WO2025062380A1 - Drone innovant et système de détection d'aéronef - Google Patents

Drone innovant et système de détection d'aéronef Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2025062380A1
WO2025062380A1 PCT/IB2024/059239 IB2024059239W WO2025062380A1 WO 2025062380 A1 WO2025062380 A1 WO 2025062380A1 IB 2024059239 W IB2024059239 W IB 2024059239W WO 2025062380 A1 WO2025062380 A1 WO 2025062380A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
image
aircraft
video acquisition
acquisition system
drones
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Pending
Application number
PCT/IB2024/059239
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Roberto BALDISSERRI
Silvia DALOISO
Daniela PISTOIA
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Elettronica SpA
Original Assignee
Elettronica SpA
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Elettronica SpA filed Critical Elettronica SpA
Publication of WO2025062380A1 publication Critical patent/WO2025062380A1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Pending legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
    • H04N23/90—Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
    • H04N23/45—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof for generating image signals from two or more image sensors being of different type or operating in different modes, e.g. with a CMOS sensor for moving images in combination with a charge-coupled device [CCD] for still images
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
    • H04N23/58—Means for changing the camera field of view without moving the camera body, e.g. nutating or panning of optics or image sensors
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
    • H04N23/60—Control of cameras or camera modules
    • H04N23/698—Control of cameras or camera modules for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N7/00—Television systems
    • H04N7/18—Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast
    • H04N7/181—Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
    • G06V—IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
    • G06V2201/00—Indexing scheme relating to image or video recognition or understanding
    • G06V2201/07—Target detection

