Movable body control system

Abstract

To provide a movable body control system capable of intuitively grasping a ROV position.SOLUTION: A movable body control system comprises an on-water movable body, an underwater movable body (ROV) connected to the on-water movable body, a positioning device to measure the relative position between the on-water movable body and the underwater movable body, and a control device to control the position of the on-water movable body or the underwater movable body, so that the distance between the on-water movable body and the underwater movable body is within a prescribed range based on the relative position measured by the positioning device.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] One embodiment of the present invention relates to a mobile object control system for controlling a mobile object on water and in water. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a remotely operated unmanned submersible work vehicle (ROV: Remotely Operated Vehicle) that performs underwater search operations. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-139390 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] When an ROV is submerged, users cannot see it and cannot confirm its location. In addition, it is difficult to transmit electromagnetic waves underwater, so it is also difficult to use satellite positioning to determine the ROV's location.

[0005] Therefore, an object of one embodiment of the present invention is to provide a mobile object control system that allows a user to intuitively grasp the position of an ROV. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] A mobile body control system according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises a surface moving body, an underwater moving body (ROV) connected to the surface moving body, a positioning device that measures the relative position between the surface moving body and the underwater moving body, and a control device that controls the position of the surface moving body or the underwater moving body based on the relative position measured by the positioning device so that the distance between the surface moving body and the underwater moving body is within a predetermined range.

[0007] This allows users to determine that an ROV is present near a visible surface vehicle and intuitively grasp the ROV's location.

[0008] In addition, it is preferable that the control device controls the surface-water moving body or the underwater moving body so that the distance between the surface-water moving body and the underwater moving body is within a predetermined range in a plan view.

[0009] This allows users to more intuitively understand the ROV's position.

[0010] The positioning device further includes a plurality of ultrasonic sensors provided on the surface vehicle or the underwater vehicle, which allows the vehicle control system to more accurately measure the relative positions of the surface vehicle and the underwater vehicle.

[0011] The positioning device includes a satellite positioning device mounted on the surface vehicle and measures the position of the surface vehicle, and the control device controls the position of the surface vehicle or the underwater vehicle based on the measurement results of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors and the satellite positioning device, thereby enabling the vehicle control system to control the positions of the surface vehicle and the underwater vehicle with higher accuracy.

[0012] The control device may be mounted on a surface vehicle or an underwater vehicle, or may be mounted on an information processing device operated by a user. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a moving object control system 1. FIG. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the main components of the ship 10. [Diagram 3] 2 is a block diagram showing the main configuration of a controller 20. FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the main components of ROV30. [Diagram 5]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a moving object control system 1A according to a first modified example. [Figure 6] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a moving object control system 1B according to a second modification. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a mobile object control system 1. The mobile object control system 1 includes a ship 10, a controller 20, and an ROV30.

[0015] The ship 10 is an example of a surface vehicle. The ROV 30 is an example of an underwater vehicle remotely operated by the controller 20. The ROV 30 has, for example, a sensor and a manipulator, and can perform underwater observation and work.

[0016] The controller 20 is connected to the ROV 30 by a wire and communicates with the ROV 30. In addition, the controller 20 is connected to the ship 10 by wireless and communicates with the ship 10.

[0017] Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the main components of the ship 10. Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing the main components of the controller 20. Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing the main components of the ROV 30.

[0018] The ship 10 is equipped with a positioning antenna 11, a positioning unit 12, a sensor 13, a control unit 14, an ultrasonic receiver 15, a propulsion unit 16, a communication antenna 17, and a communication unit 18.

[0019] The positioning unit 12 is a satellite positioning device such as a GPS. The positioning antenna 11 receives a GPS positioning signal and outputs it to the positioning unit 12. The positioning unit 12 performs a positioning calculation using the GPS positioning signal and calculates the position of the ship 10. The positioning calculation is performed at each preset positioning timing. The positioning unit 12 outputs the calculated position of the ship 10 to the control unit 14.

[0020] The sensor 13 includes a direction sensor, a boat speed sensor, etc. The sensor 13 outputs various detected information to the control unit 14.

[0021] The control unit 14 includes a processor such as a CPU or a SoC (System on a Chip), and controls the ship 10 by reading out a program stored in a storage medium such as a flash memory (not shown).

[0022] The ultrasonic receiver 15 and the control unit 14 are an example of a positioning device that measures the relative positions of a surface moving body and an underwater moving body. The ultrasonic receiver 15 has multiple (three in this embodiment) hydrophones. The ultrasonic receiver 15 receives ultrasonic waves emitted from the ROV 30 at each of the multiple (three in this embodiment) hydrophones. The control unit 14 uniquely measures the relative position of the ROV 30 with respect to the ship 10 based on the time difference between the reception timings of the multiple hydrophones at the ultrasonic receiver 15. The relative position of the ROV 30 is expressed, for example, in Cartesian coordinates with the position of the ship 10 as the origin (position in the left-right direction of the ship 10: X, position in the traveling direction of the ship 10: Y, water depth position: Z).

