New Project using Phantom 3

[dronenewbie2017]

Hi,

I am new to drones and here is what I want to do: I want to do a POC for a retail company - that a package to be connected as payload to the drone by a store employee & he/she should be able to feed in the destination address in the drone. The drone delivers the payload in the destination and returns to the store. Since its a POC, I dont care however small the payload weight is or how far the drone needs to travel (it could be half a pound and drone may need to travel less than a mile - or even lesser). Can you please guide me how to do this project with Phantom 3? Essential components could be:

1. How to key in an address (or lat/long) and have the drone run in autopilot to the destination?
2. How to drop the payload at the destination?
3. How to return to the store?

Appreciate any help

 

[anotherlab]

Starting with the obvious: For commercial use of a drone, you will need a FAA Part 107 licence. See here for more details.

With a flight time of 20-23 minutes, consumer level drones like the Phantom are not really suited for this kind of work. You can program a round trip flight with an app like Litchi, and you can add a device that will release a payload (like this one), but you would still have to press a button to release the payload. To do this autonomously, you will need an designed to do that and I don't know of any out there for a Phantom.

 

[dronenewbie2017]

Starting with the obvious: For commercial use of a drone, you will need a FAA Part 107 licence. See here for more details.

With a flight time of 20-23 minutes, consumer level drones like the Phantom are not really suited for this kind of work. You can program a round trip flight with an app like Litchi, and you can add a device that will release a payload (like this one), but you would still have to press a button to release the payload. To do this autonomously, you will need an designed to do that and I don't know of any out there for a Phantom.

Thank you very much for the info. In Litchi, shall I feed the address or Lat/Long? Can the drone , land at the customer site, release the payload(by a user button press) and fly back to the store automatically?

 

[Meta4]

1. How to key in an address (or lat/long) and have the drone run in autopilot to the destination?
2. How to drop the payload at the destination?
3. How to return to the store?

It might pay to consider a few points:
How does carrying a payload affect flight times and handling?
How are you going to deal with things like powerlines, trees and high buildings?
Not everyone lives in a single dwelling with clear space around it.
How would you deal with multiple dwellings, high-rise etc, etc?

 

[thunderbird]

You can use DJI Ground Station or Litchi for waypoint but for releasing you need to trigged LED on/off from the app

 

[With The Birds]

This seems a bit like trying to design an A380 out of reinforced concrete and discussing the colour of the hostesses uniforms. The Phantom is likely a bad choice of platform to try and do this with. Look at something like the spreading wings or matrice and explore what custom hardware you would need to design for it.

 

[solentlife]

If a Phantom could do this job safely - then Amazon and the other Co's developing gear to do it would already have them in front of Authorities for Certification ....

This arena is really in the 'dreamworld' of the Phantom.

Nigel

 

[SkyHog]

There is no need for a "proof of concept" demonstration, since Amazon has already done this with their own custom drone. They are in beta trials now with real customers in the UK. I can't imagine any retailer would have much interest in a Phantom based alternative for any serious applications at this time.

However, I do think it is an interesting question as to what other limited practical missions a Phantom could actually serve right now with payload delivery. The Phantom line is never going to compete with Amazon's capability, but are there other practical things Phantoms can do in the line of automated payload delivery? The OP has posed an interesting question.

 

[macoman]

This seems a bit like trying to design an A380 out of reinforced concrete and discussing the colour of the hostesses uniforms. The Phantom is likely a bad choice of platform to try and do this with. Look at something like the spreading wings or matrice and explore what custom hardware you would need to design for it.

Agreed with you, to do this kind of task and work you will need a customized drone and this pretty much is not going to be cheap. But apart from that, if you are going to be the pilot you need to pass the 107 test first before you can get any drone for commercial purposes.

 

[solentlife]

Blimey Amazon etc. is having enough trouble with this silly idea - last thing we want is amateurs doing it ...

Anyone remember the 'Hamburger delivery' Youtube video ... ??

Nigel

 

[anotherlab]

I am new to drones and here is what I want to do: I want to do a POC for a retail company...

You might want to look at what Amazon is doing. They have moved from a pure quad copter design to a hybrid design that uses quad motors for lift, and a rear facing propeller and rudders for directional movement and control. It's also considerably larger than a consumer/prosumer drone. And it looks for a specially designed landing mat as a target for landing,

Here is a much more entertaining version of that video with Jeremy Clarkson. And you will need that Part 107 license and should have commercial liability insurance if you are flying over any land that is not owned by your employer.

 

[Neon Euc]

Also you have to ask why a billion dollar company like Amazon still hasn't done it yet.

 

[dronenewbie2017]

You can use DJI Ground Station or Litchi for waypoint but for releasing you need to trigged LED on/off from the app

Other than apps, do I need any hardware to do waypoints(using DJI GS or Litchi)? which one is better?

 

[dronenewbie2017]

This seems a bit like trying to design an A380 out of reinforced concrete and discussing the colour of the hostesses uniforms. The Phantom is likely a bad choice of platform to try and do this with. Look at something like the spreading wings or matrice and explore what custom hardware you would need to design for it.

What are the advantages of Matrice or Inspire for this use case? (other than more payload - but for this demo, my payload weight is going to be half a pound - which I assume nothing for Phantom)

 

[solentlife]

I noted that they had a landing mat on the lawn ... now I wonder if that was 'recognisable' by the delivery aircraft ?

 

[anotherlab]

What are the advantages of Matrice or Inspire for this use case? (other than more payload - but for this demo, my payload weight is going to be half a pound - which I assume nothing for Phantom)

I've seen online posts that say a Phantom 3 can lift about 300 grams. With that extra weight, you will probably have less flying time.

 

[anotherlab]

I noted that they had a landing mat on the lawn ... now I wonder if that was 'recognisable' by the delivery aircraft ?

I would bet that the target mat would be a requirement. The video suggests that it is scanning the mat and a square of free area containing the target. If you wanted to prevent the drone from hitting a tree on the way down, that seems like a logical way of doing so.

 

[anotherlab]

Also you have to ask why a billion dollar company like Amazon still hasn't done it yet.

I think for 99% of the use cases, it's a solution in search of a problem. I would to see what Amazon thinks the cost per flight is for each delivery.

 

[SkyHog]

Also you have to ask why a billion dollar company like Amazon still hasn't done it yet.

Yes.... there are a thousand other problems to solve before this business can be successful. Most of those problems have nothing to do with getting a drone to carry a package. Autonomous airspace deconfliction, hive management and capacity, platform reliability, customer safety mechanisms, and many more problems will all have to be solved before this delivery mechanism can be implemented successfully.

 

[With The Birds]

What are the advantages of Matrice or Inspire for this use case? (other than more payload - but for this demo, my payload weight is going to be half a pound - which I assume nothing for Phantom)

Half a pound in payload weight will see a 4 and a half minute reduction in flight time on a Phantom 3 AC. Half a pound is a significant penalty for an AC that was not designed to carry additional weight, add reduced performance and increased chance of failure to the flight time reduction as real considerations.