Autonomous underwater vehicle-mounted swarm drone device

Abstract

This invention relates to a device for mounting a swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on a submersible, comprising a submersible attitude control module, a submersible motion compensation module, an automatic UAV transceiver module, and a UAV cellular storage module. The submersible attitude control module is located on the side and center of the submersible, the UAV motion compensation module is located on the top of the submersible, the automatic UAV transceiver module is located inside the upper part of the submersible, the UAV cellular storage module is located at the center and side of the submersible, the submersible attitude control module is distributed outside the UAV cellular storage module, and the automatic UAV transceiver module is located above the UAV cellular storage module. This invention uses a decentralized, distributed cellular storage structure to achieve UAV swarm storage, providing safety and endurance guarantees for UAV operations, enabling the safe application of UAVs in ocean-going operations. It has significant practical implications for realizing unmanned and intelligent ocean-going operations.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of split-mode underwater vehicles, and more specifically, to a device for mounting a cluster of unmanned aerial vehicles on an underwater vehicle. Background Technology

[0002] Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer advantages such as fast response time, high maneuverability, wide field of view, low cost, and high cost-effectiveness. Military applications include reconnaissance and target drones, while civilian applications include aerial photography, agriculture, express delivery, disaster relief, surveillance, surveying, news reporting, power line inspection, and disaster relief. In current maritime operations, the introduction of UAVs not only ensures the safety of personnel but also makes the entire operation smoother. A UAV swarm composed of multiple UAVs can collaborate through perception, interaction, and information transmission, enabling low-cost completion of multiple tasks. Furthermore, for different types of work targets, UAV swarms can leverage the heterogeneous advantages of hybrid combinations to complete tasks cost-effectively and efficiently. However, currently, due to the severely insufficient endurance of maritime UAVs and their inability to adapt to the complex maritime environment, they have been difficult to deploy in open ocean areas, thus failing to provide support for ocean engineering projects.

[0003] An underwater-air amphibious vehicle is an amphibious vehicle capable of both underwater navigation and aerial flight. It combines the speed of an aircraft with the stealth of a submersible, and can acquire information about friend or foe from the air, surface, and underwater. Underwater vehicles can conduct long-duration, high-density reconnaissance and intelligence gathering, and are widely used in near-shore oil surveys, communication line inspections, military applications, and deep-sea exploration and salvage. Integrating amphibious vehicles into marine equipment or as part of an air-space-sea system will greatly enhance the comprehensive operational capabilities of marine equipment systems.

[0004] Most existing cross-medium aircraft technologies involve surface ships carrying carrier-based aircraft. Developing swarms of drones that are clustered, autonomous, and intelligent is a crucial future direction. Compared to single drone systems, multi-drone collaboration allows for information sharing through drone communication, expanding situational awareness and enabling collaborative task allocation, search, reconnaissance, and attack. This effectively improves the survivability and overall combat effectiveness of drones. Furthermore, their scale advantage allows for the completion of complex missions, making the combat system more survivable and cost-effective.

[0005] The complex internal structure and numerous sensors of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) result in high power consumption and short endurance, making them unreliable for maritime missions and limiting their ability to operate over large areas. Flight distance and time are also significantly restricted. During UAV launch and reception, large waves and ship movement at sea, coupled with the limited landing platform area, necessitate high accuracy for UAV landings at existing UAV airports. Furthermore, current underwater UAV storage structures primarily rely on individual UAV launch and reception, limiting the number of UAVs stored and wasting internal space and resources. Under cluster storage requirements, the rational allocation of basic functional structures such as storage compartments, ballast water, and battery compartments must be considered. Insufficient UAV endurance and difficulty coping with complex sea conditions during long-range operations further complicate matters. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a device for swarming unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) mounted on a submersible. This device overcomes the difficulties of cross-media operation and integrates the swarming operation capability of UAVs and the stealth capability of submersibles through a split structure of "submersible + aircraft". It can provide safety and endurance guarantee for UAV operations, enabling UAVs to be safely used in ocean operations. This has great practical significance for realizing unmanned and intelligent ocean operations.

