Intelligent feeding system and intelligent feeding method

Abstract

The invention discloses an intelligent feeding system and an intelligent feeding method, and relates to the technical field of mariculture, the intelligent feeding system comprises a control terminal, a mother ship and a plurality of son ships, the mother ship is loaded with a plurality of supply units, and the supply units at least comprise feed supply; the sub-ship is provided with a supply cabin and a feeder, and an inlet of the feeder is communicated with the supply cabin; the control terminal is respectively in communication connection with the mother ship and the plurality of son ships; the sub-ship has a feeding mode and a navigation accompanying mode; when the control terminal enables the sub-ship to be switched to the accompanying navigation mode, the sub-ship sails along with the mother ship, and the supply cabin is used for receiving supply units from the mother ship; when the control terminal enables the sub-ship to be switched to the feeding mode, the sub-ship automatically sails to the periphery of the aquaculture net cage, and the feeding device is used for spraying feed from the supply cabin to the aquaculture net cage. The son ship is adopted for feeding, due to the fact that the son ship is small in draft depth and high in maneuverability, the son ship can efficiently work in the aquaculture net cage, and the mother ship can provide supplementation for the son ship.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of offshore aquaculture, and in particular to an intelligent feeding system and an intelligent feeding method. Background Art

[0002] At present, the traditional method for feeding HDPE cages is to use a feeding ship with 2 to 3 workers and a feed feeder to feed the cages manually or by workers operating the feeder. For a marine ranch with 100 HDPE cages, during the peak period, feeding is done twice a day, with a feeding window of 2 hours each time. Each cage is fed 1,000 kilograms of feed each time, which usually requires 8 ships and more than 20 workers.

[0003] The disadvantages of traditional feeding operations are low operating efficiency and high operating costs. Since the feeding ship has a large tonnage, deep draft and slow speed, it needs an experienced captain to drive it to avoid scraping the mooring rope of the cage when approaching the cage. Therefore, the time spent by the working ship to adjust its posture to approach the cage accounts for 50% of the feeding operation time. The inefficiency of feeding operations seriously restricts the expansion of marine ranch production capacity. And because each working ship needs to be equipped with a captain and 2 to 3 workers, once the ranch has the need to expand its production capacity, the labor cost will increase proportionally with the number of working ships, and the operating cost is high.

[0004] Therefore, a new type of intelligent feeding system is urgently needed to solve the problems of low feeding efficiency and high operating cost of the current feeding operation system for multiple aquaculture cages on offshore aquaculture platforms. Summary of the invention

[0005] The main purpose of the present invention is to propose an intelligent feeding system and an intelligent feeding method, aiming to solve the problems of low feeding efficiency and high operating cost of the current feeding operation system for multiple aquaculture cages on offshore aquaculture platforms.

[0006] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the intelligent feeding system proposed in the present invention is applied to an offshore aquaculture platform, which includes multiple aquaculture cages. The intelligent feeding system includes a control terminal, a mother ship and several daughter ships. The mother ship is loaded with several supply units, and the supply units at least include feed supplies; the daughter ship is provided with a supply cabin and a feeder, and the inlet of the feeder is connected to the supply cabin; the control terminal is respectively communicated with the mother ship and several daughter ships; the daughter ship has a feeding mode and an escort mode; when the control terminal orders the daughter ship to switch to the escort mode, the daughter ship sails with the mother ship, and the supply cabin is used to receive the supply unit from the mother ship; when the control terminal orders the daughter ship to switch to the feeding mode, the daughter ship autonomously sails to the vicinity of the aquaculture cages, and the feeder is used to spray the feed from the supply cabin to the aquaculture cages.

[0007] In one embodiment, the supply unit also includes fuel supply; the supply cabin includes a feed sub-cabin and a fuel sub-cabin, the feed sub-cabin is used to receive and store feed supplies from the supply unit; the fuel sub-cabin is used to receive and store fuel supplies from the supply unit; the sub-ship is also provided with a feeder, the inlet of the feeder is connected to the supply cabin, and the outlet of the feeder is connected to the inlet of the feeder; the feeder is used to transport the feed supplies in the feed sub-cabin to the feeder.

[0008] In one embodiment, a warehouse is provided on the mother ship, and the supply unit is placed in the warehouse; and / or, a communication module and a fault detection module are provided on the daughter ship, and the communication module is communicatively connected to the control terminal; the communication module is used to receive a mode switching instruction from the control terminal to switch the daughter ship to an escort mode or a feeding mode; the fault detection module is communicatively connected to the communication module; the fault detection module is used to detect the operating status of the daughter ship, and send fault information to the control terminal through the communication module when a fault occurs in the daughter ship; the control terminal is used to send a return instruction to the communication module of the faulty daughter ship after receiving the fault information, and send a replacement instruction to the communication modules of the remaining normal daughter ships.

