Control method, device and electronic equipment of combined solar-powered drone group

Abstract

The present invention provides a control method for a combined solar-powered drone group, wherein the drone group includes a plurality of drones connected in parallel, wherein the plurality of drones include a main unit and a plurality of sub-units, and solar cells are covered on the wings of the drones to supply power to the drone group through solar radiation. The control method comprises: in response to an instruction to enter a preset flight mode, respectively sending instructions to the plurality of drones to execute a first flight attitude so that the plurality of drones are in an initial flight state; respectively obtaining the solar radiation incident angles of the plurality of drones based on the initial flight state; determining a first roll angle of the rear wings of the plurality of drones based on the solar radiation incident angle; and sending an instruction to adjust the roll angle of the rear wings to the plurality of drones based on the first roll angle so that the roll angle of the rear wings of the plurality of drones is at the first roll angle.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of aircraft control technology, and in particular to a control method, device and electronic equipment for a combined solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle group. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, with the rapid development of flight control, navigation, communication and other technologies, drones have not only formed their own industry, but also developed at an extremely strong speed. With the continuous growth of market scale, the continuous development of new market fields and the increasingly rich application scenarios, the types of drones are becoming more and more numerous and more refined, including solar drones.

[0003] The current solar drones are limited by the energy density of energy storage batteries and the conversion efficiency of solar cells. They have the characteristics of large aspect ratio and small wing load, which are prone to large deflection and deformation. In addition, they also have shortcomings such as low reliability, weak load capacity, and strict airport take-off and landing conditions. Summary of the invention

[0004] In view of this, an embodiment of the present invention provides a control method, device and electronic equipment for a combined solar-powered drone group.

[0005] According to one aspect of the present invention, a control method for a combined solar-powered drone group is provided, wherein the drone group includes a plurality of drones connected in parallel, the plurality of drones include a main unit and a plurality of sub-units, and the wings of the drones are covered with solar cells to supply power to the drone group through solar radiation. The control method includes: in response to an instruction to enter a preset flight mode, sending instructions to execute a first flight attitude to the plurality of drones respectively so that the plurality of drones are in an initial flight state; obtaining the solar radiation incident angles of the plurality of drones respectively based on the initial flight state; determining a first roll angle of the rear wings of the plurality of drones based on the solar radiation incident angle; and sending an instruction to adjust the roll angle of the rear wings to the plurality of drones based on the first roll angle so that the roll angle of the rear wings of the plurality of drones is at the first roll angle.

[0006] In the embodiment of the present invention, it also includes: based on the increase in the amount of solar radiation received, adjusting the second roll angles of the plurality of rear wings of the drone until it is detected that the increase in the amount of solar radiation received is zero.

[0007] In an embodiment of the present invention, after sending an instruction to adjust the roll angle of the rear wing to multiple drones, the method also includes: determining the relative positions between adjacent drones based on the first roll angle and the spans of the rear wings of the multiple drones; determining the second flight attitude of the drone based on the first roll angle and the relative position; determining the first rudder deflection angle and the first motor speed of the drone through a control law algorithm based on the second flight attitude and the relative position; and controlling the rudder deflection angle and the motor speed of the drone to be at the first rudder deflection angle and the first motor speed, so that the roll angle of the rear wing of the drone is at the first roll angle.

[0008] In an embodiment of the present invention, the adjusting of the second roll angle of the rear wings of the multiple drones includes: determining the relative positions between adjacent drones based on a preset second roll angle and the spans of the rear wings of the multiple drones; determining the third flight attitude of the multiple drones based on the preset second roll angle and the relative position; determining the second rudder deflection angle and the second motor speed of the multiple drones through a control law algorithm based on the third flight attitude and the relative position; and controlling the rudder deflection angle and the motor speed of the drones to be at the second rudder deflection angle and the second motor speed, so that the roll angle of the rear wings of the multiple drones is at the preset second roll angle.

[0009] In the embodiment of the present invention, the increase in the solar radiation received amount is determined based on the change in the solar cell electrical signal.

[0010] In an embodiment of the present invention, the method of respectively obtaining the solar radiation incident angles of the multiple UAVs based on the initial flight state includes: selecting any position on the ground as a ground coordinate system; determining multiple body coordinate systems based on preset positions of the multiple UAVs in the initial flight state; determining multiple transformation matrices of the ground coordinate system and the multiple body coordinate systems based on the ground coordinate system and the multiple body coordinate systems; and determining the solar radiation incident angles of the multiple UAVs based on the multiple transformation matrices and the ground solar radiation incident angle.

