FACILITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM USING INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT) BASED SENSOR AND UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (UAV), AND METHOD FOR THE SAME

• US 20180151045A1
• Filed: 12/14/2016
• Published: 05/31/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology
• Original Assignee: Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology
• Inventors: KIM, Hyeong Yeol, PARK, Jong Sup
• Granted Patent: US 10,643,444 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/13 Flying platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/31 for surveillance
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/10 autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS]
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/20 Remote controls
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 50/13 using external fans or propellers
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0038 by providing the operator with simple or augmented images from one or more cameras located onboard the vehicle, e.g. tele-operation images analyzed by a computer and used for automatic navigation G05D1/0246
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0094 involving pointing a payload, e.g. camera, weapon, sensor, towards a fixed or moving target
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/163 Real estate management
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1965 the vehicle being an aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/02 Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/66 Remote control of cameras or camera parts, e.g. by remote control devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet

Abstract

Provided are a facility management system and method using an Internet of things (IoT) based sensor and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The facility management system and method may determine a current status and an abnormal behavior of a facility by primarily measuring the abnormal behavior of the facility in real time by a plurality of IoT based sensors included in the facility and secondarily precisely measuring the abnormal behavior of the facility by capturing an image through a UAV when necessary or when the abnormal behavior is detected, and may prevent a false alarm due to an error of a measurement sensor by performing two inspections through the IoT based sensor unit and the UAV.

Claims

1. A facility management system using an Internet of things (IoT) based sensor and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the facility management system comprising:

at least one IoT based sensor unit installed in a facility requiring management and safety inspection and configured to measure an abnormal behavior of the facility;

a measurement result analysis and action terminal connected to the IoT based sensor unit over an IoT communication network and configured to collect and analyze a signal measured by the IoT based sensor unit, determine whether the facility has an abnormal behavior, and take an action corresponding to the determination;

a UAV configured to fly close to the facility and capture an image of the facility to determine whether the facility is abnormal; and

a UAV flying control terminal configured to remotely control calling, returning, flight, charging, facility recognition, and image capturing of the UAV in response to the action of the measurement result analysis and action terminal, wherein

when the abnormal behavior of the facility is primarily measured by the IoT based sensor unit, the abnormal behavior of the facility is secondarily precisely measured by the UAV capturing an image to determine whether the facility is abnormal.

2. The facility management system of claim 1, wherein when the IoT based sensor unit installed in the facility generates an abnormal signal and the UAV flying control terminal provides a calling command to the UAV, the UAV approaches the IoT based sensor unit by automatic navigation through a recognition tag including an identification number, GPS coordinates, or a QR code of the IoT based sensor unit.

3. The facility management system of claim 1, further comprising a UAV station having a charging device for charging a battery of the UAV and configured to house the UAV.

4. The facility management system of claim 1, wherein the IoT based sensor unit includes at least one measurement sensor, a power supply device, and an IoT network communication device, the IoT based sensor unit has a unique identification number assigned thereto and a recognition tag including an identification number, GPS coordinates, or a QR code attached thereto, and the IoT based sensor unit generates a location signal as necessary.

5. The facility management system of claim 4, wherein when it is predicted that there will be abnormality corresponding to a collapse, fire, or accident of the facility through a lack of response, a power-off, etc. of the measurement sensor in the IoT based sensor unit, an adjacent IoT based sensor unit detects the abnormality and immediately restricts access to the facility and calls the UAV and a manager.

6. The facility management system of claim 1, wherein the measurement result analysis and action terminal determines whether the facility is abnormal by comparing a measurement result transmitted from the IoT based sensor unit with a predetermined threshold value as well as an initial value or by recognizing a change in an image.

7. The facility management system of claim 1, wherein the measurement result analysis and action terminal determines whether the facility has the abnormal behavior, notifies a manager about an action when the action is needed to immediately stop using the facility, and automatically takes the action needed to stop using the facility when the manager cannot respond immediately.

8. The facility management system of claim 1, wherein the measurement result analysis and action terminal notifies an active management system for maintaining the facility about a result of the measurement in order to enable the active management system to perform a subsequent action.

9. The facility management system of claim 1, wherein the facility includes a building, a dam, a bridge, a harbor, a railway facility, an underground facility, a slope, a tunnel, or a lifeline facility.

10. The facility management system of claim 1, wherein the UAV comprises:

a camera rotatably mounted in the UAV and configured to capture an abnormal behavior portion of the facility;

a wireless communication module configured to receive a remote control signal from the UAV flying control terminal and send an image signal captured by the camera to the measurement result analysis and action terminal;

a flying unit configured to operate the UAV to fly according to the remote control signal transmitted by the UAV flying control terminal;

a controller configured to control the flying unit according to the remote control signal received through the wireless communication module, control operation of the camera, and control transmission of data captured by the camera to the measurement result analysis and action terminal through the wireless communication module;

a memory configured to store the data captured by the camera; and

a battery configured to supply power to the wireless communication module, the controller, the memory, the flying unit, and the camera.

11. The facility management system of claim 10, wherein the UAV further comprises a distance measuring unit mounted in the UAV and configured to measure a distance between the camera and the facility, and the distance measuring unit is a laser or ultrasonic transceiver and is configured to measure a distance between the camera and a surface of the facility.

12. A facility management method using an Internet of things (IoT) based sensor and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the facility management method comprising:

a) measuring, by an IoT based sensor installed in the facility, an abnormal behavior of a facility and transmitting the abnormal behavior through an IoT communication network;

b) analyzing, by a measurement result analysis and action terminal, the abnormal behavior of the facility according to the measured value transmitted from the IoT based sensor unit;

c) determining, by the measurement result analysis and action terminal, whether precise inspection of the facility is necessary;

d) remotely controlling a UAV housed in a UAV station by using a UAV flying control terminal when precise inspection is necessary;

e) automatically flying the UAV close to the IoT based sensor unit included in the facility that requires precise inspection;

f) remotely controlling a camera installed in the UAV to capture an abnormal behavior portion of the facility; and

g) ordering, by the measurement result analysis and action terminal, precise analysis and subsequent actions according to data obtained by capturing the facility, wherein,

in step a), when the abnormal behavior of the facility is primarily measured by the IoT based sensor unit, the abnormal behavior of the facility is secondarily precisely measured by the UAV capturing an image to determine whether the facility is abnormal.

13. The facility management method of claim 12, wherein when the IoT based sensor unit installed in the facility generates an abnormal signal and the UAV flying control terminal provides a calling command to the UAV, the UAV approaches the IoT based sensor unit by automatic navigation through a recognition tag including an identification number, GPS coordinates, or a QR code of the IoT based sensor unit.

14. The facility management method of claim 12, wherein, in step b), the measurement result analysis and action terminal notifies an active management system for maintaining the facility about a result of the measurement in order to enable the active management system to perform a subsequent action.

15. The facility management method of claim 12, wherein the facility includes a building, a dam, a bridge, a harbor, a railway facility, an underground facility, a slope, a tunnel, or a lifeline facility.

16. The facility management method of claim 12, wherein, in step a), the IoT based sensor unit includes at least one measurement sensor, a power supply device, and an IoT network communication device, the IoT based sensor unit has a unique identification number assigned thereto and a recognition tag including an identification number, GPS coordinates, or a QR code attached thereto, and the IoT based sensor unit generates a location signal as necessary.

17. The facility management method of claim 12, wherein, in step g), the measurement result analysis and action terminal determines whether the facility has the abnormal behavior, notifies a manager about an action when the action is needed to immediately stop using the facility, and automatically takes the action needed to stop using the facility when the manager cannot respond immediately.