Computation system for aircraft and computation method for aircraft

Abstract

This computation system for aircraft is provided with: an aircraft including an information acquisition unit that acquires information, and a first communication unit that transmits the acquired information as output information to the outside and acquires input information from the outside; and a computation device including a computation unit that executes computation processing based on the output information to generate the input information as a computation result, and a second communication unit that acquires the output information output from the aircraft and transmits the input information to the aircraft. The aircraft acquires the output information by means of the information acquisition unit, and transmits the acquired output information to the computation device via the first communication unit. The computation device acquires the output information by means of the second communication unit. The computation unit executes the computation processing based on the acquired output information to generate the input information, and transmits the generated input information to the aircraft via the second communication unit.

Description

Aircraft computing system and aircraft computing method

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an aircraft computing system and an aircraft computing method.

[0002] A targeting system using an unmanned aerial vehicle that identifies a predicted landing point of a projectile based on information about the projectile to be projected at a target, provided position data, and a map database is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). This targeting system identifies the target position of the target based on a map database, grasps the environmental conditions around the identified target position using images, and identifies the predicted landing point based on the image data and information about the projectile.

[0003] Special Publication No. 2016-540949

[0004] The targeting device of the targeting system described in Patent Document 1 may be installed on an aircraft, and in this case, calculations related to the targeting are performed on the aircraft. Furthermore, aircraft are required to perform advanced calculations in addition to targeting. Therefore, a calculation device for performing the advanced calculations is installed on the aircraft. However, the size, heat generation, and power consumption of the calculation device increase, making it difficult to install such an advanced calculation device on an aircraft.

[0005] Therefore, an object of the present disclosure is to provide an aircraft calculation system and an aircraft calculation method that can reduce the load associated with the aircraft's calculation processing even when performing advanced calculation processing.

[0006] The aircraft computing system of the present disclosure comprises: an aircraft having an information acquisition unit that acquires information; and a first communication unit that transmits the acquired information to the outside as output information and acquires input information from the outside; and a computing device having a computing unit that executes computational processing based on the output information to generate the input information as a computation result; and a second communication unit that acquires the output information output from the aircraft and transmits the input information to the aircraft; wherein the aircraft acquires the output information using the information acquisition unit and transmits the acquired output information to the computing device via the first communication unit; the computing device acquires the output information using the second communication unit; the computing unit executes computational processing based on the acquired output information to generate the input information, and transmits the generated input information to the aircraft via the second communication unit.

[0007] The aircraft calculation method disclosed herein is an aircraft calculation method executed by an aircraft calculation system including an aircraft and a calculation device, wherein the aircraft has an information acquisition unit that acquires information, and a first communication unit that transmits the acquired information to the outside as output information and acquires input information from the outside, the calculation device has a calculation unit that executes calculation processing based on the output information and generates the input information as a calculation result, and a second communication unit that acquires output information output from the aircraft and transmits the input information to the aircraft, the aircraft acquires the output information using the information acquisition unit and transmits the acquired output information to the calculation device via the first communication unit, the calculation device acquires the output information using the second communication unit, the calculation unit executes calculation processing based on the acquired output information to generate the input information, and transmits the generated input information to the aircraft via the second communication unit.

[0008] According to the present disclosure, even when performing advanced arithmetic processing, the load associated with the arithmetic processing of an aircraft can be reduced.

[0009] Fig. 1 is a diagram showing a calculation system for an aircraft according to this embodiment, and Fig. 2 is a flowchart showing a calculation method for an aircraft according to this embodiment.

[0010] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, this disclosure is not limited to these embodiments. Furthermore, the components in the following embodiments include those that are easily replaceable by those skilled in the art, or those that are substantially identical. Furthermore, the components described below can be combined as appropriate, and when there are multiple embodiments, the respective embodiments can also be combined.

[0011]

[0033] [Present Embodiment] An aircraft computing system 10 according to this embodiment is a system that executes computational processing using a computing device separate from the aircraft. First, the computing system 10 will be described with reference to FIG.

[0012] (Aircraft Computing System) Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an aircraft computing system according to this embodiment. As shown in Fig. 1, the computing system 10 includes an aircraft 15 and a computing device 16, which are communicatively connected via a communication network 18.

[0013] The aircraft 15 has a control unit 21 that performs flight control of the aircraft, a memory unit 22 that stores various software and various data, a communication unit (first communication unit) 23, and an information acquisition unit 24.

[0014] The control unit 21 includes an integrated circuit such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), etc. The control unit 21 executes various data processing related to flight control of the aircraft 15.

[0015] The storage unit 22 is any storage device such as a semiconductor storage device or a magnetic storage device. Various software for executing various data processing and various data used in the various data processing are stored in the storage unit 22. The various data include, for example, information acquired by the information acquisition unit 24, such as sensor information from various sensors mounted on the aircraft.

[0016] The communication unit 23 is a communication module for bidirectional communication with the arithmetic device 16. The communication unit 23 outputs output information acquired by the information acquisition unit 24 to the arithmetic device 16, and acquires input information input from the arithmetic device 16.

