Unmanned aerial vehicle hybrid deployment flight control system

Abstract

The invention discloses an unmanned aerial vehicle hybrid deployment flight control system. The system comprises an airborne computing unit arranged on the unmanned aerial vehicle, a computing power CPU of the airborne computing unit comprises a plurality of cores, and flight control software is installed on the airborne computing unit in a hybrid deployment mode; a specific core of the computing power CPU runs the flight control software and the RTOS real-time domain; other cores of the computing power CPU run a Linux operating system and an intelligent computing domain, and the intelligent computing domain is used for executing an intelligent computing task; and different cores of the computing power CPU are connected through a communication bus. According to the invention, the flight control software and the intelligent computing task are mixed and deployed on different cores of the same airborne computing unit, so that when the airborne computing unit needs to be configured, an independent flight control board card is not used any more; flight control software and an intelligent computing task share one computing power CPU, redundancy and volume increase of multiple hardware modules are avoided, and installation complexity and cost are effectively reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicles, and in particular to a flight control system for unmanned aerial vehicles. Background Art

[0002] The flight of a drone depends on the flight control system (flight control for short), which acts as the "brain" of the drone and plays a key role in maintaining flight stability and safety. The system is generally composed of several key components:

[0003] (1) Central Processing Unit (CPU): As the core of the flight control system, it is responsible for processing data collected by sensors and executing flight instructions based on this data.

[0004] (2) Sensor suite: including but not limited to gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetic field sensors, barometers, and global positioning systems (GPS), which together monitor the attitude, positioning, and dynamics of the drone.

[0005] (3) Drive unit: includes motors and servos, which act according to the instructions of the central processing unit to achieve flight control of the UAV.

[0006] (4) Wireless communication unit: used for information transmission between the UAV and the remote controller or ground control station.

[0007] The functions of the flight control system cover the attitude control, path planning, remote control command execution, automatic flight mode operation and emergency handling when encountering problems. Its workflow is roughly divided into four stages: collecting data from sensors, CPU processing data and formulating flight strategies, drive units executing flight actions, and the system adjusting according to the latest feedback information.

[0008] Taking the current PX4 open source flight control system as an example, PX4 is a highly modular and extensible open source project that can support a variety of drones and robot platforms. PX4 consists of two main parts: the flight control stack and the middleware.

[0009] 1. Flight control stack: This is the core of PX4 and is responsible for implementing the navigation, guidance and control algorithms of the drone. It includes modules such as state estimators (such as attitude estimation and position estimation), controllers (such as PID controllers), mixers and actuators.

[0010] 2. Middleware: This layer provides underlying support such as hardware drivers, system libraries, communication protocols, and scheduling mechanisms. It includes components such as sensor drivers, actuator drivers, communication protocols, and data buses.

[0011] The hardware of the PX4 flight control system is usually based on the Pixhawk series flight control boards, which are equipped with high-performance microprocessors (MCUs) and a variety of peripheral interfaces to meet the needs of different drone platforms. The flight control board is usually equipped with sensors such as IMU (inertial measurement unit), GPS, barometer, magnetometer, and PWM interfaces to connect motors and servo actuators.

[0012] As the demand for drone intelligence increases, high-power onboard computing units are beginning to appear on drones. These units are usually separate hardware modules equipped with high-power CPUs and NPUs for video image processing and other intelligent computing tasks.

[0013] The inventors realized that the existing flight control hardware system needs to coexist with the onboard computing unit and cooperate with each other to complete the work. The coexistence of the two hardware systems will lead to a larger device size, complex rack installation, and additional costs for separate flight control hardware. Summary of the invention

[0014] The present application provides a hybrid deployment flight control system for unmanned aerial vehicles, which aims to solve the technical problem that the existing flight control hardware system needs to coexist with the airborne computing unit and cooperate with each other to complete the work, resulting in the increase of the device size.

