IoT Techniques and Elements for Drone Package Delivery Networks
2.7 REGULATION
One large impediment to near-term deployment of large-scale autonomous drone delivery networks is government regulation of drones . Trust is slowly building in drone technologies ( some jurisdictions faster than others ), but in general , drone operations require a licensed pilot ( for example , with what is called “ Part 107 Certification ” in the United States ) to maintain visual line of sight with the flying drone at all times .
The United States Federal Aviation Administration regulations Part 135 has special rules for cargo delivery via drone [ 7 ]. Flight scenarios are carefully regulated , with restrictions for flying over people or critical installations , flying at night , altitude restrictions and many other rules . Obviously , if the drone ’ s mission is to deliver medical supplies to a jungle clinic or hot pizza to a college dormitory , this visual line of sight , night-time operation or flight over people restrictions are serious obstacles to high-scale deployment delivery network deployment . Fortunately , aviation regulators worldwide are currently crafting new , less restrictive rules for drones , and with their anticipated implementation in the next year or two , fully autonomous drone delivery networks should take off [ 8 ].
2.8 COST
Cost is key , with many drone delivery networks seeking to deliver a typical package for less than $ 1US [ 9 ]. As autonomous drone fleets are deployed at high scale , the cost of last-mile delivery will be a less significant portion of the total costs of logistics . Lower cost deliveries enable many innovative commercial scenarios .
All the motivations and challenges described in this section impact the drone delivery network architecture and elements described in Chapter 3 Drone Delivery Networks and Chapter 5 Drone Cargo Delivery Network Elements .
3 DRONE DELIVERY NETWORKS
Delivering packages through the air via a network of autonomous drones is a compelling alternative to traditional truck-based logistics networks . It can avoid traffic congestion , much of the greenhouse gas emission , labor shortages , cargo security concerns , and can be an order of magnitude faster than truck-based alternatives . Of course , with these advantages comes significant complexity , especially in the integration of hundreds of types of IoT sensors and actuators , a hierarchy of sophisticated computing resources , and millions of lines of software .
This section discusses several components of a complete drone delivery network , including drones with cargo management capabilities , various ground support systems for cargo loading and unloading ( including landing pads , drone docks , smart postal boxes and robotic warehouses ), other ground support systems ( including weather and air traffic sensors , wireless network base stations , security screening devices , etc .), and the multi-layer digital control structure . The drone
32 August 2023