JP2021188954A - Environment sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

To obtain an environment sensor with which, when disposed at a number of points, it is possible to stably transmit measurement results from the number of points to a receiver.SOLUTION: A communication unit 20 performs communication by a non-commercial wireless system capable of two-way communication. A control unit 30 causes the output signal emanated from a sensor head 10 to be outputted by wireless communication by the communication unit 20. The communication unit 20, as being capable of two-way communication, is capable of communication between an environment sensor 1B and an environment sensor 1A and between an environment sensor 1C and the environment sensor 1B, providing that these sensors respectively fall within a transmission distance or less. The control unit 30 of the environment sensor 1A can cause the output from the environment sensor 1B to be received by the communication unit 20 and can cause this to be outputted to the communication unit 20 separately from its own measurement results, and a receiver 50 can receive these measurement results of the environment sensor 1B via the environment sensor 1A.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an environment sensor that detects the state of the atmosphere and transmits the measurement result to the outside by wireless communication.

As an object to be measured in the evaluation of the atmospheric environment, for example, there is a PM _2.5 (particle with a diameter of 2.5 μm or less) concentration corresponding to dust. This measurement is performed not only at various points on the ground, but also at various points in the sky as well. For this purpose, a manned aircraft or an unmanned drone (unmanned aerial vehicle) equipped with a sensor (environment sensor) for such measurement is used. In this case, as described in Patent Document 1, an environment sensor that measures _{PM2.5 and the like in the air taken in by the actuator is used.}

In addition, in order to evaluate the atmospheric environment, it may be necessary to obtain this measurement result as a three-dimensional distribution over a certain range, and this measurement result is obtained at short time intervals within one hour (for example, at intervals of several seconds). It may be necessary to obtain at. Therefore, Patent Document 2 describes a technique for measuring the atmospheric environment by controlling a formation of a plurality of drones on which the above-mentioned environment sensor is mounted.

When the environment sensor is used in this way, it is necessary to transmit the measurement result obtained by the plurality of environment sensors at various points in the three-dimensional space to the base station on the ground by communication. For this purpose, a sensor equipped with a communication function is used.

Non-Patent Document 1 describes a sensor connected to the Internet using mobile data communication used for a mobile phone as wireless communication for this purpose, and Non-Patent Document 2 uses wired Ethernet communication. Sensors connected to the Internet are listed.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2019-0277778 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2019-196047

Universal Computer Research Institute, Inc. HP, URL: http: // www. url. co. jp / pdf / PM25. pdf (viewed May 1, 2020) Shinyei Co., Ltd. HP, URL: https: // www. shinyei. co. jp / stc / products / optical / pm monitor. html (viewed May 1, 2020)

The sensor described in Non-Patent Document 1 is premised on being used in various places on the ground like a mobile phone, and the sensor described in Non-Patent Document 2 is fixedly used at one point on the ground. It is assumed that. In either case, the measurement results are transmitted from each sensor to the base station on the ground.

When measuring at a large number of points in a three-dimensional space at the same time as described in Patent Document 2, it is required that the measurement results can be transmitted from all the measurement points to the base station on the ground. Further, in this case, in order to mount this environment sensor on the drone, it is required to be compact, lightweight, and have low power consumption.

In this respect, since the communication in the environment sensor described in Non-Patent Document 2 is performed by wire, it is difficult to use it for the measurement using the drone in this way. On the other hand, the environment sensor described in Non-Patent Document 1 can be used in this case. However, in this case, it is necessary that all the environment sensors (or drones) used can connect to the Internet connection point. However, for this purpose, it is required that the transmission distance of wireless communication is sufficiently long, and the power consumption for that is also large. Therefore, in reality, when this environment sensor is used in the form described in Patent Document 2, there are many cases where an environment sensor that cannot transmit the measurement result to the receiver on the ground is generated.

Therefore, when the sensors are arranged at many points, an environment sensor capable of stably transmitting the measurement results from many points to the receiver has been required.

The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an invention for solving the above problems.

The present invention has the following configurations in order to solve the above problems.
The environmental sensor of the present invention is an environmental sensor that measures environmental characteristics in the atmosphere, and is a sensor head that measures the environmental characteristics and emits an output signal, a receiver installed at a remote location, and the other environment. The communication unit that performs bidirectional communication with the sensor by short-range wireless communication, the output signal of the sensor head owned by the sensor, and the output signal received from the other environment sensor are sent to the receiver. It is characterized by comprising a control unit for transmitting.
In the environment sensor of the present invention, the sensor head is characterized in that it measures the concentration of fine particulate matter in the atmosphere.
The environment sensor of the present invention is characterized in that the transmission distance of the communication unit is set to 1000 m or less.
In the environment sensor of the present invention, the communication unit is characterized in that it operates in accordance with IEEE802.1.5.

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it is possible to obtain an environment sensor capable of stably transmitting measurement results from a large number of points to a receiver when the present invention is arranged at a large number of points.

It is a figure which shows typically the structure of the environment sensor which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and the form when three environment sensors are used at the same time. It is a figure which shows the communication state when the environment sensor which concerns on embodiment of this invention is mounted on eight drones.

