DHL Parcelcopter – The first drone for delivering goods

There has been a lot of discussion about the Amazon drone lately, but now it is the logistics service provider DHL that is launching a pilot project to transport goods by drone. Initially for research purposes, medicines are being flown to a pharmacy on the island of Juist as part of a trial project lasting several months. For the first and only time in Europe, it is now possible to operate and test an unmanned aircraft under real conditions without direct visual contact of a pilot.

The so-called DHL parcel copter is a drone developed jointly by the Institute for Flight System Dynamics at RWTH Aachen University and the company Microdrones . One of RWTH Aachen's specialist areas is research into the safe and robust operation of unmanned aircraft for a wide range of tasks under difficult environmental and weather conditions. Microdrones GmbH from Siegen is one of the leading providers of autonomously flying helicopters and developed the package copter based on its own aircraft that have already been implemented.

The system used for DHL is a so-called quadrocopter, which operates with four rotors arranged on one level. Its total weight is under five kilos. For the payload weighing up to 1.2 kilos, a lightweight, teardrop-shaped, weatherproof and waterproof container was developed, which is attached under the carbon fiber chassis of the parcel copter.

For now, operations will be carried out on all days of the week. The focus is on times when there are no alternative connections to the island by plane or ferry.

There the landing takes place on a take-off and landing area specially designed for the copter, from where the goods are delivered to the recipient by the DHL delivery person.

To ensure that the aircraft moves safely through the air and always lands precisely, an autopilot with an automatic take-off and landing function was developed that works robustly and reliably. The device is supported by the latest generation of GPS technology.

The helicopter was subjected to extensive testing beforehand. Since the parcel copter's maiden flight in December, the device has been continuously developed and optimized in terms of robustness, range and speed. Given the special climatic challenges on the North Sea coast, the aircraft's resistance to rain, snow and dust was an important prerequisite for air traffic control to approve test operations. The technical innovations of the small helicopter include extended flight capability and greater range. Only this made it possible to cover the approximately 12 kilometer long route from the Lower Saxony port city of Norden to the island of Juist. The parcel copter will fly at a height of around 50 meters and, depending on wind conditions, will travel at a speed of up to 18 meters per second. The maximum flight time of the parcel copter is given as 45 minutes. The flight is completely autonomous for the first time; Controlling intervention by a pilot is therefore not necessary at any time. However, for safety reasons, the flight of the parcel copter will be permanently monitored by a mobile ground station in Norddeich during the test phase in order to be able to provide immediate support in the event of any disruptions occurring.

This field test, the first in the world, will be carried out until the end of the year. “Our DHL Parcelcopter 2.0 is already one of the safest and most reliable flight systems in its class, meeting the requirements for such an application. For the first time, with the DHL parcel copter, an unmanned aircraft is allowed to carry out a transport task in the real world outside of the pilot's line of sight,” emphasized Jürgen Gerdes, board member responsible for technical innovation at DHL.

There are currently no concrete operational plans for the parcel copter that go beyond the test operation. According to DHL, if it is technically feasible and makes economic sense, it is conceivable in the future that drones could be used to deliver particularly urgent goods in sparsely populated or difficult-to-reach areas, as well as for emergency care.

But regardless of whether and when the starting signal for the operation is given, with the test operation alone, DHL has managed to bring the topic of drones in the logistics sector back into the focus of public interest. And that with realistic operation long before Amazon even launched its much-discussed project.