[0015] A hybrid deployment flight control system for unmanned aerial vehicles comprises an airborne computing unit arranged on the unmanned aerial vehicle, wherein the computing power CPU of the airborne computing unit comprises multiple cores, and flight control software is installed on the airborne computing unit in a hybrid deployment manner; a specific core of the computing power CPU runs the flight control software and an RTOS real-time domain; other cores of the computing power CPU run a Linux operating system and an intelligent computing domain, and the intelligent computing domain is used to execute intelligent computing tasks; different cores of the computing power CPU are connected via a communication bus.

[0016] In the above solution, optionally, the flight control system is configured as follows:

[0017] Various sensor hardware resources required for the flight control of the UAV are managed by the RTOS real-time domain;

[0018] The data transmission interface for communication between the specific core and the external device is managed by the RTOS real-time domain;

[0019] The transceiver interface for communication between the specific core and the remote control is managed by the RTOS real-time domain.

[0020] In the above solution, optionally, the calculation result of the intelligent computing task is transmitted to the RTOS real-time domain via the communication bus.

[0021] In the above scheme, optionally, the specific core includes a main flight control core and a backup flight control core, the flight control software includes a main flight control software and a backup flight control software, and the RTOS real-time domain includes a main RTOS real-time domain and a backup RTOS real-time domain; the main flight control core runs the main flight control software and the main RTOS real-time domain, and the backup flight control core runs the backup flight control software and the backup RTOS real-time domain.

[0022] In the above solution, further optionally, the flight control system is configured as:

[0023] All hardware peripherals and communication interfaces required for the operation of the flight control software are initialized by the main RTOS real-time domain and are used by the main RTOS real-time domain by default;

[0024] The backup RTOS real-time domain only performs software initialization on all hardware peripherals and communication interfaces, and does not perform actual hardware configuration;

[0025] The main RTOS real-time domain saves the key data during runtime to the shared parameter area for use by the backup RTOS real-time domain to update the local state.

[0026] In the above solution, further optionally, the flight control system is further configured as:

[0027] The peripheral interrupts used by the flight control software, as well as the inter-core communication interrupts of the RTOS real-time domain and the intelligent computing domain, are all routed to the main RTOS real-time domain;

[0028] After a failure occurs in the main RTOS real-time domain, the fault handling process is entered, and a notification is actively sent to the backup RTOS real-time domain; if the main RTOS real-time domain cannot send a fault notification, the backup RTOS real-time domain can monitor the failure of the main RTOS real-time domain through a heartbeat message.

[0029] In the above solution, further optionally, the flight control system is further configured as:

[0030] The working mode of the backup RTOS real-time domain is in silent mode by default, and only synchronizes parameters from the shared parameter area;

[0031] When the backup RTOS real-time domain needs to be upgraded to the main RTOS real-time domain, all peripheral interrupts are routed to the backup RTOS real-time domain by modifying the interrupt routing configuration, and the working mode of the backup RTOS real-time domain is changed from the silent mode to the normal working mode.

[0032] In the above solution, optionally, the intelligent computing domain is isolated from the RTOS real-time domain.

[0033] Compared with the prior art, this application has at least the following beneficial effects:

[0034] 1. The hybrid deployment flight control system for unmanned aerial vehicles provided in the embodiment of the present application uses hybrid deployment technology to directly deploy the flight control software on a multi-core computing power CPU of the onboard computing unit, thereby realizing a common hardware platform for flight control and intelligent computing; the flight control software and intelligent computing tasks are hybrid deployed on different cores of the same onboard computing unit, so that when the onboard computing unit needs to be configured, a separate flight control board is no longer used; the flight control software and intelligent computing tasks share a computing power CPU, which not only avoids the redundancy and volume increase of multiple hardware modules, but also effectively reduces the installation complexity and cost; a specific core of the computing power CPU is responsible for running the flight control software required by the flight control system, and runs under a real-time operating system (RTOS) to ensure the real-time and high-priority execution of the flight control system; while other cores run the Linux operating system and are responsible for executing intelligent computing tasks, such as image processing, deep learning, etc.; this method ensures the independence of flight control tasks and intelligent computing tasks, while avoiding the increase in volume caused by the separate deployment of flight control hardware and computing hardware; the flight control core and the intelligent computing core each focus on their own tasks, and do not require additional hardware support to cooperate with each other, which greatly reduces the number and volume of hardware devices.

