Aircraft-based object throwing method and device, program product and storage medium

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides an aircraft-based object throwing method and device, a program product and a storage medium. The method comprises the following steps: acquiring attitude data of a first aircraft hovering at each target height; the target heights are multiple, and the attitude data comprise angular acceleration; for each target height, based on the angular acceleration of the first aircraft at the target height, estimating a measured wind torque borne by the first aircraft, and based on the measured wind torque, calculating a local wind speed at the target height; establishing a wind field model based on the local wind speeds at the multiple target heights; predicting the predicted offset of the to-be-thrown object in the throwing process based on the real-time wind speed at the height of the thrown object, the height difference between the ideal throwing point and the target landing point and the wind field model, and correcting the ideal throwing point based on the predicted offset to obtain a corrected throwing point; and when the second aircraft carrying the to-be-thrown object reaches the corrected throwing point, controlling the second aircraft to throw the to-be-thrown object. Therefore, an accurate and high-robustness object throwing task is realized.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of aircraft technology, and more specifically, to an aircraft-based delivery method, device, program product, and storage medium. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development of science and technology, various aircraft, including drones, have been widely used in various fields. With their flexibility, maneuverability, and ability to operate in hazardous environments, aircraft provide new solutions for a wide range of tasks. In specific application scenarios such as material delivery, such as rescue supplies and firefighting ammunition, the use of aircraft is gradually changing traditional operations and showing great potential. In related technologies, the material delivery process is affected by ambient wind fields, which in turn affects the accuracy of material delivery. Therefore, improving material delivery accuracy is a pressing technical issue in this field. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The purpose of the embodiments of the present application is to provide an aircraft-based material delivery method, equipment, program product and storage medium to achieve the technical effect of improving the accuracy of material delivery.

[0004] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for dropping objects from an aircraft, the method comprising: Acquiring attitude data of the first aircraft when hovering at each target altitude; the target altitudes may include multiple ones, and the attitude data may include at least angular acceleration; For each target altitude, estimating a measured wind torque applied to the first aircraft based on the angular acceleration of the first aircraft at the target altitude, and resolving a local wind speed at the target altitude based on the measured wind torque; establishing a wind field model based on the local wind speeds at the plurality of target heights; Based on the real-time wind speed at the drop height, the height difference between the ideal drop point and the target drop point, and the wind field model, a predicted offset of the object to be dropped during the drop process is predicted, and the ideal drop point is corrected based on the predicted offset to obtain a corrected drop point; When the second aircraft carrying the object to be dropped arrives at the revised drop point, the second aircraft is controlled to drop the object to be dropped.

[0005] In this implementation, through the collaboration of multiple aircraft, the first aircraft's attitude data under wind influence was used to calculate wind speeds at different altitudes, completing wind field modeling. This wind field model accurately predicted the impact of wind speed on the delivery trajectory, enabling the second aircraft to achieve precise, efficient, and robust delivery.

[0006] Furthermore, the first aircraft includes a plurality of aircraft, and the attitude data further includes a pitch angle and a roll angle; and the estimating the measured wind torque applied to the first aircraft based on the angular acceleration of the first aircraft at the target altitude includes: When it is determined that a difference in the pitch angles or a difference in the roll angles of at least two of the first aircraft is greater than a preset angle threshold, the measured wind torque acting on the first aircraft is estimated based on the angular accelerations of the first aircraft at the target altitude.

[0007] In the above implementation process, the difference in pitch angles and roll angles of multiple first aircraft when hovering at the same target altitude is used to evaluate the wind speed gradient at the target altitude. When a wind speed gradient exists at the target altitude, the measurement of wind torque and local wind speed estimation process is triggered, thereby realizing the modeling of a complex wind field environment.

[0008] Furthermore, calculating the local wind speed at the target height based on the measured wind torque includes: Projecting the wind force caused by the local wind speed on the first aircraft onto the aircraft body to obtain an overdetermined set of equations to be solved for the local wind speed; A theoretical wind torque is obtained based on the wind force, and the overdetermined equations are solved with the optimization goal of minimizing the error between the theoretical wind torque and the measured wind torque to obtain the local wind speed at the target height.

[0009] In this implementation, the first aircraft does not require the added cost and weight of additional sensors. Furthermore, through multi-aircraft collaboration, wind disturbance information at multiple spatial locations can be obtained simultaneously, providing an innovative method for indirectly sensing the ambient wind field using existing aircraft.

[0010] Furthermore, the establishing of a wind field model based on the local wind speeds at the plurality of target heights includes: determining a vertical gradient of wind speed based on the local wind speeds at a plurality of the target heights; The wind field model is established based on the vertical gradient; wherein the wind field model is used to describe the relationship between wind speed, height and time.

[0011] This implementation improved wind modeling accuracy by approximately 5-10 times, making it particularly effective in complex wind zones around high-rise buildings or in canyons. The wind model can be used to estimate real-time wind speeds at every altitude within the drop zone. This precise wind speed estimation provides the foundation for subsequent accurate offset compensation.

[0012] Furthermore, the predicted offset of the object to be dropped during the dropping process based on the real-time wind speed at the drop height, the height difference between the ideal drop point and the target drop point, and the wind field model includes: Predicting the wind speed of the object during the delivery process based on the real-time wind speed at the delivery height, the height difference between the ideal delivery point and the target landing point, and the wind field model; The predicted offset is predicted based on the predicted wind speed and the height difference.

