Unmanned aerial vehicle, ground station thereof, and data transmission method

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an unmanned aerial vehicle, its ground station, and a data transmission method. Among them, a data transmission method is applied to the ground station of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and the method comprises: receiving data packets continuously sent by the unmanned aerial vehicle; performing data packet sequence number continuity detection on the received data packets; if it is detected that the data packet sequence number corresponding to the data packet is discontinuous, initiating a data packet retransmission request to the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the lost data packet sequence number. The unmanned aerial vehicle, its ground station, and the data transmission method provided by the present disclosure can effectively improve the utilization rate of the uplink transmission link.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicles, and in particular to an unmanned aerial vehicle and a ground station thereof, and a data transmission method. Background Art

[0002] Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can take photos of target objects according to the control instructions of the ground station, and transmit the captured video and other data to the ground station, so that the ground station can control the UAV to monitor the target object in real time.

[0003] In the above process, a communication link is pre-established between the ground station and the drone, and the communication link includes an uplink transmission link and a downlink transmission link. The uplink transmission link is used to transmit control instructions from the ground station to the drone, and the downlink transmission link is used to transmit data such as videos shot by the drone to the ground station.

[0004] At present, in order to ensure the correctness of the data, after sending data to the ground station, the drone will wait for the ground station to feedback the confirmation message. Specifically: the ground station verifies the data sent by the drone. If the verification passes, it will send a confirmation message to the drone through the uplink transmission link, so that the drone can continue to send the next data.

[0005] However, in the Point-to-Point Protocol between drones and ground stations, the bandwidth resources of the uplink transmission link are limited, much smaller than the bandwidth resources of the downlink transmission link. When the data transmission volume in the downlink transmission link is large, the corresponding confirmation message (usually does not contain valid data) may occupy all the bandwidth resources of the uplink transmission link, resulting in the control instructions (valid data) of the ground station being unable to be sent to the drone.

[0006] Therefore, it can be seen that how to improve the utilization rate of the uplink transmission link still needs to be solved urgently. Summary of the invention

[0007] In order to solve the above technical problems, one purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a drone and its ground station, and a data transmission method.

[0008] Among them, the technical solution adopted in this disclosure is:

[0009] A data transmission method is applied to a ground station of an unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising: receiving data packets continuously sent by the unmanned aerial vehicle; performing data packet sequence number continuity detection on the received data packets; if it is detected that the data packet sequence numbers corresponding to the data packets are discontinuous, initiating a data packet retransmission request to the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the lost data packet sequence numbers.

[0010] A data transmission method is applied to an unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising: receiving a data packet retransmission request during continuous data packet transmission, wherein the data packet retransmission request is initiated by a ground station to the unmanned aerial vehicle according to a lost data packet sequence number; performing a lost data packet query in a transmission buffer according to the lost data packet sequence number in the data packet retransmission request; and waiting for the current data packet transmission to be completed, and retransmitting the queried data packet to the ground station.

[0011] A ground station for an unmanned aerial vehicle comprises: a data packet receiving module for receiving data packets continuously sent by the unmanned aerial vehicle; a data packet detection module for performing a data packet sequence number continuity check on the received data packets; and a request for retransmission module for initiating a data packet retransmission request to the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the lost data packet sequence number if it is detected that the data packet sequence number corresponding to the data packet is discontinuous. A data transmission method between an unmanned aerial vehicle and a ground station comprises: a ground station receives data packets continuously sent by the unmanned aerial vehicle; performs a data packet sequence number continuity check on the received data packets; if it is detected that the data packet sequence number corresponding to the data packet is discontinuous, initiates a data packet retransmission request to the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the lost data packet sequence number; the unmanned aerial vehicle receives the data packet retransmission request; in a sending buffer, performs a lost data packet query according to the lost data packet sequence number in the data packet retransmission request; waits for the current data packet transmission to be completed, and retransmits the queried data packet to the ground station.

[0012] A drone comprises: a request receiving module, used for receiving a data packet retransmission request in the process of continuously sending data packets, wherein the data packet retransmission request is initiated by a ground station to the drone according to a lost data packet sequence number; a data packet query module, used for performing a lost data packet query in a sending buffer according to the lost data packet sequence number in the data packet retransmission request; and a data packet retransmission module, used for waiting for the completion of a currently-performing data packet transmission and retransmitting the queried data packet to the ground station.

[0013] A ground station for an unmanned aerial vehicle comprises: a processor and a storage medium, wherein the storage medium stores computer-readable instructions, and when the computer-readable instructions are executed by the processor, the data transmission method described above is implemented.

[0014] A drone comprises: a processor and a storage medium, wherein the storage medium stores computer-readable instructions, and when the computer-readable instructions are executed by the processor, the data transmission method described above is implemented.

[0015] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0016] While the UAV is continuously sending data packets, the ground station performs a continuity check on the packet sequence numbers of the received data packets. If it is detected that the packet sequence numbers corresponding to the data packets are discontinuous, a packet retransmission request is initiated to the UAV based on the lost packet sequence numbers.

