Amazon: patents design for giant flying fleet of connected aircraft to deliver big packages
Now Amazon plans MEGADRONES: Firm patents design for giant flying
fleet of connected aircraft to deliver big packages (maybe even more than half
a mile from their depot)
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Flying in convoy would mean drones could cover longer distances
and carry heavier loads
·
The average drone can typically fly continuously for up to 30
minutes and can only transport items weighing up to 10 pounds
·
A collective aerial drone would be capable of transporting
'virtually any size, weight, or quantity of items'
PUBLISHED: 13:59
EST, 7 January 2017 | UPDATED: 13:59
EST, 7 January 2017
·
Amazon is
developing technology that will allow a flock of drones to fly in convoy,
allowing the machines to cover longer distances and carry heavier loads.
The
company has been granted the patent for a large and robust flying drone,
which is made up of several smaller drones.
The
Amazon Technologies Inc. patent says that individual modules could detach
from the collective drone body once they were no longer required, allowing them
to operate independently to deliver smaller parcels.
The
patent description explains that a collective aerial drone would be capable of
transporting 'virtually any size, weight, or quantity of items.'
The
average drone can typically fly continuously for up to 30 minutes and can only
transport items weighing up to 10 pounds. +8
Last
month the company revealed that it had made its first aircraft delivery and
claimed to have dropped off the package just 13 minutes after it was ordered.
However,
investigations later showed that the parcel, containing an Amazon Fire TV box
and a bag of popcorn, were flown from Amazon's drone testing site near
Cambridge, across one field to a farmhouse just 765 yards away.
Amazon
has spent millions of pounds developing its drone service. In July the Civil
Aviation Authority (CAA) lifted strict drone flying restrictions to enable the
company to start testing its drones.
It means
Amazon is allowed to have one pilot controlling multiple autonomous drones and
can operate a drone without a direct line of sight.
Over the
summer Amazon secretly flew its drones in a field, around five miles east of
its research and development centre in Cambridge.
It built
a wall of haybales to hide the testing area, but the drone could be spotted
when it was flying in the sky.
The
secret site also contains a blue control tower, with a five-metre tall antenna,
and a manicured landing site, the size of a football pitch to resemble a front
garden.
The area
is constantly patrolled by security men and vans, with Amazon keen to keep its
latest development to itself.
Amazon
has also applied for a patent for anti-collision avoidance systems on their
drones.
The
company has stated the drones will cruise below 400ft, carrying packages up to
5lbs and guided by GPS.
Amazon
does not require a licence for the drones but once it rolls out the service
further it will need to obtain the permission of the Civil Aviation Authority
for every delivery as all commercial drone flights must be approved by the
body.
Questions
over the safe use of drones remain, however, with a number of near-misses involving
commercial aircraft and amateur drone pilots reported this year.
Amazon
has proposed using its crafts in 'segregated blocks of airspace below 500 feet
and away from most manned aviation operations'.
The firm
also said its drones will use 'sense and avoid' technology and data will be
continuously gathered throughout the trial to make improvements, calling safety
its 'top priority'.
The
company added that the current trial was only permitted to operate during
daylight hours with low winds and good visibility, and not in rain, snow or icy
conditions.
On its
website Amazon said: 'It looks like science fiction, but it's real. One day,
seeing Prime Air vehicles will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road.'
A
spokesman for the CAA said it was 'too early' to talk about granting Amazon
exemptions for commercial flights for 'out of line of sight' flights on a
national scale.
The
spokesman added the company would likely have to get Government approval to
pursue such an extension.
Earlier
this year Amazon got British approval for three new types of tests, including
flying drones that are no longer within sight of their operators in rural and
suburban areas.
The other
two are having one person operate several highly automated drones and testing
devices to make the drones able to identify and avoid obstacles.
Similar
technology to Amazon's megadrone has been developed elsewhere, including in
Norway. +88
One
potential use for a vehicle of this sort would be to rescue someone trapped on
a roof, the team said
It contains 13 propellers and eight hexacopters powered by a total
of 48 motors that reside on a frame built from aluminum and plywood.
In
October 2015, it broke the world record by lifting a payload of 61kg(134lb
7.6oz) into the air and holding it there for 37 seconds, elevated to a height
of at least one meter at all times.
The team
behind the unmaned vehicle hope it could eventually be used to transport people
- although Norwegian authorities did not grant them permission to carry out
test flights with humans on board.
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