/PRZWT/SHENZHEN, April 25, 2024 - At the drone take-off and landing yard of the central blood station in Bao'an District, Shenzhen, a Fengyi drone ground crew in black overalls is fixing the material frame for holding the incubator courier to the drone, checking the equipment and waiting for the take-off order.
This is the 150th pilot test of the Fengyi drone docking with the Fengchao express cabinet. The test flight mission was carried out by a Fengyi Ark 40 logistics drone. The drone uses an eight-axis design and can carry 10 kilograms of cargo at a single time. The average flight speed is up to 50 kilometers per hour, the maximum flight speed is 14 meters per second, and it can fly up to 20 kilometers on a single charge.
"Ready, ready to take off!" The ground crew spoke to the captain at the end point of the mobile phone. He said that before the drone takes off, it needs to do a series of checks on the status of the equipment, equipment information, battery serial number and other information.
In the drone operation center of the blood bank not far away, the four captains are commanding and dispatching in front of the computer. Among them is a cloud ground station operation platform specially designed to test the connection of Fengchao cabinets.
On the screen, the left side shows that the flight mission is "Shenzhen - Fengchao - Fengchao Cabinet to Blood Station (ARK40) ", and the drone coded "5016" is in the "powered on" state. The middle column box shows the status of the "5016" drone, including equipment information, fault information, battery information, range information, etc., and details the real-time status of more than 20 indicators such as flight mode, mission mode, aircraft mode, indicated airspeed, ground speed, vertical speed, longitude and latitude, altitude, roll angle, and pitch angle. On the right is a satellite map, which shows the drone's location, route, elevation and other information in real time.
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When the drone is ready, a green button on the ground station's operating platform screen lights up - "One-click takeoff".
"5016, take off now!" The captain pressed the take-off button on the computer as he issued a take-off reminder to the ground crew.
The wind rose, and there was a buzzing sound. The high-speed propeller drove the courier to take off. After rising to an altitude of about 80 meters, it flew to the test destination 200 meters away.
More than 30 seconds later, the drone appeared in the sky above the blood station compound. Below was a set of bright green Fengchao express cabinets. After automatically sensing the Fengyi drone, the two covers of the top cover slid open from the middle to both sides.
The top of the courier cabinet is printed with a code that can be recognized by the drone. After the drone automatically recognizes the code in the sky, the Fengchao cabinet releases the landing command to the drone. The drone that hovers in the sky will land accurately with RTK according to the preliminary positioning. After 20 seconds, it will land steadily on the top of the Fengchao cabinet.
Then perform secondary positioning calibration. The top device of Fengchao cabinet helps the drone move directly above the express delivery port. After precise parking, the receiving device in the express cabinet automatically rises and performs throwing operation. Then automatic sorting is completed in the cabinet and the courier is moved to the corresponding warehouse location.
After the courier is properly delivered in the internal warehouse, the positioning device that clamps the drone is automatically released. After giving feedback to the Fengyi drone operation end to send back a message that it can take off, the "one-click take-off" button lights up again, and then the captain performs take-off instructions and operations. The drone returns to the take-off and landing point, and the top cover of Fengchao is closed to complete a connection task.
"Pickup code: 046368. Courier status: delivered. Pickup address: Bao'an Blood Station drone connection cabinet, Fengchao unmanned connection cabinet..." As the drone took off, the recipient received such a text message notification on his mobile phone.
The interviewer followed the recipient to the Fengchao cabinet. There were two options: "Pick up the courier" and "Send the courier" on the screen. The user clicked "Pick up the courier" and entered the pickup code. The screen displayed "The package is being taken out, please wait", which was automatically recognized and picked up by the internal sorting system. After a moment, the "Pickup/Delivery Port" at the bottom of the screen automatically opened, and the corresponding courier was pushed out. After the user picks up the parcel, click "Pickup Complete" on the screen, the pickup port is reset, and a complete open space unmanned delivery test operation is completed.
"A test process takes about two minutes. It mainly tests stability, such as takeoff, landing, docking, connection, etc. The data is copied and compared one by one through the data feedback between the drone and the Fengchao cabinet, and zero error is pursued." Fengyi drone captain Li Zhengdao told the interviewers that the test time is generally in the morning and evening, avoiding the operation hours of the regular drone business of the blood station.
"This drone connection cabinet was launched in October last year. With the drone, it can achieve 24-hour automated delivery, effectively improving delivery efficiency and reducing labor costs. This also represents that Fengchao's practice of unmanned delivery has begun to expand from the road to the sky." At the blood station drone test site, Xiong Guanghui, Fengchao's unmanned delivery project owner, introduced.
In 2021, Fengchao began its exploration in the field of unmanned distribution, and the unmanned vehicle products jointly created with SF Express provided delivery services for teachers and students in the university scene. In 2022, Fengchao cooperated with the Department of Electronic Engineering of Tsinghua University to release a delivery robot to realize the precise delivery of express packages from cabinet to car and from car to person "last mile". In 2023, the "express cabinet + drone" model was innovatively launched. From self-developed equipment such as Fengchao cabinets, building indoor distribution robots, unmanned vehicles, and IoT hardware, to the software development of unmanned distribution operation management platform, a complete and efficient unmanned distribution solution was built.
