CN114595572A - A virtual environment simulation method of underwater robot based on hierarchical ocean data - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to an underwater robot virtual environment simulation method based on layered ocean data, belonging to the field of underwater robot simulation, comprising: layered editing processing of layered ocean data sources; Import the virtual environment for environmental display, and provide the function of customizing the creation of environment layers; simulate the external perception of underwater robots based on hierarchical ocean environment modeling; store the generated perception simulation values into different modules in the form of plug-ins in different module databases , provides the function of custom creation of perception modules; each perception module in the module database is added to the body module of the underwater robot as required. The invention realizes the automation and structuring of environmental information processing, display, and interaction between the environment and the robot body, designs rich interfaces according to different task scenarios, and the convenient self-definition and task-oriented selection functions brought by the structuring, Improved operability and scalability.

Description

A virtual environment simulation method of underwater robot based on hierarchical ocean data

technical field

The invention belongs to the field of underwater robot simulation, and relates to an underwater robot virtual environment simulation method based on hierarchical ocean data.

Background technique

Environmental simulation refers to the technology of representing the real environment in different media such as paper and electronic in a symbolic and abstract way. Different from the traditional paper representation, with the development of informatization of environmental data collection, transmission and storage, digitization has gradually become the mainstream environmental simulation direction in the 21st century. Digital environment simulation obtains environmental data by means of satellite remote sensing, sonar detection, etc., processes the data with tools such as computer software, and realizes the visualization of the real environment, and finally presents the virtual real environment in the computer. Studying the modeling method of the marine environment can help seafarers, underwater robot developers and algorithm developers to better grasp the marine environment, and can also lower the threshold for non-professionals to understand the ocean, understand the ocean, and apply the ocean.

However, the current virtual environment simulation technology mainly focuses on the terrain, and its essence is to provide the appropriate environment and terrain-related perception simulation for the virtual robot placed in it. However, the diversity and complexity of the marine environment, such as lighting conditions, hydrodynamics The current technology has problems such as insufficient accuracy, inability to switch the marine environment, and poor simulation under various sea conditions. Therefore, there is currently a lack of a structured way to describe the marine environment at different levels, and to provide external perception and simulation technology related to the interface.

In addition, the traditional virtual terrain simulation technology is mainly divided into two types: one is to use 3D drawing software for drawing. Although this modeling method can create ocean models of any shape and conditions, it has low construction efficiency, high threshold and low cost. It is difficult to meet the requirements of testing on-the-spot objects; another method is to use real seabed data obtained by sonar and other detection devices or officially published chart data for data encoding, decoding and type conversion. However, in the current practice process of such methods, there are problems such as inability to modify the simulation interface in combination with tasks, and inability to format and model non-terrain information. Therefore, when simulating the marine terrain environment, there is currently no modeling method that is easy to modify and close to reality from all dimensions.

Aiming at the problem that the external perception simulation technology mainly focuses on the terrain, the UUV Simulator project in the EU-funded SWARMS project provides a rich but unstructured external perception simulation: hydrodynamic simulation, visible light domain information obtained from virtual camera data, etc. .

Aiming at the current modeling method of marine terrain environment, Chinese patent CN103456041A discloses a method for generating three-dimensional terrain and radar terrain based on S-57 electronic chart data. Some steps of the model, in which the use of the S-57 chart is still focused on the terrain, and the method of drawing and incorporating the terrain layer for other levels of information makes it difficult to change the task-oriented and cannot be selected and displayed; The research carried out by the patent "UNITY3D-based underwater submersible visual simulation system and method" adopts route 1, which involves the construction of charts with UNITY3D as the platform, which has low efficiency and also does not have layered operations on different resources. In terms of external perception simulation, it involves external perception information related to terrain such as elevation information and collision information, and also lacks the structured description of other types of information.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of this, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a virtual environment simulation method for underwater robots based on structured and hierarchical ocean data.

For achieving the above object, the present invention provides the following technical solutions:

A virtual environment simulation method for underwater robots based on hierarchical ocean data, comprising the following steps:

S1: Perform hierarchical editing processing on the hierarchical ocean data source;

S2: Import the layered data into the virtual environment for environmental display according to the simulation requirements, and provide the function of customizing the creation of environmental layers;

S3: Simulation of external perception of underwater robots based on hierarchical marine environment modeling;

S4: Store the generated sensory analog value sub-modules in the form of plug-ins into different module databases, and provide the function of customizing the creation of sensory modules;

S5: Add each perception module in the module database to the body module of the underwater robot as required.

