Unmanned aerial vehicle and unmanned aerial vehicle monitoring system

Abstract

The invention relates to an unmanned aerial vehicle and an unmanned aerial vehicle monitoring system, and the unmanned aerial vehicle obtains wind speed data and wind direction data during the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle through a wind power detection device, so that a controller correspondingly generates a first control signal and a second control signal according to the wind speed data and the wind direction data. Therefore, the steering engines are driven through the first control signal to control the rotating speeds of the blades in one-to-one correspondence, the steering engines are driven through the second control signal to control the rotating speeds of the blades in one-to-one correspondence, finally, the unmanned aerial vehicle overcomes crosswind, and balanced hovering and balanced flying are achieved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and in particular to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) monitoring system. Background Art

[0002] Nowadays, drones are widely used in various fields, such as aerial photography, agriculture, plant protection, express delivery, disaster relief, etc. However, during the flight, the wind field around the drone is mixed, which makes it difficult to estimate the wind field information of the drone. Summary of the invention

[0003] Based on this, it is necessary to provide a drone and a drone monitoring system that can obtain wind speed data and wind direction data.

[0004] In a first aspect, a drone is provided, comprising:

[0005] The fuselage body;

[0006] A wind force detection device, which is arranged on the fuselage body; the wind force detection device is used to detect wind speed data and wind direction data during the flight of the UAV;

[0007] A controller connected to the wind force detection device; the controller is used to receive and generate a first control signal and a second control signal according to the wind speed data and the wind direction data;

[0008] Multiple servos, each servo is arranged at a different position of the fuselage body, and the input end of each servo is connected to the controller; the servo is used to receive and control the blade speed of the UAV according to a first control signal, and is also used to receive and control the blade steering of the UAV according to a second control signal; wherein each servo is configured with a one-to-one corresponding blade.

[0009] In one embodiment, the controller is configured to:

[0010] Determine the magnitude of the current synthetic wind force to which the UAV is subjected during flight based on the wind speed data;

[0011] Determining a first control signal according to the magnitude of the current synthetic wind force to drive at least one steering gear to adjust the corresponding blade speeds;

[0012] The controller is also used to:

[0013] Determine the direction of the current synthetic wind force according to the wind direction data;

[0014] The second control signal is determined according to the direction of the current synthetic wind force to drive each steering gear to control the corresponding blade turning.

[0015] In one embodiment, the wind force detection device comprises:

[0016] Wind speed sensor, the output end of the wind speed sensor is connected to the controller; the wind speed sensor is used to detect the wind speed data during the flight of the drone;

[0017] Wind direction sensor, the output end of the wind direction sensor is connected to the controller; the wind direction sensor is used to detect the wind direction data during the flight of the drone.

[0018] In one embodiment, the above-mentioned drone further comprises:

[0019] A plurality of ultrasonic positioning sensors, each of which is arranged at a different position of the fuselage body, and each of which is used to output a detection signal representing an obstacle situation in the environment surrounding the drone;

[0020] The controller is connected to the ultrasonic positioning sensor and is used to generate and send an avoidance signal to each steering gear when it is determined that there is an obstacle based on the detection signal;

[0021] Each servo is also used to control the propeller speed and blade steering of the drone according to the avoidance signal.

[0022] In one embodiment, the ultrasonic positioning sensor comprises:

[0023] A sending sensor for transmitting ultrasonic waves;

[0024] A receiving sensor, used for receiving ultrasonic waves reflected by the environment and outputting a detection signal;

[0025] The controller is connected to the sending sensor and the receiving sensor respectively.

[0026] In one embodiment, there are four ultrasonic positioning sensors, each of which is disposed at four corners of the fuselage body.

[0027] In one embodiment, the above-mentioned drone further comprises:

[0028] The positioning module is arranged on the fuselage body, and the output end of the positioning module is connected to the controller. The positioning module is used to locate the actual position of the drone and send the actual position to the controller.

[0029] In one embodiment, at least one of the first control signal, the second control signal and the avoidance signal is an analog signal or a pulse signal.

[0030] In a second aspect, a drone monitoring system is provided, comprising the drone as described above, and a ground monitoring center.

[0031] In one embodiment, when the drone includes a plurality of ultrasonic positioning sensors, the drone monitoring system further includes:

[0032] The alarm module is connected to the ground monitoring center. The alarm module is used to perform an alarm action according to the alarm information received by the ground monitoring center, wherein the alarm information is generated when it is determined based on the detection signal that the distance between the obstacle and the drone is less than the safety distance.

