Warehouse management method based on UWB positioning

Abstract

The present invention discloses a warehouse management method based on UWB positioning, which belongs to the field of wireless positioning technology, and comprises S1: a transport vehicle transports goods to a cargo base according to a transport route; S2: a positioning system obtains position information of a label on the goods, and transmits the position signal to a server; S3: a base position signal is pre-stored in the server; the server compares the label position with the base position information, and determines the number of the base on which the goods with the label are placed; compared with the prior art, the present invention first transports the goods to the base, and then automatically obtains the warehouse number of the goods by comparing the positions of the base and the goods, without the need to compile the goods number in advance, and without the need to transport the goods to a specific warehouse number, and the situation that the goods and the goods number do not correspond will not occur; and the prior art needs to rely on the transport vehicle to read the label, while the present invention does not need to read the label information; the label can be affixed to any position of the goods; the operation is more convenient when labeling, and the efficiency of receiving goods is higher.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of wireless positioning technology, and in particular to a warehouse management method based on UWB positioning. Background Art

[0002] As a part of the production system, the warehousing system plays an increasingly important role in the production management of enterprises. The existing intelligent warehousing system can quickly query the storage information of goods in the warehouse on the server, greatly improving the work efficiency of warehouse management. However, this intelligent warehousing system still needs to rely on manual work when receiving or shipping goods. When receiving goods, it is necessary to manually record the storage warehouse number of the batch of goods, and then manually enter it and upload it to the server. In order to realize the subsequent query of the goods storage information on the server, it is time-consuming and laborious when receiving or shipping goods.

[0003] Patent No. 201610994492.X previously disclosed an intelligent warehouse management system based on high-precision positioning technology; using positioning technology to achieve forklift transportation to obtain warehousing; avoiding the trouble of manual cargo entry; but the technology still has some defects; first: the storage warehouse number of the goods is pre-set, so the forklift must put the goods in the designated warehouse number; it depends on the forklift not to make a mistake when placing the goods; if an error occurs, it needs to rely on manual adjustment; and when the forklift loads or unloads the goods, the RFID device in the forklift's on-board terminal is required to read or not read the cargo information; this also has specific requirements for the position of the label on the cargo; in actual operation, the position of the label on the cargo will affect the determination of the forklift position of the data processing unit; the forklift is more prone to errors when looking for a specific warehouse number.

[0004] Therefore, there is an urgent need for a more efficient and accurate warehouse management system. Summary of the invention

[0005] In view of the shortcomings existing in the above-mentioned technology, the present invention provides a warehouse management method based on UWB positioning, in which a base is provided in each warehouse number of the warehouse; when the goods are received, after being transported to the base, the warehouse number of the goods is automatically obtained by comparing the positions of the base and the goods. There is no need to compile the goods number in advance, nor is there any need to transport the goods to a specific warehouse number, and there will be no situation where the goods and the goods number do not correspond.

[0006] The present invention provides a warehouse management method based on UWB positioning, comprising:

[0007] The transport vehicle transports the goods to the cargo base according to the transport route; wherein the base includes multiple ones, which are arranged in the warehouse, and each base is provided with a unique number; and a unique label is attached to the goods;

[0008] The positioning system obtains the location information of the label on the goods and transmits the location signal to the server;

[0009] The server pre-stores the base position signal; the server compares the label position with the base position information to determine the base number where the goods with the label are placed.

[0010] The specific plan is that the transport vehicle obtains the warehouse map from the server before transporting the goods; the warehouse map includes the base location information and the transportation route information; the transport vehicle obtains its own real-time location information through the positioning system, and transports the goods to the base along the transportation route according to its own real-time location information.

[0011] In a preferred solution, the base position information includes the position information of an empty base and the position information of a base with cargo; when the transport vehicle transports the cargo to the base along the transport route, the cargo is placed in order of distance from the empty base from far to near.

[0012] The specific solution is that the positioning system includes multiple base stations, which are used to generate a local area network covering the warehouse; after the tag is transported to the base, the tag communicates with at least three base stations through UWB signals to obtain the tag's location information; and the tag's location information is sent to the main server through the base station.

