Aircraft maintenance follow-up robot based on embedded development

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of civil aviation maintenance technology, and in particular to an aircraft maintenance follower robot based on embedded development, comprising: a robot body, a control system and a drive system, wherein the control system and the drive system are arranged on the robot body; the control system is used to collect tag positioning and obstacle information for calculation, and obtain a speed control signal; the drive system is used to drive the robot body to move based on the speed control signal. The present invention adopts the independently designed STM32F103ZET main control chip and the stable and reliable UWB and ultrasonic obstacle avoidance technology, successfully optimizes the operation process of maintenance handling tools, improves transportation efficiency and reduces manual labor intensity.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of civil aviation maintenance, in particular to an aircraft maintenance following robot based on embedded system development. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development of the civil aviation industry, the size of the fleet continues to expand, and aircraft maintenance efficiency and reliability are facing major challenges. Aircraft maintenance following robots are designed to assist maintenance personnel in carrying tools, equipment and aviation materials, improve work efficiency and reliability, and reduce the labor intensity of maintenance personnel. Intelligent following technology has emerged as an innovative technical solution. Its core concept is to combine the host computer system with computing power with various sensor modules to enable airport handling tools to autonomously sense and follow the target, thereby reducing manual labor intensity, while optimizing the operating process, improving transportation efficiency, and providing maintenance personnel with a safer and more efficient working environment.

[0003] Therefore, in order to provide aircraft maintenance personnel with a more intelligent and efficient handling solution, an airport intelligent following robot based on embedded development is provided. Summary of the invention

[0004] The purpose of the present invention is to provide an aircraft maintenance follower robot based on embedded development, to improve the intelligence level of aircraft maintenance handling tools, and to promote civil aviation to move towards a more intelligent and efficient direction.

[0005] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following solutions:

[0006] Aircraft maintenance follow-up robot based on embedded development, including:

[0007] A robot body, a control system and a drive system, wherein the control system and the drive system are arranged on the robot body; the control system is used to collect tag positioning and obstacle information for calculation and obtain a speed control signal; the drive system is used to drive the robot body to move based on the speed control signal.

[0008] Optionally, the robot body includes a body and a chassis module, the body and the chassis module are fixedly connected, and the chassis module drives the body to move.

[0009] Optionally, the control system includes: a positioning module, an ultrasonic detection module and a main control module, the positioning module is used to collect the positioning coordinates of the tag; the ultrasonic detection module is used to collect the distance between the robot body and the surrounding obstacles; the main control module is used to process the positioning coordinates of the tag and the distance between the robot body and the surrounding obstacles to obtain the speed control signal.

[0010] Optionally, the method by which the positioning module collects the positioning coordinates of the tag is:

[0011]

[0012] Where, distance_1 is the distance between the tag and the first antenna in the plane rectangular coordinate system, and distance_2 is the distance between the tag and the second antenna in the plane rectangular coordinate system. (X at1 ,Y at1 ) is the coordinate of the first antenna, (X at2 ,Y at2 ) is the coordinate of the second antenna, (X tag ,Y tag ) is the coordinate of the tag in the two-dimensional horizontal plane relative to the dual-antenna base station.

[0013] Optionally, the method by which the ultrasonic detection module collects the distance between the robot body and surrounding obstacles is:

[0014]

[0015] Among them, Distance is the distance between the ultrasonic sensor and the object, Speed ​​is the speed at which ultrasonic waves propagate in the air, and Time is the time required for ultrasonic waves to travel back and forth.

[0016] Optionally, the main control module includes an STM32 chip, and the STM32 chip uses a USART serial port for information transmission and control.

[0017] Optionally, the STM32 chip uses a USART serial port to perform information transmission and control, including:

[0018] S1. Start the STM32 chip and initialize the USART serial port;

[0019] S2. Collect the positioning coordinates of the tag and the distance between the robot body and the surrounding obstacles, and transmit them to the STM32 chip through the USART serial port;

[0020] S3. The STM32 chip processes the positioning coordinates of the tag and the distance between the robot body and surrounding obstacles to obtain a speed control signal;

[0021] S4. The STM32 chip transmits the speed control signal to the chassis via the USART serial port.

