A port area land and sea area unmanned aerial vehicle patrol system

Abstract

This utility model discloses a port area land and sea area drone patrol system. The port area is divided into one or more patrol zones, each equipped with one or more patrol drone units. Alternatively, multiple patrol zones may share one or more emergency drone units. When a patrol drone detects an emergency, the emergency drone carries a suitable payload and flies to the affected area. Upon arrival, the magnetic head automatically de-energizes, releasing the payload into the sea. Alternatively, after the emergency drone arrives, the lighting and spraying equipment inside the payload activate. As can be seen from the above process, the coordination of the emergency drone and the payload allows for faster arrival at the emergency location, followed by subsequent personnel follow-up, improving response speed and staff efficiency.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to the field of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology, and to an improvement of UAV patrol technology in port areas, and more particularly to a UAV patrol system for land and sea areas in port areas. Background Technology

[0002] Port areas are large and have complex terrain, making security management more complex. It requires not only effective monitoring and emergency response in the land areas but also effective management of the outer sea areas after ships dock. Currently, the common method is to install cameras and deploy personnel and vessels to patrol the land and sea areas. However, from a practical perspective, this approach is prone to blind spots, and the response speed to emergencies is slow, with limited handling methods. To address these issues, the port area will adopt a drone patrol system. These drones will be docked on platforms or in the docks within the port area. They will patrol along pre-set routes, continuously acquiring video signals from the land and sea areas. These video signals will be wirelessly transmitted back to the monitoring center, where staff will analyze the video and make judgments and responses to various emergencies.

[0003] When an emergency occurs at a location during patrol, although the patrol drone can promptly detect and report it to the monitoring center, the monitoring center needs to check for nearby personnel, vehicles, or vessels. These personnel then need to drive to the scene to handle the situation. The dispatch of personnel, vehicles, or vessels is slow and time is wasted en route, which is detrimental to handling emergencies, especially those requiring rapid arrival at the scene. For example, one night, when a patrol drone flies to the waters outside a ship and detects someone falling into the water, the drone's video signal is received by the monitoring center, and staff will notify relevant personnel to locate and rescue the person. This method is obviously not very timely, and finding someone in the water at night is also difficult. Similarly, one night, if a patrol drone detects an unidentified vessel approaching a moored cargo ship, dispatching a patrol boat to investigate also presents a problem of poor timeliness. Utility Model Content

[0004] The purpose of this utility model is to overcome the defects of the existing technology and provide a UAV patrol system for port area land and sea areas.

[0005] This utility model is achieved using the following technical solution:

[0006] A port area land and sea area drone patrol system, wherein the port area is divided into one or more patrol zones, and one or more patrol drone units are set up in each patrol zone, characterized in that: one or more emergency drone units are set up in each patrol zone or one or more emergency drone units are set up in multiple patrol zones;

[0007] The patrol drone unit is equipped with patrol drones that are used to conduct aerial patrols according to a set route and acquire video signals of the patrol area. The video signals are uploaded to the monitoring center, which can determine whether an emergency has occurred based on the video signals.

[0008] The police drone unit is equipped with multiple payloads that can automatically adjust their positions. The police drones in the unit can load appropriate payloads according to the instructions of the monitoring center. After loading the payload, the police drones can fly to the location where the patrol drone has detected the incident and complete the payload deployment or conduct on-site tracking of the incident.

[0009] Furthermore: the police drone unit includes a platform or dock, and the platform or dock is equipped with a docking plate for parking the police drone;

[0010] A vertical roller is provided inside the docking plate or below the bottom surface. The roller can rotate in the horizontal direction. Multiple vertical load chambers are radially evenly distributed inside the roller. Each load chamber contains a vertical load cylinder. A through hole is provided on the docking plate that is aligned with the upper opening of the load chamber.

[0011] The upper end of the load cylinder can be detachably connected to the connection mechanism that aligns with the police drone docked on the docking plate.

[0012] The bottom of the load chamber is provided with an opening, and below the opening is a pushing mechanism that can push the load cylinder upward along the load chamber. The pushing mechanism can make the load cylinder move upward through the through hole and connect to the police drone through a connecting mechanism.

