Self-inspection method and system for equipment in unmanned aerial vehicle system

Abstract

The invention provides a self-inspection method and system for equipment in an unmanned aerial vehicle system, and the method sequentially comprises the following steps: dividing all the internal space of a conventional three-dimensional map into cube grids, numbering the cube grids, marking the positions of all communication base stations, and numbering the positions to obtain a system equipment self-inspection map; releasing the unmanned aerial vehicle, generating an unmanned aerial vehicle flight log and a base station transmission test log after the unmanned aerial vehicle is started and takes off, and storing the logs in a storage device of the unmanned aerial vehicle; every time the unmanned aerial vehicle flies into one cube grid, base station transmission speed testing is carried out on nearby n communication base stations, and recording is carried out in a base station transmission test log. A small amount of key information of the equipment in the system is obtained by using the short time in the inspection process of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and the performance of all the equipment in the system, especially the communication performance, is self-checked at a proper frequency under the condition that communication resources are occupied as little as possible.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical fields of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) control and wireless communication, and particularly to a method and system for self-checking devices within a UAV system. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development of technology, UAVs are increasingly widely used in daily life, especially in environmental monitoring scenarios. For example, in provinces with dense rivers and coastlines, UAVs are often used for water environment inspection, such as monitoring passing ships, collecting landforms around the water environment, monitoring suspected illegally detained ships, monitoring biodiversity, obtaining evidence of water surface illegal acts, and inspecting navigation aids. Small or medium-sized UAVs are often required for regular or irregular inspections.

[0003] Compared with the traditional method of deploying cameras around the water environment for monitoring, UAV inspection has many irreplaceable advantages. It is flexible and mobile in deployment, has a large monitoring range, can approach the target for monitoring, and can carry a variety of different monitoring devices according to needs. When deploying a UAV, only a UAV launch and recovery point needs to be set around the water environment, and mobile or fixed communication base stations need to be deployed around the water environment at a certain density. The UAV operator can remotely control the UAV for inspection indoors through the communication base station. The UAV can even perform inspections on its own according to the programs and planned routes preset in the UAV. When a target is detected, the UAV transmits the detected target information back through the communication base station. After the inspection is completed, the UAV returns to the UAV recovery location through manual remote control or autonomous flight, and is launched again after maintenance and energy replenishment. The entire process no longer requires staff to travel to and from the inspection waters in person, greatly reducing the work intensity of environmental inspection personnel and significantly improving the efficiency of the inspection work. Currently, some patent applications have disclosed similar UAV system layouts, such as the patent application "An Automatic Power Distribution Network Inspection System Based on UAV" (Publication No.: CN119370357A).

[0004] However, with the development of inspection drones, the types of detection devices they carry are increasing, the detection accuracy is constantly improving, the amount of data they transmit is also increasing, and the stability requirements for the devices within the system are also constantly rising. For example, the system needs to monitor the stability of the drone's devices, the interference situation, and the remaining battery / fuel in real time. It also needs to monitor the signal coverage of communication base stations at all locations in the inspection area, such as the wireless signal strength and data transmission rate at each location, and needs to monitor various parameters of the communication base stations' own transmitted data. In traditional wireless communication device networking systems, such as mobile phone communication networks, all the above devices are operated by humans. Therefore, when a failure occurs in each device acting as a communication node, the user of the device will discover the failure and eliminate it in a timely manner. However, when using an inspection drone system, especially when there are multiple drones in the system that are autonomously launched, autonomously patrolled, and autonomously recovered, the number of system operators is much smaller than the number of devices within the system. Therefore, when the working state of the drone's devices is unstable, the communication base station fails, or the communication base station density is low in a local inspection area, resulting in low communication signal strength, low data transmission rate, and a large communication load on a single base station, since the drone operator is mostly focused on the data content sent back by the drone and the working conditions of the drone itself and its on-board devices at the console, it is very likely that the following situation will occur: the staff can only discover the failures of the drone and its carried devices in a timely manner, and it is difficult to discover and promptly handle and eliminate the communication failures that occur in each communication node within the drone system, which may then lead to a long-term local communication interruption in the drone system.

[0005] Therefore, to solve the problems existing in the prior art, a drone system is needed that can perform self-checks on each device within the system during the drone inspection process, especially for the communication status between the devices within the system. Summary of the Invention

[0006] To address the deficiencies in the above prior art, the present invention provides a method and system for self-checking devices within a drone system.