[0013] In the above implementation process, the real-time wind speed at the drop height, the height difference between the ideal drop point and the target landing point, and the established wind field model are used to predict the predicted wind speed at each height or each moment passed during the drop process. Then, the predicted offset is obtained based on the predicted wind speed and the height difference or the drop time, thereby accurately predicting the impact of wind speed on the drop movement trajectory, so that the second aircraft can achieve accurate, efficient and highly robust drop missions.

[0014] Furthermore, the correcting the ideal delivery point based on the predicted offset includes: When the predicted offset is less than a preset distance threshold, the ideal delivery point is corrected based on the predicted offset.

[0015] In the above implementation, when the predicted offset is less than the preset distance threshold, it indicates that the wind speed during the delivery process has caused little deviation from the delivery trajectory, the current wind speed is acceptable, and the correction to the ideal delivery point based on the predicted offset is effective. This avoids incorrect corrections due to algorithm errors that could lead to poor delivery results.

[0016] Furthermore, when the second aircraft carrying the object to be dropped arrives at the revised drop point corresponding to the revised landing point, controlling the second aircraft to drop the object to be dropped includes: Determining a flight plan path for the second aircraft to the corresponding revised release point using minimization of an optimization index as an objective function; wherein the optimization index includes one or more of a distance from the current position of the second aircraft to the revised release point, energy consumption of the second aircraft from the current position to the revised release point, and collision avoidance potential energy between the second aircraft and other aircraft; The second aircraft is controlled to fly from the current position along the planned flight path to the corresponding revised delivery point to deliver the object to be delivered.

[0017] This implementation enabled flight path planning for a second aircraft, enabling multi-aircraft collaboration to cover a large area and drop supplies, making it particularly suitable for disaster relief scenarios involving continuous fire suppression. Furthermore, the integration of V2V communication and real-time distributed computing improved system responsiveness and robustness.

[0018] A second aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program. When the computer program is executed by a processor, it implements any method described in the first aspect.

[0019] According to a third aspect of the present application, an object-dropping control device is provided, wherein the electronic device includes: processor; a memory for storing processor-executable instructions; Wherein, when the processor calls the executable instruction, it implements the operation of any method described in the first aspect.

[0020] A fourth aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having computer instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of any of the methods described in the first aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the following is a brief introduction to the drawings required for use in the embodiments of the present application. It should be understood that the following drawings only show certain embodiments of the present application and therefore should not be regarded as limiting the scope. For ordinary technicians in this field, other relevant drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

[0022] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a process flow of a method for delivering objects from an aircraft provided in an embodiment of the present application; Figure 2 This is a hardware structure diagram of a device for controlling objects to be put into use according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0024] It should be noted that similar reference numerals and letters represent similar items in the following drawings. Therefore, once an item is defined in one drawing, it does not need to be further defined or explained in subsequent drawings. At the same time, in the description of this application, the terms "first", "second", etc. are only used to distinguish the description and should not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0025] Aircraft refers to equipment with flight capabilities, including but not limited to drones (UAVs), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), manned aircraft, flying cars, civil aircraft and other types of air transportation vehicles.

[0026] The material delivery capability of aircraft can be applied in a variety of scenarios. For example, in rescue scenarios, if road congestion prevents vehicles from reaching the disaster area in time, aircraft airdrops can be used to quickly distribute relief supplies. Another example is a fire in a high-rise building or a fire in an enclosed space, where traditional firefighting methods struggle to quickly reach the target. In such cases, aircraft can use window-breaking grenades to break open windows, followed by fire-extinguishing grenades.

[0027] However, in related technologies, the material delivery process will be affected by the environmental wind field. Specifically, the movement trajectory of the material in the air will be affected by the wind, resulting in trajectory deviation, which makes the material unable to hit the target landing point. Therefore, how to improve the accuracy of material delivery is a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently in this field. To improve the accuracy of material delivery, it is necessary to accurately estimate the deviation of the material delivery trajectory caused by the wind. However, the environmental wind field is often complex, especially between high-rise buildings, there will be complex wind shear areas, and the environmental wind field may be a disturbed environment with multiple wind directions. Therefore, accurately modeling the environmental wind field is a prerequisite for improving the accuracy of material delivery.

[0028] To this end, the present application provides a method for dropping materials based on an aircraft. The aircraft involved in the present application includes a first aircraft and a second aircraft. The first aircraft includes one or more aircraft, which are used to establish a wind field model. The second aircraft includes one or more aircraft, each of which carries materials to be dropped and is used to drop materials. Optionally, the first aircraft and the second aircraft can be the same aircraft. For example, a wind field model is first established using a certain aircraft, and then the materials to be dropped are mounted on the aircraft, and the aircraft is controlled to drop materials. In this case, the first aircraft and the second aircraft represent the same aircraft at different stages of use. Alternatively, the first aircraft and the second aircraft are different aircraft. The wind field model is first established using the first aircraft, and then the second aircraft is controlled to drop materials. For example, the first aircraft is a light aircraft, such as a light reconnaissance drone; the second aircraft is a heavy-load aircraft, such as a heavy-load drop drone.