[0013] Furthermore: a vertical equipment compartment is fixedly installed inside the docking plate or below the bottom surface. The equipment compartment is equipped with a roller that can rotate in the horizontal direction. The upper end face of the equipment compartment is provided with an upper hole that aligns with the through hole, and the bottom plate of the equipment compartment is provided with a lower hole that aligns with the opening.

[0014] The load cylinder can pass through the upper hole and through hole and then be connected to the police drone through the connecting mechanism;

[0015] The pushing mechanism can push the load cylinder upwards through the lower hole and after the hole is opened.

[0016] Furthermore: a slot is provided on one end face of the docking plate, and the equipment compartment is embedded in the slot;

[0017] A bearing is installed at the top and bottom of the equipment compartment. These two bearings enable the roller to rotate laterally within the equipment compartment. A drive shaft installed on the bottom surface of the roller extends from the bearing located at the bottom of the equipment compartment to the bottom of the equipment compartment and is connected to a drive motor installed below the docking plate.

[0018] Furthermore: the drive motor drives an active synchronous pulley to rotate, which drives the driven synchronous pulley mounted on the drive shaft to rotate via a synchronous belt, causing the drum to rotate laterally within the equipment compartment.

[0019] Furthermore: the connection mechanism includes a magnetic head, a mounting part, and a connecting part. The mounting part is connected to the police drone, and the lower end of the mounting part is connected to the magnetic head through the connecting part. The magnetic head and the upper end of the load cylinder are connected to each other by magnetic force.

[0020] Furthermore: an electromagnet is provided inside the magnetic suction head, and an electromagnet or permanent magnet is provided inside the upper end of the load cylinder.

[0021] Furthermore, the pushing mechanism is either an electric push rod or a hydraulic push rod.

[0022] The beneficial effects of this utility model are as follows:

[0023] In this invention, the port area's land and sea zones are divided into one or more patrol zones. Each patrol zone is equipped with one or more patrol drone units, and each patrol zone may also have one or more emergency drone units, or multiple patrol zones may share one or more emergency drone units. When a patrol drone detects an emergency, the monitoring center staff can control the drive motor to rotate the roller to a suitable position based on the emergency assessment, aligning the appropriate load cylinder with the upper hole and through hole. The pushing mechanism lifts the load chamber upwards. When the magnetic force between the magnetic head and the upper end of the load cylinder is strong enough, the upper end of the load cylinder attracts the magnetic head. Staff can determine whether the load cylinder is properly mounted through video monitoring or a switch signal on the magnetic head. Then, based on the position signal provided by the patrol drone, the drone carrying the load flies to the emergency area. Once in position, the magnetic head automatically de-energizes, allowing the load cylinder to be released into the sea. Alternatively, after the drone reaches its position, the lighting and spraying equipment inside the load cylinder activate. As can be seen from the above process, the cooperation between the drone and the load cylinder allows for faster arrival at the emergency location, followed by subsequent personnel, improving the response speed and staff efficiency when an emergency occurs. Attached Figure Description

[0024] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram showing the distribution of the patrol drone unit and the police drone unit of this utility model;

[0025] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of another distribution.

[0026] Figure 3 for Figure 1 , 2A structural diagram of a police emergency drone unit;

[0027] Figure 4 for Figure 3 Cross-sectional view of the equipment compartment;

[0028] Figure 5 for Figure 4 AA-direction cross-section diagram;

[0029] Figure 6 A schematic diagram showing the drone's adsorption load cylinder leaving the docking plate;

[0030] Figure 7 for Figure 3 An enlarged top view of the through hole along its axial direction;

[0031] Figure 8 for Figure 3 An enlarged top view of the equipment compartment along its axial direction;

[0032] Figure 9 This is a simplified flowchart of the system. Detailed Implementation

[0033] The present invention will be further described below. It should be noted that, without conflict, the various embodiments or technical features described below can be arbitrarily combined to form new embodiments.

[0034] A port area land and sea unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) patrol system is proposed, wherein the port area is divided into one or more patrol zones, and one or more patrol UAV units E are deployed within each patrol zone, such as... Figure 1 , 2 As shown: One or more police drone units G are set up in each patrol area, or one or more police drone units G are set up in multiple patrol areas.