[0013] The specific solution is that when the tag communicates with the base station through UWB signals, the first positioning beacon is sent to the base station. After the base station receives the positioning beacon of the tag, it feeds back the second positioning beacon to the tag. After the tag receives the second positioning beacon, it calculates the communication time between the tag and the base station based on the sending and receiving time information of the first positioning beacon and the second positioning beacon. Then the location coordinates of the tag are obtained through TDOA or TOA.

[0014] Specifically, the second signal includes the timestamp t1 when the tag sends the first beacon, the timestamp t2 when the base station receives the first positioning beacon and the timestamp t3 when the second signal is sent; the timestamp when the tag receives the second positioning beacon is t4; then the communication time t between the tag and the base station is t = ((t4-t1)-(t3-t2)) / 2.

[0015] According to the specific scheme, a pressure sensor and a first Bluetooth device are provided on the base; after the cargo is transported to the cargo base, the pressure sensor receives external pressure and activates the first Bluetooth device; the first Bluetooth device is used to pair and connect with the tag; and a control signal is sent to the tag to send a first positioning beacon.

[0016] In a preferred solution, the first Bluetooth device is a single-channel Bluetooth that is paired with a single device; and the communication signal range is less than 1m.

[0017] According to a specific solution, after the first Bluetooth device is paired and connected with the tag, the base status information is sent to the tag; and the base status information is sent to the server through the tag; the server updates the warehouse map according to the status information.

[0018] Specifically, the product information is pre-entered into the tag; and the product information is bound with the location information and then transmitted to the server.

[0019] The beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: the present invention provides a warehouse management method based on UWB positioning, wherein a transport vehicle transports goods to a cargo base according to a transport route; a positioning system obtains the position information of a label on the goods and transmits the position signal to a server; a base position signal is pre-stored in the server; the server compares the label position with the base position information to determine the base number where the goods with the label are placed; compared with the prior art,

[0020] 1. The warehouse management method of the present invention automatically obtains the warehouse number of the goods by comparing the positions of the base and the goods after the goods are transported to the base during the incoming goods. There is no need to prepare the goods number in advance, nor is there a need to transport the goods to a specific warehouse number, so there will be no situation where the goods and the goods number do not correspond;

[0021] 2. The prior art depends on whether the transport vehicle reads the label and is relatively strict on the label position; the present invention does not need to read the label information; the label can be attached to any position of the goods; the operation is more convenient when attaching the label, and the efficiency of receiving goods is higher. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Figure 1 is a flow chart of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the bottom distribution inside the warehouse of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 3 is a system block diagram of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 4 This is the principle diagram of TDOA positioning technology;

[0026] Figure 5 This is the principle diagram of TOA positioning technology;

[0027] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the communication process between the tag and the base station during tag positioning of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 7 A block diagram of the relationship between the base and the label structure of the present invention;

[0029] Figure 8 It is a schematic diagram of the position relationship between the circular base and the label of the present invention;

[0030] Fig. 9 It is a schematic diagram of the position relationship between the rectangular base and the label of the present invention.

[0031] The main component symbols are described as follows:

[0032] 1. Transport vehicle; 2. Base station; 3. Base; 5. Tag; 4. Server; 31. Pressure sensor; 32. First Bluetooth device; 51. Second Bluetooth device; 52. Positioning communication device; 53. Processing device; 54. Storage device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] In order to more clearly illustrate the present invention, the present invention is further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0034] The warehouse management system is an intelligent management system that records the goods in and out of the warehouse. It is more reliable than traditional account book records and is more convenient for querying the real-time status of goods in the warehouse. It includes a server 4, on which the specific quantity of various types of goods in the warehouse and the warehouse number of the goods can be queried, so that the goods that need to be shipped out can be quickly found.

[0035] Traditional warehouse management systems require manual entry or delivery of goods when both shipping and receiving goods, and then manually enter the information of incoming and outgoing goods into the server 4. This method not only has low efficiency in receiving and shipping goods, but also is prone to errors, omissions, and intentional misrecording of information during manual entry, resulting in inconsistency between the actual quantity or location of the goods in the warehouse and the query results on the server 4. Subsequently, a solution for transporting goods without manual labor has emerged in the prior art with the help of positioning technology. However, as described in the background technology, this solution not only requires the preparation of the goods number in advance, which is prone to errors during transportation, but also requires ensuring that the label 5 on the forklift is always read by the forklift, and labeling 5 is troublesome and inefficient.