[0029] The first aircraft and the second aircraft are equipped with functional modules required to realize corresponding functions. For example, the first aircraft is equipped with an attitude measurement unit and an IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit). The second aircraft is equipped with an inertial navigation module, a delivery module and a deviation compensation controller. In addition, the first aircraft and the second aircraft are respectively connected to the control end for communication. The specific communication method may include but is not limited to V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle) communication network, WIFI communication, Bluetooth communication, cellular network communication, etc. The control end is used to process the data sent back by the first aircraft and the second aircraft, and to control the first aircraft and the second aircraft to perform corresponding flight tasks. The control end is, for example, an electronic device with data processing and control functions, such as an edge server. Based on this, the present application provides an aircraft-based delivery method, which is applied to the control end, including: Figure 1 Steps 110 to 150 are shown.

[0030] Step 110: Acquire attitude data of the first aircraft when it hovers at each target altitude; the target altitudes may include multiple ones, and the attitude data may include at least angular acceleration.

[0031] Exemplarily, the target height includes multiple heights in the delivery mission area. In the delivery mission area, multiple target heights can be selected at equal intervals, or multiple target heights can be selected at unequal intervals. The delivery mission area refers to the area where the second aircraft delivers the objects, and at least includes the area between the delivery position and the landing position of the objects to be delivered. In step 110, the first aircraft is controlled to hover at each target height, and the attitude data of the first aircraft during hovering is obtained to obtain the attitude data corresponding to the first aircraft at each target height. The attitude data includes at least the angular acceleration of the first aircraft, and the angular acceleration can be measured by the IMU carried by the first aircraft.

[0032] Step 120: For each target altitude, estimate the measured wind torque on the first aircraft based on the angular acceleration of the first aircraft at the target altitude, and calculate the local wind speed at the target altitude based on the measured wind torque.

[0033] It is understandable that when the first aircraft is in a hovering state, if the wind acts on the fuselage, it will cause a slight attitude deviation to the fuselage. According to the theory of small perturbations, this attitude change can be regarded as an equivalent torque reflection of the wind speed acting on the first aircraft, that is, the measured wind torque received by the first aircraft is estimated based on the angular acceleration of the first aircraft. Specifically, it can be determined that the product of the angular acceleration and the moment of inertia of the first aircraft is approximately the measured wind torque. Among them, the moment of inertia can be determined by the design parameters of the first aircraft or obtained by calibration. In this way, the measured wind torque received by the mth first aircraft is The prediction process can be shown as formula 1.

[0034] Formula 1 Where I is the moment of inertia of the first aircraft; α m is the angular acceleration of the mth first aircraft at the target altitude.

[0035] Since the wind torque is caused by wind force, and wind force is related to wind speed, the local wind speed at the target height can be calculated based on the measured wind torque corresponding to the target height, thereby obtaining the local wind speed corresponding to each target height.

[0036] It is understandable that, since the angular acceleration is needed to resolve the local wind speed, the first aircraft should be a light aircraft with a relatively light mass, so that the attitude change of the first aircraft has a higher wind field sensitivity.

[0037] Step 130: Establish a wind field model based on the local wind speeds at the multiple target heights.

[0038] After obtaining the local wind speeds corresponding to multiple target heights, a wind field model can be established, wherein the wind field model is a model of wind speed with respect to height in the delivery mission area.

[0039] Step 140: Predicting a predicted offset of the object during the delivery process based on the real-time wind speed at the delivery height, the height difference between the ideal delivery point and the target landing point, and the wind field model, and correcting the ideal delivery point based on the predicted offset to obtain a corrected delivery point.

[0040] The drop height refers to the height at which the object is dropped, that is, the height of the object relative to the horizontal plane or the ground. The drop point refers to the location where the object is released, and the landing point refers to the location where the object finally lands. In a windless environment, the object is released from the ideal drop point and lands at the target landing point. However, in a windy environment, due to the influence of wind speed, the object may not land at the target landing point after being released from the ideal drop point. Therefore, it is necessary to estimate the predicted offset of the object during the drop process, and then correct the ideal drop point based on the predicted offset to obtain a corrected drop point, so that the object can land at the target landing point when released from the corrected drop point.

[0041] Furthermore, the trajectory of the object being dropped in a windless environment can be described by a drop trajectory model. For example, the drop trajectory model is a parabolic model. Different objects have different drop trajectory models. The drop trajectory model can be used to infer the ideal drop point based on the target drop point. The height difference between the ideal drop point and the target drop point refers to the height distance traveled by the object's drop trajectory.

[0042] It will be appreciated that since the wind field model represents wind speed relative to height within the delivery mission area, the real-time wind speed at the delivery height and the height difference can be input into the wind field model to determine the wind speed per unit height within the delivery mission area. The wind speed at different unit heights may vary. For example, the wind speed from 2 to 3 meters (unit height) below the ideal delivery point is 5 m / s, while the wind speed from 5 to 6 meters (unit height) is 4 m / s. Therefore, the offset caused by wind speed at different heights varies. Therefore, the wind field model can be used to determine the wind speed at each unit height during the delivery process. The wind speed at each unit height can then be used to predict the predicted offset per unit height caused by the corresponding wind speed at each unit height, thereby obtaining the corresponding predicted offset across the entire height difference. Finally, the predicted offset corresponding to each height difference can be used to correct the ideal delivery point, resulting in a corrected delivery point.

[0043] Step 150: When the second aircraft carrying the object to be dropped arrives at the revised drop point, the second aircraft is controlled to drop the object to be dropped.

[0044] After obtaining the revised delivery point, the second aircraft carrying the object to be delivered can be controlled to fly to the revised delivery point to deliver the object to be delivered, so that the object to be delivered hits the target landing point.