[0035] 2. The dual flight control system achieves redundant backup through the mutual backup relationship between the main flight control and the backup flight control. This means that the two flight control systems (main flight control and backup flight control) work independently but keep in sync, ensuring that the backup flight control can take over the flight control task when the main flight control fails; the dual flight control architecture can automatically detect faults and switch systems when the main flight control fails. In the traditional single flight control system, if the flight control fails, it may cause the drone to lose control, causing serious safety hazards. The dual flight control solution significantly reduces the risk of single point failure by achieving the coexistence of two independent flight control systems. If the main flight control fails, the backup flight control can take over the flight mission within milliseconds without affecting flight stability; because the flight control system needs to control the flight status with high real-time performance, the redundant design of the system can ensure that the flight control system can quickly recover and continue to provide high-reliability flight control in any sudden failure or abnormal situation. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0036] Figure 1 An architecture diagram of a hybrid deployment flight control system for unmanned aerial vehicles provided by one embodiment of the present application;

[0037] Figure 2 A specific architecture diagram of a hybrid deployment flight control system for unmanned aerial vehicles provided by one embodiment of the present application;

[0038] Figure 3Another specific architecture diagram of a hybrid deployment flight control system for unmanned aerial vehicles provided for an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the present application more clearly understood, the present application is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present application and are not used to limit the present application.

[0040] In the description of the present application: unless otherwise specified, expressions such as “include”, “comprising”, “having”, etc. also mean “not limited to” (certain units, components, materials, steps, etc.).

[0041] In one embodiment, a hybrid deployment flight control system for unmanned aerial vehicles is provided, which includes an onboard computing unit arranged on the unmanned aerial vehicle, the computing power CPU of the onboard computing unit includes multiple cores, and the onboard computing unit is installed with flight control software in a hybrid deployment manner; a specific core of the computing power CPU runs the flight control software and the RTOS real-time domain; other cores of the computing power CPU run the Linux operating system and the intelligent computing domain, and the intelligent computing domain is used to perform intelligent computing tasks; different cores of the computing power CPU are connected via a communication bus.

[0042] That is to say, the drone hybrid deployment flight control system provided in the embodiment of the present application installs the flight control software into the computing power CPU through hybrid deployment. Hybrid deployment is a technology that can run multiple operating systems simultaneously on a multi-core CPU through resource partitioning or virtualization.

[0043] In the solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, since the flight control software needs to be run, and the flight control software has high requirements for system real-time performance, we adopt a hybrid deployment of Linux and RTOS, that is, using a separate CPU core to run RTOS and flight control software, and the remaining cores to run Linux and intelligent computing tasks. The technology of hybrid deployment itself is not included in this solution.

[0044] Furthermore, the flight control system is configured as follows:

[0045] The various sensor hardware resources required for the flight control of the UAV are managed by the RTOS real-time domain;

[0046] The data transmission interface for communication between a specific core and external devices is managed by the RTOS real-time domain;

[0047] The transceiver interface for communication between a specific core and the remote control is managed by the RTOS real-time domain.

[0048] Furthermore, the calculation results of the intelligent computing tasks are transmitted to the RTOS real-time domain through the communication bus.

[0049] In other words, in order to meet the flight control operation requirements, the following functions need to be implemented:

[0050] (1) All sensor hardware resources required for position and attitude control by the flight controller are managed by the RTOS real-time domain where the flight controller is located.