[0007] A method for self-checking devices in a drone system, the method is sequentially executed according to the following steps: Step S1: Divide all the internal spaces of the existing 3D map into cube grids and number them, mark the positions of all communication base stations and number them to obtain a system device self-checking map; Step S2: Release the drone. After the drone powers on and takes off, generate a drone flight log and a base station transmission test log, and store them in the storage device of the drone; Step S3: Each time the drone flies into a cube grid, perform a base station transmission speed test on n nearby communication base stations and record it in the base station transmission test log; Step S4: When the drone hovers, perform a base station transmission test on n nearby communication base stations and record it in the base station transmission test log. After the base station transmission test is completed, upload the drone flight log and the base station transmission test log to the server; Step S5: The server analyzes the flight log and the base station transmission test log, updates the system device self-checking map, and sends an alarm message to the drone system control platform; Step S6: After the drone is recovered, return to Step S2 and start executing sequentially.

[0008] Further, in the step S1, the side length of the cube grid is less than or equal to 100 meters.

[0009] Further, the step S2 further includes: releasing the drone. After the drone powers on and takes off, generate a drone flight log and a base station transmission test log. The drone performs unified energy consumption management on all the devices it carries, and records the remaining energy information of the drone in the drone flight log at a fixed frequency; the satellite positioning module of the drone determines the satellite positioning data of the drone in real time for determining the position where the drone is located, and the drone records the satellite positioning data of the position where the drone is located in the drone flight log at a fixed frequency; the drone monitors the operating states of all the devices it carries and the surrounding environment information, and records the device abnormal behavior data, the fuselage vibration data, and the electromagnetic interference parameters in the drone flight log at a fixed frequency;

[0010] The drone flight log and the base station transmission test log are stored in the storage device of the drone.

[0011] Further, the step S3 specifically includes the following steps: When the drone flies over the boundary of the cube grid, the drone communication module tests the transmission rate and / or signal strength of n nearby communication base stations, sorts the transmission rate and / or signal strength of the n nearby communication base stations from high to low and records them together with the corresponding cube grid numbers in the base station transmission test log.

[0012] Further, step S4 specifically includes the following steps: When the drone hovers within the cube grid, sort the transmission rates and / or signal strengths of the n communication base stations measured when entering the cube grid from high to low, and sequentially send base station network test data to these communication base stations. After receiving the network test data, the n communication base stations generate base station network test information according to the reception situation and send the base station network test information to the drone. The base station network test information includes the transmission rate of the communication base station. The drone records the base station network test information corresponding to the n communication base stations in the base station transmission test log; according to the transmission rate in the received base station network test information, the drone uploads the drone flight log and the base station transmission test log to the server through the communication base station with the highest transmission rate.

[0013] Further, the base station network test information further includes the signal strength, transmission error rate, time delay, and data loss rate of the communication base station.

[0014] Further, step S5 specifically includes the following steps: After receiving the drone flight log and the base station transmission test log, the server sends feedback information to the drone and analyzes the drone flight log and the base station transmission test log; when the analysis result shows that the remaining energy is lower than the threshold, or the drone device has abnormal behavior, or the vibration of the drone body is higher than the threshold, or the electromagnetic interference received by the drone is higher than the threshold, a return instruction is sent to the drone, and an alarm is sent to the drone system control platform; when the analysis result shows that a certain communication base station fails, mark the communication base station in the system device self-check map; when the analysis result shows that the highest transmission rate and / or signal strength in a certain square grid is lower than the preset value, mark the square grid.

[0015] The present invention also provides a device self-checking system within a drone system, and the system includes:

[0016] One or more drones, a server, multiple communication base stations, and a console; the drone includes a processor, a satellite positioning module, a communication module, and a storage device; the drone system control platform is used to display the system device self-check map and alarm information stored in the server; the device self-checking system within the drone system executes the above method.