[0045] As can be seen, this application proposes a multi-aircraft collaborative system that uses the attitude data of the first aircraft under the influence of wind to calculate wind speeds at different altitudes and complete wind field modeling. The wind field model accurately predicts the impact of wind speed on the delivery trajectory, allowing the second aircraft to achieve accurate, efficient, and highly robust delivery tasks.

[0046] Steps 110 to 150 are described in detail below.

[0047] According to some embodiments of the present application, there may be multiple first aircraft. Furthermore, the attitude data includes not only angular acceleration but also pitch and roll angles. Based on this, the attitude data of the first aircraft is obtained in step 110. Specifically, when multiple first aircraft are simultaneously hovering at the same target altitude, attitude data for each first aircraft at that target altitude is obtained. The attitude data includes pitch angles, roll angles, and angular acceleration. There may be multiple target altitudes, and thus attitude data for multiple first aircraft corresponding to each of the multiple target altitudes can be obtained. Furthermore, if there are a sufficient number of first aircraft, the multiple first aircraft can be divided into a number of groups, with the number of groups matching the number of target altitudes, and each group including multiple first aircraft. Each group of first aircraft corresponds to a target altitude. In this way, multiple groups of first aircraft can simultaneously hover at multiple target altitudes and obtain attitude data corresponding to multiple target altitudes at the same time.

[0048] When executing step 120 to estimate the measured wind torque, it specifically includes: when it is determined that the difference in pitch angles or the difference in roll angles of at least two of the first aircraft is greater than a preset angle threshold, estimating the measured wind torque acting on the first aircraft based on the angular acceleration of the first aircraft at the target altitude.

[0049] Exemplarily, the at least two first aircraft are, for example, two adjacent first aircraft when hovering. The difference in pitch angles and the difference in roll angles of the two first aircraft reflect the difference in attitude disturbances caused by different wind speeds of the first aircraft in the same altitude and area, and its physical significance lies in revealing the wind speed gradient. It can be seen that if the difference in pitch angles or the difference in roll angles of at least two first aircraft is greater than an angle threshold, it reflects the existence of a wind speed gradient or wind shear in space. The angle threshold includes a pitch angle threshold and a roll angle threshold. The difference in pitch angles or the difference in roll angles of the at least two first aircraft is greater than a preset angle threshold, specifically including: the difference in pitch angles of the at least two first aircraft is greater than the pitch angle threshold, or the difference in roll angles of the at least two first aircraft is greater than the roll angle threshold.

[0050] Therefore, at a certain target altitude, the difference in pitch angle or roll angle between at least two first aircraft among the plurality of first aircraft is greater than a preset angle threshold, which is a trigger condition for estimating the measured wind torque at the target altitude. Optionally, if the difference in pitch angle and the difference in roll angle between any two first aircraft among the plurality of first aircraft at a certain target altitude are both less than the angle threshold, it indicates that the ambient wind speed at the target altitude is relatively low. In this case, the measured wind torque at the target altitude does not need to be estimated, nor does it need to be resolved for the local wind speed at the target altitude. Optionally, if the difference in pitch angle and the difference in roll angle between any two first aircraft at all target altitudes are both less than the angle threshold, it indicates that the ambient wind speed in the entire delivery mission area is relatively low. In this case, there is no need to establish a wind field model, and the second aircraft can be directly controlled to deliver the object to be delivered at the ideal delivery point.

[0051] Furthermore, when executing step 120, the measured wind torque may be estimated based on the angular acceleration of any one of the plurality of first aircraft. Alternatively, an average angular acceleration may be determined based on the angular accelerations of any one of the plurality of first aircraft, and then the measured wind torque may be estimated based on the average angular acceleration.

[0052] It can be seen that this embodiment utilizes the difference in pitch angles and roll angles when multiple first aircraft are hovering at the same target altitude to evaluate the wind speed gradient at the target altitude. When a wind speed gradient exists at the target altitude, the process of measuring the wind torque and estimating the local wind speed is triggered, thereby realizing the modeling of a complex wind field environment.

[0053] According to some embodiments of the present application, on the basis of any of the above embodiments, the step 120 of calculating the local wind speed based on the measured wind torque specifically includes steps 121 and 122.

[0054] Step 121: Project the wind force caused by the local wind speed on the first aircraft onto the aircraft body to obtain an overdetermined set of equations to be solved for the local wind speed.

[0055] Based on the theory of small disturbances, local wind speed The theoretical wind moment M that causes the aircraft to tilt can be approximately expressed as shown in Formula 2.

[0056] Formula 2 in, is the position vector of the IMU relative to the center of mass of the first aircraft, is wind force, ρ is air density, C d is the resistance coefficient, S is the force-bearing area, It refers to the wind speed vector at the spatial position (x, y, z) at time t.

[0057] The local wind speed Wind force on the first aircraft Projecting onto the first aircraft body, for example, at least onto the four corners of the body, can form a linear overdetermined system of equations. The overdetermined system of equations is about the local wind speed to be solved. Therefore, by solving the overdetermined equations, the local wind speed can be obtained .

[0058] An overdetermined system of equations is a set of equations obtained by projecting wind force onto the aircraft in multiple directions. The number of equations is greater than the number of unknowns, and is therefore called an overdetermined system of equations. In this embodiment, the overdetermined system of equations includes at least four equations.

[0059] Step 122: Obtain a theoretical wind torque based on the wind force, and solve the overdetermined equation with the optimization goal of minimizing the error between the theoretical wind torque and the measured wind torque to obtain the local wind speed at the target height.