[0035] Patrol drone unit E is equipped with patrol drones used to follow a pre-defined route. Figure 1 , 2 The area under the dashed line and the lower part of the dashed box represents the land area of ​​the port, while the upper part of the dashed box represents the sea area at the berth. The aerial patrol is conducted to acquire video signals of the patrol area. The video signals are then uploaded to the monitoring center F, which can determine whether an emergency has occurred based on the video signals.

[0036] The police drone unit G is equipped with multiple payloads that can automatically adjust their positions. The police drone 2 set in the police drone unit G can load appropriate payloads according to the instructions of the monitoring center F. After loading the payload, the police drone 2 can fly to the location of the police incident discovered by the patrol drone according to the instructions of the monitoring center F and complete the payload delivery or conduct on-site police tracking.

[0037] like Figure 1 As shown in the diagram, the area is divided into three patrol zones: Zone 1, Zone 2, and Zone 3. Each patrol zone is equipped with one patrol drone unit E. Zone 1 has a small vessel berth A and a large vessel berth C; Zone 2 has a large vessel berth C; and Zone 3 has a large vessel berth C and a small vessel berth B. Each of the three zones is equipped with one emergency drone unit G. All zones share a single monitoring center F.

[0038] like Figure 2 As shown in the diagram, the area is divided into two patrol zones, Zone 1 and Zone 2. Each zone is equipped with one patrol drone unit E. Zone 1 has berths for small vessels (A) and large vessels (C), while Zone 2 has berth for large vessels (C). Both zones share one emergency drone unit G. All zones share one monitoring center F.

[0039] The aforementioned police drone unit G can be deployed in multiple locations within each area, for example: Figure 1 Two emergency drone units G are set up within area 1. The specific number can be determined based on the area's size and the number of parking spaces. Alternatively, multiple areas can share multiple emergency drone units G, for example... Figure 2 Two emergency drone units G are set up at a certain location between two areas, and the two areas share these two emergency drone units G.

[0040] The aforementioned alerts include, but are not limited to, incidents of people or cargo falling into the water, tracking of unidentified vessels and personnel, and underwater searches. Handling these alerts is to ensure the safety of port facilities, cargo, and vessels.

[0041] The aforementioned police drone unit G, as Figure 3-7 As shown, the system includes a platform or dock, with a docking plate 1 for berthing the drone 2. A vertical roller 29 is installed inside the docking plate or below its bottom surface. The roller can rotate laterally. Multiple vertical load chambers 36 are evenly distributed radially inside the roller, with their upper openings located on the upper surface of the roller. Each load chamber contains a vertical load cylinder 35. A through hole 34 aligned with the upper opening of each load chamber is provided on the docking plate. A connection mechanism for connecting the emergency drone is provided at the upper end of the load cylinder.

[0042] The bottom of the load chamber is provided with an opening 40. Below the opening is a pushing mechanism 22 that can push the load cylinder upward along the load chamber. The pushing mechanism can make the load cylinder move upward through the through hole and connect to the police drone through the connecting mechanism.

[0043] A vertical equipment compartment 8 is fixedly installed inside the docking plate or below the bottom surface. The equipment compartment contains a roller that can rotate laterally. The upper surface of the equipment compartment has an upper hole 24 aligned with a through hole, and the bottom plate of the equipment compartment has a lower hole 39 aligned with an opening. The load cylinder can pass through the upper hole and through hole and connect to the emergency drone via a connecting mechanism. A pushing mechanism can pass through the lower hole and opening and push the load cylinder upwards.

[0044] The installation structure of the equipment compartment is shown in the figure. A bracket 12 is provided at the bottom of the docking plate, which stably supports the docking plate. The entire unit can be installed under a rain shelter or in a dedicated area. A slot 9 is provided on one end face of the docking plate, which runs along the end face and the bottom surface of the docking plate. A through hole 34 is made on the docking plate at the end of the slot located inside the docking plate, which connects the top of the docking plate and the slot. The equipment compartment can be cylindrical or cuboid in shape. After being embedded along the slot, it is fixed to the docking plate by bolts 11 on the connecting plate 10 on the outer surface. The upper hole 24 on the upper end face of the equipment compartment is aligned with the through hole 34.

