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

Abstract

Provided is an information processing device that enables faster execution of beamforming for a flying body. The information processing device is mounted on an unmanned aircraft that functions as a communication relay device for relaying communication between a plurality of terminals. The information processing device comprises: a first acquisition unit that acquires first position information indicating the position of a ground station that controls the unmanned aircraft; a second acquisition unit that acquires second position information indicating the position of the information processing device; a third acquisition unit that acquires attitude information indicating the attitude of the information processing device including roll, pitch, and yaw; a calculation unit for calculating a beamforming direction for communication from the information processing device to the ground station, on the basis of the first position information, the second position information, and the attitude information, the calculation unit calculating the beamforming direction while shifting the yaw value in the attitude information; an identifying unit that identifies a beamforming direction that allows communication with the ground station, among the beamforming directions calculated by the calculation unit; and a communication unit that communicates with the ground station by directing a beam in the beamforming direction identified by the identifying unit.

Description

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

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and an information processing program for a communication system mounted on an aircraft.

[0002] In recent years, since the communication area per base station can be widened by placing wireless communication base stations at high altitudes, communication systems using HAPS (High Altitude Platform Station), known as a high-altitude platform in which a wireless station is mounted on an aircraft flying at high altitude, have been developed.

[0003] Patent Document 1 describes a technology in which a base station performs beamforming in a communication system using HAPS (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

[0004] JP 2023-139533 A

[0005] The HAPS communicates with the ground station that controls the HAPS, and beamforming can be performed in the communication between the HAPS and the ground station to improve the accuracy of the communication between the HAPS and the ground station. When beamforming is performed from the HAPS to the ground station, the direction is calculated based on the position of the HAPS, the position of the ground station, and the attitude of the HAPS. However, there is a problem in that the value of the gyro sensor used to determine the attitude of the HAPS may not be reliable.

[0006] Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above problem, and has an object to provide an information processing device to be mounted on a HAPS that can detect the beamforming direction at an early stage.

[0007] In order to solve the above problem, the information processing device of the present invention is an information processing device mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle that functions as a communication relay device that relays communications between multiple terminals, and is equipped with: a first acquisition unit that acquires first position information indicating the position of a ground station that controls the unmanned aerial vehicle; a second acquisition unit that acquires second position information indicating the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle; a third acquisition unit that acquires attitude information indicating the attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle, which is the roll, pitch, and yaw; a calculation unit that calculates the beam formation direction for communication from the unmanned aerial vehicle to the ground station based on the first position information, the second position information, and the attitude information, and calculates the beam formation direction while shifting the yaw value among the attitude information; an identification unit that identifies, from the beam formation directions calculated by the calculation unit, the beam formation direction that allows communication with the ground station; and a communication unit that communicates with the ground station by directing the beam in the beam formation direction identified by the identification unit.

[0008] In the above-mentioned information processing device, the identification unit may identify, as the beam formation direction capable of communicating with the terrestrial station, the beam formation direction having the highest reception level in communication with the terrestrial station by the communication unit in each of the beam formation directions calculated by the calculation unit.

[0009] In the above-mentioned information processing device, the identification unit may identify, as the direction of forming a beam capable of communicating with the terrestrial station, from among the beam formation directions calculated by the calculation unit, the direction of forming a beam in which the reception level in communication with the terrestrial station by the communication unit exceeds a predetermined threshold.

[0010] In the information processing device, the calculation unit may calculate the direction in which the beam is formed while shifting the yaw value within a range of a predetermined error value.

[0011] In the information processing device, if the specifying unit cannot specify the beam formation direction, the calculating unit may increase the predetermined error value.

[0012] In the information processing device, if the specifying unit cannot specify the beam formation direction, the calculating unit may calculate the beam formation direction while further shifting the pitch or roll value.