Further, the hierarchical marine data source has hierarchical characteristics, and its data contains various information levels. The information levels have different types and characteristics according to the area of the chart file, and are easy to be structured after preprocessing. deal with.

Further, in the step S1, the specific steps of performing hierarchical processing on the hierarchical ocean data source are as follows:

S11: First, perform task judgment. If the task can use the existing function for layer processing, perform step S12, otherwise define a new object type, and write a custom layer processing function according to the new object type, and store it in the function library ;

S12: read the target type and layer data;

S13: Read and split the task based on the object type, index the existing layer processing function, and use the corresponding layer processing function for each layer;

S14: Execute the corresponding layer processing function;

S15: output the corresponding format display information.

Further, in the step S1, for the processing of the terrain description layer, the layer processing function includes:

Perform regional filtering and smoothing to reduce data errors;

Clipping and editing of regions to select regions for simulation;

Perform regional interpolation and fitting processing to fit rough discrete values to continuous values to improve accuracy, and finally produce a digital elevation model format that can be imported into virtual environments.

Further, in the step S2, the generated digital elevation model file and other preprocessed object target type layers are simulated layer by layer, and the terrain information display layer is used as the base layer of other layers; the environment simulation part provides new custom information The display layer function can add information display layers for users to customize the task-oriented, and it can also facilitate the further processing of information layers that are not common or cannot be processed uniformly, and provide the ability to integrate data from different sources; for layers except the terrain layer, According to the corresponding object type of each layer, the corresponding processing operations are performed, and the real objects represented by each layer are simulated and superimposed into the terrain layer; the layers that need to be simulated are manually selected according to the needs of different tasks; the method of simulating and superimposing real objects It is to introduce the external object library as a default example, so as to add the discrete point information representing the physical location into the environment simulation; when other layers conflict with the content and scope of the terrain layer, the terrain layer shall prevail, and the method is to delete or ask the user how to deal with it Conflicting parts of other layers.

Further, in step S2, the environmental entity is divided into various information display layers, and each layer has different effects on the underwater robot. In step S3, different information display layers are subjected to perception simulation, and the specific steps are as follows:

S31: First, perform task judgment. If the task can use the existing function to perform perception simulation, perform step S32, otherwise define an output perception module, define input environment information, write a custom perception simulation function, and store it in the function library;

S32: read environmental information;

S33: Index the existing perception simulation function according to the environmental information, and use the corresponding perception simulation function for each layer;

S34: Execute the corresponding perception simulation function;

S35: output to the corresponding sensing module;

S36: Perform perceptual synthesis with other perceptual values in the perceptual module.

Further, in step S3, different information display layers are classified and processed separately, the mapping relationship between the information display layer and the perception module is not necessarily an injective, each mapping relationship generates an impact vector, and finally all the impact vectors are output according to the output. The corresponding perceptual module type is calculated and synthesized to generate the final all perceptual module values.

Further, in the module database described in step S4, corresponding to the terrain layer as the basic layer of each layer of the environment, the collision detection module is the basic module of the external perception and simulation modules; except for the collision detection module, other information display layers are used for the underwater robot. The exerted influence is handed over to the force perception module, the visual/optical perception module, the sonar perception module, the electromagnetic communication perception module, and the geomagnetic perception module for processing according to its category; each module allows the selective use of task-oriented, all preset Calculation parameters and support for modification, priority processing at the base layer, and task-oriented custom modules are allowed.

Further, in the module database, a sonar perception module, a geomagnetic perception module, a visual perception module, and a light perception module are provided for simulating seabed terrain matching and navigation; an electromagnetic communication perception module is provided for simulating underwater communication networking; for simulating and controlling the motion of underwater robots Provides a hydrodynamic perception module.

The beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: the method of the present invention basically realizes the automation and structuring of environmental information processing, display, and interaction between the environment and the robot body, and designs rich interfaces according to different task scenarios, and the convenient self-service brought by the structuring Definition and task-oriented selection functions, with good operability and scalability.

Other advantages, objects, and features of the present invention will be set forth in the description that follows, and will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on a study of the following, to the extent that is taught in the practice of the present invention. The objectives and other advantages of the present invention may be realized and attained by the following description.

