Sounds like the black helicopters have come for us. Oh, just another swarm of FAA-approved Amazon delivery drones
- Reference: 1598918523
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/09/01/amazon_prime_drones/
- Source link:
On Monday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave the e-commerce giant the right to carry property on drones “beyond the visual line of sight” of the operator, meaning that it is able to deliver packages under five pounds in weight to anywhere it offers the service.
Amazon is actually the third organization to receive approval following UPS and Google’s Project Wing late last year, and there are another three applicants under review, [1]according to the FAA, though Amazon is expected to be most aggressive when it comes to rolling out coverage given its sharp consumer focus.
[2]
Coming soon to a skyline near you. Click to enlarge. Source: Amazon
The web titan hasn’t give an expected launch date but its veep of its [3]“Prime Air” program , David Carbon, said it will “continue to develop and refine our technology to fully integrate delivery drones into the airspace, and work closely with the FAA and other regulators around the world to realize our vision of 30 minute delivery.”
Amazon has carried out various trials across the US, Australia, and the UK. It is expected to deploy the service proper first in suburban areas in America's Pacific Northwest, close to its home base of Seattle.
Delivery drones: Where are they when we really need them? [4]READ MORE
At the same time, another US government agency, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [5]released a report by telecoms experts identifying a specific radio spectrum range (5030-5091 MHz) for use by drones, known officially as “unmanned aircraft systems," or UASes.
“The report finds that the 5030-5091 MHz band is suitable for such operations and recommends that the commission begin a rulemaking to develop service and licensing rules enabling UAS use of that band,” the regulator noted while also warning that a second band (960-1164 MHz) could be problematic.
Um, just one thing...
While the FCC is figuring out the technical requirements, the FAA is focused on safety, and potential delivery companies are talking about how incredibly convenient drones and 30-minute deliveries will be. What has yet to be fully discussed is the irritation factor.
In one notable trial run by Google in Bonython, Australia, a suburb of Canberra, hated the drones so much that residents organized together to [6]run them out of town . While acknowledging it was very convenient to have super-fast deliveries to their homes, locals said the noise drove them, their dogs and local wildlife crazy.
Described as extremely loud, the drones operated from early morning to evening, locals complained, and could be heard from inside closed houses, even those with double-glazing. Houses are rarely designed to exclude sound from above and so residents were driven to the point of tears by the incessant whining.
Aussies complained that their quality of life was being "severely disrupted” and they were suffering "distress and sheer anger about the constant noise." They also reported a massive drop in the wildlife around the flight paths and dogs going crazy whenever a drone flew over them. Google dropped the trial in Bonython but not before opening up new trials in Australia and the US.
Fly by wire
Meanwhile, autonomous flying machines are rapidly moving toward reality with the [7]news late last week that Reliable Robotics had managed to ramp up to a full-sized plane: an unmanned four passenger Cessna 172 Skyhawk automatically taxied, took off, and landed.
And it carried out a fully automated remote landing on an even larger plane, the Cessna 208 Caravan (C208), which can carry 14 passengers. “By bringing advanced automation to aviation, we will deliver higher safety, reliability and convenience for cargo operators and eventually for passengers," said its CEO Robert Rose.
It’s amazing technology but you can’t help but wonder whether the convenience of super-fast deliveries is worth the constant noise, or what society will make of the first autonomous plane crash. ®
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[1] https://www.faa.gov/uas/advanced_operations/package_delivery_drone/
[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/08/31/amazon_drone1.jpg
[3] https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Prime-Air/b?node=8037720011
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/03/30/why_no_delivery_drones_during_coronavirus_lockdown/
[5] https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-report-supports-use-5030-5091-mhz-band-uas-operations
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2019/03/11/australia_google_drones/
[7] https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200826005221/en/Reliable-Robotics-Aviation-History-Flights-Autonomous-Passenger
[8] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Annoyingly, it's unlikely the FAA will let them more than 400' above the terrain because that would mean getting them involved in ATC operations.
However, the FAA has been working on a ID system for drones which seems to be much like the IDENT system for aircraft.
Factoid: in most of Los Angeles there are only two places you can legally fly a drone, both are for model aircraft flyers. Everywhere else you either too close to an airport or in a protected area like the beach or Santa Monica Mountains or both.
The biggest problem we have finding model flying sites is noise -- homeowners dislike even the quiet whine of electric propulsion. A secondary problem is potential fire danger. One local site was shut down after an electric plane crashed and stared a brush fire. We currently have a decent flying site only because we fly sailplanes -- non-powered, launched by winch or hand with no self-contained launch system permitted (despite it being a very popular form of flying).
Let's face it. Models and homeowners do not mix. Whatever way you want to slice or dice it what Amazon is proposing is delivery by model helicopter. This might be econoimc in the boonies but in urban areas its a guaranteed way to seriously annoy the locals, aka "the customer base". Personally, I think the best innovation that Amazon has made in its delivery system is "Prime Day", the idea that you can elect to group all those small BS orders together and have them delivered once per week. Occasionally you need something right now but for most of the time -- no, not really.
(I'm a bit surprised that there's only a couple of places left in LA where you can fly models. I'd guess that a lot of smaller stuff is being flown illegally. It miight also explain why we're graduallly picking up fliers from the area -- we're just over the line in Ventura County.)
Solution in search of a problem
Two day delivery is nice but I've never upgraded to one day or same day. Living just outside Washington DC, I get more than enough noise from the airport, the two local military bases, and the government, executive, and police helicopters.
I can imagine their potential customer - the guy who runs out of toilet paper and has to waddle to the door to pick up his drone delivery and waddle back to finish his business.
Too soon?
"what society will make of the first autonomous plane crash."
I thought Boeing already had dibs on planes that crash autonomously...
Great
I live on a flight path for a local university airport, and the slowdown in training flights has been a real blessing noise wise. We still get the occasional jet, but only a couple per day. Considering the number of Amazon deliveries and dogs in my neighborhood, drone delivery could be real fun. I can see this making me wish for the old days with training flight noise.
limited to a 5lb weight ?
so how high, and how fast are we talking ?
and what is the impact velocity of said parcel if dropped from 200 ft whilst travelling at 30 mph ?
also, as alluded to in the article, just how many drones do they plan to let loose ?
as well as times available to the drones ?
I, for one, am dead set against this, a pointless exercise in getting everyone underneath the flight path pissed off, and I live under an airport flight path, and that is bad enough, even if, on occasion, I do get to see some remarkable aircraft at, what appears to be VERY close proximity :o)
and as for the weight limit, how long before they request it goes up ? 10, 20, 30 lb's
all this will be taking away from white van man's income too I suppose ?
to me it appears to be something for somethings sake
was going to use progress, but that is one step too many for me :o)