[0017] That is to say, the ground station only requests the UAV to resend the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number when it detects that the data packet sequence number corresponding to the data packet is discontinuous, so as to ensure the correctness of the data. In this process, the confirmation message is no longer transmitted in the uplink transmission link, which greatly reduces the data transmission volume and ensures that the bandwidth resources of the uplink transmission link can be fully used for the control command sending of the ground station, thereby effectively improving the utilization rate of the uplink transmission link.

[0018] In addition, the drone no longer has to wait for confirmation messages from the ground station and can continue to send data packets, which not only reduces data transmission delays, but also effectively improves the utilization rate of the downlink transmission link.

[0019] It is to be understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the present disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 1 It is a data transmission timing diagram involved in the prior art.

[0022] Figure 2 This is a data retransmission timing diagram involved in the prior art.

[0023] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of an implementation environment involved in the present disclosure.

[0024] Figure 4 It is a hardware structure block diagram of a ground station according to an exemplary embodiment.

[0025] Figure 5 The figure is a flow chart showing a data transmission method according to an exemplary embodiment.

[0026] Figure 6 It is a data transmission timing diagram involved in the present disclosure.

[0027] Figure 7 This is a timing diagram of a data packet retransmission request loss involved in the present disclosure.

[0028] Figure 8The figure is a flow chart showing another data transmission method according to an exemplary embodiment.

[0029] Fig. 9 The figure is a flow chart showing another data transmission method according to an exemplary embodiment.

[0030] Fig.10 This is a data retransmission timing diagram involved in the present disclosure.

[0031] Fig.11 The figure is a flow chart showing another data transmission method according to an exemplary embodiment.

[0032] Fig.12 It is a timing diagram of clearing data packets involved in the present disclosure.

[0033] Fig.13 This is a timing diagram of merging data packet retransmission requests involved in the present disclosure.

[0034] Fig.14 The figure is a flow chart showing another data transmission method according to an exemplary embodiment.

[0035] Fig.15 This is a schematic diagram of a specific implementation of a data transmission method in an application scenario.

[0036] Fig.16 It is a block diagram of a ground station according to an exemplary embodiment.

[0037] Fig.17 is a block diagram of another drone according to an exemplary embodiment.

[0038] Fig.18 The present invention is a flowchart of a method for data transmission between a UAV and a ground station according to an exemplary embodiment.

[0039] The above-mentioned drawings have shown clear embodiments of the present disclosure, which will be described in more detail hereinafter. These drawings and textual descriptions are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way, but to illustrate the concepts of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art by referring to specific embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0040] Here, exemplary embodiments will be described in detail, examples of which are shown in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the drawings, the same numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The embodiments described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all embodiments consistent with the present disclosure. Instead, they are merely examples of devices and methods consistent with some aspects of the present disclosure as detailed in the appended claims.

[0041] As mentioned above, the ground station and the drone realize data transmission between the two through a pre-established communication link. Among them, the communication link includes an uplink transmission link and a downlink transmission link. The uplink transmission link is used to transmit at least the control instructions of the ground station to the drone, and the downlink transmission link is used to transmit data such as videos shot by the drone to the ground station.

[0042] Since the communication link has the open characteristics of a wireless transmission channel, data is easily interfered during transmission, causing data loss, bit errors, etc., which in turn causes the video data received by the ground station to be unable to form an image or mosaics to appear in the formed image. For this reason, the drone will wait for the ground station to feedback an acknowledgment message (ACK) after sending the data to ensure the correctness of the data. Figure 1 shown.

[0043] If the drone does not receive a confirmation message from the ground station, it considers the data lost and resends the data until it receives a confirmation message from the ground station. Figure 2 shown.

[0044] In summary, the ground station will confirm each piece of data. When the amount of data transmission is large, a large number of confirmation messages will be generated accordingly, which may occupy all the bandwidth resources of the uplink transmission link, thereby causing the control command to fail to reach the drone.

[0045] In addition, after sending data, the drone needs to wait for a confirmation message before it can continue to send the next data. During this process, the drone will not send any data, which not only reduces the utilization rate of the downlink transmission link, but also increases the data transmission delay.

[0046] Based on this, the data transmission method in the prior art still has the defect of low transmission link utilization. For this reason, a data transmission method is proposed in the present disclosure, which replaces the existing confirmation mechanism of the ground station to ensure the correctness of the data, thereby effectively improving the utilization of the transmission link, especially the utilization of the uplink transmission link.

[0047] Figure 3 Schematic diagram of an implementation environment involved in the above data transmission method. The implementation environment includes a ground station 100 and a drone 200.

[0048] The ground station 100 may be a handheld remote controller, a smart phone, a computer, a laptop computer, or other electronic devices that can be used to remotely control the drone 200.

[0049] The ground station 100 sends a control instruction to the drone 200 to control the drone to shoot the target object according to the control instruction, and transmits the shot video and other data to the ground station 100, so that the ground station can monitor the target object in real time through the drone 200.

