Drone Hoistway Navigation Using Door and Height Mark Recognition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for controlling drones along shafts, such as elevator shafts, often require complex mechanical guides and sophisticated control electronics, leading to high costs and reduced robustness, especially when satellite signals are unavailable, as in indoor environments.
Innovation Solution
A method utilizing a drone with a sensor system for environment and flight status detection, an actuator system for control, and a control device that processes sensor data to generate control signals for maintaining target distances and flight routes, allowing for partially or fully automated navigation along shafts without additional mechanical guides, using minimal hardware and software.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If mechanical guides and sophisticated control electronics are used to control drones along shafts, then navigation reliability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical guidance systems with an optical sensing system. The drone uses an image sensor to capture images of shaft walls and automatically determines its position by processing these images to detect shaft wall contours and calculate distance, eliminating the need for mechanical guides while maintaining navigation reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The drone performs self-navigation by using its own image sensor to capture and process visual information of the shaft environment. The onboard processor automatically calculates the drone's position relative to shaft walls and generates control signals, enabling the system to serve itself without external mechanical guidance infrastructure
2Adaptability or versatility
If digital maps are generated from image sensors for indoor navigation, then navigation capability is improved, but processing complexity and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of generating complete digital maps of the entire shaft environment, the patent extracts only the essential information needed for navigation - specifically, the contours and positions of shaft walls from captured images. This selective extraction of critical features simplifies processing while maintaining indoor navigation capability
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs partial image processing by focusing only on detecting shaft wall features rather than processing the entire image data set. This partial action approach provides sufficient navigation information without the computational burden of complete environmental mapping
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
Enables cost-effective and robust drone control along shafts by simplifying electronics and eliminating the need for complex digital map creation, ensuring reliable navigation and preventing collisions with shaft walls and ceilings.
Implementation Method 1
a sensor system for detecting an environment and/or a flight state of the drone
Implementation Method 2
determining actual distances of the drone relative to a shaft wall and/or a ceiling in a shaft by processing the sensor data
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method for controlling a drone (104) along a shaft (106), the shaft (106) having at least a first shaft wall (118) and a second shaft wall (120) adjoining the first shaft wall (118), and the drone (104) having a sensor system (108; 210, 212; 300, 302, 304) for detecting an environment and/or a state of flight of the drone (104), an actuator system (102) for controlling the drone (104), and a control device (110) for controlling the actuator system (102). The method comprises the following steps: receiving sensor data (112) which have been generated by the sensor system (108; 210, 212; 300, 302, 304), in the control device (110); determining actual distances (lx, lx2, ly) of the drone (104) relative to the first shaft wall (118) and to the second shaft wall (120) by processing the sensor data (112); and generating a control signal (128) for actuating the actuator system (102) such that the drone (104) flies along the shaft (106), on the basis of a deviation of the actual distances (lx, ly) from the target distances (l'x, l'y) and a target flight route (s'z) which the drone (104) is to cover until reaching a target position in the shaft (106). An actual flight route (sz) of the drone (104) is determined by processing the sensor data (112), and the control signal (128) is generated on the basis of a deviation of the actual flight route (sz) from the target flight route (s'z). According to the invention, door regions (204) and/or height markings (205) in the shaft (106) are recognized by processing the sensor data (112), and the actual flight route (sz) is determined on the basis of the door regions (204) and/or height markings (205) recognized by processing the sensor data (112).