[0013] In addition, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, an information processing method according to one aspect of the present invention is an information processing method executed by an information processing device mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle that functions as a communication relay device that relays communications between multiple terminals, in which the information processing device includes a first acquisition step of indicating the position of a ground station that controls the unmanned aerial vehicle, a second acquisition step of acquiring second position information indicating the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle, a third acquisition step of acquiring attitude information indicating the attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle, which is the roll, pitch, and yaw, and a calculation step of calculating the beam formation direction for communication from the unmanned aerial vehicle to the ground station based on the first position information, the second position information, and the attitude information, and includes a calculation step of calculating the beam formation direction while shifting the yaw value among the attitude information, a determination step of identifying a beam formation direction that can communicate with the ground station from the beam formation directions calculated in the calculation step, and a communication step of communicating with the ground station by directing the beam in the beam formation direction identified in the determination step.

[0014] In addition, in order to solve the above problem, an information processing program according to one embodiment of the present invention provides a computer of an information processing device mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle that functions as a communication relay device that relays communications between multiple terminals, with the following functions: a first acquisition function that acquires first position information indicating the position of the ground station that controls the unmanned aerial vehicle; a second acquisition function that acquires second position information that indicates the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle; a third acquisition function that acquires attitude information indicating the attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle, which is the roll, pitch, and yaw of the unmanned aerial vehicle; a calculation function that calculates the beam formation direction for communication from the unmanned aerial vehicle to the ground station based on the first position information, the second position information, and the attitude information, and calculates the beam formation direction while shifting the yaw value among the attitude information; a determination function that identifies, from the beam formation directions calculated by the calculation function, the beam formation direction that allows communication with the ground station; and a communication function that communicates with the ground station by directing the beam in the beam formation direction identified by the determination function.

[0015] According to the information processing device of the present invention, by specifying the direction of the beam to be formed for communication with the ground station by shifting only the yaw direction, the direction of the beam can be specified more quickly than when shifting both the roll and pitch directions. This reduces the processing load on the information processing device and enables communication with the ground station to be established more quickly.

[0016] It is a system diagram showing an example of the system configuration of a communication system.It is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an information processing device.It is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the information processing device.

[0017] An information processing device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0018] The information processing device according to the present invention is mounted on an aircraft 10 shown in FIG. 1 and communicates with a ground station 200 and communication terminals 300a and 300b (sometimes collectively referred to as communication terminals 300). The aircraft 10 shown in FIG. 1 is a large (or small) aircraft that hovers in the air and functions as a base station for terminals on the ground. The aircraft 10 may be an aircraft that constitutes a High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS), which is a high-altitude platform. The aircraft 10 may also be an unmanned aircraft. The information processing device mounted on the aircraft 10 is connected to the ground station 200 via wireless communication and is controlled under the management of the ground station 200. The communication network between the information processing device and the ground station 200 is called a control link or a feeder link depending on its application. Furthermore, the information processing device mounted on the aircraft 10 serves as a base station to provide wireless communication between the communication terminals 300a and 300b (hereinafter collectively referred to as communication terminals 300 unless otherwise specified). The communication network between the information processing device and the communication terminals 300 is referred to as a service link.

[0019] The ground station 200 may be a management device that manages the flying vehicle 10, which serves as an aviation base station, and ground base stations, or may be a ground base station. The ground station 200 may allocate a communication area to be provided by the flying vehicle 10 to the communication terminal 300, transmit commands to the flying vehicle 10 for controlling the aircraft accordingly, and receive reports from the flying vehicle 10 regarding the flight status and the status of communication provision.

[0020] The communication terminal 300 may be, for example, a mobile phone, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a mobile communication module, an IoT (Internet of Things) device, etc. In the first embodiment, one aircraft 10, one ground station 200, and two communication terminals 300 are illustrated, but this is not limitative and more than one may be present. Furthermore, the terrestrial base stations are configured to be connectable to each other via a terrestrial communication network, and the communication terminals 300 are capable of communication using the communication network.

[0021] The aircraft 10 is basically driven by instructions from the ground station 200 (directly or via a satellite 400). The aircraft 10 may also navigate autonomously using a pre-stored autonavigation program.