[0011] In an embodiment of the present invention, the ground solar radiation incident angle is determined based on the latitude, solar hour angle and solar declination angle of the solar cell when the drone is in an initial flight state.

[0012] In this embodiment of the present invention, the first roll angle Where θs is the incident angle of solar radiation.

[0013] According to one aspect of the present invention, a control device for a combined solar-powered UAV group is provided, comprising: a first sending module, for responding to an instruction to enter a preset flight mode, to send instructions to execute a first flight posture to a plurality of the UAVs respectively, so that the plurality of the UAVs are in an initial flight state; an acquisition module, for respectively acquiring the solar radiation incident angles of the plurality of the UAVs based on the initial flight state; a determination module, for determining a first roll angle of the rear wings of the plurality of the UAVs based on the solar radiation incident angle; and a second sending module, for sending instructions to adjust the roll angle of the rear wings to the plurality of the UAVs based on the first roll angle, so that the roll angle of the rear wings of the plurality of the UAVs is at the first roll angle.

[0014] According to one aspect of the present invention, an electronic device is provided, comprising: one or more processors; and a memory configured to store one or more programs; wherein, when the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors, the one or more processors implement the above-mentioned method.

[0015] According to an embodiment of the present invention, after the host of the drone receives an instruction to enter a preset flight mode, an instruction to execute a first flight attitude can be sent to each drone. After each drone executes the instruction of the first flight attitude, the drone group can enter the preset flight mode and be in an initial flight state. The solar radiation incident angle is different in different flight states. By obtaining the solar radiation incident angle in the initial flight state, the first roll angle that is conducive to obtaining a larger solar radiation reception amount can be calculated. By adjusting the roll angle of each drone to its corresponding first roll angle, the purpose of increasing the solar radiation reception amount and improving the energy storage amount can be achieved. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent through the following description of the embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0017] Figure 1 An exemplary system architecture of a control method and device that can be applied to a combined solar-powered drone group according to an embodiment of the present invention is schematically shown;

[0018] Figure 2 A flowchart schematically shows a control method for a combined solar-powered drone group according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 3 A flowchart schematically shows a control method for a combined solar-powered drone group according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 4Schematically shows a flow chart of adjusting the second roll angle of the rear wings of multiple drones according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 5 A flowchart of operation S220 of a control method for a combined solar-powered drone group according to an embodiment of the present invention is schematically shown;

[0022] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of a combined drone group according to a control method of a combined solar drone group according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0023] Figure 7 Schematically shows an embodiment of the present invention Figure 6 A three-dimensional schematic diagram of the drone group after the roll angle is rotated;

[0024] Figure 8 A diagram schematically shows each drone in an independent flight state according to a control method for a combined solar-powered drone group according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] Fig. 9 A block diagram schematically shows a control device for a combined solar-powered drone group according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

[0026] Fig.10 A block diagram of an electronic device of a control device and method for a combined solar-powered drone group according to an embodiment of the present invention is schematically shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it should be understood that these descriptions are exemplary only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. In the following detailed description, for ease of explanation, many specific details are set forth to provide a comprehensive understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure. However, it is apparent that one or more embodiments may also be implemented without these specific details. In addition, in the following description, descriptions of known structures and technologies are omitted to avoid unnecessary confusion of the concepts of the present disclosure.

[0028] The terms used herein are only for describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. The terms "comprise", "include", etc. used herein indicate the existence of features, steps, operations and / or components, but do not exclude the existence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations or components.

[0029] All terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the meanings commonly understood by those skilled in the art, unless otherwise defined. It should be noted that the terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the context of this specification, and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly rigid manner.

[0030] In the case of using expressions such as "at least one of A, B, and C, etc.", it should generally be interpreted in accordance with the meaning of the expression generally understood by those skilled in the art (for example, "a system having at least one of A, B, and C" should include but is not limited to a system having A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B, A and C, B and C, and / or A, B, C, etc.). In the case of using expressions such as "at least one of A, B, or C, etc.", it should generally be interpreted in accordance with the meaning of the expression generally understood by those skilled in the art (for example, "a system having at least one of A, B, or C" should include but is not limited to a system having A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B, A and C, B and C, and / or A, B, C, etc.).

[0031] Figure 1 An exemplary system architecture of a control method and device that can be applied to a combined solar-powered drone group according to an embodiment of the present invention is schematically shown.

