Wildlife repellent system

Abstract

To provide a system that automatically tracks wildlife and emits a laser beam to reliably drive the wildlife off.SOLUTION: A wildlife repellent system determines harmful wildlife from an image captured by a camera that monitors a monitoring area and irradiates the determined wildlife with a laser beam while automatically tracking the wildlife. The wildlife repellent system can change an irradiation mode for tracking wildlife to automatically track objective wildlife.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a bird and animal repellent system. [Background technology]

[0002] Damage caused by bird droppings on power lines and steel towers, and damage caused by crows scattering garbage bags at garbage dumps, etc. have become problems. As a conventional bird and animal repelling technology, a bird and animal repelling device that scare away birds and animals by emitting laser light is known.

[0003] Patent Document 1 describes a bird and animal repellent device that includes multiple laser light source devices and irradiates the birds and animals to be scare away with laser light from two directions. The purpose of this bird and animal repellent device is to reliably and easily scare away birds and animals even in situations where the sun or other dazzling light is shining on the birds and animals during the day.

[0004] Patent Document 2 describes a bird repellent device that reliably repels crows that fly in to nest high up on a steel tower. The bird repellent device has a housing placed on a mounting base fixed to the steel tower, a solar panel attached to the housing so that it protrudes from it, a battery installed inside the housing to store electricity from the solar panel, a speaker and a camera installed in the housing, and a laser beam irradiator that generates repellent light.

[0005] Both the bird repelling devices in Patent Documents 1 and 2 are inventions that irradiate targets such as birds with laser light. However, the targets are constantly moving, making it difficult to irradiate the target point. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] JP 2021-100396 A [Patent Document 2] Patent Publication No. 2022-66717 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and has an object to provide a system that automatically tracks birds and animals and reliably scares them away by irradiating them with laser light. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The invention described in claim 1 is a bird / animal avoidance system comprising an imaging unit, a laser irradiation unit, a determination unit that determines the bird / animal to be repelled from an image captured by the imaging unit, a tracking control unit that tracks the bird / animal, and a laser control unit that changes the mode for irradiating laser light while tracking the bird / animal. The invention described in claim 2 is a bird / animal repellent system described in claim 1, wherein the laser control unit controls the laser light to be irradiated at the feet or the area around the feet of the bird / animal until a predetermined time has elapsed after the bird / animal is identified. The invention described in claim 3 is the bird / animal repellent system described in claim 1, wherein the laser control unit controls the laser light to flash over the entire body of the bird / animal during a predetermined time period based on the time when the bird / animal is identified. The invention described in claim 4 is the bird / animal repellent system described in claim 1, wherein the laser control unit controls the laser light to be directed toward the head of the bird / animal during a predetermined time period based on the time when the bird / animal is identified. The invention described in claim 5 is the bird and animal repellent system described in claim 1, further comprising a slave device which is either a speaker, an ultrasonic generator, or an LED irradiation device, a determination unit which determines the type of bird or animal to be repelled from the image captured by the imaging unit, and a slave device control unit which controls the slave device according to the type of bird or animal. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present invention, a bird and animal repellent system can be provided that automatically tracks birds and animals and irradiates them with laser light, thereby reliably repelling the birds and animals. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a bird and animal repellent system to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied; [Diagram 2] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a bird and animal repellent system to which the present embodiment is applied. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the bird and animal repellent device. [Figure 4] FIG. 1A is a diagram showing laser irradiation in a first mode, FIG. 1B is a diagram showing laser irradiation in a second mode, and FIG. 1C is a diagram showing laser irradiation in a third mode. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a processing flow of the bird and animal repellent system. [Figure 6] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a bird and animal repelling system to which another embodiment of the present invention is applied. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] The bird and animal repellent system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments.

[0012] First Embodiment FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a bird and animal repellent system to which the present embodiment is applied. The bird and animal repellent system 1 in the present embodiment is composed of a bird and animal repellent device 10 consisting of a control device 2 installed on a pole or the like, a solar panel 3, an antenna 4, a camera 5, and a laser oscillator 6, and a management station having a management server 30 that monitors the bird and animal repellent device 10 connected to a network 50. Although only one bird and animal repellent device 10 is shown in FIG. 1, it may be installed in multiple locations. The power generated by the solar panel 3 is appropriately stored in a battery and then used as power for controlling the camera 5 and the laser oscillator 6. As an embodiment of the bird and animal repellent system 1, for example, there is an embodiment as a system that automatically repels birds and animals when harmful birds and animals invade a monitoring area.