Definitions

  • the present invention concerns an innovative system designed to detect drones and aircraft and intended to be installed to defend a site or mobi le platform ( e . g . , a land vehicle or naval unit ) against enemy/hostile drones and aircraft .
  • a site or mobi le platform e . g . , a land vehicle or naval unit
  • Systems of the C-UAS-type can be considered, from a systems engineering point of view, as a system of systems that includes a set of actuators , a set of sensors and a command and control system for said actuators and sensors .
  • Such systems include radars as one of their main sensors .
  • radars can cause false alarms , be a factor creating di f ficulties in detection and, being active elements , they can also increase the possibility of being detected by possible opponents .
  • the electro-optical and infrared cameras in use in the current C-UAS systems are not capable of performing any discovery functions , as rotation on pan-and-tilt systems , in light of the reduced FoV, would take time that is not compatible with the operating requirements ; moreover, the continuous rotation of the system would cause premature wear of the system itsel f , leading to the need for continuous maintenance .
  • aim of the present invention is to provide an innovative system for detecting drones and aircraft that can overcome or alleviate , at least in part , the advantages and limitations of currently known technologies .
  • the present invention concerns a system for detecting drones and aircraft , designed to be installed to defend a site or mobile platform against enemy/hostile drones and aircraft .
  • Said system comprises an image/video acquisition system that includes : • N modules arranged at 360 ° around a vertical central axis of said image/video acquisition system, wherein said vertical central axis is perpendicular to a hori zontal plane of said image/video acquisition system, N being an integer greater than one ;
  • IR infrared
  • FoV Field of View
  • each module at least one respective mirror or prism associated with the respective sensor and movable , preferably rotatable , so as to increase the given FoV in azimuth of said respective sensor, so that the sensors of all modules provide, altogether , a Field of Regard ( FoR) in azimuth of 360 ° .
  • FoR Field of Regard
  • the system for detecting drones and aircraft also comprises :
  • a control system configured to move the mirrors/prisms and actuate the sensors of the various modules in a synchronised manner with each other so as to obtain, for the image/video acquisition system as a whole , said FoR in azimuth of 360 ° .
  • the present invention concerns a system for detecting drones and aircraft , designed to be installed to defend a site or mobile platform ( e . g . a land vehicle or naval unit ) against drones ( i . e . Unmanned Aerial Vehicles - UAVs ) and enemy/hostile aircraft .
  • Said system comprises an image/video acquisition system that includes :
  • N modules arranged at 360 ° around a vertical central axis of said image/video acquisition system, wherein said vertical central axis is perpendicular to a hori zontal plane of said image/video acquisition system, N being an integer greater than one ;
  • IR infrared
  • FoV Field of View
  • each module at least one respective mirror or prism associated with the respective sensor and movable , preferably rotatable , so as to increase the given FoV in azimuth of said respective sensor, so that the sensors of all modules provide, altogether, a Field of Regard ( FoR) in azimuth of 360 ° .
  • FoR Field of Regard
  • the system for detecting drones and aircraft also comprises :
  • a control system configured to move the mirrors/prisms and actuate the sensors of the various modules in a synchronised manner with each other so as to obtain, for the image/video acquisition system as a whole , said FoR in azimuth of 360 ° .
  • the respective mirror/prism is movable , preferably rotatable , so as to increase also the given FoV in elevation of the respective sensor, so that the sensors of all the modules altogether provide a predefined FoR in elevation greater than said FoV in elevation;
  • the control system is configured to move the mirrors/prisms and actuate the sensors of the various modules in a synchronised manner with each other so as to obtain, for the image/video acquisition system as a whole , also said predefined FoR in elevation .
  • the image/video acquis ition system includes a master unit and a slave unit operationally synchronised with each other, wherein said master unit and slave unit each comprise N/2 modules , and wherein N is an even integer .
  • the processing system includes neural networks trained to :
  • the processing system includes neural networks trained to detect , identi fy and classi fy drones and aircraft on the basis of the images/video streams provided by the image/video acquisition system .
  • the image/video acquisition system includes , for each module , a plurality of sensors comprising at least one infrared sensor and at least one electro-optical sensor .
  • the system according to the present invention preferably comprises a photocamera/camera that does not move via pan- and-tilt type systems , but is conveniently equipped with a set of optics arranged radially along a circumference for 360 ° coverage around the photocamera/camera .
  • the optics it is also possible to arrange the optics on several circular sectors to achieve 360 ° coverage even in the presence of observation obstructions , keeping these sectors synchronised by means of a synchronisation signal .
  • the system includes two units , a master unit and a slave unit , wherein each unit comprises a suitable number of modules to cover a 180 ° Field of Regard ( FoR) .
  • One of the two units is equipped with at least one Wide (i . e . , wide FoV) photocamera/camera placed with the optical axis vertical to the hori zon .
  • Wide i . e . , wide FoV
  • each o f these would have an FoR of 45°, which can be conveniently obtained, as described below, as the sum of the various FoVs of the mirror in the different positions assumed by the latter as a result of movement .
  • FoR FoV x numero posizioni possibili dello specchio sull'asse x .
  • each module can conveniently include:
  • Figure 1 schematically shows an example of a master unit 1 and a slave unit 2.
  • a Wide 21 sensor i.e., with wide FoV
  • a Wide 21 sensor is installed/arranged centred above one of the two system units (in Figures 2 and 3, merely by way of example, slave unit 2) with the optical axis y' that is vertical/orthogonal with respect to the horizontal plane of the system.
  • a system unit (e.g. master unit 1 or slave unit 2) comprises four (or even more) modules 31, 32, 33, 34 arranged as shown in Figure 4 so as to guarantee that each provides an azimuth coverage of 45° and thus, altogether, 180° .
  • the video streams thus generated are conveniently analysed by arti ficial intelligence (Al ) modules - preferably based on neural networks - specially developed and trained for the detection, recognition and identi fication ( DRI ) of drones and aircraft .
  • Al arti ficial intelligence
  • the neural networks preferably allow to :
  • the aforementioned architecture allows quick replacement of the sensor block and optics , facilitating maintenance tasks and improving overall performance .
  • the architecture of the shooting system has been optimised to reduce the number of sensors required, in order to achieve a cost-ef fective configuration . Better results could be obtained by narrowing the FoV, i . e . by increasing the number of chambers or transitions of the mirrors , but this could lead to an increase in the composition time of the 360 ° mosaic .
  • Figure 5 shows a master or slave 4 module equipped with 4 LWIR/SWIR or MWIR sensors 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 arranged along a semi-circle so that they each cover an angular sector in azimuth around master/ slave module 4 of 45 ° , whereby the 4 LWIR/SWIR or MWIR sensors 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 provide , altogether, a coverage in azimuth of 180 ° .
  • Figure 5 shows , for one of the sensors ( in particular sensor 41 ) , the subdivision of the relevant respective 45 ° sector into three successive 15 ° acquisitions made via an appropriate rotation of the mirrors .
  • LWIR/SWIR or MWIR sensors are conveniently connected to one or more GPUs ( Graphics Processing Units ) .
  • the modular architecture for the various shooting sectors allows both a reduction in costs and greater maintainability of the system .
  • a stepper-motor-based motorisation with a multi-axis control system slaved to the data acquisition system can be conveniently used to move the mirrors .
  • the timing of the trigger is such that it synchronises the movement of the mirrors and the acquisitions of the chosen video channels .
  • the two master and slave units are both equipped with a synchronisation component ( referred to as a Trigger in Figure 1 ) of the mirror rotation motors .
  • the synchronisation component reported in Figure 1 keeps the downtimes and the movement times of all mirrors included in the system modules synchronised .
  • the inclination of the mirrors in elevation is such that at least 5px of overlap at a distance of 1 km between two contiguous images in elevation are provided .
  • mirror rotation trigger signals for an RGB sensor and an LWIR sensor is shown in Figure 6 .
  • the system receives in input a start acquisition signal and returns images at a fixed update rate with appropriate labelling to be able to reconstruct a mosaic/panorama of images to cover 360 °x30 ° .
  • Scanning is carried out by means of two types of steps of a mirror rotation motor :
  • Each sensor is therefore used to construct an image matrix equal to m x n images in azimuth and in elevation, respectively .
  • An example of an image generation scheme based on the described architecture is shown in Figure 7 .
  • the FoV resulting from a scan is equal to 45 ° over at least 30 ° in azimuth and elevation, respectively, with a tolerance of ⁇ 1 ° both in azimuth and in elevation .
  • Each unit of fers images that can cover 180 ° over at least 30 ° of FoV .
  • Figures 8 and 9 show a master or slave unit 5 wherein an IR sensor provides coverage ( i . e . FoV) of 45 ° in azimuth ( Figure 8 - top view) and of 30 ° in elevation ( Figure 9 - side view) .
  • an IR sensor provides coverage ( i . e . FoV) of 45 ° in azimuth ( Figure 8 - top view) and of 30 ° in elevation ( Figure 9 - side view) .
  • the present invention makes it possible to improve the ability to discover, recognise and classi fy drones and aircraft over long distances , so as to aid the management of both military and civil operations , such as for example the protection of sensitive sites, like operations centres or command posts, and the protection of moving targets such as motorcades, convoys or individual vehicles.
  • the present invention defines an innovative architecture to be able to implement a photocamera/camera that makes it possible to drop the old pan-and-tilt concept, and that through a multi-optics with rotating mirrors/prisms allows a 360° view such that, through the integration of artificial intelligence modules, it is made capable of performing the detection, identification and classification of drones and aircraft with extreme accuracy, even over long distance.
  • the configuration of a camera capable of offering a 360° view through a rotating mirror multi-optics makes it possible to reduce the DRI (i.e., detection, recognition and identification) time of drones and aircraft, reducing from a technical point of view the risk of wear and tear caused by the rotation and pan-and- tilt mechanisms of the cameras in use today, and from an operational point of view, it allows the system to remain electromagnetically silent, i.e., not to emit since it has no radar by default.
  • DRI i.e., detection, recognition and identification