[0009] The present invention also proposes an intelligent feeding method, which is applied to an offshore aquaculture platform, wherein the offshore aquaculture platform includes a plurality of aquaculture cages, and the intelligent feeding method includes the following steps:

[0010] Make the mother ship and several daughter ships sail to the target sea area;

[0011] Switch the daughter boat to the feeding mode, so that the daughter boat can feed multiple breeding cages according to the preset process;

[0012] Supply step: when it is detected that the feed on the daughter ship has been consumed and the feeding operation has not been completed, the daughter ship is switched to the escort mode, so that the daughter ship sails near the mother ship and receives the supply unit from the mother ship; wherein the supply unit at least includes feed supply;

[0013] Feeding steps: After the replenishment is completed, the daughter ship is switched to the feeding mode to continue the feeding operation;

[0014] Repeat the replenishment and feeding steps until the daughter boat completes the feeding operation for all the aquaculture cages.

[0015] In one embodiment, the step of feeding a plurality of aquaculture cages by the daughter boat according to a preset process includes:

[0016] The daughter ship identifies the beacon on the aquaculture cage and obtains the first target position and the first target outline of the aquaculture cage;

[0017] Calculate a first navigation path according to the first target position and the current position of the daughter ship;

[0018] According to the first target contour, a first feeding path is calculated; wherein the first feeding path surrounds the first target contour;

[0019] The daughter ship sails to the breeding cage along the first navigation path, and moves around the breeding cage along the first feeding path to spray feed.

[0020] In one embodiment, the step of feeding the plurality of aquaculture cages by the daughter boat according to a preset process also includes:

[0021] After feeding one of the aquaculture cages, the daughter ship continues to identify the beacon on the next aquaculture cage to obtain the second target position and the second target outline of the next aquaculture cage;

[0022] Calculate a second navigation path according to the second target position and the current position of the daughter ship;

[0023] According to the second target contour, a second feeding path is calculated; wherein the second feeding path surrounds the second target contour;

[0024] The daughter ship sails along the second navigation path to the next aquaculture cage, and moves around the next aquaculture cage along the second feeding path and sprays feed until the daughter ship completes the feeding operation for all the aquaculture cages.

[0025] In one embodiment, the step of switching the daughter boat to a feeding mode so that the daughter boat performs feeding operations to multiple aquaculture cages according to a preset process also includes:

[0026] Monitor the operating status of multiple sub-ships;

[0027] When the fault information of at least one daughter ship is received, a return instruction is sent to the daughter ship with the fault, and a replacement instruction is sent to the remaining daughter ships without fault, so that the remaining daughter ships without fault can take over the feeding task of the daughter ship with the fault.

[0028] In one embodiment, before the step of making the mother ship and the plurality of daughter ships sail to the target sea area, the step further includes:

[0029] The mother ship is driven to sail to a shore supply location so that the mother ship's warehouse receives the supply units from the shore supply location.

[0030] In one embodiment, the intelligent feeding method further comprises:

[0031] Several daughter vessels sail to and berth near any aquaculture cage;

[0032] The mother ship sails around the plurality of daughter ships to provide supply units to the plurality of daughter ships; wherein the supply units also include fuel supply.

[0033] In one embodiment, the step of making the mother ship and the plurality of daughter ships sail to the target sea area includes:

[0034] Instructing several daughter ships to switch to the escort mode so that the daughter ships can sail with the mother ship;

[0035] Control the mother ship to sail to the target sea area.

[0036] The technical solution of the present invention adopts an intelligent feeding system, which is applied to an offshore aquaculture platform. The offshore aquaculture platform includes multiple aquaculture cages. The intelligent feeding system includes a control terminal, a mother ship and several daughter ships. The mother ship is loaded with several supply units, and the supply units at least include feed supplies; the daughter ship is provided with a supply cabin and a feeder, and the inlet of the feeder is connected to the supply cabin; the control terminal is respectively communicated with the mother ship and several daughter ships; the daughter ship has a feeding mode and an escort mode; when the control terminal orders the daughter ship to switch to the escort mode, the daughter ship sails with the mother ship, and the supply cabin is used to receive the supply unit from the mother ship; when the control terminal orders the daughter ship to switch to the feeding mode, the daughter ship autonomously sails to the vicinity of the aquaculture cages, and the feeder is used to spray the feed from the supply cabin to the aquaculture cages.