[0007] The technical solution adopted by this invention to solve its technical problem is as follows: A device for mounting a cluster of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on a submersible is constructed, comprising a submersible attitude control module, a submersible motion compensation module, an UAV automatic transceiver module, and a UAV cellular storage module; the submersible attitude control module is disposed on the side and middle of the submersible, the submersible motion compensation module is disposed on the top of the submersible, the UAV automatic transceiver module is disposed on the upper part of the submersible interior, the UAV cellular storage module is disposed on the center and side of the submersible, the submersible attitude control module is distributed outside the UAV cellular storage module, and the UAV automatic transceiver module is disposed above the UAV cellular storage module;

[0008] The underwater vehicle attitude control module is used to adjust the weight of the underwater vehicle, enabling the underwater vehicle to ascend and descend rapidly, change the position of the underwater vehicle's center of gravity, switch between different attitudes, and assist in attitude adjustment.

[0009] The underwater vehicle motion compensation module is used to perform integrated stability calculations and control the basic stability of the underwater vehicle.

[0010] The automatic drone transceiver module is used to simultaneously send drone recovery commands to both the drone and the underwater vehicle.

[0011] The drone cellular storage module is used for cluster storage of drones, providing protection for drones in windy and wave-like environments.

[0012] According to the above scheme, the attitude control module of the submersible includes ballast water tanks, ballast water pumps, two-way valves, and a skid battery compartment; the ballast water tanks are located on both sides of the bottom surface of the submersible, the ballast water pumps are connected to the ballast water tanks, the two-way valves are located on the ballast water pumps to control the switching of the ballast water pumps, and the skid battery compartments are located in the middle of the submersible.

[0013] According to the above scheme, the underwater vehicle motion compensation module includes a omnidirectional propeller, which is installed on the top of the underwater vehicle and is used to provide power to the underwater vehicle.

[0014] According to the above scheme, the UAV automatic transceiver module includes a UAV hovering platform, an electric slide rail, a lifting tray, an electromagnetic base, an anchoring claw, a flexible channel, a cable reel, a cable, and an anchoring ball. The UAV hovering platform is located on top of the submersible and is used to carry the UAV. The electric slide rail is located between the lifting tray and the sliding battery compartment. The electromagnetic base and the anchoring claw are located on the UAV hovering platform. The flexible channel is located at the center of the submersible. The cable reel is located below the UAV. The cable is located on the cable reel, and the anchoring ball is located at the end of the cable.

[0015] According to the above scheme, the UAV honeycomb storage module includes a lifting tray, a degree-of-freedom adjustment device, an electric thrust ramp, and a UAV storage compartment; the lifting tray is located at the center of the submersible, the degree-of-freedom adjustment device and the electric thrust ramp are located on the side of the lifting tray, and the UAV storage compartment is located on the side of the submersible.

[0016] According to the above scheme, the flexible channel is constructed of inelastic soft material.

[0017] The underwater vehicle carrying the swarm drone device of the present invention has the following advantages:

[0018] 1. This invention, combining the functional requirements of clustered storage drones, proposes a safe and efficient drone recovery method. The recovery platform adopts an unmanned structure, incorporating the multi-rotor technology used by drones into the recovery platform, enabling it to move in the air. This creates a larger drone landing platform compared to a separate lifting tray, making drone landing easier, reducing landing requirements, and improving accuracy. The design of the entire recovery module can prevent waves in severe sea conditions from affecting drone recovery and can also greatly mitigate collisions during the recovery process.