[0033] The above-mentioned UAV and UAV monitoring system obtain the wind speed data and wind direction data of the UAV during flight through a wind detection device, so that the controller generates a first control signal and a second control signal according to the wind speed data and the wind direction data, thereby driving each servo to control the corresponding blade speed through the first control signal, and driving each servo to control the corresponding blade steering through the second control signal, thereby finally enabling the UAV to overcome the side wind and achieve balanced hovering and balanced flight. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or the conventional technology, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the conventional technology descriptions are briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

[0035] Figure 1 This is one of the structural block diagrams of a drone according to an embodiment;

[0036] Figure 2 This is the second structural block diagram of a drone according to an embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] In order to facilitate understanding of the present application, the present application will be described more fully below with reference to the relevant drawings. Embodiments of the present application are provided in the drawings. However, the present application can be implemented in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. On the contrary, the purpose of providing these embodiments is to make the disclosure of the present application more thorough and comprehensive.

[0038] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as those commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which this application belongs. The terms used herein in the specification of this application are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit this application.

[0039] It is understood that the terms "first", "second", etc. used in this application may be used herein to describe various elements, but these elements are not limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish a first element from another element. For example, without departing from the scope of this application, a first target servo may be referred to as a second target servo, and similarly, a second target servo may be referred to as a first target servo. Both the first target servo and the second target servo are target servos, but they are not the same target servo.

[0040] It can be understood that the “connection” in the following embodiments should be understood as “electrical connection”, “communication connection”, etc. if the connected circuits, modules, units, etc. have electrical signals or data transmission between each other.

[0041] It can be understood that “at least one” means one or more, “plurality” means two or more, and “at least a portion of an element” means a part or all of an element.

[0042] When used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "said / the" may also include plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the terms "include / comprise" or "have" etc. specify the presence of stated features, wholes, steps, operations, components, parts or combinations thereof, but do not exclude the possibility of the presence or addition of one or more other features, wholes, steps, operations, components, parts or combinations thereof.

[0043] In one embodiment, Figure 1 As shown, a drone 100 is provided, comprising: a fuselage body ( Figure 1 Not shown in the figure), wind detection device 102, controller 104 and multiple steering gears 106.

[0044] The wind force detection device 102 is disposed on the fuselage body; the wind force detection device 102 is used to detect wind speed data and wind direction data during the flight of the drone 100. According to the wind speed data and wind direction data detected by the wind force detection device 102, the crosswind received by the drone 100 and the wind direction of the crosswind can be determined.

[0045] The controller 104 is connected to the wind force detection device 102; the controller 104 is used to receive and generate a first control signal and a second control signal according to the wind speed data and the wind direction data. The controller 104 may be a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller, Programmable Logic Controller 104) controller 104, and the PLC controller 104 may be flexibly configured through programming to obtain a drone 100 that adapts to different control requirements and application scenarios.

[0046] Each servo 106 is arranged at a different position of the fuselage body, and the input end of each servo 106 is connected to the controller 104; the servo 106 is used to receive and control the blade speed of the drone 100 according to the first control signal, and is also used to receive and control the blade steering of the drone 100 according to the second control signal; wherein each servo 106 is configured with a one-to-one corresponding blade.

[0047] Furthermore, each servo 106 can be connected to the controller 104 via a communication interface, thereby achieving real-time control with high control accuracy.

[0048] The servos 106 can be evenly distributed on the fuselage of the drone 100 to control the attitude balance of the drone 100 during flight. Specifically, a drone 100 can be provided with four servos 106, which can be distributed at the four corners of the drone 100, and each servo 106 can control the corresponding blade speed and blade steering according to the first control signal and the second control signal to output a mechanical force equal to the magnitude and opposite to the crosswind force received by the drone 100, so that the drone 100 can achieve attitude balance during flight while overcoming the influence of the crosswind. Of course, the drone 100 can be provided with multiple servos 106, and the more servos 106 are provided, the more precise the control of the flight attitude of the drone 100 is.

[0049] Therefore, the above-mentioned drone 100 can obtain the wind speed data and wind direction data of the drone 100 during the flight through the wind detection device 102, so that the controller 104 generates a first control signal and a second control signal according to the wind speed data and the wind direction data, thereby driving each servo 106 to control the corresponding blade speed through the first control signal, and driving each servo 106 to control the corresponding blade steering through the second control signal, thereby finally enabling the drone 100 to overcome the side wind and achieve balanced hovering and balanced flight.

[0050] In one embodiment, the controller 104 is configured to:

[0051] The magnitude of the current synthetic wind force to which the UAV 100 is subjected during flight is determined based on the wind speed data.