[0023] The communication unit 18 receives control information from the controller 20 by wireless communication via the communication antenna 17. The communication unit 18 receives, for example, movement instructions such as forward movement, backward movement, right turn, and left turn, or setting information for a target position.

[0024] In addition, the communication unit 18 transmits various information to the controller 20 by wireless communication via the communication antenna 17. The communication unit 18 transmits, for example, the position information of the ship 10 calculated by the positioning unit 12 and the coordinate information (X=x1, Y=y1, Z=z1) of the ROV 30 measured by the ultrasonic receiver 15 to the controller 20.

[0025] The control unit 14 receives a movement instruction or a setting of a target position from the controller 20 via the communication unit 18. The control unit 14 controls the propeller 16 based on the received movement instruction. The control unit 14 also controls the propeller 16 based on the position of the ship 10 output from the positioning unit 12 and various information detected by the sensor 13, and moves the position of the ship 10 to the received target position.

[0026] The propulsors 16 are, for example, two-shaft rotating propellers. The control unit 14 controls the rotation speed of the two rotating propellers to control the forward speed, reverse speed, turning speed, and the like, and thereby controls the position of the ship 10.

[0027] 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the controller 20. The controller 20 is, for example, a general-purpose personal computer. The controller 20 includes an operation unit 21, a control unit 22, a display 23, a communication antenna 24, a wireless communication unit 25, and a wired communication unit 26.

[0028] The operation unit 21 includes a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, etc., and receives operations from a user. The touch panel may be laminated on the display device 23.

[0029] The control unit 22 includes a processor such as a CPU or SoC, and reads out programs stored in a storage medium such as a flash memory (not shown) to perform various processes.

[0030] The display 23 is composed of an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode). The display 23 displays various information according to the control of the control unit 22. The display 23 displays, for example, a GUI (Graphical User Interface) of an application program for controlling the vessel 10 and the ROV 30.

[0031] The wireless communication unit 25 receives position information of the ship 10 and coordinate information (X=x1, Y=y1, Z=z1) of the ROV 30 relative to the ship 10 from the ship 10 via the communication antenna 24. In addition, the wireless communication unit 25 transmits movement instructions to the ship 10 or setting information of a target position via the communication antenna 24 via wireless communication.

[0032] The wired communication unit 26 transmits and receives various information to and from the ROV via a communication cable. For example, the wired communication unit 26 transmits a movement command to the ROV 30.

[0033] 4 is a block diagram showing the main components of the ROV 30. The ROV 30 includes a sensor 31, a control unit 32, a thruster 33, an ultrasonic transmitter , a wired communication unit 35, and a manipulator .

[0034] The control unit 32 includes a processor such as a CPU or SoC, and controls the ROV 30 by reading out a program stored in a storage medium such as a flash memory (not shown).

[0035] The sensor 31 includes a camera, a temperature sensor, etc. The control unit 32 transmits a video signal or temperature information of the camera in the sensor 31 to the controller 20 via the wired communication unit 35. The control unit 22 of the controller 20 displays the video or temperature information related to the received video signal on the GUI of the display 23.

[0036] Furthermore, the control unit 32 receives an instruction to transmit ultrasonic waves from the controller 20 via the wired communication unit 35. The control unit 32 controls the ultrasonic transmitter 34 based on the received instruction to transmit ultrasonic waves.

[0037] The ultrasonic transmitter 34 is a beacon that transmits ultrasonic waves. The ultrasonic transmitter 34 transmits ultrasonic waves at each preset positioning timing or based on an instruction from the controller 20 to transmit ultrasonic waves.

[0038] The control unit 32 receives control information for the manipulator 36 from the controller 20 via the wired communication unit 35. The control unit 32 controls the manipulator 36 based on the received control information.

[0039] The manipulator 36 is a multi-joint robot arm and performs sampling operations on the seabed.

[0040] The control unit 22 of the controller 20 in this embodiment controls the position of the ROV 30 so that the distance between the ship 10 and the ROV 30 is within a predetermined range in a plan view, based on the relative position of the ROV 30 with respect to the ship 10 measured by the ultrasonic receiver 15, which is a positioning device. For example, the control unit 22 of the controller 20 instructs the ROV 30 to move so that the X coordinate and the Y coordinate of the ROV 30 (X=x1, Y=y1, Z=z1) become 0.

[0041] The control unit 32 receives a movement instruction from the controller 20 via the wired communication unit 35. The control unit 32 controls the propeller 33 based on the movement instruction received from the controller 20. The propeller 33 is composed of, for example, three-shaft rotating propellers. The control unit 32 moves the ROV 30 to an arbitrary position by controlling the rotation speed of the three rotating propellers.

[0042] As a result, the ROV 30 moves directly below the ship 10. The user can determine that the ROV 30 is present directly below the ship 10, which is a visible surface vehicle, and can intuitively grasp the position of the ROV.

