Information processing system, information processing device, information processing method, and program

Abstract

An information processing system according to an embodiment comprises: a sensor that receives electromagnetic waves radiated from a deposit; and a determination unit that determines the type or state of the deposit on the basis of the radiation intensity of the received electromagnetic waves.

Description

Information processing system, information processing device, information processing method, and program

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing system, an information processing device, an information processing method, and a program. This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2024-003036, filed on January 12, 2024, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] Objects such as snow, ice, water, and mud (hereinafter referred to as "deposits") may accumulate or adhere to road and runway surfaces, which may result in slip and stuck accidents. In order to efficiently prevent such accidents, it is necessary to accurately determine the presence and type of deposits. In this regard, there are known techniques for measuring the condition of road surfaces for the purpose of managing roads and runways (see, for example, Patent Document 1 and Non-Patent Document 1).

[0003] JP 2011-53184 A

[0004] Naoki Watanabe, Hiroyuki Enomoto, Kazutaka Tateyama, Akito Yamamoto, Masataka Tanaka, Shuhei Takahashi, Akiko Iwamoto, Ryosuke Sasaki, and Alimas Nuasmuggli, "Development of an automatic road surface condition detection system using a microwave radiometer," Snow and Ice, Vol. 73, No. 4, pp. 213-224, 2011, doi: 10.5331 / seppyo.73.4_213.

[0005] However, conventional techniques have not been able to accurately determine the type or state of deposits.

[0006] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and one of its objects is to provide an information processing system, an information processing device, an information processing method, and a program that can accurately determine the type or state of deposits.

[0007] One aspect of the present invention is an information processing system comprising a sensor that receives electromagnetic waves emitted from a deposit, and a determination unit that determines the type or state of the deposit based on the radiation intensity of the received electromagnetic waves.

[0008] According to one aspect of the present invention, the type or state of deposits can be determined with high accuracy.

[0009] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an information processing system according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a schematic view of a sensor according to an embodiment receiving microwaves. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a schematic view of a sensor according to an embodiment receiving microwaves. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an information processing device according to an embodiment. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a series of processing steps of the information processing device according to an embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a comparison method for deposit determination. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the present method for deposit determination.

[0010] Hereinafter, embodiments of an information processing system, an information processing device, an information processing method, and a program according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0011] [Configuration of Information Processing System] Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an information processing system 1 according to an embodiment. As shown in the figure, the information processing system 1 includes a sensor 10 and an information processing device 100. These devices are connected to a network NW. The network NW is, for example, a wide area network (WAN) or a local area network (LAN). When there is no need to distinguish between the multiple sensors 10-1 to 10-n, these sensors 10-1 to 10-n will be collectively referred to as the sensor 10 in the following description.

[0012] The sensor 10 is, for example, a microwave scanning radiometer (MSR) capable of receiving or detecting microwaves. The microwaves referred to here are electromagnetic waves in a wavelength band from about 1 m to about 1 mm. The multiple sensors 10 typically receive microwaves of different frequencies and polarizations. For example, the sensor 10-1 receives microwaves of frequency f １ The sensor 10-2 receives microwaves of frequency f ２ The microwave receiving device is configured to receive microwaves of

[0013] For example, the sensor 10 may be installed on the roof of an airport terminal or on a telephone pole near a road or railroad tracks. The sensor 10 may also be installed on a portable support such as a tripod. From the installation location, the sensor 10 receives weak microwaves emitted from deposits that have accumulated or adhered to runways, roads, railroad tracks, etc. The deposits may be, for example, snow, ice, water, mud, soil, volcanic ash, sand, or a combination thereof.

[0014] 2 and 3 are diagrams schematically illustrating how the sensor 10 according to the embodiment receives microwaves. In the diagrams, reference numeral 20 represents a road surface such as a runway, road, or railroad, and reference numeral 30 represents deposits. In the example of FIG. 2, microwaves naturally emitted from the road surface 20 are received by the sensor 10 without being blocked by the deposits 30. On the other hand, in the example of FIG. 3, microwaves naturally emitted from the road surface 20 are scattered as they pass through the deposits 30, and are thereby attenuated or amplified.

