Method and device for locating faulty photovoltaic panel, and unmanned aerial vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11334077-B2
Application number	US-201916728235-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 27, 2019
Priority date	Sep 28, 2017
Publication date	May 17, 2022
Grant date	May 17, 2022

Abstract

A method for locating a faulty photovoltaic (PV) panel includes controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to fly and perform image capturing, obtaining image information of the PV panel captured by a camera carried by the UAV, obtaining global positioning (GPS) information of the UAV and attitude information of the camera at a shooting time when the camera captures the image information, and, in response to determining that the image information includes fault information of the PV panel, determining a position of the PV panel according to the GPS information of the UAV and the attitude information of the camera at the shooting time.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
determining a preset route including global positioning (GPS) information of position points on the preset route and attitude information of a camera corresponding to the position points, a correspondence between the GPS information and the attitude information of the camera being determined based on the position points, and the camera being carried by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV);
controlling the UAV to fly according to the preset route and perform image capturing based on the attitude information of the camera of the preset route;
obtaining image information of a plurality of photovoltaic (PV) panels, the image information corresponding to an image captured by the camera at one position point of the position points;
obtaining GPS information of the UAV at the one position point at a shooting time when the camera captures the image;
based on the obtained GPS information of the UAV at the one position point, searching attitude information of the camera matching the one position point from a database recalling the attitude information of the camera at the shooting time, wherein the recalled attitude information of the camera is used for further analysis to determine a position of a faulty PV panel; and
in response to determining that the image information includes fault information of the faulty PV panel:
determining a fault region on the image, the fault region being a region containing the fault information; and
determining the position of the faulty PV panel according to the GPS information of the UAV, the recalled attitude information of the camera at the shooting time, and the fault region.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the UAV to fly and perform image capturing includes:
sending preset route information to the UAV, the preset route information indicative of the preset route.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein:
obtaining the image information of the plurality of PV panels includes receiving, from the UAV, the image information of the plurality of PV panels; and
obtaining the GPS information of the UAV at the one position point at the shooting time and searching the attitude information of the camera matching the one position point from the database recalling the attitude information of the camera at the shooting time based on the obtained GPS information of the UAV at the one position point include:
receiving, from the UAV, the GPS information of the UAV at the one position point at the shooting time; and
searching for the attitude information of the camera matching the one position point from the database recalling the attitude information of the camera in the preset route information according to the obtained GPS information of the UAV at the one position point.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the preset route information includes the GPS information of all the position points on the preset route and the attitude information of the camera corresponding to the position points.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the preset route information includes:
first position points indicating a flight path of the UAV;
second position points indicating shooting positions, the first position points including the second position points;
GPS information of each of the first position points and each of the second position points; and
attitude information of the camera at each of the second position points.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein:
receiving the image information of the plurality of PV panels includes receiving, from the UAV, the image information of the plurality of PV panels captured at one of the second position points; and
receiving the GPS information of the UAV includes receiving the GPS information of the one of the second position points.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein:
obtaining the image information of the plurality of PV panels includes:
receiving, from the UAV, images shot by the camera at all the position points on the preset route;
performing image recognition on the received images to determine a target image that includes the image information of the plurality of PV panels; and
extracting the image information of the plurality of PV panels from the target image; and

obtaining the GPS information of the UAV at the shooting time includes obtaining the GPS information of the UAV at a time when the camera shoots the target image.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
obtaining the image information of the plurality of PV panels includes receiving, from the UAV, the image information of the plurality of PV panels; and
obtaining the GPS information of the UAV at the shooting time includes receiving, from the UAV, the GPS information of the UAV at the shooting time.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, after determining the position of the faulty PV panel:
outputting the position of the faulty PV panel.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein outputting the position of the faulty PV panel includes:
outputting the position of the faulty PV panel using voice.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein outputting the position of the faulty PV panel includes:
displaying the preset route on a human-computer interaction interface; and
marking the position of the faulty PV panel using a mark on the preset route according to the GPS information of the UAV at the shooting time.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising, after determining the position of the faulty PV panel:
establishing a relationship between the image information of the faulty PV panel and the mark corresponding to the position on the preset route.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising, after establishing the relationship:
obtaining a click signal generated when the mark is clicked on the human-computer interaction interface; and
displaying the image information associated with the mark according to the relationship and the click signal.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the image information of the plurality of PV panels captured by the camera includes:
obtaining at least one of infrared image information of the plurality of PV panels captured by an infrared camera carried by the UAV or visible image information of the plurality of PV panels captured by a visible light camera carried by the UAV.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the attitude information of the camera is determined according to at least one of attitude information of the UAV or attitude information of a gimbal mounted at the UAV and carrying the camera.

16. A method comprising:
determining a preset route including global positioning (GPS) information of position points on the preset route and attitude information of a camera corresponding to the position points, a correspondence between the GPS information and the attitude information of the camera being determined based on the position points, and the camera being carried by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV);
receiving, by the UAV, preset route information sent by a remote-control device, the preset route information indicative of the preset route;
performing, by the UAV, automatic flight according to the preset route information and performing shooting based on the attitude information of the camera of the preset route;
transmitting image information of a plurality of photovoltaic (PV) panels, the image information corresponding to an image captured by the camera at one position point, and the GPS information of the UAV at the one position point at a shooting time when the camera captures the image to the remote-control device;
based on the obtained GPS

Assignees

• Sz Dji Technology Co Ltd

Inventors

• Weng Chao
• Li Zefei
• Liu Chang
• Wang Mingxi

Classifications

• H04N7/185 Primary

  from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control · CPC title

• B64U2201/104

  using satellite radio beacon positioning systems, e.g. GPS · CPC title

• B64U2101/30

  for imaging, photography or videography · CPC title

• H04N23/57

  Mechanical or electrical details of cameras or camera modules specially adapted for being embedded in other devices · CPC title

• H04N23/54

  Mounting of pick-up tubes, electronic image sensors, deviation or focusing coils · CPC title