Unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicle pairs, and unmanned aerial vehicle groups

Abstract

To enable an aircraft parking space required for parking a plurality of unmanned flight vehicles to be reduced.SOLUTION: Outer frames 223 of image display devices 220 turnably mounted on flight vehicle main bodies 210 are provided with receiving tables 226 on which the outer frames 223 of other unmanned flight vehicles which are ready to land can be placed. This enables the unmanned flight vehicles 20 and 20 to stand-by while being lapped on each other, which enables the plurality of unmanned flight vehicles 20 and 20 to be parked in a parking space for one flight vehicle. This can reduce a flight vehicle parking space that is required for parking the plurality of unmanned flight vehicles 20 and 20.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to unmanned air vehicles, unmanned air vehicle pairs consisting of two unmanned air vehicles, and unmanned air vehicle fleets consisting of three or more unmanned air vehicles. In particular, the present invention relates to a structure of multiple unmanned air vehicles to improve parking conditions of the unmanned air vehicles. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, unmanned aerial vehicles (generally called drones) are known for use in ground observation, cargo transportation, etc. In addition, cooperative control of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles is also known as one of the uses of unmanned aerial vehicles.

[0003] Patent Document 1 discloses a method for generating multi-viewpoint video in which a subject is photographed from different viewpoints at the same time by cooperatively controlling a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with cameras. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2020-147105 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Incidentally, when using multiple unmanned aerial vehicles as described above, a parking space (site for parking) is required to land (standby) the multiple unmanned aerial vehicles before the start of flight or after the end of flight. In the conventional technology, each unmanned aerial vehicle was parked in a state where it had landed on the ground. For this reason, a parking space (site area) equivalent to the size of the unmanned aerial vehicle in plan view was required for each unmanned aerial vehicle. In other words, as the number of unmanned aerial vehicles increases, a parking space with a large space (site area) equivalent to the number of the unmanned aerial vehicles is required. For example, when parking dozens or more unmanned aerial vehicles, a large parking space is required, which poses a major problem in terms of practicality.

[0006] This issue arises not only when multiple unmanned aerial vehicles that are controlled in a coordinated manner are parked in a parking space, but also when multiple unmanned aerial vehicles that are not based on coordinated control (multiple unmanned aerial vehicles that are based on individual flight) are parked in a parking space.

[0007] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and its object is to provide an unmanned aerial vehicle that can reduce the parking space required when parking multiple unmanned aerial vehicles. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The solution of the present invention for achieving the above object is based on an unmanned aerial vehicle that has an aircraft body and rotors and flies with the rotation of the rotors. The unmanned aerial vehicle has a stacking support means that allows other unmanned aerial vehicles to be placed on it when it is in a landing state. an image display device rotatably attached to the aircraft body and having a display surface for displaying an image; and a rotation position adjustment actuator that adjusts the rotation position of the image display device relative to the aircraft body to change the orientation of the display surface, the overlapping support means being provided to extend in a direction perpendicular to the extension direction of the image display device, and when the aircraft is in a landing state, the image display device is placed in a parallel state to the aircraft body by the operation of the rotation position adjustment actuator, and the overlapping support means is configured to extend upward from the image display device. It is characterized by:

[0009] This specification allows other unmanned aerial vehicles to be placed on the upper side of the stacking support means of a landing unmanned aerial vehicle, and the unmanned aerial vehicles can be parked in a vertically stacked state. In other words, it becomes possible to park multiple unmanned aerial vehicles in a parking space for one vehicle. This makes it possible to reduce the parking space required when parking multiple unmanned aerial vehicles. Specifically, by operating the rotational position adjustment actuator to make the image display device parallel to the aircraft body, and extending the stacking support means upward from the image display device, another unmanned aircraft can be placed on top of this stacking support means and the unmanned aircraft can be kept waiting in a vertically stacked position.

[0010] In addition, the overlapping support means has a contact support point with which the other unmanned aerial vehicle abuts when placed on the other unmanned aerial vehicle, the contact support point being located above the upper end position of the aerial vehicle main body.

[0011] As a result, when another unmanned aerial vehicle is placed on the stacking support means of the unmanned aerial vehicle, the upper unmanned aerial vehicle (the other unmanned aerial vehicle) is supported at a position higher than the upper end position of the aircraft body of the lower unmanned aerial vehicle, thereby suppressing interference between the aircraft bodies of each unmanned aerial vehicle and making it possible to stably stack each unmanned aerial vehicle one above the other.

[0012] The unmanned aerial vehicle also has a frame-shaped frame, and the overlapping support means are arranged at multiple locations along the extension direction of the outer edge of the frame, and each overlapping support means is configured to have a frame-shaped frame provided on the other unmanned aerial vehicle placed on it.

[0013] According to this, the unmanned aerial vehicle that is stacked on top can be supported at multiple locations (multiple stacking support means) to obtain a stable support state. Therefore, it is possible to increase the number of unmanned aerial vehicles that can be stacked.

[0014] In addition, a V-shaped receiving portion made of a pair of wire rods inclined upward in opposite directions is provided at the upper end of the overlapping support means when the aircraft is in the landing state.

[0015] When an unmanned aerial vehicle in flight (the other unmanned aerial vehicle) is lowered and placed on the overlapping support means of an unmanned aerial vehicle that has already landed, even if the positional accuracy (horizontal positional accuracy) of this unmanned aerial vehicle (the descending unmanned aerial vehicle) is not sufficiently obtained, the unmanned aerial vehicle can be placed on the overlapping support means if a part of the unmanned aerial vehicle (the part to be placed on the overlapping support means) fits between the upper ends of the pair of wire rods of the receiving part (between the upper ends of the V shape). Therefore, high accuracy is not required for the positional accuracy of the descending unmanned aerial vehicle, and the burden of information processing on the control system when controlling the descent can be reduced.

[0018] The stacking support means is equipped with a gripping mechanism that grips the other unmanned aerial vehicle when the other unmanned aerial vehicle is placed on it.

[0019] Simply stacking multiple unmanned aerial vehicles makes it difficult to transport these unmanned aerial vehicles simultaneously. For example, it is difficult to simultaneously transport multiple unmanned aerial vehicles onto a truck for transporting them to another location. In view of this, the present solution provides the stacking support means with a gripping mechanism, which allows the stacked multiple unmanned aerial vehicles to be integrally connected. This makes it easy to transport multiple unmanned aerial vehicles simultaneously.

[0020] The technical concept of the present invention also includes an unmanned aerial vehicle pair consisting of two unmanned aerial vehicles. That is, the unmanned aerial vehicle pair is composed of a lower unmanned aerial vehicle and an upper unmanned aerial vehicle, each of which has an aerial vehicle body and rotors, and which are stacked one on top of the other in the landing state, the lower unmanned aerial vehicle is provided with a stacking support means that allows the upper unmanned aerial vehicle to be placed on the lower unmanned aerial vehicle in the landing state, and the upper unmanned aerial vehicle is provided with a placement part that can be placed on the stacking support means. The lower unmanned aerial vehicle is provided with floodlights at a plurality of locations for emitting light vertically upward when in a landing state, and light detection means capable of detecting light from the floodlights are provided at each location on the upper unmanned aerial vehicle facing the locations of the floodlights when it is assumed that the upper unmanned aerial vehicle is placed above the lower unmanned aerial vehicle without any misalignment, and the upper unmanned aerial vehicle is provided with a stack control unit that controls the rotation of the rotors of the upper unmanned aerial vehicle so that the upper unmanned aerial vehicle descends toward the lower unmanned aerial vehicle while maintaining a state in which each light detection means detects the light from the floodlight. It is a pair of unmanned aerial vehicles.