[0050] Figure 4 is a hardware structure block diagram of a ground station 100 according to an exemplary embodiment. It should be noted that the ground station 100 is only an example adapted to the present disclosure and cannot be considered to provide any limitation on the scope of use of the present disclosure. The ground station 100 cannot be interpreted as needing to rely on or must have Figure 4 One or more components of the exemplary ground station 100 shown in FIG.

[0051] The hardware structure of the ground station 100 may vary greatly due to different configurations or performances, such as Figure 4 As shown, the ground station 100 includes: a power supply 110 , an interface 130 , at least one storage medium 150 , and at least one central processing unit (CPU) 170 .

[0052] The power supply 110 is used to provide operating voltage for various hardware devices on the ground station 100 .

[0053] The interface 130 includes at least one wired or wireless network interface 131 , at least one serial-to-parallel conversion interface 133 , at least one input-output interface 135 , and at least one USB interface 137 , etc., for communicating with external devices.

[0054] The storage medium 150 is a carrier for storing resources, which can be a random storage medium, a disk or an optical disk, etc. The resources stored thereon include an operating system 151, an application 153 and data 155, etc. The storage method can be temporary storage or permanent storage. Among them, the operating system 151 is used to manage and control the hardware devices and application 153 on the ground station 100 to realize the calculation and processing of the mass data 155 by the central processor 170. It can be Windows ServerTM, MacOS XTM, UnixTM, LinuxTM, FreeBSDTM, etc. The application 153 is a computer program based on the operating system 151 to complete at least one specific task, which can include at least one module ( Figure 4 Each module may include a series of operating instructions for the ground station 100. The data 155 may be photos, pictures, etc. stored in a disk.

[0055] The central processing unit 170 may include one or more processors and is configured to communicate with the storage medium 150 via a bus for computing and processing the mass data 155 in the storage medium 150 .

[0056] As described in detail above, the ground station 100 applicable to the present disclosure transmits data in the form of a series of operation instructions stored in the storage medium 150 read by the central processor 170 .

[0057] In addition, the present disclosure may also be implemented through hardware circuits or hardware circuits combined with software instructions. Therefore, the implementation of the present disclosure is not limited to any specific hardware circuits, software, or a combination of the two.

[0058] See also Figure 5 In an exemplary embodiment, a data transmission method is suitable for Figure 3 The ground station 100 of the implementation environment shown in the figure, the data transmission method can be executed by the ground station 100, and can include the following steps:

[0059] Step 310, receiving data packets continuously sent by the drone.

[0060] In the prior art, after sending a data packet, the drone needs to wait for a confirmation message before continuing to send the next data packet. During this process, the drone will not send any data packets, which not only reduces the utilization rate of the downlink transmission link, but also increases the transmission delay of the data packet.

[0061] To this end, in this embodiment, the ground station no longer confirms each data packet, that is, the drone does not have to wait for the confirmation message fed back by the ground station, but can continue to send data packets.

[0062] Accordingly, the ground station will continue to receive data packets sent by the drone, such as Figure 6 shown.

[0063] With this setting, the drone does not need to wait for confirmation messages from the ground station, which maximizes the use of the wireless transmission channel, improves the utilization rate of the downlink transmission link, and reduces data transmission delay.

[0064] Step 330: Perform a data packet sequence number continuity check on the received data packets.

[0065] It should be understood that during data transmission, data is transmitted in frames, and each frame of data is split into several data packets to reduce data transmission delay. Accordingly, the data packets have globally unique and continuous data packet sequence numbers.

[0066] In the absence of packet loss, the data packet sequence numbers corresponding to the data packets continuously received by the ground station are continuous.

[0067] Based on this, after receiving the data packet, the ground station will determine whether there is packet loss during the data transmission process by performing a data packet sequence number continuity check on the received data packet.

[0068] If it is detected that the data packet sequence numbers corresponding to the data packets are continuous, the process returns to step 310 to continue receiving the next data packet.

[0069] If it is detected that the data packet sequence numbers corresponding to the data packets are not continuous, the process jumps to step 350 .

[0070] Step 350, initiating a data packet retransmission request to the drone according to the lost data packet sequence number.

[0071] For example, if Figure 7 As shown, the data packet with data packet sequence number 6 is lost during the data transmission process. At this time, after the ground station receives the data packet with data packet sequence number 7, it performs a data packet sequence number continuity check on the data packet and finds that the data packet sequence numbers corresponding to the data packets are discontinuous, that is, after receiving the data packet with data packet sequence number 5, the data packet with data packet sequence number 6 that should actually be received does not arrive, then the data packet is determined to be lost, and the lost data packet number is determined to be 6.

[0072] Accordingly, the ground station will initiate a data packet retransmission request to the drone based on the lost data packet number 6, that is, requesting the drone to resend the data packet with data packet number 6, so as to ensure the integrity of data transmission, and then ensure the correctness of the video data, and avoid situations such as the video data being unable to form an image or the appearance of mosaics in the formed image.

