JP2024113070A - Aircraft - Google Patents

Abstract

To pick up a stable inspection video by a flying object.SOLUTION: A flying object according to the present invention includes: a recognizing unit that recognizes laser light emitted from a laser emitting device to an inspection object; and a flight controller that controls a flight in accordance with the recognized laser light. The recognizing unit recognizes an inspection route by the laser light emitted to the inspection object by the laser emitting device, and the flight controller controls the flight so as to pass along the recognized inspection route. The flying object further includes an image pickup unit that picks up the inspection video of the inspection object.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an aircraft.

Conventionally, there has been known a technique for acquiring distance measurement data by irradiating a laser beam from an aircraft. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for acquiring distance measurement data from a measurement value obtained based on a reflected light of a laser beam irradiated from an aircraft and information on the irradiation direction of the laser beam.

Patent No. 6445207

When an aircraft is used to capture an inspection video (e.g., still images or video) of an inspection object (e.g., a structure), the aircraft is required to fly straight (horizontally) and stably at a constant speed while maintaining a constant distance from the inspection object. However, when flying an aircraft close to an inspection object, even an experienced pilot has difficulty in flying the aircraft stably due to the influence of wind and other factors.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above background, and has an object to capture stable inspection footage using an aircraft.

The main invention of the present invention for solving the above problem comprises a recognition unit that recognizes the laser light irradiated from a laser irradiation device to an object to be inspected, and a flight controller that controls flight in accordance with the recognized laser light.

Other problems and solutions disclosed in this application will be made clear in the section on preferred embodiments of the invention and the drawings.

According to the present invention, stable inspection footage can be captured using an aircraft.

1 is a diagram illustrating a flying state of an aircraft 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the aircraft 1 according to the present embodiment. 1 is a diagram illustrating the process flow for controlling an aircraft 1 to fly along an inspection route projected onto a structure 2. FIG. A figure showing an example in which the aircraft 1 rotates and moves horizontally relative to the vertical laser light 4. 13 is a diagram showing an example in which supplemental information S is projected onto a structure 2. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example in which a grid pattern is projected onto a structure 2. FIG.

The contents of the embodiments of the present invention will be described below. The flying object according to the embodiment of the present invention has the following configuration.

[Item 1]
a recognition unit that recognizes a laser beam irradiated from the laser irradiation device to an inspection object;
A flight controller that controls flight in response to the recognized laser light;
An aircraft equipped with the above.
[Item 2]
Item 1, the flying object according to the present invention,
The recognition unit recognizes an inspection route using the laser light irradiated by the laser irradiation device onto the inspection object,
The flight controller controls flight to follow the recognized inspection route.
An aircraft characterized by:
[Item 3]
3. The flying object according to claim 2,
An imaging unit that captures an inspection video of the inspection object;
An aircraft equipped with the above.
[Item 4]
Item 3. The flying object according to item 3,
The photographing unit stops photographing the inspection video when the recognition unit does not recognize the inspection route.
An aircraft characterized by:
[Item 5]
5. The flying object according to claim 4,
When the recognition unit does not recognize the inspection route, the flight controller
Stopping the acceptance of an instruction from a pilot to move the aircraft along the inspection route;
An aircraft characterized by:

Hereinafter, an aircraft 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a flying state of an aircraft 1 according to this embodiment.

In this embodiment, it is assumed that the aircraft 1 captures inspection footage (e.g., video) of a structure 2, which is an inspection target such as a pillar, wall, or ceiling. Laser irradiation devices 3 are arranged around the structure 2, and emit laser light 4 toward the location of the structure 2 to be inspected. The aircraft 1 is flight-controlled so as to continue to recognize the laser light 4 irradiated to the structure 2, thereby enabling the aircraft 1 to stably capture inspection footage of the structure 2.

The laser irradiation device 3 projects an inspection route onto the structure 2 by irradiating a laser beam 4. Since the laser irradiation device 3 is mounted on the ground or a tripod, the inspection route can be fixed to the structure 2 and irradiated. The inspection route may be one or more straight lines,
A curved line, or a combination of these. The laser irradiation device 3 may also change the color or pulse number of each line that constitutes the inspection route. For example, the laser irradiation device 3
may distinguish between the color of the laser light 4 projected in the vertical direction and the color of the laser light 4 projected in the horizontal direction. Also, the laser irradiation device 3 may distinguish between the colors of the laser light 4 projected in the vertical direction, for example. With these, for example, even if the flying object 1 can no longer recognize the laser light 4 irradiated to the structure 2, it can accurately grasp the inspection route.

