Unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system for conventional non-guided missile dropping

Abstract

The present invention relates to an unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system for conventional non-guided missile dropping, which designates a target in an image photographed by means of an unmanned aerial vehicle to allow the unmanned aerial vehicle to automatically move and hover vertically above the target, and autonomously corrects a flight position in a hovering flight state, thereby determining an accurate dropping position of a loaded non-guided missile to maximize a dropping effect.

Description

Unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system for conventional unguided missile drop

[0001] The present invention relates to an unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system for dropping conventional unguided missiles, and more particularly, to an unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system for dropping conventional unguided missiles, which designates a target in an image taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle, causes the unmanned aerial vehicle to automatically move and hover vertically above the target, and automatically corrects the flight position in a hovering state to determine the exact drop location of the loaded unguided missile, thereby maximizing the drop effect.

[0002] Typically, tactical situations using drones involve capturing images through cameras mounted on the drone to search for target points and locations, and then having the operator manually control the drone based on the images to move it to the target point, or guiding the drone by taking into account pixel errors in the images, camera angles, image capture altitude, and distance adjustments to the target.

[0003] However, this method suffers from errors caused by changes in terrain elevation, making it difficult to accurately guide the drone to its target. Furthermore, narrowing the error range necessitates the addition of expensive sensors. Furthermore, because position information measured via GNSS must be used for correction, it is vulnerable to jamming attacks, making it unsuitable for military purposes.

[0004] In addition, the conventional method had a large deviation in position accuracy depending on the pilot's ability, and there was a problem that the error was even greater because the method of measuring the attitude value of the camera used the values ​​measured using the encoder on each axis of the gimbal and the attitude value of the drone while manually operating the gimbal mounted on the drone for position control. In addition, in the case of automatic guidance technology, errors occurred due to changes in the terrain of the target in the process of using distance information or altitude information, and there was also a problem that the impact accuracy was reduced because the impact point of the unguided missile changed due to external disturbances such as wind during release.

[0005] The present invention aims to solve the above problems by providing an unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system for conventional unguided missile drop, which designates a target in an image taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle, causes the unmanned aerial vehicle to automatically move and hover vertically above the target, and automatically corrects the flight position in a hovering flight state, thereby determining the exact drop location of the loaded unguided missile and maximizing the drop effect.

[0006] An unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system (100) for dropping a conventional unguided missile according to one embodiment of the present invention may include an unmanned aerial vehicle (120) that is equipped with a ground control device (110) and an unguided missile, transmits a photographed image to the ground control device (110), tracks a target designated by the ground control device (110), moves vertically upward, and drops the loaded unguided missile while the position is controlled according to a position correction value.

[0007] In one embodiment, the ground control equipment (110) may include a communication unit (111) that receives a photographed image from the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) and a target designation unit (112) that designates a target in the received photographed image and then transmits target information of the designated target to the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) through the communication unit (111).

[0008] In one embodiment, the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) may include a camera unit (121) that generates a captured image after capturing an image on the ground, a communication unit (122) that transmits the generated captured image to the communication unit (111) and receives target information from the ground control equipment (110), a maneuvering unit (123) for moving vertically above the target based on the received target information, a position control unit (124) for measuring and correcting the position while hovering vertically above the target, and a dropping unit (125) for dropping an unguided missile loaded thereon.

[0009] In one embodiment, the position control unit (124) includes an Attitude and Heading Reference system (AHRS) sensor (124-1) that measures the roll value, pitch value, and yaw value of the camera unit (121), respectively, and a multi-axis gimbal (124-2) that corrects the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) so that the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) is positioned at the center vertically above the target based on the measurement values ​​of the AHRS sensor (124-1), and the position control unit (124) induces the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) to a point where the roll value, pitch value, and yaw value of the multi-axis gimbal (124-2) are each 0 degrees, so that the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) can be positioned vertically above the target.

[0010] In one embodiment, the position control unit (124) measures a disturbance applied to the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) when the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) has been corrected through the multi-axis gimbal (124-2), and then predicts the dropping position of an unguided missile dropped through the dropping unit (125) based on the measured disturbance value, and controls the maneuvering unit (123) and the multi-axis gimbal (124-2) based on the predicted result so that the dropping position is corrected.

[0011] According to one aspect of the present invention, a target is designated in an image captured by an unmanned aerial vehicle, and the unmanned aerial vehicle automatically moves and hovers vertically above the target, and by automatically correcting the flight position in a hovering flight state, the accurate release position of an unguided missile loaded on the vehicle can be determined, thereby having the advantage of maximizing the release effect.

[0012] In particular, according to the present invention, unlike the conventional method, since it does not use distance information or altitude information from the target, it can have the advantage of further maximizing the effect of the launch because no error occurs due to changes in terrain altitude.