[0060] It is understandable that the equations in the overdetermined system of equations may contradict each other due to measurement errors (such as uneven wind force) and other reasons. For example, the local wind speeds calculated using different combinations of equations in the overdetermined system of equations are different, resulting in the inability to directly obtain the local wind speed by solving the overdetermined system of equations. Therefore, this embodiment solves the overdetermined equations by minimizing the error between the theoretical wind torque and the measured wind torque. That is, a wind speed is found that minimizes the overall error of the overdetermined system of equations, and this local wind speed is the solved local wind speed. That is, by minimizing the theoretical wind torque M and the measured wind torque The error between is used as the optimization target to solve the overdetermined system of equations. Specifically, the overdetermined system of equations can be solved by the least squares method, as shown in Formula 3.

[0061] Formula 3 The solution is the local wind speed vector at the target altitude. This embodiment allows the local wind speed to be calculated for each target altitude. In this embodiment, the first aircraft senses the actual wind torque using attitude data. An overdetermined set of equations for wind speed is then constructed and solved using an optimization objective with minimal error to obtain the local wind speed. This eliminates the need for additional sensor cost and weight for the first aircraft. Furthermore, through multi-aircraft collaboration, wind disturbance information can be obtained simultaneously at multiple spatial locations (target altitudes), providing an innovative method for indirectly sensing the ambient wind field using existing aircraft.

[0062] According to some embodiments of the present application, based on any of the above embodiments, the process of establishing the wind field model in step 130 specifically includes steps 131 and 132.

[0063] Step 131: Determine the vertical gradient of wind speed based on the local wind speeds at the plurality of target heights.

[0064] Based on any of the above embodiments, multiple target heights h can be sampled and obtained. i Local wind speed , local wind speed It can also be expressed as Formula 4, which represents the target height h i The local wind speed is determined by the wind speed component v in the x direction. x (h i ), wind speed component v in the y direction y (h i ) and the wind speed component v in the z direction z (h i )composition.

[0065] Formula 4 The vertical gradient of wind speed can be constructed by numerical differentiation, as shown in Equation 5.

[0066] Formula 5 Step 132: Establishing the wind field model based on the vertical gradient; wherein the wind field model is used to describe the relationship between wind speed, height and time.

[0067] It's understandable that the vertical gradient describes how wind speed changes with altitude. Wind speed is also time-dependent, so the real-time wind speed at different times may vary. Therefore, a wind field model describes the relationship between wind speed and altitude and time. Using the real-time wind speed at a given altitude and the vertical gradient, the real-time wind speed at each altitude can be calculated.

[0068] As an example, the wind field model can be shown as Formula 6-1.

[0069] Formula 6-1 in, represents the local wind speed at time t at height h; represents the local wind speed at the current height at time t; Δh represents the displacement of the object to be dropped in height; Indicates the change in wind speed due to displacement in the height direction.

[0070] As another example, the wind field model can be shown as formula 6-2.

[0071] Formula 6-2 in, Indicates the future time The local wind speed; δt is the unit time length; v zIndicates the speed of the object to be thrown in the height direction; The height displacement of the object to be thrown; Indicates the change in wind speed due to displacement in the height direction.

[0072] As can be seen, the wind field modeling accuracy of this embodiment is improved by approximately 5-10 times, making it particularly effective in complex wind zones such as high-rise buildings or canyons. The wind field model can be used to estimate real-time wind speeds at every height within the drop mission area. This accurate wind speed estimation provides the foundation for subsequent precise offset compensation.

[0073] According to some embodiments of the present application, based on any of the above embodiments, the prediction process of the predicted offset in step 140 may specifically include steps 141 and 142.

[0074] Step 141: predicting the wind speed of the object during the delivery process based on the real-time wind speed at the delivery height, the height difference between the ideal delivery point and the target landing point, and the wind field model; Step 142: Predict the predicted offset based on the predicted wind speed and the height difference.

[0075] In this embodiment, the wind speed will cause the trajectory of the object to be dropped to deviate in the horizontal direction during the dropping process, including a trajectory deviation in the first direction and a trajectory deviation in the second direction in the horizontal direction. The first direction is perpendicular to the second direction. For example, the first direction is the x direction in the horizontal direction, and the second direction is the y direction in the horizontal direction. Therefore, the predicted offset includes a predicted offset component in the first direction and a predicted offset component in the second direction. It can be understood that since the wind speed will not cause the trajectory of the object to be dropped to deviate in the height direction during the dropping process, the ideal drop point and the corrected drop point are at the same height, that is, at different positions on the same horizontal plane. In other words, the height difference between the ideal drop point and the target landing point is consistent with the height difference between the corrected drop point and the target landing point.

[0076] As an example, if the wind field model is as shown in Formula 6-1, then the real-time wind speed at the drop height is The height difference between the ideal delivery point and the target landing point is Δh in Formula 6-1, from which the predicted wind speed of the object during the delivery process can be obtained.

[0077] It's worth noting that, as mentioned above, wind speeds may vary at different unit heights, so the offset of the object to be dropped due to wind speed varies at different heights. Therefore, the predicted wind speed obtained using Formula 6-1 is a function of wind speed with respect to height h. Thus, when executing step 142, the predicted offset can be determined based on the integral of the predicted wind speed over height. As an example, the predicted offset can be shown in Formula 7-1.

