User:Colavid45/Delivery drone

A delivery drone is a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used to carry packages, medicines, foods, postal mails, and other light goods. Big companies like Amazon, DHL and FedEx have started to use drone delivery services. Drones were uses effectively in the fight against COVID-19, delivering millions of vaccines and medical supplies across the globe.

Delivery drones can be autonomous, semi-autonomous, or remote-controlled. The most common types of drones are terrestrial and aerial, however, they can also be aquatic.

Healthcare Delivery
Drones can be used to transport products such as blood, vaccines, pharmaceutical drugs, first aid equipment, and medical samples. Medical deliveries can navigate remote or otherwise inaccessible areas with more rapid response time in emergencies, compared to ambulances. Emergency drone deliveries also played a significant role in the responding to earthquakes in Haiti and Taiwan and various natural disasters in Nepal.

Agriculture
The prospects of delivery drone technology in farming were initially realized in Japan in 1986 to address rice shortages.

Delivery drones have multiple applications in the agriculture sector today. Uses include monitoring irrigation equipment, soil health, pest control, fertilizer spraying, and livestock harvesting.

The benefits of drones in agriculture for increasing crop yields, cutting costs, and enhancing efficiency are especially being recognized considering the growing challenges to farming posed by climate change. Although regulations and usage vary, the United States, China, France, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand are among the countries increasingly and successfully incorporating UAVs into their farming infrastructure. Regulatory and financial obstacles are attributed as reasons for limited agricultural drone use in Africa and South American regions.

Postal delivery
Drones on Orkney Islands have undergone a trial period in an attempt to serve more remote communities in the UK. The affected communities may result in decreased delivery times as current methods of delivery by ferry are commonly affected by weather.

The Greek postal service ELTA has made an agreement with drone cargo company Dronamics for the usage of drones regarding postage. The desired goal of this agreement is for same day delivery for all users as well as making postal services more accessible and at a lower price point for Greece.

Ship resupply
Skyports Drone Services has partnered with Thome Group and Wilhelmsen Ships Agency so that they can begin using drones as a method of transportation. Skyports Drone Services brings their advancements of the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) industry to decrease delivery times and environmental damages in the Maritime supply chain around Singapore.

Retail delivery
Google, Amazon, 7-Eleven and Walmart are have conducted trials using drones to deliver merchandise. Google is operating on a test basis in Australia, while Amazon, Walmart, and 7-Eleven have been piloting drone delivery programs in the United States. Such applications are expected to help decrease the environmental impact of the merchandise industry.

Military resupply
The Marine Corps has been looking into using TRUAS drones or Tactical Resupply Unmanned Aircraft Systems for basic military resupply. The drones will be able to provide a much faster resupply in more dangerous areas compared to traditional methods. The TRAUS drones planned for use by the Marine Corps will fly automatically to the programmed destination with the ability to transport 150 pounds over a range of 9 miles.

Zipline
Zipline is the world's largest drone delivery network, delivering medical supplies to hospitals through automated drones. Zipline's drones are made up of three main components, foam chassis, wings, and a battery unit. It has two motors to keep the drone flying with a cargo compartment to hold goods, until they are parachuted down to the delivery site.

As of April 2024, the company has made over 1 million deliveries to customers. Flying over 70 million autonomous commercial miles and delivering over 10 million products.

Prime Air
Amazon's intentions to launch a drone delivery service were first announced in 2013 with the announcement of their "octocopers" prototype. Deliveries are carried out within 30 minutes without human operation, using drones that carry loads of five pounds or less.

The drones are currently operate in the United States, United Kingdom, and Italy. The company plans to implement the newest model, MK30, as the sole model employed in the United States before 2025.

Wing
Such waivers and other permissions for drone use are granted by the BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) Aviation Rule Making Committee.

DJI
Being one of the largest developers of drones over the past decade DJI has started to develop the DJI M300. This drone developed further by WeRobotics and Flying Labs was being used as a pilot program to deliver medical supplies in Uganda as well as the Philippines. The drones are being used as a "last mile" delivery system for medicine with remote access. The upgrades by WeRobotics included cargo boxes and mounting mechanisms allowing the drone to have a maximum payload of between 1 to 1.5 kg. In a trial in Agusan Del Sur, Philippines between a motorcycle and a drone delivery in a 14km route performed by Pfizer showed a reduction in delivery times, while the motorcycle would deliver in 2 hours the drone reduced the trip by 7km and took just 10 minutes leading to a 92% faster delivery time.

DHL
An early pioneer in the drone delivery department partnered with UAV manufacturer Microdrones in December 2013. This pilot program took place in the City of Bonn and delivered pharmaceuticals to employees at DHL's headquarters in Germany. This project led to the DHL Parcelcopter which was tested in 2014 with a pilot project between the North Sea island of Juist and the mainland. The Parcelcopter was able to carry up to 1.2kg of medicine across the sea over a distance of about 12km in 15 to 25 minutes. This proved to DHL that drone delivery was feasible but the company ceased Parcelcopter operations in August 2021.

Technology
Autopilot

There are many sensors in the drone which are necessary for it to fly autonomously. Inertial sensors such as an accelerometer help the drone remain in flight by providing data to allow the autopilot to adjust motor speeds (multirotor configuration) or control surface deflections (fixed-wing configuration) to steer the drone. Navigation sensors such as a GPS or magnetic sensors aid the drone to fly along a specific path or to a specific waypoint by measuring the drone's location and orientation with respect to the earth. Air flow sensors allow the drone to measure the air speed, temperature, and density, and that information maintain safe control of the aircraft.

The drone may also use sensors to estimate the wind speed and direction to assist with package delivery and/or landing maneuvers. Poor performance of low cost IMU, GPS, and microcontrollers prevents the use of complex algorithms, such as ARS, or INS/GPS to estimate attitude angles, hence the cost of the complexity behind the technology usually plays a role in the effectiveness of autopilot.

Drones used in the military, also named Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), have complex layers of algorithms, allowing autopilot to navigate in stressful and hectic environments.

Motors

Delivery drones need powerful motors to keep both the drone steady along with the load. Brushless direct current (BLDC) motors have become extremely popular for its high dynamic response, high power density, high speed and efficiency, compact structure, long life, low cost, their light weight per power unit, and low maintenance requirements due to the absence of carbon brushes. Brushless DC motors are most typically used in drones because they have become cheap, lightweight, powerful, and small. The propeller blades of the drone turn at very high speeds, so the optimal material used for these rotor blades maximizes the strength to weight ratio. Some are made from carbon-fiber reinforced composites while others are made of thermoplastics because they are cheaper so the cost of replacement when the drone crashes is smaller.

Life-Span

Most modern batteries used for drones are the Lithium Polymer Batteries, also called LiPo batteries. The batteries are rechargeable and are usually recharged through Polls/Recharging Stations. In addition, drones can recharge other drones while in flight.

Scientific Research
Drone technology is continuing to advance with the different efforts of scientific research being held. The global commercial drone market was valued at about $8 billion in 2022 and is projected to hit $47 billion by 2030. Drone improvements include advances in autonomous flight, composite materials, next-generation batteries, extended flight times, and payload capacities. As technology further advances, drones will be integrated with artificial intelligence and machine learning. The future of drone delivery is promising in different applications of drone delivery.