In Xiong Guanghui's opinion, the birth of the "drone + Fengchao Cabinet" distribution solution is due to the guidance and support of policies and the growing demand for unmanned distribution in the market. In February 2022, the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued the "14th Five-Year" Aviation Logistics Development Special Project Plan, which gave instructions for the development of the low-altitude economy. The rapid development of the express delivery industry has also provided a strong market demand for the unmanned distribution industry. In addition, with the continuous upgrading of unmanned driving, Internet of Things, big data analytics and other technologies, unmanned distribution projects have been catalyzed for commercial implementation. Fengyi has accumulated experience in drone flight, and Fengchao has more experience in express delivery at the end. The two companies hit it off and gave play to their respective advantages to open up the link from air logistics to end distribution, and together create a new format of low-altitude economic logistics, which has become an important part of SF Express's "dry end" unmanned distribution system.
"After testing, compared to the traditional ground transportation method from the transfer center to the end of the outlet, the drone connection saves labor costs, greatly improves the timeliness, and saves about 60% of the time." Xiong Guanghui said that at present, the scenario of drone connection with the express cabinet is mainly used in ToB scenarios, such as hospitals, express terminal connection, etc. It has been tested in Bao'an Blood Station, Shiyan, and Xin'an Pilots.
At the drone distribution command site of Bao'an Blood Station, Xiong Guanghui introduced that there are three express logistics transportation requirements for this application scenario: transporting the blood from the blood station to various hospitals, the hospital receiving the blood sending the receipt back to the blood station, and quickly sending and receiving air parcels with high timeliness requirements. Focusing on these demand points, at the beginning of this year, Fengyi and Fengchao started a pilot operation at the blood station, and the connection between the drone and the express cabinet was tested and debugged several times in stages.
At the test site, the interviewers found that the Fengchao express cabinet connected to the drone is different from the common Fengchao express cabinet on the market. In terms of hardware, the cabinet is wider and taller, and there is only one shipping port, which realizes fully automatic access. It supports a variety of drone models in function, supports the temporary storage and circulation of a variety of goods, and has a total of 19 cargo container positions, which can run 24 hours a day. It also has functions such as ultra-high detection of cargo boxes, overweight detection of packages, and automatic flow of package information.
"Fengchao's drone connection cabinet applies a number of key technologies such as drone docking correction system, automatic sorting system, cloud control system, etc., so that the drone can automatically identify, accurately land and pick up and drop goods during flight, and realize automated cargo delivery. At the same time, the drone connection cabinet needs to be connected to the logistics network and the existing express distribution system to ensure seamless delivery and pickup of express delivery, which requires complex data transmission and logistics system integration." Xiong Guanghui revealed that Fengchao has developed an unmanned distribution operation system platform, and express logistics, drones, express cabinets, unmanned vehicles and other systems can be connected to it for collaborative application.
On the system interface of the Fengchao unmanned distribution operation platform, the interviewer saw that the menu bars such as connection cabinet management, connection cabinet order, drone management, and flight mission details are readily available. In addition to the access status of the order, the time of entry into the cabinet and other information, the corresponding flight mission ID, cabinet code, and warehouse code of each order number are also clearly indicated.
"The system shows that the pilot of Bao'an Blood Station has been tested many times. After the test is completed, it can be connected to the business of transporting blood receipts." Xiong Guanghui introduced that the business of delivering receipts to blood stations is currently being tested. In April and May, the blood sending business will be tested at the blood station, and the two-way receipt and delivery application of "drone + Fengchao Cabinet" will be opened.
Fengchao's exploration of unmanned delivery does not stop there. "Take the hospital scenario as an example, the drone is connected to the courier cabinet, the courier cabinet is connected to the unmanned vehicle, and the unmanned vehicle directly completes the delivery with the staff in the hospital blood bank, creating a full-chain unmanned delivery service scenario. Behind the scenes, we can complete the command and dispatch on a unified remote monitoring platform." Xiong Guanghui said that this scenario is already being planned. In the whole chain, the intelligent courier cabinet has become a key node to solve problems such as waiting time, personnel operation, and reserved space.
"Building an unmanned distribution system with integrated open space and full automation is our goal, and it is also an important part of future urban infrastructure." Xiong Guanghui said that achieving this goal is not easy. After the drone docking express cabinet is mature and operated, how can the express cabinet automatically connect with the unmanned vehicle? How can the outdoor unmanned vehicle automatically connect with the indoor building distribution robot? How can the product cost of the drone docking cabinet be further reduced... These are all problems that need to be solved step by step in the future.
"We are currently in the exploratory stage, polishing the product, testing the performance, and replicating it very quickly after the pilot runs. It is expected that we will build a number of unmanned delivery models of'drone + Fengchao Cabinet 'this year." Xiong Guanghui said confidently.