[0022] Optionally, the STM32 chip processes the positioning coordinates of the tag and the distance between the robot body and surrounding obstacles, including:

[0023] The STM32 chip calculates the distance and angle at which the robot body reaches the positioning coordinates of the tag based on the positioning coordinates of the tag;

[0024] If the distance is less than a preset first distance threshold, a braking mode is activated and sent to the robot body;

[0025] If the distance is greater than a preset first distance threshold, the linear velocity and angular velocity of the following robot within a fixed time are calculated according to the distance and angle, and when the distance between the following robot and the surrounding obstacles is greater than a preset second distance threshold, the linear velocity and angular velocity are sent to the robot body;

[0026] If the distance between the following robot and the surrounding obstacles is less than a preset second distance threshold, the braking mode is activated and sent to the robot body.

[0027] Optionally, the driving system includes: a driving module and a motor module, the driving module is used to turn on the motor based on the speed control signal; the motor module is used to drive the robot body to move based on the motor.

[0028] Optionally, the follower robot further includes an optimization system, and the optimization system is used to optimize the speed of sudden starting and sudden braking of the follower robot.

[0029] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0030] The present invention integrates advanced technologies to design and implement an aircraft maintenance follower robot that can flexibly and freely coordinate the handling of tools, equipment and aviation materials in an airport environment. By adopting the independently designed STM32F103ZET main control chip and the stable and reliable UWB and ultrasonic obstacle avoidance technology, the operation process of aircraft maintenance and handling tools is successfully optimized, the transportation efficiency is improved and the labor intensity is reduced. It can accurately locate and automatically follow within a range of 20 meters, and can effectively ensure safety when the distance between people and obstacles is less than 1 meter. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative labor.

[0032] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an aircraft maintenance follow-up robot based on embedded development according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 2This is a schematic diagram of the differential four-wheel chassis structure of an embodiment of the present invention;

[0034] Figure 3 It is the schematic diagram of the STM32F103 core board of an embodiment of the present invention;

[0035] Figure 4 Schematic diagram of the PDOA algorithm according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0036] Figure 5 This is an overall flow chart of the following robot algorithm of an embodiment of the present invention;

[0037] Figure 6 This is a flow chart of a speed processing algorithm for a following robot according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0038] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0039] In order to make the above-mentioned objects, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, the present invention is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0040] This embodiment provides an aircraft maintenance follow-up robot based on embedded development, such as Figure 1 As shown, it includes: a robot body, a control system and a drive system, and the control system and the drive system are arranged on the robot body; the control system is used to collect tag positioning and obstacle information for calculation and obtain speed control signals; the drive system is used to drive the robot body to move based on the speed control signal.

[0041] The robot body includes a fuselage and a chassis module, the fuselage and the chassis module are fixedly connected, and the chassis module drives the fuselage to move.

[0042] The control system is controlled by a host computer, including a positioning module, an ultrasonic detection module, and a main control module; the positioning module is used to collect the positioning coordinates of the tag; the ultrasonic detection module is used to collect the distance between the robot body and the surrounding obstacles; the main control module is used to process the positioning coordinates of the tag and the distance between the robot body and the surrounding obstacles to obtain the speed control signal.

[0043] The drive system includes a drive module and a motor module. The drive module is used to start the motor based on a speed control signal; the motor module is used to drive the robot body to move based on the motor.

[0044] The chassis module adopts a differential four-wheel chassis, such as Figure 2 As shown, the differential four-wheel chassis has a mass of 80KG, a designed rated load of 80KG, a maximum load of 130KG, a full-load maximum speed of 1.5m / s, a chassis size of 983*614*434 (mm), and is equipped with 4 200W DC brushless servo motors.

[0045] Its motion logic satisfies the following formula:

[0046]

[0047]

[0048] Among them, V_left and V_right represent the linear speed of the left and right wheels respectively, Vx is the linear speed of the vehicle body, Vr is the angular speed of the vehicle body, L and R represent the wheelbase and wheel radius respectively.

[0049] It enables the chassis to achieve differential rotation when turning, allowing the inner and outer wheels to rotate at different speeds, thereby improving the vehicle's maneuverability and handling.