[0073] For drones, new data packets will be continuously generated during the process of shooting the target object. Considering the delay of data transmission, a sending buffer will be pre-configured in the drone to store the data packets to be sent in the sending buffer. The sending buffer can be a physical memory, a random storage medium, a disk or an optical disk, etc.

[0074] In other words, the data packets that the ground station requests the drone to retransmit will be stored in the send buffer.

[0075] Therefore, when the UAV receives a packet retransmission request initiated by the ground station according to the lost packet sequence number, it will perform a lost packet query in the sending buffer according to the lost packet sequence number in the packet retransmission request. That is, it queries whether there is a packet corresponding to the lost packet sequence number in the sending buffer.

[0076] Taking the above example as an example, the drone will query whether there is a data packet with sequence number 6 in the sending buffer. If so, it will retransmit the queried data packet to the ground station.

[0077] Through the process described above, a data loss retransmission strategy is implemented, that is, the ground station only requests retransmission from the UAV when a packet is lost, without the need to confirm each data packet. This greatly reduces the data transmission volume of the confirmation message in the uplink transmission link, avoids the bandwidth resources of the uplink transmission link being occupied by invalid data, and effectively improves the utilization rate of the uplink transmission link.

[0078] See also Figure 8 In an exemplary embodiment, before step 330, the method described above may further include the following steps:

[0079] Step 410, verify the data packet.

[0080] Step 430: Store the verified data packets into the receiving buffer.

[0081] Due to bit errors during data transmission, the data packet sequence number corresponding to the data packet may be erroneous. It is understandable that if the data packet sequence number itself is erroneous, there is no need to detect the continuity of the data packet sequence number.

[0082] For this reason, before the data packet sequence number continuity check is performed on the data packet, the data packet will first be checked.

[0083] Specifically, the validity of the data packet is first checked, for example, the bit error rate of the data packet is checked. If the bit error rate is higher than the threshold, the data packet verification fails and the data packet is regarded as invalid data. Accordingly, the ground station will discard the data packet.

[0084] Secondly, when the data packet verification succeeds, the data packet is regarded as valid data. Accordingly, on the one hand, the ground station will perform a data packet sequence number continuity check on the data packet, that is, jump to step 330. On the other hand, the ground station stores the data packet in the receiving buffer and continues to receive the next data packet.

[0085] The receiving buffer is pre-configured in the ground station and can be a physical memory, a random storage medium, a disk or an optical disk, etc.

[0086] Furthermore, if Figure 8 As shown, the method described above may further include the following steps:

[0087] Step 450, performing framing processing on the data packets in the receiving buffer.

[0088] As mentioned above, during the data transmission process, data is transmitted in frames, and each frame of data is split into several data packets.

[0089] Correspondingly, after receiving several data packets contained in a frame of data, the ground station will perform framing processing on the several data packets.

[0090] Specifically, a plurality of data packets required for one frame of data are extracted from the data packets in the receiving buffer, and the plurality of data packets are reassembled into one frame of data.

[0091] See also Fig. 9 In an exemplary embodiment, after step 350, the method described above may further include the following steps:

[0092] Step 510: When the preset retransmission condition is met, determine whether a data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number is received.

[0093] It should be understood that when data retransmission fails, data retransmission will be performed again. In order to improve data transmission efficiency, data retransmission will not be performed indefinitely, but a retransmission condition will be preset, that is, data retransmission is allowed only when the preset retransmission condition is met.

[0094] The preset retransmission condition may be a preset number of retransmissions, for example, when the number of data retransmissions reaches the preset number of retransmissions, data retransmission will no longer be performed, or may be a preset retransmission time, for example, data retransmission is allowed only within the preset retransmission time.

[0095] Therefore, when the preset retransmission condition is met, the ground station first determines whether the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number is received, so as to further determine whether the data retransmission is successful.

[0096] If the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number has been received, it means that the data retransmission performed by the drone is successful. At this time, the ground station will stop initiating data packet retransmission requests to the drone.

[0097] On the contrary, if the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number is not received, it means that the data retransmission performed by the drone fails. At this time, the process jumps to step 530, and the ground station will request the drone to retransmit the data again.

[0098] Step 530, initiating a data packet retransmission request to the drone again according to the lost data packet sequence number.

[0099] For example, if Fig.10As shown, if the data packet retransmission request corresponding to the data packet with data packet sequence number 6 is lost during the data transmission process, the drone will not retransmit the data packet, and accordingly, the ground station will not be able to receive the data packet. At this time, when the ground station determines that the preset retransmission conditions are still met, it will send the data packet retransmission request corresponding to the data packet to the drone again.

[0100] Through the cooperation of the above embodiments, a limited number of data retransmissions are achieved, which is beneficial to ensuring the correctness of the data and improving the data transmission efficiency.

[0101] See also Fig.11 In an exemplary embodiment, after step 350, the method described above may further include the following steps:

[0102] Step 610: Receive a data packet loss message fed back by the drone.

[0103] The packet loss message indicates that there is no packet corresponding to the lost packet sequence number in the sending buffer of the drone.

