CN111506103B - Unmanned aerial vehicle control system and forced landing method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicles, and in particular to a control system and an emergency landing method for unmanned aerial vehicles. The control system for unmanned aerial vehicles includes a flight control module and a power module, and a monitoring module connected to the flight control module and the power module. The monitoring module monitors the flight control signal sent by the flight control module. When the flight control signal is outside a set range, the power module is controlled to drive the unmanned aerial vehicle to make an emergency landing. When the flight control module fails, the monitoring module can detect that the signal is abnormal, and obtain "control" over the power module, and control the power module to make a safe emergency landing. Moreover, by setting the monitoring module, when the sensor of the unmanned aerial vehicle fails, the flight control module signal is abnormal, which can be monitored by the monitoring module, thereby making the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle safer and more reliable.

Description

A UAV control system and forced landing method

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and in particular to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) control system and an emergency landing method.

Background Art

Unmanned aerial vehicle, abbreviated as "UAV" in English, is an unmanned aircraft controlled by radio remote control equipment and self-contained program control device, or operated completely or intermittently autonomously by an on-board computer.

Generally, a drone includes an airframe, a power unit, a flight control system, a communication system, etc. Among them, the flight control system is the "brain" of the drone. When there is a problem with the flight control system, the drone goes out of control, which not only causes damage to the drone, but also causes the drone to rush to the ground, causing damage to people and finances on the ground.

In the prior art, for example, Chinese patent document CN106364683A discloses a method for autonomous forced landing of a UAV, wherein the UAV includes an electric adjustment module, a main control module and a data storage module. In particular, the data storage module is provided with a flight database for recording flight data of the UAV when in a landing position, and a landing model database for recording landing model data matching the flight data of the UAV. When the UAV detects a fault and enters an autonomous forced landing mode, the main control module of the UAV matches the current flight data with the flight data of the UAV in the flight database, selects the flight data of the UAV closest to the current flight data, and extracts the landing model data matching the closest flight data of the UAV from the landing model database, and the electric adjustment module performs autonomous forced landing according to the landing model data.

The above patent document can achieve a safe forced landing when all or part of the drone sensors fail and the main control module is intact. If the main control module fails during flight, the drone still cannot achieve a safe forced landing.

Summary of the invention

Therefore, the present invention provides a UAV control system and forced landing method to solve the defect that the UAV in the prior art cannot achieve safe forced landing after a main control module fails during flight.

The technical solution of the present invention is:

A UAV control system includes a flight control module and a power module, and also includes a monitoring module connected to the flight control module and the power module. The monitoring module monitors the flight control signal sent by the flight control module, and controls the power module to drive the UAV to make an emergency landing when the flight control signal is outside a set range.

The monitoring module is located between the flight control module and the power module and can transfer flight control signals.

A method for forced landing of a drone, having the drone control system described above, the method for forced landing of a drone comprising the following steps:

The monitoring module monitors the flight control signal sent by the flight control module. When the flight control signal is within a set range, the flight control signal controls the power module; when the flight control signal is outside the set range, the monitoring module sends a first signal to the power module, so that the power module drives the UAV to make a safe emergency landing.

The setting range includes the amplitude and timing of the flight control signal.

When the monitoring module monitors the flight control signal within a set range, the monitoring module transfers the flight control signal to the power module.

While the monitoring module sends the first signal, the monitoring module sends a second signal to the flight control module, and the second signal controls the flight control module to restart. After the flight control module restarts, the monitoring module monitors the flight control signal sent by the flight control module again.

The monitoring module periodically sends a second signal to the flight control module.

The monitoring module obtains detection information of the loading component and processes the detection information to determine the first signal.

The power module includes an electric speed controller and a rotor. The electric speed controller receives a flight control signal or a first signal and controls the movement of the rotor.

The electronic speed controller receives the first signal and controls the rotation speed of the rotor so that its lift is less than the weight of the UAV.