[0043] In addition, the control unit 22 of the controller 20 may instruct the ship 10 to move so that the X and Y coordinates of the ROV 30 (X=x1, Y=y1, Z=z1) become 0. The ROV 30 is located directly below the ship 10.

[0044] In the present invention, the ROV 30 does not need to move directly under the ship 10. The control unit 22 of the controller 20 only needs to control the position of the ROV 30 so that the distance between the ship 10 and the ROV 30 is within a predetermined range in a plan view. In this case as well, the user can determine that the ROV 30 is near the ship 10, which is a visible surface vehicle, and can intuitively grasp the position of the ROV.

[0045] In addition, the control unit 22 of the controller 20 calculates the distance d=(x1 2 +y1 2 +z1 2 ) 1 / 2 may be controlled so that the position of the ROV 30 is within a predetermined range. In this case, the ROV 30 is also located near the ship 10. Therefore, the user can determine that the ROV 30 is near the ship 10, and can intuitively grasp the position of the ROV.

[0046] In the above embodiment, an example was shown in which the ship 10 is equipped with an ultrasonic receiver 15 and the ROV 30 is equipped with an ultrasonic transmitter 34, but the ship 10 may have the ultrasonic transmitter 34 and the ROV 30 may be equipped with the ultrasonic receiver 15.

[0047] In the above embodiment, the positioning device (ultrasonic receiver 15) has three hydrophones as ultrasonic sensors, but the number of ultrasonic sensors does not need to be three. The number of ultrasonic sensors may be more, or may be one or two. Even with one ultrasonic sensor, the positioning device can measure the distance as the relative position between the ship 10 and the ROV 30. Therefore, even with one ultrasonic sensor, the control unit 22 of the controller 20 can control the position of the ROV 30 so that the distance between the ship 10 and the ROV 30 is within a predetermined range.

[0048] In the above embodiment, the position of the ship 10 is measured by a satellite positioning device mounted on the ship 10, but the position of the ship 10 may be measured by another positioning device such as a radar.

[0049] In the above embodiment, an example in which the controller 20 and the ROV 30 are connected by wire has been described, but the controller 20 does not need to be directly connected to the ROV 30. Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a mobile object control system 1A according to Modification 1. In the mobile object control system 1A according to Modification 1, the ship 10 and the ROV 30 are connected by wire via a communication cable. The controller 20 communicates with the ROV 30 via the ship 10.

[0050] In this case, similarly to the above embodiment, the control unit 22 of the controller 20 controls the position of the ROV 30 so that the distance between the ship 10 and the ROV 30 falls within a predetermined range.

[0051] In addition, in the above embodiment, an example of the control device of the present invention is shown as being mounted on a controller (a general-purpose personal computer) operated by a user, but the control device may be mounted on the ship 10 or the ROV 30.

[0052] 6 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a mobile object control system 1B according to Modification 2. In this example, a controller 20, which is an example of a control device, is mounted on a ship 10. The controller 20 is connected to the ROV 30 by a wire. The controller 20 may also be connected to the ship 10 by a wire.

[0053] In this case, similarly to the above embodiment, the control unit 22 of the controller 20 controls the position of the ROV 30 so that the distance between the ship 10 and the ROV 30 falls within a predetermined range.

[0054] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the claims. Forms obtained by appropriately combining the technical means disclosed in the embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0055] 1: Mobile control system 1A: Mobile control system 1B: Mobile control system 10: Ship 11: Positioning antenna 12: Positioning unit 13: Sensor 14: Control section 15: Ultrasonic receiver 16: Propulsion device 17: Communication antenna 18: Communications Department 20: Controller 21:Operation section 22: Control section 23: Display 24: Communication antenna 25: Wireless communication section 26: Wired communications section 31: Sensor 32: Control section 33: Propulsion device 34: Ultrasonic transmitter 35: Wired communications section 36: Manipulator

Claims

1. A water vehicle; an underwater vehicle connected to the surface vehicle; a positioning device for measuring a relative position between the surface moving body and the underwater moving body; a control device that controls a position of the surface moving body or the underwater moving body based on the relative position measured by the positioning device so that the distance between the surface moving body and the underwater moving body is within a predetermined range; A mobile control system comprising:

2. The mobile object control system according to claim 1, The control device controls the surface-water moving body or the underwater moving body so that the distance between the surface-water moving body and the underwater moving body is within a predetermined range in a plan view. Mobile control system.

3. 3. The mobile object control system according to claim 1, The positioning device includes a plurality of ultrasonic sensors provided on the surface vehicle or the underwater vehicle. Mobile control system.

4. The positioning device includes a satellite positioning device mounted on the surface vehicle and for measuring the position of the surface vehicle; The control device controls the position of the surface moving body or the underwater moving body based on the measurement results of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors and the satellite positioning device. The mobile object control system according to claim 3 .

5. 3. The mobile object control system according to claim 1, The control device is mounted on the surface vehicle or the underwater vehicle. Mobile control system.

6. 3. The mobile object control system according to claim 1, The control device is mounted on a controller operated by a user. Mobile control system.

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