[0013] 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a bird and animal repelling system to which this embodiment is applied. This system is configured such that a bird and animal repelling device 10 and a management server 30 that monitors the repelling status of birds and animals are connected via a network 50. The network 50 is, for example, a network such as the Internet, and the bird and animal repelling status of the bird and animal repelling device 10 can be remotely monitored via the Internet by the management server 30 installed in a management station.

[0014] The bird and animal repellent device 10 has a control unit 11 which is a processor (CPU (Central Processing Unit)) that controls the entire device, a memory 12 such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) used as a working area for calculations, and a memory unit 13 which is a storage device such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or semiconductor memory used to store programs, various setting data, etc. The bird and animal repellent device 10 also has a communication unit 14 that transmits and receives voice and image data via the network 50. It also has an operation unit 15 such as a touch panel, keyboard, pointing device, etc. that receives input operations from a maintenance person on the bird and animal repellent device 10 side, a display unit 16 consisting of a liquid crystal display or the like that displays images and text information, etc., and a display control unit 17 that controls the display unit 16. The bird and animal repellent device 10 also has an imaging unit 18 that photographs birds and animals, and a laser oscillation unit 19 that oscillates a laser.

[0015] The management server 30 is composed of a computer device such as a workstation, a desktop PC, or a notebook PC. The management server 30 has a control unit 31, which is a processor (CPU (Central Processing Unit)) that controls the entire device, a memory 32 such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) used as a work area during calculations, and a storage unit 33, which is a storage device such as a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or a semiconductor memory used to store programs and various setting data. It also has a communication unit 34 that transmits and receives data via a network 50. It also has an operation unit 35 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, or a touch panel that accepts input operations from an administrator on the management server 30 side, a display unit 36 ​​consisting of a liquid crystal display or the like that displays images and text information to server users, and a display control unit 37 that controls the display unit 36. The memory unit 33 stores data such as past images recorded by the bird and animal repellent device 10, records of laser light irradiation, history of use of deterrent sounds from the speaker, history of ultrasonic sound generation, history of LED irradiation, parameters of the learned bird and animal identification model, the type of bird or animal to be repelled, and the timing (e.g. mode) at which it left.

[0016] In this embodiment, the birds and animals include crows and starlings that build nests on power lines and towers and disrupt the maintenance of communication infrastructure, crows that fly into garbage collection areas and scatter garbage bags, pigeons that cause damage with their droppings inside train stations and other areas, wild boars and raccoon dogs that destroy fields, and bears that may harm people.

[0017] The bird and animal repellent device 10 and the management server 30 shown in Fig. 2 do not necessarily have to be in the same housing, and may be understood as a system. When the main body device and the housing are different, they are connected by wire or wirelessly.

[0018] 3 is a diagram showing the functional configuration of the bird and animal repellent device 10. The bird and animal repellent device 10 has a reception unit 20 that receives input from a maintenance manager, a storage unit 13 that stores the input information and captured images, a communication unit 14 that transmits and receives data such as voice and images, a display unit 16 that displays images, an imaging unit 18 that captures images of birds and animals, a laser oscillation unit 19 that irradiates laser light, a detection unit 22 that detects objects such as birds and animals from the captured images, a determination unit 23 that specifies the detected object as a tracking object, a tracking control unit 24 that tracks the tracking object, a laser control unit 25 that controls the tracking object to be irradiated with a laser, and an output unit 21 that outputs the stored information as data or voice.

[0019] The imaging unit 18 is, for example, a camera that captures moving images. In addition to visible images, an infrared imaging camera may be used to monitor birds and animals at night. The laser oscillator 19 emits, for example, a green laser beam (wavelength 532 nm±10) in class 2 of the JIS C6802 standard. The detection unit 22 detects moving objects in the captured images. The detection unit 22 detects subjects such as birds and animals captured in frames constituting the video image data using an object detection algorithm that uses a deep neural network, and also identifies the position of the subject within the frame. The position of the bird or animal within the frame is identified by an area surrounded by a rectangle called a bounding box. The determination unit 23 determines whether the detected object is a repellent object to be tracked. The determination model constituting the determination unit 23 may be a trained bird / animal identification model trained in advance using image data of the bird / animal to be repellent. The determination unit 23 identifies whether the subject A in the bounding box is a repellent bird / animal. The determination unit 23 may determine not only whether the subject A is a repellent bird / animal, but also the type of the bird / animal. Depending on the type of bird / animal determined by the determination unit 23, the control unit 11 can set the laser, threatening sound, ultrasonic frequency, LED flash, etc. used for threatening to an effective intensity and range. In the above description, the position of the bird / animal in the frame is specified by a bounding box, but the present invention is not limited to the bounding box and includes a method of specifying a mode in which the subject to be repellent can be displayed in a distinguishable manner from others. For example, the subject may be displayed in a different color, such as a conspicuous color such as red, or displayed in a shadow. The tracking control unit 24 has a function of automatically tracking a bird or animal that is determined to be an avoidance target. When the determination unit 23 identifies that the target A detected in the monitoring area is a bird or animal to be avoided, the tracking control unit 24 controls the tracking control unit 24 to automatically track the target A. The process of identifying and associating the same target between frames is performed to specify the same target. The above-mentioned processes of the detection unit 22 and the determination unit 23 are performed independently for each frame, but it is not possible to recognize the subject of the previous and next frames as the same target. However, the process of the tracking control unit 24 makes it possible to track the same target in the time direction. This tracking process is premised on the fact that the target cannot move significantly in the short time of one frame before and after, and groups the pose estimation results having close coordinates in two consecutive frames as being due to the same target. By performing this across all frames, the data is categorized as a group of data of the same target. Note that the tracking process may specify the same target by a method other than the above process.