[0036] Based on the above situation, the present invention provides a warehouse management method based on UWB positioning. When receiving goods, there is no need to pre-compile the goods number, nor is there a need to transport the goods to a specific warehouse number, so there will be no situation where the goods and the goods number do not correspond; please refer to Figure 1 , which includes

[0037] The transport vehicle 1 transports the goods to the cargo base 3 according to the transport route; wherein the base 3 includes a plurality of bases, which are arranged in the warehouse, and each base 3 is provided with a unique number; a unique label 5 is attached to the goods;

[0038] The positioning system obtains the location information of the tag 5 on the goods and transmits the location signal to the server 4;

[0039] The server 4 has pre-stored therein a signal of the base 3 position; the server 4 compares the position information of the tag 5 with the position information of the base 3 to determine the number of the base 3 where the goods with the tag 5 are placed.

[0040] Compared with the prior art, the present invention automatically obtains the warehouse number of the goods by comparing the positions of the base 3 and the goods. There is no need to compile the goods number in advance, nor is there a need to transport the goods to a specific warehouse number, and there will be no situation where the goods and the number do not correspond. By placing the goods first and then determining the warehouse number of the goods, the transport vehicle 1 does not need to transport the goods to a specific warehouse number; instead, it can be transported to any empty base 3; at the same time, the transport vehicle 1 does not need to read the label 5 on the goods, and it only needs to transport the goods; the label can be attached to any position of the goods; the operation is more convenient when attaching the label 5, and the efficiency of receiving goods is higher.

[0041] In this embodiment, the base 3 is placed in the warehouse in advance; only a single cargo is stored on each base 3, and the base 3 is provided with a unique number; for example, "No. 11, Area C"; in this way, each cargo can be matched with the number of the base 3; the location of the cargo can be determined by the number of the base 3 on the server 4.

[0042] In this embodiment, the tag 5 is affixed to the goods. The tag 5 does not need to be read and includes a second Bluetooth device 51, a positioning communication device 52, a processing device 53 and a storage device 54. The location of the tag 5 can be confirmed by the positioning communication device 52 and the location is sent to the server 4. The tag 5 storage device has product information pre-entered in it. Before the tag 5 sends the location to the server 4, the processing device 53 binds the product information of the tag 5 with the location information and sends them together. In this way, the server 4 can know the type or quantity of the goods at the location. The goods can be a single large item, such as household appliances, or multiple small items packaged in a box, such as masks. The signal pre-entered in the tag 5 records the name and quantity of the goods in detail.

[0043] For specific solutions, please refer to Figure 2 Before transporting goods, the transport vehicle 1 obtains a warehouse map from the server 4; the warehouse map includes the location information of the base 3 and the transportation route information; the transport vehicle 1 obtains its own real-time location information through the positioning system, and transports the goods to the base 3 along the transportation route according to its own real-time location information.

[0044] A warehouse map is pre-stored in the server 4; the warehouse map is a two-dimensional or three-dimensional map drawn with the center point, corner point or arbitrary point of the warehouse as the origin; since the position of each base 3 will not change during the process of loading or unloading, the position coordinates of the base 3 and the transportation navigation of the transport vehicle 1 can be marked on the map; the condition that the transport navigation needs to meet is that the transport vehicle 1 can reach any base 3 along the transportation route; the route can be single or multiple; for example, it can be divided into "Area A, Area B, Area C" one by one; wherein, one end point of the route is the warehouse gate; when the transport vehicle 1 transports the goods to the base 3, it needs to first obtain its own position in the warehouse and its position in the warehouse map; and then transport the goods along the route according to its own position in the warehouse.

[0045] In the preferred solution, the position information of the base 3 includes the position information of the empty base 3 and the position information of the base 3 with goods; the transport vehicle 1 transports the goods to the blank base 3; there is no need to specify the warehouse number of the goods in advance during the whole process; theoretically, the goods can be placed on any blank base 3, but in order to optimize the transportation efficiency of the transport vehicle 1, the goods are placed in order of distance from the empty base 3 from far to near.

[0046] In this embodiment, the transport vehicle 1 also has functions such as automatic obstacle avoidance and automatic driving, and no manual control is required.