The technical solution of the present invention has the following advantages:

1. The UAV control system of the present invention comprises a flight control module and a power module, and also comprises a monitoring module connected to the flight control module and the power module. The monitoring module monitors the flight control signal sent by the flight control module. When the flight control signal is outside the set range, the power module is controlled to drive the UAV to make an emergency landing. When the flight control module fails, the monitoring module can detect that the signal is abnormal, and obtain "control" over the power module, and control the power module to make a safe emergency landing. Moreover, by setting up the monitoring module, when the sensor of the UAV fails, the flight control module signal is abnormal, which can be monitored by the monitoring module, thereby making the flight of the UAV safer and more reliable.

2. In the method for forced landing of a UAV of the present invention, the monitoring module sends a second signal to the flight control module while sending a first signal. The second signal controls the flight control module to restart. After the flight control module restarts, the monitoring module monitors the flight control signal sent by the flight control module again. That is, when the UAV is forced to land under the control of the monitoring module, the flight control module restarts to solve the problem of disorder in the UAV system. If the problem has been solved, the flight control module regains "control" over the power module, and the UAV does not need to make an emergency landing and continues the flight control signal instruction.

3. In the UAV forced landing method of the present invention, the monitoring module obtains the detection information of the loading element, and processes the detection information to determine the first signal. The loading element can detect the loading capacity of the UAV. The loading capacity of the UAV will change during use. Therefore, the loading capacity of the UAV must be monitored by the loading element in real time to determine the first signal, and the rotor speed is controlled by the first signal command so that its lift is less than the weight of the UAV, thereby achieving safe landing of the UAV.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the specific implementation methods of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the specific implementation methods or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are some implementation methods of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a drone control system according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The technical solution of the present invention will be described clearly and completely below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

In addition, the technical features involved in the different embodiments of the present invention described below can be combined with each other as long as they do not conflict with each other.

Embodiment 1

The drone control system of this embodiment, as shown in FIG1 , includes a flight control module and a power module, and also includes a monitoring module connected to the flight control module and the power module. The monitoring module monitors the flight control signal sent by the flight control module. When the flight control signal is outside the set range, the power module is controlled to drive the drone to make an emergency landing. When the flight control module fails, the monitoring module can detect that the signal is abnormal, and obtain "control" over the power module, and control the power module to make a safe emergency landing. Moreover, by setting up the monitoring module, when the sensor of the drone fails, the flight control module signal is abnormal, which can be monitored by the monitoring module, thereby making the flight of the drone safer and more reliable. It should be noted that the monitoring module is a microprocessor unit located between the flight control module and the power module, which can be any one of the prior art.

The UAV control system also includes a loading element for monitoring the loading capacity of the UAV. The monitoring module obtains detection information of the loading element and processes the detection information to determine a first signal. The loading capacity of the UAV will change during use. Therefore, the loading capacity of the UAV must be monitored in real time through the loading element to determine the first signal. The rotor speed is controlled by the first signal command so that its lift is less than the weight of the UAV, thereby achieving safe landing of the UAV.

The power module includes an ESC and a rotor. The ESC receives the flight control signal or the first signal and controls the rotor movement. The ESC receives the first signal and controls the rotor speed so that its lift is less than the weight of the drone. During the use of the drone, its load will change. Therefore, the load of the drone must be monitored in real time through the loading element to determine the first signal, and the rotor speed is controlled by the first signal command so that its lift is less than the weight of the drone, so that the drone can land safely.

As a convertible implementation method, the flight control module can send a flight control signal to the monitoring module and the power module at the same time. When the monitoring module detects that there is a fault in the flight control signal, the monitoring module feeds back to the flight control module, and the flight control module stops sending the flight control signal to the power module. The monitoring module sends a first signal to the power module, and the power module makes an emergency landing according to the first signal. After the flight control module is restarted and recovered, when the flight control signal sent by the flight control module is within the set range, the flight control module sends the flight control signal to the power module again, and the power module flies according to the flight control signal. It should be noted that the premise of this implementation method is that the flight control module can receive the feedback signal from the monitoring module.

As a convertible implementation method, the flight control module can send a flight control signal to the monitoring module and the power module at the same time. When the monitoring module detects that the flight control signal is outside the set range, the monitoring module sends a first signal to the power module. The power module receives the first signal and the flight control signal at the same time, but only executes the first signal instruction to make an emergency landing (that is, the first signal has a higher priority than the flight control signal). After the flight control module is restarted and restored, when the flight control signal sent by the flight control module is within the set range, the monitoring module stops sending the first signal, and the power module flies according to the flight control signal.

Embodiment 2

The UAV forced landing method of this embodiment has the UAV control system described in Embodiment 1, and the UAV forced landing method includes the following steps:

The monitoring module monitors the flight control signal sent by the flight control module. When the flight control signal is within a set range, the flight control signal controls the power module. When the flight control signal is outside the set range, the monitoring module sends a first signal to the power module to enable the power module to drive the UAV to make a safe emergency landing. The set range includes the amplitude and timing of the flight control signal.

While the monitoring module sends the first signal, the monitoring module sends the second signal to the flight control module. The second signal controls the flight control module to restart. After the flight control module restarts, the monitoring module monitors the flight control signal sent by the flight control module again. That is, when the drone is forced to land under the control of the monitoring module, the flight control module restarts to solve the problem of drone system disorder. If the problem has been solved, the monitoring module will transfer the flight control signal within the set range to the power module, and the flight control module will regain "control" of the power module. The drone can be controlled by the flight control module and fly according to the flight control signal. During the landing process of the drone, the monitoring module periodically sends a second signal to the flight control module to try to restart and recover the flight control module.

Obviously, the above embodiments are merely examples for the purpose of clear explanation, and are not intended to limit the implementation methods. For those skilled in the art, other different forms of changes or modifications can be made based on the above description. It is not necessary and impossible to list all the implementation methods here. The obvious changes or modifications derived therefrom are still within the protection scope of the invention.

Claims (7)

1. A method for forced landing of a drone, characterized in that it is applied to a drone control system, wherein the drone control system includes a flight control module and a power module, and further includes a monitoring module connected to the flight control module and the power module, wherein the monitoring module monitors a flight control signal sent by the flight control module, and when the flight control signal is outside a set range, the monitoring module controls the power module to drive the drone to make an forced landing; The UAV forced landing method comprises the following steps: The monitoring module monitors the flight control signal sent by the flight control module. When the flight control signal is within a set range, the flight control signal controls the power module. When the flight control signal is outside the set range, the monitoring module sends a first signal to the power module, so that the power module drives the UAV to make a safe emergency landing. The monitoring module acquires detection information of the loading element, the detection information being the loading amount of the UAV, and processes the detection information to determine the first signal, the first signal being used to control the rotor speed; While the monitoring module sends the first signal, the monitoring module sends a second signal to the flight control module, the second signal controls the flight control module to restart, and after the flight control module restarts, the monitoring module monitors the flight control signal sent by the flight control module again. 2. The drone forced landing method according to claim 1 is characterized in that the monitoring module is located between the flight control module and the power module and can transfer the flight control signal. 3. The UAV forced landing method according to claim 1, characterized in that the setting range includes the amplitude and timing of the flight control signal. 4. The method for forced landing a UAV according to claim 1 is characterized in that when the monitoring module monitors that the flight control signal is within a set range, the monitoring module transfers the flight control signal to the power module. 5. The UAV forced landing method according to claim 1, characterized in that the monitoring module periodically sends the second signal to the flight control module. 6. The method for forced landing a drone according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the power module includes an electric regulator and a rotor, and the electric regulator receives the flight control signal or the first signal and controls the movement of the rotor. 7. The method for forced landing a UAV according to claim 6, wherein the electronic speed controller receives the first signal and controls the rotor speed so that its lift is less than the weight of the UAV.