KR101691930B1 - A ground control equipment for tracking a pilotless aircraft and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, ground control equipment for tracking a pilotless aircraft comprises: a control unit generating a control message having a control identifier identifying one of a plurality of pilotless aircrafts performing communications at the same frequency; and a wireless communication unit transmitting the control message to the pilotless aircrafts, and receiving an RF signal transmitted from one of the pilotless aircrafts. Therefore, through the control identifier transmitted from the ground control equipment, desired one of the pilotless aircrafts in which a downward link management frequency is overlapped can be tracked.

Description

Field of the Invention < RTI ID = 0.0 > [0001] < / RTI &

The present invention relates to a ground control device for tracking UAV and a tracking method thereof.

In recent years, pilotless aircraft, which are operated for various purposes, can transmit and receive data to and from the ground equipment through RF channels, which means that frequency resources with a certain bandwidth are needed.

However, as the number of UAVs with data transmission / reception increases, the shortage of frequency resources is intensifying. This means that the number of channels that can be operated by UAVs is limited due to the frequency securing situation. In particular, in the case of downlink for transmitting collected information, a wide bandwidth is required and the number of channels that can be secured is extremely limited.

The UAV system currently in operation uses a method of tracking the RF signal (downlink) emitted from the UAV by using the antenna of the ground control equipment.

In this method, there is no particular problem in case of one-to-one communication with the ground control equipment. However, when multiple UAVs having the same downlink frequency are operated simultaneously, mutual interference due to frequency overlap occurs, There is a problem in that it can not be achieved.

Meanwhile, FIG. 1 is a situation in which mutual interference occurs when a plurality of UAVs use the same frequency.

Referring to FIG. 1, when a plurality of UAVs transmit downlink data in the same frequency band, there is a problem that it is not possible to know which UAV is transmitted from any UAV in the ground control equipment. Also, even if it is possible to know from which of the UAVs, it is difficult to decode the downlink data due to interference from other UAVs. Therefore, there is a need for a control structure capable of tracking a desired UAV even when a plurality of UAVs using a frequency channel having the same downlink frequency are operated.

The present invention has been proposed in order to solve such a problem, and it is an object of the present invention to track only a desired UAV among a plurality of UAVs.

Another object of the present invention is to avoid interference from other UAVs whose downlink operating frequencies overlap.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a ground control device for tracking a UAV, comprising: a controller for generating a control message including a control identifier for identifying one of a plurality of UAVs communicating at the same frequency; And a radio communication unit for transmitting a control message to the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles and receiving an RF signal transmitted from one of the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles, wherein a control ID transmitted from the terrestrial control equipment overlaps the downlink operating frequency Only a desired UAV can be traced among plural UAVs.

According to one embodiment, the control identifier may be arranged following the sync word in the header.

According to one embodiment, the plurality of UAVs extracts the control ID, and stops sending an RF signal when it is determined that the control message is not a control message allocated to the UIDs based on the extracted control ID.

According to one embodiment, the control message includes a first control message and a second control message, and the control identifier includes a first control identifier and a second control identifier, and the plurality of unmanned persons includes a first unmanned server 2. A wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the wireless communication unit transmits the first message including the first control identifier for communication with the first UAV during a first period, communicates with the second UAV during a second period, The second control message including the second control identifier for the second control message.

According to one embodiment, the first UAV may stop sending RF signals during the second period, and the second UAV may stop sending RF signals during the first period.

A method for tracking a UAV in a ground control device according to the present invention includes: generating a control message including a control identifier that identifies one of a plurality of UAVs that perform communication at the same frequency; A control message transmitting step of transmitting the control message to the plurality of UAVs; And an RF signal receiving step of receiving an RF signal transmitted from one of the plurality of UAVs.

According to one embodiment, the control message includes a first control message and a second control message, and the control identifier includes a first control identifier and a second control identifier, and the plurality of unmanned persons includes a first unmanned server 2 UAV, and determining whether or not communication with the second UAV is necessary after performing the communication with the first UAV, wherein when the second UAV is required to communicate with the second UAV , The control message generation process, the control message transmission process, and the RF signal reception process, and the control message generation process generates the second control message including the second control identifier that identifies the second UAV And the control message generating process transmits the second control message to the plurality of UAVs, and the RF signal receiving process transmits the second unmanned It is possible to receive the RF signal transmitted from the base station.

According to the present invention, there is an advantage that only a desired UAV can be tracked among a plurality of UAVs whose downlink operating frequencies are overlapped through a control identifier transmitted from the ground control equipment.

In addition, according to the present invention, it is possible to avoid interference from other UAVs having overlapping downlink operating frequencies by stopping transmission of RF signals for a specific time.

1 is a situation in which mutual interference occurs when a plurality of UAVs use the same frequency.
2 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of a ground control equipment for tracking a UAV according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 shows a structure of a control message according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4A and 4B show a conceptual diagram of a UAV tracking method using a control identifier according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5A and 5B show a conceptual diagram of a UAV tracking method using a control identifier according to another embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 6 shows a flow diagram of a method for tracking UAVs in the above ground control equipment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, It will be possible. While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention.