[0013] In addition, according to the present invention, unlike in the past, since location information measured by GNSS does not need to be used for correction, it has the advantage of being able to defend against jamming attacks and can be actively utilized for military purposes.

[0014] FIG. 1 is a drawing showing the configuration of an unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system (100) for conventional unguided missile drop according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0015] Figure 2 is a drawing showing the process of designating a target based on a captured image from ground control equipment (110) and transmitting target information to an unmanned aerial vehicle (120), and thereby causing the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) to move vertically upward toward the target.

[0016] Figure 3 is a flowchart showing the entire process of dropping a conventional unguided missile onto a target in a series of sequential steps through an unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system (100) for dropping a conventional unguided missile according to the present invention.

[0017] Hereinafter, preferred examples are presented to aid in understanding the present invention. However, the following examples are provided solely to facilitate a better understanding of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited by the examples.

[0018]

[0019] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system (100) for conventional unguided missile drop according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a process in which a ground control device (110) designates a target based on a captured image and then transmits target information to an unmanned aerial vehicle (120), thereby causing the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) to move vertically upward toward the target.

[0020] Looking at FIGS. 1 and 2, an unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system (100) for conventional unguided missile drop according to one embodiment of the present invention is largely composed of ground control equipment (110) and an unmanned aerial vehicle (120).

[0021] The ground control equipment (110) receives video footage from an unmanned aerial vehicle (120), designates a target requiring destruction from the received video footage, and then transmits target information about the designated target to the unmanned aerial vehicle (120).

[0022] More specifically, the ground control equipment (110) is configured to include a communication unit (111) that receives a video image from an unmanned aerial vehicle (120), and a target designation unit (112) that designates a target in the received video image and transmits the target information to the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) through the communication unit (111).

[0023] The target designation unit (112) can designate a specific target that needs to be destroyed within the captured image received from the unmanned aerial vehicle (120). The operator can directly designate the target, or the target that needs to be destroyed can be automatically designated using the vision AI method.

[0024] Target information of a target designated through the target designation unit (112) is transmitted to the unmanned aerial vehicle (120), thereby designating a final destination for the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) to move vertically upwards from the target.

[0025]

[0026] The unmanned aerial vehicle (120) maneuvers vertically upward toward the target based on target information transmitted from the target designation unit (112), and maintains a hovering flight state when it arrives vertically upward.

[0027] More specifically, the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) captures an image including a target on the ground through the camera unit (121) to create a captured image, and the communication unit (122) transmits the image to the communication unit (111) of the ground control equipment (110).

[0028] In addition, when target information about a target is received from the ground control equipment (110), the maneuvering unit (123) moves the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) vertically above the target based on this.

[0029] When the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) moves vertically above the target through the maneuvering unit (123), the position control unit (124) corrects the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) so that it is positioned accurately vertically above the target.

[0030] More specifically, in the process of the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) finding the exact position vertically above the target, the position control unit (124) is configured to include an AHRS (Attitude and Heading Reference system) sensor (124-1) that measures the roll value, pitch value, and yaw value of the camera unit (121) respectively so that the position of the target in the captured image is accurately located at the center of the image, and a multi-axis gimbal (124-2) that corrects the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) so that the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) is located at the center vertically above the target based on the measurement values ​​of the AHRS sensor (124-1).

[0031] The AHRS sensor (124-1) controls the multi-axis gimbal (124-2) so that the position of the target in the captured image captured by the camera unit (121) is positioned at the exact center of the captured image screen.

[0032] When the multi-axis gimbal (124-2) is a two-axis gimbal, the roll axis and pitch axis of the camera unit (121) and the yaw axis of the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) are rotated so that the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) is positioned exactly vertically above the target, and when the multi-axis gimbal (124-2) is a three-axis gimbal, the roll axis, pitch axis, and yaw axis of the camera unit (121) are rotated so that the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) is positioned exactly vertically above the target.

[0033] In this process, the AHRS sensor (124-1) measures the roll value, pitch value, and yaw value of the camera unit (121), respectively, and then moves the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) so that the roll value and pitch value become 0 degrees (vertically downward) and moves vertically above the target.

[0034] Meanwhile, the position control unit (124) measures the disturbance applied to the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) after the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) has been corrected through the multi-axis gimbal (124-2), and then predicts the dropping position of the unguided missile dropped through the dropping unit (125) based on the measured disturbance value, and controls the maneuvering unit (123) and the position control unit (124) based on the predicted result so that the dropping position is corrected.

[0035] More specifically, the launcher (125) launches the loaded unguided missile when the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) is positioned at an exact vertically upward position of the target, thereby initiating target destruction. At this time, if an external force such as wind is applied while the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) is in hover, the actual impact point may deviate from the predicted impact point, resulting in failure of target destruction.

[0036] Accordingly, in the present invention, when the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) is corrected through the multi-axis gimbal (124-2) and positioned at an exact position vertically above the target, the position control unit (124) measures in real time the disturbance value (wind speed, etc.) applied to the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) in a stationary flight state, and predicts the expected drop location of the unguided missile based on this.

