The Spanish postal services begin experimenting with 5G drone deliveries

The pilot project will try to deliver parcels virtually anywhere in the cities, even hard-to-reach spots without an address

A collaborative pilot project between Correos (The Spanish state postal services) and Telefónica, one of the major telecom providers in the country, will test the usage of 5G-connected drones to deliver parcels to virtually any urban environment.

The initiative, also supported by tech companies such as Ericsson and Gradiant, will fly drones to locations that are hard to reach and where successful delivery will depend on the correct identification of geolocation.

Innovative uses of drone deliveries

One of the use cases implemented within the pilot is the coordination of traffic between two drones. One drone intercepts the path of the other, detecting a risk of collision, so it stops to give way and then each one continues on its route.

Another use consists of a ground-connected beacon that marks a restricted access zone and constantly reports its location. The drone, upon entering that area in its trajectory, detects that it is restricted, exits and proceeds to surround it, continuing its route.

The third use case consists of the delivery of a package to a mobile delivery point, which is equipped with a connected beacon that periodically sends its position so that the drone goes to said point and makes a precise landing.

The pilot is complemented by an air control platform that geolocates all the connected drones and beacons in real time and shows the information of all the actors and the messages that are exchanged.

C-V2X technology, used in connected cars, has facilitated the ability of the drone to interact with its environment through short-range messages, communicating with the smart city to be able to react intelligently to changing environmental conditions.

As for 5G, its low latency has been essential to be able to establish real-time and cooperative communication between drones and between drones and connected objects.