[0017] The arithmetic device 16 includes a calculation unit 31, a storage unit 32, and a communication unit (second communication unit) 33. The arithmetic device 16 is provided, for example, in ground equipment, but may also be provided in another aircraft.

[0018] The calculation unit 31 includes an integrated circuit such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) in the same manner as the control unit 21. The calculation unit 31 executes various types of calculation processing.

[0019] The storage unit 32 is an arbitrary storage device such as a semiconductor storage device or a magnetic storage device, similar to the storage unit 22. The storage unit 22 stores various software for executing arithmetic processing and various data used in the arithmetic processing.

[0020] The communication unit 33 is a communication module for two-way communication with the aircraft 15. The communication unit 33 acquires output information input from the aircraft 15 and outputs input information to the aircraft 15.

[0021] (Aircraft Calculation Method) Next, an aircraft calculation method executed by the aircraft calculation system 10 will be described with reference to Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a flowchart relating to the aircraft calculation method according to this embodiment.

[0022] In the aircraft calculation method, the information acquisition unit 24 of the aircraft 15 acquires output information (step S1). In step S1, the output information is sensor information from various sensors mounted on the aircraft, such as detection data acquired by a radar detector.

[0023] Next, when the aircraft 15 acquires output information via the information acquisition unit 24, the communication unit 23 transmits the acquired output information to the computing device 16 (step S2). Here, the output information includes, for example, aircraft information such as aircraft motion data related to flight control of the aircraft 15 and collected information collected to achieve the objectives assigned to the aircraft 15. In step S2, the communication unit 23 transmits at least the collected information to the computing device 16. Meanwhile, the control unit 21 of the aircraft 15 executes flight control based on the aircraft information. That is, the aircraft 15 appropriately selects and transmits output information to the computing device 16 depending on the type of output information acquired via the information acquisition unit 24. This distinguishes between data to be processed on the aircraft 15 side and data to be processed on the computing device 16 side from a safety perspective (e.g., in the event of communication being interrupted). In this embodiment, for example, aircraft motion data is data to be processed on the aircraft 15 side, and collected information (e.g., detection data) is data to be processed on the computing device 16 side.

[0024] Thereafter, the communication unit 33 of the computing device 16 acquires the output information (step S3). Then, the computing unit 31 of the computing device 16 executes a computation process based on the acquired output information (step S4). The computing unit 31 generates the processing result of the computation process as input information to the aircraft 1 (step S5). The input information may be, for example, track data of the detected object obtained based on the detection data.

[0025] The calculation unit 31 of the calculation device 16 transmits the generated input information to the aircraft 15 via the communication unit 33 (step S6). Thereafter, the communication unit 23 of the aircraft 15 acquires the input information (step S7). When the aircraft 15 acquires the input information in step S7, the control unit 21 executes display based on the input information and executes flight control based on the input information. After execution of step S7, the calculation processing related to the calculation method of the aircraft 15 ends.

[0026] In the present embodiment, no particular reference is made to the number of aircraft 15 that are the targets of arithmetic processing in the arithmetic device 16, but one or more aircraft 15 may be the targets. For example, when the targets are multiple aircraft 15, the arithmetic device 16 may integrate output information acquired from the multiple aircraft 15 and perform arithmetic processing based on the integrated output information. In this case, the arithmetic device 16 may transmit input information as the calculation result to the multiple aircraft 15.

[0027] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the arithmetic device 16 is updated with software related to the arithmetic processing, while the arithmetic processing software of the aircraft 15 does not need to be updated. Therefore, in the arithmetic system 10 of the aircraft 15, the work costs involved in software update work can be reduced.

[0028] Furthermore, in this embodiment, when communication with the arithmetic device 16 is poor, the control unit 21 of the aircraft 15 may execute simplified arithmetic processing that is lighter in load than the arithmetic processing executed by the arithmetic device 16, instead of the arithmetic processing by the arithmetic device 16. In other words, when the control unit 21 of the aircraft 15 determines that communication with the arithmetic device 16 is poor, it acquires output information from the information acquisition unit 24 and executes arithmetic processing based on the acquired output information. Then, the control unit 21 of the aircraft 15 executes display based on input information as the calculation result of the arithmetic processing, or executes flight control based on the input information.

[0029] As described above, the calculation system of the aircraft 15 and the calculation method of the aircraft 15 described in this embodiment can be understood, for example, as follows.

[0030] A calculation system 10 of an aircraft 15 according to a first aspect comprises: an aircraft 15 having an information acquisition unit 24 for acquiring information; and a first communication unit 23 for transmitting the acquired information to the outside as output information and acquiring input information from the outside; and a calculation device 16 having a calculation unit 31 for performing calculation processing based on the output information and generating the input information as a calculation result; and a second communication unit 33 for acquiring the output information output from the aircraft and transmitting the input information to the aircraft; the aircraft 15 acquires the output information using the information acquisition unit 24 and transmits the acquired output information to the calculation device 16 via the first communication unit 23; the calculation device 16 acquires the output information using the second communication unit 33; the calculation unit 31 executes calculation processing based on the acquired output information to generate the input information; and transmits the generated input information to the aircraft 15 via the second communication unit 33.

