Unmanned aerial vehicle air flight cooperative wireless charging system and method, terminal equipment and storage medium

Abstract

The invention discloses an unmanned aerial vehicle air flight cooperative wireless charging system and method, a terminal device and a storage medium, when a first unmanned aerial vehicle and a second unmanned aerial vehicle execute an air flight task, if the electric quantity of a first power supply is smaller than a first set threshold value, the first unmanned aerial vehicle sends own positioning information; and the second unmanned aerial vehicle receives the positioning information and flies to the first unmanned aerial vehicle, so that the wireless charging receiving coil and the wireless charging transmitting coil are attracted until the electric quantity of the first power supply reaches a second set threshold value, the wireless charging receiving coil and the wireless charging transmitting coil are disconnected, and charging is finished. The invention provides a method for accurate butt joint and stable attraction of wireless charging transmitting and receiving coils, the influence of airflow, unmanned aerial vehicle position disturbance and the like is effectively resisted through the magnetic force of the electromagnet, and the stability of the wireless charging process is ensured.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the cross-technical field of unmanned aerial vehicle intelligent aerial collaboration and wireless charging technology, and in particular to a system, method, terminal device and storage medium for unmanned aerial vehicle aerial flight collaborative wireless charging. Background Art

[0002] There are two ways to power existing drones: fuel power generation and lithium battery power supply. Many applications of drones rely on their small size and light weight, so lithium battery power supply, which is suitable for lightweight small drones, has gradually become the mainstream power supply method in the industry. When drones perform tasks in various fields, their flight time plays a key role and determines the quality and efficiency of the task. However, blindly increasing the capacity of lithium batteries will inevitably increase the volume and weight, and will further reduce the flight speed when carrying cargo.

[0003] Currently, using wireless charging in the air to extend the flight life of drones is an important development direction and technical challenge. However, this method has a series of problems such as inaccurate docking between the wireless charging transmitter and receiver, the charging process is susceptible to interference and low efficiency, and it is impossible to achieve wireless charging of drones in dynamic flight. In order to achieve practical application, breakthroughs are urgently needed.

[0004] CN111942188A discloses an aerial charging system, charging method, device, equipment and medium for unmanned aerial vehicles. However, in reality, there are problems such as difficulty in docking the infinite charging and discharging disks, susceptibility to interference from the flight of unmanned aerial vehicles, and unstable charging and discharging process caused by interval fluctuations. CN111942188A does not clarify how to solve these problems. Summary of the invention

[0005] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a cooperative wireless charging system, method, terminal device and storage medium for UAV aerial flight in view of the shortcomings of the existing technology, so as to solve the problems of difficulty in docking charging and discharging disks, susceptibility to interference from UAV flight, and unstable charging and discharging process caused by interval fluctuations, so as to realize the partner UAV autonomously following the cooperative UAV to be charged in the air, and charging and discharging efficiently and quickly.

[0006] In order to solve the above technical problems, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is: a UAV aerial flight cooperative wireless charging system, comprising a first UAV and a second UAV; the first UAV comprises a first power supply and a wireless charging receiving coil connected to the first power supply and arranged on the first UAV; the second UAV comprises a second power supply and a wireless charging transmitting coil connected to the second power supply and arranged on the second UAV;

[0007] When the first UAV and the second UAV perform an aerial flight mission, if the power level of the first power supply is less than a first set threshold, the first UAV sends its own positioning information, the second UAV receives the positioning information and flies to the first UAV, so that the wireless charging receiving coil and the wireless charging transmitting coil are attracted, until the power level of the first power supply reaches a second set threshold, the wireless charging receiving coil and the wireless charging transmitting coil are disconnected, and charging ends.

[0008] The wireless charging receiving coil of the first UAV is provided with an identification cursor, and the wireless charging transmitting coil of the second UAV is provided with a laser ranging module;

[0009] The second drone adjusts its own position according to the position of the recognition cursor and the distance information measured by the laser ranging module. When the distance information reaches a set value, the electromagnets of the wireless charging receiving coil and the wireless charging transmitting coil are attracted, that is, the wireless charging receiving coil and the wireless charging transmitting coil are attracted.

[0010] The wireless charging receiving coil is arranged at the bottom of the first drone, and the wireless charging transmitting coil is arranged at the top of the second drone; or, the wireless charging receiving coil is arranged at the top of the first drone, and the wireless charging transmitting coil is arranged at the bottom of the second drone.