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
  • Control Of Position, Course, Altitude, Or Attitude Of Moving Bodies (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un système de détection de drones et d'aéronefs, conçu pour être installé afin de défendre un site ou une plateforme mobile contre des drones et des aéronefs ennemis/hostiles. Ledit système comprend un système d'acquisition d'images/vidéos qui comprend : N modules (31, 32, 33, 34) disposés à 360° autour d'un axe central vertical (y) dudit système d'acquisition d'images/vidéos, dans lequel ledit axe central vertical (y) est perpendiculaire à un plan horizontal dudit système d'acquisition d'images/vidéos, N étant un nombre entier supérieur à un ; pour chaque module (31, 32, 33, 34), au moins un capteur infrarouge ou électro-optique respectif (21, 41, 42, 43, 44, 51) ayant un champ de vision donné en azimut, c'est-à-dire parallèle au plan horizontal, et un champ de vision donné en élévation, c'est-à-dire parallèle à l'axe central vertical (y) ; pour chaque module (31, 32, 33, 34), au moins un miroir ou prisme respectif associé au capteur respectif (21, 41, 42, 43, 44, 51) et mobile, de préférence rotatif, de manière à augmenter le champ de vision donné en azimut dudit capteur respectif (21, 41, 42, 43, 44, 51), de sorte que les capteurs (21, 41, 42, 43, 44, 51) de tous les modules (31, 32, 33, 34) fournissent, au total, un champ de vision en azimut de 360°. Le système de détection de drones et d'aéronefs comprend également : un système de traitement basé sur l'intelligence artificielle et entraîné à détecter des drones et/ou des aéronefs sur la base des flux d'images/vidéos fournis par le système d'acquisition d'images/vidéos ; et un système de commande configuré pour déplacer les miroirs/prismes et actionner les capteurs (21, 41, 42, 43, 44, 51) de différents modules (31, 32, 33, 34) de manière synchronisée entre eux afin d'obtenir, pour l'ensemble du système d'acquisition d'images/vidéos, ledit champ de vision en azimut de 360°.
PCT/IB2024/059239 2023-09-21 2024-09-23 Drone innovant et système de détection d'aéronef Pending WO2025062380A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP23425050.4 2023-09-21
EP23425050 2023-09-21