The present invention proposes a ground control device for tracking UAV and a tracking method thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a ground control apparatus and a tracking method thereof according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In this regard, in order for the ground control equipment to control more than two UAVs, only the aircraft having the same unique identifier, including the UAV unique identifier in the control command, can use the manner in which the command is executed.

Therefore, the UAV, which does not match the unique identifier in the control signal of the ground control equipment, does not affect the UAV itself even if it receives the signal through the uplink. However, the ground control equipment antenna can track other UAVs with the same downlink frequency because the signals are tracked using frequency. Especially, when the UAV is located relatively close to the ground control equipment than the UAV, which is not desired to be traced, undesired UAV signals are tracked due to frequency overlap and signal intensity difference.

In order to solve this problem, the present invention has been proposed so that the ground control equipment can be operated without mutual interference when controlling two or more UAVs using the same downlink frequency channel.

2 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of a ground control equipment for tracking a UAV according to the present invention. 2, the terrestrial control apparatus 100 includes a wireless communication unit 110, a control unit 120, and a memory unit 130. As shown in FIG.

The control unit 120 generates a control message including a control ID that identifies one of a plurality of UAVs communicating at the same frequency.

3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a control message according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the control message 200 includes a header 210, data 220, and a checksum 230.

The header 210 includes a sync word 211, a control identifier 212, a GDT ID 213, an uplink counter (UPL Counter) 214, a downlink counter (DNL Counter) 215, an Opcode 216 and a length field (Length, 217).

The synchronization word 211 performs timing synchronization between data packets transmitted and received between a plurality of UAVs and the ground control equipment.

The control identifier 212 is located subsequent to the synchronization word 211 and identifies one of a plurality of UAVs that perform communications at the same frequency. For this purpose, the control identifier 212 may be configured to have different values for each UAV.

The GDT ID 213 corresponds to an ID of a ground data transceiver (GDT). That is, it corresponds to an ID for distinguishing which control device is transmitted from which ground control device.

The uplink counter 214 includes control information for the uplink. It also includes information for separating time slots in which uplink data is placed.

The downlink counter 215 includes control information for the downlink. It also includes information for separating time slots in which downlink data is located.

The Op code 216 indicates the type of the message.

The length field 217 corresponds to a variable byte, and is changed according to the Op code 216.

The data 220 corresponds to a data payload transmitted from the ground control equipment to the corresponding UAV.

The checksum 230 corresponds to a channel code added so as to be robust to changes in the channel environment in which the control message is transmitted.

Accordingly, when the control identifier 212 is set differently for each UAV, the UAV that receives the control message 200 can identify whether the control message 200 is transmitted to the UAV or another UAV have.

The wireless communication unit 110 transmits the control message to the plurality of UAVs and receives RF signals transmitted from one of the plurality of UAVs. The control message may be transmitted periodically or adaptively, such as every second or several tens of milliseconds. In addition, the control message may be transmitted on an event basis whenever transmitting data to a plurality of UAVs or when transmitting specific data.

The memory unit 130 stores the generated control message and related time information.

On the other hand, the plurality of UAVs that have received the control message extract the control ID, and stop sending the RF signal when it is determined that the control message is not the control message allocated to the UAV, based on the extracted control ID.

4A and 4B are conceptual diagrams of a method of tracking an UAV using a control identifier according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4A, the ground control equipment 100 generates a first control message including a control identifier that identifies a first UAV among a plurality of UAVs that perform communication at the same frequency.

Next, the ground control equipment 100 transmits the first control message to the first UAV 310 and the second UAV 320. Thus, the first UAV 310 and the second UAV 320 receive the first control message and extract the first control identifier of the received first control message.

In connection with the first control message, control information for the second UAV 320 may be additionally transmitted to a specific area of the header of the first control message. For example, instead of transmitting a separate control message for the second UAV 320, the first control message may be transmitted when the second UAV 320 receives a downlink data transmission at a specific frequency Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > possible. ≪ / RTI >

Meanwhile, the extracted first control identifier is for identifying the first UAV 310. Thus, referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 4B, the first UAV 310 will transmit a response for a predetermined time, and the second UAV 320 will stop transmitting the response for the predetermined time.

Therefore, the ground control equipment 100 receives the RF signal transmitted from the first UAV 310. Here, the RF signal may include low-order link data.

5A and 5B illustrate a concept of a UAV tracking method using a control identifier according to another embodiment of the present invention.

5A, the ground control equipment 100 transmits a second control message including a second control identifier that identifies the second UAV 320 to the first UAV 310 and the second UAV 320 do.

In this regard, referring to FIG. 4A, the terrestrial control apparatus 100 transmits the first message including the first control identifier for communication with the first UAV during a first period. 5A, the terrestrial control apparatus 100 may transmit the second control message including the second control identifier for communication with the second UAV during a second period.

In this regard, referring to FIG. 4B, the first UAV 310 transmits an RF signal during the first period, and the second UAV 320 stops transmitting the RF signal during the first period.