[0022] The information processing device of the aircraft 10 communicates with the ground station 200 by performing beamforming to direct the directionality of the communication antenna, and the information processing device of this embodiment is configured to achieve this beamforming more quickly.

[0023] The method for realizing this beamforming will be described in detail below. <Configuration> <Air vehicle 10>

[0024] The aircraft 10 flies in the sky for a certain period of time. For example, the sky is at a high altitude of approximately 20 km, and the certain period of time may be several weeks, several months, or a year. The aircraft 10 may be, for example, a solar plane or a solar airship, which allows for longer flight times than conventional airplanes or airships. For example, if the aircraft 10 flies in the stratosphere, the stable air currents in the stratosphere allow the aircraft 10 to remain in the air for a longer period of time. The altitude at which the aircraft 10 flies is not limited to approximately 20 km and may be higher or lower than 20 km. Here, if the communication terminal 300 is a conventional terrestrial cellular mobile terminal, the technical distance at which communication with a base station is possible is, for example, approximately 100 km for LTE (Long Term Evolution). In this case, the altitude of the aircraft 10 is approximately 50 km or less.

[0025] In addition to the above examples (solar plane or solar airship), the flying object 10 may be any object capable of flying in the air, such as an airplane, airship, balloon, helicopter, or drone. The flying object 10 may be equipped with various sensors or cameras. Examples of sensors include, but are not limited to, sensors capable of remote sensing using laser ranging or Doppler radar. The flying object 10 (information processing device) transmits the measurement results of these sensors and cameras, as well as the acquired information indicating the distribution of communication terminals 300 (described later), to the ground station 200, thereby enabling the ground station 200 to assign an appropriate communication area to the flying object 10. <Configuration of the information processing device 100>

[0026] 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the information processing device 100. The information processing device 100 is an information processing device that functions as a base station that relays communications between terrestrial communication terminals 300, and is a computer system that operates according to a predetermined program.

[0027] As shown in FIG. 2, the information processing device 100 includes a communication unit 110, a control unit 130, and a storage unit 140.

[0028] The communication unit 110 is a communication interface having a function of communicating with devices external to the information processing device 100. The communication unit 110 has a function of communicating with the ground station 200 and the communication terminal 300 as external devices.

[0029] The communication unit 110 communicates with the ground station 200 via a control link antenna (not shown) to transmit and receive information related to the aircraft 10. Here, the control link antenna is an antenna provided on the aircraft 10 and used to communicate information related to the aircraft with the ground station 200. Control link communication refers to communication related to the control of the aircraft 10 between the ground station 200 and the aircraft 10, and for the aircraft 10, this is communication using the control link antenna. Information related to the aircraft includes, for example, aircraft control signals transmitted from the ground station 200 to the aircraft 10, and status signals (status information) of the aircraft 10 transmitted from the aircraft 10 to the ground station 200. Furthermore, the control signal of the aircraft is a signal indicating the control of the aircraft's steering, and the status signal is a signal indicating the flight status of the aircraft, and may include the current coordinates, speed, heading, and tilt level of the aircraft in the air, as well as sensing data sensed by various sensors for detecting the status of each part of the aircraft including the drive unit 150 and the surrounding conditions.

[0030] The communication unit 110 also performs feeder link communication with the ground station 200 via a feeder link antenna (not shown). Here, the feeder link communication refers to communication between the flying vehicle 10 and the ground station 200 using a feeder link antenna provided on the airframe of the flying vehicle 10.

[0031] When communicating with the ground station 200, the communication unit 110 forms antenna directivity in the direction of the beam identified by the identification unit 135 (described later) and executes the communication.

[0032] The communication unit 110 also provides service link communication to the communication terminal 300 via a service link antenna (not shown). Service link communication is communication that provides a communication service between the communication terminal 300 and other communication terminals 300, using a service link antenna provided on the aircraft 10. In other words, the service link is a link that provides the function of a so-called base station that relays communication between the communication terminals 300.