[0037] The technical solution of the present invention adopts the cooperation of the mother ship and the daughter ship, the daughter ship is used for feeding, and the mother ship is responsible for providing supplies to the daughter ship, while the control terminal can control the mother ship and the daughter ship and send instructions; because the tonnage and draft of the daughter ship are smaller than those of the mother ship, there is no need to worry about hanging up the mooring rope of the aquaculture cage, and the high speed, strong maneuverability and flexibility of the daughter ship can ensure that the unmanned boat can operate efficiently between the cages, thereby greatly improving the feeding operation efficiency. As a movable supply ship, when the feed on the daughter ship is insufficient, the mother ship can switch the daughter ship to the escort mode, so that the daughter ship can sail to the surrounding of the mother ship and obtain the supply unit, so that the daughter ship can get the feed supply in time. The solution of the mother ship and the daughter ship can not only avoid the loss of maneuverability of the daughter ship due to the need to load enough feed at one time, but also avoid the need for the daughter ship to travel between the aquaculture cage and the shore supply point when supplying, reducing the time cost and fuel consumption, so as to greatly improve the feeding operation efficiency.

[0038] In addition, when the daughter boat switches to the feeding mode, it can autonomously sail around the aquaculture cage and use the feeder to spray and feed. During the feeding process, the daughter boat uses autonomous navigation technology and automatic feeding technology to achieve highly automated automatic feeding. Since the daughter boat does not require manual driving and manual feeding, the labor cost of manual feeding can be significantly reduced, and the purchase cost of the daughter boat is much lower than that of traditional large-tonnage feeding ships, which can greatly reduce operating costs. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0039] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on the structures shown in these drawings without paying creative work.

[0040] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the process of the first embodiment of the intelligent feeding method provided by the present invention;

[0041] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the flow chart of the second embodiment of the intelligent feeding method provided by the present invention;

[0042] Figure 3 This is a schematic flow chart of the third embodiment of the intelligent feeding method provided by the present invention.

[0043] The realization of the purpose, functional features and advantages of the present invention will be further explained in conjunction with embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0044] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0045] It should be noted that if the embodiments of the present invention involve directional indications (such as up, down, left, right, front, back, etc.), the directional indications are only used to explain the relative position relationship, movement status, etc. between the components in a certain specific posture. If the specific posture changes, the directional indication will also change accordingly.

[0046] In addition, if there are descriptions involving "first", "second", etc. in the embodiments of the present invention, the descriptions of "first", "second", etc. are only used for descriptive purposes and cannot be understood as indicating or implying their relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, the features limited to "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the features. In addition, if "and / or" or "and / or" appears in the full text, its meaning includes three parallel solutions. Taking "A and / or B" as an example, it includes solution A, solution B, or solutions that satisfy both A and B. In addition, the technical solutions between the various embodiments can be combined with each other, but it must be based on the ability of ordinary technicians in this field to implement. When the combination of technical solutions is contradictory or cannot be implemented, it should be deemed that such combination of technical solutions does not exist and is not within the scope of protection required by the present invention.

[0047] At present, the traditional method for feeding HDPE cages is to use a feeding ship with 2 to 3 workers and a feed feeder to feed the cages manually or by workers operating the feeder. For a marine ranch with 100 HDPE cages, during the peak period, feeding is done twice a day, with a feeding window of 2 hours each time. Each cage is fed 1,000 kilograms of feed each time, which usually requires 8 ships and more than 20 workers.

[0048] The disadvantages of traditional feeding operations are low operating efficiency and high operating costs. Since the feeding ship has a large tonnage, deep draft and slow speed, it needs an experienced captain to drive it to avoid scraping the mooring rope of the cage when approaching the cage. Therefore, the time spent by the working ship to adjust its posture to approach the cage accounts for 50% of the feeding operation time. The inefficiency of feeding operations seriously restricts the expansion of marine ranch production capacity. And because each working ship needs to be equipped with a captain and 2 to 3 workers, once the ranch has the need to expand its production capacity, the labor cost will increase proportionally with the number of working ships, and the operating cost is high.

[0049] Therefore, a new type of intelligent feeding system is urgently needed to solve the problems of low feeding efficiency and high operating cost of the current feeding operation system for multiple aquaculture cages on offshore aquaculture platforms.

[0050] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention proposes an intelligent feeding system.

[0051] In one embodiment of the present invention, the intelligent feeding system is applied to an offshore aquaculture platform, which includes a plurality of aquaculture cages. The intelligent feeding system includes a control terminal, a mother ship and several daughter ships. The mother ship is loaded with several supply units, and the supply units at least include feed supplies; the daughter ship is provided with a supply cabin and a feeder, and the inlet of the feeder is connected to the supply cabin; the control terminal is respectively communicated with the mother ship and the several daughter ships; the daughter ship has a feeding mode and an escort mode; when the control terminal orders the daughter ship to switch to the escort mode, the daughter ship sails with the mother ship, and the supply cabin is used to receive the supply unit from the mother ship; when the control terminal orders the daughter ship to switch to the feeding mode, the daughter ship autonomously sails to the vicinity of the aquaculture cages, and the feeder is used to spray the feed from the supply cabin to the aquaculture cages.