[0019] 2. Based on the internal spatial structure characteristics of underwater vehicles, this invention proposes a structure for clustered storage of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Through multi-layered, multi-row UAV storage compartments, it achieves the storage of several UAVs. The UAVs are launched and released or landed for storage through the coordinated operation of a lifting tray degree-of-freedom adjustment device, a rotating lifting tray, and a lateral push rod. The entire device achieves clustered UAV storage by integrating multiple UAV compartments, avoiding waste of space and resources. In the future, the communication network between the clustered UAVs can be used to achieve functions such as coordinated reconnaissance, coordinated strike, and coordinated jamming, which can be effectively applied to combat missions such as counter-terrorism and stability maintenance, long-range penetration, and fighter escort.

[0020] 3. This invention comprehensively considers the common requirements of ballast and storage functions, proposes a surface stability technology for underwater vehicles under complex loads, and optimizes the design of the ballast tank structure. When the unmanned underwater vehicle is recovering the drone on the water surface, the motion compensation of the underwater vehicle body can be performed by controlling the water volume of the ballast tank and combining the direction and speed of the propeller. This enhances the stability of the underwater vehicle when subjected to wind and wave loads in the surface attitude, and can also effectively ensure the surface stability of the underwater vehicle in the recovery state. Attached Figure Description

[0021] The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. In the accompanying drawings:

[0022] Figure 1 This is a schematic cross-sectional view of the underwater vehicle carrying the cluster of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) device of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the anchoring hook of the UAV automatic transceiver module of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the UAV automatic transceiver module of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the drone hovering platform of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0026] To provide a clearer understanding of the technical features, objectives, and effects of the present invention, specific embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0027] like Figure 1-4As shown, the underwater vehicle-mounted swarm drone device of the present invention includes an underwater vehicle attitude control module 1, an underwater vehicle motion compensation module 2, a drone automatic transceiver module 3, and a drone cellular storage module 4. The underwater vehicle attitude control module 1 is distributed on the sides and center of the underwater vehicle, the underwater vehicle motion compensation module 2 is located on the top of the underwater vehicle, the drone automatic transceiver module 3 is located inside the upper part of the underwater vehicle, and the drone cellular storage module is located in the center and on the sides of the underwater vehicle. The underwater vehicle attitude control module 1 is distributed outside the drone cellular storage module, and the drone automatic transceiver module 3 is located above the drone cellular storage module.

[0028] The underwater vehicle attitude control module 1 adjusts the overall weight of the underwater vehicle to achieve rapid ascent and descent. It also changes the vehicle's center of gravity to switch between different attitudes, and, in conjunction with propeller thrust direction control, assists in attitude adjustment. The underwater vehicle motion compensation module 2 performs integrated stability calculations to control the vehicle's basic stability. When the underwater vehicle is at the surface, the motion compensation system distributes thrust to each propeller to assist in stabilization. The UAV automatic transceiver module 3 simultaneously sends UAV recovery commands to both the UAV and the underwater vehicle, and completes the safe and efficient transceiver operation. The UAV cellular storage module is used for cluster storage of UAVs, providing protection for them in windy and wavey environments.

[0029] The underwater vehicle attitude control module 1 includes ballast water tanks 5, ballast water pumps 6, two-way valves 7, and a sliding battery compartment 8. Ballast water tanks 5 are located on both sides of the underwater vehicle's bottom surface. Ballast water pumps 6 are connected to ballast water tanks 5. Two-way valves 7 are installed on ballast water pumps 6 to control their on / off operation. The sliding battery compartment 8 is located in the middle of the underwater vehicle. The underwater vehicle motion compensation module 2 includes a omnidirectional propeller 9, which is located on the top of the underwater vehicle and provides power to it. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) automatic transceiver module 3 includes a UAV hovering platform 10, an electric slide rail 11, a lifting tray 12, an electromagnetic base 13, an anchoring claw 14, a flexible channel 15, a cable reel 16, a cable 17, and an anchoring ball 18. The flexible channel 15 is constructed of inelastic soft material. The flexible channel is located at the center of the underwater vehicle and is used for UAV passage. A drone hovering platform 10 is mounted on top of the submersible and is used to carry the drone. An electric slide rail 11 is positioned between the lifting tray 12 and the sliding battery compartment 8. An electromagnetic base 13 and an anchoring claw 14 are mounted on the drone hovering platform. A cable reel 16 is positioned below the drone, a cable 17 is mounted on the cable reel 16, and an anchoring ball 18 is positioned at the end of the cable 17. The drone honeycomb storage module includes the lifting tray 12, a degree-of-freedom adjustment device, an electric thrust ramp, and a drone storage compartment. The lifting tray 12 is positioned at the center of the submersible, the degree-of-freedom adjustment device and the electric thrust ramp are positioned on the side of the lifting tray 12, and the drone storage compartment is positioned on the side of the submersible.