[0021] This also makes it possible to place the upper unmanned aerial vehicle on the upper side of the stacking support means of the lower unmanned aerial vehicle (the one that has already landed) and have these unmanned aerial vehicles wait in a vertically stacked state. This makes it possible to reduce the parking space required when parking these unmanned aerial vehicles. In addition, in order to place the upper unmanned aerial vehicle on the upper unmanned aerial vehicle without misalignment, it is necessary to lower the upper unmanned aerial vehicle while recognizing the position of the lower unmanned aerial vehicle. In this solution, a plurality of projectors and light detection means are provided to achieve this. That is, each light detection means provided on the upper unmanned aerial vehicle controls the descent of the upper unmanned aerial vehicle by the stack control unit while maintaining a state in which it detects light from the projector of the lower unmanned aerial vehicle. Since each projector is disposed at a position opposite to the position of each projector when it is assumed that the upper unmanned aerial vehicle is placed on the upper side of the lower unmanned aerial vehicle without misalignment while maintaining the above-mentioned detection state, these unmanned aerial vehicles will be superimposed without misalignment. This allows each unmanned aerial vehicle to be stably superimposed vertically.

[0024] In addition, a group of unmanned aerial vehicles consisting of three or more unmanned aerial vehicles is also within the scope of the technical concept of the present invention. To provide an unmanned aerial vehicle that has an aerial vehicle body and rotors and flies with the rotation of the rotors, and allows other unmanned aerial vehicles to be placed on the unmanned aerial vehicle in a landing state. A group of unmanned aerial vehicles comprising a stacking support means, a mounting section that can be placed on the stacking support means of the unmanned aerial vehicle located below, spotlights provided at multiple locations and that emit light vertically upward when in a landing state, light detection means provided vertically below each of the spotlights and capable of detecting light emitted from the spotlight of the unmanned aerial vehicle located below, and a stack control unit that controls the rotation of the rotor blades so that the unmanned aerial vehicle descends toward the unmanned aerial vehicle located below while maintaining a state in which each of the light detection means detects light from the spotlight of the unmanned aerial vehicle located below.

[0025] This specification also makes it possible to overlap unmanned aerial vehicles without misalignment, as in the case described above. In other words, it is possible to overlap each unmanned aerial vehicle without misalignment even in an unmanned aerial vehicle group consisting of three or more unmanned aerial vehicles. Effect of the Invention

[0026] In the present invention, the unmanned aerial vehicle is provided with a stacking support means that allows other unmanned aerial vehicles to be placed on it when it is in a landing state. Therefore, the unmanned aerial vehicles can be kept waiting in a vertically stacked state, and multiple unmanned aerial vehicles can be parked in a parking space for one vehicle. As a result, the parking space required when parking multiple unmanned aerial vehicles can be reduced. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0027] [Figure 1]A diagram showing the general configuration of an aerial image display system including multiple unmanned aerial vehicles and a management server according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2] An oblique view showing an example of a flying state of an unmanned aerial vehicle. [Diagram 3] 2 is an oblique view showing the image display device of the unmanned aerial vehicle in a horizontal position. FIG. [Figure 4] 2 is a perspective view showing the image display device of the unmanned aerial vehicle in a vertical position. FIG. [Diagram 5] A side view showing a stacked state of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control system of an unmanned aerial vehicle. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control system of the management server. [Figure 8] This is an image diagram showing an example of an aerial image display state by a group of unmanned aerial vehicles. [Figure 9] A flowchart showing the procedure for stacking operation of an unmanned aerial vehicle. [Figure 10] A diagram to explain the stacking operation of an unmanned aerial vehicle. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a view equivalent to FIG. 10 in the first modified example. [Figure 12] FIG. 11 is a view equivalent to FIG. 2 in a second modified example. [Figure 13] FIG. 5 is a view equivalent to FIG. 3 in a second modified example. [Figure 14] FIG. 5 is a view equivalent to FIG. 4 in a second modified example. [Figure 15] FIG. 7 is a view equivalent to FIG. 6 in a third modified example. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0028] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, an unmanned aerial vehicle according to the present invention (an unmanned aerial vehicle configured to be able to carry other unmanned aerial vehicles) is provided with an image display device and is used to display images in the air by a group of unmanned aerial vehicles consisting of multiple other unmanned aerial vehicles.

[0029] First, the configuration of an aerial image display system for displaying images in the air using a group of unmanned flying vehicles will be described.

[0030] <System configuration> FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an aerial image display system 10 according to this embodiment.

[0031] The aerial image display system 10 is configured as a system including a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles (also called drones or autonomous flying robots) 20, 20, ..., and a management server 30 that manages these unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ....

[0032] Each of these unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... and the management server 30 can communicate by wireless communication via a multi-carrier base station such as LTE (Long Term Evolution), 4G (fourth generation), 5G (fifth generation), etc. This communication transmits and receives various information for controlling the flight state of each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ..., controlling the image display in the air (controlling the image display on the display surface of the image display device 220 provided on each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ...) described later, and controlling the rotational position of the image display device 220 provided on each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, .... In this embodiment, each piece of information is transmitted from the management server 30 to each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ...; however, the present invention is not limited to this, and the system may be configured in such a way that each piece of information is stored in each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ..., or a system may be configured in which some of this information is transmitted from the management server 30 to each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ... and other information is stored in each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ....

[0033] -Unmanned aerial vehicle configuration- The unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... each have the same configuration. Therefore, one (single) unmanned aerial vehicle 20 will be described here as a representative.

[0034] The unmanned aerial vehicle 20 is a multicopter with multiple rotors (rotating wings) 212, 212, ... evenly arranged around the aircraft body 210. Specifically, it is configured as a quadcopter with four rotors 212, 212, .... Note that the unmanned aerial vehicle may also be a hexacopter with six rotors, an optocopter with eight rotors, or the like. It may also be a small unmanned aerial vehicle of a single rotor type. The configuration of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 according to this embodiment will be described below.

[0035] FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of a flight state of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20. In the following description, the X direction in FIG. 2 is referred to as the left-right direction of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20, the X1 direction side in the figure is referred to as the left side, and the X2 direction side in the figure is referred to as the right side. The Y direction in FIG. 2 is referred to as the front-rear direction of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20, the Y1 direction side in the figure is referred to as the front side, and the Y2 direction side in the figure is referred to as the rear side. The Z direction in FIG. 2 is referred to as the up-down direction of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20, the Z1 direction side in the figure is referred to as the upper side, and the Z2 direction side in the figure is referred to as the lower side.

[0036] As shown in FIG. 2, the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 includes an air vehicle main body 210, an image display device 220, and a rotation mechanism 230.

[0037] The aircraft body 210 is configured in a frame shape in which four frame members 210a, 210b, 210c, and 210d are connected in a rectangular shape in a plan view. Of the four frame members 210a, 210b, 210c, and 210d, the one located on the front side (Y1 direction side) of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 and extending in the left-right direction (X direction) is the front frame member 210a, and the one located on the rear side (Y2 direction side) of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 and extending in the left-right direction (X direction) is the rear frame member 210b. In addition, the one located on the left side (X1 direction side) of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 and extending in the front-rear direction (Y direction) is the left frame member 210c, and the one located on the right side (X2 direction side) of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 and extending in the front-rear direction (Y direction) is the right frame member 210d.

[0038] Motors 211, 211, ... having a rotating shaft that can rotate around a vertical axis are provided at the connection parts (at each corner part of the aircraft body 210) between each of the frame members 210a, 210b, 210c, 210d, and rotors 212, 212, ... are attached to the rotating shafts of these motors 211, 211, .... The rotors 212, 212 adjacent to each other via the frame members 210a, 210b, 210c, 210d can rotate in opposite directions. As a result, the rotors 212, 212, ... rotate in accordance with the operation of the motors 211, 211, ..., generating lift, and enabling the unmanned aircraft 20 to fly. In addition, the rotation speed of each motor 211, 211, ... can be individually controlled to move the unmanned aircraft 20 in the horizontal direction and change its attitude.