[0033] The communication unit 110 may be realized as separate communication devices, one for communicating with the ground station 200 and one for communicating with the communication terminal 300, or may be realized as a single communication device capable of communicating with both the ground station 200 and the communication terminal 300.

[0034] The control unit 130 is a processor that has the function of controlling each part of the aircraft 10. The control unit 130 may be realized by a single core or by multiple cores.

[0035] The control unit 130 includes, as functions realized by the control unit 130, a first acquisition unit 131, a second acquisition unit 132, a third acquisition unit 133, a calculation unit 134, and an identification unit 135.

[0036] The first acquisition unit 131 acquires first position information indicating the position of the ground station 200 that controls the aircraft on which the information processing device 100 is mounted. The position of the ground station 200 may be stored in advance in the storage unit 140 as latitude and longitude information, and the first acquisition unit 131 may acquire the position of the ground station 200 from the storage unit 140. Alternatively, the first acquisition unit 131 may acquire the position of the ground station 200 from the ground station 200 through communication with the ground station 200 via the communication unit 110. The first acquisition unit 131 transmits the first position information to the calculation unit 134.

[0037] The second acquisition unit 132 acquires second location information indicating the location of the information processing device 100 (the location of the aircraft 10). The second acquisition unit 132 may acquire, for example, location information measured by a positioning device (for example, a GPS (Global Positioning System)) mounted on the information processing device 100 as the second location information. Note that the system is not limited to GPS, and other systems may be used as long as they are capable of positioning. The second acquisition unit 132 transmits the second location information to the calculation unit 134.

[0038] The third acquisition unit 133 acquires attitude information indicating the attitude of the information processing device 100 (attitude of the aircraft 10) and indicating values ​​of roll, pitch, and yaw. The third acquisition unit 133 may acquire attitude information from a sensor, such as a gyro sensor, provided in the information processing device 100 or the aircraft 10, capable of outputting roll, pitch, and yaw values. However, it is known that the roll and pitch values ​​of a gyro sensor are highly reliable, but the yaw value is less reliable. This can be confirmed, for example, by installing two gyro sensors in the same position and observing the difference in their output values. Roll, pitch, and yaw may each refer to the rotation directions shown in FIG. 1 . That is, when the X axis is the direction of travel of the aircraft 10, roll may refer to the angle of rotation from a reference value in a rotation about the X axis. Furthermore, pitch may refer to the angle of rotation from a reference value in a rotation about the Y axis, when the Y axis is the left-right direction of the aircraft 10, perpendicular to the X axis. The yaw may be a rotation angle from a reference value in a downward rotation about the Z axis, which is perpendicular to the X axis and Y axis, i.e., when the Z axis is the vertical direction (direction of gravity) of the aircraft 10. The third acquisition unit 133 transmits the attitude information to the calculation unit 134.

[0039] The calculation unit 134 calculates the direction of formation of a beam (antenna directivity) for communication with the ground station 200 from the antenna of the communication unit 110 of the information processing device 100 based on the first position information transmitted from the first acquisition unit 131, the second position information transmitted from the second acquisition unit 132, and the attitude information transmitted from the third acquisition unit 133. Furthermore, the calculation unit 134 calculates the direction of formation of the beam by shifting only the yaw value for the calculated direction of formation of the beam. This beam formation is also called beamforming.

[0040] Specifically, the calculation unit 134 calculates the beam formation direction as follows.

[0041] First, the attitude of the information processing device 100 (aircraft 10), that is, the attitude indicated by the attitude information transmitted from the third acquisition unit, is φ roll , θ pitch , ψ yaw Furthermore, the relative position of the ground station 200 to which the beam is directed from the information processing device 100 is assumed to be (x, y, z). This relative position can be identified from the first position information acquired by the first acquisition unit 131 and the second position information acquired by the second acquisition unit 132. The antenna of the communication unit 110 (relative position with the gyro sensor as the center) is assumed to be (x ant , y ant , z ant ) and the antenna installation angle is φ tilt , θ ant Then, the following equation (1) holds:

[0042]

[0043] In the above formula (1), x' ant is x ant The same applies to y and z. ｘ , R ｙ , R ｚ can be expressed by the following equations (2) to (4). Note that θ in equations (2) to (4) is an angle for expressing the yaw angle, pitch angle, and roll angle in a matrix, and θ basically has different values ​​(although it may be the same) between equations (2) and (3), between equations (3) and (4), and between equations (4) and (2).

