Antenna inspection system, antenna inspection apparatus and antenna inspection method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9720405-B2
Application number	US-201314383695-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 8, 2013
Priority date	Mar 13, 2012
Publication date	Aug 1, 2017
Grant date	Aug 1, 2017

Abstract

A POL-axis driving unit, an EL-axis driving unit, a Cross-EL-axis driving unit and an AZ-axis driving unit of an antenna apparatus drive respective axis drive motors controlled by a control unit of a control apparatus, such that the antenna performs an origin detection operation for each axis. The camera control unit controls a camera so as to capture an image of the antenna at each timing before and after the origin detection for each axis. An image acquisition unit of an antenna inspection acquires image data that indicates the image of the antenna captured by the camera and makes storage unit store the image data. A comparing diagnosis unit compares image data before the origin detection for each axis with image data after the origin detection, and diagnoses whether the antenna is in a normal state.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An antenna inspection system comprising:
an antenna that includes a driving unit for driving the antenna; a camera that captures an image of the antenna;
a control apparatus that includes an antenna control unit that controls the driving unit such that the antenna performs a programmed operation, and
a camera control unit that controls the camera so as to capture an image of the antenna at each timing before a start and after an end of the programmed operation; and
an antenna inspection apparatus that includes an image acquisition unit that acquires image data of the antenna that is captured by the camera,
a storage unit that stores the image data of the antenna acquired by the image acquisition unit, and
a comparing diagnosis unit that compares image data of the antenna before the start of the programmed operation with image data of the antenna after the end of the programmed operation, and diagnoses whether or not the drive unit of the antenna is in a normal state, the normal state detected when the compared image data is different.

2. The antenna inspection system according to claim 1 , wherein
the driving unit drive the antenna around a predetermined axis, and
the programmed operation is an origin detection operation for detecting a zero point of the predetermined axis.

3. The antenna inspection system according to claim 2 , wherein
the storage unit stores normal image data that indicates an image of the antenna that is in a normal state and is in such an attitude that all of the predetermined axes are on the zero point; and
the comparing diagnosis unit further compares the normal image data with image data of the antenna after the end of the origin detection operation for all of the predetermined axes, and diagnoses whether or not the antenna is in a normal state.

4. The antenna inspection system according to claim 1 , wherein the camera is mounted on inside of a dome that covers the antenna or a base that supports the antenna.

5. The antenna inspection system according to claim 1 , further comprising an outputting unit that outputs inspection result data that indicates diagnostic results of the comparing diagnosis unit.

6. The antenna inspection system according to claim 1 , further comprising a worker's terminal that connects with the antenna inspection apparatus via a network.

7. An antenna inspection apparatus comprising:
an image acquisition unit that acquires image data of an antenna that is captured by a camera at each timing before a start and after an end of a programmed operation of a drive unit of the antenna;
a storage unit that stores the image data of the antenna acquired by the image acquisition unit;
a comparing diagnosis unit that compares image data of the antenna before the start of the programmed operation with image data of the antenna after the end of the programmed operation, and diagnoses whether or not the drive unit of the antenna is in a normal state, the normal state detected when the compared image data is different.

8. The antenna inspection apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein
the antenna is driven around a predetermined axis, and
the programmed operation is an origin detection operation for detecting a zero point of the predetermined axis.

9. The antenna inspection apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein
the storage unit stores normal image data that indicates an image of the antenna that is in a normal state and is in such an attitude that all of the predetermined axes are on the zero point, and
the comparing diagnosis unit further compares the normal image data with image data of the antenna after the end of the origin detection for all of the predetermined axes, and diagnoses whether or not the antenna is in a normal state.

10. The antenna inspection apparatus according to claim 7 , further comprising an outputting unit that outputs inspection result data that indicates diagnostic results of the comparing diagnosis unit.

11. An antenna inspection method comprising:
an antenna control step, executed by a control apparatus, of controlling a driving unit that is included in an antenna to drive the antenna, such that the antenna performs a programmed operation;
a camera control step, executed by the control apparatus, of controlling a camera so as to capture an image of the antenna at each timing before a start and after an end of the programmed operation;
an image acquisition step, executed by an antenna inspection apparatus, of acquiring image data of the antenna captured by the camera before the start and after the end of the programmed operation;
a storing step, executed by the antenna inspection apparatus, of storing the image data of the antenna acquired in the image acquisition step; and
a comparing diagnosis step, executed by the antenna inspection apparatus, of comparing image data of the antenna before the start of the programmed operation with image data of the antenna after the end of the programmed operation, and diagnosing whether or not the drive unit of the antenna is in a normal state, the normal state detected when the compared image data is different.

Assignees

• Kagawa Yoshihisa
• Sato Hiroyuki
• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Kagawa Yoshihisa
• Sato Hiroyuki

Classifications

• H01Q3/08 Primary

  for varying two co-ordinates of the orientation · CPC title

• G05B19/41875 Primary

  characterised by quality surveillance of production · CPC title

• G06F18/22

  Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures · CPC title

• G05B23/0218

  characterised by the fault detection method dealing with either existing or incipient faults · CPC title

• G05B2219/31304

  Identification of workpiece and data for control, inspection, safety, calibration · CPC title