[0032] It should be noted that Figure 1 The examples shown are only examples of system architectures to which the embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied, in order to help those skilled in the art understand the technical content of the present disclosure, but do not mean that the embodiments of the present disclosure cannot be used in other devices, systems, environments or scenarios. For example, in another embodiment, the exemplary system architecture that can be applied to the control method and device of the combined solar-powered drone group may include a terminal device, but the terminal device may not need to interact with the server to implement the control method and device of the combined solar-powered drone group provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0033] like Figure 1 As shown, the system architecture 100 according to this embodiment may include an aircraft 101, a terminal device 102, and a network 103 connected in parallel. The network 103 is used to provide a medium for a communication link between the aircraft 101 and the terminal device 102.

[0034] The user can use the terminal device 102 to interact with the aircraft 101 through the network 103 to receive or send signals, etc. The aircraft 101 can be a drone, a drone group, a helicopter, a glider, an airship, etc. with a camera and / or camera function (only for example). Various communication client applications can be installed on the terminal device 102, such as shopping applications, web browser applications, search applications, instant messaging tools, email clients and / or social platform software, etc. (only for example).

[0035] The terminal device 102 may be any electronic device having a display screen and supporting web browsing, including but not limited to a television, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, and the like.

[0036] The terminal device 102 can be used in conjunction with terminal devices of various types of servers. For example, the server can be a cloud server, also known as a cloud computing server or cloud host, which is a host product in the cloud computing service system to solve the defects of difficult management and weak business scalability in traditional physical hosts and VPS services (Virtual Private Server). The server can also be a server of a distributed system, or a server combined with a blockchain.

[0037] It should be noted that the control method of the combined solar-powered drone group provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure can generally be executed by the aircraft 101. Accordingly, the control device of the combined solar-powered drone group provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure can also be set in the aircraft 101.

[0038] It should be understood that Figure 1 The number of terminal devices, networks, and aircraft in the embodiment is only for illustration. Any number of terminal devices, networks, and aircraft may be provided as required.

[0039] It should be noted that the sequence numbers of the operations in the following method are only used as representations of the operations for the purpose of description, and should not be regarded as representing the execution order of the operations. Unless explicitly stated, the method does not need to be executed completely in the order shown.

[0040] Figure 2 A flow chart of a control method for a combined solar-powered drone group according to an embodiment of the present invention is schematically shown.

[0041] According to an embodiment of the present invention, a drone group includes a plurality of drones connected in parallel, the plurality of drones include a host and a plurality of slaves, and the wings of the drones are covered with solar cells to supply power to the drone group through solar radiation.

[0042] like Figure 2 As shown, the method 200 includes executing operations S210 to S240.

[0043] In operation S210, in response to an instruction to enter a preset flight mode, instructions to execute a first flight attitude are respectively sent to the plurality of drones, so that the plurality of drones are in an initial flight state.

[0044] In operation S220, solar radiation incident angles of the plurality of UAVs are respectively acquired based on the initial flight state.

[0045] In operation S230, first roll angles of rear wings of a plurality of drones are determined based on the solar radiation incident angle.

[0046] In operation S240, based on the first roll angle, an instruction to adjust the roll angle of the rear wings of the plurality of drones is sent to the plurality of drones, so that the roll angles of the rear wings of the plurality of drones are at the first roll angle.

[0047] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the preset flight mode may be determined according to a flight strategy, and the flight strategy may be a strategy for dividing the flight time of the drone group into multiple stages according to the application scenario. For example, according to the 24-hour day and night closed-loop flight characteristics of the drone group, the flight time of the drone group is divided into the following four flight stages: climbing stage, daytime cruising stage, descent stage, and nighttime cruising stage.

[0048] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the drone group enters a corresponding flight mode in different flight phases. For example, the drone group enters a climb mode, a daytime cruise mode, a glide mode, and a nighttime cruise mode, and the corresponding preset flight mode may be one of the climb mode, the daytime cruise mode, the glide mode, and the nighttime cruise mode. The command of the preset flight mode may be sent by the terminal device to the drone group through the network.

[0049] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first flight attitude may be a flight attitude when the drone group switches from a certain flight mode to another flight mode, for example, a flight attitude when switching from a climbing phase to a daytime cruising phase, or a flight attitude when switching from a descent mode to a nighttime cruising mode. The flight attitude may be an action of the drone during flight, such as a rolling action of the drone, a yaw of the drone, and a pitch of the drone.

[0050] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the instruction to execute the flight attitude may be that the drone executes a rolling action, a yaw action, a pitch action, etc. When executing the instruction of the flight attitude, the drone may execute one or more of the rolling action, the yaw action, and the pitch action simultaneously or in sequence. The instruction to execute the first flight attitude may be that the host of the drone group sends the execution of the first flight attitude instruction to each drone in the drone group after receiving the instruction to enter the preset flight mode. The instructions of the first flight attitude received by each drone may be the same or different, that is, each drone may execute the same or different rolling action, yaw action, and pitch action after receiving the first flight attitude instruction, so that the drone group enters the preset flight mode and is in the initial flight state. The host of the drone group may send the execution of the first flight attitude instruction to each sub-machine in the drone group through the internal flight control machine, and the flight control machine in the sub-machine receives it.

