US-12626606-B2 - Water-air integrated search and rescue system and method

US12626606B2US 12626606 B2US12626606 B2US 12626606B2US-12626606-B2

Abstract

A water-air integrated search and rescue system includes a flight power module, a navigation power module, a plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats, a drone, and an integrated control module. The integrated control module is configured to acquire weather information and determine whether to send a flight signal to the flight power module or to send a navigation signal to the navigation power module based on the weather information; the flight power module is configured to fly the drone to a search and rescue region after receiving the flight signal; the navigation power module is configured to navigate the drone to the search and rescue region after receiving the navigation signal; the integrated control module is further configured to control the drone to deploy the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats; and the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats are configured to carry out search and rescue work in the search and rescue region.

Inventors

Yong Ma
Haiyang Jiang
Hao Li
Jing Wang
Yujiao Zhao
Fengkai LUAN

Assignees

WUHAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20230629
Priority Date: 20201229

Claims (4)

1 . A water-air integrated search and rescue system, comprising a flight power module, a navigation power module, a plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats a drone, and an integrated control module, wherein the integrated control module is configured to acquire weather information and determine whether to send a flight signal to the flight power module or to send a navigation signal to the navigation power module based on the weather information; the flight power module is configured to fly the drone to a search and rescue region after receiving the flight signal; the navigation power module is configured to navigate the drone to the search and rescue region after receiving the navigation signal; the integrated control module is further configured to control the drone to deploy the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats when the drone is flied or navigated to the search and rescue region; the drone is configured to be flied or navigated to the search and rescue region and to deploy the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats; and the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats are configured to carry out search and rescue work in the search and rescue region; the drone includes a drone body; the flight power module and the navigation power module are configured on the drone body; the integrated control module is located at the drone body; the drone is provided with a storage compartment for storing the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats; wherein the integrated control module comprises a fleet positioning unit configured to acquire position information of the biomimetic boat module and transmit the position information to a user end; wherein the fleet positioning unit is specifically configured to generate a short energy pulse sequence, extend the short energy pulse sequence to a frequency range through orthogonal frequency division modulation or direct sorting to acquire an extended short energy pulse sequence, measure a time difference of radio signals arriving at the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats from different base stations through the extended short energy pulse sequence, and acquire the position information of the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats; the number of the base stations is three or more; the integrated control module is specifically configured to control the drone to deploy the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats at different locations within the search and rescue region when the drone is flied or navigated to the search and rescue region; wherein each of the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats is configured to carry out the search and rescue work in the search and rescue region; when any one of the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats finds a person to be rescued, the one of the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats sends positioning information to the drone and is converted into an airbag; and the drone approaches the one of the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats to carry out rescue; the drone body is designed as an accommodation compartment; the integrated control module is located at a rear of the drone body, allowing the accommodation compartment to carry the biomimetic unmanned boat while increasing buoyancy of the drone body; when the biomimetic unmanned boat arrives at the accommodation compartment, the drone closes the accommodation compartment to achieve automatic retrieval of the biomimetic unmanned boat; the biomimetic unmanned boat is provided with a camera, sensor, and a main control chip; the integrated control module further comprises a collision avoidance unit and an alarm unit; the collision avoidance unit include a microcontroller, a serial port, an ultrasonic sensor, a driver transistor, an active buzzer, an crystal oscillator, and a light-emitting diode (LED) power indicator light; the buzzer is provided with the driver transistor.
2 . The water-air integrated search and rescue system according to claim 1 , wherein the collision avoidance unit is configured to determine a distance between the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats and an obstacle, and send an alarm signal to the alarm unit if the distance is less than a set threshold; and the alarm unit is configured to alarm upon receiving the alarm signal.
