Drone delivery is a small section of the drone industry. Thanks to Amazon, it is the “face” of the commercial drone market. This has gone a long way to clear out the public stigma about the drone market. On the drone topic, people tend to think of Amazon delivery, not predator drones. Kudos to you Amazon as well as other startups companies like Matternet and Zipline dropping packages in developing countries and remote areas. But while a sizeable heap of effort and expense is being chucked at airborne packages takeaways & other urgent deliveries, these companies have to contend with a shifting set of legal and practical barriers. From calculating where & when to drop packages, to preventing devices being hijacked by attackers, the course of semi-autonomous load delivery never did run smoothly.
Challenges facing Drone Delivery Systems
Like Autonomous car technology and flying taxis, the concept of having packaged takeout delivered in minutes to someone’s business or home by drone is the core zone of complexities. Grace McKenzie, director of operations and controller (Iris Automation), stated that one key restriction to economically viable drone deliveries is that the “skies are not safe enough for many drone use cases.”
Highlights of the 3 core challenges facing commercial drone delivery systems:
- Limitation for Commercial Operations- Amazon & other startups do not say how heavy a payload its new drones can grip. (Aircraft itself is 55 pounds.) But, judging by the size of the box for the commercial purpose, it won’t be able to carry anything bigger than a shoebox. This restriction is very real since even the highly sophisticated and advanced battery-powered drones presently being used for commercial can only hold a few pounds.
- Weather Impact- DHL’s demo Parcelcopter failed due to poor weather, but the technology is sound. Weather is yet another key factor that could instantly keep them grounded. Some of the factors like freezing rain, gusty winds, and others could conspire at any time to scrub a delivery. Even when the weather is perfect, there are some practical range limits due to fixed battery capacity which restrict deliveries to local distances. Delivery vehicle drivers must work in various kinds of weather.
- Drone’s Capacity- Batteries backup remain the weak zone on any electric solution (mainly new drones are electric). The size and weight, or aerodynamics, of the product being delivered, will have a huge adverse impact on its range. Even Drones do not get along with big buildings or trees so it would be complex for the aircraft to make its way to the ground. It might be necessary to change delivery packaging, to make it more aerodynamic and water-resistant & security against theft for perfect drone delivery systems.
How to Ensure Drone Delivery Failure?
Despite recent signs of improvement and progress in the USA and Australia drone delivery systems remains a long way from turning into a viable option in the majority of use cases. Plus the problem affects various areas of drone delivery usage. Solving the complexities would open up a broad range of commercial and industrial applications for drones. Far beyond delivering, drones could also be used for several kinds of aerial data gathering, from inspecting railways, power lines and hydro-electric dams to surveying crops to conduct search-and-rescue operations and fighting forest fires.
One of the innovative solutions for seamless drone’s operation flow is IoT testing. The drone delivery systems should undergo rigorous testing phases before reaching the present stage. If the makers slacked in carrying out their part of IoT test the drone delivery systems will become a dropped off before they even launched the market. Ultimately poor performance will cost the drone companies their status and reputation. This risk regarding the capability of drone delivery systems huge and the potential conflicts can be extremely dangerous.
At ImpactQA, we have the required infrastructure, testing frameworks, adept testing team, and smart testing tools, and simulators to offer the most comprehensive IoT Testing Services. Our experience in IoT app testing support real-time testing of Compatibility, IoT Security, Performance, Usability, System Scalability, Data Integrity Interoperability, and Reliability.
Do you agree that commercial drone deliveries are still a far ways off? Connect with our IoT Testing Services.
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