[0051] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the rolling action can be achieved by differential aileron of the UAV, the yaw action can be achieved by differential speed of the UAV motor, and the pitch action can be achieved by the same-direction deflection of the UAV elevator.

[0052] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the initial flight state may be the flight state of the drone in a certain flight mode. The initial flight state may be the flight state of the drone within a period of time after a certain flight mode is switched to another flight mode. The flight state of the drone may include the front wing roll angle, pitch angle and heading angle of the drone.

[0053] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the solar radiation incident angle may be a unit vector pointing from the center of the sun to the center of the drone.

[0054] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first roll angle may be the roll angle obtained by adjusting the drone group after a certain flight mode is converted to another flight mode. By calculating the solar radiation incident angle, the first roll angle can be obtained. By adjusting the roll angle of the drone to the first roll angle, the solar radiation area can be increased, thereby increasing the solar radiation reception. The instruction to adjust the first roll angle may be sent by the host to each drone, and the instruction to adjust the first roll angle received by each drone may be the same or different, that is, the first roll angle obtained by each drone after adjusting the roll angle may be the same or different. The corresponding solar radiation incident angle can be calculated by the energy management computer inside each drone, and after the solar radiation incident angle of each drone is sent to the host, the first roll angle of each drone can be calculated by the flight control machine inside the host. The first roll angle of each drone can be sent to the flight control machine of the drone by the flight control machine inside the host.

[0055] According to an embodiment of the present invention, after the host of the drone receives an instruction to enter a preset flight mode, an instruction to execute a first flight attitude can be sent to each drone. After each drone executes the instruction of the first flight attitude, the drone group can enter the preset flight mode and be in an initial flight state. The solar radiation incident angle is different in different flight states. By obtaining the solar radiation incident angle in the initial flight state, the first roll angle that is conducive to obtaining a larger solar radiation reception amount can be calculated. By adjusting the roll angle of each drone to its corresponding first roll angle, the purpose of increasing the solar radiation reception amount and improving the energy storage amount can be achieved.

[0056] According to an embodiment of the present invention, after operation S240, the following operations may also be included.

[0057] Based on the increase in the amount of solar radiation received, the second roll angles of the rear wings of the plurality of UAVs are adjusted until it is detected that the increase in the amount of solar radiation received is zero.

[0058] According to an embodiment of the present invention, after adjusting the roll angle of the drone to the first roll angle, the roll angle of the drone may be further adjusted, and the adjustment amount to the second roll angle may be less than the adjustment amount to the first roll angle. Adjusting the roll angle of the drone to the second roll angle may be a fine adjustment of the roll angle of the drone.

[0059] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the roll angle of the drone can be adjusted according to the detected solar radiation received amount, and the adjustment is stopped when the increase in the detected solar radiation received amount is zero, and the adjustment is continued when the increase in the detected solar radiation received amount is not zero.

[0060] Figure 3 A flow chart of a control method for a combined solar-powered drone group according to another embodiment of the present invention is schematically shown.

[0061] like Figure 3 As shown, the method 300 may include operations S310 to S340.

[0062] In operation S310 , relative positions between adjacent drones are determined based on a first rolling angle and spans of rear wings of a plurality of drones.

[0063] In operation S320, a second flight attitude of the UAV is determined based on the first roll angle and the relative position.

[0064] In operation S330, based on the second flight attitude and the relative position, a first control surface deflection angle and a first motor speed of the UAV are determined by a control law algorithm.

[0065] In operation S340, the control surface deflection angle and the motor speed of the drone are controlled to be at a first control surface deflection angle and a first motor speed, so that the roll angle of the rear wing of the drone is at the first roll angle.

[0066] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the second flight attitude may be a flight attitude when the drone adjusts the roll angle to the first roll angle. The flight action of the drone may be controlled by controlling the deflection angle of the rudder surface and the motor speed of the drone, so that adjacent drones are in a relative position state, and the roll angle of the drone may be at the first roll angle.

[0067] Figure 4 A flow chart for adjusting the second roll angles of rear wings of multiple drones according to an embodiment of the present invention is schematically shown.

[0068] like Figure 4 As shown, the method 400 may include operations S410 to S440.