[0039] The image display device 220 is rotatably attached to the aircraft body 210 via a rotation mechanism 230. In the following description, the H direction in Fig. 2 is referred to as the first direction of the image display device 220, the H1 direction side in the figure is referred to as the left side, and the H2 direction side in the figure is referred to as the right side. The L direction in Fig. 2 is referred to as the second direction of the image display device 220, the L1 direction side in the figure is referred to as the base end side, and the L2 direction side in the figure is referred to as the tip end side.

[0040] The image display device 220 includes a device frame 221 and a plurality of display devices (self-luminous display devices) 222, 222, . . . (only some of the display devices 222, 222, . . . are shown in FIG. 2).

[0041] The device frame 221 includes an outer frame 223, a plurality of vertical frames 224, 224, ..., and link frames 225L, 225R. The outer frame 223 is configured in a frame shape in which four frame members 223a, 223b, 223c, 223d are connected in a rectangular shape. Of the four frame members 223a, 223b, 223c, 223d, the one located on the base end side (L1 direction side) of the image display device 220 and extending in the first direction (H direction) is the first frame member 223a, and the one located on the tip end side (L2 direction side) of the image display device 220 and extending in the first direction (H direction) is the second frame member 223b. Moreover, the third frame member 223c is located on the left side (H1 direction side) of the image display device 220 and extends in the second direction (L direction), and the fourth frame member 223d is located on the right side (H2 direction side) of the image display device 220 and extends in the second direction (L direction). The dimensions of the first direction (H direction) and the second direction (L direction) of this outer frame 223 are set to be approximately the same. For example, they are set to 3000 mm. This value is not limited to this. The dimension of the image display device 220 in the first direction (H direction) is set to be longer than the dimension of the aircraft body 210 in the left-right direction (X direction) by a predetermined dimension, and the dimension of the image display device 220 in the second direction (L direction) is set to be longer than the dimension of the aircraft body 210 in the front-rear direction (Y direction) by a predetermined dimension. In other words, the outer shape of the image display device 220 is set to be larger than the outer shape of the aircraft body 210. This configuration allows even an unmanned aerial vehicle 20 having a small aerial vehicle body 210 to be equipped with a large image display device 220, and when multiple unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... perform image display in the air, it makes it possible to reduce the gap between each of the image display devices 220, 220, ... while avoiding interference (contact) between the aerial vehicle bodies 210, 210, ... of each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, .... Note that the outer frame 223 may have dimensions in the first direction (H direction) and the second direction (L direction) that are different from each other.

[0042] Seven of the vertical frames 224, 224, ... are installed at predetermined intervals in the first direction (H direction) between the first frame member 223a and the second frame member 223b. These vertical frames 224, 224, ... function as fixing parts for the display devices 222, 222, ... described later. The number of vertical frames 224 is not limited to this, and is appropriately set depending on the strength required for the image display device 220 and the number of display devices 222, 222, ... to be attached.

[0043] The link frames 225L, 225R are portions that become the connecting portions of the link mechanisms 232L, 232R described later, and include a left link frame 225L located on the left side (H1 direction side) and a right link frame 225R located on the right side (H2 direction side). The left link frame 225L has a first portion 225La extending along the second direction (L direction), and second portions 225Lb, 225Lb extending from both ends (both ends in the L direction) of the first portion 225La to the left side (H1 direction side) and connected to the third frame member 223c. Similarly, the right link frame 225R has a first portion 225Ra extending along the second direction (L direction), and second portions 225Rb, 225Rb extending from both ends (both ends in the L direction) of the first portion 225Ra to the right side (H2 direction side) and connected to the fourth frame member 223d.

[0044] The display devices 222, 222, ... are attached to the vertical frames 224, 224, ... and are arranged in a matrix with seven display devices arranged in each of the first direction (H direction) and the second direction (L direction). In other words, the image display device 220 is provided with a total of 49 display devices 222, 222, .... The number of display devices 222 is not limited to this and can be set arbitrarily. In addition, the number of display devices arranged in the first direction (H direction) and the number of display devices arranged in the second direction (L direction) may be different from each other.

[0045] In addition, each display device 222, 222, ... is arranged so that a predetermined gap is created between adjacent display devices 222, 222. This is to allow wind (air) to pass between the display devices 222, 222 while the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 is flying, and to allow wind (wind for generating lift) from the rotors 212, 212, ... to pass when the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 is ascending (ascending in the state shown in FIG. 3).

[0046] Each display device 222 includes a display panel equipped with a plurality of LED elements (hereinafter, sometimes simply referred to as LEDs), not shown, a circuit board for controlling the light emission of each LED element, and the like. That is, each display device 222, 222, ... is configured to display an image according to image information (image information to be displayed on the display panel) transmitted from the management server 30 and received by the unmanned aerial vehicle 20. In this embodiment, high-brightness LEDs are used as the LEDs, and the displayed image can be viewed (for example, viewed from the ground) not only at night but also during the day. In addition, the brightness may be changed according to the surrounding brightness. In addition, organic EL (organic electro-luminescence) can be used instead of LEDs.

[0047] The rotation mechanism 230 rotatably mounts the image display device 220 to the aircraft body 210, and includes two rotation arms 231L, 231R that connect the image display device 220 and the aircraft body 210, and a pair of link mechanisms 232L, 232R.

[0048] Each of the rotating arms 231L, 231R connects the first frame member 223a of the image display device 220 to the front frame member 210a of the aircraft main body 210. Servo motors (rotation position adjustment actuators in the present invention) 233L, 233R are built into the connecting portions of the rotating arms 231L, 231R with the front frame member 210a, and the image display device 220 can be rotated with respect to the aircraft main body 210 by the operation of the servo motors 233L, 233R to rotate the rotating arms 231L, 231R relatively to the front frame member 210a. For example, the stators of the servo motors 233L, 233R are connected to the front frame member 210a, and the rotors are connected to the rotating arms 231L, 231R, respectively. In addition, by adjusting the rotational positions of the servo motors 233L, 233R, it is possible to set the rotational position of the image display device 220 relative to the aircraft body 210 (the rotational attitude of the image display device 220 relative to the aircraft body 210) to any position.

[0049] Each of the link mechanisms 232L, 232R is composed of a left link mechanism 232L and a right link mechanism 232R. The left link mechanism 232L has one end of a first link 232La rotatably connected to the left frame member 210c of the aircraft body 210, and one end of a second link 232Lb rotatably connected to a first part 225La of a frame 225L for a left link of the image display device 220, and the other ends of these links are connected to each other so as to be able to rotate relative to each other. Similarly, the right link mechanism 232R has one end of a first link 232Ra rotatably connected to the right frame member 210d of the aircraft body 210, and the other ends of the second link 232Rb rotatably connected to a first part 225Ra of a frame 225R for a right link of the image display device 220, and the other ends of these links are connected to each other so as to be able to rotate relative to each other. When the image display device 220 rotates relative to the aircraft body 210 by the operation of the servo motors 233L, 233R, the first link 232La (232Ra) and the second link 232Lb (232Rb) of each link mechanism 232L, 232R rotate relatively to stabilize the rotational movement of the image display device 220. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which the image display device 220 rotates relative to the aircraft body 210 and assumes a horizontal position. In this case, the image display device 220 is located below the aircraft body 210, the extension direction of the image display device 220 and the extension direction of the aircraft body 210 are parallel to each other, and the angle formed between the extension direction of the first link 232La (232Ra) and the extension direction of the second link 232Lb (232Rb) of each link mechanism 232L, 232R is the smallest. 4 is a perspective view showing a state in which the image display device 220 has rotated relative to the aircraft body 210 and is in a vertical position. In this case, the extension direction of the image display device 220 and the extension direction of the aircraft body 210 are perpendicular to each other, and the extension direction of the first link 232La (232Ra) and the extension direction of the second link 232Lb (232Rb) of each link mechanism 232L, 232R are on the same straight line.