[0015] When the sensor 10 receives microwaves, it transmits sensor data indicating the radiation intensity of the received microwaves to the information processing device 100 via the network NW.

[0016] The microwave radiation intensity may be expressed, for example, by brightness temperature (TB), which is an index that can be expressed as the product of the microwave emissivity ε of the deposit and its physical temperature Ts (TB=ε·Ts).

[0017] 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the information processing device 100 according to the embodiment. As shown in the figure, the information processing device 100 includes, for example, a communication interface 110, an input interface 120, an output interface 130, a storage unit 140, and a processing unit 150.

[0018] The communication interface 110 includes, for example, a network interface card (NIC) or a wireless communication module including a receiver and a transmitter. The communication interface 110 communicates with an external device via the network NW. The external device is, for example, the sensor 10 described above or another device. The external device may also include an aircraft that uses a runway on which the sensor 10 is installed, a vehicle that uses a road on which the sensor 10 is installed, or a railway vehicle that uses a track on which the sensor 10 is installed.

[0019] The external device may also include an observation device that observes the surrounding environment of the location where the sensor 10 is installed, i.e., the location where the deposits are present, and a providing device that provides weather data based on a weather model. The observation device may observe various weather conditions such as air temperature, humidity, and wind speed, or may observe the temperature of the location where the sensor 10 is installed (e.g., the surface temperature of a runway or road). In this case, the communication interface 110 may acquire various types of observation information from the observation device.

[0020] The input interface 120 accepts various input operations from the user, converts the accepted input operations into electrical signals, and outputs the electrical signals to the processing unit 150. For example, the input interface 120 includes a mouse, a keyboard, a trackball, a switch, a button, a joystick, a touch panel, etc. The input interface 120 may also be a voice user interface that accepts voice input including a microphone, etc.

[0021] The output interface 130 includes, for example, a display and a speaker. The display displays images generated by the processing unit 150, a GUI (Graphical User Interface) for receiving various input operations from the user, and the like. For example, the display is an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display, or the like. The speaker outputs information input from the processing unit 150 as sound.

[0022] The storage unit 140 is realized by, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD), a flash memory, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), etc. The storage unit 140 stores various programs such as firmware and application programs.

[0023] The processing unit 150 includes, for example, an acquisition unit 151 , a calculation unit 152 , a determination unit 153 , and an output control unit 154 .

[0024] The components of the processing unit 150 are realized by a processor such as a central processing unit (CPU) or a graphics processing unit (GPU) executing a program stored in the storage unit 140. Some or all of the components of the processing unit 150 may be realized by hardware such as a large-scale integration (LSI), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or a system-on-chip (SOC), or may be realized by a combination of software and hardware.

[0025] [Processing flow of information processing device] A series of processing flows of the information processing device 100 will be described below with reference to a flowchart. Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a series of processing flows of the information processing device 100 according to an embodiment. The processing of this flowchart may be performed repeatedly at a predetermined cycle, for example.

[0026] First, the acquisition unit 151 acquires sensor data indicating the radiation intensity of microwaves from the sensors 10 via the communication interface 110 (step S100). For example, the acquisition unit 151 acquires the frequency f １ and obtains sensor data indicating the radiation intensity of microwaves of frequency f ２Sensor data indicating the microwave radiation intensity is acquired.

[0027] Next, the calculation unit 152 calculates a GR (Gardiation Ratio) and a PR (Polarization Ratio) based on the brightness temperature indicated by the sensor data as the radiation intensity of the microwave (step S102).

[0028] GR is the difference in brightness temperature between two microwaves with different frequencies or polarizations, or both, as shown in Equation (1). PR is the difference in brightness temperature between the polarizations of a single-frequency microwave (the difference between the brightness temperature of the vertically polarized component and the brightness temperature of the horizontally polarized component), as shown in Equation (2). Furthermore, unlike brightness temperatures that depend on the physical temperature Ts (TB = ε·Ts), as mentioned above, GR and PR can reveal the characteristics of microwave radiation that differ depending on the type of sediment by minimizing the influence of the physical temperature Ts. Furthermore, even in the field of Earth observation, where it is difficult to simultaneously characterize microwave radiation over a wide area (obtaining the physical temperature Ts), GR and PR based on brightness temperatures obtained by satellite-mounted microwave radiometers have long been widely used.