[0069] In operation S410, relative positions between adjacent drones are determined based on a preset second roll angle and spans of rear wings of a plurality of drones.

[0070] In operation S420, a third flight attitude of the plurality of UAVs is determined based on a preset second roll angle and a relative position.

[0071] In operation S430, based on the third flight attitude and the relative position, second control surface deflection angles and second motor speeds of the plurality of UAVs are determined by a control law algorithm.

[0072] In operation S440, the control surface deflection angle and the motor speed of the drone are controlled to be at a second control surface deflection angle and a second motor speed, so that the roll angles of the rear wings of the plurality of drones are at a preset second roll angle.

[0073] According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method for adjusting the roll angle of the drone to a second roll angle may be: setting a preset second roll angle, the preset second roll angle may include a preset adjustment amount and a preset direction, rotating the roll angle of the drone by the preset adjustment amount in the preset direction, judging whether the solar radiation received amount increases, and if it increases, continuing to rotate the preset adjustment amount in the preset direction until the solar radiation received amount no longer increases, that is, the increase in the solar radiation received amount is zero; if it is judged that the solar radiation received amount decreases, rotating the roll angle of the drone in the opposite direction of the preset direction by the preset adjustment amount until the increase in the solar radiation received amount is zero. The preset direction may be set to clockwise. The preset adjustment amount may be set to 10°, 5°, and 1°, and the preset adjustment amount is not limited here, and may be set according to demand, and the preset adjustment amount may also be variable, for example, it may be set to 10° at the beginning, and then set to 1° after a period of time, or set to the minimum value that can control the roll of the rear wing of the drone. The solar radiation received amount may be detected by the maximum power point tracking solar controller inside the drone, and the maximum solar radiation may be tracked by the maximum power point tracking solar controller. The energy management computer inside the drone can determine whether the solar radiation received has increased. The flight controller in each drone can control the deflection angle of the drone's rudder and the motor speed according to the determination result of the energy management computer to achieve the effect of adjusting the second roll angle of the drone.

[0074] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the increase in the solar radiation reception amount is determined based on the change in the solar cell electrical signal.

[0075] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the maximum power point tracking solar controller can determine the increase in the amount of solar radiation received through the changes in the output current and voltage of the solar cell, and then determine the direction of adjusting the roll angle.

[0076] Figure 5The flowchart of the control method operation S220 of the combined solar-powered drone group according to an embodiment of the present invention is schematically shown.

[0077] like Figure 5 As shown, the method 500 may include performing operations S510 to S540.

[0078] In operation S510, any position on the ground is selected as a ground coordinate system.

[0079] In operation S520, a plurality of body coordinate systems are respectively determined based on preset positions of the plurality of drones in the initial flight state.

[0080] In operation S530, a plurality of transformation matrices of the ground coordinate system and the plurality of body coordinate systems are determined based on the ground coordinate system and the plurality of body coordinate systems.

[0081] In operation S540, solar radiation incident angles of a plurality of UAVs are determined based on a plurality of conversion matrices and a ground solar radiation incident angle.

[0082] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the solar radiation incident angle θ s It can be expressed as:

[0083]

[0084] Among them, n s is the incident angle of solar radiation on the ground, is the transformation matrix from the ground coordinate system to the body coordinate system, α s is the solar altitude angle, γ s is the solar azimuth.

[0085] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the flight controller of each UAV can send its own coordinates and heading angle information to the energy management computer, and the energy management computer can convert the aircraft coordinate information from the ground coordinate system to the body coordinate system. The body coordinate system can be set to any position of the UAV group, and the origin of the ground coordinate system and the body coordinate system can be made to coincide by translation, so that the coordinate conversion matrix can be derived.

[0086] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the heading angle ψ, pitch angle θ and front wing roll angle of the UAV flight state can be used Indicates the angle relationship between the body coordinate system and the ground coordinate system. According to the coordinate system transformation, the transformation matrix from the ground coordinate system to the body coordinate system is obtained. It can be expressed as: in:

[0087]

[0088]

[0089]

[0090] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the ground solar radiation incident angle n s It can be a unit vector from the center of the earth to the center of the sun. s , which can be obtained from the solar altitude angle α s , solar azimuth γ s express:

[0091] n s =(-cosα s cosγ s , -cosα s sinγ s , sinα s ) (three)

[0092] Among them, α s It can be n s The angle between the solar cell plane and the ground plane (the solar cell plane can be approximately coincident with the ground plane).