[0017] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects: The method and system for self-checking devices within the system of the present invention are independent of the UAV inspection control system. By utilizing the short time during the UAV inspection process, a small amount of key information of the devices within the system is obtained to complete the self-check of the devices within the system. During the UAV flight, a simple and rapid signal test is performed on each grid in the rasterized map and recorded. When the UAV hovers, taking advantage of the longer time and relatively more stable signal, a detailed and comprehensive self-check is carried out on the UAV and its nearby base station devices, and the relevant reports are uploaded to the server at a relatively fast speed. It can achieve self-checking the performance of all devices within the system, especially the communication performance, at an appropriate frequency with as little communication resource occupation as possible, and the inspection results are visually displayed to the staff in the form of a map. An alarm is issued immediately when a device failure within the system is detected. When the UAV fails, the UAV is automatically recalled. When the communication base station fails, the staff can repair it in a timely manner according to the situation; the UAV continuously records the signal strength and data transmission rate of the grids it has flown over, and records and marks them in the self-check map after uploading to the server. The staff can directly see in the self-check map that the signal of one or several grids continuously falls below the transmission requirement, and can add a communication base station near the grid or replace the original communication base station nearby according to actual needs. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Figure 1 is a flowchart of the method for self-checking devices within the UAV system of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the map drawing process in an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0020] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the present invention. Apparently, the described embodiments are some, but not all, of the embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments in the present invention without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0021] Referring to the accompanying drawings of the specification Figure 1 and Figure 2 , an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for self-checking devices within a UAV system. In this method:

[0022] The first step is to generate a self-check map of the system devices. The existing three-dimensional map is preprocessed, and all the three-dimensional space of the existing three-dimensional map is divided into cube grids. Figure 2Shown from a top-down perspective, the edges of each grid are dashed lines, and the specific geographical environment is not shown. The side length of the grid is less than 100 meters, and each grid is numbered. The satellite positioning data of the boundaries of each grid is measured to obtain the system device self-check map. Then the next step can be executed, that is, the drone inspection can be started.

[0023] One or more drones are launched. In Figure 2 The drone launch point is within the circle on the west side of the map. The drone carries the observation equipment, power supply, satellite positioning equipment, and storage equipment required for inspection. The processor of the drone runs the management control program used for drone inspection, and at the same time independently runs the method steps for self-checking the equipment within the drone system. After the drone is powered on and takes off, a drone flight log and a base station transmission test log are generated and stored in the storage device of the drone. The drone flight log is used to store information such as the flight route of the drone, faults related to the drone's own equipment, and external interference. For all the equipment carried by the drone, there is unified energy consumption management. The drone detects the remaining energy and energy consumption rate information at a fixed frequency and records the remaining energy information and energy consumption rate information in the drone flight log. Each piece of remaining energy information and energy consumption rate information corresponds to the moment of detection. The satellite positioning module of the drone determines the drone's satellite positioning data in real time, which is used to determine the position of the drone. The drone records the satellite positioning data of the position where the drone is located at a fixed frequency in the drone flight log, and each record of satellite positioning data corresponds to the moment of detection. The drone monitors the operating status of all the equipment it carries and the surrounding environment information, and records the equipment abnormal behavior data, fuselage vibration data, and electromagnetic interference parameters in the drone flight log at a fixed frequency. Each record corresponds to the moment of detection. The above information about the drone itself and external interference has nothing to do with the inspection target of the drone. After the drone is powered on, it immediately starts to detect at a certain frequency and records independently to ensure the monitoring of the drone's own state. The obtained monitoring information is stored temporarily in the storage device of the drone in a relatively simple format and content during the flight stage of the drone, so as to avoid occupying too much drone communication load. To avoid the subsequent transmission time being too long due to the large size of the log file, a new drone flight log can be generated at a fixed frequency (such as 30 minutes). Then the subsequent steps are executed.

[0024] To facilitate the display of the communication process of the drone in the survey area, the grids outside the survey area are not shown. The drone flies eastward from the west side of the map and enters from the west edge of Grid 1B. The drone determines the drone satellite positioning data in real time according to the satellite positioning module and the boundary positioning data of the square grids in the system device self-check map. At this time, it is judged that the drone has entered the cube grid, and the drone starts to perform a simple signal test on this cube grid, that is, the drone communication module tests the transmission rates and signal strengths of the nearby 3 communication base stations a, b, and c, sorts the transmission rates and signal strengths of the nearby 3 communication base stations from high to low, and records them in the base station transmission test log. In the flight state, only one test is performed for each cube grid entered, and each record corresponds to the cube grid number where it is located. In Figure 2 According to the drone flight route drawn by the solid line, the drone sequentially performs simple signal tests on Grid B1, Grid B2, Grid A2, Grid A3, Grid A4, Grid A5, Grid A6, and Grid A7. Subsequently, it is used to statistically analyze the signal strength of each cube grid. Since the drone is in a moving state during the flight and its position is not fixed, the signal test of the nearby base stations may be inaccurate, so detailed tests are not performed. To avoid over-occupying the drone communication channel during the drone flight, the simple signal test results of the base stations and the base station transmission test log are not uploaded to the server at this time. When the drone hovers, the next step is executed.