Description of drawings

In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention clearer, the present invention will be preferably described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

1 is an overall architecture diagram of an underwater robot virtual environment simulation method based on hierarchical ocean data according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is the flow chart of the layer processing method;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a perception simulation method.

Detailed ways

The embodiments of the present invention are described below through specific specific examples, and those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present invention from the contents disclosed in this specification. The present invention can also be implemented or applied through other different specific embodiments, and various details in this specification can also be modified or changed based on different viewpoints and applications without departing from the spirit of the present invention. It should be noted that the drawings provided in the following embodiments are only used to illustrate the basic idea of the present invention in a schematic manner, and the following embodiments and features in the embodiments can be combined with each other without conflict.

Among them, the accompanying drawings are only used for exemplary description, and represent only schematic diagrams, not physical drawings, and should not be construed as limitations of the present invention; in order to better illustrate the embodiments of the present invention, some parts of the accompanying drawings will be omitted, The enlargement or reduction does not represent the size of the actual product; it is understandable to those skilled in the art that some well-known structures and their descriptions in the accompanying drawings may be omitted.

The same or similar numbers in the drawings of the embodiments of the present invention correspond to the same or similar components; in the description of the present invention, it should be understood that if there are terms “upper”, “lower”, “left” and “right” , "front", "rear" and other indicated orientations or positional relationships are based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the indicated device or element must be It has a specific orientation, is constructed and operated in a specific orientation, so the terms describing the positional relationship in the accompanying drawings are only used for exemplary illustration, and should not be construed as a limitation of the present invention. situation to understand the specific meaning of the above terms.

The purpose of the present invention is to design a structured and hierarchical underwater robot virtual environment simulation method.

Its specific composition is shown in Figure 1, and it is divided into four parts: hierarchical data sources—standardized charts, environment display modules, perception modules, and data processing programs. The data processing program includes a layer processing program and a perception simulation program, and the internal structures thereof are shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 respectively.

In terms of marine environmental data sources, the definition of standardized charts such as S-57 charts in hierarchical data sources has the characteristics of hierarchy. As shown in the left frame of Figure 1, it generally includes a depth information layer, a hydrological information layer and other information layers, and the chart files in different regions often have different levels of inclusion.

Using this feature, the hierarchical data source is processed hierarchically by using GIS software such as QGIS, that is, it enters the layer processing program. As shown in FIG. 2 , task judgment is first performed. For the layer processing task using existing functions, the program reads and splits it based on the object type, and uses the corresponding layer processing function for each layer. For this sub-process, it is particularly important to process the terrain description layer. The basic functions provided should be able to filter and smooth the area to prevent the terrain generated by the chart with poor data quality from being too large. It can perform regional clipping and editing to improve the speed of operation and reading and writing; perform regional interpolation and fitting processing to fit rough discrete values into continuous values with better resolution, and finally produce images that can be imported into the virtual environment. Digital Elevation Model format. If you need more refined processing, you can resort to more professional 3D modeling software.

For the layer processing task of the custom new function, the user can define a new object type, and write a custom function according to the identification, and store it in the database.

Then, the generated digital elevation model file and other preprocessed target type layers are imported into simulation software such as Gazebo. After that, the terrain information display layer will become the base layer for other layers. As shown in the middle frame of Figure 2, after importing simulation software such as Gazebo, the corresponding processing operations are performed according to the corresponding object type of each layer, and the real objects represented by each layer are simulated and superimposed into the terrain layer. It should be noted that, first, the level to be simulated can be manually selected according to the requirements of different tasks. For example, when only the water environment is involved, the onshore layers such as RAILWY (railway) do not need to be selected, while the layers such as LAKARE (Lake) need to be focused. 2. The way of simulating and superimposing objects is to introduce the external Gazebo object library as a default example. For example, the BRIDGE (bridge) layer can be simulated using the common standard bridge style, according to its data structure, coordinate format, content information and terrain layer. Coordinate alignment to automatically and structurally simulate all required real terrain content. Of course, to be more realistic and personalized, users can also import custom object files. 3. When other layers conflict with the content and scope of the terrain layer, the terrain layer shall prevail. The method is to delete or ask the user how to deal with the conflicting parts of other layers. 4. The environment simulation part provides the function of creating a new custom information display layer, which can be customized for users to add information display layers in a task-oriented manner, and it can also facilitate the further processing of information layers that are not common or cannot be processed uniformly, and provide data integration from different sources. capabilities, and the requirements for timely and convenient replacement of task-oriented simulation environments. For example, a preset obstacle or communication forbidden area can be added to a new layer, and the entity can be added to the entire environment by opening the layer, which facilitates switching between different task scenarios.