[0093] According to an embodiment of the present invention, α s and γ s The latitude of the solar cell location when the drone is in the initial flight state can be used to determine the latitude of the solar cell location. Solar hour angle θ h and the solar declination angle δ s To decide:

[0094]

[0095] Among them, latitude The solar hour angle θ can be measured by the drone’s onboard sensor. h and the solar declination angle δ s The heading angle ψ, pitch angle θ and front wing roll angle are calculated based on the selected solar irradiation model written into the energy management computer program. Can be read out by the fuselage inertial navigation.

[0096] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the ground solar radiation incident angle is determined based on the latitude, solar hour angle and solar declination angle of the solar cell when the drone is in an initial flight state.

[0097] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first roll angle Among them, θ s is the solar radiation incident angle.

[0098] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the rudder surface can be controlled by controlling the rotation of the servo inside the drone, and the rudder surface can provide aerodynamic torque. The motor speed can be adjusted by controlling the electric regulator inside the drone. By adjusting the motor speed, torque can be provided for the propeller, and thrust can be provided for the drone by adjusting the rotation of the propeller. A storage battery can be set inside the drone to power the flight control machine and motor of the drone. Solar cells can be used to receive solar energy to provide energy for the drone as a whole. The various devices can be connected through mechanical interfaces or cables.

[0099] According to the embodiment of the present invention, the flight controller in the host can realize signal exchange between the flight controllers of each drone, and the attitude of the drone can be controlled at the same time. The flight controller of the host can be used to send energy management instructions to the energy management computer and send attitude control information to the flight controllers of other slaves.

[0100] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the drone may also be provided with a receiver electrically connected to the flight control machine, and the receiver may be used to receive signals from the terminal device and send them to the flight control machine of the host.

[0101] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the energy management computer can be used for energy management of the drone, for example, to collect and send energy system status information to the flight controller, and to receive flight controller instructions to control the on and off of the energy storage battery, the maximum irradiance tracking of the solar cell, etc.

[0102] Figure 6 A three-dimensional schematic diagram of a combined drone group according to a control method of a combined solar drone group according to an embodiment of the present invention is schematically shown.

[0103] Figure 7 Schematically shows an embodiment of the present invention Figure 6 A three-dimensional schematic diagram of the drone group after rotating the roll angle.

[0104] According to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 6 and Figure 7 As shown, each drone can be connected in parallel through the magnetic device of the rear wing, so that the combined drone group has a degree of freedom in rolling and a certain wind resistance. The magnetic device can be made of magnetic connection material, for example, using soft magnetic material, and electromagnetic connection or disconnection is achieved by powering on or off.

[0105] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the UAV can be set as a double-wing structure, the front wing can provide lift, the rear wing can add a certain amount of lift and provide a larger wing area, thereby increasing the paving area of ​​solar cells, and at the same time having the freedom to automatically track the solar incident angle, thereby increasing the energy input of the system. High-strength composite lightweight materials can be used to reduce the weight of the structure, high-energy density energy storage batteries and high-conversion efficiency solar photovoltaic cells can be used, and through lightweight and high-strength structural design and efficient and reliable energy system design, solar energy can be used to achieve long-duration flight of UAV groups.

[0106] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the wingspan of the drone is designed to be 3m and the wing area is 1.8m. 2 The wing skin can be covered with 90 solar cells, with a covering rate of 80% and a solar energy conversion efficiency of 21%. At the same time, a 4kg energy storage battery with an energy density of 240Wh / kg can be arranged. The above overall design can meet the energy needs of a closed loop day and night. It should be noted that the specific parameters of the drone can be set according to the needs, and no specific restrictions are made here.

[0107] Figure 8 A diagram schematically shows each drone in an independent flight state according to a control method for a combined solar-powered drone group according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0108] According to an embodiment of the present invention, under low solar altitude conditions in the morning or evening, the combined drone group can increase the solar incidence angle by rotating the rear wings, so as to continuously provide the energy required to maintain the flight of the drone group when the solar radiation incidence is low. When the light is sufficient, the connection between the drones can be disconnected to achieve independent flight of each drone and perform tasks separately, such as Figure 8 shown.

[0109] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the flight controller of the drone can judge the flight status of the drone based on the flight data transmitted by the sensors installed on the drone, and transmit the judgment result back to the flight controller of the host through the whole machine cable as a basis for switching the drone group combination or independent flight mode.

[0110] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the combined solar drone group uses low-cost, highly reliable, and easy-to-group small and medium-sized solar drones as basic units. Multiple drones are connected by flexible structures to form a coordinated whole, which has the characteristics of being disassembled and reorganized. It also has the advantages of small cluster drones and large drones, and can achieve modular combination and disassembly. By combining multiple small solar drones into a whole, a super-large wingspan combined solar drone is formed. This combination method can reduce the induced drag formed when the airflow bypasses the wing tip, eliminate the wing tip vortex, increase the aspect ratio of the aircraft, and have a higher lift-to-drag ratio. Therefore, according to the characteristics of solar energy changing over time, the combined solar drone group can form a combined state when solar energy is insufficient to reduce energy consumption, and can be disassembled when there is sufficient sunshine to perform tasks using sufficient energy. The combined solar drone group has a higher degree of mission freedom and can solve the problem of weak mission capabilities of current solar drones.

[0111] Fig. 9 A block diagram of a control device for a combined solar-powered drone group according to an embodiment of the present invention is schematically shown.

[0112] like Fig. 9 As shown, the control device 900 of the combined solar-powered drone group may include: a first sending module 910 , an acquisition module 920 , a determination module 930 and a second sending module 940 .

[0113] The first sending module 910 is used to send instructions for executing a first flight attitude to the multiple drones in response to the instruction for entering a preset flight mode, so that the multiple drones are in an initial flight state.

[0114] The acquisition module 920 is used to respectively acquire the solar radiation incident angles of the multiple UAVs based on the initial flight state.

[0115] The determination module 930 is used to determine the first roll angle of the rear wings of the plurality of drones based on the solar radiation incident angle.

[0116] The second sending module 940 is used to send an instruction to adjust the roll angle of the rear wings to the multiple drones based on the first roll angle, so that the roll angle of the rear wings of the multiple drones is at the first roll angle.

[0117] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the present invention further provides an electronic device, comprising: one or more processors and a memory configured to store one or more programs. When the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors, the one or more processors implement the above method.

[0118] Fig.10 A block diagram of an electronic device of a control device and method for a combined solar-powered drone group according to an embodiment of the present invention is schematically shown. Fig.10 The electronic device shown is only an example and should not bring any limitation to the functions and scope of use of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0119] like Fig.10 As shown, the electronic device 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a processor 1001, which can perform various appropriate actions and processes according to a program stored in a read-only memory (ROM) 1002 or a program loaded from a storage part 1008 into a random access memory (RAM) 1003. The processor 1001 may include, for example, a general-purpose microprocessor (e.g., a CPU), an instruction set processor and / or a related chipset and / or a special-purpose microprocessor (e.g., an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), etc. The processor 1001 may also include an onboard memory for caching purposes. The processor 1001 may include a single processing unit or multiple processing units for performing different actions of the method flow according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0120] In RAM 1003, various programs and data required for the operation of electronic device 1000 are stored. Processor 1001, ROM 1002 and RAM 1003 are connected to each other via bus 1004. Processor 1001 performs various operations of the method flow according to the embodiment of the present invention by executing the program in ROM 1002 and / or RAM 1003. It should be noted that the program can also be stored in one or more memories other than ROM 1002 and RAM 1003. Processor 1001 can also perform various operations of the method flow according to the embodiment of the present invention by executing the program stored in one or more memories.

[0121] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the electronic device 1000 may further include an input / output (I / O) interface 1005, which is also connected to the bus 1004. The system 1000 may further include one or more of the following components connected to the I / O interface 1005: an input section 1006 including a keyboard, a mouse, etc.; an output section 1007 including a cathode ray tube (CRT), a liquid crystal display (LCD), etc., and a speaker, etc.; a storage section 1008 including a hard disk, etc.; and a communication section 10010 including a network interface card such as a LAN card, a modem, etc. The communication section 10010 performs communication processing via a network such as the Internet. The drive 1010 is also connected to the I / O interface 1005 as needed. A removable medium 1011, such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a semiconductor memory, etc., is installed on the drive 1010 as needed, so that the computer program read therefrom is installed into the storage section 1008 as needed.

[0122] It should also be noted that the directional terms mentioned in the embodiments, such as "upper", "lower", "front", "back", "left", "right", etc., are only reference directions of the drawings and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present invention. Throughout the drawings, the same elements are represented by the same or similar reference numerals. Conventional structures or configurations will be omitted when they may cause confusion in the understanding of the present invention, and the shapes and sizes of the components in the drawings do not reflect the actual size and proportion, but only illustrate the contents of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0123] Unless otherwise indicated, the numerical parameters in this specification and the appended claims are approximate values ​​and can be changed according to the desired properties obtained by the content of the present invention. Specifically, all numbers used in the specification and claims to express the content of the composition, reaction conditions, etc., should be understood to be modified by the term "about" in all cases. In general, the meaning of the expression is to include a change of ±10% in some embodiments, a change of ±5% in some embodiments, a change of ±1% in some embodiments, and a change of ±0.5% in some embodiments by a specific number.

