Observation system, observation method, and program

Abstract

Provided is an observation system (100) provided with a flying object (1) flying in the sky and an observation device (2) installed on the ground surface, wherein the observation device (2) comprises a sensor (21) that observes weather data, and an LPWA transmission unit (23) that transmits the weather data to the flying object (1) by LPWA communication. The flying object (1) is provided with a relay device (11) that receives the weather data transmitted from the observation device (2) and transmits the received weather data to a receiving station by LPWA communication.

Description

Observation system, observation method, and program

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an observation system, an observation method, and a program for observing meteorological data.

[0002] To observe meteorological data such as wind speed, wind direction, temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure at the sea surface, multiple observation devices are installed at appropriate locations on the sea surface. Because each observation device is installed over a wide area of ​​the sea surface (for example, a range exceeding 100 km horizontally), it is difficult to transmit the meteorological data observed by each observation device via ground waves to a receiving station that manages the meteorological data.

[0003] For this reason, for example, Iridium described in Non-Patent Document 1 and low-earth orbit satellites described in Non-Patent Document 2 are used to transmit meteorological data observed by each observation device to a receiving station.

[0004] Also, Non-Patent Document 3 discloses a low power wide area (LPWA) communication module that enables long-distance data communication with low power consumption.

[0005] KDDI Corporation, Iridium Service: https: / / biz.kddi.com / service / iridium Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Low-Earth-Orbit Satellite MIMO Technology: https: / / group.ntt / jp / newsrelease / 2023 / 02 / 10 / 230210a.html RL Link, Communications Module: http: / / www.rflink.co.jp / lev2-seihin-920.html

[0006] However, the techniques disclosed in the above-mentioned Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2 have a problem in that collecting marine meteorological data requires a great deal of cost because they use satellite communications. Also, the LPWA communications disclosed in Non-Patent Document 3 has a problem in that, although long-distance communications are possible, communications over a range exceeding 100 km are difficult.

[0007] The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide an observation system, observation method, and program that are capable of communication over a wide area and can collect weather data at low cost.

[0008] An observation system of one embodiment of the present disclosure is an observation system comprising an aircraft flying in the sky and an observation device installed on the ground, wherein the observation device comprises a sensor for observing weather data and an LPWA transmitter unit for transmitting the weather data to the aircraft via LPWA communication, and the aircraft comprises a relay device for receiving the weather data transmitted from the observation device and transmitting the received weather data to a receiving station via LPWA communication.

[0009] An observation method of one embodiment of the present disclosure involves transmitting weather data observed by an observation device installed on the ground via LPWA communication, receiving the weather data by an aircraft flying in the sky, and transmitting the received weather data from the aircraft to a receiving station via LPWA communication.

[0010] One aspect of the present disclosure is a program for causing a computer to function as an observation device included in the observation system.

[0011] According to the present disclosure, it becomes possible to collect meteorological data over a wide area at low cost.

[0012] Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of an observation system according to an embodiment. Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the observation system according to an embodiment. Fig. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the observation system according to an embodiment. Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of this embodiment.

[0013] Hereinafter, an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings: Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of an observation system according to an embodiment, and Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the observation system according to an embodiment.

[0014] As shown in Fig. 1, the observation system according to the embodiment includes an aircraft 1 and multiple observation devices 2. The aircraft 1 includes a balloon 1B (e.g., a rubber balloon) filled with hydrogen gas or helium gas, and flies from the sea surface into the sky. Fig. 1 shows an example in which the aircraft 1 is released from a ship 5.

[0015] As shown in Figure 1, multiple observation devices 2 (two are shown in the figure) are installed on the sea surface. The observation devices 2 are installed, for example, at regular intervals over a wide area with a horizontal distance of more than 100 km. Although Figure 1 shows an example in which the observation devices 2 are installed on the sea surface, they may also be installed on land. In other words, multiple observation devices 2 are installed on the sea surface or on land (hereinafter collectively referred to as "the earth's surface").

[0016] 2, the flying object 1 includes a housing 1A and a balloon 1B. The housing 1A is equipped with a relay device 11. The relay device 11 includes an LPWA receiving unit 111, a control unit 112, and an LPWA transmitting unit 113.

[0017] The LPWA receiving unit 111 receives meteorological data (details of which will be described later) transmitted from a plurality of observation devices 2 via LPWA communication.

[0018] The control unit 112 acquires the weather data received by the LPWA receiving unit 111 , that is, the weather data observed by each observation device 2 , and outputs it to the LPWA transmitting unit 113 .

[0019] The LPWA transmitter 113 transmits the weather data output from the control unit 112 via LPWA communication to the receiving station 3 installed on the ship 5 (see FIG. 1 ). Note that a memory unit may be installed in the relay device 11, and the weather data transmitted from each observation device 2 may be stored in the memory unit, and each piece of weather data may be output collectively to the LPWA transmitter 113 at predetermined time intervals.

[0020] Figures 1 and 2 show an example of installing the receiving station 3 on a ship 5, but the receiving station may also be installed in a structure on land, for example, as long as LPWA communication with the aircraft 1 is possible.

[0021] The observation device 2 includes a sensor 21, a storage unit 22, an LPWA transmission unit 23, and a control unit 24. Note that only one of the multiple observation devices 2 is shown in FIG.