[0051] (2) The data transmission interface between the flight control and the outside world should be managed by the RTOS real-time domain where the flight control is located.

[0052] (3) The transceiver interface equipment between the flight control and the remote control must be managed by the RTOS real-time domain where the flight control is located.

[0053] (4) The calculation results of the intelligent computing tasks need to be transmitted to the flight control RTOS domain through the internal communication bus.

[0054] Furthermore, the specific core includes a main flight control core and a backup flight control core, the flight control software includes a main flight control software and a backup flight control software, and the RTOS real-time domain includes a main RTOS real-time domain and a backup RTOS real-time domain; the main flight control core runs the main flight control software and the main RTOS real-time domain, and the backup flight control core runs the backup flight control software and the backup RTOS real-time domain.

[0055] Accordingly, the flight control system is configured as follows:

[0056] All hardware peripherals and communication interfaces required for the flight control software to run are initialized by the main RTOS real-time domain and are used by the main RTOS real-time domain by default;

[0057] The backup RTOS real-time domain only performs software initialization on all hardware peripherals and communication interfaces, without performing actual hardware configuration;

[0058] The main RTOS real-time domain saves the key data during runtime to the shared parameter area for the backup RTOS real-time domain to use to update the local state.

[0059] This section is for global configuration.

[0060] In addition, the flight control system is also configured as:

[0061] The peripheral interrupts used by the flight control software, as well as the inter-core communication interrupts of the RTOS real-time domain and the intelligent computing domain, are all routed to the main RTOS real-time domain;

[0062] When a fault occurs in the primary RTOS real-time domain, the fault handling process is entered, and a notification is actively sent to the backup RTOS real-time domain. If the primary RTOS real-time domain cannot send a fault notification, the backup RTOS real-time domain can detect the fault of the primary RTOS real-time domain through heartbeat messages.

[0063] This section is about interrupt configuration.

[0064] In addition, the flight control system is also configured as:

[0065] The working mode of the backup RTOS real-time domain is in silent mode by default, and only parameters are synchronized from the shared parameter area;

[0066] When the backup RTOS real-time domain needs to be upgraded to the main RTOS real-time domain, all peripheral interrupts are routed to the backup RTOS real-time domain by modifying the interrupt routing configuration, and the working mode of the backup RTOS real-time domain is changed from the silent mode to the normal working mode.

[0067] This section configures the working mode.

[0068] In other words, in order to prevent the flight control failure from causing the drone to lose control, this solution improves system reliability by adding a real-time domain to run a backup flight control, that is, improving system reliability through active and standby dual flight control.

[0069] The division of labor between the active and standby flight control systems is as follows:

[0070] (1) All hardware peripherals and communication interfaces required for flight control operation are initialized by the master domain and are used by the master flight control by default.

[0071] (2) The standby flight control only performs software initialization on the peripheral interface and does not perform actual hardware configuration.

[0072] (3) The main flight control saves the critical data during operation to the shared parameter area for the backup flight control to update the local status.

[0073] (4) The standby flight control is in silent state and only synchronizes parameters from the parameter area.

[0074] (5) All peripheral interrupts used by the flight controller and inter-core communication interrupts with the intelligent computing domain are routed to the main flight controller.

[0075] (6) After a fault occurs in the primary flight control, the primary flight control enters the fault handling process and actively sends a notification to the backup flight control. If the primary flight control cannot send a fault notification, the backup flight control also needs to detect the primary flight control fault through heartbeat messages.

[0076] (7) The standby flight control system performs the main upgrade process, routes all peripheral interrupts to the RTOS real-time domain by modifying the interrupt routing configuration, and changes the local working mode from silent mode to normal working mode.

[0077] Furthermore, the intelligent computing domain is isolated from the RTOS real-time domain.

[0078] In other words, the intelligent computing domain and the flight control RTOS domain are isolated. The hybrid deployment solution needs to ensure that the failure recovery of multiple domains does not affect the normal operation of other domains, that is, if the intelligent computing domain needs to be restarted, the restart process will not interfere with the RTOS domain where the flight control is located.