[0025] In this embodiment, the drone hovers at the scattered marks in Grid A7. When the drone hovers, for example, when the drone needs to collect evidence for some stationary targets within the range of Grid A7, or needs to collect evidence for the environment within Grid A7 for a long time, at this time, the position of the drone is fixed, the communication rate and communication content are relatively stable, and a detailed base station transmission test of the cube grid where the drone is located starts. The drone performs a base station transmission test on the nearby 3 communication base stations and records it in the base station transmission test log. The specific method is as follows:

[0026] Sort the transmission rates and / or signal strengths of the three communication base stations measured when entering the cube grid A7 from high to low, and sequentially send the base station network test data to these communication base stations for network testing of the three communication base stations. After the three communication base stations receive the network test data respectively, they generate base station network test information according to the reception situation and feedback the base station network test information to the drone. The base station network test information at this time is relatively comprehensive information, including the transmission rate, signal strength, transmission error rate, time delay, and data loss rate of the communication base station. After receiving the above network test information, the drone records the base station network test information corresponding to the three communication base stations in the base station transmission test log, and each piece of information corresponds to the number of the grid where it is located and the number of the tested base station. According to the transmission rate in the received base station network test information, the drone uploads the generated drone flight log and base station transmission test log to the server through the communication base station with the highest transmission rate. At this time, the base station with the highest transmission rate is base station b. If the drone hovers at a position for a long time and the duration exceeds the set threshold, repeat this step, that is, conduct a second full-round base station network test on the three base stations near the cube grid again, and then repeat this step every time the threshold time elapses to test the long-term stability of the drone communication.

[0027] After that, when the drone changes from the hovering state to the flying state, it starts from grid A7 and enters grid A8 and continues to fly. The drone continues to perform simple base station transmission tests, and then conducts detailed base station transmission tests in the hovering state at grid F4 until the drone ends its flight. Then perform the following steps in the server.

[0028] After receiving the drone flight log and base station transmission test log, the server sends feedback information to the drone, analyzes the flight log and base station transmission test log, judges whether there are faults and interferences in the drone and the base station, and analyzes the working status of the drone and the base station.

[0029] When the analysis result shows that the remaining energy is lower than the threshold, or the drone device has abnormal behavior, or the vibration of the drone body is higher than the threshold, or the electromagnetic interference received by the drone is higher than the threshold, send a return instruction to the drone and issue an alarm to the drone system control platform. At this time, the drone stops the inspection and flies back to the drone recovery location, and the staff repairs the drone.

[0030] When the analysis result shows that a communication base station has a communication fault, mark the communication base station on the system device self-check map, send an alarm to the UAV system control platform, and the staff analyze the source of the fault based on the information collected and go to the location of the base station for maintenance. When the analysis result shows that the highest transmission rate and / or signal strength in a certain square grid is lower than the preset value, for example, the signal strength in grids E8 and E7 is lower than the threshold, mark grids E8 and E7. After multiple round-trip inspections by multiple UAVs, based on the accumulated marked information in the system device self-check map, determine which cube grids have long-term phenomena of relatively low highest transmission rate and / or signal strength. The staff can, according to the actual situation, replace the corresponding communication base stations near these cube grids with communication base stations with higher power and wider coverage, or add new communication base stations near these cube grids. For example, add a new communication base station near grid F10 in the southeast of the map to ensure full signal coverage. After the equipment faults in the system are eliminated, the staff can manually clear the historical information marked on the corresponding square grids in the device self-check map and use subsequent UAV inspections to continuously collect and analyze new information for these square grids. Then perform the next step.

[0031] When the UAV is recovered due to reasons such as low energy, malfunction, interference, etc., return to step S2 and start to execute sequentially, that is, release a new UAV or multiple UAVs again for a new round of inspections.

[0032] Those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of the present invention can be provided as a method, a system, or a computer program product. Therefore, the present invention can take the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Moreover, the present invention can take 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.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0033] The present invention is described with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of methods, devices (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the present invention. It should be understood that each process and / or block in the flowchart and / or block diagram, and the combination of processes and / or blocks in the flowchart and / or block diagram, can be realized by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to the processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing devices to generate a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing devices generate means for realizing the functions specified in Figure 1 one process or multiple processes and / or blocks Figure 1 one block or multiple blocks.

[0034] These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to operate in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce a manufacture including an instruction device that implements in the process Figure 1 one process or a plurality of processes and / or blocks Figure 1 the functions specified in one block or a plurality of blocks.

