Autonomous Aerial Vehicle Based Package Delivery System

Project Title

Autonomous Aerial Vehicle Based Package Delivery System

Project Area of Specialization Internet of ThingsProject Summary

This project deals with the solution of real-time problems in the field of courier service and package delivery.

In the recent era, there has been an enormous increase in online shopping, food purchasing, and eCommerce. This a result has put a load on the parcel delivery mechanism. The current parcel delivery process involves much human involvement from the source to the destination. The package is deposited at the courier center, it is then dispatched to the destination city and then delivered to the end-user. All this process takes quite a time. With the increasing population and haphazardly increasing infrastructure, it is becoming difficult day by day for the parcel delivery companies to manage the things. The reasons are the delay in locating, contacting, and delivering the item through a lot of traffic, tedious manual work, and other issues. This process can be optimized using modern tools and technologies.

The purpose of this project is to devise a robotic solution for the package delivery system using the Hexacopter drone. The drone or Hexacopter is an unmanned air vehicle that has the capability of flying from one point to the other either manually or autonomously. 

The project is based on providing a solution to the industry where drones will be used to carry packages of a certain weight limit from one point to the other. The hexacopter drone will be equipped with the flight controller, electronic speed controllers, propellors, onboard battery, and a fully functional and calibrated flight controller along with the GPS. It will have a separate container for the package placement and a controller to check the limits.

The package to be delivered will be placed inside the package compartment beneath the drone. The onboard weight limiting circuit will check the weight of the package and inform the main controller about the feasibility of carrying the package. The main controller is the raspberry PI controller that will be receiving input from the weight limiting circuit. Once the weight is under the limit, it will trigger an activating signal for the drone. 

The drone has a fully calibrated flight controller connected with the transmitter antenna and six channels of electronic speed controllers. The speed controllers are responsible for controlling the motors connected with them and moving the propellors. 

Once the drone is active and ready to take flight, the raspberry PI is fed with the GPS location of the destination, and the drone flight is initiated. The movement of the drone is monitored via live location tracking on a GPS decoder and IoT platform. For the love monitoring, the PI camera is attached to see the live streaming of the drone's motion.

Once the destination GPS coordinates are reached, the hexacopter comes to rest and the package container releases the package and flies back.

The parcel limit is kept up to 1 Kg and is capable of delivering packages such as mobile phones, food, and letters under the same weight limit.

Project Objectives

1. Design and fabrication of hexacopter prototype (Mechanical)

This is related to the development and assembly of the hexacopter mechanical structure that will have a flight controller, drone base, power module, battery, and propellers with motors and an electronic speed controller.

2. Design and Development of Flight controller for the hexacopter.

This objective is related to the tuning of the flight controller. The flight controller will be calibrated for all the mandatory hardware in the drone assembly including motors, power modules, transmitter, receiver, accelerometer, etc.

3. Design and Development of GPS-based controller.

Raspberry PI controller will be configured and set up for the GPS module that will be responsible for retrieving the current coordinates so that location of the copter can be identified.

4. Design and Development of weight limiting controller.

It will be based on developing a controller-based circuit that will check the weight of the package and alert the system if this package is feasible for delivery or not.

5- Design and Setup of the live streaming system

Using the Raspberry PI camera and the board, a live streaming setup will be made using AI that will be capturing the instantaneous live streaming of the drone movement.

6-Design and Development of Remote Monitoring end

It will be the development of IoT based channel that will be monitoring the parameters of drone live. The packaged weight, battery status, and GPS coordinates will be read and monitored live via this platform.

Project Implementation Method

To achieve the aforementioned objectives, the following methodology has been devised.

1. Phase 1: Design and fabrication of hexacopter prototype.
2. Phase 2: Design and Development of Flight controller for the hexacopter.
3. Phase 3: Design and Development of GPS-based controller.
4. Phase 4: Design and Development of weight limiting controller.
5. Phase 5: Design and setup of the live streaming system.
6. Phase 6: Design and Development of Remonitoring end.

Benefits of the Project

Drone delivery can improve logistics efficiency. The direct distance between two points is the closest. Drone delivery can save logistics costs. Drone delivery promotes the economy of underdeveloped areas.

This delivery mechanism allows Real-time tracking of the package for both merchants and customers.

 Environmentally friendly

In comparison to other delivery vehicles, drones leave a small carbon footprint.

Perishable Goods

Due to their faster delivery, drones can quickly deliver perishable foods or medical supplies efficiently.

 Traffic congestion

Drone deliveries help in combating traffic as there are fewer delivery vehicles on the road.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

Following will be the deliverables of the project.

1- Fully equipped Drone assembly comprising flight controller, electronic speed controller, power modules, GPS module, battery, AC motors, and propellors.

2. Calibrated flight controller with transmitter, accelerometer, motors, and propellers using Mission Flight Planner.

3-  A complete functional hardware for weight testing of the package that will be based on the controller.

4- A completer setup of Raspberry PI and camera for the live monitoring of the drone.

5- A monitoring channel made on Thingspeak that will be keeping an eye on the drone location and parameters such as battery, weight, and others

6- Fully working GPS module controller connected with the flight controlller and controlled by Raspberry PI.

Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemCore Industry TransportationOther Industries Food , Health , Security Core Technology Internet of Things (IoT)Other Technologies Artificial Intelligence(AI), RoboticsSustainable Development Goals Decent Work and Economic Growth, Industry, Innovation and InfrastructureRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	77850
HDMI CABLE	Equipment	2	500	1000
CHARGER	Equipment	1	600	600
16 GB SD CARD	Equipment	2	700	1400
GPS Module	Equipment	1	4500	4500
PI camera	Equipment	1	1000	1000
Propellors	Equipment	6	350	2100
Load Cell 1Kg	Equipment	1	400	400
Potentiometer	Equipment	10	30	300
Jumper wires	Equipment	2	150	300
Electronic Speed Controller	Equipment	2	1800	3600
Cable Tie	Equipment	2	25	50
Flight Controller	Equipment	1	7300	7300
Lipo Battery	Equipment	1	5800	5800
Brushless DC Motor	Equipment	2	800	1600
FLYSKY Kit	Equipment	1	10000	10000
POWER MODULE	Equipment	2	2500	5000
DOUBLE TAPE	Miscellaneous	4	100	400
Raspberry PI 4B 4GB	Equipment	1	23000	23000
ESC CONNECTOR	Equipment	1	300	300
Motor Connector	Equipment	1	200	200
PCB Printing, etching	Miscellaneous	10	50	500
Thesis Binding	Miscellaneous	5	1200	6000
Transportations	Miscellaneous	5	500	2500