IoT Techniques and Elements for Drone Package Delivery Networks
Taken together , these different sensing modes represent a sensor fusion system , capable of giving much more complete situational awareness for an airspace than a single sensing modality could . If a drone is detected by these sensors , but it is not registered in the flight plan database or on its planned course , it could be a rogue drone performing unauthorized missions , carrying dangerous or contraband cargo , or have a navigation malfunction , and the appropriate authorities are immediately notified to consider countermeasures against it .
5.3.3 SECURITY SCREENING DEVICES
As drone cargo delivery becomes mainstream , there are certain problems that must be avoided . Unfortunately , cargo drones in the 10 kg payload class are effective weapons and smuggling platforms , and society ’ s bad actors may exploit them . The passenger aviation network uses security screening authorities ( the Transportation Safety Administration in the USA , and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency are examples ) to run checkpoints at airports to ensure the safety of air travel .
Autonomous cargo screening of drones is possible using a device called a screening perch . Think of it as two landing pads connected by a conveyer belt located at a geofence boundary between a region of lower and higher security .
The drone lands on the low security side , is retained on the conveyer belt by mechanical or magnetic means and is passed through many scanning devices ( scales , X-Ray , Millimeter wave , explosive / narcotics sniffers , flight software validation , etc .). If the sensor readings match the type of drone and its cargo as declared on the flight plan , it continues to the opposite landing pad and is launched on its way into the more secure area . Conversely , if some abnormality or dangerous condition is detected , the conveyer belt firmly captures the suspect drone and moves it to an isolated bunker for the authorities to more closely investigate . An example of this architecture can be found in US patent 10,167,092 [ 34 ].
5.4 CONTROL / COMPUTING RESOURCES
The final important component of the end-to-end drone cargo delivery resources is a hierarchy of computational resources needed to control , manage and coordinate all elements and secure the cargo throughout the network . It includes computation and storage resources flying on the drones , in the various ground support systems , and layers of edge / cloud computers integrated in the network .
We already discussed the two layers of flying computational resources ( flight control computers and auxiliary computers ) that are responsible for the real-time operations of the drone , and the interface with all the drone-carried sensors and actuators . These computers need response times on the order of one millisecond to maintain stable control of the airframe and react in time to avoid obstacles while traveling at high speed . These computers are interconnected with ground support elements via wireless network links .
Journal of Innovation 43