[0052] The technical solution of the present invention adopts the cooperation of the mother ship and the daughter ship, the daughter ship is used for feeding, and the mother ship is responsible for providing supplies to the daughter ship, while the control terminal can control the mother ship and the daughter ship and send instructions; because the tonnage and draft of the daughter ship are smaller than those of the mother ship, there is no need to worry about hanging up the mooring rope of the aquaculture cage, and the high speed, strong maneuverability and flexibility of the daughter ship can ensure that the unmanned boat can operate efficiently between the cages, thereby greatly improving the feeding operation efficiency. As a movable supply ship, when the feed on the daughter ship is insufficient, the mother ship can switch the daughter ship to the escort mode, so that the daughter ship can sail to the surrounding of the mother ship and obtain the supply unit, so that the daughter ship can get the feed supply in time. The solution of the mother ship and the daughter ship can not only avoid the loss of maneuverability of the daughter ship due to the need to load enough feed at one time, but also avoid the need for the daughter ship to travel between the aquaculture cage and the shore supply point when supplying, reducing the time cost and fuel consumption, so as to greatly improve the feeding operation efficiency.

[0053] In addition, when the daughter boat switches to the feeding mode, it can autonomously sail around the aquaculture cage and use the feeder to spray and feed. During the feeding process, the daughter boat uses autonomous navigation technology and automatic feeding technology to achieve highly automated automatic feeding. Since the daughter boat does not require manual driving and manual feeding, the labor cost of manual feeding can be significantly reduced, and the purchase cost of the daughter boat is much lower than that of traditional large-tonnage feeding ships, which can greatly reduce operating costs.

[0054] It should be noted that although the daughter ship adopts technologies such as autonomous navigation technology and automated feeding technology to achieve unmanned driving and unmanned feeding, the daughter ship can still retain the manual driving function. When facing bad weather or bad sea conditions, it can still return to the port and other shore stops by activating the manual driving function.

[0055] In addition, it should be noted that the control terminal can be set on the mother ship so that the staff on the mother ship can use the control terminal to control the mother ship according to actual sea conditions, weather and other conditions, and use the control terminal to send instructions to the daughter ship to switch the working mode of the daughter ship; the control terminal can also be a portable terminal that can be carried by the staff and controlled at any time.

[0056] In addition, as an optional implementation, the supply unit on the mother ship can be unpacked, loaded, and prepared by the staff on the mother ship, and finally transported to the supply compartment of the daughter ship, so as to provide feed supplies for the daughter ship; as another optional implementation, the mother ship can be provided with a transport pipeline for unpacking and transporting the supply unit. After the daughter ship switches to escort mode and sails to the vicinity of the mother ship, the supply compartment of the daughter ship is docked with the outlet of the transport pipeline, so that the supply compartment can receive the feed supplies from the transport pipeline.

[0057] In an embodiment of the present invention, the supply unit also includes fuel supply; the supply cabin includes a feed sub-cabin and a fuel sub-cabin, the feed sub-cabin is used to receive and store feed supplies from the supply unit; the fuel sub-cabin is used to receive and store fuel supplies from the supply unit; the sub-ship is also provided with a feeder, the inlet of the feeder is connected to the supply cabin, and the outlet of the feeder is connected to the inlet of the feeder; the feeder is used to transport the feed supplies in the feed sub-cabin to the feeder.

[0058] In this embodiment, by providing a feed sub-cabin on the daughter ship, the feed supply provided by the mother ship can be placed in the feed sub-cabin of the daughter ship, thereby preventing the feed supply from falling outside the daughter ship due to bumps during the navigation of the daughter ship, thereby reducing feed waste; in addition, by providing a feeder in the daughter ship, the feeder transports the feed supply from the feed sub-cabin to the feeder, thereby realizing automatic feeding to the feeder. In this embodiment, by making the supply unit also include fuel supply, and providing a fuel sub-cabin on the daughter ship, the fuel supply provided by the mother ship can be safely and reliably placed in the fuel sub-cabin, thereby preventing the fuel supply from leaking outside the daughter ship due to bumps during the navigation of the daughter ship, thereby preventing the leakage of fuel from polluting the water quality of the aquaculture area.

[0059] In order to solve the storage problem of the supply unit on the mother ship, in an embodiment of the present invention, a warehouse is provided on the mother ship, and the supply unit is placed in the warehouse. In addition, in order to solve the communication and fault reporting problems between the daughter ship and the control terminal, in an embodiment of the present invention, a communication module and a fault detection module are provided on the daughter ship, and the communication module is connected to the control terminal; the communication module is used to receive the mode switching instruction from the control terminal to switch the daughter ship to the escort mode or the feeding mode; the fault detection module is connected to the communication module; the fault detection module is used to detect the operating status of the daughter ship, and send fault information to the control terminal through the communication module when the daughter ship fails; the control terminal is used to send a return instruction to the communication module of the daughter ship with the fault after receiving the fault information, and send a replacement instruction to the communication modules of the remaining daughter ships without faults.