[0044]

[0045]

[0046]

[0047] By rearranging equation (1), the following equation (5) can be obtained.

[0048]

[0049] As a result, the horizontal beamforming angle Az can be calculated as shown in the following equation (6): The angle Az is the direction in which the ground station 100 is estimated to be located as seen from the communication antenna of the communication unit 110 of the flying object 10, and may be the angle from a reference direction with the communication antenna as the origin on a plane including the X-axis and Y-axis.

[0050]

[0051] The vertical beamforming angle El can be calculated using the following formula (7): Note that the angle El is the direction in which the ground station 100 is estimated to be located as seen from the communication antenna of the communication unit 110 of the aircraft 10, and may be the angle from a reference direction, with the communication antenna as the origin, on a plane including the X-axis and Z-axis.

[0052]

[0053] Here, the calculation unit 134 calculates ψ in equation (5). yaw The direction in which a plurality of beams are formed is calculated by shifting the value of ψ by a predetermined angle within a predetermined range. yaw The calculation of the value of ψ by shifting it by a predetermined angle within a predetermined range means yaw The calculation is performed by adding or subtracting a predetermined error value e from the center, ... yaw −2e, ψ yaw -e, ψ yaw , ψ yaw +e, ψ yawFor each yaw value of +2e, +2e, ..., Az and El may be calculated. The range for adding and subtracting this error value may be determined in advance, thereby reducing the calculation load. This allows the calculation unit 134 to perform beam direction scanning only in the yaw direction where the reliability of the gyro sensor is low, and identify the beam formation direction.

[0054] The identifying unit 135 identifies a beam formation direction for communication with the ground station 200 from among the multiple beam formation directions calculated by the calculating unit 134. Specifically, the identifying unit 135 causes the communication unit 110 to form a beam for each of the multiple beam formation directions calculated by the calculating unit 134, and receives a signal transmitted from the ground station 200 at that time. The content of the signal transmitted from the ground station may be arbitrary. The identifying unit 135 then identifies the beam formation direction for which the reception level at the communication unit 110 is highest among the received signals. The identifying unit 135 transmits the identified beam formation direction to the communication unit 110 and instructs it to use the beam formation direction for communication with the ground station 200. This allows the information processing device 100 to communicate with the ground station 200 with the highest reception level, i.e., in a stable state.

[0055] The storage unit 140 has a function of storing various programs and data required for the operation of the information processing device 100. The storage unit 140 can be realized by, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), a flash memory, etc., but is not limited to these. The storage unit 140 may store, for example, a program for performing beamforming toward the ground station 200 based on information indicating the status of the device itself.

[0056] The above is an example of the configuration of the information processing device 100 mounted on the aircraft 10. Although not described here, the information processing device 100 has a function of communicating with the communication terminal 300 as appropriate and executing a process of relaying communications between the communication terminals 300. The information processing device 100 may also have a function of controlling the navigation of the aircraft 10 in accordance with instructions from the ground station 20 or a predetermined program.

[0057] The ground station 200 and the communication terminal 300 have the same configuration as a general ground station 200 and a general communication terminal 300, and therefore detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[0058] <Operation> Fig. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of operation of the information processing device 100 when identifying the direction of beam formation for the ground station 200. The processing shown in Fig. 3 may be processing executed when the information processing device 100 (air vehicle 10) needs to communicate with the ground station 200 or at a predetermined timing, but is not limited to these timings.

