Sources specific case
Robotic Aerial Vehicle Delivery System and Method
Secure Handling of Unsupervised Package Drop Off at Smarthome
Autonomous and automatic landing system for drones
Landing Pad For Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Delivery
Machine-readable delivery platform for automated package delivery
Drone Operated Delivery Receptacle
Unattended Delivery Drop Box
System and Method for Controlling Drone Delivery or Pick up During a Delivery or Pickup Phase of Drone Operation
Delivery platform for unmanned areal vehicles
A Multi-Modality Mobility Concept for a Small Package Delivery UAV
ROBOTIC AERIAL VEHICLE DELIVERY SYSTEM AND METHOD Sisko, M. (2015). Robotic Aerial Vehicle Delivery System and Method. USA.
Summary This patent describes a platform that is placed on the roof of a building, which can receive drone deliveries. By means of an elevator, the package is then transported to a lower level, so a person can actually receive the parcel. Also, it suggests several ways of identificating the right platform/drone, such as RFID, a QR-code, and so on.
SECURE HANDLING OF UNSUPERVISED PACKAGE DROP OFF AT A SMARTHOME Fadell, A.M.; Rogers, M.L.; Matsuoka, Y.; Sloo, D.; Honjo, S.; McGaraghan, S.A.; Plitkins, M.; Veron, M.; Guenette, I. (2017). Secure Handling of Unsupervised Package Drop Off at Smarthome. USA.
Summary This patent mostly discusses a smart home, with a quite broad scope. This summary will only discuss the relevant part for this project. For the delivery of goods by any agent, this paper suggests to make a system that recognizes the delivery agent with the package, and then lets this agent into a certain part of the house to drop off the parcel, while the agent doesn’t have access to any non-authorized rooms.
Autonomous and automatic landing system for drones Garrec, P., & Cornic, P. (2012). U.S. Patent No. 8,265,808. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. https://patents.google.com/patent/US8265808B2/en
Summary This patent brings forward an automatic aircraft landing guidance system which uses an electromagnetic detecting and locating device on the ground, which uses echo to determine the drone’s distance and angular position. This information is transmitted to the drone via radiofrequencies, so the drone can land very accurately. The drone itself also provides measurements which it communicates with the ground to have maximum accuracy.
Landing Pad For Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Delivery Walsh, R., & Falesch, A. J. (2015). U.S. Patent Application No. 14/587,828. https://patents.google.com/patent/US20150183528A1/en
Summary This patent brings forward a lockable storage compartment which can be fitted into a standard window, or stand alone on a roof or a field. If its mounted in a window, the digital interface and door to the locked compartment can be on the inside, and a platform for the drone to land on can be on the outside. Interesting additional features the done can have are: drone charging station and ID verification via radio waves. Lastly, the landing pad can be configured to fold into the window when it is not used, as to reduce wind resistance.
Machine-readable delivery platform for automated package delivery Shucker, Brian Daniel, and Brandon Kyle Trew. "Machine-readable delivery platform for automated package delivery." U.S. Patent No. 9,864,967. 9 Jan. 2018. https://patents.google.com/patent/US20150175276A1/en
Summary When a customer orders something from a package delivery system a machine-readable code is generated. This generated code is then sent to the customer and the customer has to display this at the delivery location. Then the aerial delivery drone gets information about the location of delivery. When the drone arrives at the location of delivery it checks if the machine-readable code on the display is correct and drops the package there.
Drone Operated Delivery Receptacle Pleis, James. "Drone Operated Delivery Receptacle." U.S. Patent Application No. 15/289,295. https://patents.google.com/patent/US20170116568A1/en
Summary This package receiver has the shape of a small house. On the roof there are two gates, which can automatically open if the drone with the package is detected nearby. When the user wants to take the package out of the small house he can open the gates at the front side of the house to take the package.
Unattended Delivery Drop Box van Dyke. J. (2016). Unattended Delivery Drop Box. Chicago (US).
Summary This patent is about a drop box for drone deliveries functioning as a mail box or a vending machine. It has an opening to receive packages from drones or users. Users can collect their package by providing the drop box with an access code of various types. It has a user interface consisting of at least a display.
System and Method for Controlling Drone Delivery or Pick up During a Delivery or Pickup Phase of Drone Operation E. Farris, W. F. McGee. (2016). System and Method for Controlling Drone Delivery or Pick up During a Delivery or Pickup Phase of Drone Operation. (US)
Summary This patent describes a landing platform for UAV’s to land to pick up or deliver a parcel. The platform has an integrated guiding system verifying the UAV’s permission to land and guides the UAV to the platform. In addition, a method of operation is given.
Delivery platform for unmanned areal vehicles Koster, K.L. “Delivery platform for unmanned areal vehicles” U.S. Patent No. 2015/0175276 A1, Jun. 25, 2015. https://patents.google.com/patent/US20150175276
Summary The patent describes a pole where the delivery drone should deliver the packages on. The pole has a platform on top where the drone should land. Around this platform is an safety ring that protects the surrounding of the rotor blades from the drone. The platform is placed high of the ground to be sure that no pet/wild animal/children or adults can be damaged while the drone delivers a package. The package is placed inside the platform on top of the pole, this way the package is also safe from hard/weather condition and theft.
A Multi-Modality Mobility Concept for a Small Package Delivery UAV Young, L.A. “A Multi-Modality Mobility Concept for a Small Package Delivery UAV” https://vtol.org/store/product/a-multimodality-mobility-concept-for-a-small-package-delivery-uav-11868.cfm
Summary The article describes a different approach to the current delivery drone system. The approach described uses an aerial drone to deliver the packages to a central point in a neighborhood , from that point an automated vehicle delivers the drone to the destination. The concept is called the MICHAEL (Multimodal Intra-City Hauling and Aerial-Effected Logistic). The concept elaborates on one concept of an drone that converts to an driving drone on the designated landing spots in a neighborhood. The article mostly describes how the concept was made, looks into delivery time and the costs of the MICHAEL system. For us it is important to look at some considerations like the landing angle of the drone, this is important for the design of our landing platform. Furthermore, the considerations the writers took for this concept are useful. People are used to the driving vehicles in their neighborhood, adding a driving drone wouldn’t be such a problem for most people. People aren’t used to aerial drones in their neighborhood, they are more invasive than driving drones and have less danger in crashing. In the MICHAEL system the drones will only fly to one spot in the neighborhood, this way people can get used to flying patterns, which can’t be done in the current system. However, the MICHAEL system would cost more than the already existing system. In designing the landing platform/delivery spot we have to think about how we want to see the packages being delivered. Because making a pole high of the ground isn’t useful for ground delivery drones.