[0045] The equipment compartment is preferably cylindrical, comprising an upper cover plate 23, a cylinder 30, and a bottom plate 33. The upper cover plate and the bottom plate are respectively installed at the upper and lower openings of the cylinder. A bearing hole 28 is formed at the center of the upper cover plate. An upper bearing sleeve 26 is fixed inside the bearing hole by multiple support members 25. An upper bearing (not labeled in the figure) is installed inside the upper bearing sleeve. The moving ring of the upper bearing is fixed together with the upper rotating shaft 27 on the upper end face of the drum. A shaft hole 31 is formed in the bottom plate. A lower bearing 32 is installed on the bottom plate above the shaft hole. The stationary ring of the lower bearing presses against the bottom plate, and the moving ring of the lower bearing is pressed together with the shoulder of the drive shaft 20 located on the bottom surface of the drum. The upper and lower bearings enable the drum to rotate laterally inside the equipment compartment.

[0046] The aforementioned drive shaft extends from the shaft hole to the bottom of the equipment compartment and is fitted with a driven synchronous pulley 21. A drive motor 13, a reducer 14, and a pulley frame 17 are mounted on the mounting plate 15 on the bracket. The output shaft of the drive motor is connected to the input shaft of the reducer. The output shaft 16 of the reducer drives the active synchronous pulley mounted on the pulley frame to rotate 19. A synchronous belt 18 is wound around the active and driven synchronous pulleys, and the synchronous belt enables the drive shaft and the drive motor to move in sync.

[0047] Since the load cylinder on the roller needs to be aligned with the through hole, the drive motor can be a high-precision stepper motor or a motor with a rotary encoder. Regardless of the type of motor, the rotation position of the roller must maintain a certain level of accuracy.

[0048] The diameters of the aforementioned through holes, top holes, load chamber openings, and load cylinders are as follows: Figure 5 , 6As shown, the inner diameter of the through hole is the largest, the inner diameter of the upper hole is smaller than that of the through hole but larger than the inner diameter of the load chamber opening, and the outer diameter of the load cylinder is smaller than the inner diameter of the load chamber. The inner diameter of the aforementioned through hole is much smaller than the distance between the two support legs 3 on the bottom of the alarm drone. To prevent the load cylinder from getting stuck in the load chamber, both surfaces can be made of stainless steel or coated with a lubricating oil of a certain viscosity. The lubricating oil should maintain a certain lubrication effect in saline, alkaline, high-temperature, and low-temperature environments. The upper and lower bearings should also be enclosed bearings resistant to saline, alkaline, high-temperature, and low-temperature environments to reduce the impact of the environment on the rotation of the drum.

[0049] Marking areas 41 can be set on the surface of the docking plate, the upper end face of the load cylinder, and the upper end face of the upper bearing sleeve. Markings 42 that are easy to identify can be set in these areas. The purpose is to enable the police drone to land accurately on the surface of the docking plate 7 through vision devices such as cameras or other positioning devices, thereby improving the accurate alignment between the connecting mechanism on the police drone and the through hole, upper hole, and load cylinder. The visual recognition technology or other positioning devices are existing technologies and will not be described in detail here.

[0050] The connection mechanism includes a magnetic head 6, a mounting part, and a connecting part. The mounting part connects to the police drone, and the lower end of the mounting part connects to the magnetic head via the connecting part. The magnetic head and the upper end of the load cylinder are connected to each other by magnetic force. Figure 1 As shown, the mounting part is the mortise 4, and the connecting part is the tenon 5. The tenon is embedded in the mortise to install the magnetic head. In addition, the bracket, rope, or other structure that can fix the relationship with the flight path of the police drone can be used as the mounting part, while the connecting part is selected to be a structure that is compatible with the safety and environmental protection part. For example, the mounting part is a standard bracket that is compatible with a certain model of police drone, and the connecting part is a structure that is compatible with the mounting part through bolts or mortise and tenon joints.

[0051] The magnetic suction head contains an electromagnet, and the upper end of the load cylinder also contains an electromagnet or permanent magnet. The magnetic suction head uses an electromagnet, which can be powered directly to the drone's battery via wiring, a hot shoe interface, or other structures. The upper end of the load cylinder can contain a neodymium iron boron permanent magnet or an electromagnet, which can directly use the battery built into the load cylinder. Furthermore, the drone's payload capacity should exceed the load cylinder's own weight, and it should be able to maintain a certain level of flight capability even under certain wind and wave conditions when the load cylinder is attached.