[0020] The laser control unit 25 controls the laser oscillation unit 19 to irradiate the laser light to the target animal that has started tracking. The laser control unit 25 changes the irradiation mode after a certain time has passed and irradiates the target animal, which is the tracking target, with the laser light. For example, at first, the target animal is not directly irradiated, but is irradiated in a first mode in which the target animal's feet or an area about 30 cm around the feet is irradiated. Next, the level of intimidation is increased to a second mode in which the whole body of the target animal is irradiated, and further to a third mode in which the laser light is irradiated to the head of the target animal, especially the eyes. In this embodiment, since the target animal is tracked as the same target, the irradiation mode can be changed for the target being tracked. The irradiation mode to be changed is not necessarily from a weak level to a strong level, but may be a periodic change in the irradiation mode. The difference in mode may be characterized not only by the position at which the target animal is irradiated, but also by a difference in the way of irradiation, such as constant irradiation or blinking irradiation, by changing the range of the focal diameter, or by changing the irradiation intensity. For example, the illumination mode may be changed so that the target animal recognizes the position of the light source by first irradiating with a large focal diameter, and then the diameter is reduced.

[0021] In this embodiment, the mode of laser irradiation (also called irradiation mode) refers to the type of irradiation defined by the position of laser light irradiation, the method of irradiation (flashing irradiation, focal radius), irradiation time, irradiation intensity, etc. A change in the mode of laser irradiation (change in irradiation mode) refers to a change in any of the elements that define the irradiation mode, such as the position of laser light irradiation, the method of irradiation (flashing irradiation, focal radius), irradiation time, irradiation intensity, etc. For example, it is possible to weaken the irradiation intensity in the first mode and strengthen the irradiation intensity in the second mode. In addition, in the same mode, any of the above elements do not need to be always fixed, and for example, there may be a mode in which the focal radius changes periodically or a mode of flashing irradiation.

[0022] FIG. 4(A) is a diagram showing laser irradiation in the first mode, (B) is a diagram showing laser irradiation in the second mode, and (C) is a diagram showing laser irradiation in the third mode. These images are transmitted to the management server 30 via the network 50 and displayed on the display unit 36 ​​of the management server 30. When the determination unit 23 identifies a crow as a bird or animal to be avoided, the tracking control unit 24 can also control the image to automatically track the crow and display a bounding box 80 surrounding the entire body of the crow and a bounding box 81 surrounding the head of the crow. The laser control unit 25 increases the level of intimidation by irradiation by changing the laser irradiation mode from the first mode to the second mode and the third mode in that order. In the first mode shown in FIG. 4(A), the laser is irradiated within a range of 30 cm around the crow, which is the object of avoidance. As shown in FIG. 4(A), the focus 82 of the laser light is near the crow but at a position other than the entire body of the crow. In this way, in the first mode, the laser light is not directly irradiated on the whole body of the crow, but is irradiated on a circumference of about 30 cm around the crow or on the vicinity of the feet. Next, if the crow does not run away even after a predetermined time, for example, 3 seconds, has elapsed since the start of irradiation in this first mode, the laser light is irradiated in the next second mode. In the second mode laser irradiation, the laser light is irradiated on the vicinity of the center of gravity of the whole body of the crow. As shown in FIG. 4(B), the focal point 82 of the laser light is located on the chest near the center of gravity of the whole body of the crow. Next, if the crow does not run away even after a predetermined time, for example, 3 seconds, has elapsed since the start of irradiation in the second mode, the laser light is irradiated in the third mode. In the third mode laser irradiation, the laser light is irradiated on the head of the crow, especially on the vicinity of the eyes of the crow. As shown in FIG. 4(C), the focal point 82 of the laser light is located on the eyes of the crow. Since the crow is moving, the laser light continues to be irradiated while tracking it. Also, the diameter of the focus 82 of the laser light is slightly larger in Figures 4(A) and (B) and slightly smaller in Figure 4(C), but the diameter of the focus may or may not change with the change in mode.

