Aerial Drone Landing Pad Registration and Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems lack a comprehensive solution for widespread aerial drone parcel delivery and standardized techniques for accurately locating aerial drone landing pads, limiting their capabilities and effectiveness in managing parcel transfers across multiple online merchants.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising geographically distributed aerial drone landing pads with control units, geolocation units, and a centralized management server that generates unique addresses for each pad, enabling data communication and registration, and includes features like machine-readable codes for drone identification and local guiding signals for navigation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If aerial drone landing pads are deployed without standardized location techniques, then deployment speed is improved, but delivery accuracy and reliability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary registration of aerial drone landing pads with the management server before actual deliveries. During registration, the geolocation unit determines and stores the precise location coordinates of each pad in advance. This preliminary action ensures that when a delivery is made, the drone can quickly navigate to the pre-registered location without requiring complex real-time location determination, thus maintaining both deployment speed and delivery accuracy.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a comprehensive system for widespread aerial drone parcel delivery is implemented, then delivery capability and versatility are improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into distinct functional modules: aerial drones with geolocation units, separate landing pads with identification features, a centralized management server for registration and coordination, and standardized communication protocols. Each module operates independently but interfaces through standard protocols, allowing the system to scale and adapt to different delivery scenarios without requiring complete system redesign, thus managing complexity while maintaining versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
The management server performs multiple functions including registering landing pads, coordinating deliveries, tracking drones, and managing communication between all system components. The geolocation units in drones serve both navigation and identification purposes. This multi-functionality reduces the number of separate systems needed, thereby reducing overall system complexity while maintaining comprehensive delivery capability across multiple merchants and locations.
3Measurement precision
If unique ADLP addresses with geolocation data are generated for each landing pad, then location accuracy is improved, but data communication and registration complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
During the registration process, the aerial drone landing pad's geolocation unit automatically determines and provides its own location coordinates to the management server without requiring manual intervention or complex configuration. The pad essentially registers itself by transmitting its pre-determined location data, which simplifies the registration process while maintaining high location accuracy. This self-service approach reduces registration complexity despite the precision requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
An aerial drone parcel delivery/transfer management system includes an aerial drone parcel delivery/transfer management server (ADPTMS) and a plurality of aerial drone landing pads (ADLPs). Each ADLP has a corresponding ADLP address with a unique ADLP identifier (e.g., a manufacturing serial number); most-recently known ADLP geolocation data (e.g., geospatial coordinates); and possibly most-recently known ADLP elevation data. The ADPTMS communicates with order management/fulfillment servers associated with online stores, which communicates with aerial drone parcel delivery/transfer services for dispatching aerial drones to particular ADLPs corresponding to particular ADLP addresses as part of online orders fulfillment. An ADLP presents a machine readable code such as a quick response (QR) code that is captured by an aerial drone and processed to verify the ADLP's identity. An ADLP can output local RF and/or optical guiding signals to aid aerial drone navigation to the ADLP.