[0052] The first control signal is determined according to the magnitude of the current synthetic wind force to drive at least one steering gear 106 to adjust the corresponding blade rotation speed.

[0053] The faster the blade speed is, the greater the lift obtained by the UAV 100 is.

[0054] The controller 104 is also used to:

[0055] Determine the direction of the current resultant wind force based on the wind direction data.

[0056] The second control signal is determined according to the direction of the current synthetic wind force to drive the steering engine 106 to control the corresponding blade turning.

[0057] The clockwise rotating blades push the air downward, creating upward lift.

[0058] Therefore, the blade steering direction controlled by each servo 106 can be determined according to the second control signal.

[0059] For example, the center of the fuselage of the drone 100 can be used as the origin, the direction of the current synthetic wind force can be used as the x-axis, and the xy coordinate axis can be established. The steering gear 106 between the second quadrant and the third quadrant can be driven to control the corresponding blades to turn clockwise, and the steering gear 106 between the first quadrant and the fourth quadrant can be driven to control the corresponding blades to turn counterclockwise. At the same time, according to the first control signal, the steering gear 106 between the second quadrant and the third quadrant can be driven to control the corresponding blade speed to be greater than the steering gear 106 between the first quadrant and the fourth quadrant, thereby generating a mechanical force in the horizontal direction of the drone 100 that is equal to the current synthetic wind force and opposite in direction, thereby resisting the crosswind during flight.

[0060] In one embodiment, Figure 2 As shown, the wind force detection device 102 includes: a wind speed sensor 1022 and a wind direction sensor 1024 .

[0061] The output end of the wind speed sensor 1022 is connected to the controller 104 ; the wind speed sensor 1022 is used to detect the wind speed data during the flight of the drone 100 .

[0062] The wind speed sensor 1022 is a device used to measure the ambient wind speed during the flight of the drone 100. The wind speed sensor 1022 can be a mechanical wind speed sensor 1022 or an ultrasonic wind speed sensor 1022, and its housing can be made of high-quality aluminum alloy profiles or polycarbonate composite materials to prevent corrosion by rainwater, etc., thereby extending its service life.

[0063] The output end of the wind direction sensor 1024 is connected to the controller 104 ; the wind direction sensor 1024 is used to detect wind direction data during the flight of the drone 100 .

[0064] The wind direction sensor 1024 is a physical device that detects, senses and outputs external wind direction information by the rotation of a wind direction arrow. The wind direction sensor 1024 can measure the ambient wind direction during the flight of the drone 100, especially the ambient wind direction at low altitudes. The wind direction sensor 1024 can be a photoelectric, voltage or compass type wind direction sensor 1024.

[0065] In one embodiment, Figure 2As shown, the drone 100 further includes: a plurality of ultrasonic positioning sensors 108 .

[0066] Each ultrasonic positioning sensor 108 is disposed at a different position of the fuselage body, and each ultrasonic positioning sensor 108 is used to output a detection signal representing the obstacle situation of the surrounding environment of the drone 100 .

[0067] The controller 104 is connected to the ultrasonic positioning sensor 108 and is used to generate and send an avoidance signal to each steering engine 106 when it is determined that there is an obstacle based on the detection signal.

[0068] Each servo 106 is also used to control the blade speed and blade steering of the drone 100 according to the avoidance signal.

[0069] Through each ultrasonic positioning sensor 108, it can be determined whether there are obstacles in the surrounding environment of the drone 100. When the controller 104 can determine that there are obstacles in the surrounding environment of the drone 100 based on the received detection signal, it generates and sends an avoidance signal to each servo 106, so that each servo 106 controls the blade speed and blade steering of the drone 100 according to the avoidance signal. Specifically, the avoidance signal can drive each servo 106 to turn in the direction without obstacles and accelerate the flight to prevent the drone 100 from hitting obstacles or even crashing. Therefore, each servo 106 can correct the flight route of the drone 100 according to the avoidance signal, thereby ensuring the flight safety of the drone 100.

[0070] Furthermore, each servo 106 can simultaneously control the corresponding blade speed and blade steering under the drive of the first control signal, the second control signal and the avoidance signal, so that the drone 100 can avoid obstacles while overcoming the influence of side wind, thereby ensuring the flight safety of the drone 100.

[0071] In one embodiment, the ultrasonic positioning sensor 108 includes a transmitting sensor and a receiving sensor.

[0072] Among them, the sending sensor is used to transmit ultrasonic waves.