[0023] [Processing of bird and animal repellent system] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a process flow of the bird and animal repellent device 10 constituting the bird and animal repellent system 1. When the bird and animal repellent system 1 is operated, a camera at a fixed position starts monitoring the monitoring area (step 1). Next, the detection unit 22 detects that the target A has entered the monitoring area (step 2). The determination unit 23 checks whether the detected target A matches the feature amount such as the shape of the bird or animal to be repellent, that is, determines whether the target A is the target to be repellent (step 3). If the determination unit 23 determines that the target A is not the bird or animal to be repellent, the process returns to before step 2, and if it determines that the target A is the target to be repellent, the tracking control unit 24 identifies the head and feet of the target A and starts tracking it (step 4). Then, the laser control unit 25 irradiates a laser light to a radius of about 20 cm around the feet of the target A as a warning (step 5). The laser control unit 25 determines whether the target A has gone out of the frame from the imaging range after a predetermined time has elapsed (step 6). If the target A is out of the frame, the process returns to before step 2. If the target A is not out of the frame, the laser control unit 25 flashes the laser light toward the whole body (near the center of gravity) of the target A (step 7). The laser control unit 25 judges whether the target A is out of the frame from the imaging range after a predetermined time has elapsed (step 8). If the target A is out of the frame, the process returns to before step 2. If the target A is not out of the frame, the laser control unit 25 irradiates the laser light toward the head of the target A (step 9). The laser control unit 25 judges whether the target A is out of the frame from the imaging range after a predetermined time has elapsed (step 10). If the target A is out of the frame, the process proceeds to step 11. If the target A is not out of the frame, the laser control unit 25 returns to before step 5. The type of bird or animal of the target A, the irradiation history of the laser light, the mode, etc. when the target A is out of the frame are stored in the storage unit 33. Next, it is judged whether to end the monitoring (step 11). If the monitoring is to be continued, the process returns to before step 2. If not, the operation of the bird and animal repellent system is ended (END).

[0024] In this embodiment, the illumination mode changes after a predetermined time has elapsed, but this is not necessarily limited to a change in the direction that increases the intimidation caused by the illumination, and it is sufficient that the illumination mode changes.

[0025] In addition, in this embodiment, the case where the bird or animal to be avoided is single has been described, but multiple birds and animals can be simultaneously tracked. In that case, the laser irradiation for each of the multiple birds and animals may be performed by multiple laser oscillators 6, or one laser oscillator may be used to irradiate the target birds and animals in sequence at predetermined intervals. Since the present invention can track multiple birds and animals, it is possible to change the irradiation mode while tracking each bird and animal. For example, when bird and animal A and bird and animal B, which have different frame-in times, are in a monitoring area, laser control is possible in which the bird and animal A that has just entered the frame is irradiated in the first mode, while another bird and animal that entered the frame earlier is irradiated in the third mode at the same time.

[0026] Furthermore, when a plurality of other laser oscillators 6 are provided, it is also possible to adopt an embodiment in which laser beams are emitted simultaneously in different modes on the same target bird or animal, such that one laser oscillator 6 irradiates the whole body of the target bird or animal with laser light, and another laser oscillator 6 irradiates the head of the target bird or animal with laser light. By irradiating laser beams from the plurality of laser oscillators 6 simultaneously, the bird or animal becomes more startled and escapes than if it were irradiated with a single laser beam.

[0027] In the description of this embodiment, the memory units for storing data have been described as the memory unit 13 of the bird and animal repellent device 10 and the memory unit 33 of the management server 30, but the location of the memory unit is not limited to this, and it is also possible to use the storage on the cloud as appropriate.

[0028] Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a bird and animal repellent system to which another embodiment of the present invention is applied. The bird and animal repellent system of Fig. 6 further includes slave devices such as a speaker 7, an ultrasonic wave generator 8, and an LED irradiation device 9 in addition to the configuration shown in Fig. 1. A control unit 11 serves as a slave device control unit (not shown) and controls the slave devices such as the speaker 7, the ultrasonic wave generator 8, and the LED irradiation device 9. The above configuration enables a combined intimidation attack in which a main device that performs laser irradiation and the slave devices are operated in conjunction with each other.