[0011] The first drone and the second drone both subscribe to the battery status through the ROS system to monitor their own battery power.

[0012] The first drone communicates with the second drone via a short-range communication module.

[0013] As an inventive concept, the present invention also provides a method for wireless charging of a drone in mid-air, which comprises the following steps:

[0014] The second UAV receives the battery alarm instruction and the positioning information of the first UAV;

[0015] The second UAV flies to the first UAV according to the positioning information of the first UAV;

[0016] The wireless charging transmitting coil of the second UAV is attracted to the wireless charging receiving coil of the first UAV, and the second power supply of the second UAV charges the first power supply of the first UAV. When the power of the first power supply reaches a set threshold, the wireless charging receiving coil and the wireless charging transmitting coil are disconnected, and charging ends.

[0017] The specific implementation process of the wireless charging transmitting coil of the second UAV and the wireless charging receiving coil of the first UAV being attracted includes: the first UAV adjusts its own position through the cursor position on the wireless charging receiving coil and the distance information obtained by the laser ranging module on the wireless charging transmitting coil; when the first UAV lands and the distance information reaches the set value, the electromagnets of the wireless charging receiving coil and the wireless charging transmitting coil are attracted.

[0018] The specific implementation process of the second power supply of the second UAV charging the first power supply of the first UAV includes: increasing the input voltage of the second power supply through a BOOST boost circuit and then connecting it to a full-bridge inverter circuit, a controller generates a PWM wave to control the full-bridge inverter circuit and converts the DC power output by the full-bridge inverter circuit into a sinusoidal high-frequency AC power through an LCC resonant circuit, inducing the same-frequency AC power through a wireless charging receiving coil and an S-type resonant circuit, and then rectifying the same-frequency AC power into DC power through a full-bridge rectifier circuit and a filter circuit, and reducing the voltage through a BUCK circuit to charge the first power supply.

[0019] As an inventive concept, the present invention also provides a terminal device, including a memory and at least one processor; the memory stores one or more programs, and when the one or more programs are executed by the at least one processor, the processor implements the steps of the above method.

[0020] As an inventive concept, the present invention also provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, which implements the steps of the above method when executed by a processor.

[0021] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0022] (1) Stability: The present invention provides a method for accurately docking and stably engaging wireless charging transmitting and receiving coils, which effectively resists the influence of airflow, drone position disturbance, etc. through the magnetic force of the electromagnet, thereby ensuring the stability of the wireless charging process.

[0023] (2) High efficiency: The present invention reduces the size of components and the load of the UAV through a high-frequency resonant wireless charging circuit, and achieves a wireless charging efficiency of up to 80% by controlling the distance between coils to be less than 1 cm.

[0024] (3) Intelligence: In the present invention, the partner drone autonomously and cooperatively follows the drone to be charged, and the two autonomously turn on and off wireless charging, which improves the flexibility and intelligence of drone wireless charging. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Figure 1 This is a general diagram of an efficient and fast wireless charging and discharging method and system for autonomously following an intelligent cooperative partner UAV in the air according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 2 Instructions for precise docking modules and wireless charging process for dynamic collaborative flight;

[0027] Figure 3 This is the schematic diagram of the internal circuit of the drone;

[0028] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the Boost and Buck closed-loop dual control principle;

[0029] Figure 5 This is the topology diagram of the wireless charging circuit. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solution in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are 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.

[0031] Example 1

[0032] This embodiment is used to achieve the stability, intelligence, and efficiency of wireless charging of drones, and ultimately achieve the purpose of extending the endurance of drones. Specifically, it includes the following steps:

[0033] S1. The two drones operate separately and monitor their own battery power in real time. When one of the drones detects that its own battery power is lower than the set threshold, step S2 is executed; in this embodiment, the threshold is set to 20% of the total power;

[0034] S2. The drone to be charged (the first drone) sends a power alarm message to the partner drone (the second drone). The partner drone receives the power information and feedbacks the successful reception. After that, the drone to be charged sends its own positioning information. The partner drone receives the positioning information and flies to the drone to be charged through path planning.

[0035] S3. The partner drone and the drone to be charged achieve precise docking of the wireless charging transmitting and receiving coils through a precise docking method, and then execute step S4;

[0036] S4. The two drones drive the electromagnets respectively to attract the wireless charging transmitting and receiving coils, and then the partner drone drives the wireless charging transmitting module to start wireless charging;

[0037] S5. The partner drone autonomously follows the cooperative drone to be charged, and the two drones fly together to charge quickly and efficiently;

[0038] In S1, each drone subscribes to the battery status topic based on the topic subscription mechanism of the ROS system to monitor its own battery power in real time.

[0039] In S2, the short-range communication between the two drones and the path planning of the partner drone are completed in the following way: the drone to be charged sends a battery alert and positioning information to the partner drone through short-range communication. The partner drone receives the information and publishes it to the specified ROS topic, and then subscribes to the topic to obtain information; the partner drone flies to the drone to be charged through global and local path planning based on the positioning information.

[0040] The precise docking of the wireless charging transmitting and receiving coils in S3 is achieved by:

[0041] Cursor recognition is introduced on the receiving disk of the drone to be charged to enable the receiving coil to follow the transmitting coil in real time. A laser ranging module is introduced on the transmitting disk of the partner drone to monitor the relative distance between the transmitting and receiving coils in real time. The drone to be charged continuously adjusts its position and lands dynamically according to the cursor position and laser ranging information. When the ranging value reaches the set value (in this embodiment, the set value is 1 cm), the two drones drive the H bridge through the STM32 microcontroller to adsorb the electromagnet, realize the attraction of the transmitting coil and the receiving coil, thereby realizing the precise and stable docking of the wireless charging transmitting and receiving coils.

[0042] In S4, the driving of the electromagnet and the wireless charging transmitting coil is completed in the following way:

[0043] Through the serial port communication between ROS and STM32, STM32 receives the corresponding control information and drives the H-bridge and MOS tube respectively to realize the adsorption of the electromagnet and the opening of the transmitting coil; through the serial port communication between ROS and STM32, STM32 receives the transmitting coil driving information and controls the opening of the MOS tube. After that, the transmitting coil is turned on by the battery voltage of the partner drone.

[0044] In S5, the partner drone autonomously follows and cooperates with the drone to be charged in the following way: the drone to be charged is the host, the partner drone is the slave, a short-range communication and formation coordination module is constructed, the drone to be charged sends its own position information to the partner drone, the partner drone receives the information and responds to the position change of the host in real time through the intelligent control algorithm based on the position information, so as to achieve the effect of the slave autonomously following the host and the formation coordinated flight.

[0045] This embodiment can realize the combination of flight and charging. Compared with the existing drone hovering charging method, this embodiment has a higher resource utilization rate. When the time interval between two drones is small, cooperative flight can effectively maintain the relative distance between the two drones. The existing technology easily causes the two drones to conflict with each other. This embodiment combines formation coordination and wireless charging modules to ultimately realize wireless charging of drones in mid-air. At the same time, the formation coordination module can maintain the relative distance between the two drones in real time to avoid route conflicts caused by the drones flying separately.

[0046] In S5, efficient and fast charging between the partner drone and the drone to be charged is achieved in the following way: the input voltage is increased by the BOOST boost circuit and then connected to the inverter circuit, the STM32 generates a PWM wave to control the full-bridge inverter circuit and converts the DC power into sinusoidal high-frequency AC power through the LCC resonant circuit, and the same-frequency AC power is induced by the receiving coil and the S-type resonant circuit, and then rectified into DC power with smaller ripple through the full-bridge rectifier circuit and the filter circuit, and then stepped down by the BUCK circuit, and the partner drone is powered and charged in parallel to achieve fast charging.