[0104] As mentioned above, when the UAV receives a packet retransmission request initiated by the ground station according to the lost packet sequence number, it will perform a lost packet query in the sending buffer according to the lost packet sequence number in the packet retransmission request. That is, it queries whether there is a packet corresponding to the lost packet sequence number in the sending buffer.

[0105] Furthermore, due to the limited storage space of the sending buffer, the data packets in the sending buffer need to be cleared. Specifically, a cache time is preset, that is, when the cache time of the data packets in the sending buffer reaches the preset cache time, the data packets whose cache time reaches the preset cache time are cleared.

[0106] Based on this, when the drone performs a data packet query in the sending buffer, the cache time of the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number may reach the preset cache time and be cleared.

[0107] like Fig.12 As shown, there is no data packet in the sending buffer of the drone corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number 6. Accordingly, the drone will generate a data packet loss message and feed the data packet loss message back to the ground station.

[0108] For the ground station, after receiving the data packet loss message sent by the drone, it is learned that the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number 6 no longer exists.

[0109] On the one hand, stop requesting the drone to retransmit the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number 6, that is, jump to step 630 and stop sending the data packet retransmission request containing the lost data packet sequence number 6 to the drone.

[0110] On the other hand, the process jumps to step 650 to perform packet loss processing on the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number 6.

[0111] Step 630: Stop sending data packet retransmission requests according to the data packet loss message.

[0112] Furthermore, if Fig.11 As shown, the method described above may further include the following steps:

[0113] Step 650: Perform packet loss processing on the data frame that has lost the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number, and generate a frame loss message report according to the frame number corresponding to the data frame.

[0114] The packet loss processing is specifically as follows: finding the data frame where the corresponding data packet is located according to the sequence number of the lost data packet, and discarding all the data packets contained in the data frame.

[0115] For example, a data frame with frame number 1 contains data packets with sequence numbers 1-4, and a data frame with frame number 2 contains data packets with sequence numbers 5-8. Assuming that the lost data packet number is 6, the remaining data packets contained in the data frame with frame number 2 are discarded, that is, data packets with sequence numbers 5, 7, and 8 are discarded.

[0116] In an exemplary embodiment, before step 350 or step 530, the method described above may further include the following steps:

[0117] Determine whether there are several data packet retransmission requests.

[0118] If so, several data packet retransmission requests are merged to send the merged data packet retransmission request to the drone.

[0119] As mentioned above, due to the open nature of the communication link as a wireless transmission channel, data is easily interfered with during transmission, causing data loss, bit errors, and other phenomena.

[0120] That is, during the data transmission process, not only data packets may be lost, but also data packet retransmission requests for retransmitting data packets may be lost, thereby causing a phenomenon in which multiple data packets need to be retransmitted.

[0121] For example, if Fig.13 As shown, the data packet with sequence number 6 is lost, and the data packet retransmission request for retransmitting the data packet is also lost. At this time, the drone continues to send data packets. Assuming that the data packet with sequence number 7 is still lost, two data packets are lost at the same time. Accordingly, the ground station will send two data packet retransmission requests to the drone respectively for the two lost data packets.

[0122] It can be understood that since the bandwidth resources of the uplink transmission link are limited, if there are too many data packet retransmission requests, the utilization rate of the uplink transmission link will still be reduced.

[0123] Therefore, in this embodiment, several data packet retransmission requests are combined for processing, so as to improve the utilization rate of the uplink transmission link, and at the same time effectively reduce the processing pressure of the ground station, which is conducive to improving the processing efficiency of the ground station.

[0124] See also Fig.14 In an exemplary embodiment, a data transmission method is suitable for Figure 3 The drone 200 of the implementation environment shown in the figure, the data transmission method can be performed by the drone 200, and can include the following steps:

[0125] Step 710: receiving a data packet retransmission request during the process of continuously sending data packets. The data packet retransmission request is initiated by the ground station to the drone according to the sequence number of the lost data packet.

[0126] Step 730: In the sending buffer, query the lost data packet according to the lost data packet sequence number in the data packet retransmission request.

[0127] Step 750, wait for the current data packet transmission to be completed, and retransmit the queried data packet to the ground station.

[0128] Through the above process, the UAV can continue to send data packets without waiting for the confirmation message fed back by the ground station, thereby improving the utilization rate of the downlink transmission link and reducing the data transmission delay at the same time.

[0129] In an exemplary embodiment, after step 730, the method described above may further include the following steps:

[0130] If the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number is not found in the sending buffer, a data packet loss message is fed back to the ground station.

[0131] In an exemplary embodiment, if the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number is not found in the sending buffer, before feeding back the data packet loss message to the ground station, the method as described above may further include the following steps:

[0132] When the buffering time of the data packet in the sending buffer reaches the preset buffering time, the data packet whose buffering time reaches the preset buffering time is cleared.

[0133] Under the effect of the above-mentioned embodiment, the sending buffer is cleared regularly, which is beneficial to improving the storage capacity and storage utilization rate of the sending buffer.