[0059] 3, the first acquisition unit 131 of the information processing device 100 acquires first location information indicating the location of the ground station 200, which is a terrestrial gateway (step S301). The first acquisition unit 131 transmits the acquired first location information to the calculation unit 134. The information processing device 100 starts communication with the ground station 200 via the communication unit 110 (step S302).

[0060] The second acquisition unit 132 acquires second location information indicating the location of the own device (step S303). The second acquisition unit 132 transmits the acquired second location information to the calculation unit 134.

[0061] The third acquisition unit 133 acquires attitude information indicating the attitude of the aircraft itself (step S304).Then, the third acquisition unit 133 transmits the acquired attitude information to the calculation unit 134.

[0062] The calculation unit 134 calculates the beam formation direction when the communication unit 110 communicates with the ground station 200 based on the transmitted first position information, second position information, and attitude information (step S305). At this time, as described above, among the attitude information acquired by the third acquisition unit 133, the reliability of the yaw direction value is lower than the roll direction and pitch direction values ​​due to the characteristics of the gyro sensor. Therefore, the beam formation direction calculated based on the first position information, second position information, and generation information is not necessarily optimal for communication with the ground station 200. Therefore, the calculation unit 134 calculates the formation directions of multiple beams by shifting the yaw direction of the calculated beam formation direction by a predetermined angle. The calculation unit 134 transmits information on the calculated formation directions of multiple beams to the identification unit 135.

[0063] The identification unit 135 identifies a beam direction suitable for communication with the ground station 200 from the transmitted information on the multiple beam directions. Specifically, the identification unit 135 identifies the beam direction by executing the processes of steps S306 to S310. The identification unit 135 first performs the beam scanning process of steps S306 to S309. The identification unit 135 starts beam scanning (step S306). First, the identification unit 135 selects one of the transmitted multiple beam directions and causes the communication unit 110 to form a beam in that direction (step S307). In this state, the communication unit 110 receives a signal transmitted from the ground station 200 and measures its reception level (step S308). If a signal cannot be received, the reception level is set to 0, and the reception level is incremented by 1 each time the reception level exceeds a predetermined threshold in dB units. The identification unit 135 and the communication unit 110 perform this process for each beam direction.

[0064] Then, the identifying unit 135 identifies the beam formation direction based on the reception level measured in step S308 (step S310). That is, the identifying unit 135 identifies the beam formation direction with the highest reception level when the communication unit 110 receives a signal from the ground station 200 for each of the multiple beam formation directions.

[0065] When the specifying unit 135 specifies the beam forming direction that the communication unit 110 should use for communication with the ground station 200, the specifying unit 135 transmits the information to the communication unit 110. The communication unit 110 executes beamforming control in accordance with the transmitted beam forming direction (step 311). Note that the details of the beamforming control are similar to commonly known techniques and therefore will not be described here.

[0066] The communication unit 110 performs beamforming control specified by the identification unit 135 to execute predetermined communication with the ground station 200 (step S312). The predetermined communication content is not limited to, but may include transmitting information indicating the state of the aircraft 10 from the information processing device 100 to the ground station 200, transmitting information indicating the communication state between the information processing device 100 and the communication terminal 300 from the information processing device 100 to the ground station 200, or receiving information regarding flight control of the aircraft 10 from the ground station 200.

[0067] The information processing device 100 ends the process after completing communication with the ground station 200 (step S313). In this way, the information processing device 100 is configured to be able to quickly realize beamforming for the ground station 200.

[0068] <Summary> According to the information processing device 100 of this embodiment, it is possible to determine the directivity for communicating with the ground station 200 by shifting the direction in which beamforming is performed, focusing on the yaw direction value, for which measurements using a gyro sensor or the like are unstable. That is, since the measurement results using a gyro sensor or the like are reliable for the pitch and roll directions, it is possible to more quickly determine the antenna directivity to be formed from the information processing device 100 toward the ground station 200 by not shifting the beamforming direction in these directions. Furthermore, by omitting calculations for the pitch and roll directions, it is possible to reduce the processing load on the information processing device 100.