[0047] like Figure 1 As shown, it is an efficient and fast wireless charging and discharging method and system diagram for autonomously following an intelligent and collaborative partner UAV in mid-air flight. This embodiment describes the logical relationship of each process as a whole, and builds a local area network for UAV communication based on the Wi-Fi module of the UAV's onboard computer (this embodiment 1 is carried out indoors and only involves short-range communication between two UAVs, so the Wi-Fi module of the onboard computer can meet the needs), and issues tasks to the two UAVs respectively and monitors the battery power in real time by subscribing to battery status information in ROS. When the battery power of one of the UAVs is lower than the set threshold (hereinafter referred to as the UAV to be charged), it sends a low-battery signal to the partner UAV, and the partner UAV receives the signal and feeds back a successful reception message. After that, the UAV to be charged sends its own position coordinates to the partner UAV, and the partner UAV receives the information and communicates The global path is planned by the Dijkstra algorithm, and the local path is adjusted in real time by the DWA algorithm. When the partner drone reaches the target point, the drone to be charged turns on AR tag recognition and follows the node, continuously adjusts its own position to within the error range according to the location information of the AR tag, and dynamically lands according to the laser ranging information. When the laser ranging information reaches the set value, the two drones use the STM32 microcontroller to drive the H bridge to make the electromagnet adsorb, so that the transmitting coil and the receiving coil are attracted, thereby realizing the precise and stable docking of the wireless charging transmitting and receiving coils, and then turns on the transmitting module, the drone to be charged flies to the designated mission point, and the partner drone autonomously follows the drone to be charged through formation collaborative flight to realize dynamic flight charging.

[0048] Figure 2Instructions for precise docking module and dynamic coordinated flight charging for drones. Figure 3 The following is the schematic diagram of the internal circuit of the drone. When the partner drone approaches the drone to be charged, Figure 2 As shown, the wireless charging transmitting and receiving coils are accurately and stably connected and the wireless charging transmitting module is turned on. Figure 3 As shown, the input voltage is increased by the BOOST boost circuit and then connected to the inverter circuit. The STM32 generates a PWM wave to control the full-bridge inverter circuit and converts the DC power into a sinusoidal high-frequency AC power through the LCC resonant circuit. The same-frequency AC power is induced by the receiving coil and the S-type resonant circuit, and then rectified into DC power with smaller ripple through the full-bridge rectifier circuit and the filter circuit. The voltage is stepped down by the BUCK circuit, and the partner drone is powered and the battery is charged in parallel to achieve fast charging.

[0049] like Figure 2 The process of the partner drone autonomously and collaboratively following the drone to be charged is shown in the figure. The drone to be charged is the host and the partner drone is the slave. The short-range communication module and formation collaboration module of the host and the slave are constructed. The drone to be charged uses the UDP communication protocol and the ROS topic communication mechanism to send power and position information to the partner drone. The partner drone receives the information and publishes it to the specified ROS topic. It realizes process communication by subscribing to the topic and makes an autonomous decision on whether to continue to follow the drone to be charged based on the power information. If it continues to follow, the formation collaboration module is based on the real-time position information of the host to the slave. The slave responds to the position change of the host in real time based on this position information using the intelligent control algorithm, so as to achieve the effect of the slave autonomously following the host and formation collaborative flight.

[0050] Example 2

[0051] Embodiment 2 of the present invention provides a terminal device corresponding to the above-mentioned embodiment 1. The terminal device may be a processing device for a client, such as a mobile phone, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, etc., to execute the method of the above-mentioned embodiment.

[0052] The terminal device of this embodiment includes a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory; the processor executes the computer program in the memory to implement the steps of the method in the above-mentioned embodiment 1.

[0053] In some implementations, the memory may be a high-speed random access memory (RAM), and may also include a non-volatile memory, such as at least one disk memory.

[0054] In some other implementations, the processor may be a central processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), or other general-purpose processors of various types, which are not limited herein.

[0055] Example 3

[0056] Embodiment 3 of the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium corresponding to the above embodiment 1, on which a computer program / instruction is stored. When the computer program / instruction is executed by a processor, the steps of the method of the above embodiment 1 are implemented.

[0057] Computer readable storage media can be tangible devices that hold and store instructions used by instruction execution devices. Computer readable storage media can be, for example, but not limited to, electronic storage devices, magnetic storage devices, optical storage devices, electromagnetic storage devices, semiconductor storage devices, or any combination thereof.

[0058] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present application can be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, the present application can adopt the form of complete hardware embodiments, complete software embodiments, or embodiments in combination with software and hardware. Moreover, the present application can adopt the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) that contain computer-usable program code. The scheme in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in various computer languages, for example, object-oriented programming language Java and literal scripting language JavaScript, etc.

[0059] The present application is described with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of the methods, devices (systems), and computer program products according to the embodiments of the present application. It should be understood that each process and / or box in the flowchart and / or block diagram, as well as the combination of the processes and / or boxes in the flowchart and / or block diagram, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing device to generate a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device generate instructions for implementing the processes in the flowchart and / or block diagram. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A device that provides the functions specified in a block or multiple blocks.