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2025062380A1 true WO2025062380A1 (fr) 2025-03-27

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Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20150373262A1 (en) * 2014-06-20 2015-12-24 Qualcomm Incorporated Multi-camera system using folded optics free from parallax and tilt artifacts
US20210227105A1 (en) * 2018-06-15 2021-07-22 Safran Electronics & Defense Proximal monitoring device
WO2022172217A1 (fr) * 2021-02-11 2022-08-18 Devaki Kamalakar Système et procédé de détection et d'interception de drone indésirable

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20150373262A1 (en) * 2014-06-20 2015-12-24 Qualcomm Incorporated Multi-camera system using folded optics free from parallax and tilt artifacts
US20210227105A1 (en) * 2018-06-15 2021-07-22 Safran Electronics & Defense Proximal monitoring device
WO2022172217A1 (fr) * 2021-02-11 2022-08-18 Devaki Kamalakar Système et procédé de détection et d'interception de drone indésirable

Non-Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
JANETH ANN ET AL: "Anti-Drone System: A Visual-based Drone Detection using Neural Networks", 1 January 2020 (2020-01-01), XP093233012, Retrieved from the Internet <URL:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stampPDF/getPDF.jsp?tp=&arnumber=9289397&ref=aHR0cHM6Ly9pZWVleHBsb3JlLmllZWUub3JnL2RvY3VtZW50LzkyODkzOTc=> *
RAED ABU ZITAR ET AL: "A review of UAV Visual Detection and Tracking Methods", ARXIV.ORG, CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, 201 OLIN LIBRARY CORNELL UNIVERSITY ITHACA, NY 14853, 8 June 2023 (2023-06-08), XP091532812 *

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