control device. <P>SOLUTION: An attitude-control device for controlling the movement of the mobile object, a detecting device for detecting the situation of the attitude and movement, an image pickup device and a sensor for taking in the external information such as images, and a telecommunication control device for controlling the cellular phone network, which are mounted on the mobile object, are electrically connected and constituted on a semiconductor board, for example. In a control device at a remote point, the telecommunication control device for controlling a cellular phone network, a device for controlling the movement of the mobile object, and a device for processing the external information such as images taken by the mobile object are constituted by, for example, the programs of a general-purpose computer and so on. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

The present invention relates to a technique for controlling a moving speed, a moving direction, a posture, and the like of a moving object that moves in the air, on the ground, or on the water surface.

Technical background

In the conventional technology, a method of connecting a mobile unit and a remote point control device using weak radio waves permitted by the Radio Law has been adopted, but weak radio has a limited range and is moving over a wide area. It was not suitable for controlling. In addition, a high-speed transmission line could not be set.

The present invention relates to a method for setting a wide-area and high-speed transmission path by using a mobile phone and controlling a moving object from a remote location over a wide area with high accuracy using a high-performance control device such as a computer. .

The conventional technology uses a weak radio wave, so the controllable range is narrow, and it is around 1 km depending on environmental conditions such as topography.

In addition, the communication path between the moving object and the control device is a narrow band, and it has not been possible to send large volumes of information such as moving images and high-definition images.

The present invention solves all the above problems economically by setting a mobile phone line between a moving object and a remote point control device and transmitting information using this communication path.

  According to the present invention, the controllable range of a moving object matches the communicable range of a mobile phone and spreads not only in Japan but throughout the world.

Since moving images and high-definition images can be transmitted online from a moving object to a remote control device, convenience and utility are dramatically increased.

Equipped with a posture control device that controls the movement of a moving object, a detection device that detects the state of posture and motion, an imaging device that incorporates external information such as images, and a communication control device that controls the sensor and mobile phone line. For example, a semiconductor board is configured.

The remote location control device includes a communication control device for controlling a mobile phone line, a device for controlling the movement of a moving object, and a device for processing external information such as an image acquired by the moving object, such as a program for a general-purpose computer. Constitute.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a motion information detection device mounted on a flying object, 2 is a motion control device, 3 is a mobile phone terminal, and a is an electric circuit network connecting them.
b is a mobile phone line, 4 is a second mobile phone terminal connected to a remote control device, 5 is a remote control device, and c is an electric network connecting them. The number of mobile phone lines b connecting the flying object and the remote point may be single or plural depending on the band and the transmission speed.

The motion information detection device 1 generates information such as a built-in GPS sensor, speed sensor, altitude sensor, tilt sensor, or moving object engine sensor, steering system sensor, abnormality detection sensor, etc. at regular time intervals or depending on the type of information. And is sent out to the mobile phone terminal 3 through the electric circuit a. When the second mobile phone terminal 4 that is remote is dialed by a command from the remote control device 5 or manually, and the mobile phone terminal 3 of the flying object is called, the mobile phone terminal 3 automatically responds and sends a response signal to the mobile phone 4. And the mobile phone line b is set.
When the remote control device 5 recognizes that the mobile phone line b has been set, the remote control device 5 sequentially reads information from the motion information detection device 1 and performs predetermined processing.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the flow of processing information such as the position, posture, and moving speed from the motion information detecting device 1 in the remote control device. Information sent from the motion information detecting device is received by the motion information receiving unit, and attributes of information such as position information, posture information, and movement speed information are identified and passed to the next wind estimation unit.

The operation of the wind estimation unit is shown in Fig.-3. The wind estimation unit detects the difference between the atmospheric speed of the Pitot tube and the ground speed by GPS, and estimates the wind component. Considering the wind, the optimal flight path to the destination or from the destination to the departure point changes. As shown in the figure above, let us consider a flight path where the flying object at the origin (0, 0) first flies to the coordinates (0, 500) in the windy environment and returns to the origin. By setting an evaluation function to be minimized such as battery consumption or flight time, a trajectory optimization problem (optimal control problem) can be defined and solved with a standard personal computer.

Since it is desirable for the flying object to fly within the radio wave reachable range of the mobile phone station on the ground, the movement path is optimally calculated taking this into consideration. Specifically, a weight is set for a grid point on the movement route, and a route with the smallest weight is selected. The weight at each grid point is calculated from the transmission / reception power and the required turning amount in communication with the base station. This is shown in Figure-4. In the present embodiment, in addition to the embodiment described above, the data storage means including the position coordinates and output specification data of the mobile phone radio communication base station in the moving area, and the future movement path of the mobile object are indicated by the radio communication base station. It is a guidance control device which consists of a route calculation means to determine based on a communicable route.
In the route calculation means, a weight is set to the grid point on the moving route, and the route having the smallest weight is selected. The weight at each grid point is calculated from the transmission / reception power and the required turning amount in communication with the base station.
The coordinates of the base station are obtained using a database as data storage means.
In a moving object that uses a mobile phone as a wireless communication means, guidance may be difficult due to the disconnection of the mobile communication base station of the mobile phone while moving to a target point. According to the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to perform highly accurate guidance without interrupting communication by mainly selecting a path that can communicate with a base station.
In addition, it is possible to store information on obstacles and altitude during movement in the remote control device and set an optimum movement route in consideration of such a situation.

The control information transmitting unit transmits the motion correction data transferred from the control information creating unit to the moving object motion control device 2 through the mobile phone terminal 4, the mobile phone line b, and the hull phone terminal 3. The motion control device 2 operates the engine, the direction rod and the like of the moving object connected thereto according to the motion correction data.

An example of the flow of data transmitted to the mobile phone line a is shown in FIG. The downstream direction is data sent from the motion information detection device 1 to the remote control device 5. In the downstream direction, S indicates a synchronization signal and D indicates data. The synchronization signal is transmitted when there is no data. Each data is composed of a header part and an information part for attribute identification, and the length thereof is constant or variable. Some data is transmitted at regular intervals, such as position information detected by GPS, and some data is transmitted at indefinite times, such as failure information. Data attributes include, for example, GPS information, speed, altitude, inclination, traveling direction, engine speed, obstacle information, and other data specific to the operation and control of the moving object, as well as various external devices such as cameras and infrared sensors mounted on the moving object. Data from observation devices are also included. Data for transmission control is also included.

The upstream direction is data transmitted from the remote control device 5 to the operation control device 2. S is a synchronization signal sent when there is no data, and C is command data for operation control. In addition to commands specific to moving object movement control such as moving object movement correction, speed control, take-off and landing control, start / stop control, etc., the command controls on / off, direction, sensitivity, etc. Commands are also included.
Commands for transmission control are also included.

In some cases, data transmission through a mobile phone line may be interrupted due to an instantaneous interruption of the ground line or a lack of radio wave intensity. As a countermeasure, this method can adopt various measures to improve reliability. For example, an error control technique can be adopted for uplink and downlink data transmission, and data and commands lost due to the interruption of the transmission path can be retransmitted or automatically reproduced by error correction codes. These are known techniques.

As a countermeasure against data transmission interruption peculiar to this method, there are a control method by the remote control device 5 and a control method by the operation control device 2.
The remote control device 5 transmits a transmission path check command to the operation control device 2 at regular intervals. If the operation control apparatus 2 receives this normally, it notifies the operation information detection apparatus 1 of reception confirmation. The motion information detection device 1 sends transmission control data for confirmation of reception to the remote control device. The remote control device 5 determines that an interruption has occurred if transmission control data for confirmation of reception cannot be received within a predetermined time from transmission of the transmission path check command. The operation information receiving unit of the remote control device 5 also determines that an interruption has occurred even if it does not receive downstream information (synchronization signal and various data) within a certain time. In any case, the remote control device 5 instructs the telephone terminal 4 to go off-hook and redial. If recovery is not possible within a certain time, transmission of the transmission path check command is stopped and an alarm is output to the outside.

The operation control device 2 determines that the operation is interrupted when no transmission path check command is received for a certain period of time. Further, when the mobile phone terminal 3 of the moving object receives information that the received radio wave intensity has become below a certain level for a certain time or more, it is determined to be interrupted.
In any case, the operation control device switches the control mode from the remote control device to an autonomous control mode based on a movement route or operation program set in advance.

In the autonomous control mode, for example, automatic stop at an interruption occurrence point, automatic circular motion, or automatic movement to a predetermined point is performed. In the autonomous control mode, the control returns to the remote control mode when the control from the ground is restored.

Figure 6 shows an example of target tracking control using a camera mounted on an unmanned airplane.
The unmanned airplane flies under route control by a target search route control program preset in the remote control device 5. For example, you can fly in a grid so that you can observe a specified area without leaving the camera. Information from the on-camera camera connected to the motion detection device 1 is continuously received by the motion information receiving unit of the remote control device 5 and compared with target feature data set in advance by an image data feature search program. When image data that matches the target feature data is received, the program immediately switches to the target tracking control program and proceeds to target tracking.

The target tracking method includes, for example, turning on the target in accordance with the moving speed of the target or flying by igniting the smoke generator.

Explanation of system configuration Illustration of control flow Explanatory diagram of trajectory optimization in wind estimation unit Illustration of movement path control Data flow diagram Tracking control explanatory diagram by camera

Claims (4)

A detection device (referred to as a motion information detection device) for the position, orientation, and movement speed of the object mounted on a moving object moving in the air, the ground, or the water surface, and a device for controlling the movement speed, movement direction, posture, etc. of the object ( In a configuration in which a motion control device) is connected to a mobile phone terminal mounted on a moving object, After calling and connecting the mobile phone terminal mounted on the moving object from the remote control device at the remote location and the second mobile phone terminal connected thereto by dial or other means, the operation information detection device through the set call line Automatically captures information from the remote control device, transfers the captured image mounted on the moving object to the remote control device, along with a signal to monitor the status of the moving object, By comparing the actual flight status with the travel route, speed, etc. set in the remote control device in advance, the optimal flight route considering the wind and mobile phone line ground station is calculated by estimating the wind condition in the air. Send the flight route command value according to the situation back to the moving object, A system that performs optimum motion control automatically and continuously through motion control devices mounted on moving objects