[0069] <Modifications> The information processing device according to the above embodiment is not limited to the above embodiment, and may be realized by other methods. Various modifications will be described below.

[0070] (1) The flowchart shown in Figure 3 in the above embodiment is an example, and processing may be performed using other procedures as long as similar results are obtained. For example, in Figure 3, communication for exchanging information with the ground station 200 is performed after determining the beam direction (step S312), but communication itself can be performed as long as signals reach each other. Therefore, if a predetermined reception level is ensured, processing in step S312 may be configured to be performed in parallel with processing in steps S306 to S311.

[0071] (2) In the above embodiment, the calculation unit 134 calculates the formation direction of multiple beams, and the identification unit 135 identifies the formation direction of a beam from among the calculated beams. However, this method is not limited to this. The calculation unit 134 may be configured to calculate the formation direction of one beam based on the first position information, the second position information, and the attitude information, and transmit the calculated beam direction to the identification unit 135. The identification unit 135 may then identify the formation direction of the beam while shifting the angle in the yaw direction for the formation direction of the beam transmitted from the calculation unit 134.

[0072] (3) In the above embodiment, an example of identifying the beam direction with the highest reception strength has been described, but this is not limited to this. If communication between the information processing device 100 and the terrestrial station 200 can be performed sufficiently stably, it is not necessary to identify the beam direction with the highest reception strength. That is, if a beam direction with a reception strength exceeding a predetermined threshold can be identified, the beam scanning process (see steps S306 to S309) may be terminated and communication may be performed in the identified beam direction. This allows the beam direction to be identified more quickly, and may eliminate the need to scan the beam in all directions calculated by the calculation unit 134, thereby reducing the processing load on the information processing device 100.

[0073] (4) In the above embodiment, the beam forming direction with the highest reception level is identified. However, there is a possibility that this reception level does not exceed a predetermined threshold for stable communication. In such a case, as an example, the communication unit 110 may use a previously used beam forming direction that was used on the date and time closest to the current time. Alternatively, as another example, in such a case, the identification unit 135 may shift the beam forming direction in the pitch and roll directions, not just the yaw direction, to identify the beam forming direction with the highest reception level. In this way, the information processing device 100 can reliably communicate with the ground station 200.

[0074] (5) In the above embodiment, the direction of the beam with the highest reception level is identified. However, there is a possibility that this reception level does not exceed a predetermined threshold for reception level at which stable communication is possible. In such a case, the error value e may be added or subtracted beyond a predetermined range for addition or subtraction to scan the beam. This allows the information processing device 100 to reliably communicate with the terrestrial station 200.

[0075] (6) The program for identifying the beamforming direction according to each embodiment of the present disclosure may be provided in a state stored in a computer-readable storage medium. The storage medium may store the program in a "non-transitory tangible medium." The storage medium may include any suitable storage medium, such as an HDD or an SSD, or a suitable combination of two or more thereof. The storage medium may be volatile, nonvolatile, or a combination of volatile and nonvolatile. Note that the storage medium is not limited to these examples and may be any device or medium capable of storing the program.

[0076] The information processing device 100 can realize the functions of the multiple functional units shown in each embodiment by, for example, reading a program stored in a storage medium and executing the read program. The program may also be provided to the information processing device 100 or the like via any transmission medium (such as a communication network or broadcast waves). The information processing device 100 realizes the functions of the multiple functional units shown in each embodiment by executing a program downloaded via the Internet or the like. This program may be executed by the information processing device 100 or the like.

[0077] The program can be implemented using, for example, a scripting language such as ActionScript or JavaScript (registered trademark), an object-oriented programming language such as Objective-C or Java (registered trademark), or a markup language such as HTML5, but is not limited to these.

[0078] At least a part of the processing in the ground station 200 may be realized by cloud computing consisting of one or more computers. Furthermore, each functional unit of the information processing device ((aircraft 10), ground station 200, and communication terminal 300 may be realized by one or more circuits that realize the functions described in the above embodiments, and the functions of multiple functional units may be realized by one circuit.