The environment sensor according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. This environment sensor measures _{PM 2.5} of air where it is located. Therefore, in this environment sensor, a sensor head that electrically outputs the measurement result of _{PM 2.5 is provided.}

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of an environment sensor 1 and a form when three environment sensors 1 (1A, 1B, 1C) are used at the same time. Here, the environment sensors 1A, 1B, and 1C are spatially separated from each other, and are mounted on individual drones, for example. Further, the environment sensors 1A, 1B, and 1C have the same configuration.

The environment sensor 1 includes a sensor head 10 similar to the PM sensor described in Non-Patent Document 2. The sensor head 10 irradiates the sample (suctioned atmosphere) with the light emitted by the mounted LED, and measures the intensity of the scattered light to measure the PM _2.5 concentration (unit: μg / cm ^3). ) Is recognized and the output signal is electrically output. As the sensor head 10, any other type of sensor head 10 can be used as long as it can electrically output the measured value of _{PM 2.5 concentration.}

The communication unit 20 performs communication by a non-commercial radio capable of bidirectional communication. This non-commercial radio is for short-range communication, and its transmission distance is set to about 1000 m at the maximum, and those that do not require a license or registration for use are particularly preferably used. Therefore, the power consumption of the communication unit 20 can be reduced, and the environment sensor 1 or the drone (unmanned aerial vehicle) equipped with the environment sensor 1 or the drone (unmanned aerial vehicle) equipped with the environment sensor 1 can be made compact and lightweight even when the power supply (not shown in FIG. 1) is included. be able to. Specifically, as the communication unit 20, a communication module (for example, Xbee: registered trademark) that operates in the 2.4 GHz band and conforms to IEEE 802.15.4 can be used.

The control unit 30 is a microcomputer or the like that controls the sensor head 10 and the communication unit 20, and the output signal (measurement result) emitted from the sensor head 10 can be output by the communication unit 20 by wireless communication.

In the configuration of FIG. 1, this output is received by a single receiver 50 fixed at one point on the ground. The monitor device 60 connected to the receiver 50 can recognize this measurement result (value of PM2.5 measured by the environment sensors 1A, 1B, 1C) and display it using a display or the like.

In FIG. 1, the transmission range by the communication unit 20 is limited by the transmission distance, and the receiver 50 can directly communicate with the environment sensor 1A having the shortest distance from the receiver 50, so that the environment sensor 1A can communicate directly with the environment sensor 1A. The measurement result of can be recognized. Further, if the environment sensor 1B and the receiver 50 and the environment sensor 1C and the receiver 50 are within the range of the transmission distance or less, a star-shaped network can be constructed. On the other hand, when the distance between the environment sensors 1B and 1C and the receiver 50 exceeds the transmission distance, the receiver 50 cannot directly receive the measurement result from the environment sensors 1B and 1C.

Here, since the communication unit 20 is capable of bidirectional communication as described above, as shown in FIG. 1, the transmission distance between the environment sensor 1B and the environment sensor 1A and the distance between the environment sensor 1C and the environment sensor 1B are each less than or equal to the transmission distance. If it is within the range of, communication is possible between these. Therefore, the control unit 30 of the environment sensor 1A can have its own communication unit 20 receive the output from the environment sensor 1B, and output this to the communication unit 20 separately from its own measurement result. In addition to the measurement result of the environment sensor 1A, the 50 can receive such a measurement result of the environment sensor 1B via the environment sensor 1A.

Similarly, the control unit 30 of the environment sensor 1B can receive the output from the environment sensor 1C to its own communication unit 20, and output this to the communication unit 20 separately from its own measurement result. The communication unit 20 of 1A can receive such a measurement result of the environment sensor 1C via the environment sensor 1B separately from the measurement result of the environment sensor 1B. After that, the control unit 30 of the environment sensor 1A can output this to its own communication unit 20 separately from its own measurement result and the measurement result of the environment sensor 1B, and the receiver 50 can output the environment sensor 1A. In addition to the measurement result of the environment sensor 1B and the measurement result of the environment sensor 1B, the measurement result of the environment sensor 1C can be received via the environment sensors 1B and 1A.

Therefore, by using the communication unit 20 capable of bidirectional communication, it is possible to construct a mesh type or cluster tree type network between the environment sensors. As a result, even if some of the environment sensors 1A, 1B, and 1C cannot directly communicate with the receiver 50, a network is formed between the environment sensors 1A, 1B, and 1C, and communication with the receiver 50 is possible. If there is one, the receiver 50 can receive all the measurement results.

