DHL Parcelcopter – The first drone for delivering goods

Published on: October 2, 2014 / Updated on: November 25, 2018 – Author: Konrad Wolfenstein

Parcel copter in action / Photo © DHL

There has been much discussion recently about Amazon's drone, but now it's the logistics provider DHL that is launching a pilot project for transporting goods by drone. Initially for research purposes, a multi-month trial will see pharmaceuticals flown to a pharmacy on the island of Juist. This marks the first and only time in Europe that an unmanned aerial vehicle can be operated and tested under real-world conditions without direct visual contact from a pilot.

The so-called DHL parcelcopter is a drone jointly developed by the Institute of Flight System Dynamics at RWTH Aachen University and the company Microdrones . RWTH Aachen University specializes in research on the safe and robust operation of unmanned aerial vehicles for a wide variety of tasks under challenging environmental and weather conditions. Microdrones GmbH, based in Siegen, is a leading provider of autonomously flying helicopters and developed the parcelcopter based on its own existing aircraft.

The system used by DHL is a so-called quadcopter, which operates with four rotors arranged on a single plane. Its total weight is less than five kilograms. A lightweight, teardrop-shaped, weatherproof and waterproof container was developed for the payload of up to 1.2 kilograms; this container is attached to the carbon fiber chassis of the parcelcopter.

Transport container / Photo © DHL

For the time being, the service will operate every day of the week. The focus will be on times when no alternative connections to the island by plane or ferry are available.

The drone lands on a specially designated take-off and landing area, from where the goods are delivered to the recipient by the DHL delivery driver.

To ensure the aircraft moves safely through the air and always lands with pinpoint accuracy, a robust and reliable autopilot with automatic takeoff and landing function was developed. This is supported by the latest generation of GPS technology.

Parcel and helicopter at launch site / Photo © DHL

The helicopter underwent extensive testing beforehand. Since its maiden flight in December, the parcelcopter has been continuously developed and optimized in terms of robustness, range, and speed. Given the particular climatic challenges on the North Sea coast, the aircraft's resistance to rain, snow, and dust was a crucial prerequisite for air traffic control approval for the test operations. Among the small helicopter's technical innovations are its extended flight capability and greater range. This is what made it possible to cover the approximately 12-kilometer route from the Lower Saxon port city of Norden to the island of Juist. The parcelcopter will fly at an altitude of approximately 50 meters and, depending on wind conditions, will travel at speeds of up to 18 meters per second. The maximum flight time is stated as 45 minutes. For the first time, the flight will be completely autonomous; therefore, pilot intervention will not be required at any time. However, for safety reasons, the flight of the parcelcopter is constantly monitored by a mobile ground station in Norddeich during the test phase, in order to be able to intervene immediately in the event of any malfunctions.

This world-first field trial will be conducted 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, the DHL Parcelcopter allows an unmanned aerial vehicle to perform a transport task in the real world beyond the pilot's line of sight," emphasized Jürgen Gerdes, the DHL board member responsible for technical innovation.

There are currently no concrete deployment plans for the parcelcopter beyond the test phase. However, DHL states that, provided it is technically feasible and economically viable, the drones could be used in the future for delivering particularly urgent goods in sparsely populated or difficult-to-access areas, as well as for emergency supplies.

But regardless of whether and when the go-ahead is given for deployment, DHL has already succeeded in bringing the topic of drones in logistics back into the public spotlight with this test operation alone. And it did so with realistic operation, long before Amazon even launched its much-discussed project.