[0037] If the predicted drop point is determined to be different from the target's location, the position control unit (124) controls the mobile unit (123) and the multi-axis gimbal (124-2) to automatically correct the location so that the predicted drop point becomes the same as the target's location.

[0038] Through this, the effectiveness of the drop can be maximized because the accuracy of the predicted drop point and the actual predicted point is higher than simply dropping an unguided missile vertically above the target.

[0039]

[0040] Next, we will examine in order the entire process of dropping a conventional unguided missile onto a target through the unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system (100) for dropping a conventional unguided missile discussed above.

[0041] Figure 3 is a flowchart showing the entire process of dropping a conventional unguided missile onto a target in a series of sequential steps through an unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system (100) for dropping a conventional unguided missile according to the present invention.

[0042] Looking at Figure 3, first, the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) captures an image including a target through the camera unit (121) to create a captured image (S301), and then transmits the created captured image to the ground control equipment (110) (S302).

[0043] After receiving the corresponding video, the ground control equipment (110) designates a target within the video and transmits target information about the designated target back to the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) (S303).

[0044] Next, the position control unit (124) corrects the position by rotating the axis of the multi-axis gimbal (124-2) so that the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) is positioned more accurately vertically above the target (S304), and the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) tracks the target in real time in the captured image of the camera unit (121) and moves the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) vertically above the tracked target through the maneuvering unit (123) (S305).

[0045] When the movement of the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) is completed, the position control unit (124) measures the disturbance applied to the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) in a stationary flight state, and then predicts the dropping position of the unguided missile based on the measured disturbance value, and controls the maneuvering unit (123) and the multi-axis gimbal (124-2) based on the predicted result to correct the dropping position (S306). When the dropping position is perfectly corrected, the dropping unit (125) executes target destruction by dropping the loaded unguided missile (S307).

[0046]

[0047] Although the present invention has been described above with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes may be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the claims below.

[0048]

[0049] [Explanation of symbols]

[0050] 100: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Flight Control System for Conventional Unguided Missile Drops

[0051] 110: Ground control equipment

[0052] 111: Communications Department

[0053] 112: Target Designation Unit

[0054] 120: Unmanned aerial vehicle

[0055] 121: Camera Department

[0056] 122: Communications Department

[0057] 123: Mobile Unit

[0058] 124: Position control unit

[0059] 124-1: AHRS sensor

[0060] 124-2: Multi-axis gimbal

[0061] 125: Drop section

Claims

1. Ground control equipment (110); and An unmanned aerial vehicle (120) that is equipped with an unguided missile, transmits a photographed image to the ground control equipment (110), tracks a target designated through the ground control equipment (110), moves vertically upward, and drops the equipped unguided missile while the position is controlled according to the position correction value; characterized in that it includes; Unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system for conventional unguided missile delivery.

2. In paragraph 1, The above ground control equipment (110) is A communication unit (111) that receives a video from the above unmanned aerial vehicle (120); and It is characterized by including a target designation unit (112) that designates a target in the received shooting image and then transmits the designated target information to the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) through the communication unit (111). Unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system for conventional unguided missile delivery.

3. In paragraph 2, The above unmanned aerial vehicle (120) is After shooting a video on the ground, a camera unit (121) that creates the shot video; A communication unit (122) that transmits the generated captured image to the communication unit (111) and receives the target information from the ground control equipment (110); A mobile unit (123) for tracking a target based on received target information and then moving vertically upwards of the target; A position control unit (124) that measures and corrects the position while hovering vertically above the target; and It is characterized by including a launching unit (125) that allows the loaded unguided missile to be launched; Unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system for conventional unguided missile delivery.

4. In paragraph 3, The above position control unit (124) An AHRS (Attitude and Heading Reference system) sensor (124-1) that measures the roll value, pitch value, and yaw value of the camera unit (121), respectively; and It includes a multi-axis gimbal (124-2) that corrects the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) based on the measurement value of the AHRS sensor (124-1) so that the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) is located at the center vertically above the target; The above position control unit (124) is characterized in that it induces the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) to a point where the roll value, pitch value, and yaw value of the multi-axis gimbal (124-2) are each 0 degrees, so that the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) is positioned vertically above the target. Unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system for conventional unguided missile delivery.

5. In paragraph 4, The above position control unit (124) In a state where the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) is corrected through the multi-axis gimbal (124-2), the disturbance applied to the unmanned aerial vehicle (120) is measured, and then the dropping position of the unguided missile dropped through the dropping unit (125) is predicted based on the measured disturbance value, and the mobile unit (123) and the multi-axis gimbal (124-2) are controlled based on the predicted result so that the dropping position is corrected. Unmanned aerial vehicle flight control system for conventional unguided missile delivery.

Images