[0047] In this embodiment, when making a map, it is necessary to first survey the size of the warehouse, the position of the base 3 and the selected coordinate origin, and the position of the base 2 relative to the selected coordinate origin in the warehouse, and obtain a warehouse map based on the surveying data; in addition, the warehouse map also includes information on which of the bases 3 are blank bases 3; among them, for the convenience of surveying and mapping, the position of one of the bases 2 can be selected as the coordinate origin.

[0048] Specifically, the positioning system includes multiple base stations 2, which are used to generate a local area network covering the warehouse; the transport vehicle 1 communicates with at least three base stations 2 via UWB signals to determine its own location information; as well as its own location in the warehouse map; thereby eliminating manual control and allowing the transport vehicle 1 to transport the goods to the blank base 3 along the route.

[0049] In this embodiment, each location of the warehouse is covered by the local area networks of at least three base stations 2 at the same time; preferably, the local area network of each base station 2 covers the entire warehouse.

[0050] Since the transport vehicle 1 is transported indoors, the conventional GPS or Beidou positioning technology not only has weak positioning signals that are sometimes absent, but also has a positioning accuracy error of more than 5m, which cannot ensure that the transport vehicle 1 places the goods accurately on the goods; at the same time, if the conventional GPS or Beidou positioning technology is used to position the tag 5, the positioning error is too large, which will make it impossible to judge the number of the base 3 where the goods are placed by the position of the tag 5 and the position of the base 3; therefore, the present invention adopts UWB positioning technology; UWB positioning technology is a carrier-free communication technology that uses nanosecond non-sinusoidal narrow pulses to transmit data, so the spectrum range it occupies is very wide; UWB positioning uses broadband pulse communication technology, which has extremely strong anti-interference ability, reducing positioning errors; the emergence of UWB indoor positioning technology fills the gap in the field of high-precision positioning, it has the advantages of insensitivity to channel fading, low transmission signal power spectrum density, low interception capability, low system complexity, and can provide centimeter-level positioning accuracy.

[0051] In this embodiment, the positioning base station 2 can determine the distance between the transport vehicle 1 and the base station 2 through the arrival time difference (TDOA) or TOA measurement technology, and the positioning accuracy reaches the centimeter level; considering that the size of the base 3 is between 50cm-1m, this accuracy can meet the transportation needs of the transport vehicle 1; it can ensure that the transport vehicle 1 places the goods accurately on the base 3; instead of placing them on the ground where the base 3 is not set.

[0052] In this embodiment, TDOA positioning is hyperbolic positioning, and at least four positioning base stations 2 are required for positioning; by measuring the distance difference between the transport vehicle 1 and every two base stations 2, a hyperbola can be drawn when the distance difference is equal to a constant, and the intersection of the curves can determine the coordinates of the tag 5.

[0053] See also Figure 4 , when the positioning base station 2 sends the UWB beacon signal to the transport vehicle 1, the transport vehicle 1 receives the time difference of the positioning beacons of each base station 2, and obtains the distance difference between the transport vehicle 1 and each base station 2. A hyperbola is drawn according to the distance difference, and the intersection of each hyperbola is the unique position of the transport vehicle 1 at this moment; among them, before the positioning base station 2 sends the positioning beacon, the time between each base station 2 is synchronized; UWB positioning technology is already a very mature positioning technology, and only a simple principle introduction is given here; the time difference between the transport vehicle 1 receiving the positioning beacon sent by the first base station 2 and receiving the positioning beacon sent by the second base station 2 is T1, and the distance difference d1 between the transport vehicle 1 and the first base station 2 and the second base station 2 is obtained, and a first hyperbola P1 with the first base station 2 as the first focus, the second base station 2 as the second focus, and the distance difference d1 as the first hyperbola can be obtained; then according to the positioning beacon received from the first base station 2 and the positioning beacon received from the third base station 2 The time difference of the positioning beacon sent is T2, and the distance difference d2 between the transport vehicle 1 and the first base station 2 and the second base station 2 is obtained, and a second hyperbola P2 with the first base station 2 as the first focus, the third base station 2 as the second focus, and the distance difference d2 can be obtained; then according to the time difference of receiving the positioning beacon sent by the first base station 2 and receiving the positioning beacon sent by the fourth base station 2 is T3, the distance difference d3 between the transport vehicle 1 and the first base station 2 and the fourth base station 2 is obtained, and a third hyperbola P3 with the first base station 2 as the first focus, the fourth base station 2 as the second focus, and the distance difference d4 can be obtained; the three hyperbolas intersect at a unique point, which is the position of the transport vehicle 1; after determining the unique position of the transport vehicle 1, the position relationship of the transport vehicle 1 relative to the base station 2 is obtained, and then combined with the position coordinates of the positioning base station 2, the position coordinates (x1, y1) of the transport vehicle 1 in the entire warehouse map are obtained.