Alternatively, if a network can be configured between the environment sensors 1A, 1B, and 1C in this way and the measurement results of the environment sensors can be shared, each of the environment sensors 1A, 1B, and 1C can directly communicate with the receiver 50. It doesn't have to be. Therefore, the communication unit 20 may be capable of short-range wireless communication as described above. At this time, like the Xbee described above, a communication module that can be used without a license or registration and has low power consumption can be used. Such an environment sensor 1 is particularly suitable for mounting on a drone as described in Patent Document 2. Alternatively, since the environment sensor can be made compact and lightweight, it is easy to simultaneously mount a device other than the environment sensor (for example, its own position recognition means) as described in Patent Document 1. These outputs can also be transmitted to the terrestrial receiver 50 via another drone using the communication unit 20 as well. As devices other than such environment sensors, for example, a meteorological measurement sensor that measures weather conditions (temperature, pressure, humidity, wind direction, wind speed, etc.) at the same time as _{PM 2.5 and emits an output signal, a GPS signal, or the like is used.} A position recognition device or the like that recognizes its own position information can be used.

2 (a) and 2 (b) are diagrams showing a mode in which eight drones D equipped with the environment sensor 1 are flown. Here, the description is omitted because the eight drones D form a 2 × 4 row formation, and the configuration related to the control of the flight is the same as the well-known one. Here, the receiver 50 is fixed to one point on the ground, but in reality, the receiver 50 may move on the ground.

In FIG. 2A, only the environment sensor 1 mounted on the drone D1 located on the leftmost side of the lower row can communicate with the receiver 50. None of the environment sensors 1 mounted on the drones D2 to D8 can directly communicate with the receiver 50. However, since the environment sensor 1 mounted on all the drones constructs a network by the communication unit 20 as described above, the measurement result of the environment sensor 1 mounted on the drones D2 to D8 is also mounted on the drone D1. It can be transmitted to the receiver 50 via the environment sensor 1.

FIG. 2B shows a state in which the formation of drones D1 to D8 has moved to the left side with respect to the receiver 50 from the state of FIG. 2A. In this case, only the environment sensor 1 mounted on the drone D3 can communicate with the receiver 50. None of the environment sensors 1 mounted on the drones D1, D2, D4 to D8 can directly communicate with the receiver 50, but the measurement results of these environment sensors 1 are mounted on the drone D3 as described above. It is transmitted to the receiver 50 via the environment sensor. Such an operation is possible because a mesh-type or cluster tree-type network is constructed between the environment sensors.

Thus, by using the communication unit 20 to the short-range wireless communications can provide two-way communication, by controlling the drone ranks, such as described in Patent Document 2, a three-dimensional spatial distribution of PM _2.5 It can be easily measured. At this time, since each environment sensor 1 can quickly transmit each measurement result to the receiver 50 by constructing a network, the measurement time interval can be shortened (time resolution is high). .. Further, as the wireless communication used in the communication unit 20, non-commercial short-range wireless communication as described above can be used, so that the environment sensor 1 or the entire configuration for this measurement can be inexpensive. .. Further, when the meteorological measurement sensor is mounted together with the above environmental sensor as described above, _{the correlation between PM 2.5} and various weather conditions can be easily recognized, and the above position recognition device is mounted. In this case, _{the three-dimensional spatial distribution of PM 2.5} can be recognized only by the signal from the drone side.

In the above example, in the communication unit 20, a communication module compliant with IEEE802.154 was used. However, other types of communication modules can be used as long as short-range wireless communication is possible in both directions. In this case, it is not necessary that the transmission distance is long, and a transmission distance of 1000 m or less can be used. Therefore, a communication module having low power consumption can be used as the communication unit 20. The transmission distance referred to here is a radio wave reachable distance in the atmosphere without a shield.

Further, in the above example, the environment sensor 1 (sensor head 10) _{measures the concentration of PM 2.5} as a fine particulate matter, but measures other physical quantities used for evaluating the atmospheric environment. A sensor for this can be used as the sensor head 10. For example, as the evaluation of the fine particulate matter in the air, depending on the purpose, in addition to _{PM 1.0} and _{PM 10} in the above _{PM 2.5} instead of the above-mentioned _{PM 2.5,} or _{PM 2.5} A PM sensor that measures at the same time may be used. In addition, dust (aerosol) in the atmosphere, gaseous substances (CO, CO ₂ concentration, NH ₃ , CH ₄ , H ₂ , C ₂ H ₅ OH, C ₃ H ₈ , C ₄ H ₁₀ , volatile organic compounds, etc. ), A sensor for measuring the concentration of radioactive substances or the like may be used. Even in such a case, the above configuration is effective because the three-dimensional spatial distribution and its change with time can be particularly easily measured by the above configuration.

1, 1A, 1B, 1C Environment sensor 10 Sensor head 20 Communication unit 30 Control unit 50 Receiver 60 Monitor device D1 to D8 Drone (unmanned aerial vehicle)

Claims (4)

An environmental sensor that measures environmental characteristics in the atmosphere.
A sensor head that measures the environmental characteristics and emits an output signal,
A communication unit that performs two-way communication by short-range wireless communication between a receiver installed at a remote location and the other environment sensor.
A control unit that causes the receiver to transmit the output signal of the sensor head owned by the sensor head and the output signal received from the other environment sensor.
An environmental sensor characterized by being equipped with. The environmental sensor according to claim 1, wherein the sensor head measures the concentration of fine particulate matter in the atmosphere. The environment sensor according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the transmission distance of the communication unit is set to 1000 m or less. The environment sensor according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the communication unit operates in accordance with IEEE802.154.

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