[0060] In this embodiment, a warehouse is provided on the mother ship, and the supply unit is placed in the warehouse of the mother ship, thereby providing a suitable storage place for the supply unit to prevent the supply unit from being separated from the mother ship. In this embodiment, a communication module and a fault detection module are provided on the daughter ship, and the communication module is used to communicate with the control terminal so as to receive relevant instructions such as the control terminal mode switching instruction, and the daughter ship performs relevant operations according to the instructions; the operation status of the daughter ship is detected by using the fault detection module, and the fault information is synchronized to the control terminal through the communication module when a fault is detected, so that the control terminal sends a return instruction to the daughter ship with the fault according to the fault information, and sends a replacement instruction to the remaining daughter ships without faults, so that the remaining daughter ships without faults can take over the feeding task of the faulty daughter ship, thereby achieving the effect of decentralized collaborative operation and ensuring the safety redundancy and robustness of the entire intelligent feeding system.

[0061] The present invention also proposes an intelligent feeding method, referring to Figure 1 , Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the process of the first embodiment of the intelligent feeding method of the present invention.

[0062] It should be noted that the execution subject of this embodiment can be a control terminal with data processing, network communication and program running functions, which is connected to the mother ship and the daughter ship in the intelligent feeding system. The following takes the control terminal as an example to illustrate this embodiment and the following embodiments.

[0063] In this embodiment, the intelligent feeding method is applied to an offshore aquaculture platform, which includes a plurality of aquaculture cages. The intelligent feeding method includes steps S10 to S50:

[0064] Step S10, making the mother ship and several daughter ships sail to the target sea area;

[0065] It should be noted that the target sea area refers to the sea area where the offshore aquaculture platform is located.

[0066] As an optional implementation, step S10 includes steps S11 to S12:

[0067] Step S11, switching a plurality of daughter ships to an escort mode, so that the daughter ships accompany the mother ship in sailing;

[0068] Step S12, controlling the mother ship to sail to the target sea area.

[0069] In this embodiment, several daughter ships are switched to the escort mode so that the daughter ships sail along with the mother ship. In this way, by only controlling the mother ship to sail, the daughter ships can also follow the mother ship to the target sea area, thereby saving the operation workload of the staff.

[0070] Step S20, switching the daughter boat to a feeding mode, so that the daughter boat feeds multiple aquaculture cages according to a preset process;

[0071] Step S30, replenishment step: when it is detected that the feed on the daughter ship has been consumed and the feeding operation has not been completed, the daughter ship is switched to the escort mode, so that the daughter ship sails to the vicinity of the mother ship and receives the replenishment unit from the mother ship; wherein the replenishment unit at least includes feed replenishment;

[0072] Among them, as an optional implementation, when not carrying out replenishment, the mother ship can cruise at a low speed in the target sea area.

[0073] Step S40, feeding step: after the replenishment is completed, the daughter ship is switched to the feeding mode to continue the feeding operation;

[0074] Step S50, repeating the replenishment step and the feeding step until the daughter boat completes the feeding operation for all the aquaculture cages.

[0075] In this embodiment, after the mother ship and the daughter ship sail to the target sea area, the daughter ship is switched to the feeding mode, so that the daughter ship feeds multiple aquaculture cages of the offshore aquaculture platform according to a pre-set process; since the tonnage, volume and draft of the daughter ship are smaller than those of the mother ship, and the maneuverability, flexibility and moving speed of the daughter ship are higher than those of the mother ship, the efficiency of feeding by the daughter ship is significantly higher than the efficiency of feeding by the traditional large-tonnage feeding ship; when the feed of the daughter ship is consumed and the feeding operation is not completed, the daughter ship is switched to the escort mode, so that the daughter ship sails to the vicinity of the mother ship to receive the supply unit from the mother ship to achieve feed replenishment; and after the replenishment is completed, the daughter ship is switched to the feeding mode to continue the feeding operation, and the feeding operation of all the aquaculture cages is completed by repeating the replenishment step and the feeding step.

[0076] The combination of the daughter ship and the mother ship in the present invention can use the mother ship to supply feed when the daughter ship is short of feed. Under the condition of ensuring sufficient feed supply, there is no need for the daughter ship to have a large hull volume to carry a large amount of feed, thereby ensuring the maneuverability and flexibility of the small tonnage and size of the daughter ship, and making the daughter ship have a smaller draft depth, avoiding the daughter ship from scraping the mooring rope of the breeding cage during maneuvering.