[0029]

[0030]

[0031] f １ represents an arbitrary frequency, and f ２ is the frequency f １ represents any other frequency different from p. p represents any polarization, either vertically (v) or horizontally (h).

[0032] For example, TB in Equation (1) ｆ１,ｐ is the frequency f １ component and represents the brightness temperature of an arbitrary polarization p component. ｆ２,ｐ is the frequency f ２ GR represents the brightness temperature of the frequency f of an arbitrary polarization p component. １ Brightness temperature TB ｆ１,ｐ ​​and the frequency f of any polarization p component ２ Brightness temperature TB ｆ２,ｐ Difference from (TB ｆ１,ｐ -TB ｆ２,ｐ ) is an index whose magnitude fluctuates depending on the

[0033] GR is an equation (first term on the right side) that uses the difference in brightness temperature TB as a variable, and can be treated as equivalent to an equation (second or third term on the right side) that uses the product of the microwave emissivity ε of the deposit and the physical temperature Ts as a variable. TB ｆ１,ｐ is an example of the "first brightness temperature". ｆ２,ｐ is an example of the "second brightness temperature." ｆ１,ｐ -TB ｆ２,ｐ ) is an example of a "first difference."

[0034] TB in Equation (2) ｆ,ｖ is f １ and f ２ and the brightness temperature is a vertically polarized wave v component. ｆ,ｈ represents the brightness temperature of an arbitrary frequency f component and a horizontally polarized wave h component. In other words, PR is the brightness temperature TB of a vertically polarized wave v component of an arbitrary frequency f. ｆ,ｖ and the brightness temperature TB of the horizontally polarized h component of an arbitrary frequency f ｆ,ｈ Difference from (TB ｆ,ｖ -TB ｆ,ｈ ) is an index whose magnitude fluctuates depending on the

[0035] PR is an equation (first term on the right side) that uses the difference between the polarizations of brightness temperature TB as a variable, and can be treated as equivalent to an equation (second or third term on the right side) that uses the product of the microwave emissivity ε of the deposit and the physical temperature Ts as a variable. ｆ,ｖ -TB ｆ,ｈ ) is an example of a "second difference."

[0036] Next, the determination unit 153 determines the type and state of the deposit that is the radiation source of the microwave received by the sensor 10 based on the GR and PR calculated by the calculation unit 152 (step S104).

[0037] Specifically, the determination unit 153 distributes the deposits (objects whose type and state are unknown) that are the source of microwave radiation in a feature space whose dimensions are GR and PR. Objects whose GR and PR are known are distributed in advance in this feature space, and these objects are further clustered into several clusters, such as water, slush (partially melted snow), dry snow, accumulated snow, ice, or a combination of accumulated snow and ice (a three-layer structure of accumulated snow and ice).

[0038] The determining unit 153 extracts the cluster to which the deposit is closest in the feature space of GR and PR in which such clusters are formed, and determines that the cluster represents the type and state of the deposit.

[0039] FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the comparison method for determining deposits, and FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the present method for determining deposits.

[0040] As shown in Figure 6, the comparative method determines the type of deposit using the emissivity ε of the vertically polarized component of 6 GHz microwaves and the emissivity ε of the horizontally polarized component of 36 GHz microwaves. While this determination method using emissivity ε can accurately identify water and slush (partially melted snow), it cannot distinguish between dry snow, accumulated snow, ice, and a combination of accumulated snow and ice (a three-layer structure of accumulated snow and ice), as differences in emissivity ε are unlikely to occur.

[0041] On the other hand, as shown in Figure 7, the present method uses GR and PR to determine the type of deposit. Therefore, it can accurately determine dry snow, accumulated snow, ice, and a combination of accumulated snow and ice (a three-layer structure of accumulated snow and ice), which the comparison method could not classify. Furthermore, the present method can determine whether the deposit on the road surface is water or something else, even if the road surface is wet or submerged.