[0031] According to this configuration, even when performing advanced arithmetic processing, the arithmetic processing can be performed in a computing device 16 separate from the aircraft 15, thereby reducing the load associated with the arithmetic processing on the aircraft 15.

[0032] As a second aspect, in the calculation system 10 of the aircraft 15 relating to the first aspect, the aircraft 15 further has a control unit 21 that performs flight control of the aircraft, and the output information includes aircraft information related to flight control of the aircraft 15 and collected information that is collected to achieve a purpose given to the aircraft 15, the first communication unit 23 transmits at least the collected information to the calculation device 16, and the control unit 21 performs flight control based on the aircraft information.

[0033] According to this configuration, even if communication between the aircraft 15 and the computing device 16 is interrupted, flight control of the aircraft 15 can be continued, thereby ensuring safe flight operations of the aircraft 15 even when communication is interrupted.

[0034] As a third aspect, in the computing system 10 of the aircraft 15 according to the first or second aspect, the computing device 16 is provided in a ground facility.

[0035] According to this configuration, even if the calculation device 16 is arranged in the ground facility and the calculation processing capacity of the calculation device 16 becomes large, it is possible to arrange the calculation device 16 appropriately.

[0036] As a fourth aspect, in the computing system 10 of the aircraft 15 according to the first or second aspect, the computing device 16 is provided in another aircraft.

[0037] According to this configuration, by flying another aircraft equipped with a computing device 16 in accordance with the flight of the aircraft 15, communication between the aircraft 15 and the computing device 16 can be stabilized.

[0038] A computing method for an aircraft 15 according to a fifth aspect is a computing method for an aircraft 15 executed by a computing system 10 of the aircraft 15 including the aircraft 15 and a computing device 16, wherein the aircraft 15 has an information acquisition unit 24 that acquires information, and a first communication unit 23 that transmits the acquired information to the outside as output information and acquires input information from the outside, and the computing device 16 has a computing unit 31 that executes a computation process based on the output information and generates the input information as a computation result, and a computing unit 32 that outputs output information from the aircraft 15. and a second communication unit 33 that acquires the input information from the information acquisition unit 24 and transmits the input information to the aircraft 15, wherein the aircraft 15 acquires the output information using the information acquisition unit 24 and transmits the acquired output information to the arithmetic device 16 via the first communication unit 23, the arithmetic device 16 acquires the output information using the second communication unit 33, the arithmetic unit 31 executes arithmetic processing based on the acquired output information to generate the input information, and transmits the generated input information to the aircraft 15 via the second communication unit 33.

[0039] According to this configuration, even when performing advanced arithmetic processing, the arithmetic processing can be performed in a computing device 16 separate from the aircraft 15, thereby reducing the load associated with the arithmetic processing on the aircraft 15.

[0040] REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 Calculation system 15 Aircraft 16 Calculation device 18 Communication network 21 Control unit 22 Storage unit 23 Communication unit 31 Calculation unit 32 Storage unit 33 Communication unit

Claims

1. An aircraft computing system comprising: an aircraft having an information acquisition unit that acquires information, and a first communication unit that transmits the acquired information to the outside as output information and acquires input information from the outside; and a computing device having: a computing unit that executes computational processing based on the output information to generate the input information as a computation result, and a second communication unit that acquires the output information output from the aircraft and transmits the input information to the aircraft, wherein the aircraft acquires the output information using the information acquisition unit and transmits the acquired output information to the computing device via the first communication unit; the computing device acquires the output information using the second communication unit; the computing unit executes computational processing based on the acquired output information to generate the input information, and transmits the generated input information to the aircraft via the second communication unit.

2. The aircraft computing system described in claim 1, wherein the aircraft further has a control unit that performs flight control of the aircraft, the output information includes aircraft information related to flight control of the aircraft and collected information collected to achieve a purpose assigned to the aircraft, the first communication unit transmits at least the collected information to the computing device, and the control unit performs flight control based on the aircraft information.

3. The aircraft computing system according to claim 1, wherein the computing device is provided in a ground facility.

4. The aircraft computing system according to claim 1, wherein the computing device is provided in another aircraft.

5. A computation method for an aircraft executed by an aircraft computation system comprising an aircraft and a computing device, wherein the aircraft has: an information acquisition unit that acquires information; and a first communication unit that transmits the acquired information to the outside as output information and acquires input information from the outside, the computing device has: a computation unit that executes computation processing based on the output information and generates the input information as a computation result; and a second communication unit that acquires the output information output from the aircraft and transmits the input information to the aircraft, wherein the aircraft acquires the output information using the information acquisition unit and transmits the acquired output information to the computing device via the first communication unit, the computing device acquires the output information using the second communication unit, the computing unit executes computation processing based on the acquired output information to generate the input information, and transmits the generated input information to the aircraft via the second communication unit.

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