[0134] Fig.15This is a specific implementation diagram of a data transmission method in an application scenario. Figure 3 The implementation environment shown and Fig.15 The application scenario shown describes the data transmission process in each embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0135] When the drone 200 takes real-time photos of the target object, it will continuously generate new data packets① and store them in the sending buffer to wait for being sent to the ground station 100.

[0136] Correspondingly, the sending module of the drone 200 will obtain the data packet ② waiting to be sent from the sending buffer, and continuously send the data packet ② to the ground station 100.

[0137] For the ground station 100, the data packets ③ continuously sent by the drone 200 are received through the receiving module, and the validity check is performed on the received data packets ③.

[0138] If the data packet ③ passes the verification, on the one hand, the data packet ④ that passes the verification is stored in the receiving buffer, and the framing module further obtains the data packet ⑤ from the receiving buffer for framing processing.

[0139] On the other hand, the data packet ③ is further checked for data packet sequence number continuity. If it is detected that the data packet sequence number corresponding to the data packet ③ is discontinuous, a request is made to the drone 200 to resend the data packet ③.

[0140] For the drone 200, the sending module receives the data packet retransmission request ⑥, and extracts the lost data packet sequence number ⑦ from the data packet retransmission request ⑥.

[0141] Furthermore, a lost data packet query is performed in the sending buffer according to the lost data packet sequence number ⑦. If a data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number is obtained, the data packet is retransmitted to the ground station 100.

[0142] On the contrary, if the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number cannot be found, a data packet loss message is generated and fed back to the ground station 100, so that the ground station 100 is informed that there is no data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number in the sending buffer of the drone 200, and then stops sending the data packet retransmission request.

[0143] In each embodiment of the present disclosure, the ground station does not need to feed back a confirmation message to the drone, and the drone does not need to wait for the confirmation message but continues to send data packets to the ground station, thereby maximizing the use of the wireless transmission channel, effectively improving the utilization rate of the transmission link, and effectively reducing the data transmission delay.

[0144] The following is an embodiment of the device of the present disclosure, which can be used to execute the data transmission method involved in the present disclosure. For details not disclosed in the embodiment of the device of the present disclosure, please refer to the embodiment of the data transmission method involved in the present disclosure.

[0145] See also Fig.16 In an exemplary embodiment, a ground station 800 includes but is not limited to: a data packet receiving module 810, a data packet detecting module 830 and a request retransmission module 850.

[0146] The data packet receiving module 810 is used to receive data packets continuously sent by the drone.

[0147] The data packet detection module 830 is used to perform data packet sequence number continuity detection on received data packets.

[0148] The retransmission request module 850 is used to initiate a data packet retransmission request to the drone according to the lost data packet sequence number if it is detected that the data packet sequence number corresponding to the data packet is discontinuous.

[0149] In an exemplary embodiment, the ground station 800 further includes, but is not limited to: a data packet checking module and a data packet storage module.

[0150] The data packet verification module is used to verify the data packet.

[0151] The data packet storage module is used to store the data packets that have passed the verification into the receiving buffer.

[0152] Furthermore, the ground station 800 also includes but is not limited to: a data packet framing module.

[0153] The data packet framing module is used to perform framing processing on the data packets in the receiving buffer.

[0154] In an exemplary embodiment, the ground station 800 further includes but is not limited to: a determination module.

[0155] The judging module is used to judge whether the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number is received within a preset retransmission time.

[0156] If not, the retransmission request module 850 is notified.

[0157] In an exemplary embodiment, the ground station 800 further includes but is not limited to: a message receiving module and a stop retransmission module.

[0158] The message receiving module is used to receive a packet loss message fed back by the drone. The packet loss message indicates that there is no packet corresponding to the lost packet sequence number in the sending buffer of the drone.

[0159] The stop retransmission module is used for stopping sending data packet retransmission request according to the data packet loss message.

[0160] Furthermore, the ground station 800 also includes but is not limited to: a frame loss module.

[0161] The frame loss module is used to perform packet loss processing on the data frame that has lost the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number, and generate a frame loss message report according to the frame number corresponding to the data frame.

[0162] In an exemplary embodiment, the ground station 800 further includes, but is not limited to: a request merging module.

[0163] The request merging module is used to determine whether there are several data packet retransmission requests. If so, the several data packet retransmission requests are merged to send the merged data packet retransmission request to the drone.

[0164] See also Fig.17 In an exemplary embodiment, a drone 900 includes but is not limited to: a request receiving module 910, a data packet query module 930 and a data packet retransmission module 950.

[0165] The request receiving module 910 is used to receive a data packet retransmission request during the process of continuously sending data packets. The data packet retransmission request is initiated by the ground station to the drone according to the sequence number of the lost data packet.

[0166] The data packet query module 930 is used to query lost data packets in the sending buffer according to the lost data packet sequence number in the data packet retransmission request.

[0167] The data packet retransmission module 950 is used to wait for the completion of the current data packet transmission and retransmit the queried data packet to the ground station.

[0168] In an exemplary embodiment, the drone 900 further includes, but is not limited to: a message feedback module.