[0078] Formula 7-1 Wherein, Δx is the predicted offset component in the first direction, Δy is the predicted offset component in the second direction; k is the empirical correction coefficient, which is determined based on resistance, mass of the object to be dropped, and air density; v wx is the wind speed component in the first direction x obtained by using formula 6-1, which is a function of height h; v wy is the wind speed component of the predicted wind speed in the second direction y obtained using Formula 6-1, and is a function of height h; h0 is the drop height, i.e., the height of the ideal drop point; and H is the height of the target drop point. It can be seen that the height difference between the ideal drop point and the target drop point is equal to H - h0. Of course, in addition to calculating the offset by integrating the height as in Formula 7-1, other calculation methods other than integration can also be used to calculate the predicted offset caused by wind speed during the drop process. The offset calculation method used in this embodiment is not limited to integration.

[0079] As another example, if the wind field model is as shown in Formula 6-2, then the real-time wind speed at the drop height is The height difference between the ideal delivery point and the target landing point can be based on the velocity v of the object to be delivered in the height direction. z Determined by the unit time length δt. It can be seen that the predicted wind speed obtained using Formula 6-2 is a function of wind speed with respect to time t. Thus, when executing step 142, the predicted offset can be determined based on the time integral of the predicted wind speed. As an example, the predicted offset can be as shown in Formula 7-2.

[0080] Formula 7-2 Among them, v wx is the wind speed component of the predicted wind speed in the first direction x obtained using formula 6-2, which is a function of time t; wy is the wind speed component of the predicted wind speed in the second direction y obtained using formula 6-2, and is a function of time t; t0 is the time when the object is released; t1 is the time when the object reaches the target landing point. It can be seen that the height difference between the ideal release point and the target landing point is equal to v z (t1-t0). Of course, in addition to calculating the offset by integrating the time as in Formula 7-2, the predicted offset caused by wind speed during the drop can also be calculated using other calculation methods other than integration. The calculation method of the offset in this embodiment is not limited to the integration method.

[0081] After obtaining the predicted offset, the ideal delivery point can be corrected. The ideal delivery point, the predicted offset, and the corrected delivery point satisfy the following formula 8.

[0082] (x0, y0)=(x1-Δx, x y -Δy) Formula 8 Among them, (x0, y0) is the corrected delivery point; (x1, y1) is the ideal delivery point.

[0083] It can be seen that this embodiment uses the real-time wind speed at the drop height, the height difference between the ideal drop point and the target landing point, and the established wind field model to predict the predicted wind speed at each height or each moment passed during the drop process, and then obtains the predicted offset based on the predicted wind speed and the height difference or the drop time, thereby accurately predicting the impact of wind speed on the drop movement trajectory, so that the second aircraft can achieve accurate, efficient and highly robust drop missions.

[0084] According to some embodiments of the present application, based on any of the above embodiments, the step of correcting the ideal delivery point based on the predicted offset specifically includes the following steps: When the predicted offset is less than a preset distance threshold, the ideal delivery point is corrected based on the predicted offset.

[0085] Exemplarily, the predicted offset being less than a preset distance threshold includes: a predicted offset component in a first direction being less than the distance threshold, and / or a predicted offset component in a second direction being less than the distance threshold. The distance threshold can be set based on actual circumstances and is not limited herein.

[0086] It can be understood that when the predicted offset is less than the preset distance threshold, it indicates that the wind speed during the delivery process has caused little deviation from the delivery trajectory, the current wind speed is acceptable, and the correction to the ideal delivery point based on the predicted offset is effective. This avoids incorrect corrections due to algorithm errors that may lead to poor delivery results.

[0087] According to some embodiments of the present application, on the basis of any of the above embodiments, the second aircraft used to perform the delivery mission includes one or more, and each second aircraft is used to perform its own delivery mission. Each delivery mission corresponds to a modified delivery point and a target landing point. The modified delivery points of different delivery missions can be the same or different, and the target landing points of different delivery missions can be the same or different. If the number of second aircraft is less than the number of delivery missions, or the number of second aircraft is less than the number of target landing points, the same second aircraft needs to perform multiple delivery missions in succession, or the same second aircraft needs to reach multiple target landing points in succession to perform corresponding delivery missions. At this time, the task allocation strategy can be used To determine the execution priority of multiple drop tasks, and based on the execution priority of each drop task, determine the execution order of all drop tasks. For example, the higher the execution priority of the drop task, the earlier it is executed.

[0088] On the contrary, if the number of second aircraft is equal to or greater than the number of delivery tasks, or the number of second aircraft is equal to or greater than the number of target landing points, multiple delivery tasks can be executed simultaneously, or multiple delivery tasks can be controlled to be executed in sequence according to actual conditions.

[0089] In addition, during the delivery process of the second aircraft, it is also necessary to consider how the second aircraft flies from the current position to the revised delivery point, that is, the planning problem of the flight planning path.

[0090] As a possible scenario, any of the above embodiments can be applied to a firefighting scenario, where the delivery mission includes a firefighting bomb delivery mission. It will be appreciated that in a firefighting scenario, the number of aircraft deployed to deliver firefighting bombs or window-breaking bombs will need to be determined based on the severity of the fire. Therefore, a second aircraft loaded with firefighting bombs will need to arrive at the fire area (the delivery mission area) simultaneously or subsequently to carry out the firefighting bomb delivery mission. This raises the issue of flight path planning for each second aircraft.