[0042] In FIG. 7 , for example, the overlapping portion of "snow cover" and "ice" may be defined as "half snow cover" or "half ice." It is also known that some microwave frequencies exist at which the amount of microwave radiation passing from the deposit to the sensor 10 is reduced due to factors such as the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere. In such cases, the acquisition unit 151 may acquire external information, such as meteorological observation information (such as water vapor amount) and a radiative transfer model, at the location where the deposit is present. The determination unit 153 may then determine the type and state of the deposit using the brightness temperature TB corrected using the acquired external information. Furthermore, the acquisition unit 151 may acquire the physical temperature Ts at the location where the deposit is present from a contact or non-contact thermometer located at or near the location. In such cases, the calculation unit 152 may calculate the emissivity ε from the equation TB = ε Ts and then calculate GR and PR by substituting the calculated emissivity ε into the above-described equations (1) and (2).

[0043] Returning to the explanation of the flowchart, next, the output control unit 154 outputs the determination result by the determination unit 153 (step S106). For example, the output control unit 154 may display the determination result on the display of the output interface 130, or may transmit the determination result to an external device via the communication interface 110. This ends the processing of this flowchart.

[0044] According to the embodiment described above, the information processing device 100 acquires sensor data indicating the radiation intensity of microwaves from the sensor 10 that receives microwaves emitted from the deposits. The information processing device 100 determines the type or state of the deposits based on the brightness temperature indicated by the sensor data. Specifically, the information processing device 100 calculates GR and PR based on the brightness temperatures of two types of microwaves that differ from each other in frequency and polarization, and determines the type or state of the deposits based on these GR and PR. In this way, by using the brightness temperature of microwaves naturally emitted from the deposits, the type or state of the deposits can be accurately determined.

[0045] Since a microwave radiometer, which measures microwave radiation intensity as brightness temperature, does not actively emit electromagnetic waves, this method is particularly useful in environments where radar control, which emits radio waves, is the norm, such as airport aircraft operations. Furthermore, because a microwave radiometer can measure the brightness temperature of deposits regardless of day or night, the information processing device 100 can also determine the type and state of deposits regardless of day or night.

[0046] The above describes the form for carrying out the present invention using an embodiment, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and various modifications and substitutions can be made within the scope that does not deviate from the gist of the present invention.

[0047] 1...information processing system, 10...sensor, 20...road surface, 30...deposit, 100...information processing device, 110...communication interface, 120...input interface, 130...output interface, 140...storage unit, 150...processing unit, 151...acquisition unit, 152...calculation unit, 153...determination unit, 154...output control unit

Claims

1. An information processing system comprising: a sensor that receives electromagnetic waves radiated from a deposit; and a determination unit that determines the type or state of the deposit based on the radiation intensity of the received electromagnetic waves.

2. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is a microwave radiometer that receives one or more microwave signals, and the determination unit determines the type or state of the deposit based on the brightness temperature indicated as the radiation intensity of the microwave signals.

3. The information processing system according to claim 2, wherein the determination unit determines the type or state of the deposit based on a first brightness temperature that is the brightness temperature of the microwave signal having a first frequency and a second brightness temperature that is the brightness temperature of the microwave signal having a second frequency different from the first frequency.

4. The information processing system according to claim 3, further comprising a calculation unit that calculates a first difference that is the difference between the first brightness temperature and the second brightness temperature and a second difference that is the difference between polarization waves of either one of the first brightness temperature and the second brightness temperature, and the determination unit determines the type or state of the deposit based on the calculated first difference and second difference of the deposit.

5. The information processing system according to claim 4, wherein the determination unit determines that the deposit is any one of water, sludge, dry snow, snow cover, ice, and a three-layer structure of the snow cover and the ice based on the first difference and the second difference of the deposit.

6. An information processing apparatus comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires sensor data of electromagnetic waves radiated from a deposit; and a determination unit that determines the type or state of the deposit based on the radiation intensity indicated by the acquired sensor data.

7. An information processing method, wherein a computer acquires sensor data of electromagnetic waves radiated from a deposit and determines the type or state of the deposit based on the radiation intensity indicated by the acquired sensor data.

8. A program for causing a computer to acquire sensor data of electromagnetic waves radiated from a deposit and determine the type or state of the deposit based on the radiation intensity indicated by the acquired sensor data.

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