[0035] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that a series of operational steps are performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process, whereby the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in Figure 1 one process or a plurality of processes and / or blocks Figure 1 one block or a plurality of blocks.

[0036] Obviously, the above embodiments are merely examples for clear illustration and are not limitations on the implementation manners. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other different forms of changes or variations can be made based on the above description. It is not necessary and impossible to enumerate all the implementation manners here. And the obvious changes or variations derived therefrom are still within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for self-checking equipment in a drone system, characterized in that: The method is performed in the following steps: Step S1: Divide the internal space of the existing three-dimensional map into cube grids and number them, mark the locations of all communication base stations and number them, and obtain a system equipment self-check map; Step S2: Flying the drone, after the drone is turned on and takes off, generating a drone flight log and a base station transmission test log, and storing them in the storage device of the drone; Step S3: Each time the UAV flies into a cube grid, it performs a base station transmission speed test on n nearby communication base stations and records the test in the base station transmission test log; Step S4: When the drone is hovering, a base station transmission test is performed on n nearby communication base stations and recorded in the base station transmission test log. After the base station transmission test is completed, the drone flight log and the base station transmission test log are uploaded to the server; Step S5: The server analyzes the flight log and the base station transmission test log, updates the system equipment self-check map, and sends an alarm message to the UAV system control platform; Step S6: After the drone is recovered, return to step S2 and start executing in sequence.

2. A method for self-checking equipment in a drone system according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step S1, the side length of the cube grid is less than or equal to 100 meters.

3. A method for self-checking equipment in a drone system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The step S2 specifically includes: Release the drone. After the drone starts and takes off, a drone flight log and a base station transmission test log are generated. The drone performs unified energy consumption management on all the equipment it carries, and records the remaining energy information of the drone in the drone flight log at a fixed frequency; The satellite positioning module of the drone determines the satellite positioning data of the drone in real time to determine the location of the drone. The drone records the satellite positioning data of the drone's location in the drone flight log at a fixed frequency; The drone monitors the operating status and surrounding environment information of all the equipment it carries, and records the abnormal behavior data of the equipment, body vibration data, and electromagnetic interference parameters in the drone flight log at a fixed frequency; The drone flight log and base station transmission test log are stored in the drone’s storage device.

4. A method for self-checking equipment in a drone system according to claim 1, characterized in that: Step S3 specifically includes the following steps: When the UAV flies over the cube grid boundary, the UAV communication module tests the transmission rate and / or signal strength of n nearby communication base stations, sorts the transmission rate and / or signal strength of the n nearby communication base stations from high to low and records them in the base station transmission test log together with the corresponding cube grid number.

5. The method for self-checking equipment in a drone system according to claim 1, characterized in that: Step S4 specifically includes the following steps: When the UAV hovers in the cube grid, the transmission rates and / or signal strengths of the n communication base stations tested when entering the cube grid are sorted from high to low, and the base station network test data is sent to these communication base stations in turn. After receiving the network test data, the n communication base stations generate base station network test information according to the receiving situation, and send the base station network test information to the UAV, wherein the base station network test information includes the transmission rate of the communication base station, and the UAV records the base station network test information corresponding to the n communication base stations in the base station transmission test log; Based on the transmission rate in the received base station network test information, the drone uploads the drone flight log and base station transmission test log to the server through the communication base station with the highest transmission rate.

6. A method for self-checking equipment in a drone system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The base station network test information also includes the signal strength, transmission bit error rate, delay, and data loss rate of the communication base station.

7. A method for self-checking equipment in a drone system according to claim 1, characterized in that: Step S5 specifically includes the following steps: After receiving the UAV flight log and base station transmission test log, the server sends feedback information to the UAV and analyzes the UAV flight log and base station transmission test log; When the analysis results show that the remaining energy is lower than the threshold, or the drone equipment exhibits abnormal behavior, or the vibration of the drone body is higher than the threshold, or the electromagnetic interference received by the drone is higher than the threshold, a return command is issued to the drone, and an alarm is issued to the drone system control platform; When the analysis results show that a communication base station has a fault, the communication base station is marked in the system equipment self-check map; when it is found that the highest transmission rate and / or signal strength in a square grid is lower than a preset value, the square grid is marked.

8. A self-checking system for equipment in a drone system, characterized in that: The system includes: one or more drones, a server, a plurality of communication base stations and a control console; The drone includes a processor, a satellite positioning module, a communication module and a storage device; The UAV system control platform is used to display the system equipment self-check map and alarm information stored in the server; The equipment self-checking system in the drone system executes the method described in any one of claims 1-7.

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