[0030] The process of recovering a drone from a submersible is as follows:

[0031] When the submersible is navigating horizontally and stably underwater, ballast tank 5 is fully loaded with ballast water. As the submersible prepares to recover the drone, it begins to adjust its attitude. Under the control of the two-way valve 7, ballast pump 6 adjusts the water pressure in each compartment. Excess water in the tank is discharged through ballast pump 6 in the end compartment, causing the submersible to quickly rise to the surface, with its tail emerging from the water. Simultaneously, the batteries in the sliding battery compartment 8 slide down, the motion compensation module 2 activates, and the omnidirectional propeller 9 assists in adjusting the submersible's center of gravity, improving stability. By controlling the position of the battery compartment to adjust the overall center of gravity of the submersible, the drone maintains a vertically stable state during recovery. At the same time, the drone's lifting tray 12 and hovering platform 10 rise along the electric rails to the tail.

[0032] Subsequently, the UAV sends a recovery command to the submersible. At this time, the submersible's tail hatch opens, the UAV transceiver module 3 begins operation, the flexible channel 15 opens, and the UAV hovering platform 10 flies out of the cabin along the channel, awaiting the UAV's landing. The flexible channel 15 is made of non-elastic soft material, which can prevent waves in rough sea conditions from affecting the UAV's recovery and can also greatly reduce the collision generated during the recovery process. When the UAV descends to a certain height, the reel 18 releases the cable and launches the anchor ball 16. The anchoring claw 14 above the UAV hovering platform 10 opens, and the electromagnet base 13 located inside the anchoring claw 14 is energized to assist the UAV in docking. After the anchor ball 16 and the electromagnet base 13 are attracted and docked, the anchoring claw 14 closes, and the UAV and the UAV hovering platform 10 establish a connection through the cable. At the same time, the reel 18 on the UAV begins to reel in the cable. After the UAV lands on the UAV hovering platform, the UAV hovering platform 10 returns to the cabin along the flexible channel 15 and lands on the lifting tray 12. When the electromagnet base 13 is de-energized and the UAV is recovered, the submersible adjusts its center of gravity in the opposite manner. Under the control of the two-way valve 7, the ballast water pump 6 readjusts the water pressure in each compartment and the position of the sliding battery compartment 8 to restore the submersible to a horizontal state and re-submerge. This process achieves the cross-medium function of the unmanned submersible, realizing integrated underwater and airborne capabilities. After the UAV cabin enters the platform, the UAV storage module 4 begins operation. The lifting tray 12 lowers the UAV cabin to the bottom of the storage shell along the lifting compartment. The position of the lifting tray 12 is changed through the bottom through track to ensure that the cabin enters the storage position corresponding to its function. After the lifting tray 12 carrying the UAV cabin moves to the bottom of the storage compartment, it is raised into the storage compartment, and the originally empty UAV cabin inside the compartment is also raised, realizing the cyclical movement of the cabin within the storage compartment. The drone cabin is pushed into the lifting platform by an electric propulsion ramp and the direction is controlled by a baffle to prevent the drone cabin from deviating when it is pushed from the storage compartment into the lifting compartment. The empty cabin is pushed into the lifting platform along the direction and then lifted to the drone release height by the lifting tray 12 in the drone suspension platform 10.