[0050] As described above, the aerial image display system 10 according to this embodiment displays images in the air using a group of unmanned aerial vehicles consisting of a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, .... For this reason, a parking space is required to land (standby) the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... before the start of flight or after the end of flight. In the conventional technology, each unmanned aerial vehicle was parked in a state where it had landed on the ground. For this reason, a parking space equivalent to the size of the unmanned aerial vehicle in plan view was required for each unmanned aerial vehicle. In other words, as the number of unmanned aerial vehicles increases, a parking space large enough to accommodate the number of the unmanned aerial vehicles is required. For example, when parking dozens or more unmanned aerial vehicles, a large parking space is required, which poses a major problem in terms of practicality.

[0051] In this embodiment, a stack structure is provided that makes it possible to reduce the parking space required when parking multiple unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ....

[0052] This stack structure is a structure for stacking multiple unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... one above the other and waiting. Figure 5 is a side view showing the stacked state of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, .... In the stacked state as shown in Figure 5, the image display device 220 rotates relative to the aircraft body 210 and assumes a horizontal position (the position shown in Figure 3), and in this state the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... are stacked one above the other. This stack structure will be described below.

[0053] As shown in FIG. 3, the stack structure includes a plurality of receiving tables (stacking support means) 226, 226, . . . provided on an outer frame 223 of an image display device 220, and near-infrared cameras (light detection means) 227, 227, .

[0054] The receiving pedestals 226, 226, ... are disposed so as to protrude in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction (upward when the image display device 220 is in a horizontal position as shown in FIG. 3: upward perpendicular to each of the first direction H and the second direction L) at a longitudinal intermediate portion of each of the frame members 223a to 223d of the outer frame 223. Each of the receiving pedestals 226, 226, ... includes a pillar portion 226a extending vertically in the state shown in FIG. 3, and a receiving portion 226b provided on the upper portion of the pillar portion 226a.

[0055] The height dimension of the pillar portion 226a is set so that the upper end position of the pillar portion 226a is located above the upper end position of the aircraft main body 210 in the state shown in Figure 3 (state in which the image display device 220 is in a horizontal position).

[0056] The receiving portion 226b is configured in a V-shape by a pair of wires 226c, 226c that incline upward in opposite directions in the state shown in Fig. 3. Specifically, the wires 226c, 226c of the receiving bases 226, 226 provided on the first frame member 223a and the second frame member 223b are inclined upward in opposite directions in the second direction (L direction). Also, the wires 226c, 226c of the receiving bases 226, 226 provided on the third frame member 223c and the fourth frame member 223d are inclined upward in opposite directions in the first direction (H direction).

[0057] Furthermore, an LED (projector) 226d that radiates near-infrared rays upward is provided at the connection portion (bottom portion of receiver 226b) between pillar portion 226a and receiver 226b. Specifically, LED 226d is housed in a recess provided at the center of receiver 226b. The arrangement of LED 226d is not limited to this, and LED 226d may be arranged to protrude from the center of receiver 226b.

[0058] On the other hand, the near-infrared cameras 227, 227, ... are disposed in the middle of the longitudinal direction of each of the frame members 223a to 223d of the outer frame 223, facing in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction (downward when the image display device 220 is in a horizontal position as shown in FIG. 3). That is, they are disposed so as to detect near-infrared rays downward. Specifically, the near-infrared cameras 227 are housed in recesses provided on the lower surfaces of the frame members 223a to 223d. The arrangement of the near-infrared cameras 227 is not limited to this, and they may be disposed so as to protrude from the lower surfaces of the frame members 223a to 223d. In this way, the position of the receiving stand 226 and the position of the near-infrared camera 227 are the same in each frame member 223a-223d, the receiving stand 226 has the function of receiving the outer frame 223 of another unmanned aerial vehicle 20 descending from above and the function of emitting near-infrared rays upward, and the near-infrared camera 227 has the function of detecting near-infrared rays below. This corresponds to the configuration referred to in the present invention in which "light detection means capable of detecting light from a projector are provided at each position of the upper unmanned aerial vehicle facing the position of each projector when it is assumed that the upper unmanned aerial vehicle is placed above the lower unmanned aerial vehicle without any misalignment."

[0059] Therefore, when the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 in flight lands above the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 already parked at the parking area to overlap the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, the near-infrared cameras 227, 227, ... mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 in flight detect near-infrared rays emitted from the LEDs 226d, 226d, ... of the parked unmanned aerial vehicle 20, and the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 is descended while maintaining the state in which all the near-infrared cameras 227, 227, ... detect the near-infrared rays, so that the descending unmanned aerial vehicle 20 can be superimposed on the parked unmanned aerial vehicle 20 (superimposed without positional deviation in plan view). In other words, the outer frame 223 (the mounting part in the present invention) of the image display device 220 of the descending unmanned aerial vehicle 20 can be superimposed by receiving it with the receiving part 226b of the receiving stand 226 of the parked unmanned aerial vehicle 20. By descending the unmanned aerial vehicles 20 sequentially in this manner so that they overlap each other, it is possible to stack multiple unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... one on top of the other, as shown in Figure 5, making it possible to reduce the area required for parking.

[0060] -Unmanned aerial vehicle control system- Next, the control system of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 will be described. The control system of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 described below is one example, and the control system of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 according to the present invention is not limited to the following. The unmanned aerial vehicle 20 receives information related to the flight path, information for image display, and information for controlling the rotational attitude of the image display device 220 from the management server 30, and is controlled to fly along a predetermined flight path, and the image display on the image display device 220 and the rotational attitude of the image display device 220 are controlled.

[0061] 6 is a block diagram showing a control system of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 according to this embodiment. As shown in this Fig. 6, the control system of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 includes a position and attitude sensor 21, a communication unit 22, a storage unit 23, and a control unit 24.

[0062] (Position and orientation sensor) The position and attitude sensor 21 is a sensor for acquiring the current position and attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20. The position and attitude sensor 21 includes, for example, a receiver for receiving radio waves (navigation signals) transmitted from navigation satellites (artificial satellites) such as GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), an acceleration sensor for measuring acceleration, an electronic compass for measuring orientation, and a gyro sensor for measuring angular velocity. Specifically, in the position and attitude sensor 21, the receiver receives navigation signals transmitted from multiple navigation satellites and outputs them to the control unit 24, and also outputs measurement signals by the electronic compass and the gyro sensor to the control unit 24. Based on these signals, the control unit 24 calculates the current position and attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20. In particular, in this embodiment, positioning is performed by RTK (Real Time Kinematic) to improve the detection accuracy of the current position of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20. Note that, as a means for acquiring information for obtaining the current position and attitude, a laser scanner and an air pressure sensor may be used instead of the receiver.

[0063] (Communications Department) The communication unit 22 is a communication module for communicating with the management server 30. As described above, information related to the flight path, information for image display, and information for controlling the rotational attitude of the image display device 220 are transmitted from the management server 30, and the communication unit 22 receives this information and outputs it to the control unit 24. In addition, the communication unit 22 outputs each piece of information on the current position and attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 calculated as described above to the management server 30.

[0064] (Storage part) The storage unit 23 is an information storage device such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive). The storage unit 23 stores various programs and various data, and inputs and outputs the information to and from the control unit 24. The various data includes information used in each process of the control unit 24, such as position and orientation information, route information, etc.