Figure 2 is a functional block diagram of the aircraft 1 according to this embodiment.

The flight controller 11 may have one or more processors, such as a programmable processor (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU)).

The flight controller 11 has and has access to a memory 12. The memory 12 stores logic, code, and/or program instructions that the flight controller 11 is able to execute to perform one or more steps.

Memory 12 may include, for example, a separable medium or external storage device such as an SD card or random access memory (RAM).

The photographing unit 13 is, for example, a general camera or an infrared camera. The data acquired by the photographing unit 13 may be directly transmitted to and stored in the memory 12. For example,
Still image and video data captured by the image capturing unit 13 is recorded in an internal memory or an external memory. The image capturing unit 13 is mounted on the aircraft via a gimbal 14.

The flight controller 11 includes a control module configured to control the state of the air vehicle 1. For example, the control module controls the propulsion mechanism (motor 16, etc.) of the air vehicle 1 via the ESC 15 to adjust the spatial arrangement, speed, and/or acceleration of the air vehicle 1 having six degrees of freedom (translational motion x, y, and z, and rotational motion θx, θy, and θz). The motor 16 rotates the propeller 17 to generate lift for the air vehicle 1. The control module can control one or more of the states of the onboard units and sensors.

The flight controller 11 can communicate with a transceiver 18 configured to transmit and/or receive data from one or more external devices (e.g., a transceiver (transmitter), a terminal, a display device, or other remote controls). The transceiver 18 can use any suitable communication means, such as wired or wireless communication.

The transceiver 18 may utilize, for example, one or more of a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), infrared, wireless, WiFi, a point-to-point (P2P) network, a telecommunications network, cloud communications, and the like.

The transceiver unit 18 can transmit and/or receive one or more of the following: data acquired by sensors 19, processing results generated by the flight controller 11, specified control data, user commands (movement instructions and/or rotation instructions from the pilot) from a terminal or a remote controller, etc.

The sensors 19 in this embodiment include inertial sensors (acceleration sensors, gyro sensors),
These may include GPS sensors, proximity sensors (e.g., lidar), or vision/image sensors (e.g., cameras).

The recognition unit 20 can recognize the laser light 4 irradiated from the laser irradiation device 3 to the structure 2. The recognition unit 20 in this embodiment may be, for example, a general camera, as long as it is equipped with a sensor that can recognize the laser light 4. The recognition unit 20 can recognize the color and number of pulses of the irradiated laser light. The recognition unit 20 is provided, for example, on the side of the aircraft 1, and recognizes the inspection route formed by the laser light 4 irradiated to the structure 2 such as a pillar or a wall.

3 is a diagram illustrating the flow of a process for controlling the aircraft 1 to fly along the inspection route projected on the structure 2. This process is started, for example, when the recognition unit 20 recognizes the inspection route.

(Step S301)
The photographing unit 13 photographs an inspection image of the structure 2. That is, the photographing unit 13 photographs an inspection image of the structure 2.
When the imaging unit 13 recognizes the inspection route, the imaging unit 13 captures the inspection video.
When the recognition unit 20 recognizes the inspection route, a video is captured in which the inspection route of the structure 2 or the periphery of the inspection route is included in the capture range. Next, the flight controller 11 receives a movement instruction from the pilot and moves (performs flight control) the aircraft 1 so as to follow the inspection route recognized by the recognition unit 20. Then, the process proceeds to step S302.

(Step S302)
The flight controller 11 judges whether or not an instruction to end the inspection has been received from the pilot. If the judgment is affirmative, the process ends the series of processes shown in Fig. 3. On the other hand, if the judgment is negative, the process proceeds to step S303.

(Step S303)
The flight controller 11 judges whether or not the recognition unit 20 recognizes the inspection route projected onto the structure 2. If the judgment is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S301. On the other hand, if the judgment is negative, the process proceeds to step S304.

(Step S304)
The photographing unit 13 stops photographing the inspection video. Specifically, the photographing unit 13 stops photographing the video in which the inspection route of the structure 2 or the periphery of the inspection route is included in the photographing range. This reduces the effort required to edit the inspection video. Next, the flight controller 11
stops accepting instructions from the pilot to move the aircraft 1 along the inspection route.
This makes it possible to prevent the part to be inspected from not remaining in the inspection video.Then, the process proceeds to step S305.