[0054] In this example, see Figure 5TOA positioning is circular curve positioning, and its principle is similar to TDOA positioning; TOA positioning requires at least three base stations 2; the transport vehicle 1 receives the positioning signal sent by the first base station 2 to obtain the transmission time T4 from the time the signal is sent to the time it is received, and the distance d5 between the transport vehicle 1 and the first base station 2 is obtained through T4. According to this distance, a circle C1 can be obtained. Similarly, the transport vehicle 1 can obtain the distance d5 and d6 from the second base station 2 and the third base station 2; as well as circles C2 and C3 with radii d5 and d6; the intersection of the three circles can determine the unique position of the transport vehicle 1, and combined with the position coordinates of the positioning base station 2, the position coordinates (x, y) of the transport vehicle 1 in the entire warehouse map can be obtained; in this method, it is necessary to ensure that the time of the transport vehicle 1 and the base station 2 are synchronized before the transport vehicle 1 receives the positioning signal.

[0055] The above two positioning methods are commonly used positioning methods in the prior art; since both methods require time synchronization between multiple base stations 2 or base stations 2 and transport vehicles 1, there is still a positioning error; however, the error is within 10 centimeters, which can meet the transportation requirements of the transport vehicle 1.

[0056] For specific solutions, please refer to Figure 3 After the tag 5 is transported to the base 3 , the tag 5 communicates with at least three base stations 2 via UWB signals to obtain the location information of the tag 5 ; and sends the location information of the tag 5 to the main server 4 via the base station 2 .

[0057] In this embodiment, after the position of the tag 5 is sent to the main server 4, the main server 4 compares the position of the base 3 with the position of the tag 5 to determine which base 3 the goods are placed on; see Figure 8 , for example, the position coordinates of label 5 are: (X0, Y0); the load-bearing surface of base 3 is a circle with a radius of R; the coordinates of the center point of the first base 3 are (X1, Y1) and numbered A002, and the coordinates of the center points of the bases 3 on both sides adjacent to the first base 3 are (X2, Y2) and (X3, Y3) and numbered A001 and A003 respectively; then server 4 determines which center point coordinates the distance between label 5 and is the smallest; obtains which base 3 the goods with the label 5 are set on; that is, obtains the unique number of label 5 on which the goods are placed; for example, if the distance value between label 5 and (X2, Y2) is the smallest, server 4 derives that the warehouse number of the goods with the label 5 is A001; since the goods information is pre-entered in label 5, label 5 binds the goods information and the position signal together and sends them to server 4, so server 4 can directly derive the warehouse number of the goods; for example: A001-1000 masks; when it is necessary to ship or inquire about the goods in the future, directly enter the name of the goods in server 4 to query the corresponding warehouse number.

[0058] Among them, the base 3 is arranged in a single row continuously or in a double-row connected arrangement. Preferably, before calculating the distance between the computing tag 5 and the center coordinates of the base 3, the server 4 first selects the center points from all the center coordinates of the base 3 whose differences in the abscissa and ordinate from the abscissa and ordinate of the tag 5 are both less than twice R; then calculates the distance value between the selected point and the coordinates of the tag 5; that is, the center point coordinates of the selected base 3 satisfy the relationship: X - X0 < 2R; X - X0 < 2R; By first selecting and then comparing, the computing amount of the server 4 is greatly reduced.

[0059] In this embodiment, referring to Fig. 9 , the load-bearing surface of the base 3 can also be rectangular, and its vertex coordinates are a1(X4, Y4), a2(X5, Y4), a3(X5, Y5), a4(X4, Y5) respectively; only need to compare the coordinates (X0, Y0) of the tag 5; whether it simultaneously satisfies the relationship: (X4, X5)min < X0 < (X4, X5)max; (Y4, Y5)min < Y0 < (Y4, Y5)max; If it is satisfied, the tag 5 falls on the base 3; otherwise, it does not fall on the base 3; Before comparison, the server 4 only needs to select the vertex coordinates of two diagonals of the base 3.

[0060] Due to the centimeter-level error in the positioning technology, in the actual goods transportation process, the tag 5 should be pasted at the center position of the goods as much as possible; if it is pasted at the edge position, it may be due to the positioning error that the server 4 determines that the base 3 where the goods are placed is not the actual base 3 of the goods, while the actual base 3 where the goods are placed is the adjacent base 3; Therefore, in order to eliminate the influence brought by this special situation; the positioning accuracy can be further improved.

[0061] Preferably, referring to Figure 6 , the tag 5 includes a positioning communication device 52; when positioning the tag 5, it is different from positioning the trolley; the positioning accuracy requirement for the tag 5 is higher; when the tag 5 and the base station 2 communicate and position through UWB signals, first the tag 5 sends a first positioning beacon to the base station 2, after the base station 2 receives the positioning beacon of the tag 5, it feeds back a second positioning beacon to the tag 5; after the tag 5 receives the second positioning beacon, according to the sending and receiving time information of the first positioning beacon and the second positioning beacon, it calculates the communication time between the tag 5 and the base station 2; then obtains the position coordinates of the tag 5 through TDOA or TOA.

[0062] In this embodiment, the second signal includes the timestamp t1 when the tag 5 sends the first beacon, the timestamp t2 when the base station 2 receives the first positioning beacon, and the timestamp t3 when the second signal is sent; and a timestamp t4 is generated when the tag 5 receives the second positioning beacon; then the communication time t between the tag 5 and the base station 2 is t = ((t4 - t1) - (t3 - t2)) / 2; Similarly, the communication time between the tag 5 and any base station 2 can be obtained in this way.

[0063] This method of calculating the signal communication time between base station 2 and tag 5 by using the difference in the time difference between base station 2 and tag 5 sending the positioning beacon and receiving the positioning respectively eliminates the requirement of highly synchronizing the time points of each base station 2 and the base station 2 and tag 5 in the traditional TDOA or TOA positioning method; since the positioning beacon propagates at high speed, in the traditional TDOA or TOA positioning, even if the time difference after the synchronization of each base station 2 is at the nanosecond level, it will still cause centimeter or even decimeter level errors; the scheme for calculating the communication time between tag 5 and base station 2 in this example is to use base station 2 and tag 5 as timers, and only need to know the time difference between the base station 2 itself or the tag 5 itself receiving and sending the positioning beacon, without using the time point value recorded by base station 2, the time point value recorded by tag 5, or the time point value recorded between different base stations 2 as the initial value for calculation; therefore, there is no need to synchronize the time points of each base station 2 and tag 5; thereby greatly improving the positioning accuracy.

[0064] In this embodiment, the time difference between the base station 2 receiving the first beacon and sending the second beacon is very short, and at this time the goods have been placed on the base 3, and the position of the tag 5 no longer moves. In order to improve the accuracy of the time difference, the delay time t5 can be set to magnify the time difference; for example, after receiving the first beacon, the base station 2 sends the second beacon after 1s; at this time, the formula of the communication time t remains unchanged.

[0065] In this embodiment, the positioning accuracy of the tag 5 can be controlled within 1 cm; since the tag 5 itself has a certain size, under this positioning accuracy, even if the tag 5 is attached to the edge of the goods, the server 4 can still accurately determine the number of the base 3 where the goods are placed.

[0066] For the preferred solution, please see Figure 7 A pressure sensor 31 and a first Bluetooth device 32 are provided on the base 3; the tag 5 includes a second Bluetooth device 51; after the cargo is transported to the cargo base 3, the pressure sensor 31 receives external pressure and activates the first Bluetooth device 32; the first Bluetooth device 32 is used to pair and connect with the second Bluetooth device 51; and sends a control signal to the second Bluetooth device 51, so that the tag 5 sends a first positioning beacon.

[0067] When the goods are on the transport vehicle 1, the position of the goods is still moving; at this time, locating the goods is not only meaningless, but the positioning data will also interfere with the judgment of the server 4; when the goods are placed on the base 3, the position of the goods is fixed, and positioning the tag 5 at this time can allow the server 4 to know the exact position of the goods; by setting a pressure sensor 31 on the base 3 to sense whether the base 3 is placed with goods, when it is sensed that there are goods placed, the first Bluetooth device 32 sends a signal to activate the positioning communication device 52 of the tag 5 to send a first positioning beacon, and start positioning the tag 5; the entire positioning process is activated by whether the goods are placed on the base 3; no manual intervention or other unnecessary and troublesome auxiliary means are required.

[0068] According to the preferred solution, after the first Bluetooth device 32 is paired and connected with the tag 5, the status information of the base 3 is sent to the tag 5; and the status information of the base 3 is sent to the server 4 through the tag 5; the server 4 updates the warehouse map according to the status information; the pressure sensor 31 not only plays the role of activating the first Bluetooth device 32, but also plays the role of determining whether goods are placed on the base 3; because the present invention obtains the goods number after receiving the goods first, rather than pre-setting the warehouse number of the goods, how to know whether goods are placed on each base 3 in the warehouse is still a problem; the pressure sensor 31 senses the goods and transmits the information to the server 4 through the tag 5 to effectively solve this problem; when and only when there are goods with the label 5 placed on the base 3, the server 4 will mark the base 3 as a base 3 with goods placed.

[0069] In a preferred solution, both the first Bluetooth device 32 and the second Bluetooth device 51 are single-channel Bluetooth devices that can only be paired with a single device; and the communication signal range is less than 1m; the signal range of conventional Bluetooth communication devices is 1m-10m; the communication signal range of some high-power Bluetooth devices can reach 20m; the communication range of the Bluetooth device in the present invention is controlled to be comparable to the size of the base 3; this prevents the Bluetooth device from pairing and connecting with the tag 5 on the adjacent base 3; thereby misjudging the base 3 for placing goods as a blank base 3; at the same time, the small communication signal range greatly reduces the power consumption of the base 3; and the first Bluetooth device 32 and the second Bluetooth device 51 are single-channel Bluetooth devices; that is, the first Bluetooth device 32 can only be paired and connected with a single tag 5; further prevent the first Bluetooth device 32 in each base 3 from pairing and connecting with the tag 5 on other adjacent bases 3; ensure that the tag 5 will only be paired and connected with the Bluetooth device in the goods with the tag 5 affixed.

[0070] For example: during the process of placing goods on the transport vehicle 1, after the transport vehicle 1 places the goods on the base 3, the second Bluetooth device 51 in the tag 5 is immediately paired and connected with the first Bluetooth device 32 in the base 3; when the transport vehicle 1 continues to place another goods on another base 3, the Bluetooth device in the previous base 3 has been paired and connected with the tag 5, and the Bluetooth device in the base 3 will not be connected with the second Bluetooth device 51 in the tag 5 on the previous base 3.

[0071] In actual application: first, the cargo information is entered into the tag 5, and then the tag 5 is affixed to the corresponding cargo surface; the transport vehicle 1 transports each cargo along the transport route to the blank base 3 at the warehouse door; the positioning communication device 52 in the tag 5 is activated and the positioning of the tag 5 is completed by communicating with the base station 2; at the same time, the positioning communication device 52 transmits the tag 5 position, cargo information, and base 3 status to the server 4 through the base station 2; the server 4 processes the acquired information to obtain the base 3 number corresponding to each cargo; subsequently, the location of the cargo can be queried by searching the cargo name in the server 4; and the transport vehicle 1 can obtain the cargo location information from the server 4. When shipping, the transport vehicle 1 moves to the base 3 where the cargo to be taken out is placed, removes the cargo and transports it out of the warehouse; when leaving the warehouse, the tag 5 is removed, the new cargo information is re-entered, and it is affixed to the new cargo again to achieve reuse.

[0072] The advantages of the present invention are:

[0073] 1. The present invention automatically obtains the warehouse number of the goods by comparing the positions of the base and the goods. There is no need to prepare the goods number in advance, nor is there a need to transport the goods to a specific warehouse number, so there will be no situation where the goods and the goods number do not correspond. By placing the goods first and then determining the goods warehouse number, the transport vehicle does not need to transport the goods to a specific warehouse number; instead, it can be transported to any empty base.

[0074] 2. At the same time, the transport vehicle does not need to read the labels on the goods, it only needs to transport the goods; the labels can be attached to any position of the goods; the operation is more convenient when attaching labels, and the efficiency of receiving goods is higher.

[0075] 3. The signal communication time between the base station and the tag is calculated by the difference in time between the base station and the tag sending the positioning beacon and receiving the positioning signal, which eliminates the requirement of highly synchronized time points between each base station and the base station and the tag in the traditional TDOA or TOA positioning method; the positioning accuracy can be controlled within 1 cm; because the tag itself has a certain size, even if the tag is attached to the edge of the goods, the server can still accurately determine the base number where the goods are placed.

[0076] 4. When the goods are on the transport vehicle, the position of the goods is still moving; at this time, locating the goods is not only meaningless, but the positioning data will also interfere with the server's judgment; when the goods are placed on the base, the position of the goods is fixed, and positioning the label at this time can let the server know the exact position of the goods; by setting a pressure sensor on the base, it can sense whether the goods are placed on the base; at the same time, the pressure sensor can also be used to sense the status of the base.

[0077] 5. Both the first Bluetooth device and the second Bluetooth device are single-channel Bluetooth devices that can only be paired with a single device; and the communication signal range is less than 1m; further prevent the first Bluetooth device in each base from pairing and connecting with tags on other adjacent bases; ensure that the tag will only be paired and connected with the Bluetooth device in the goods with the tag.

[0078] The above disclosures are only several specific embodiments of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and any changes that can be conceived by those skilled in the art should fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A warehouse management method based on UWB positioning, characterized in that: include: The transport vehicle transports the goods to the cargo base according to the transport route; wherein the base includes multiple ones, which are arranged in the warehouse, and each base is provided with a unique number; and a unique label is attached to the goods; The base is provided with a pressure sensor and a first Bluetooth device, and the tag includes a second Bluetooth device; after the cargo is transported to the cargo base, the pressure sensor receives external pressure and activates the first Bluetooth device, the first Bluetooth device is used to pair with the second Bluetooth device and send a control signal to the second Bluetooth device, so that the tag sends a first positioning beacon; The transport vehicle obtains a warehouse map from the server before transporting the goods; the warehouse map includes the base location information and the transport route information; the transport vehicle obtains its own real-time location information through the positioning system, and transports the goods to the base along the transport route according to its own real-time location information, wherein the base location information includes the empty base location information and the base location information with goods, and when the transport vehicle transports the goods to the base along the transport route, the goods are placed in order of distance from the empty base from far to near; After the first Bluetooth device is paired and connected with the tag, the base status information is sent to the tag; the base status information is sent to the server through the tag, and the server updates the warehouse map according to the base status information; The positioning system obtains the location information of the label on the goods and transmits the location signal to the server; The server pre-stores the base position signal; the server compares the label position with the base position information to determine the base number where the goods with the label are placed.

2. The warehouse management method based on UWB positioning according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The positioning system includes multiple base stations, which are used to generate a local area network covering the warehouse. After the tag is transported to the base, the tag communicates with at least three base stations via UWB signals to obtain the tag's location information. And send the tag's location information to the main server through the base station.

3. The warehouse management method based on UWB positioning according to claim 2 is characterized in that: When the tag communicates with the base station through UWB signals, it first sends the first positioning beacon to the base station. After the base station receives the positioning beacon from the tag, it feeds back the second positioning beacon to the tag. After the tag receives the second positioning beacon, it calculates the communication time between the tag and the base station based on the sending and receiving time information of the first positioning beacon and the second positioning beacon. Then, the location coordinates of the tag are obtained through TDOA or TOA.

4. The warehouse management method based on UWB positioning according to claim 3 is characterized in that: The second signal includes the timestamp t1 when the tag sends the first beacon, the timestamp t2 when the base station receives the first positioning beacon and the timestamp t3 when the second signal is sent; the timestamp when the tag receives the second positioning beacon is t4; then the communication time t between the tag and the base station is ((t4-t1)-(t3-t2)) / 2.

5. The warehouse management method based on UWB positioning according to claim 3 is characterized in that: The first Bluetooth device is a single-channel Bluetooth paired with a unique tag; and the communication signal range is less than 1m.

6. The warehouse management method based on UWB positioning according to claim 1, characterized in that: The product information is pre-entered in the tag, and the product information is bound with the location information and then transmitted to the server.

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