[0052] The above-mentioned load cylinder can use the following structure:

[0053] 1. A rescue load cell equipped with an explosive inflatable buoy, seawater dye, positioning system, and other equipment;

[0054] 2. A vessel and personnel tracking load cell equipped with an infrared camera, a fluorescent dye spraying mechanism, a positioning system, and other equipment;

[0055] 3. An underwater tracking load cylinder equipped with an internal underwater camera and a drive propeller.

[0056] In addition, other custom-made load cells can be used as needed for the emergency.

[0057] The pushing mechanism can be either an electric push rod or a hydraulic push rod. For example... Figure 3 , 4 As shown, an electric actuator is used. When the actuator rod 37 extends, it enters the load chamber through the lower hole 39 of the equipment compartment and the opening 40 of the load chamber, and presses against the bottom plate of the load cylinder. The load cylinder moves upward and connects with the magnetic suction head through magnetic force. Several blocks or retaining rings 38 are provided at the bottom of the load chamber. The purpose of these blocks or retaining rings is to place the load cylinder in the load chamber. Pressure sensors (not shown in the figure) can be installed on the upper surface of the blocks or retaining rings to detect whether a load cylinder is placed in the load chamber or whether the load cylinder has been removed.

[0058] The control terminals of the aforementioned drive motor, electric push rod, and pressure sensor can all be connected to the control unit located at the docking plate. This control unit is responsible for receiving data from various sensors on site (such as the rotary encoder of the drive motor and the limit switch of the electric push rod), and also transmits data and commands to the monitoring center wirelessly (wireless network, 5G network, etc.).

[0059] Application Example 1

[0060] Port Area Figure 2 As shown, areas 1 and 2 are each equipped with one patrol drone unit E, one emergency drone unit G, and one monitoring center F. Three cargo ships are moored at large vessel berth C, and two small boats are moored at small vessel berths A and B respectively. The two patrol drones conduct patrols along the routes indicated by the dotted lines.

[0061] The overall work process can be found here. Figure 9 The specific work process is as follows:

[0062] One night, it was cloudy and there was no moonlight.

[0063] When the patrol drone in Area 1 flew to the outer sea area above the dotted box, the camera captured a person floating in the seawater at point X outside the cargo ship on the left side of the berth. The video signal was transmitted to the monitoring center, and the control system intelligently identified and marked it on the screen, and then issued an alarm signal.

[0064] After zooming in on the video on the screen to confirm the emergency, the staff uses the control software of the monitoring center to connect to the control unit of the emergency drone unit G, based on the location of the cargo ship at the dock. They select a suitable load cylinder (rescue type load cylinder), and the control unit of the emergency drone unit G causes the drive motor to rotate and the roller to rotate to the appropriate position. The push rod pushes the load cylinder upward, and when the load cylinder rises to a certain height, it is attracted by the magnetic head. After confirming that the load cylinder is stably attracted by the camera on the side of the docking plate (which can be installed on the docking plate or on the ground tower next to the emergency drone unit G), the staff starts the emergency drone to rise vertically and remove the load cylinder from the load compartment.

[0065] Staff control the emergency drone to fly towards the location of the emergency. Once there, the patrol drone resumes its normal patrol route and continues patrolling. When the emergency drone reaches the location of the person who has fallen into the water, the magnetic head is de-energized, and the load cylinder is dropped. After the load cylinder hits the water, its internal explosive buoy inflates, causing the load cylinder to float. The flashing lights on the surface of the load cylinder flash frequently. The person who has fallen into the water can grab the buoy. The positioning system sealed inside the load cylinder starts working and sends out a positioning signal.

[0066] While the aforementioned police drone is carrying its payload and flying and dropping it, other staff can simultaneously arrange for rescue boats to sail to the location of the person who fell into the water and carry out subsequent rescue operations.

[0067] The aforementioned police drones are not limited to a single drone dropping the load cells; multiple people can control different drones to drop multiple load cells to improve rescue efficiency. For example: Figure 2 If there are two emergency drone units G, then two staff members can each control one emergency drone, equipped with a rescue-type payload, to take off and fly to the emergency scene X. In case of high winds and waves, the remotely controlled rescue-type payload with propellers can be dropped.