[0124] The ordinal numbers used in the specification and claims, such as "first", "second", "third", etc., to modify the corresponding elements, do not themselves mean that the elements have any ordinal numbers, nor do they represent the order of one element and another element, or the order in the manufacturing method. The use of these ordinal numbers is only used to clearly distinguish a component with a certain name from another component with the same name.

[0125] In addition, unless the steps are specifically described or must occur in sequence, the order of the above steps is not limited to the above list, and can be changed or rearranged according to the required design. And the above embodiments can be mixed and matched with each other or with other embodiments based on design and reliability considerations, that is, the technical features in different embodiments can be freely combined to form more embodiments.

[0126] The above specific embodiments further illustrate the purpose, technical solutions and beneficial effects of the present invention in detail. It should be understood that the above are only specific embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A control method for a combined solar-powered drone group, characterized in that: The drone group includes a plurality of drones connected in parallel, the plurality of drones include a host and a plurality of slaves, and solar cells are covered on the wings of the drones to supply power to the drone group through solar radiation. The control method includes: In response to an instruction to enter a preset flight mode, respectively sending instructions to execute a first flight attitude to the plurality of drones, so that the plurality of drones are in an initial flight state; Based on the initial flight state, respectively obtain the solar radiation incident angles of the plurality of UAVs; Determining a first roll angle of a plurality of rear wings of the drone based on the solar radiation incident angle; and Based on the first roll angle, sending an instruction to adjust the roll angle of the rear wing to the plurality of drones, so that the roll angles of the rear wings of the plurality of drones are at the first roll angle; Determining relative positions between adjacent drones based on the first roll angle and the spans of the rear wings of the plurality of drones; Determining a second flight attitude of the drone based on the first roll angle and the relative position; Based on the second flight attitude and the relative position, determining a first control surface deflection angle and a first motor speed of the UAV through a control law algorithm; and The rudder surface deflection angle and the motor speed of the UAV are controlled to be at the first rudder surface deflection angle and the first motor speed, so that the roll angle of the rear wing of the UAV is at the first roll angle.

2. The control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Also includes: Based on the increase in the amount of solar radiation received, the second roll angles of the plurality of rear wings of the drone are adjusted until it is detected that the increase in the amount of solar radiation received is zero.

3. The control method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The adjusting of the second roll angle of the plurality of rear wings of the drone comprises: Determining relative positions between adjacent drones based on a preset second roll angle and the spans of the rear wings of the plurality of drones; Determining a third flight attitude of the plurality of drones based on the preset second roll angle and the relative position; Based on the third flight attitude and the relative position, determining the second control surface deflection angles and the second motor speeds of the plurality of drones through a control law algorithm; and The rudder deflection angle and the motor speed of the drone are controlled to be at the second rudder deflection angle and the second motor speed, so that the roll angles of the rear wings of the plurality of drones are at a preset second roll angle.

4. The control method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The increase in the solar radiation received amount is determined based on the change in the solar cell electrical signal.

5. The control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The obtaining of solar radiation incident angles of the plurality of UAVs based on the initial flight state comprises: Select any position on the ground as the ground coordinate system; Based on the preset positions of the plurality of drones in the initial flight state, respectively determining a plurality of body coordinate systems; Determining a plurality of transformation matrices of the ground coordinate system and the plurality of body coordinate systems based on the ground coordinate system and the plurality of body coordinate systems; and The solar radiation incident angles of the plurality of UAVs are determined based on the plurality of conversion matrices and the ground solar radiation incident angles.

6. The control method according to claim 5, characterized in that: The ground solar radiation incident angle is determined based on the latitude, solar hour angle and solar declination angle of the solar cell at the initial flight state of the UAV.

7. The control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first roll angle ,in, is the solar radiation incident angle.

8. A control device suitable for the control method of the combined solar-powered drone group according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: include: A first sending module is used for sending instructions for executing a first flight attitude to the plurality of drones in response to an instruction for entering a preset flight mode, so that the plurality of drones are in an initial flight state; An acquisition module, used for respectively acquiring the solar radiation incident angles of the plurality of UAVs based on the initial flight state; A determination module, configured to determine a first roll angle of a plurality of rear wings of the drone based on the solar radiation incident angle; as well as The second sending module is used to send an instruction to adjust the roll angle of the rear wing to the multiple drones based on the first roll angle, so that the roll angle of the rear wings of the multiple drones is at the first roll angle.

9. An electronic device, characterized in that: include: one or more processors; as well as a memory configured to store one or more programs; When the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors, the one or more processors implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

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