Meanwhile, referring to FIG. 5B, the first UAV 310 stops transmitting RF signals during the second period, and the second UAV 320 transmits RF signals during the second period.

Therefore, even if a plurality of UAVs using the same downlink frequency are operated, it is possible to determine whether RF transmission is performed after receiving / determining a control message from the ground control equipment. In other words, only one UAV can transmit downlink RF signal at a time, so that the ground control equipment antenna can track UAV without interference.

Figure 6, on the other hand, shows a flow chart of a method for tracking UAVs in the above ground control equipment.

The method for tracking the UAV includes a control message generation process S410, a control message transmission process S420, and an RF signal reception process S430. In addition, the method for tracking the UAV may further include a UAV switching determination process (S440).

The control message generation process (S410) generates a control message including a control ID that identifies one of a plurality of UAVs communicating at the same frequency.

The control message transmission process (S420) transmits the control message to the plurality of UAVs.

The RF signal receiving step (S430) receives an RF signal transmitted from one of the plurality of UAVs.

Here, the control message includes a first control message and a second control message, the control identifier includes a first control identifier and a second control identifier, and the plurality of unmanned persons include a first unmanned person and a second unmanned person can do.

In this regard, in the control message generation step S410, the control message transmission step S420, and the RF signal reception step S430, the procedures are performed on the first control ID, the first control message, and the first UAV .

Meanwhile, the UAV switching determination process (S440) determines whether communication with the second UAV is necessary after performing communication with the first UAV.

If it is necessary to communicate with the second UAV, the control message generation process S410, the control message transmission process S420, and the RF signal reception process S430 may be performed using the second control ID, Repeat for 2 UAVs.

That is, the control message generation step (S410) generates the second control message including the second control identifier that identifies the second UAV.

The control message transmission step (S420) transmits the second control message to the plurality of UAVs.

The RF signal receiving step (S430) receives the RF signal transmitted from the second UAV.

According to the above-described embodiments of the present invention, only a desired UAV can be tracked among a plurality of UAVs whose downlink operating frequencies are overlapped through a control identifier transmitted from the ground control equipment.

In addition, according to the embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to avoid interference from other UAVs with overlapping downlink operating frequencies by stopping transmission of RF signals for a specific time.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned contents in the ground control equipment for tracking the UAV and the method for tracking the UAV in the ground control equipment can be used mutually.

Meanwhile, the control unit 120 proposed in the present invention can be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination thereof. Further, the detailed configuration module of the control unit 120 may also be implemented by hardware, software, and a combination thereof.

According to a software implementation, not only the procedures and functions described herein, but also each component may be implemented as a separate software module. Each of the software modules may perform one or more of the functions and operations described herein. Software code can be implemented in a software application written in a suitable programming language. The software code is stored in a memory and can be executed by a controller or a processor.

100: ground control equipment 110: wireless communication unit
120: control unit 130: memory unit

Claims (7)

In ground control equipment for tracking UAV,
A control unit for generating a control message including a control identifier for identifying one of a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles performing communication at the same frequency; And
And a wireless communication unit for transmitting the control message to the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles and receiving an RF signal transmitted from one of the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles,
Wherein the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles extracts the control identifier and stops sending an RF signal when it is determined that the control message is not a control message assigned to itself based on the extracted control identifier. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the control identifier is located subsequent to a sync word in a header of the control message. delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the control message includes a first control message and a second control message,
Wherein the control identifier comprises a first control identifier and a second control identifier,
Wherein the plurality of unmanned vehicles comprises a first unmanned vehicle and a second unmanned vehicle,
Wherein the wireless communication unit transmits the first control message including the first control identifier for communication with the first UAV during a first period and transmits the second control message including the second control ID for communication with the second UAV And transmits the second control message including the control identifier. 5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the first UAV stops sending RF signals during the second period and the second UAV stops sending RF signals during the first period. In a method for tracking UAVs in ground control equipment,
A control message generation step of generating a control message including a control identifier for identifying one of a plurality of unmanned vehicles performing communication at the same frequency;
A control message transmitting step of transmitting the control message to the plurality of UAVs; And
And an RF signal receiving step of receiving an RF signal transmitted from one of the plurality of UAVs,
Wherein the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles extract the control identifier and cease transmitting an RF signal when it is determined that the control message is not a control message assigned to the base station based on the extracted control identifier. The method according to claim 6,
Wherein the control message includes a first control message and a second control message,
Wherein the control identifier comprises a first control identifier and a second control identifier,
Wherein the plurality of unmanned vehicles comprises a first unmanned vehicle and a second unmanned vehicle,
Determining whether or not communication with the second UAV is required after performing the communication with the first UAV;
Repeating the control message generation process, the control message transmission process, and the RF signal reception process when communication with the second UAV is required,
Wherein the control message generation step generates the second control message including the second control identifier that identifies the second UAV,
The control message transmission process transmits the second control message to the plurality of unmanned terminals, and
Wherein the RF signal receiving process receives the RF signal transmitted from the second UAV.

Images