[0068] As can be seen from the above process, by combining police drones and load cells, it is possible to reach the location of the incident more quickly, and then follow up with personnel, thereby improving the response speed and the work efficiency of staff when an incident occurs.

Claims

1. A port area land and sea area unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) patrol system, wherein the port area is divided into one or more patrol zones, and one or more patrol UAV units are set up in each patrol zone, characterized in that: One or more police drone units may be set up in each patrol area, or one or more police drone units may be set up in multiple patrol areas; The patrol drone unit is equipped with patrol drones that are used to conduct aerial patrols according to a set route and acquire video signals of the patrol area. The video signals are uploaded to the monitoring center, which can determine whether an emergency has occurred based on the video signals. The police drone unit is equipped with multiple payloads that can automatically adjust their positions. The police drones in the unit can load appropriate payloads according to the instructions of the monitoring center. After loading the payload, the police drones can fly to the location where the patrol drone has detected the incident and complete the payload deployment or conduct on-site tracking of the incident.

2. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) patrol system for port areas, land, and sea as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The police drone unit includes a platform or dock, and the platform or dock is equipped with a docking plate for parking the police drone. A vertical roller is provided inside the docking plate or below the bottom surface. The roller can rotate in the horizontal direction. Multiple vertical load chambers are radially evenly distributed inside the roller. Each load chamber contains a vertical load cylinder. A through hole is provided on the docking plate that is aligned with the upper opening of the load chamber. The upper end of the load cylinder can be detachably connected to the connection mechanism that aligns with the police drone docked on the docking plate. The bottom of the load chamber is provided with an opening, and below the opening is a pushing mechanism that can push the load cylinder upward along the load chamber. The pushing mechanism can make the load cylinder move upward through the through hole and connect to the police drone through a connecting mechanism.

3. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) patrol system for port land and sea areas as described in claim 2, characterized in that: A vertical equipment compartment is fixedly installed inside the docking plate or below the bottom surface. The equipment compartment is equipped with a roller that can rotate in the horizontal direction. The upper end face of the equipment compartment is provided with an upper hole that aligns with the through hole, and the bottom plate of the equipment compartment is provided with a lower hole that aligns with the opening. The load cylinder can pass through the upper hole and through hole and then be connected to the police drone through the connecting mechanism; The pushing mechanism can push the load cylinder upwards through the lower hole and after the hole is opened.

4. A port area land and sea area unmanned aerial vehicle patrol system as described in claim 3, characterized in that: A slot is provided on one end face of the docking plate, and the equipment compartment is embedded in the slot; A bearing is installed at the top and bottom of the equipment compartment. These two bearings enable the roller to rotate laterally within the equipment compartment. A drive shaft installed on the bottom surface of the roller extends from the bearing located at the bottom of the equipment compartment to the bottom of the equipment compartment and is connected to a drive motor installed below the docking plate.

5. A port area land and sea area unmanned aerial vehicle patrol system as described in claim 4, characterized in that: The drive motor drives an active synchronous pulley to rotate, which in turn drives a driven synchronous pulley mounted on the drive shaft to rotate via a synchronous belt, causing the drum to rotate laterally within the equipment compartment.

6. A port area land and sea area unmanned aerial vehicle patrol system as described in any one of claims 2-5, characterized in that: The connection mechanism includes a magnetic head, a mounting part, and a connecting part. The mounting part is connected to the police drone, and the lower end of the mounting part is connected to the magnetic head through the connecting part. The magnetic head and the upper end of the load cylinder are connected to each other by magnetic force.

7. A port area land and sea area unmanned aerial vehicle patrol system as described in claim 6, characterized in that: The magnetic suction head is equipped with an electromagnet, and the upper end of the load cylinder is equipped with an electromagnet or a permanent magnet.

8. A port area land and sea area unmanned aerial vehicle patrol system as described in claim 2, 3, 4, 5, or 7, characterized in that: The pushing mechanism is either an electric push rod or a hydraulic push rod.

9. A port area land and sea area unmanned aerial vehicle patrol system as described in claim 6, characterized in that: The pushing mechanism is either an electric push rod or a hydraulic push rod.

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