[0060] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, thereby providing instructions for implementing the process. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1The steps for the functions specified in one or more boxes.

[0061] Although the preferred embodiments of the present application have been described, those skilled in the art may make other changes and modifications to these embodiments once they have learned the basic creative concept. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to be interpreted as including the preferred embodiments and all changes and modifications falling within the scope of the present application.

[0062] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A UAV aerial cooperative wireless charging system, comprising a first UAV and a second UAV; characterized in that: The first UAV includes a first power supply and a wireless charging receiving coil connected to the first power supply and disposed on the first UAV; the second UAV includes a second power supply and a wireless charging transmitting coil connected to the second power supply and disposed on the second UAV; When the first UAV and the second UAV perform an aerial flight mission, if the power level of the first power supply is less than a first set threshold, the first UAV sends its own positioning information, the second UAV receives the positioning information and flies to the first UAV, so that the wireless charging receiving coil and the wireless charging transmitting coil are attracted, until the power level of the first power supply reaches a second set threshold, the wireless charging receiving coil and the wireless charging transmitting coil are disconnected, and charging ends.

2. The UAV aerial flight cooperative wireless charging system according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The wireless charging receiving coil of the first UAV is provided with an identification cursor, and the wireless charging transmitting coil of the second UAV is provided with a laser ranging module; The second drone adjusts its own position according to the position of the recognition cursor and the distance information measured by the laser ranging module. When the distance information reaches a set value, the electromagnets of the wireless charging receiving coil and the wireless charging transmitting coil are attracted, that is, the wireless charging receiving coil and the wireless charging transmitting coil are attracted.

3. The UAV aerial flight cooperative wireless charging system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The wireless charging receiving coil is arranged at the bottom of the first drone, and the wireless charging transmitting coil is arranged at the top of the second drone; or, the wireless charging receiving coil is arranged at the top of the first drone, and the wireless charging transmitting coil is arranged at the bottom of the second drone.

4. The UAV aerial flight cooperative wireless charging system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first UAV and the second UAV both subscribe to the battery status through the ROS system to monitor their own battery power.

5. The UAV aerial flight cooperative wireless charging system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first drone communicates with the second drone via a short-range communication module.

6. A method for wireless charging of a drone in mid-air, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: The second UAV receives the battery alarm instruction and the positioning information of the first UAV; The second UAV flies to the first UAV according to the positioning information of the first UAV; The wireless charging transmitting coil of the second UAV is attracted to the wireless charging receiving coil of the first UAV, and the second power supply of the second UAV charges the first power supply of the first UAV. When the power of the first power supply reaches a set threshold, the wireless charging receiving coil and the wireless charging transmitting coil are disconnected, and charging ends.

7. The method for wireless charging of a drone in mid-air according to claim 6, characterized in that: The specific implementation process of the wireless charging transmitting coil of the second UAV and the wireless charging receiving coil of the first UAV being attracted includes: the first UAV adjusts its own position through the cursor position on the wireless charging receiving coil and the distance information obtained by the laser ranging module on the wireless charging transmitting coil; when the first UAV lands and the distance information reaches the set value, the electromagnets of the wireless charging receiving coil and the wireless charging transmitting coil are attracted.

8. The method for wireless charging of a drone in mid-air according to claim 6, characterized in that: The specific implementation process of the second power supply of the second UAV charging the first power supply of the first UAV includes: increasing the input voltage of the second power supply through a BOOST boost circuit and then connecting it to a full-bridge inverter circuit, a controller generates a PWM wave to control the full-bridge inverter circuit and converts the DC power output by the full-bridge inverter circuit into a sinusoidal high-frequency AC power through an LCC resonant circuit, inducing the same-frequency AC power through a wireless charging receiving coil and an S-type resonant circuit, and then rectifying the same-frequency AC power into DC power through a full-bridge rectifier circuit and a filter circuit, and reducing the voltage through a BUCK circuit to charge the first power supply.

9. A terminal device comprising a memory and at least one processor; characterized in that: The memory stores one or more programs. When the one or more programs are executed by the at least one processor, the processor implements the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

10. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that: When the program is executed by a processor, the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 are implemented.

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