Drone Corridor Control Using Guide Lights and Predicted Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing drone navigation systems, such as those described in PTL 1 and PTL 2, face challenges when multiple drones use the same drone highway, as they may lose positional relationship and fail to maintain safe navigation.
Innovation Solution
A control device equipped with a sensing unit to detect guide lights, a calculation unit to predict arrival positions and set control targets based on positional relationships, and a control condition generation and setting unit to adjust motor controls for propellers, enabling autonomous navigation of drones within a corridor.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple drones use the same drone highway simultaneously, then navigation efficiency is improved, but positional relationship between drones cannot be maintained and safe navigation cannot be ensured
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the imaging unit continuously captures images of guide lights, the sensing unit detects guide light positions, and the calculation unit computes predicted arrival positions based on current positional relationships. This closed-loop feedback system allows multiple drones to maintain accurate positional awareness of each other while navigating the same corridor, resolving the contradiction between navigation efficiency and safe navigation reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces guide lights as intermediary objects that serve as reference points for all drones in the corridor. These guide lights act as mediators that enable drones to indirectly sense each other's positions through the shared reference frame, allowing multiple drones to coexist safely in the same navigation space without direct communication between them
2Ease of operation
If only part of the unmanned aerial vehicle can be confirmed, then visual recognition is limited, but traveling direction cannot be identified
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses guide lights as intermediary reference objects that provide unambiguous directional information. Instead of relying on partial visual recognition of other drones (which may be obscured), the system uses the known positions of guide lights to infer traveling directions and maintain accurate positional relationships, preventing loss of directional information
3Device complexity
If drones navigate without maintaining positional relationship, then navigation is simpler, but drones may go off the drone highway
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs feedback control where the sensing unit continuously monitors guide light positions, the calculation unit computes predicted arrival positions, and the control system adjusts drone trajectories accordingly. This feedback mechanism maintains positional relationships without requiring complex inter-drone communication, resolving the contradiction between navigation simplicity and corridor maintenance reliability
Solution Approach 2:
Each drone independently uses the shared guide light infrastructure to self-determine its position and trajectory. The system is self-service in that drones autonomously maintain positional relationships by referencing guide lights without requiring external coordination or complex inter-drone protocols, keeping navigation control simple while ensuring reliable corridor maintenance
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system allows for safe and autonomous navigation of multiple drones within a shared corridor by maintaining accurate positional relationships and adjusting flight paths accordingly, enhancing navigation efficiency and safety.
Implementation Method 1
a sensing unit detecting guide light to be used for forming a corridor used by the drone from an image captured by a camera mounted in the drone and identifying position information about the detected guide light
Data Source
AI summary
A control device that includes a sensing unit that detects, from an image captured by a camera mounted in a drone, a guide light to be used for forming a corridor used by the drone, and identifies a position of the detected guide light, a calculation unit that calculates, according to positions of the drone and the guide light, a predicted arrival position of the drone and a control target position according to a positional relationship between the drone and the guide light at a control timing subsequent to a timing of capturing the image, a control condition generation unit that generates a control condition for a motor that drives a propeller of the drone according to the predicted arrival position and the control target position, and a control condition setting unit that sets the control condition for the motors of the drone.