[0033] When the submersible launches the drone, the above operation is repeated. The drone is moved to the drone hovering platform using the lateral push rod, awaiting launch. The submersible adjusts to a vertically stable state with its tail above the sea surface, opens the hatch and flexible passage 15, and the drone hovering platform 10 flies out of the hatch along the passage. The anchoring grappling hook 14 is activated, the electromagnet base is de-energized, and the drone flies away from the hovering platform. After a successful drone launch, the submersible readjusts its attitude and returns to underwater.

[0034] The embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above. The specific embodiments described above are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Those skilled in the art can make many other forms under the guidance of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims. All of these forms are within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A submarine-mounted swarm drone apparatus, characterized by, The system includes a submersible attitude control module (1), a submersible motion compensation module (2), an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) automatic transceiver module (3), and an UAV honeycomb storage module (4). The submersible attitude control module (1) is located on the side and middle of the submersible, the submersible motion compensation module (2) is located on the top of the submersible, the UAV automatic transceiver module (3) is located inside the submersible and above, the UAV honeycomb storage module (4) is located in the center and on the side of the submersible, the submersible attitude control module (1) is distributed outside the UAV honeycomb storage module (4), and the UAV automatic transceiver module (3) is located above the UAV honeycomb storage module (4). The underwater vehicle attitude control module (1) is used to adjust the weight of the underwater vehicle, realize the rapid ascent and descent of the underwater vehicle, change the center of gravity of the underwater vehicle, realize the switching of the underwater vehicle attitude, and assist in adjusting the attitude. The underwater vehicle motion compensation module (2) is used to perform integrated stability calculations and control the basic stability of the underwater vehicle; The UAV automatic transceiver module (3) is used to send UAV recovery commands to both the UAV and the submarine simultaneously; The drone honeycomb storage module (4) is used for cluster storage of drones, which can protect drones in windy and wavey environments; The attitude control module (1) of the submersible includes a ballast water tank (5), a ballast water pump (6), a two-way valve (7), and a skid battery compartment (8); the ballast water tank (5) is located on both sides of the bottom surface of the submersible, the ballast water pump (6) is connected to the ballast water tank (5), the two-way valve (7) is located on the ballast water pump (6) to control the opening and closing of the ballast water pump (6), and the skid battery compartment (8) is located in the middle of the submersible; The underwater vehicle motion compensation module (2) includes a universal propeller (9), which is located on the top of the underwater vehicle and is used to provide power to the underwater vehicle. The UAV automatic transceiver module (3) includes a UAV hovering platform (10), an electric slide rail (11), a lifting tray (12), an electromagnetic base (13), an anchoring claw (14), a flexible channel (15), a cable reel (16), a cable (17), and an anchoring ball (18). The UAV hovering platform (10) is located on top of the submersible and is used to carry the UAV. The electric slide rail (11) is located between the lifting tray (12) and the sliding battery compartment (8). The electromagnetic base (13) and the anchoring claw (14) are located on the UAV hovering platform. The flexible channel (15) is located at the center of the submersible. The cable reel (16) is located below the UAV. The cable (17) is located on the cable reel (16). The anchoring ball (18) is located at the end of the cable (17).

2. The submersible hosted swarm drone apparatus of claim 1, wherein, The UAV honeycomb storage module includes a degree-of-freedom adjustment device, an electric propulsion ramp, and a UAV storage compartment; the lifting tray (12) is located at the center of the submersible, the degree-of-freedom adjustment device and the electric propulsion ramp are located on the side of the lifting tray (12), and the UAV storage compartment is located on the side of the submersible.

3. The underwater vehicle-mounted swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The flexible channel (15) is made of inelastic soft material.

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