[0091] As another possible scenario, any of the above embodiments can be used in a military combat scenario, where the delivery mission includes an ammunition delivery mission. It is understood that in a military combat scenario, multiple aircraft may be required to coordinate operations, and therefore multiple second aircraft loaded with military ammunition may be required to simultaneously or sequentially perform ammunition delivery missions in the combat area (delivery mission area). This also involves the planning of the flight path for each second aircraft.

[0092] To this end, this embodiment proposes that step 150 may specifically include steps 151 and 152.

[0093] Step 151: Determine the flight planning path of the second aircraft to the corresponding corrected delivery point with minimization of the optimization index as the objective function; wherein the optimization index includes one or more of the distance from the current position of the second aircraft to the corrected delivery point, the energy consumption of the second aircraft from the current position to the corrected delivery point, and the collision avoidance potential energy between the second aircraft and other aircraft.

[0094] For example, after obtaining the revised delivery point, the delivery task area τ can be divided into N subtask areas, denoted as τ1, τ2, ... τ NFor example, the drop mission area can be divided with the target landing point or the revised drop point as the center point of each sub-area. Then, for each sub-task area, the flight planning path between the second aircraft and the revised drop point of the sub-task area is planned by minimizing a preset optimization index as the objective function. The optimization index includes one or more of the following: 1) The distance between the second aircraft's current position and the revised delivery point: By minimizing the distance between the second aircraft's current position and the revised delivery point, the second aircraft can reach the revised delivery point as quickly as possible.

[0095] 2) Energy consumption of the second aircraft from its current position to the revised release point. This energy consumption is related to the acceleration of the second aircraft during its movement from its current position to the revised release point. By minimizing this energy consumption, abrupt maneuvers of the second aircraft can be avoided, reducing energy consumption and improving flight stability.

[0096] 3) The collision potential energy between the second aircraft and other aircraft. This other aircraft can be another second aircraft, the first aircraft, or any other aircraft in the airspace. The collision potential energy is inversely correlated with the distance between the second aircraft and the other aircraft; that is, the greater the distance between the second aircraft and the other aircraft, the smaller the collision potential energy. By minimizing this collision potential energy, the second aircraft and the other aircraft can be driven away from each other to avoid collision.

[0097] As an example, the objective function includes minimizing the three optimization indicators mentioned above. The objective function is also called an MPC (Model Predictive Control) objective function. The objective function can be shown in Formula 9.

[0098] Formula 9 Where T is the prediction time window, is the weighted square term of the distance from the current position of the second aircraft to the corrected delivery point, indicating the current position of the jth second aircraft Corrected delivery point to its assigned subtask area The weighted square of the distance between, where the modified delivery point in formula 9 It refers to the ideal delivery point after correction based on the forecast offset and task allocation strategy. The modified delivery point is obtained after the priority division. Q is the weight matrix, which can be a unit matrix or axial weighting. is the control input (acceleration) energy consumption of the second aircraft, that is, the energy consumption of the second aircraft from its current position to the corrected delivery point, and R is the control cost weight. is the collision potential energy between the j-th second aircraft and the k-th aircraft, where the k-th aircraft may be another second aircraft other than the j-th second aircraft, the first aircraft, or another aircraft in the airspace; is the current position of the kth aircraft, k≠j means that the kth aircraft and the jth second aircraft are not the same aircraft. γ is the penalty weight used to control the collision intensity, and ε is used to prevent the denominator from being zero, usually a small constant, such as 10 -3 .

[0099] In this way, by solving the objective function, the optimal flight planning path can be output eventually.

[0100] Step 152: Control each of the second aircraft to fly from the current position to the corresponding revised delivery point to deliver the object to be delivered.

[0101] After outputting the optimal flight planning path, the control terminal can control each second aircraft from its current position Fly along the planned flight path to the corresponding correction release point .

[0102] Optionally, during the flight of the second aircraft from its current position along the planned flight path to the revised delivery point, the second aircraft satisfies one or more of the following constraints: the speed of the second aircraft is less than a preset speed threshold (speed constraint); the acceleration of the second aircraft is less than a preset acceleration threshold (acceleration constraint); the flight position of the second aircraft belongs to an obstacle-free area (space constraint).

[0103] When the second aircraft arrives at the corrected release point Optionally, when the current position of the second aircraft is The corresponding correction delivery point When the distance between them is less than the distance threshold, it is considered that the second aircraft has reached the correction delivery point. .

[0104] As can be seen, this embodiment implements flight trajectory planning for a second aircraft, enabling multi-aircraft collaboration to cover a large area for drop missions, making it particularly suitable for disaster relief scenarios involving continuous fire suppression. Furthermore, the integration of V2V communication and real-time distributed computing improves system responsiveness and robustness.

[0105] Based on the method for delivering a payload from an aircraft as described in any of the above embodiments, this application also provides a computer program product comprising one or more computer programs or instructions. These computer programs or instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another. When executed by a processor, these computer programs implement the method for delivering a payload from an aircraft as described in any of the above embodiments.

[0106] Based on the above-mentioned method of delivering objects based on an aircraft, the present application also provides the following: Figure 2 The schematic diagram of a feeding control device is shown in FIG. Figure 2 At the hardware level, the device includes a processor, an internal bus, a network interface, memory, and non-volatile storage, and may also include other hardware required for its operations. The processor reads the corresponding computer program from the non-volatile storage into the internal memory and then runs it to implement the aircraft-based delivery method described in any of the above embodiments. The delivery control device can be, for example, a control terminal.