3 . The water-air integrated search and rescue system according to claim 2 , wherein the collision avoidance unit comprises an ultrasonic sensor and a microcontroller; the collision avoidance unit is specifically configured to emit a high level through a control port of the ultrasonic sensor, start a first timing when there is an output to a receiving port of the ultrasonic sensor, start a second timing when the output to the receiving port of the ultrasonic sensor becomes a low level, acquire a ranging time based on a time difference between the first timing and the second timing, and send the ranging time to the microcontroller; and the microcontroller is configured to calculate the distance, determine whether the distance is less than the set threshold, and send the alarm signal to the alarm unit if the distance is less than the set threshold.
4 . The water-air integrated search and rescue system according to claim 1 , wherein the integrated control module further comprises an underwater image acquisition unit and a water surface image acquisition unit; and the underwater image acquisition unit and the water surface image acquisition unit are respectively configured to acquire underwater image information and water surface image information.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/CN2021/117161 with a filing date of Sep. 8, 2021, designating the United States, now pending, and further claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202011603766.0 with a filing date of Dec. 29, 2020. The content of the aforementioned applications, including any intervening amendments thereto, are incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ships for search and rescue, and in particular to a water-air integrated search and rescue system and method. BACKGROUND With the rapid growth of domestic and international shipping business, various natural and man-made maritime risks occur frequently, and the probability of maritime accidents increases significantly. The maritime accidents include capsizing, collision, striking a rock, and stranding that ships encounter during navigation due to harsh sea conditions such as strong winds and fog, as well as ship sinking caused by explosions or fires. Therefore, water rescue is particularly important. The water rescue includes maritime rescue, flood rescue, etc., which covers emergency rescue command, detection, information acquisition, material supply, rescue planning, rescue methods, etc. At present, China has made certain progress in the technical aspect of maritime search and rescue work. However, the maritime search and rescue system is not yet mature and cannot be perfectly integrated with existing search and rescue technologies. In comparison, although the application of air and land search and rescue systems has certain limitations, they have undergone significant development. Therefore, the low efficiency of existing maritime search and rescue is an urgent problem that needs to be solved. SUMMARY OF PRESENT INVENTION In order to solve the problem of low efficiency in maritime search and rescue in the prior art, the present disclosure provides a water-air integrated search and rescue system and method. The water-air integrated search and rescue system includes a flight power module, a navigation power module, a plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats, a drone, and an integrated control module; the integrated control module is configured to acquire weather information and determine whether to send a flight signal to the flight power module or to send a navigation signal to the navigation power module based on the weather information; the flight power module is configured to fly the drone to a search and rescue region after receiving the flight signal; the navigation power module is configured to navigate the drone to the search and rescue region after receiving the navigation signal; the integrated control module is further configured to control the drone to deploy the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats when the drone is flied or navigated to the search and rescue region; the drone is configured to be flied or navigated to the search and rescue region and to deploy the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats; and the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats is configured to carry out search and rescue work in the search and rescue region. In one embodiment, the integrated control module includes a fleet positioning unit configured to acquire position information of the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats and transmit the position information to a user end. In one embodiment, the fleet positioning unit is specifically configured to generate a short energy pulse sequence, extend the short energy pulse sequence to a frequency range through orthogonal frequency division modulation or direct sorting to acquire an extended short energy pulse sequence, measure a time difference of radio signals arriving at the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats from different base stations through the extended short energy pulse sequence, and acquire the position information of the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats. In one embodiment, the integrated control module further includes a collision avoidance unit and an alarm unit; the collision avoidance unit is configured to determine a distance between the plurality of biomimetic unmanned boats and an obstacle, and send an alarm signal to the alarm unit if the distance is less than a set threshold; and the alarm unit is configured to alarm upon receiving the alarm signal. In one embodiment, the collision avoidance unit includes an ultrasonic sensor and a microcontroller; the collision avoidance unit is specifically configured to emit a high level through a control port of the ultrasonic sensor, start a first timing when there is an output to a receiving port of the ultrasonic sensor, start a second timing when the output to the receiving port of the ultrasonic sensor becomes a low level, acquire a ranging time based on a time difference between the first timing and the second timing, and send the ran