(Step S305)
The flight controller 11 rotates and/or moves the flying object 1 in a predetermined direction. For example, the flight controller 11 rotates and moves the flying object 1 perpendicular to the inspection route (the direction of the line projected by the laser light 4). Specifically, when the color of the laser light 4 recognized by the recognition unit 20 until just before is recognized as the color of a line extending in the vertical direction, the flight controller 11 rotates the flying object 1 horizontally. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example in which the flying object 1 rotates and moves horizontally relative to the vertical laser light 4. Then, the process proceeds to the process of step S306.

(Step S306)
The flight controller 11 judges whether or not the recognition unit 20 recognizes the inspection route projected onto the structure 2. If the judgment is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S301. On the other hand, if the judgment is negative, the process proceeds to step S305.

In this manner, the flight controller 11 controls the aircraft 1 so that the aircraft 1 can capture stable inspection footage along the inspection route.

Although the present embodiment has been described above, the above embodiment is intended to facilitate understanding of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention. The present invention may be modified or improved without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and equivalents thereof are also included in the present invention.

For example, in the present embodiment, the photographing unit 13 and the recognition unit 20 have been described as separate functional units, but the photographing unit 13 and the recognition unit 20 may be configured as a single device (for example, a camera).

In addition, in the present embodiment, in step S304, the reception of an instruction from the pilot to move the aircraft 1 along the inspection route has been described, but the flight controller 11 may receive an instruction to rotate and move the aircraft 1 perpendicular to the inspection route (the direction of the line projected by the laser light 4). In addition, if the aircraft 1 is not flying straight (horizontally) relative to the structure 2, the flight controller 11 may stop shooting by the shooting unit 13 or may stop the pilot from receiving an instruction to move the aircraft 1 along the inspection route (the direction of the line projected by the laser light 4) until the aircraft 1 is flying straight (horizontally).
or stop accepting instructions to move the robot along the inspection route.

In the present embodiment, the laser irradiation device 3 may be capable of projecting a plurality of patterns of inspection routes. This allows the laser irradiation device 3 to project an inspection route pattern according to the structure 2 that is the inspection target.

In this embodiment, the laser irradiation device 3 may project supplementary information other than the inspection route onto the structure 2, which is the inspection target. Examples of the supplementary information include distance and height values, and control points. Fig. 5 is a diagram showing an example in which the supplementary information S is projected onto the structure 2.

6, a predetermined grid pattern may be projected onto a predetermined position on the surface to be inspected, and the current position may be estimated by image recognition of the grid pattern. In other words, by acquiring the absolute position at which the grid pattern is projected, it becomes possible to estimate the vehicle's own position from the distance and positional relationship from any grid point. In this case, the position of the grid pattern on the surface to be inspected is correlated.

Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the inspection video is a moving image, but it may be a still image.

In the present embodiment, the laser light 4 may be light (e.g., infrared light) that cannot be captured by the image capturing unit 13 as long as it can be recognized by the recognition unit 20. This prevents the laser light 4 from appearing in the inspection image, making it easy to check the parts to be inspected (e.g., cracks in concrete).

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Aircraft 2 Structure 3 Laser irradiation device 4 Laser light 11 Flight controller 13 Photography unit 20 Recognition unit

Claims (5)

a recognition unit that recognizes a laser beam irradiated from the laser irradiation device to an inspection object;
A flight controller that controls flight in response to the recognized laser light;
An aircraft equipped with the above. 2. The flying object according to claim 1,
The recognition unit recognizes an inspection route using the laser light irradiated by the laser irradiation device onto the inspection object,
The flight controller controls flight to follow the recognized inspection route.
An aircraft characterized by: 3. The flying object according to claim 2,
An imaging unit that captures an inspection video of the inspection object;
An aircraft equipped with the above. 4. The flying object according to claim 3,
The photographing unit stops photographing the inspection video when the recognition unit does not recognize the inspection route.
An aircraft characterized by: The flying object according to claim 4,
When the recognition unit does not recognize the inspection route, the flight controller
Stopping the acceptance of an instruction from a pilot to move the aircraft along the inspection route;
An aircraft characterized by: