DroneUp, America's leading autonomous drone delivery company, unveiled a portfolio of patented technologies to automate the process of drone delivery, which will contribute to the company goal of $7 drone deliveries. These innovations are all integrated into DroneUp’s Ecosystem, the industry's only solution that incorporates cutting-edge ground, air, and software products into a single platform that makes drone delivery scalable and economically feasible for retailers, quick service restaurants, healthcare, and other businesses.
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Exclusive Software Solution: Uncrew
Uncrew, DroneUp's innovative, proprietary software solution has been designed to transform flight autonomy and streamline drone operations. At its core, Uncrew reduces the cognitive load on pilots by automating crucial decision-making processes. Unlike traditional systems that rely on third-party software, Uncrew leverages patented technology developed entirely in-house, ensuring full control and ownership of the intellectual property.
Uncrew’s advanced onboard intelligence and seamless integration of edge and cloud services empower DroneUp’s drones to autonomously determine actions like contingency landings or returning home, allowing pilots to focus on exceptions rather than managing each flight detail. This capability is essential for managing multiple drones and enabling scalable operations. With several patents pending, Uncrew aims to redefine the future of flight autonomy, making drone operations smarter, safer, and more cost-efficient than ever.
“While many existing autonomous flight systems offered the capability of safe flight, they were not scalable and, therefore, would not contribute to improving the economics we’re seeking,” explained Vernon. “Uncrew creates an economy around the aircraft that didn't exist before, which supports DroneUp’s ambition to fly 30, 50, or even 100 drones at a time.”
Proprietary Winch Technology: Achieves Over 40,000k Cycles Without Failure
Starting in , DroneUp began evaluating over a dozen white-label winch solutions. Despite rigorous testing, none could offer the dexterity that DroneUp required. It was clear that a winch used specifically for drone delivery would need to be custom-built. Over the last two years, DroneUp’s product team has been designing a winch that would overcome the shortcomings found across the market. The process led to the manufacturing of a winch with specific capabilities, including:
The enhanced winch, exclusive to DroneUp, has been custom-designed for scalable commercial use. Withstanding over 40,000 testing cycles on a single winch without failure, it proves the durability needed for continuous use required to reduce costs. Additionally, its ability to complete deliveries in just 25 seconds enhances the overall efficiency of drone operations, and at scale provides a distinct advantage over other solutions.
"Our revolutionary winch technology is a game-changer for the drone delivery industry," said John Vernon, CTO of DroneUp. "By reducing delivery time to mere seconds, we're not only improving operational efficiency but also enhancing safety and public perception. This speed is critical and allows us to complete more deliveries in less time, directly contributing to our goal of achieving $7 drone deliveries. It's a pivotal step towards making drone delivery a practical, everyday reality for consumers."
Next-Generation Battery Design: DroneUp's Innovative Pack Configuration Leverages Cutting-Edge Cell Technology
DroneUp is currently testing a next-generation battery design that combines cutting-edge Amprius SiMaxx™ silicon anode cells with a proprietary pack configuration. This innovative approach optimizes drone flight performance and delivery range and showcases DroneUp's engineering prowess in maximizing the potential of advanced battery technology.
Key features of DroneUp's next-generation battery design include:
"Our next-generation battery pack design represents a significant leap forward in drone power systems," said Vernon. "By creating a custom configuration that maximizes the potential of Amprius' silicon anode cells, we've developed a battery solution that not only extends flight times but also enhances overall drone performance and reliability. This innovation is key to making long-distance drone deliveries a practical reality."
DroneUp's battery pack design not only improves the efficiency of its operations but also contributes to the company's commitment to sustainability. The optimized configuration ensures efficient energy use throughout the flight, reducing the overall environmental impact of drone delivery services.
As DroneUp continues to reimagine what's possible in drone delivery, this next-generation battery pack design stands as a testament to the company's commitment to innovation and its vision for the future of logistics.
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Last month, at the UK MoD’s ‘Army Warfighting Experiment’ in Portsmouth, we demonstrated a globally novel payload delivery device that offers advantages for logistics drones in the most challenging environments.
