HardOCP News
[H] News
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There is an article at The Atlantic today detailing Google's drone delivery program. There is even a bit of test footage demonstrating a drone delivery in action.
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Inside Googles Secret Drone-Delivery Program
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xX_Jack_Carver_Xx
2[H]4U
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Wouldn't an Artillery shell with a parachute be even simpler? Anywhere in the city in 2 min of shipping is free. 
Wouldn't an Artillery shell with a parachute be even simpler? Anywhere in the city in 2 min of shipping is free.
Well, maybe an electromagnetic catapult so you could more easily adjust for varying projectile mass and more carefully control the acceleration profile.
Kalabalana
[H]ard|Gawd
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Wind currents my friend
P4B
Limp Gawd
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ok if this really starts up we need to make bets on like first to ten bad things that could happen. i'm thinking that 10 packages will be stolen before ten land in neighbors yard, stuck in tree, land on car, street, or roof. all they have to do is follow the drone and grab it after it lands
This really is potentially better.
Planes are more efficient. They can carry a larger payload, can fly faster, higher, and go out further. This makes them ideal for low density areas, like suburbs and farm fields. Less chance of it being stolen or shot down by a third party.
Multirotors require more power and adding just a few grams severely impacts their speed and flight time. They can only service an area a few kilometers wide. This means densely populated areas, likely Urban, along with high rise buildings. Humans and buildings pose real hazards especially if it flies a predictable route.
The zip line allows the plane to stay in the air and never have to land and break the fresnel zone, meaning it can stay in radio contact with the base station.
Amazons multirotor will have to land, meaning it will break the fresnel zone and lose contact with the home base. It cannot tell the base that there's someone in front of it, it cannot confirm a delivery, and it cannot even get the command to lift off.
In the event that it needs someone on the ground before it drops off the package, the plane can circle around for a couple of minutes waiting for the person to come out of the house.
A multirotor carrying a payload will fall out of the sky by then. Hovering and maintaining altitude uses more power than flying.
To give you an idea of the power requirement, my 450 quad, with no payload and carrying a 4400mah battery will last less than 10 minutes of hard FPV flying (Don't campare this to Phantom users just floating around their yard). My bixler on the other hand, will have only eaten through half a 2200mah battery in 15 minutes. I would expect the flight times to be drastically reduced for commercial applications carrying a real payload. You can add more batteries, but a multirotor will go past the power/weight ratio practicality a lot sooner if it hasn't already. They're using the same tech, same motors, the same battery, and the same electronics as ours, so a normal RC hobbyist can actually get a good idea on how it works just by observing.
Planes are more efficient. They can carry a larger payload, can fly faster, higher, and go out further. This makes them ideal for low density areas, like suburbs and farm fields. Less chance of it being stolen or shot down by a third party.
Multirotors require more power and adding just a few grams severely impacts their speed and flight time. They can only service an area a few kilometers wide. This means densely populated areas, likely Urban, along with high rise buildings. Humans and buildings pose real hazards especially if it flies a predictable route.
The zip line allows the plane to stay in the air and never have to land and break the fresnel zone, meaning it can stay in radio contact with the base station.
Amazons multirotor will have to land, meaning it will break the fresnel zone and lose contact with the home base. It cannot tell the base that there's someone in front of it, it cannot confirm a delivery, and it cannot even get the command to lift off.
In the event that it needs someone on the ground before it drops off the package, the plane can circle around for a couple of minutes waiting for the person to come out of the house.
A multirotor carrying a payload will fall out of the sky by then. Hovering and maintaining altitude uses more power than flying.
To give you an idea of the power requirement, my 450 quad, with no payload and carrying a 4400mah battery will last less than 10 minutes of hard FPV flying (Don't campare this to Phantom users just floating around their yard). My bixler on the other hand, will have only eaten through half a 2200mah battery in 15 minutes. I would expect the flight times to be drastically reduced for commercial applications carrying a real payload. You can add more batteries, but a multirotor will go past the power/weight ratio practicality a lot sooner if it hasn't already. They're using the same tech, same motors, the same battery, and the same electronics as ours, so a normal RC hobbyist can actually get a good idea on how it works just by observing.
Electromagnets suck at controlled acceleration, that's why aircraft carriers still use steam catapults.
And they may end up using a catapult mechanism, as the plain returning to base could land on one for wireless charging and loading, and when charged and loaded with its cargo be slingshot up to save on battery. Hell, I'd just use rubber tubing and a channel.
Zip line is pretty smart, I hadn't thought of that.