[0050] The main control module includes an STM32 chip. In this embodiment, an STM32F103 single-chip microcomputer is used, and the hardware circuit design is as follows:

[0051] In the complex aircraft maintenance environment, the rich peripherals and strong ecosystem support of the STM32 microcontroller play an important role. Through the integrated sensor interface and communication interface, the robot can perceive the surrounding environment and communicate efficiently with other devices. This highly customizable function gives the robot the ability to make intelligent decisions, enabling it to adapt to changing scene requirements. The advanced ARM Cortex-M core and low latency design enable the STM32 to respond to the robot's instructions in real time and perform mobile tasks with extremely high precision.

[0052] Therefore, this embodiment is designed as follows Figure 3 The STM32F103-based core control board shown is used to carry the STM32F103 chip. The chip uses the USART serial port protocol to communicate with the sensor and chassis. The USART1 port is the receiving port and is equipped with an ultrasonic module; the USART2 port is the sending port, which is used to send speed instructions to the chassis; and the USART3 is the receiving serial port, which is used to receive the tag coordinates sent back by the UWB base station.

[0053] The positioning module is designed as follows:

[0054] The positioning module uses ultra-wideband technology (UWB) with the characteristics of low power consumption, strong anti-interference ability and high positioning accuracy for precise positioning. It transmits data by sending and receiving extremely narrow pulses. Figure 4The signal arrival phase difference ranging algorithm (PDOA) shown measures the phase difference and measures the distance between the tag and the base station antenna by calculating the signal round trip time. The coordinates (X, Y) of the tag relative to the base station in the two-dimensional horizontal plane can be calculated by the incident angle between the base station containing two antennas and the signal incident base station.

[0055] like Figure 4 As shown, the coordinates of antenna Antenna_1 are (X at1 ,Y at1 ), the coordinates of antenna Antenna_2 are (X at2 ,Y at2 ), Bluetooth tag PDOA-TAG through the signal arrival time t arrive Multiply by the signal speed v to get the distance between the two antennas, and then calculate the projection distance' of the Bluetooth tag from the antenna in the plane rectangular coordinate system according to the angle α and β of the signal received by the base station. Finally, list the equations and solve the projection coordinates of the Bluetooth tag (X tag ,Y tag ).

[0056] distance = t arrive *v

[0057] distance'=distance*cosθ

[0058]

[0059] The ultrasonic detection module is designed as follows:

[0060] Ultrasonic obstacle avoidance is a perception technology widely used in robots and autonomous driving systems. Its principle is based on ultrasonic sensors measuring the distance of obstacles in the environment. The basic principle can be simplified to the process of sending and receiving ultrasonic waves. By measuring the time it takes for ultrasonic waves to be emitted from the sensor to the obstacle and back, the distance between the object and the sensor can be accurately calculated.

[0061]

[0062] Among them, Distance represents the distance between the sensor and the object, Speed ​​is the speed at which ultrasound waves propagate in the air, and Time is the time required for ultrasound waves to travel back and forth.

[0063] In order to ensure that the follower robot protects the safety of maintenance personnel when following the target, the study uses four-in-one ultrasonic sensors as obstacle avoidance modules. These sensors are distributed in four directions of the following chassis to achieve all-round environmental perception and obstacle detection.

[0064] The overall control algorithm of the following robot is designed as follows:

[0065] like Figure 5 As shown, first start the STM32 system and initialize each serial port. After initialization, the positioning module waits for the Bluetooth base station to start the follow-up mode, the ultrasonic detection module starts to continuously monitor the environment around the vehicle, and the chassis driver waits for the speed command. When the Bluetooth tag starts the follow-up mode, the UWB base station calculates the coordinates of the Bluetooth tag according to the PDOA algorithm, and sends its coordinates (x, y) to the STM32 system through the UART2 serial port. The tag coordinates will participate in the calculation of the speed calculation function in the STM32 together with the distance of the nearest obstacle around the chassis sent from the UART1 serial port. After the speed calculation function calculates the chassis speed, it will encapsulate the speed signal and send the encapsulated communication protocol field to the chassis driver through the UART3 serial port. After receiving the signal, the chassis driver controls the four-wheel movement to complete a round of logic cycle.

[0066] like Figure 6 As shown in the figure, after the PDOA algorithm receives the tag coordinates input by the positioning module, the STM32 can tag ,Y tag ) calculates the distance Dis and angle ang that the following robot needs to reach the tag position.