The next step is to simulate the external perception of underwater robots based on hierarchical ocean environment modeling. As mentioned above, the environmental entities are divided into different levels, and each level will have different effects on the underwater robot. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1 , different information display layers are input into the perception simulation program, and the specific content is shown in FIG. 3 . First, the task is judged. For the perception simulation task using the existing function, the program reads and splits it based on the environmental information, and uses the corresponding perception simulation function for each layer.

For this sub-process, it is particularly important to classify and process the different information display layers. The mapping relationship between the information display layer and the perception module is not necessarily monojective, that is, one information display layer may affect different The perceptual module has an impact, and it is also possible that multiple information display layers will have an impact on the same perceptual module, so each mapping relationship will generate an impact vector, and finally all the impact vectors will be combined according to the output perceptual module type. Produces final all perceptual module values. For the layer processing task of the custom new function, the user can define the output perception module and the input environment information type, and write a custom function according to the two, and store it in the database.

Then, the generated perception module values are stored in different module databases in the form of plug-ins. For the module database shown in the right frame of Figure 1, the terrain layer is the base layer of each environment layer, and the collision detection module is the basic module of each module of external perception simulation, which determines whether the simulation can continue. The basic implementation is to use the bounding box method to determine whether there are terrains, objects, and other robots in the bounding box of the robot. In addition to the collision detection module, the influence exerted by other information display layers on the underwater robot will be processed by the force perception module, visual/optical perception module, sonar perception module, electromagnetic communication perception module, geomagnetic perception module, etc. . It is worth noting that these modules use similar design ideas and features to layered modeling - allowing selective use, preset calculation parameters (water light transmittance, density, etc.), the base layer is the collision layer priority processing, Allows for task-oriented custom modules. The above process provides the required interfaces for different tasks. For example, it provides a sonar perception module, geomagnetic perception module and visual/optical perception module for simulating seabed terrain matching and navigation, which are mainly used in a single robot to provide detection of seabed terrain. The presence or absence of the robot and the corresponding simulation information, as well as the geomagnetic information of the corresponding position, mainly depend on the relative position and angle of the robot body and the terrain, as well as factors such as illumination and depth; an electromagnetic communication perception module is provided for simulating underwater communication networking, which It is mainly used in underwater robot swarms or underwater robot-satellite communication to test the communication status between marked entities, which depends on the distance between the two and the terrain between the two; The hydrodynamic perception module is mainly used in motion control projects to provide the mechanical effects of the water environment on the robot, such as heavy buoyancy, hydrodynamics, etc., which depends on the motion state of the robot body relative to the water, water density, ocean currents, etc. circumstances and other factors.

Finally, each perception module is output to the underwater robot body module according to the requirements. To sum up, the method of the present invention basically realizes the automation and structuring of environmental information processing, display and interaction between the environment and the robot ontology, and designs rich interfaces according to different task scenarios, as well as convenient customization and customization brought by structuring. Task-oriented selection function with good operability and scalability.

Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention and not to limit them. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that the technical solutions of the present invention can be Modifications or equivalent replacements, without departing from the spirit and scope of the technical solution, should all be included in the scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims (9)

1. An underwater robot virtual environment simulation method based on hierarchical ocean data is characterized by comprising the following steps: the method comprises the following steps:

s1: carrying out layered editing processing on the layered ocean data source;

s2: importing the layered data into a virtual environment according to simulation requirements for environment display, and providing a function of self-defining and creating an environment layer;

s3: carrying out external perception simulation on the underwater robot based on hierarchical marine environment modeling;

s4: storing the generated sensing analog value module into different module databases in a plug-in mode, and providing a function of self-defining and establishing a sensing module;

s5: and adding each sensing module in the module database into the underwater robot body module according to the requirement.

2. The method for simulating the virtual environment of the underwater robot based on the hierarchical ocean data according to claim 1, wherein: the hierarchical ocean data source has the hierarchical characteristic, the data of the hierarchical ocean data source comprises various information layers, the information layers have different types and characteristics according to the region of the chart file, and the information layers are convenient to structurally process after being preprocessed.