[0073] The receiving sensor is used to receive ultrasonic waves reflected by the environment and output a detection signal.

[0074] The controller 104 is connected to the sending sensor and the receiving sensor respectively.

[0075] The controller 104 is used to control the pulse frequency and duty cycle of the sending sensor; the controller 104 is also used to determine the distance of the obstacle from the drone 100 based on the signal received by the receiving sensor.

[0076] The higher the pulse frequency, the faster the distance between the obstacle and the drone 100 is measured, but too high a pulse frequency will increase noise and interference, thereby affecting the performance of the wireless communication module. The higher the duty cycle, the stronger the ultrasonic wave output by the sending sensor, and the longer the detection distance, but a high duty cycle will increase power consumption.

[0077] The controller 104 can determine the distance of the obstacle by counting the signals received by the receiving sensor.

[0078] Furthermore, the controller 104 may also perform sparse modulation on the sending sensor and introduce a certain time interval to reduce interference and overlap between signals.

[0079] The transmitting sensor and the receiving sensor may be ceramic vibrator transducers. When the ceramic vibrator transducer is used as a transmitting sensor, it is used to convert the electrical vibration energy of the ceramic vibrator into ultrasonic energy and radiate the ultrasonic energy to the surrounding environment of the drone 100. When the ceramic vibrator transducer is used as a receiving sensor, it is used to receive the ultrasonic energy rebounded by the obstacle, generate corresponding mechanical vibrations, and convert the mechanical vibrations into corresponding electrical energy as the output of the receiving sensor.

[0080] The specific size of the ceramic vibrator transducer can be determined according to the size of the drone 100 to take into account the space occupation and performance of the ceramic vibrator transducer. For example, the diameter of the ceramic vibrator transducer can be 15 mm.

[0081] In one embodiment, there are four ultrasonic positioning sensors 108 , and each ultrasonic positioning sensor 108 is disposed at four corners of the fuselage body, respectively.

[0082] Ultrasonic positioning sensors 108 are disposed on the four corners of the drone 100 , so as to comprehensively detect obstacles in the surrounding environment of the drone 100 , thereby saving the design cost of the drone 100 .

[0083] In one embodiment, Figure 2 As shown, the drone 100 further includes a positioning module 110 .

[0084] The positioning module 110 is disposed on the fuselage body, and an output end of the positioning module 110 is connected to the controller 104 . The positioning module 110 is used to locate the actual position of the drone 100 and send the actual position to the controller 104 .

[0085] The positioning module 110 can accurately determine the current position of the drone 100 to ensure the correct route of the drone 100. The positioning module 110 transmits the position information of the drone 100 to the controller 104 to determine the position of the drone 100; wherein the position includes the historical position and the current position.

[0086] The positioning module 110 may be designed based on the Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine the specific location of the drone 100 through satellite signals.

[0087] In one embodiment, at least one of the first control signal, the second control signal and the avoidance signal is an analog signal or a pulse signal.

[0088] The control accuracy of analog signals is high, but the anti-interference ability is low. When the first control signal, the second control signal or the avoidance signal is an analog signal, the blade speed can be adjusted by adjusting the size of the analog signal. The larger the analog signal, the faster the blade speed. Exemplarily, the controller 104 can output an analog signal with a size of 0-10V or 4-20mA. Moreover, the positive and negative values ​​of the analog signal can be used to control each servo 106 to drive the corresponding blade to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise.

[0089] The pulse frequency has high anti-interference ability, but low control accuracy. When the first control signal, the second control signal or the avoidance signal is a pulse signal, the blade speed can be adjusted by adjusting the frequency of the pulse signal. The larger the frequency of the pulse signal, the faster the blade speed. And the phase of the pulse signal can be used to control each servo 106 to drive the corresponding blade to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise.

[0090] Therefore, the signal type can be selected according to actual requirements to obtain a drone 100 that meets user needs.

[0091] In one embodiment, a drone monitoring system is provided, comprising the drone as described above, and a ground monitoring center.

[0092] The drone monitoring system integrates the drone and the ground monitoring center. It can perform personalized adjustments and real-time monitoring of the drone through the ground monitoring center. It can also output the first control signal, the second control signal or the avoidance signal through the staff's adjustment to correct the drone's cruising route and improve the safety of the drone during flight.

[0093] In one embodiment, when the drone includes multiple ultrasonic positioning sensors, the drone monitoring system further includes an alarm module.

[0094] The alarm module is connected to the ground monitoring center, and the alarm module is used to execute an alarm action according to the alarm information received by the ground monitoring center, wherein the alarm information is generated when it is determined based on the detection signal that the distance between the obstacle and the drone is less than the safety distance.