[0067] In order to meet the needs of maintenance personnel and initially ensure the safety of personnel wearing tags, the following robot will make real-time condition judgments based on the distance between the tag and the base station during operation. When the intelligent following system is less than the maximum distance threshold Distance max Automatically enters brake mode.

[0068]

[0069] If the tag is detected to be far away from the base station, the robot chassis linear velocity and angular velocity will be calculated based on the received tag distance and tag angle to achieve following. The calculation formula is as follows:

[0070]

[0071]

[0072] Among them, T arrive It is the time required for the following robot to reach the tag position from the current position. By giving this time, the following robot can ensure the excellent characteristics of long-distance acceleration and short-distance deceleration during movement, thereby improving the overall equipment safety performance. expand is the corner diffusion coefficient, which is used to optimize the corner rate so that the following robot can move more agilely and smoothly during the cornering process.

[0073] In addition, in order to ensure the safety of the follower robot during operation, four ultrasonic detection modules are installed to monitor the status of the robot's surroundings. If an ultrasonic detection module detects an obstacle smaller than the ultrasonic threshold, it will enter braking mode to ensure the safety of personnel and ground handling property.

[0074] To further optimize the technical solution, the aircraft maintenance follower robot based on embedded development provided in this embodiment also includes an optimization system, which is used to optimize the speed of the emergency start and emergency brake of the follower robot, as follows:

[0075] (1) Emergency start:

[0076] In actual airport tests, the follower robot often needs to go through the acceleration process from stationary to normal driving due to people passing by, stopping due to obstacles, etc., and starting too quickly may bring a series of potential problems. When the acceleration is too fast, the follower robot may experience severe impact at the start, causing additional burden on the transmission system, suspension system and the overall chassis structure, which may cause faster wear and damage to parts. At the same time, rapid starting on slippery airport roads may increase the risk of skidding or loss of control.

[0077] Therefore, this embodiment optimizes the startup speed, and the optimization formula is as follows:

[0078]

[0079] Each time the chassis starts, STM32 will initialize a counter, and each time the speed is sent, the counter will increase automatically. The excellent characteristics of the inverse tangent function make the acceleration of the follower robot smoother during the startup process. This improvement will reduce the vibration of machine parts and effectively improve the hardware life.

[0080] (2) Emergency Braking:

[0081] In addition to sudden starts, sudden braking can also cause a series of problems. Overly rapid braking may cause the tools carried by the robot to be unstable, especially when transporting special or fragile tools, which may cause the tools to slip or be damaged. In addition, braking too quickly will interfere with the operation of the maintenance personnel, especially in a work environment that requires high concentration, which will affect the maintenance personnel's operating efficiency and safety. Therefore, slow parking is also a key design consideration.

[0082] Inspired by the ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) system and PWM control ideas, this embodiment designs a slow-speed braking mode for obstacle distances, thereby optimizing the electronic brake system. The optimization logic is as follows:

[0083]

[0084] Among them, Duty Ratio is the duty ratio of the brake command, DIS echo It is the distance of surrounding obstacles measured by the ultrasonic monitoring module, coefficient is the coefficient in the range of 0-1, and threshold is the distance threshold.

[0085] This optimization can achieve slow parking as much as possible while ensuring the safety of the chassis in emergency situations, making the parking process of the follow-up robot smoother and protecting the safety of the transport vehicle and ground staff.