3. The method for simulating the virtual environment of the underwater robot based on the hierarchical ocean data according to claim 1, wherein: in step S1, the specific steps of performing hierarchical processing on the hierarchical ocean data source are as follows:

s11: firstly, judging a task, if the task can carry out layer processing by using an existing function, executing a step S12, otherwise, defining a new object type, writing a custom layer processing function according to the new object type, and storing the custom layer processing function in a function library;

s12: reading object type and layer data;

s13: reading and splitting the task based on the object type, indexing the existing layer processing functions, and adopting the corresponding layer processing function for each layer;

s14: executing the corresponding layer processing function;

s15: and outputting the display information of the corresponding format.

4. The method for simulating the virtual environment of the underwater robot based on the hierarchical ocean data according to claim 3, wherein: in step S1, for the processing of the terrain description layer, the layer processing function includes:

filtering and smoothing the region to reduce data errors;

cutting and editing the area to select the area for simulation;

and performing area interpolation and fitting processing to fit the rough discrete values into continuous values to improve the precision, and finally generating a digital elevation model format which can be introduced into a virtual environment.

5. The method for simulating the virtual environment of the underwater robot based on the hierarchical ocean data according to claim 1, wherein: in step S2, the generated digital elevation model file and other preprocessed object type layers are simulated in a layered manner, and a topographic information display layer is used as a base layer of other layers; the environment simulation part provides a function of newly creating a custom information display layer, allows a user to add an information display layer in a task-oriented custom manner, further processes an information layer which is not common or can not be processed uniformly, and provides the capability of integrating data from different sources; for each layer except the terrain layer, respectively executing corresponding processing operation according to the corresponding object mark type of each layer, and simulating and superposing the real object represented by each layer into the terrain layer; manually selecting the layers needing to be simulated according to the requirements of different tasks; the mode of simulating and superposing the real object is to introduce an external object library as a default example, so as to add discrete point information representing the position of the real object into the environment simulation; when the other layers conflict with the content and range of the terrain layer, the method is to delete or ask the user how to handle the conflicting parts of the other layers based on the terrain layer.

6. The underwater robot virtual environment simulation method based on the hierarchical ocean data according to claim 1, wherein: in step S2, the environmental entity is divided into information display layers, each layer has different effects on the underwater robot, and in step S3, the perception simulation is performed on the different information display layers, specifically including the following steps:

s31: firstly, judging a task, if the task can utilize the existing function to perform perception simulation, executing the step S32, otherwise, defining an output perception module, defining input environment information, compiling a custom perception simulation function, and storing the custom perception simulation function in a function library;

s32: reading environmental information;

s33: indexing the existing perception simulation function according to the environment information, and adopting the corresponding perception simulation function for each layer;

s34: executing the corresponding perception simulation function;

s35: outputting the signals to a corresponding sensing module;

s36: and carrying out perception synthesis with other perception values in the perception module.

7. The method for simulating the virtual environment of the underwater robot based on the hierarchical ocean data according to claim 1, wherein: in step S3, the different information display layers are classified and processed, the mapping relationship between the information display layer and the sensing module is not necessarily a single shot, each mapping relationship generates an influence vector, and finally, the corresponding synthesis calculation is performed on all the influence vectors according to the output type of the sensing module, so as to generate the final values of all the sensing modules.

8. The method for simulating the virtual environment of the underwater robot based on the hierarchical ocean data according to claim 1, wherein: in the module database of step S4, the collision detection module is a basic module for simulating each module by external perception; except for the collision detection module, the influence exerted by other information display layers on the underwater robot is processed by a force sensing module, a visual/optical sensing module, a sonar sensing module, an electromagnetic communication sensing module and a geomagnetic sensing module according to the types of the underwater robot; each module allows selective use of task guidance, has preset calculation parameters and supports modification, is subjected to priority processing of a base layer, and allows a user-defined module to take a task as guidance.

9. The method for simulating the virtual environment of the underwater robot based on the hierarchical ocean data according to claim 8, wherein: the module database provides a sonar perception module, a geomagnetic perception module, a visual perception module and a light perception module for simulating submarine topography matching navigation; providing an electromagnetic communication sensing module for simulating underwater communication networking; and a hydrodynamic force sensing module is provided for simulating and controlling the motion of the underwater robot.

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