[0022] The sensor 21 observes meteorological data such as wind speed, wind direction, temperature, humidity, and air pressure on the earth's surface (land and sea surface). The sensor 21 outputs the observed meteorological data to the control unit 24. The sensor 21 may observe at least one selected from the above-mentioned wind speed, wind direction, temperature, humidity, and air pressure. That is, the sensor 21 may include at least one selected from an anemometer, a wind vane, a thermometer, a hygrometer, and a barometer.

[0023] The storage unit 22 stores the weather data observed by the sensor 21 .

[0024] The LPWA transmitter 23 transmits weather data to the flying object 1 via LPWA communication.

[0025] The control unit 24 controls the entire observation device 2. Specifically, the control unit 24 stores the weather data observed by the sensor 21 in the memory unit 22. The control unit 24 outputs the weather data stored in the memory unit 22 to the LPWA transmission unit 23.

[0026] Next, the operation of the observation system 100 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

[0027] 3, the sensor 21 of each observation device 2 observes meteorological data on the earth's surface. Specifically, the sensor 21 observes wind speed, wind direction, temperature, humidity, air pressure, etc. at the location where the observation device 2 is installed (sea surface in this embodiment). The observed meteorological data is stored in the memory unit 22.

[0028] In step S12, the LPWA transmitter 23 of each observation device 2 transmits the weather data stored in the memory 22 to the aircraft 1 via LPWA communication. The LPWA receiver 111 of the aircraft 1 receives the weather data transmitted from each observation device 2.

[0029] As described above, data communication between each observation device 2 and the relay device 11 uses LPWA communication, so the LPWA receiving unit 111 can receive weather data transmitted from observation devices 2 installed over a wide range, with a horizontal distance of approximately 100 km.

[0030] In step S13, the control unit 112 of the relay device 11 outputs the weather data received by the LPWA receiving unit 111 to the LPWA transmitting unit 113. The LPWA transmitting unit 113 transmits the weather data via LPWA communication to the receiving station 3. As a result, the receiving station 3 can acquire weather data observed by multiple observation devices 2 installed over a wide area without using satellite communication.

[0031] Thus, the observation system 100 of this embodiment is an observation system 100 that includes an aircraft 1 flying in the sky and an observation device 2 installed on the ground, where the observation device 2 includes a sensor 21 that observes weather data and an LPWA transmitter 23 that transmits the weather data to the aircraft 1 via LPWA communication, and the aircraft 1 includes a relay device 11 that receives the weather data transmitted from the observation device 2 and transmits the received weather data to a receiving station via LPWA communication.

[0032] In this embodiment, even when a plurality of observation devices 2 are installed over a wide area, such as a horizontal distance of more than 100 km, the weather data observed by each observation device 2 can be transmitted to the receiving station 3 without using satellite communications. This makes it possible to collect weather data over a wide area at low cost.

[0033] In this embodiment, the flying object 1 includes a housing 1A equipped with a relay device 11 and a balloon 1B connected to the housing 1A, so that the flying object 1 can be flown into the sky simply by filling the balloon with hydrogen gas or helium gas, etc. This allows for further cost reduction.

[0034] In this embodiment, it is possible to collect meteorological data transmitted from multiple observation devices 2 installed on the sea surface, making it possible to easily collect meteorological data on the sea surface, which is difficult to observe due to its location.

[0035] In addition, since it is possible to observe meteorological data such as wind speed, wind direction, temperature, humidity, and air pressure, it is possible to grasp changes in each meteorological data over time in a chronological order.

[0036] The observation device 2 of this embodiment described above can be, for example, a general-purpose computer system including a CPU (Central Processing Unit, processor) 901, a memory 902, a storage 903 (HDD: Hard Disk Drive, SSD: Solid State Drive), a communication device 904, an input device 905, and an output device 906, as shown in Figure 4. The memory 902 and the storage 903 are storage devices. In this computer system, the CPU 901 executes a predetermined program loaded onto the memory 902, thereby realizing each function of the observation device 2.

[0037] The observation device 2 may be implemented by one computer or by multiple computers. The observation device 2 may also be a virtual machine implemented on a computer.

[0038] The program for the observation device 2 can be stored in a computer-readable recording medium such as a HDD, SSD, USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory, CD (Compact Disc), or DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), or can be distributed via a network. The computer-readable recording medium is, for example, a non-transitory recording medium.

[0039] The present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the gist of the present disclosure.

[0040] REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Aircraft 1A Housing 1B Balloon 2 Observation device 3 Receiving station 5 Ship 11 Relay device 21 Sensor 22 Memory unit 23 LPWA transmitter 24 Control unit 100 Observation system 111 LPWA receiver 112 Control unit 113 LPWA transmitter

Claims

1. An observation system comprising an aircraft flying in the sky and an observation device installed on the ground, wherein the observation device comprises a sensor for observing weather data and an LPWA transmitter for transmitting the weather data to the aircraft via LPWA communication, and the aircraft comprises a relay device for receiving the weather data transmitted from the observation device and transmitting the received weather data to a receiving station via LPWA communication.

2. The observation system according to claim 1, wherein the flying object is equipped with a balloon and flies in the sky using the balloon.

3. The observation system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the observation device is installed in plurality on the sea surface.

4. The observation system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the meteorological data includes at least one selected from wind speed, wind direction, temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure.

5. An observation method comprising transmitting meteorological data observed by an observation device installed on the ground via LPWA communication, receiving the meteorological data by an aircraft flying in the sky, and transmitting the received meteorological data from the aircraft to a receiving station via LPWA communication.

6. A program for causing a computer to function as an observation device to be mounted on the observation system described in claim 1.

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