[0095] When the distance between the obstacle and the drone is less than the safe distance, it is considered that the drone is at risk of not being able to avoid the obstacle in time. Therefore, the alarm module needs to perform an alarm action to notify the staff in time. Among them, the alarm module can be an audio-visual module with an audio-visual alarm function, or a visual screen with a display module. Correspondingly, the alarm action can be a sound broadcast and / or light flashing of the audio-visual module, or a pop-up window prompt on the visual screen. Of course, the above-mentioned alarm modules and alarm actions are only examples and do not specifically limit the alarm modules and alarm actions.

[0096] In the description of this specification, the description with reference to the terms "some embodiments", "other embodiments", etc. means that the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present application. In this specification, the schematic description of the above terms does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example.

[0097] The technical features of the above-described embodiments may be arbitrarily combined. To make the description concise, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above-described embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of this specification.

[0098] The above-described embodiments only express several implementation methods of the present application, and the descriptions thereof are relatively specific and detailed, but they cannot be understood as limiting the scope of the present application. It should be pointed out that, for a person of ordinary skill in the art, several variations and improvements can be made without departing from the concept of the present application, and these all belong to the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the attached claims.

Claims

1. A drone, characterized in that: include: The fuselage body; A wind force detection device, the wind force detection device is arranged on the fuselage body; The wind force detection device is used to detect wind speed data and wind direction data during the flight of the UAV; A controller connected to the wind force detection device; The controller is used to receive and generate a first control signal and a second control signal according to the wind speed data and the wind direction data; A plurality of servos, each of which is arranged at a different position of the fuselage body, and an input end of each of the servos is connected to the controller; the servos are used to receive and control the blade speed of the UAV according to the first control signal, and are also used to receive and control the blade steering of the UAV according to the second control signal; wherein each of the servos is configured with a one-to-one corresponding blade.

2. The drone according to claim 1, characterized in that: The controller is used to: Determine the magnitude of the current synthetic wind force to which the UAV is subjected during flight according to the wind speed data; Determining the first control signal according to the magnitude of the current synthetic wind force to drive at least one steering gear to adjust the corresponding blade speeds; The controller is also used for: Determine the direction of the current synthetic wind force according to the wind direction data; The second control signal is determined according to the direction of the current synthetic wind force to drive each of the steering gears to control the corresponding blade turning.

3. The drone according to claim 1, characterized in that: The wind force detection device comprises: A wind speed sensor, the output end of which is connected to the controller; the wind speed sensor is used to detect wind speed data during the flight of the drone; A wind direction sensor, the output end of which is connected to the controller; the wind direction sensor is used to detect wind direction data during the flight of the drone.

4. The drone according to claim 1, characterized in that: Also includes: A plurality of ultrasonic positioning sensors, each of which is disposed at a different position of the fuselage body, and each of which is used to output a detection signal representing an obstacle situation in the surrounding environment of the drone; The controller is connected to the ultrasonic positioning sensor and is used to generate and send an avoidance signal to each of the steering gears when it is determined that there is an obstacle according to the detection signal; Each of the servos is also used to control the blade speed and blade steering of the UAV according to the avoidance signal.

5. The drone according to claim 4, characterized in that: The ultrasonic positioning sensor comprises: A sending sensor for transmitting ultrasonic waves; A receiving sensor, used for receiving ultrasonic waves reflected by the environment and outputting the detection signal; The controller is connected to the sending sensor and the receiving sensor respectively.

6. The drone according to claim 4, characterized in that: There are four ultrasonic positioning sensors, each of which is arranged at four corners of the fuselage body.

7. The drone according to claim 1, characterized in that: Also includes: A positioning module is arranged on the fuselage body, and an output end of the positioning module is connected to the controller. The positioning module is used to locate the actual position of the drone and send the actual position to the controller.

8. The drone according to claim 4, characterized in that: At least one of the first control signal, the second control signal and the avoidance signal is an analog signal or a pulse signal.

9. A drone monitoring system, characterized in that: It comprises a UAV as described in any one of claims 1 to 8, and a ground monitoring center.

10. The drone monitoring system according to claim 9, characterized in that: In the case where the drone includes a plurality of ultrasonic positioning sensors, the drone monitoring system further includes: An alarm module is connected to the ground monitoring center, and is used to perform an alarm action according to the alarm information received by the ground monitoring center, wherein the alarm information is generated when it is determined based on the detection signal that the distance between the obstacle and the drone is less than a safe distance.

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