[0077] In addition, when the daughter boat switches to the feeding mode, it can autonomously navigate to the vicinity of the aquaculture cages and feed multiple aquaculture cages according to the preset process. During the feeding process, the daughter boat uses autonomous navigation technology and automatic feeding technology to achieve highly automated automatic feeding. Since the daughter boat does not require manual driving and manual feeding, the labor cost of manual feeding can be significantly reduced, and the purchase cost of the daughter boat is much lower than that of traditional large-tonnage feeding ships, which can greatly reduce operating costs.

[0078] Based on the above embodiments, in the second embodiment of the intelligent feeding method of the present invention, the same or similar contents as those in the first embodiment of the intelligent feeding method can be referred to the above introduction, and no further description will be given later. Figure 2 , step S20 includes steps S21 to S24:

[0079] Step S21, the daughter ship identifies the beacon on the aquaculture cage and obtains the first target position and the first target outline of the aquaculture cage;

[0080] It should be noted that the beacon on the aquaculture cage can be a solar beacon powered by solar energy; the beacon can send out radio signals, and the identification module on the daughter ship obtains the first target position and the first target outline of the aquaculture cage after identifying the radio signal sent by the beacon.

[0081] Step S22, calculating a first navigation path according to the first target position and the current position of the daughter ship;

[0082] Among them, in addition to considering the first target position and the current position of the sub-ship in the calculation and planning process of the first navigation path, obstacle information can also be combined to assist planning. The obstacle information can be detected by providing a visual recognition module on the sub-ship, and in the process of calculating the first navigation path, at least one navigation path that avoids relevant obstacles can be calculated by combining the obstacle information, thereby obtaining the first navigation path.

[0083] In addition, it should be noted that the operation of calculating the first navigation path can be completed by the local computing terminal of the sub-ship or by the control terminal. When it is chosen to be completed by the control terminal, the sub-ship sends the first target position and the current position of the sub-ship to the control terminal through the communication module, and the control terminal calculates and returns the calculated first navigation path.

[0084] Step S23, calculating a first feeding path according to the first target contour; wherein the first feeding path surrounds the first target contour;

[0085] The calculation and planning process of the first feeding path may also be combined with obstacle information to assist in planning, which will not be described in detail here. The operation of calculating the first feeding path may be completed by a local computing terminal of the daughter ship or by a control terminal, which will not be described in detail here.

[0086] Step S24, the daughter ship sails along the first navigation path to the aquaculture cage, moves around the aquaculture cage along the first feeding path and sprays feed.

[0087] In the process of the daughter ship sailing along the first navigation path to the breeding cage, a relatively high speed can be adopted, such as setting the average speed to 20 knots, so that the daughter ship can sail to the breeding cage as quickly as possible to improve the operation efficiency; and in the process of the daughter ship moving around the breeding cage along the first feeding path and spraying feed, a relatively low speed can be adopted, such as an average speed of 6 knots, so that the feed can be sprayed in the breeding cage as evenly as possible to avoid the fish from gathering to grab the food.

[0088] In this embodiment, the daughter boat recognizes the beacon on the aquaculture cage, so as to obtain the accurate first target position and the first target outline of the aquaculture cage; based on the first target position and the first target outline, the daughter boat can autonomously navigate to the periphery of the aquaculture cage without human control, thus saving human resources; after autonomously navigating to the aquaculture cage, the daughter boat moves around the aquaculture cage along the first feeding path and sprays feed on the aquaculture cage, thereby ensuring that the daughter boat can spray feed evenly on the aquaculture cage, improving the uniformity of feed distribution in the aquaculture cage, and avoiding the problem of fish gathering too much at a certain feeding point, causing some fish to concentrate on competing for food, resulting in some fish starving due to insufficient food intake.

[0089] In addition, as an optional implementation, after step S24, steps S25 to S28 are also included:

[0090] Step S25, after feeding one of the aquaculture cages, the daughter ship continues to identify the beacon on the next aquaculture cage to obtain the second target position and the second target outline of the next aquaculture cage;

[0091] Step S26, calculating a second navigation path according to the second target position and the current position of the daughter ship;

[0092] Step S27, calculating a second feeding path according to the second target contour; wherein the second feeding path surrounds the second target contour;

[0093] Step S28, the daughter ship sails along the second navigation path to the next aquaculture cage, and moves along the second feeding path around the next aquaculture cage and sprays feed until the daughter ship completes the feeding operation for all the aquaculture cages.

[0094] In this embodiment, after the daughter boat finishes feeding one of the aquaculture cages, it autonomously sails along the second navigation path to the vicinity of the next aquaculture cage, and the daughter boat maneuvers around the periphery of the next aquaculture cage along the second feeding path and sprays feed. In this way, the daughter boat can autonomously sail to each aquaculture cage and maneuver around the periphery of each aquaculture cage to feed, thereby realizing the feeding operation of multiple aquaculture cages.

