Drone package deliveries are flying mail, parcels, medicine and parts in many countries. Great information on the delivery drones and projects by Zipline, Wing, Amazon and Postal companies.
This week the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted a patent to Amazon that covers “energy-efficient launch system for aerial vehicles,” meaning Amazon could be working on a way to fling your packages into the air—or space.
While at first a weird concept, it makes sense in context. This whip-like approach could shoot satellites into space as part of Amazon’s Project Kuiper low-Earth satellite constellation or Amazon drones that would zoom off to deliver packages.
Continue reading “Amazon Patents a System for Whipping Stuff Into the Air (or Space)” »
Grocery and ecommerce shopping delivered… by drone? As shoppers get more delivered, companies look to cut last mile costs. Business Insider looks at how Amazon, UPS and Domino’s are experimenting with drone delivery.
Take a look at this latest Israeli-developed counter-drone technology and watch the Drone Dome laser, dubbed Light Blade, take down a number of DJI Phantoms. The video that was uploaded to YouTube today shows a truck-mounted version of Drone Dome, a Counter-Unmanned Aerial System (C-UAS) weapon. The setup includes a search radar, drone-radio command detector, an electro-optical sensor, and a command-and-control system.
Challenges face the up-and-coming drone delivery system industry. Concepts such as ownership and data logging need to be addressed.
Drone maker Skyfront has partnered with Silvus Technologies to create a drone with a maximum flight time of five hours and an operating distance of 100km. The new long-range drone will allow operators to inspect pipelines and other assets as well as conduct long-range surveillance missions.
Your dream to get a pizza delivered by a drone or an Amazon drone knocking at the door will remain a dream as researchers have revealed that a drone delivery service is not realistic and may not be possible in densely-pulated areas.
The reason is simple: Demand for drone delivery in e-retail is high but the ability to meet that demand is very low.
For a city like New York, the optimal design for the test locations, based on all factors, is three drone facilities covering 75% of NYC area and 34% of the population.
THE US military is close to unveiling new super-powered lasers capable of zapping nukes straight out of the sky.
The 150-kilowatt weapons will be fitted to warships and are able to ‘take out’ drones, aircraft, cruise missiles and even other ships.
“The previous laser prototype was tested in the Persian Gulf three years ago aboard an amphibious the USS Ponce,” said Col Mikhail Khodarenok, former editor of the Military-Industrial Courier.
Drone startup Wingcopter, working with partners Merck and the Frankfurt University of Applied Science, has completed a first flight of a new drone delivery trial designed to show the benefits of using drones instead of trucks or other road-faring vehicles for moving small cargo between two physically separate office facilities. This first flight covered around 25 km (roughly 15.5 miles), taking a sample of pigments from one Merck lab in Gernsheim to its headquarters in Darmstadt in Germany.
This trial is significant in more ways than one: The area it covered spanned a fairly dense metropolitan area, flying over power lines, trains, roadways and more. It also did all of this without continuous line-of-sight, something that’s been required of most drone delivery trials in a commercial setting to date. The partners involved are hoping this means it can stand as a blueprint to other similar pilot projects and trials being run all over the world.
Next up, the project will continue to fly additional deliveries and then summarize their findings in a report to be delivered in March. Already, using drones instead of trucks seems to provide advantages in terms of time (saving between an hour and even a full day in some cases) and emissions, and it can cut down on the amount of empty return trips made by large, heavy gas-guzzling vehicles, as well.