[0107] The present application also provides a computer storage medium storing a computer program. When the computer program is executed by a processor, it can be used to execute an aircraft-based delivery method described in any of the above embodiments.

[0108] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can also be implemented in other ways. The device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the flowcharts and block diagrams in the accompanying drawings show the possible architectures, functions and operations of the devices, methods and computer program products according to the multiple embodiments of the present application. In this regard, each box in the flowchart or block diagram can represent a module, a program segment or a part of the code, and the module, program segment or a part of the code contains one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical functions. It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions marked in the box can also occur in an order different from that marked in the accompanying drawings. For example, two consecutive boxes can actually be executed substantially in parallel, and they can sometimes be executed in the opposite order, depending on the functions involved. It should also be noted that each box in the block diagram and / or flowchart, and the combination of boxes in the block diagram and / or flowchart, can be implemented using a dedicated hardware-based system that performs the specified function or action, or can be implemented using a combination of dedicated hardware and computer instructions.

[0109] In addition, the functional modules in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated together to form an independent part, or each module can exist independently, or two or more modules can be integrated to form an independent part.

[0110] If the functions are implemented in the form of software function modules and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or the part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes a number of instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as USB flash drives, mobile hard drives, read-only memories (ROM), random access memories (RAM), magnetic disks or optical disks.

[0111] The foregoing is merely an embodiment of the present application and is not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present application. Various modifications and variations are possible for those skilled in the art. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present application shall be included within the scope of protection of the present application. It should be noted that similar reference numerals and letters represent similar items in the following figures. Therefore, once an item is defined in one figure, it does not need to be further defined or explained in subsequent figures.

[0112] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the present application should be included in the scope of protection of the present application. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

[0113] It should be noted that, in this document, relational terms such as first and second, etc., are used only to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply the existence of any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article, or device comprising a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or elements inherent to such process, method, article, or device. In the absence of further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprising a ..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or device comprising the element.

Claims

1. A method of dropping objects from an aircraft, characterized in that: The method comprises: Acquiring attitude data of the first aircraft when hovering at each target altitude; the target altitudes may include multiple ones, and the attitude data may include at least angular acceleration; For each target altitude, estimating a measured wind torque applied to the first aircraft based on the angular acceleration of the first aircraft at the target altitude, and resolving a local wind speed at the target altitude based on the measured wind torque; establishing a wind field model based on the local wind speeds at the plurality of target heights; Based on the real-time wind speed at the drop height, the height difference between the ideal drop point and the target drop point, and the wind field model, a predicted offset of the object to be dropped during the drop process is predicted, and the ideal drop point is corrected based on the predicted offset to obtain a corrected drop point; When the second aircraft carrying the object to be dropped arrives at the revised drop point, the second aircraft is controlled to drop the object to be dropped.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first aircraft includes a plurality of aircraft, and the attitude data further includes a pitch angle and a roll angle; and the estimating the measured wind torque applied to the first aircraft based on the angular acceleration of the first aircraft at the target altitude includes: When it is determined that a difference in the pitch angles or a difference in the roll angles of at least two of the first aircraft is greater than a preset angle threshold, the measured wind torque acting on the first aircraft is estimated based on the angular accelerations of the first aircraft at the target altitude.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Calculating the local wind speed at the target height based on the measured wind torque includes: Projecting the wind force caused by the local wind speed on the first aircraft onto the aircraft body to obtain an overdetermined set of equations to be solved for the local wind speed; A theoretical wind torque is obtained based on the wind force, and the overdetermined equations are solved with the optimization goal of minimizing the error between the theoretical wind torque and the measured wind torque to obtain the local wind speed at the target height.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein The establishing of a wind field model based on the local wind speeds at the plurality of target heights comprises: determining a vertical gradient of wind speed based on the local wind speeds at a plurality of the target heights; The wind field model is established based on the vertical gradient; wherein the wind field model is used to describe the relationship between wind speed, height and time.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein The method includes: predicting the offset of the object to be dropped during the dropping process based on the real-time wind speed at the drop height, the height difference between the ideal drop point and the target drop point, and the wind field model. Predicting the wind speed of the object during the delivery process based on the real-time wind speed at the delivery height, the height difference between the ideal delivery point and the target landing point, and the wind field model; The predicted offset is predicted based on the predicted wind speed and the height difference.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The correcting the ideal delivery point based on the predicted offset includes: When the predicted offset is less than a preset distance threshold, the ideal delivery point is corrected based on the predicted offset.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: When the second aircraft carrying the object to be dropped arrives at the revised drop point, controlling the second aircraft to drop the object to be dropped includes: Determining a flight plan path for the second aircraft to the corresponding revised release point using minimization of an optimization index as an objective function; wherein the optimization index includes one or more of a distance from the current position of the second aircraft to the revised release point, energy consumption of the second aircraft from the current position to the revised release point, and collision avoidance potential energy between the second aircraft and other aircraft; The second aircraft is controlled to fly from the current position along the planned flight path to the corresponding revised delivery point to deliver the object to be delivered.

8. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product comprises a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 is implemented.

9. A device for controlling objects to be thrown, characterized in that: The device comprises: processor; a memory for storing processor-executable instructions; Wherein, when the processor calls the executable instruction, the operation of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 is implemented.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that Computer instructions are stored thereon, and when the computer instructions are executed by a processor, the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 are implemented.

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