[0086] The embodiments described above are only descriptions of the preferred embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Without departing from the design spirit of the present invention, various modifications and improvements made to the technical solutions of the present invention by ordinary technicians in this field should all fall within the protection scope determined by the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. Aircraft maintenance follow-up robot based on embedded system development, characterized by: include: A robot body, a control system and a drive system, wherein the control system and the drive system are arranged on the robot body; the control system is used to collect tag positioning and obstacle information for calculation and obtain a speed control signal; the drive system is used to drive the robot body to move based on the speed control signal; The robot body includes a body and a chassis module, the body and the chassis module are fixedly connected, and the chassis module drives the body to move, wherein the movement logic is: Where V_left and V_right represent the linear speed of the left and right wheels respectively, Vx is the linear speed of the vehicle body, Vr is the angular speed of the vehicle body, L and R represent the wheelbase and wheel radius respectively; The chassis module adopts a differential four-wheel chassis, the differential four-wheel chassis has a mass of 80KG, a designed rated load of 80KG, a maximum load of 130KG, a full load limit speed of 1.5m / s, a chassis size of 983*614*434 (mm), and is equipped with 4 200W DC brushless servo motors; The control system includes: a positioning module, an ultrasonic detection module and a main control module, wherein the positioning module is used to collect the positioning coordinates of the tag; the ultrasonic detection module is used to collect the distance between the robot body and the surrounding obstacles; the main control module is used to process the positioning coordinates of the tag and the distance between the robot body and the surrounding obstacles to obtain the speed control signal; The method by which the positioning module collects the positioning coordinates of the tag is: Where, distance_1 is the distance between the tag and the first antenna in the plane rectangular coordinate system, and distance_2 is the distance between the tag and the second antenna in the plane rectangular coordinate system. (X at1 ,Y at1 ) is the coordinate of the first antenna, (X at2 ,Y at2 ) is the coordinate of the second antenna, (X tag ,Y tag ) is the coordinate of the tag in the two-dimensional horizontal plane relative to the dual-antenna base station; The method by which the ultrasonic detection module collects the distance between the robot body and surrounding obstacles is: Where Distance is the distance between the ultrasonic sensor and the object, Speed ​​is the speed at which ultrasonic waves propagate in the air, and Time is the time required for ultrasonic waves to travel back and forth. The ultrasonic detection module adopts a four-in-one ultrasonic sensor, and the sensors are distributed in four directions of the differential four-wheel chassis; The main control module includes an STM32 chip, which uses a USART serial port for information transmission and control, including USART1, USART2 and USART3. The USART1 is a receiving port for carrying the ultrasonic detection module; the USART2 is a sending port for sending control instructions to the chassis module; the USART3 is a receiving serial port for receiving the tag coordinates returned by the positioning module; The STM32 chip uses the USART serial port for information transmission and control including: S1. Start the STM32 chip and initialize the USART serial port; S2. Collect the positioning coordinates of the tag and the distance between the robot body and the surrounding obstacles, and transmit them to the STM32 chip through the USART serial port; S3. The STM32 chip processes the positioning coordinates of the tag and the distance between the robot body and surrounding obstacles to obtain a speed control signal; S4. The STM32 chip transmits the speed control signal to the chassis via the USART serial port; The STM32 chip processes the positioning coordinates of the tag and the distance between the robot body and surrounding obstacles, including: The STM32 chip calculates the distance and angle at which the robot body reaches the positioning coordinates of the tag based on the positioning coordinates of the tag; If the distance is less than the preset first distance threshold, the braking mode is activated and sent to the robot body. The specific judgment method is: Among them, (X tag ,Y tag ) is the label coordinate, Distance max is the first distance threshold; If the distance is greater than a preset first distance threshold, the linear velocity and angular velocity of the following robot within a fixed time are calculated according to the distance and angle, and when the distance between the following robot and the surrounding obstacles is greater than a preset second distance threshold, the linear velocity and angular velocity are sent to the robot body. The linear velocity and angular velocity are calculated as follows: Where Vx is the linear velocity, Vr is the angular velocity, T arrive K is the time required for the following robot to reach the tag position from its current position. expand is the angular diffusion coefficient; If the distance between the following robot and the surrounding obstacles is less than a preset second distance threshold, a braking mode is activated and sent to the robot body; The following robot further includes an optimization system, and the optimization system is used to optimize the speed of the sudden start and sudden brake of the following robot, wherein the method for optimizing the speed of the sudden start is: In the formula, counter is the counter, coefficient is the coefficient in the range of 0-1; The method for speed optimization of emergency braking is: Where, Duty Ratio is the duty ratio of the brake command, DIS echo It is the distance of surrounding obstacles measured by the ultrasonic monitoring module, coefficient is the coefficient in the range of 0-1, and threshold is the distance threshold.

2. The aircraft maintenance following robot based on embedded development according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The driving system includes: a driving module and a motor module. The driving module is used to start the motor based on the speed control signal; and the motor module is used to drive the robot body to move based on the motor.

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