[0169] The message feedback module is used to feed back a packet loss message to the ground station if the packet corresponding to the lost packet sequence number is not found in the sending buffer.

[0170] In an exemplary embodiment, the drone 900 further includes, but is not limited to: a data packet clearing module.

[0171] The data packet clearing module is used to clear the data packets whose cache time reaches the preset cache time when the cache time of the data packets in the sending buffer reaches the preset cache time.

[0172] It should be noted that, when the ground station / UAV provided in the above embodiment performs data retransmission processing, only the division of the above-mentioned functional modules is used as an example. In actual applications, the above-mentioned functions can be assigned to different functional modules as needed, that is, the internal structure of the ground station / UAV will be divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the functions described above.

[0173] In addition, the embodiments of the ground station / UAV and data transmission method provided in the above embodiments belong to the same concept, and the specific manner in which each module performs the operation has been described in detail in the method embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0174] See also Fig.18 In an exemplary embodiment, a data transmission method between a drone and a ground station is applicable to Figure 3 The ground station 100 and the drone 200 in the illustrated implementation environment may include the following steps:

[0175] Step 1010: The ground station receives data packets continuously sent by the drone.

[0176] In order to avoid the situation where the drone needs to wait for a confirmation message after sending a data packet, which causes excessive delay in data packet transmission and thus results in low utilization of the downlink transmission link, in this embodiment, the drone does not have to wait for the ground station to feedback a confirmation message, but can continuously send data packets.

[0177] Correspondingly, for the ground station, the ground station can receive the data packets continuously sent by the drone.

[0178] Through such an arrangement, the wireless transmission channel is utilized to the maximum extent, the utilization rate of the downlink transmission link is improved, and the data transmission delay is reduced.

[0179] Step 1030: Perform a data packet sequence number continuity check on the received data packets.

[0180] As mentioned above, in the absence of packet loss, the data packet sequence numbers corresponding to the data packets continuously received by the ground station are continuous.

[0181] Based on this, the ground station can perform data packet sequence number continuity detection on the received data packets to determine whether there is packet loss during data transmission.

[0182] If it is detected that the data packet sequence numbers corresponding to the data packets are continuous, return to step 1010 to continue receiving the next data packet sent by the drone.

[0183] On the contrary, if it is detected that the data packet sequence numbers corresponding to the data packets are not continuous, the process jumps to step 1050 .

[0184] Step 1050, initiating a data packet retransmission request to the drone according to the lost data packet sequence number.

[0185] Step 1070, the drone receives a data packet retransmission request.

[0186] If the ground station detects that the data packet sequence number corresponding to the data packet is discontinuous, it means that packet loss has occurred during the data transmission process. At this time, the ground station will request the drone to retransmit the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number.

[0187] Correspondingly, the UAV can receive a data packet retransmission request initiated by the ground station for the lost data packet sequence number.

[0188] Step 1090: In the sending buffer, query the lost data packet according to the lost data packet sequence number in the data packet retransmission request.

[0189] As mentioned above, a sending buffer is pre-configured in the drone to store the data packets to be sent in the sending buffer. In other words, the data packets corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number requested for retransmission by the ground station are stored in the sending buffer pre-configured by the drone.

[0190] Therefore, before retransmitting a data packet, the drone first queries in the sending buffer whether there is a data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number.

[0191] If it exists, the process jumps to step 1110 and retransmits the data packet obtained by the query to the ground station. At this point, the data retransmission is completed to ensure the correctness of the data.

[0192] On the contrary, if it does not exist, the UAV will generate a data packet loss message to feed back to the ground station. The data packet loss message is used to indicate that the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number does not exist in the sending buffer of the UAV, so that the ground station knows that the data packet requested for retransmission no longer exists, and accordingly stops sending data packet retransmission requests to the UAV, and at the same time performs packet loss processing on the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number, for example, all data packets in the data frame that should have contained the data packet are discarded.

[0193] Step 1110, wait for the current data packet transmission to be completed, and retransmit the queried data packet to the ground station.

[0194] In the interaction process between the ground station and the UAV involved in the above embodiment, the UAV does not have to wait for the confirmation message from the ground station and can continuously send data packets. Relative to the ground station, the ground station can continuously receive data packets with continuous data packet numbers sent by the UAV, and use this to determine whether data packet loss has occurred, and then request the UAV to resend the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet number when the data packet number is discontinuous. This not only reduces the data transmission delay and improves the utilization rate of the downlink transmission link, but also avoids the ground station from using the uplink transmission link to transmit confirmation messages, thereby improving the utilization rate of the uplink transmission link.

[0195] A ground station for an unmanned aerial vehicle comprises a processor and a storage medium.

[0196] Wherein, the storage medium stores computer-readable instructions, and when the computer-readable instructions are executed by the processor, the data transmission method applied to the ground station as described above is implemented.

[0197] A drone includes a processor and a storage medium.

[0198] Among them, the storage medium stores computer-readable instructions, and when the computer-readable instructions are executed by the processor, the data transmission method applied to the drone as described above is implemented.