We have developed a novel concept described as an autonomous ‘air-ground payload transfer device’ to replace winches with truly disruptive capabilities for drone delivery applications. The device is called BMT SPARO and is a new type of lightweight suspended robot that descends on a line with the payload leaving the drone at height. While the drone remains in the approximate overhead, BMT SPARO has autonomous control of its descent while making horizontal adjustments for a safe, quiet delivery.
This allows the drone to remain much higher above the destination, unheard and unobtrusive at ground level, compared to when using a traditional winch.
The concept also offers improvements in safety and accessibility, especially to complex and unpredictable environments. Simon Gould, BMT Managing Director for Defence and Security UK, commented:
At BMT, we have an outstanding heritage and commitment to research and innovation that help to shape the ideas of tomorrow. This fully autonomous robotic concept is a great example of how we actively apply innovation to solve our customers’ complex problems. We are looking forward to seeing how this novel solution can help operators in a diverse range of applications and settings.
Our development partner, Dr Steve Wright from Wright Airborne Computing, commented:
During 30 years of working in aerospace, I have not seen anything like the surge in new aircraft, systems, and applications that has happened in the last five years. BMT SPARO is a perfect example of this revolution, fuelled by a happy convergence of 21st century technologies harnessed together by computers and software that engineers like me could only dream about 30 years ago.
The BMT SPARO concept was initially developed by our team (including ex-service personnel) for defence applications where drones are being trialled to resupply troops at dispersed, unpredictable, and potentially hostile locations. Still early in its development, BMT SPARO was selected by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) for the annual flagship innovation event called the ‘Army Warfighting Experiment’. The demonstration took place in Portsmouth, UK, in November with an ‘Exploitation Symposium’ planned for February .
We set about solving a fundamental problem for drone delivery caused by having to satisfy many conflicting requirements. For example, a useful payload capacity demands a large powerful drone, but smaller lighter drones are less vulnerable and better at accessing confined destinations.
Large rotors that can generate sufficient thrust to hover during payload delivery are naturally noisy, but it is better to be quiet in tactical or sensitive environments. In addition, it is safer for large drones to remain well clear of environments cluttered by buildings, trees and wires, but delivery may be needed in confined unpredictable urban spaces. A compromised drone and compromised performance is inevitable.
The ideal solution would offer the uncompromised payload capacity, range and speed of a large, powerful drone without the associated physical size, noise and risk in close proximity to people at the destination.
Replacing a traditional drone-mounted winch, our novel robotic device (patent pending) lowers both itself and the payload at the bottom end of a low-profile, weight-bearing line (exactly where precise control is needed), with just the top end of the line attached to a 3rd party drone above.
To provide autonomy, BMT SPARO has an internally powered cable drum, four small side-facing rotors, and all the necessary sensors, power, and processing. The drum rotation is controlled by an in-hub motor and brake, allowing a rapid and silent descent and ascent. The rotors do not generate lift and only operate when required to push sideways to counter the wind or move the payload horizontally.
The SPARROW concept enables the large, noisy, vulnerable drone to remain high above the complex ground environment at the destination. Just how high depends on the use case and wind strength; but safe controlled delivery is possible using this approach from 200ft in windy conditions, and 500-ft in light winds.
In comparison to using a traditional winch from a low hover, a BMT SPARO delivery offers a much smaller, quieter physical presence at the point of delivery. It also allows a safer, more precise delivery to a wider variety of locations, including confined spaces close to vertical surfaces and urban infrastructure.
Alongside drone applications in defence, the approach may also offer value to manned helicopter operations and across other domains such as maritime ship-shore deliveries, support to maintenance engineers on tall structures, emergency services, and commercial drone delivery to domestic addresses. The project is looking to partner and licence the technology to a range of leading established suppliers.
If trials continue to prove successful, we are offering an alternative vision of the future in which the environment is not filled by the buzzing of drones hovering in close proximity to people, but one where drones remain safely at height, out of sight, out of earshot and out of mind.
If you want to learn more, please visit our website Drone Winch.