[0065] The position and attitude information is a history of the current position and attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 acquired by the position and attitude sensor 21, which is cyclically stored at predetermined time intervals. The route information is information received from the management server 30 and stored in the memory unit 23, and is information regarding the flight route along which the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 is scheduled to move. Specifically, the information associates a coordinate sequence (x, y, z) on the flight route with the time, speed, and acceleration at each position (coordinate).

[0066] (Control unit) The control unit 24 is a computer equipped with a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc., and reads out programs and data from the storage unit 23. The control unit 24 is equipped with a position and attitude calculation unit 241, a flight control unit 242, an image display control unit 243, a rotation position control unit 244, and a stack control unit 245 as functional units in accordance with the programs.

[0067] The position / attitude calculation unit 241 calculates the current position and attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 in the flight space from the output of the position / attitude sensor 21, and stores it as position / attitude information. In addition, the position / attitude calculation unit 241, for example, obtains latitude, longitude, and altitude from the navigation signal output from the position / attitude sensor 21, and converts it into a position in the coordinate system of the flight space using a conversion rule stored in advance. Furthermore, the position / attitude calculation unit 241 obtains the current attitude in the coordinate system of the flight space from the measurement signals of the acceleration sensor and gyro sensor output from the position / attitude sensor 21. Note that the position / attitude calculation unit 241 may obtain the direction in the coordinate system of the flight space from the measurement signal of the electronic compass output from the position / attitude sensor 21, and calculate the current attitude by further using measurement signals from other sensors. Note that the position / attitude calculation unit 241 transmits the current position to the management server 30 via the communication unit 22 every time it calculates the current position.

[0068] The flight control unit 242 refers to the route information (information related to the flight route received from the management server 30) and the position and attitude information, and controls the rotation speed of each of the motors 211, 211, ... so that the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 moves following the flight route described in the route information. Specifically, the flight control unit 242 controls the rotation speed of each of the motors 211, 211, ... so that the error between the position (coordinates) at the current time described in the route information and the current position described in the position and attitude information is reduced. In addition, the flight control unit 242 calculates the current speed and acceleration of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 based on the position and attitude information, and controls the rotation speed of each of the motors 211, 211, ... so that the error between these values ​​and the speed and acceleration at the current time described in the route information is reduced.

[0069] The image display control unit 243 controls the image display on the display surface of the image display device 220 according to the image information received by the communication unit 22 from the management server 30. In other words, the management server 30 manages images corresponding to the position and time of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 in correspondence with each of the display devices 222, 222, ... of the multiple unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ..., and transmits information associating the position and time with the image information to each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, .... The image display control unit 243 then performs image display control so that images synchronized based on an accurate PPS (Pulse Per Second) signal of the GNSS are displayed on each of the display devices 222, 222, ... of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ....

[0070] The rotation position control unit 244 operates the servo motors 233L, 233R according to information on the rotation position of the image display device 220 corresponding to the flight position received by the communication unit 22 from the management server 30, to control the rotation position of the image display device 220. In other words, the management server 30 is aware of the flight positions of each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ... during flight, calculates the rotation position of the image display device 220 that provides the highest visibility from the ground at this flight position, and transmits information on this rotation position from the communication unit 31 to each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, .... For example, when each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ... is flying at a position where the elevation angle is 45° as seen by people (spectators) on the ground at an event, information (rotation position information) for controlling the rotation position of the image display device 220 so that the display surface of the image display device 220 is facing 45° downward from the horizontal as shown in Figure 2 is transmitted to each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ..., and the rotation position control unit 244 in each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ... will operate the servo motors 233L, 233R in accordance with the received rotation position information to control the rotation position of the image display device 220. In addition, when each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ... is flying at a relatively low position relatively far from people on the ground, information for controlling the rotational position of the image display device 220 so that the display surface of the image display device 220 is vertical, as shown in Figure 4, is transmitted to each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ..., and the rotational position control unit 244 in each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ... operates the servo motors 233L, 233R in accordance with the received rotational position information to control the rotational position of the image display device 220.

[0071] The stack control unit 245 controls the flight state of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 in flight when the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 in flight lands above the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 already parked at the parking area and the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20 are superimposed on each other. The near-infrared cameras 227, 227, ... are connected to this stack control unit 245 by signal lines, and detection signals of the near-infrared rays on the lower side (near-infrared rays irradiated from the LED 226d of the lower unmanned aerial vehicle 20) are input from each near-infrared camera 227, 227, .... The stack control unit 245 controls each motor 211, 211, ... to descend the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 while maintaining the state in which it has received near-infrared detection signals from all the near-infrared cameras 227, 227, ..., thereby making it possible to superimpose the flying unmanned aerial vehicle 20 on the parked unmanned aerial vehicle 20 (superimposing them without positional deviation in a plan view).

[0072] -Control system of management server- Next, the control system of the management server 30 will be described. The control system of the management server 30 described below is an example, and the control system of the management server 30 according to the present invention is not limited to the following. The management server 30 determines the target position to which each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... flies, and obtains a flight path from the current position to the target position based on the information of the current position received from each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ..., and transmits the information of the flight path to each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, .... As described above, the management server 30 also transmits information for image display and information for controlling the rotational attitude of the image display device 220 to each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, .... FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the control system of the management server 30. As shown in FIG. 7, the control system of the management server 30 includes a communication unit 31, a memory unit 32, and a control unit 33.

[0073] (Communications Department) The communication unit 31 is a communication module for communicating with the unmanned aerial vehicle 20. This communication unit 31 transmits information related to the flight path, information for image display, and information for controlling the rotational attitude of the image display device 220 to each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ...

[0074] (Storage part) The storage unit 32 is an information storage device such as a HDD. The storage unit 32 stores various programs and various data, and inputs and outputs the information between the storage unit 32 and the control unit 33. The various data include information used for each process of the control unit 33, such as position information, spatial information, machine information, route information, image information, and rotation position information.

[0075] The position information is information indicating the current position and the target position of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20. When information on the current position is received from the unmanned aerial vehicle 20, it is stored in association with the identifier (aircraft ID) of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20. In addition, when the target position of a certain unmanned aerial vehicle 20 is set, the target position is stored in association with the aircraft ID of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20.

[0076] The spatial information is information that represents the three-dimensional structure of the flight space. In this embodiment, the spatial information is information that represents the structure of obstacles in the flight space by dividing the flight space into a plurality of voxels (unit spaces) as a voxel space. The spatial information is set and stored in advance by the system administrator.

[0077] The aircraft information is information indicating the characteristics (performance) of each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, .... The aircraft information is set and stored in advance by a system administrator. Specifically, the aircraft information is information that associates the aircraft ID of each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ... with characteristic values ​​(aircraft weight, size, maximum speed, maximum acceleration, and maximum jerk).

[0078] The route information is information about the flight route of each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, .... Specifically, the route information is stored in association with the aircraft ID of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20, coordinate values ​​(x, y, z) on the route, and values ​​of the passing time, speed, acceleration, jerk, and amount of change in jerk at the coordinate values.

[0079] The image information is information about an image to be displayed on each display device 222, 222, ... mounted on each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ..., and is information associated with the position and time of each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ....

[0080] The rotational position information is information for controlling the rotational position of the image display device 220 in each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ..., and is information that associates the position and attitude of each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ... with the rotational angle positions of the servo motors 233L, 233R.

[0081] (Control unit) The control unit 33 is a computer equipped with a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, etc., and reads out programs and data from the storage unit 32. The control unit 33 is equipped with a target position setting unit 331, a path calculation unit 332, an image information extraction unit 333, and a rotation position calculation unit 334 as functional units in accordance with the programs.

[0082] The target position setting unit 331 sets the target position of each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ..., and stores it as position information in the storage unit 32 in association with the vehicle ID. For example, when an image is displayed while moving through the air, the target position is set so that the flight position becomes a predetermined target position at a predetermined time.

[0083] The route calculation unit 332 performs an individual route calculation process that calculates a flight route from the current position of each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ... to the target position, and stores the calculated route as route information in the memory unit 32. This stored route information is transmitted from the communication unit 31 to each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ..., and the flight of each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ... is controlled (controlled by the flight control unit 242) in accordance with this information.

[0084] The image information extraction unit 333 extracts, from the storage unit 32, image information to be displayed on the image display device 220 of each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... from the multiple image information stored in the storage unit 32, and transmits it to the communication unit 31. The communication unit 31 transmits this image information to each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ...

[0085] The rotation position calculation unit 334 extracts from the storage unit 32 rotation position information corresponding to the position and attitude of each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... from the multiple rotation position information (information on the rotation position of the image display device 220) stored in the storage unit 32, and transmits it to the communication unit 31. The communication unit 31 transmits this rotation position information to each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ...

[0086] <Aerial image display operation> Next, the aerial image display operation of the aerial image display system 10, which is composed of a group of unmanned aerial vehicles, which is a collection of unmanned aerial vehicles 20 configured as described above, and a management server 30, will be described.

[0087] First, when multiple unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... are waiting (parked) at an aircraft apron, the above-mentioned stack structure is used to stack the multiple unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... vertically. For example, when 60 unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... are waiting, if six vehicles are stacked as a group, there will be 10 groups of stacked unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... at the aircraft apron.

[0088] Then, when a flight instruction signal is transmitted from the management server 30, this signal is received by the communication unit 22 of each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, .... When each of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... receives this flight instruction signal, lift is generated as the rotor 212 rotates with the operation of the motor 211, and the unmanned aerial vehicles 20 located at the top of the stacked unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... begin flying (ascending) in order.

[0089] Each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ... in flight receives information on the flight path transmitted from the management server 30. Then, according to the information on the flight path, the flight control unit 242 controls the rotation speed of each motor 211, and each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ... stops (hover) at a predetermined flight position. Then, as shown in FIG. 8, when each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ... flies with the image display devices 220, 220, ... adjacent to each other (each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ... is lined up in the horizontal and vertical directions), information for image display and information for controlling the rotational attitude of the image display device 220 are transmitted from the management server 30 to each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, .... Each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ... performs image display control to display images on each display device 222, 222, ... according to this information, and also operates servo motors 233L, 233R to control the rotational position of the image display device 220. As a result, images are displayed on each display surface with the display surfaces of the image display devices 220, 220, ... of each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ... flying in a coordinated manner being adjacent to each other, so that a series of images are displayed across these multiple display surfaces (see FIG. 8). This makes it possible to display large images in the air, and images with high visibility are displayed in the air.

[0090] <Stack operation> Next, the stack operation using the above-mentioned stack structure will be described with reference to the flowchart in Fig. 9 and the stack operation explanatory diagram in Fig. 10. This stack operation is an operation for placing the equipment frame 221 (more specifically, the outer frame 223) of another unmanned aerial vehicle (unmanned aerial vehicle in flight) 20 on the upper side of each of the cradles 226, 226, ... of an unmanned aerial vehicle 20 that has already landed.

[0091] First, in step ST1, when the aerial image display operation is completed and return route information to the parking space is input from the management server 30, the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 flies toward a predetermined return position in the parking space (a position above the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 that has already landed), and in step ST2, hovers above this return position once. FIG. 10(a) shows an example of the positional relationship between the outer frame 223 and near-infrared camera 227 of the flying unmanned aerial vehicle 20 in this hovering state, and the pedestal 226 of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 that has already landed. In this state, in step ST3, it is determined whether all the near-infrared cameras 227, 227, ... have detected near-infrared rays. This determination is made by determining whether near-infrared detection signals are transmitted from all the near-infrared cameras 227, 227, ... to the stack control unit 245. When an unmanned aerial vehicle 20 in flight is located directly above an unmanned aerial vehicle 20 that has already landed and their positions in the rotational direction around the vertical axis are the same, all of the near-infrared cameras 227, 227, ... will detect near-infrared rays.

[0092] When all of the near-infrared cameras 227, 227, ... have detected near-infrared rays, the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 in flight is determined to be in a position where it can overlap with the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 below (an unmanned aerial vehicle that has already landed) (a position where it can be placed without any misalignment), and descent control is initiated in step ST4 to descend the unmanned aerial vehicle 20.

[0093] On the other hand, when at least some of the near-infrared cameras 227, 227, ... are unable to detect near-infrared rays, the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 in flight is not in a position where it can overlap with the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 below, and NO is determined in step ST3, and the process proceeds to step ST5. FIG. 10(b) shows an example of the positional relationship between the outer frame 223 and near-infrared camera 227 of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 in flight in this case, and the pedestal 226 of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 that has already landed. In the state shown in FIG. 10(b), the outer frame 223 and near-infrared camera 227 of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 in flight are shifted to the left, so that the near-infrared camera 227 is unable to detect near-infrared rays.

[0094] In step ST5, each motor 211, 211, ... is controlled to correct the horizontal position of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20, and the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 moves horizontally and rotates about the vertical axis. This operation continues until a YES determination is made in step ST3 (until all of the near-infrared cameras 227, 227, ... detect near-infrared rays; for example, until the state shown in FIG. 10(a) is reached).

[0095] When descent control (ST4) is initiated with all of the near-infrared cameras 227, 227, ... detecting near-infrared rays, it is determined in step ST6 whether the flying unmanned aerial vehicle 20 has been placed on the lower unmanned aerial vehicle 20 (whether the outer frame 223 has been placed on the receiving platform 226). This determination can be made using a means for measuring the distance between the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, or a switch that is pressed in when the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20 come into contact with each other.

[0096] If the flying unmanned aerial vehicle 20 has not yet been placed on the lower unmanned aerial vehicle 20 and a NO determination is made in step ST6, the process returns to step ST3, and the operations of steps ST3 to ST6 described above are repeated.

[0097] Then, as shown in Figure 10 (c), when the flying unmanned aerial vehicle 20 is placed on the lower unmanned aerial vehicle 20 and a YES judgment is made in step ST6, the stacking operation of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 is completed. If a stacking operation is subsequently performed on another unmanned aerial vehicle 20, the above-mentioned operation is repeated for this unmanned aerial vehicle 20.

[0098] As described above, the wires 226c, 226c of the receiving portion 226b are inclined in opposite directions toward the top, so that even if the positional accuracy (horizontal positional accuracy) of the descending unmanned aerial vehicle 20 is not sufficiently obtained as shown in Fig. 10(d), the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20 can be placed without misalignment by the guide (guide by the inclined surface) of the wires 226c (see the arrow in Fig. 10(d)) if the outer frame 223 enters between the upper ends of the pair of wires 226c, 226c of the receiving portion 226b (between the upper ends of the V). Therefore, high accuracy is not required for the positional accuracy of the descending unmanned aerial vehicle 20, and the burden of information processing on the control system when controlling the descent can be reduced.

[0099] In the above description, information for image display is received from the management server 30 and the image is displayed on the image display device 220, but it is also possible to transmit an image (such as a photograph or a hand-drawn drawing) on ​​the screen of a smartphone, tablet terminal, etc. on the ground to the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 and display the image on the image display device 220.

[0100] <Effects of the embodiment> As described above, in this embodiment, the platform 226 is provided on which another unmanned aerial vehicle (descending unmanned aerial vehicle) 20 can be placed in the landing state. Therefore, the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20 can be kept waiting in a vertically stacked state, and multiple unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... can be parked in a parking space for one vehicle. As a result, the parking space required when parking multiple unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... can be reduced.

[0101] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the near-infrared cameras 227, 227, ... provided on the upper unmanned aerial vehicle 20 (in flight) maintain a state of detecting near-infrared rays from the LED 226d of the lower unmanned aerial vehicle 20 (that has already landed), while the stack control unit 245 controls the descent of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20. This makes it possible to overlap the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20 without misalignment, and allows the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20 to be stably overlapped vertically.

[0102] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the contact support point of the receiving portion 226b of the receiving platform 226, which the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 contacts when the upper unmanned aerial vehicle 20 is placed on the receiving portion 226, is located above the upper end position of the aerial vehicle main body (the own aerial vehicle main body) 210. This makes it possible to suppress interference between the aerial vehicle main bodies 210, 210 of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, and makes it possible to stably stack the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20 one on top of the other.

[0103] <Variation 1> Next, a description will be given of Modification 1. This modification differs from the embodiment described above in the configuration of the receiving stand 226. Therefore, the configuration of the receiving stand 226 will be mainly described here.

[0104] FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the stacking operation of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 in this modified example. As shown in FIG. 11(a), in the receiving platform 226 in this example, each of the wires 226c, 226c is rotatable around a horizontal axis with respect to the column portion 226a. In addition, each of the wires 226c, 226c in this embodiment has an inclined portion 226e, 226e that inclines in opposite directions toward the upper side in the state shown in FIG. 11(a), and a vertical portion 226f, 226f that extends vertically from the upper end of the inclined portion 226e, 226e. In addition, a rotating shaft of a motor (not shown) is connected to the rotating shaft of each of the wires 226c, 226c, and the wires 226c, 226c rotate in opposite directions with the rotation of the rotating shaft of the motor to perform an opening and closing operation (see the arrow in FIG. 11(a)). This constitutes the gripping mechanism referred to in the present invention (a gripping mechanism that grips another unmanned aerial vehicle when the other unmanned aerial vehicle is placed on it).

[0105] In the stacking operation in this example, as shown in Fig. 11(b), when the flying unmanned aerial vehicle 20 is placed on the lower unmanned aerial vehicle 20 (the outer frame 223 is placed on the receiving platform 226), the motor is operated and the wires 226c, 226c rotate in a direction approaching each other. As a result, the receiving platform 226 of the lower unmanned aerial vehicle 20 holds the upper unmanned aerial vehicle 20.

[0106] The effects of this example will be described. Simply stacking multiple unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... makes it difficult to transport these unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... simultaneously. For example, it is difficult to simultaneously transport multiple unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... to a truck for transport to another location. In contrast, according to the configuration of this example, the multiple stacked unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20 can be integrally connected by rotating each wire 226c, 226c, making it easy to transport multiple unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20 simultaneously.

[0107] <Variation 2> Next, a description will be given of Modification 2. This modification differs from the embodiment described above in the configuration of the image display device 220. Therefore, the differences from the embodiment described above will be mainly described here.

[0108] Fig. 12 is a view of this modified example corresponding to Fig. 2. Fig. 13 is a view of this modified example corresponding to Fig. 3. Fig. 14 is a view of this modified example corresponding to Fig. 4. As shown in these figures, the image display device 220 in the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 according to this modified example is equipped with a transmissive screen 228 and an image projection device (projector) 229.

[0109] The translucent screen 228 is made of a mesh material (mesh screen; so-called amid screen) in which a plurality of wires (resin or metal wires) are arranged in a lattice pattern, and is attached to a frame-shaped device frame 221 of the image display device 220. The device frame 221 in this example does not include the vertical frame 224. A transparent screen made of transparent resin may be used as the translucent screen 228. The image display device 220 equipped with this translucent screen 228 is rotatably attached to the aircraft body 210 via a rotation mechanism 230, similar to the embodiment described above.

[0110] The image projection device 229 is for projecting an image from the rear side of the transmissive screen 228, and is configured to project an image toward the rear side of the transmissive screen 228 while being supported by the device frame 221 of the image display device 220. Therefore, even if the image projection device 229 rotates by the operation of the rotation mechanism 230 (operation of the servo motors 233L and 233R) and the transmissive screen 228 also rotates relative to the aircraft body 210, the positional relationship between the transmissive screen 228 and the image projection device 229 remains unchanged, and an image can be projected from the image projection device 229 toward the rear side of the transmissive screen 228. In this embodiment, the image projection device 229 is supported by the pedestal 226, but the support structure of the image projection device 229 is not limited to this, and the image projection device 229 may be supported by the device frame 221 of the image display device 220 by a plurality of arms (not shown). As a device for projecting an image onto the transmissive screen 228, instead of the image projection device 229, a device for displaying a color image on the transmissive screen 228 by scanning with an RGB laser beam may be used.

[0111] The unmanned aerial vehicle 20 according to this embodiment also has a stack structure similar to that of the embodiment described above. That is, the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 has a configuration including a plurality of receiving platforms (stacking support means) 226, 226, ... and near-infrared cameras (light detection means) 227, 227, ... provided on the outer frame 223 of the image display device 220. The configuration and stacking operation of these are the same as those of the embodiment described above, so a description thereof will be omitted here. The configuration of the receiving platform 226 may also be that of the modification 1 described above.

[0112] The other configurations are substantially the same as those of the above-described embodiment.

[0113] The control operation of each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ... during the aerial image display operation in the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 according to this embodiment is the same as that in the above-mentioned embodiment. That is, information related to the flight path, information for image display, and information for controlling the rotational attitude of the image display device 220 are received from the management server 30, and the unmanned aerial vehicle is controlled to fly along a predetermined flight path, and the image display on the image display device 220 and the rotational attitude of the image display device 220 are controlled. Then, when displaying an image, an image projected from the image projection device 229 toward the back surface of the transmissive screen 228 is displayed on the display surface of the transmissive screen 228, and an image is displayed in the air.

[0114] Furthermore, since the translucent screen 228 is a mesh screen, wind (air) can pass through, and the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 is less affected by wind during flight. As flight becomes more stable, the image displayed in the air can be stabilized (reducing shaking of the image in the air, etc.), and the image can be displayed in the air with high visibility.

[0115] In this example, it is possible to display one image projected from the image projection device 229 on the entire display surface of the image display device 220. Therefore, compared to the case where the display surface is divided into a plurality of regions and images individually displayed in each region are synchronized with each other, the processing load for this image synchronization can be eliminated, the control for image display can be simplified, and the load on the control system can be reduced.

[0116] <Variation 3> Next, a description will be given of Modification 3. In this modification, the configuration of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 is different from that of the above-described embodiment. Therefore, the differences from the above-described embodiment will be mainly described here.

[0117] Figure 15 is a diagram equivalent to Figure 6 in this modified example (a block diagram showing the control system of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20). The unmanned aerial vehicle 20 according to this embodiment is provided with an image information storage unit 23a and a rotational position information storage unit 23b in the storage unit 23. The image information storage unit 23a stores information on images to be displayed on the image display device 220 in advance. The rotational position information storage unit 23b stores information on the rotational position of the image display device 220 corresponding to the flight position and flight attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 in advance.

[0118] In the aerial image display operation, the image display control unit 243 reads out image information from the image information storage unit 23a and controls the image display on the display surface of the image display device 220. The configuration for performing this image display may be that of the above-described embodiment or that of the above-described modified example 2. In addition, the rotation position control unit 244 reads out information on the rotation position of the image display device 220 corresponding to the current flight position and flight attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 from the rotation position information storage unit 23b, and operates the servo motors 233L, 233R to control the rotation position of the image display device 220.

[0119] Furthermore, when each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ... stores image information in this manner and controls the image display on the display surface of each image display device 220, 220, ..., the image display control unit 243 will perform image display control so that images synchronized based on the accurate PPS signal of the GNSS are displayed on each display device 222, 222, ... of each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, ....

[0120] For this reason, in this modified example, image information and rotation position information are not transmitted or received between the management server 30 and the unmanned aerial vehicle 20. Therefore, the overall configuration of the system for displaying images in the air can be simplified. In addition, the amount of information communicated between the management server 30 and the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 can be reduced, so that communication can be stabilized. In other words, when only information related to the flight path is communicated between the management server 30 and the unmanned aerial vehicle 20, for example, communication of information can be stabilized.

[0121] <Other embodiments> The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment and each of the modifications, and all modifications and applications encompassed within the scope of the claims and equivalents thereto are possible.

[0122] For example, in the above embodiment and each of the above modified examples, a V-shaped receiving portion 226b is provided at the upper end of the receiving platform 226, making it possible to place the upper unmanned aerial vehicle 20. The present invention is not limited to this, and it is also possible to adopt a U-shaped or arc-shaped receiving portion that is open at the top. In other words, various configurations can be adopted as a configuration that makes it possible to place the upper unmanned aerial vehicle 20.

[0123] In addition, in the above embodiment and each of the above modified examples, all of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... constituting the unmanned aerial vehicle pair or the unmanned aerial vehicle group are of the same configuration. In other words, all of the unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... are equipped with the cradle 226 and the near-infrared camera 227. The present invention is not limited to this, and a set of unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ... that are superimposed on each other are specified in advance, and among the set of unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, ..., the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 positioned at the bottom and the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 positioned at the top are specified in advance (by identifying them by the aircraft ID, etc.), and the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 positioned at the bottom is not equipped with the near-infrared camera 227, and the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 positioned at the top is not equipped with the cradle 226.

[0124] In the above embodiment and each of the modified examples, the present invention has been described as being applied to an unmanned aerial vehicle 20 that is equipped with an image display device 220 and displays images in the air. The present invention is not limited to this, and can also be applied to unmanned aerial vehicles 20 used for other purposes (e.g., ground observation, cargo transportation, agricultural chemical spraying, etc.).

[0125] In addition, in the above embodiment and each of the above modified examples, a series of images are displayed in the air by a group of unmanned aerial vehicles consisting of a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20, .... The present invention is not limited to this, and images may be displayed in the air by only one unmanned aerial vehicle 20.

[0126] In addition, in the above embodiment, the multiple display devices 222, 222, ... are arranged inside the outer frame 223, but the display devices 222, 222, ... may also be arranged outside the outer frame 223. This makes it possible to reduce the gap between the display devices 222, 222 of adjacent unmanned aerial vehicles 20, 20 and display clearer images in the air.

[0127] In addition, the image display device 220 of the unmanned aerial vehicle 20 may not be equipped with the display device 222 in the above-mentioned embodiment or the image projection device 229 in the above-mentioned modified example, but may be configured to be equipped with only a screen (e.g., a reflective screen, etc.), and a scanning laser irradiator (image irradiator) may be installed on the ground, and an image may be displayed in the air by irradiating an image from this scanning laser irradiator toward the screen of each image display device 220, 220, ... of each unmanned aerial vehicle 20, 20, .... One example of a usage form of such an aerial image display system 10 is to irradiate an image (such as a photo or a handwritten picture) on a screen of a smartphone, tablet terminal, etc. on the ground from a scanning laser irradiator to a group of unmanned aerial vehicles, thereby displaying an enlarged image in the air. [Industrial Applicability]

[0128] The present invention is applicable to unmanned aerial vehicles that can be placed on standby in a stacked state. [Explanation of symbols]

[0129] 20 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles 210 Aircraft body 212 Rotor (rotor blade) 220 Image display device 221 Equipment Frame 223 Outer frame (mounting section) 226 Support stand (overlapping support means) 226b Receiving part 226c wire rod 226d LED (floodlight) 227 Near-infrared camera (light detection means) 233L, 233R Servo motor (rotation position adjustment actuator) 245 Stack Control Unit

Claims

1. An unmanned aerial vehicle that has an aircraft body and a rotor and flies with the rotation of the rotor, A stacking support means for allowing other unmanned aerial vehicles to be placed on the landing position; an image display device that is rotatably attached to the aircraft body and has a display surface that displays an image; a rotation position adjustment actuator that adjusts a rotation position of the image display device relative to the aircraft body to change an orientation of the display screen; the overlapping support means is provided so as to extend in a direction perpendicular to an extension direction of the image display device, This unmanned aerial vehicle is characterized in that, when the aircraft is in a landing state, the operation of the rotational position adjustment actuator causes the image display device to be parallel to the aircraft body, and the overlapping support means extends upward from the image display device.

2. 2. The unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 1, The overlapping support means of the unmanned aerial vehicle is characterized in that the contact support point at which the other unmanned aerial vehicle abuts when placed on the unmanned aerial vehicle is located above the upper end position of the aircraft body.

3. In the unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 1 or 2, Equipped with a frame-shaped frame, The overlapping support means is disposed at a plurality of locations along an extension direction of an outer edge of the frame, An unmanned aerial vehicle characterized in that each of the overlapping support means is configured to have a frame-shaped frame provided on one of the other unmanned aerial vehicles placed on it.

4. In the unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 1, 2 or 3, An unmanned aerial vehicle characterized in that, when the aircraft is in a landing state, the upper end of the overlapping support means is provided with a V-shaped receiving portion consisting of a pair of wires that incline upward in opposite directions.

5. An unmanned aerial vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 4, The unmanned aerial vehicle is characterized in that the overlapping support means is equipped with a gripping mechanism that grips the other unmanned aerial vehicle when the other unmanned aerial vehicle is placed on it.

6. An unmanned aerial vehicle pair consisting of a lower unmanned aerial vehicle and an upper unmanned aerial vehicle, each of which has an aerial vehicle body and rotors, and which are stacked one on top of the other in a landing state, The lower unmanned aerial vehicle is provided with a stacking support means that enables the upper unmanned aerial vehicle to be placed thereon in a landing state, The upper unmanned aerial vehicle is provided with a placement portion that can be placed on the stacking support means, Floodlights that emit light vertically upward in a landing state are provided at multiple locations on the lower unmanned aerial vehicle, a light detection means capable of detecting light from the light projectors is provided at each position of the upper unmanned aerial vehicle opposite the position of each of the light projectors when the upper unmanned aerial vehicle is placed on the upper side of the lower unmanned aerial vehicle without any misalignment; An unmanned aerial vehicle pair, characterized in that the upper unmanned aerial vehicle is provided with a stack control unit that controls the rotation of the rotor of the upper unmanned aerial vehicle so that it descends toward the lower unmanned aerial vehicle while maintaining each of the light detection means detecting light from the spotlight.

7. An unmanned aerial vehicle group consisting of a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles each having an aerial vehicle body and a rotor and flying in accordance with the rotation of the rotor, Each of the unmanned aerial vehicles includes: A stacking support means for allowing other unmanned aerial vehicles to be placed on the landing position; A placement section that can be placed on the stacking support means of the unmanned aerial vehicle located below; Floodlights are provided at a plurality of locations and emit light vertically upward in a landing state; a light detection means provided vertically below each of the light projectors and capable of detecting light irradiated from the light projector of an unmanned aerial vehicle located below; A group of unmanned aerial vehicles, characterized in that it is provided with a stack control unit that controls the rotation of the rotor blades so that each of the light detection means maintains a state in which it detects light from the spotlight of the unmanned aerial vehicle located below, while descending toward the unmanned aerial vehicle located below.

Images