JP-7857482-B1 - Aircraft and flight control method

JP7857482B1JP 7857482 B1JP7857482 B1JP 7857482B1JP-7857482-B1

Abstract

[Problem] To provide an aircraft that can make self-contained decisions by making comprehensive situational judgments during flight. [Solution] In the aircraft 100, the FCU 101 acquires status information including the mission plan, aircraft information, and environmental information, and the status acquisition unit 102 acquires this information from the FCU 101. The parameter adjustment unit 103 then calculates the importance of the evaluation items for the flight based on the status information. The action calculation unit 106 evaluates the evaluation items considering the weight coefficients which represent the importance. The action selection unit 107 then selects an action based on the overall evaluation. The action command unit 108 instructs the FCU 101 to execute the selected action and has it carry out the action. [Selection Diagram] Figure 1

Inventors

坂口遼真

Assignees

ＳＣＳＫ株式会社

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20250829

Claims (9)

A state acquisition unit acquires state information including environmental information about the environment in which the aircraft is flying and aircraft information about the aircraft itself . A mission plan information acquisition unit that acquires mission plan information indicating the flight purpose of the aforementioned aircraft, A calculation unit calculates the importance of multiple evaluation items, including time delay, energy consumption, and flight stability, based on the status information and the mission plan information. An evaluation unit that performs an overall evaluation of the multiple evaluation items based on each of the multiple importance levels calculated above , Based on the aforementioned comprehensive evaluation , a selection unit selects an action, An execution unit that performs the aforementioned actions, An aircraft equipped with [a specific feature/equipment].
The system further includes a behavioral derivation unit that derives multiple behavioral patterns under predetermined conditions. The selection unit selects one action from the plurality of action patterns. The flying object according to claim 1.
As part of the aforementioned evaluation criteria, a time delay criterion is defined, which is being late to a specified location at a specified time. The time delay item is determined based on a time cost function that is determined based on the time it takes for each of the actions shown in the aforementioned action patterns to be completed. As an indicator of importance, a weighting coefficient is calculated. The evaluation unit calculates an evaluation value by multiplying the derived result for the action and the weight coefficient using the time cost function. The flying object according to claim 2.
As evaluation items, energy consumption items that reduce energy consumption efficiency are defined. The energy consumption item in question is determined based on an energy cost function used to determine the amount of energy required for each of the behavioral patterns described above. As an indicator of importance, a weighting coefficient is calculated. The evaluation unit calculates an evaluation value by multiplying the derived result for the action and the weight coefficient using the energy cost function. The flying object according to claim 2.
As part of the aforementioned evaluation items, a stability item indicating flight stability has been established. The stability item is determined based on a stability cost function that indicates the stability of the behavior shown in each of the aforementioned behavior patterns. As an indicator of importance, a weighting coefficient is calculated. The evaluation unit calculates an evaluation value by multiplying the derivation result for the action using the stability cost function by the weight coefficient. The flying object according to claim 2.
The aforementioned evaluation items include collision items that indicate the risk of collision with obstacles. The flying object according to claim 1.
The system further includes a storage unit that stores a parameter profile which associates multiple situations, including mission plan information, aircraft status, and the environment, with the importance of the multiple evaluation items, The calculation unit described above, Based on the status information and mission plan information acquired by the status acquisition unit, the current status is determined. The importance of each of the multiple evaluation items is calculated by referring to the parameter profile. The flying object according to claim 1.
The calculation unit described above, Based on the status information and the mission plan information, identify a number of applicable situations. From the parameter profile, weight coefficients corresponding to the multiple situations are obtained, The multiple weight coefficients obtained are summed up to calculate the importance of each of the aforementioned evaluation items. The flying body according to claim 7.
In flight control methods for aircraft, A state acquisition step involves acquiring state information including environmental information about the environment in which the aircraft is flying and aircraft information about the aircraft itself . A mission plan information acquisition step, which acquires mission plan information indicating the flight purpose of the aforementioned aircraft, A calculation step that calculates the importance of multiple evaluation items, including time delay, energy consumption, and flight stability, based on the status information and the mission plan information, An evaluation step in which an overall evaluation of the multiple evaluation items is performed based on each of the multiple importance levels calculated above , Based on the aforementioned comprehensive evaluation , a selection step is taken to choose an action, An execution step to carry out the aforementioned action, A flight control method comprising the following:

Description

This invention relates to an aircraft and a flight control method. Patent Document 1 describes a method for storing flight position information, captured images, the direction in which the captured images were taken, and the second flight route when flying an alternative flight route generated based on flight position information and captured images in order to avoid obstacles detected in a predetermined area including the flight route. Patent No. 6737751 Figure 1 is a functional block diagram showing the functional configuration of the aircraft 100 of this disclosure.Figure 2 shows a specific example of the parameter profile DB104.Figure 3 shows a diagram of possible avoidance actions (avoidance routes).Figure 4 shows the cost derivation results and weighting coefficients based on the cost function according to Scenario 1.Figure 5 shows the cost derivation results and weighting coefficients based on the cost function according to Scenario 2.Figure 6 shows the cost derivation results and weighting coefficients based on the cost function according to Scenario 3.Figure 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the flying object 100.Figure 8 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of the aircraft 100. Embodiments of this disclosure will be described with reference to the attached drawings. Where possible, identical parts will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant descriptions will be omitted. Figure 1 is a functional block diagram showing the functional configuration of the aircraft 100 of this disclosure. As shown in the figure, the aircraft 100 includes an action decision device, which comprises an FCU (Flight Control Unit) 101, a state acquisition unit 102, a parameter adjustment unit 103, a parameter profile DB 104, an avoidance action candidate generation unit 105, an action calculation unit 106, an action selection unit 107, and an action command unit 108. The aircraft 100 is equipped with hardware components such as propellers, motors, an ESC (Electronic Speed Controller), and various sensors, and by controlling these, it can fly according to the situation. The various sensors include gyro sensors, altitude sensors, vision sensors, ultrasonic sensors, etc., which are used for attitude control and obstacle avoidance. In this disclosure, the aircraft 100 is described assuming an unmanned aircraft such as a drone, but it is not limited to that and can be applied to manned aircraft as well. Furthermore, the aircraft 100 of this disclosure is not dependent on any specific hardware. Input information such as acceleration, angular velocity, and battery level are state variables obtainable from standard FCUs such as ArduPilot or PX4. Therefore, this disclosure can be implemented as software on a companion computer that works in conjunction with an existing FCU, or on a high-performance FCU, and has high industrial applicability. The FCU 101 is the part that uses sensors to detect obstacles that may hinder the flight of the aircraft 100, determines the threat they pose, and acquires basic aircraft information (position, speed, attitude, etc.) and environmental information (coordinates of obstacles, velocity vectors, etc.) of the aircraft 100, and provides this information to the action decision device. The FCU 101 also receives a mission plan, including the flight purpose and urgency level of the aircraft 100, from the operator or pilot of the aircraft 100. In other words, the FCU 101 receives the mission plan from the operator in advance and performs flight control based on it. The operator sets the mission plan using a computer that is communicated to the aircraft 100 (FCU 101) via wired or wireless connection. Then, when the aircraft 100 is flying and detects an obstacle in its flight path, the FCU 101 passes the environmental information and aircraft information to the status acquisition unit 102. The FCU 101 also performs flight control in response to commands from the action command unit 108. The status acquisition unit 102 is responsible for acquiring mission plans, aircraft information, and environmental information from the FCU 101. The parameter adjustment unit 103 reads the parameter profile stored in the parameter profile DB 104 and calculates the weight coefficients of the subcost function. The detailed processing will be described later. The parameter profile DB 104 is the part that stores the parameter profile. The parameter profile defines contextual information such as the flight purpose of the aircraft 100. For example, conditions are set to determine the purpose (one of the contexts), such as high-speed/emergency transport, advertising/demonstration flight, or precision photography. Each may be defined in text or represented by flagged numerical information. In this disclosure, the conditions for context determination are shown using text information indicating urgency, such as "Express." The context also includes aircraft information such as low battery and high payload