Student Projects
VE/VM450
Automatic Package delivery drone base station
Instructors: Prof. Chong Han
Team Members: Dafeng Shen, Ervin Tjitra, Jiaoyang Hu, Wenglam Cheang, Xiying He
Team Members: Dafeng Shen, Ervin Tjitra, Jiaoyang Hu, Wenglam Cheang, Xiying He
Project Video
Team Members
Team Members:
Dafeng Shen, Ervin Tjitra, Jiaoyang Hu, Wenglam Cheang, Xiying He
Instructors:
Prof. Chong Han
Project Description
Problem
With the rise of e-commerce, there is increasing demand for package delivery. Drone delivery is the future of small package delivery, as it can be automated, more cost-saving and labor-saving than delivery by human labor. This project seeks to build a drone delivery system, which includes a drone docking station where the package will be attached to the drone, a drone which can automatically take off,land, and navigate itself to destination, and an android app, which commands the base and drone.
Fig. 1 Base Station Design Diagram
Concept Generation
The drone and the base station is connected to an Android software which coordinates their position and determines the delivery trips. The software also communicates the two devices to tell when to open the lid cover of the base station and let the drone attach the package to itself. By implementing DJI’s open source SDK, the drone can navigate itself towards the shipment destination
Fig. 2 Operation Flow Chart
Design Description
The control and flying mechanism of the drone is done by an Android app implementing open-source SDK provided by Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI). The app is connected to esp8266 modules on the two Arduino boards via TCP protocol. The app then communicates with the drone to coordinate positions for landing, also to open or close the lid cover of the base station where the packages are stored, via Arduino. The status and progress of each delivery trip can be monitored and controlled on the Android app.
Fig. 3 Base Opens Lid as Drone Approaches
Fig. 4 Base Close as Drone Leaves
Control Process Description
The control system contains 3 major parts: Android app, positioning Arduino board and controller Arduino board. The app receives the drone position from positioning Arduino during takeoff or landing, and sends open/close commands to the controller Arduino. Besides, the Arduino boards have extra ports for background monitor and control.
Fig. 5 System communication structure
Validation
Validation Process:
For the time parameters, a stopwatch is used to measure the command respone, attach and detach times.
Payload capacity, flight time can be met with our use of DJI Matrice 300 RTK and require no validation.
Landing precision will be measured as average of distance from final landing point to center of base station during multiple test landins.
The station size is built according to requirement and hence satisfies it.
Validation Results:
√According to validation part, all specifications can be met.
√ Command respond <= 30s √ Attach & detach <= 30s & 10s √ Payload <= 2.5kg √Precise landing radius <= 15cm √ Station size <= 1.54x1.54x1.0m • Flight time <= 30 minutes √ means having been verified and · means to be determined.[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row use_custom_gutter="on" _builder_version="4.4.9" width_tablet="" width_phone="90%" width_last_edited="on|phone" custom_margin="20px||||false|false" custom_padding="0px||2px|||" locked="off"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.4.9"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.4.9" text_line_height="1.4em" custom_margin="19px|-18px||||" custom_padding="0px|10px|4px|10px|false|false" custom_padding_tablet="" custom_padding_phone="" custom_padding_last_edited="on|desktop" border_color_all="#5a7085" locked="off"]
For the time parameters, a stopwatch is used to measure the command respone, attach and detach times.
Payload capacity, flight time can be met with our use of DJI Matrice 300 RTK and require no validation.
Landing precision will be measured as average of distance from final landing point to center of base station during multiple test landins.
The station size is built according to requirement and hence satisfies it.
Validation Results:
√According to validation part, all specifications can be met.
√ Command respond <= 30s √ Attach & detach <= 30s & 10s √ Payload <= 2.5kg √Precise landing radius <= 15cm √ Station size <= 1.54x1.54x1.0m • Flight time <= 30 minutes √ means having been verified and · means to be determined.[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row use_custom_gutter="on" _builder_version="4.4.9" width_tablet="" width_phone="90%" width_last_edited="on|phone" custom_margin="20px||||false|false" custom_padding="0px||2px|||" locked="off"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.4.9"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.4.9" text_line_height="1.4em" custom_margin="19px|-18px||||" custom_padding="0px|10px|4px|10px|false|false" custom_padding_tablet="" custom_padding_phone="" custom_padding_last_edited="on|desktop" border_color_all="#5a7085" locked="off"]
Conclusion
Automatic drone delivery can help a lot in the package shipment industry, specifically in the last step of the process which is manual delivering from door to door. By implementing this method, not only it saves time and labor, the cost of delivery also goes down a lot. Each individual delivery is automated, with high precision and efficiency.
Acknowledgement
Sponsor: Mr. Jianrong Xiao from UM-SJTU Joint Institute
Prof. Han Chong and Prof. Jigang Wu from UM-SJTU Joint Institute
Prof. Han Chong and Prof. Jigang Wu from UM-SJTU Joint Institute
Reference
UM-SJTU JOINT INSTITUTE