[0079] The present application embodiment realizes the flight control and intelligent computing on the same hardware platform through hybrid deployment, and improves reliability through the dual flight control method. The architecture diagram of the flight control system provided in the present application embodiment can also be found in Figure 3 .

[0080] The hybrid deployment flight control system for unmanned aerial vehicles provided in the embodiment of the present application utilizes hybrid deployment technology to directly deploy the flight control software onto the computing power CPU of the onboard computing unit, eliminating the need for a separate flight control board, thereby reducing hardware volume and cost. In addition, the system reliability is improved by deploying dual flight control.

[0081] The technical features of the above embodiments may be combined arbitrarily. To make the description concise, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above 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.

Claims

1. A hybrid deployment flight control system for unmanned aerial vehicles, characterized in that: It includes an airborne computing unit arranged on a drone, the computing power CPU of the airborne computing unit includes multiple cores, and flight control software is installed on the airborne computing unit through a hybrid deployment method; a specific core of the computing power CPU runs the flight control software and an RTOS real-time domain; other cores of the computing power CPU run a Linux operating system and an intelligent computing domain, and the intelligent computing domain is used to execute intelligent computing tasks; different cores of the computing power CPU are connected through a communication bus.

2. The UAV hybrid deployment flight control system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The flight control system is configured as follows: Various sensor hardware resources required for the flight control of the UAV are managed by the RTOS real-time domain; The data transmission interface for communication between the specific core and the external device is managed by the RTOS real-time domain; The transceiver interface for communication between the specific core and the remote control is managed by the RTOS real-time domain.

3. The UAV hybrid deployment flight control system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The calculation result of the intelligent computing task is transmitted to the RTOS real-time domain via the communication bus.

4. The UAV hybrid deployment flight control system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The specific core includes a main flight control core and a backup flight control core, the flight control software includes a main flight control software and a backup flight control software, and the RTOS real-time domain includes a main RTOS real-time domain and a backup RTOS real-time domain; the main flight control core runs the main flight control software and the main RTOS real-time domain, and the backup flight control core runs the backup flight control software and the backup RTOS real-time domain.

5. The UAV hybrid deployment flight control system according to claim 4, characterized in that: The flight control system is configured as follows: All hardware peripherals and communication interfaces required for the operation of the flight control software are initialized by the main RTOS real-time domain and are used by the main RTOS real-time domain by default; The backup RTOS real-time domain only performs software initialization on all hardware peripherals and communication interfaces, and does not perform actual hardware configuration; The main RTOS real-time domain saves the key data during runtime to the shared parameter area for use by the backup RTOS real-time domain to update the local state.

6. The UAV hybrid deployment flight control system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The flight control system is also configured as: The peripheral interrupts used by the flight control software, as well as the inter-core communication interrupts of the RTOS real-time domain and the intelligent computing domain, are all routed to the main RTOS real-time domain; After a failure occurs in the main RTOS real-time domain, the fault handling process is entered, and a notification is actively sent to the backup RTOS real-time domain; if the main RTOS real-time domain cannot send a fault notification, the backup RTOS real-time domain can monitor the failure of the main RTOS real-time domain through a heartbeat message.

7. The UAV hybrid deployment flight control system according to claim 6, characterized in that: The flight control system is also configured as: The working mode of the backup RTOS real-time domain is in silent mode by default, and only synchronizes parameters from the shared parameter area; When the backup RTOS real-time domain needs to be upgraded to the main RTOS real-time domain, all peripheral interrupts are routed to the backup RTOS real-time domain by modifying the interrupt routing configuration, and the working mode of the backup RTOS real-time domain is changed from the silent mode to the normal working mode.

8. The UAV hybrid deployment flight control system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The intelligent computing domain is isolated from the RTOS real-time domain.

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