[0029] The control unit 11 generates a threatening sound from the speaker 7 to the bird or animal to be repelled. The threatening sound is generated according to the bird or animal to be repelled. For example, the threatening sound may be a low frequency sound of 100 to 130 Hz that is said to dislike bears, a high frequency sound of 4000 Hz that is the sound of a bear bell used for mountain climbing, or a growl of a wild animal. The control unit 11 may determine the type of bird or animal to be repelled from the image captured by the imaging unit 18, and generate a threatening sound according to the type of bird or animal from the speaker 7. In addition, in the processing flow of the bird and animal repelling device 10 in FIG. 5, the degree of threatening can be strengthened by increasing the volume of the sound together with the laser irradiation mode.

[0030] The control unit 11 causes the ultrasonic generator 8 to generate ultrasonic waves toward the bird or animal to be repelled. The frequency band of the ultrasonic waves is about 2 MHz to 20 MHz, which is inaudible to humans. Since the ultrasonic waves are outside the range audible to humans, they can scare off the bird or animal to be repelled without causing discomfort to humans. The control unit 11 may determine the type of the bird or animal to be repelled from the image captured by the imaging unit 18, and cause the ultrasonic generator 8 to generate ultrasonic waves of a wavelength according to the type of bird or animal. In addition, in the processing flow of the bird or animal repelling device 10 in FIG. 5, the level of scare can be increased by increasing the volume of the ultrasonic sound together with the laser irradiation mode.

[0031] The control unit 11 causes the LED irradiation device 9 to irradiate LED light onto the bird or animal to be repelled. The control unit 11 may determine the type of bird or animal to be repelled from the image captured by the imaging unit 18, and cause the LED irradiation device 9 to irradiate LED light with an irradiation pattern and intensity according to the type of bird or animal. In addition, in the processing flow of the bird or animal repelling device 10 in Fig. 5, the degree of intimidation can be increased by changing the LED light intensity and irradiation pattern (color, flash frequency, etc.) along with the laser irradiation mode.

[0032] Data such as whether the repelling bird or animal escapes due to the above-mentioned laser irradiation, threatening sound, ultrasonic wave, LED irradiation, etc., the type of bird or animal, the type and mode of threatening, etc. are stored in the storage unit 33. The historical data stored in the storage unit 33 can be used as teacher data to train a learning model that outputs the optimal repelling means and mode for each type of bird or animal. The learning model may be a neural network, a support vector machine, a regression equation, a decision tree, etc. Then, the control unit 11 can control the repelling bird or animal to be repelled the next time it visits using the effective type and mode of threatening determined by the machine-learned model. [Explanation of symbols]

[0033] 1...Bird and animal repellent system, 2...Control device, 3...Solar panel, 4...Antenna, 5...Camera, 6...Laser oscillator, 7...Speaker, 8...Ultrasonic generator, 9...LED irradiation device, 10...Bird and animal repellent device, 11...Control unit, 12...Memory, 13...Storage unit, 14...Communication unit, 15...Operation unit, 16...Display unit, 17...Display control unit, 18...Imaging unit, 19...Laser oscillation unit, 20...Reception unit, 21...Output unit, 22...Detection unit, 23...Determination unit, 24...Tracking control unit, 25...Laser control unit, 30...Management server, 31...Control unit, 32...Memory, 33...Storage unit, 34...Communication unit, 35...Operation unit, 36...Display unit, 37...Display control unit, 50...Network

Claims

1. An imaging unit; A laser irradiation unit; A determination unit that determines which birds and animals are to be avoided from the images captured by the imaging unit; A tracking control unit that tracks the bird or animal; A laser control unit that changes a mode for irradiating a laser light while tracking the bird or animal; A bird and animal repellent system.

2. The bird / animal repellent system according to claim 1 , wherein the laser control unit controls the laser light to be irradiated onto the feet or the surroundings of the feet of the bird / animal until a predetermined time has elapsed since the bird / animal is identified.

3. The laser control unit controls the laser light to be flashed on and off to the entire body of the bird or animal during a predetermined time period based on the time when the bird or animal is identified. The bird and animal repellent system according to claim 1.

4. The laser control unit controls the laser light to be irradiated onto a head of the bird or animal during a predetermined time period based on a time when the bird or animal is identified. The bird and animal repellent system according to claim 1.

5. Further, the present invention includes a slave device selected from the group consisting of a speaker, an ultrasonic generator, and an LED irradiation device, A determination unit that determines the type of bird or animal to be avoided from the image captured by the imaging unit; The slave device control unit controls the slave device according to the type of the bird or animal. The bird and animal repellent system according to claim 1.

Images