[0199] The above contents are only preferred exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and are not intended to limit the implementation scheme of the present disclosure. A person skilled in the art can easily make corresponding changes or modifications based on the main concept and spirit of the present disclosure. Therefore, the protection scope of the present disclosure shall be based on the protection scope required by the claims.

Claims

1. A data transmission method, applied to a ground station of an unmanned aerial vehicle, It is characterized in that include: When receiving the data packets continuously sent by the drone, the ground station no longer confirms each data packet; Check whether there is packet loss in the received data packets; Initiating a data packet retransmission request to the drone when there is a lost data packet; receiving a data packet loss message fed back by the drone, wherein the data packet loss message indicates that there is no data packet corresponding to the lost data packet in the sending buffer of the drone; Stop sending data packet retransmission requests according to the data packet loss message; After stopping sending the data packet retransmission request according to the data packet loss message, the method further includes: All data packets contained in the data frame corresponding to the lost data packet are discarded, and a frame loss message is generated for reporting.

2. The method according to claim 1, It is characterized in that The detecting whether the received data packet has packet loss phenomenon comprises: Performing a packet sequence number continuity check on the received data packets; Then, initiating a data packet retransmission request to the drone when there is a lost data packet includes: If it is detected that the data packet sequence number corresponding to the data packet is discontinuous, a data packet retransmission request is initiated to the drone according to the lost data packet sequence number.

3. The method according to claim 2, It is characterized in that The packet loss message indicates that there is no packet corresponding to the lost packet sequence number in the transmission buffer of the drone; Then the discarding of all data packets contained in the data frame corresponding to the lost data packet and generating a frame loss message report includes: The data frame that has lost the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number is processed for packet loss, and a frame loss message is generated and reported according to the frame number corresponding to the data frame. The packet loss processing is to find the data frame where the corresponding data packet is located according to the lost data packet sequence number, and discard all data packets contained in the data frame.

4. The method according to claim 2, It is characterized in that Before performing the packet sequence number continuity detection on the received data packets, the method further includes: Verifying the data packet; The verified data packets are stored in a receiving buffer, and the step of performing a data packet sequence number continuity check on the received data packets is jumped into; Furthermore, the method further comprises: Perform framing processing on the data packets in the receiving buffer.

5. The method according to claim 2, It is characterized in that If it is detected that the data packet sequence number corresponding to the data packet is discontinuous, after initiating a data packet retransmission request to the drone according to the lost data packet sequence number, the method further includes: When a preset retransmission condition is met, determining whether a data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number is received; If not, a data packet retransmission request is initiated to the drone again according to the lost data packet sequence number.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, It is characterized in that Before initiating a data packet retransmission request to the drone, the method further includes: Determine whether there are several data packet retransmission requests, and if so, merge the several data packet retransmission requests to send the merged data packet retransmission requests to the drone.

7. A data transmission method, applied to unmanned aerial vehicles, It is characterized in that include: In the process of continuously sending data packets, receiving a data packet retransmission request initiated by the ground station when there is a lost data packet; the continuous sending of data packets means that the UAV does not need to wait for confirmation information fed back by the ground station, but can continuously send data packets; In the sending buffer, querying lost data packets according to the data packet retransmission request; When there is no data packet corresponding to the lost data packet in the sending buffer, feeding back a data packet loss message to the ground station, so that the ground station stops sending a data packet retransmission request according to the data packet loss message; The method further comprises: Feedback a data packet loss message to the ground station, so that the ground station discards all data packets contained in the data frame corresponding to the lost data packet according to the data packet loss message, and generates a frame loss message report.

8. The method according to claim 7, It is characterized in that The method further comprises: The data packet corresponding to the lost data packet is queried in the sending buffer, then the currently-performed data packet transmission is waited for to be completed, and the queried data packet is retransmitted to the ground station.

9. A data transmission method between a UAV and a ground station, It is characterized in that include: The ground station receives data packets continuously sent by the drone, and the ground station no longer confirms each data packet; Performing a packet sequence number continuity check on the received data packets; If it is detected that the data packet sequence number corresponding to the data packet is discontinuous, a data packet retransmission request is initiated to the drone according to the lost data packet sequence number; The drone receives the data packet retransmission request; In the sending buffer, querying lost data packets according to the lost data packet sequence number in the data packet retransmission request; When there is no data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number in the sending buffer, feeding back a data packet loss message to the ground station, so that the ground station stops sending data packet retransmission requests according to the data packet loss message; The method further comprises: The ground station performs packet loss processing on the data frame that has lost the data packet corresponding to the lost data packet sequence number, and generates a frame loss message report based on the frame number corresponding to the data frame. The packet loss processing is to find the data frame where the corresponding data packet is located based on the lost data packet sequence number, and discard all data packets contained in the data frame.

10. A ground station for drones, It is characterized in that include: at least one processor; and A storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, implement the data transmission method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

11. A drone, It is characterized in that include: at least one processor; and A storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, implement the data transmission method according to claim 7 or 8.

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