[0095] Based on the above embodiments, in the third embodiment of the intelligent feeding method of the present invention, the same or similar contents as those in the first embodiment of the intelligent feeding method can be referred to the above introduction, and will not be repeated in the following. Figure 3 , step S20 includes steps A21-A22:

[0096] Step A21, monitoring the operating status of multiple daughter ships;

[0097] Step A22, when the fault information of at least one daughter ship is received, a return instruction is sent to the daughter ship with the fault, and a takeover instruction is sent to the remaining daughter ships without fault, so that the remaining daughter ships without fault take over the feeding task of the daughter ship with the fault.

[0098] It should be noted that the execution subject of steps A21 to A22 is the control terminal, which receives feedback information from the communication module on the daughter ship in real time to learn the operating status of the daughter ship; when the fault detection module on the daughter ship sends fault information to the control terminal through the communication module, the control terminal can know that a fault has occurred in the daughter ship and send corresponding instructions.

[0099] In this embodiment, by monitoring the operating status of the daughter ship, and upon receiving the fault information of at least one daughter ship, a return instruction is sent to the daughter ship with the fault, so that the daughter ship with the fault stops feeding and returns for maintenance; and a replacement instruction is sent to the remaining daughter ships without fault, so that the remaining daughter ships without fault take over the feeding task of the daughter ship with the fault, thereby ensuring normal feeding operation. By adopting the scheme of fault monitoring and the replacement of the faulty daughter ship by the faulty daughter ship, decentralized collaborative feeding operation is realized, and the entire feeding operation process will not be unable to continue due to the failure of some daughter ships, and the remaining daughter ships without fault can automatically take over and complete the remaining feeding operation, thereby improving the safety redundancy and robustness of the entire intelligent feeding method.

[0100] Based on the above embodiments, in the fourth embodiment of the intelligent feeding method of the present invention, the same or similar contents as those in the first embodiment of the intelligent feeding method can be referred to the above introduction, and will not be repeated in the following. On this basis, before step S10, step S01 is also included:

[0101] Step S01, driving the mother ship to sail to the shore supply station, so that the warehouse of the mother ship receives the supply units from the shore supply station.

[0102] Among them, the shore supply place can be a port, a dock and other places, and there is no specific restriction on the type of shore supply place.

[0103] In this embodiment, by driving the mother ship to sail to the shore supply station, the mother ship can receive the supply units from the shore supply station, and use the warehouse to store the supply units, thereby realizing loading the supply units onto the mother ship.

[0104] Based on the above embodiments, in the fifth embodiment of the intelligent feeding method of the present invention, the same or similar contents as those in the first embodiment of the intelligent feeding method can be referred to the above introduction, and will not be repeated in the following. On this basis, after step S50, the intelligent feeding method further includes steps S60 to S70:

[0105] Step S60, multiple daughter ships sail to and berth near any aquaculture cage;

[0106] Step S70, the mother ship sails around the multiple daughter ships to provide supply units to the multiple daughter ships; wherein the supply unit also includes fuel supply.

[0107] In this embodiment, by allowing multiple daughter ships to sail to and berth near any aquaculture cage, the daughter ships do not need to return to the shore supply point after each feeding, or return to the target sea area during feeding operations, thereby greatly saving the fuel consumption of the daughter ships; and by allowing the mother ship to sail around multiple daughter ships, fuel supplies are provided to the multiple daughter ships, which not only realizes the fuel replenishment of the daughter ships, but also avoids fuel replenishment during the feeding operation of the daughter ships, thereby improving the efficiency of the feeding operation.

[0108] The above description is only an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and does not limit the patent scope of the present invention. All equivalent structural changes made by using the contents of the present invention specification and drawings under the technical concept of the present invention, or directly / indirectly applied in other related technical fields are included in the patent protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An intelligent feeding system, characterized in that: Applied to an offshore aquaculture platform, the offshore aquaculture platform includes a plurality of aquaculture cages, and the intelligent feeding system includes: A mother ship, the mother ship being loaded with a plurality of supply units, the supply units at least comprising feed supply; A plurality of daughter ships, each of which is provided with a supply cabin and a feeder, wherein the inlet of the feeder is connected with the supply cabin; A control terminal, wherein the control terminal is respectively connected to the mother ship and the plurality of daughter ships for communication; The daughter ship has a feeding mode and an escort mode; when the control terminal instructs the daughter ship to switch to the escort mode, the daughter ship sails with the mother ship, and the supply cabin is used to receive the supply unit from the mother ship; when the control terminal instructs the daughter ship to switch to the feeding mode, the daughter ship autonomously sails to the vicinity of the aquaculture cage, and the feeder is used to spray the feed from the supply cabin to the aquaculture cage.

