Page 57 - World Airnews Magazine April 2021

DRONES

Because of their compact size, the drones
being tested could land in tight places in both
urban and woodland terrain, as long as there was
a 25-foot by 25-foot open area, Rockhill said.
"We did everything from dropping off on top of
buildings to in the middle of the woods," he said.
The autonomous drones were able to fly to the
drop-off point on their own, but units will have
to become proficient at taking control of them in
case battlefield conditions change at the planned
destination, Lapinsky said.
"Whoever is receiving that thing on the ground
needs to have the ability to take control of it at
some point in time because if the situation on
the ground changes or you want to change the
drop point, the guys on the ground would be the
best poised to redirect that," he said.
Soldiers participating in Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment (AEWE) "The capability is there; we just weren't able to
2021 at Fort Benning, Georgia carry two five-gallon water cans strapped utilise it at this AEWE."
that were delivered by an autonomous quadcopter. (US Army) Article courtesy: www.military.com

DRONES

JUST ADD MORE DRONES

By Steve Bush

Georgia Institute of Technology in the US has developed a way
for drones to co-operate when carrying heavy parcels

to build and maintain several different sizes In a proof-of-concept, Rogers and
of delivery drones.” colleague Kevin Webb have an algorithm
According to the university, A central computer system monitors that controls four quadrotor drones around
controlling a group of robots connected each of the drones lifting a package, a 600mm cube payload weighing 5kg.
together to lift a package is in many ways gathering information about their location Four is not the limit, as the algorithm can
more complex than controlling a swarm of and the thrust of their motors, and issuing manage “as many vehicles as you could put
around the package”, said Rogers.
robots that fly independently. commands for navigation and delivery. Multiple drones, as well as being scalable,
“For us, the challenge is that the vehicles “The idea is to make multi-UAV allows redundancy to be added to a
are being pulled in different directions by co-operative flight easy from the user delivery system as a spare aircraft can take
what the other vehicles connected to the perspective,” said Rogers. “We take care over from a failing one – that part of the
package are doing,” said Georgia avionics of the difficult issues using the onboard control strategy is planned and not tested
researcher Jonathan Rogers. intelligence, rather than expecting a yet. Other future work includes developing
The aim is to allow one standard type human to precisely measure the package a robust disposable docking part for the
of drone to deliver packages of different weight, centre of gravity and drone relative package.
weights, co-operating with others on positions. We want to make this easy “I think the major technologies are
heavier loads. enough so that a package delivery driver already here and, given an adequate
“A delivery truck could carry a dozen could operate the system consistently.” investment, a system could be fielded
drones in the back and, depending on how A team of drones would autonomously within five years,” said Rogers . “It’s not
heavy a particular package is, it might (allowing collection as well as delivery) a technical challenge as much as it is a
use as many as six drones to carry the connect to a docking structure on the regulatory issue and a question of societal
package,” said Rogers. “That would allow package using infra-red guidance, then acceptance.”
flexibility in the weight of the packages that carry it – estimating weight by measuring Military re-supply is another potential
could be delivered and eliminate the need thrust if necessary. application. (SEE ARTICLE ABOVE) Q

World Airnews | April Extra 2021
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