[0079] (7) The various techniques and processes described in the above embodiments and modifications may be combined as appropriate to achieve the purpose of easily finding the beam formation direction.

[0080] REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 Aircraft 100 Information processing device 110 Communication unit 130 Control unit 131 First acquisition unit 132 Second acquisition unit 133 Third acquisition unit 134 Calculation unit 135 Identification unit 140 Storage unit 200 Ground station 300, 300a, 300b Communication terminal

Claims

1. An information processing device mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle that functions as a communication relay device for relaying communications between multiple terminals, comprising: a first acquisition unit that acquires first position information indicating the position of a ground station that controls the unmanned aerial vehicle; a second acquisition unit that acquires second position information indicating the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle; a third acquisition unit that acquires attitude information indicating the attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle, including roll, pitch, and yaw; a calculation unit that calculates the beam formation direction for communication from the unmanned aerial vehicle to the ground station based on the first position information, the second position information, and the attitude information, and calculates the beam formation direction while shifting the yaw value of the attitude information; an identification unit that identifies, from the beam formation directions calculated by the calculation unit, the beam formation direction that allows communication with the ground station; and a communication unit that directs the beam in the beam formation direction identified by the identification unit and communicates with the ground station.

2. The information processing device described in claim 1, characterized in that the identification unit identifies the beam formation direction with the highest reception level in communication with the ground station by the communication unit for each of the beam formation directions calculated by the calculation unit as the beam formation direction capable of communication with the ground station.

3. The information processing device according to claim 1, characterized in that the identification unit identifies, as the direction of forming a beam capable of communicating with the ground station, from among the beam formation directions calculated by the calculation unit, the direction of forming a beam in which the reception level in communication with the ground station by the communication unit exceeds a predetermined threshold.

4. The information processing device according to claim 1, characterized in that the calculation unit calculates the beam formation direction while shifting the yaw value within a predetermined error value range.

5. The information processing device according to claim 4, wherein if the specifying unit cannot specify the beam formation direction, the calculation unit increases the predetermined error value.

6. The information processing device according to claim 4, characterized in that, if the specifying unit cannot specify the beam formation direction, the calculating unit calculates the beam formation direction while further shifting the pitch or roll value.

7. An information processing method executed by an information processing device mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle that functions as a communication relay device that relays communications between multiple terminals, wherein the information processing device executes the following steps: a first acquisition step of acquiring first position information indicating the position of a ground station that controls the unmanned aerial vehicle; a second acquisition step of acquiring second position information indicating the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle; a third acquisition step of acquiring attitude information indicating the attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle, which is the roll, pitch, and yaw of the unmanned aerial vehicle; a calculation step of calculating the beam formation direction for communication from the unmanned aerial vehicle to the ground station based on the first position information, the second position information, and the attitude information, wherein the beam formation direction is calculated while shifting the yaw value of the attitude information; a specification step of identifying, from the beam formation directions calculated in the calculation step, the beam formation direction that allows communication with the ground station; and a communication step of directing the beam in the beam formation direction identified in the specification step to communicate with the ground station.

8. An information processing program that causes a computer of an information processing device mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle that functions as a communication relay device that relays communications between multiple terminals to realize the following: a first acquisition function that acquires first position information indicating the position of the ground station that controls the unmanned aerial vehicle; a second acquisition function that acquires second position information that indicates the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle; a third acquisition function that acquires attitude information that indicates the attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle, including roll, pitch, and yaw; a calculation function that calculates the beam formation direction for communication from the unmanned aerial vehicle to the ground station based on the first position information, the second position information, and the attitude information, and calculates the beam formation direction while shifting the yaw value of the attitude information; a determination function that identifies, from the beam formation directions calculated by the calculation function, the beam formation direction that allows communication with the ground station; and a communication function that communicates with the ground station by directing the beam in the beam formation direction identified by the determination function.

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