2. The intelligent feeding system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The refueling unit also includes a fuel refueling; The supply compartment includes a feed sub-compartment and a fuel sub-compartment, wherein the feed sub-compartment is used to receive and store the feed supply from the supply unit; and the fuel sub-compartment is used to receive and store the fuel supply from the supply unit; The sub-boat is also provided with a feeder, the inlet of the feeder is connected to the supply cabin, and the outlet of the feeder is connected to the inlet of the feeder; the feeder is used to transport the feed supply in the feed sub-cabin to the feeder.

3. The intelligent feeding system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The mother ship is provided with a warehouse, and the supply unit is placed in the warehouse; And / or, the sub-ship is provided with a communication module and a fault detection module, the communication module is communicatively connected to the control terminal; the communication module is used to receive a mode switching instruction from the control terminal to switch the sub-ship to the escort mode or the feeding mode; the fault detection module is communicatively connected to the communication module; the fault detection module is used to detect the operating status of the sub-ship, and send fault information to the control terminal through the communication module when a fault occurs in the sub-ship; the control terminal is used to send a return instruction to the communication module of the faulty sub-ship after receiving the fault information, and send a replacement instruction to the communication modules of the remaining fault-free sub-ships.

4. An intelligent feeding method, characterized in that: Applied to an offshore aquaculture platform, the offshore aquaculture platform includes a plurality of aquaculture cages, and the intelligent feeding method includes the following steps: Make the mother ship and several daughter ships sail to the target sea area; Switching the daughter boat to a feeding mode, so that the daughter boat performs feeding operations to the plurality of aquaculture cages according to a preset process; Supply step: when it is detected that the feed on the daughter ship has been consumed and the feeding operation has not been completed, the daughter ship is switched to the escort mode, so that the daughter ship sails to the vicinity of the mother ship and receives the supply unit from the mother ship; wherein the supply unit at least includes feed supply; Feeding step: after the replenishment is completed, the daughter ship is switched to the feeding mode to continue the feeding operation; The replenishment step and the feeding step are repeated until the daughter boat completes the feeding operation for all the aquaculture cages.

5. The intelligent feeding method according to claim 4, characterized in that: The step of the daughter boat feeding the plurality of aquaculture cages according to a preset process includes: The daughter ship identifies the beacon on the aquaculture cage to obtain a first target position and a first target outline of the aquaculture cage; Calculating a first navigation path according to the first target position and the current position of the daughter ship; A first feeding path is calculated according to the first target contour; wherein the first feeding path surrounds the first target contour; The daughter ship sails to the aquaculture cage along the first navigation path, and moves around the aquaculture cage along the first feeding path to spray feed.

6. The intelligent feeding method according to claim 5, characterized in that: The step of the daughter boat feeding the plurality of aquaculture cages according to a preset process also includes: After feeding one of the aquaculture cages, the daughter ship continues to identify the beacon on the next aquaculture cage to obtain the second target position and the second target outline of the next aquaculture cage; Calculating a second navigation path according to the second target position and the current position of the daughter ship; According to the second target contour, a second feeding path is calculated; wherein the second feeding path surrounds the second target contour; The daughter ship sails along the second navigation path to the next aquaculture cage, and moves around the next aquaculture cage along the second feeding path and sprays feed until the daughter ship completes the feeding operation for all the aquaculture cages.

7. The intelligent feeding method according to claim 4, characterized in that: The step of switching the daughter boat to a feeding mode so that the daughter boat performs feeding operations to the plurality of aquaculture cages according to a preset process also includes: Monitoring the operating status of the plurality of said daughter ships; When the fault information of at least one of the daughter ships is received, a return instruction is sent to the daughter ship with the fault, and a takeover instruction is sent to the remaining daughter ships without fault, so that the remaining daughter ships without fault can take over the feeding task of the daughter ship with the fault.

8. The intelligent feeding method according to claim 4, characterized in that: Before the step of making the mother ship and the plurality of daughter ships sail to the target sea area, the method further includes: The mother ship is driven to sail to a shore supply location, so that the warehouse of the mother ship receives the supply unit from the shore supply location.

9. The intelligent feeding method according to claim 4, characterized in that: The intelligent feeding method also includes: A plurality of the daughter ships sail to and berth near any of the aquaculture cages; The mother ship sails around the plurality of daughter ships to provide the supply unit to the plurality of daughter ships; wherein the supply unit also includes fuel supply.

10. The intelligent feeding method according to any one of claims 4 to 9, characterized in that: The step of making the mother ship and the plurality of daughter ships sail to the target sea area comprises: Instruct a plurality of the daughter ships to switch to the escort mode so that the daughter ships accompany the mother ship in sailing; and control the mother ship to sail to the target sea area.

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