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Is airspace ready for delivery drones?

1,352 views · Published 4 December 2013 · 2:51 · Indexed 21 October 2026

Channel: Michigan Engineering · 2013 · Science & Technology

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Amazon Prime Air delivery drones could work, says Michigan Engineer Ella Atkins -- if they can tackle safety issues and get them to play nicely with manned aircraft.

Delivery drones may not be far off, claims Amazon, who plans to launch Prime Air within the next five years. Michigan Engineering professor Ella Atkins, who specializes in autonomous systems, agrees that the technology to make this a reality is close. The biggest challenge now, says Atkins, is preparing the rest of airspace for autonomous aircraft.

Atkins says deploying sensors on manned vehicles, who will need to detect and avoid these small drones, is key to making this a reality. Also of concern is how the craft will deal with inclement weather and unanticipated obstacles.    

About the Professor: Ella Atkins (http://www.engin.umich.edu/aero/people/faculty/ella-atkins) is an Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering (http://www.engin.umich.edu/aero) at the University of Michigan College of Engineering (http://www.engin.umich.edu/). Her research program focuses on the integration of strategic and tactical planning and optimization algorithms to enable robust, autonomous aircraft and spacecraft flight in the presence of system failures and environmental uncertainties. Her interests include strategic (AI) and tactical (motion-based) planning/scheduling for individual and collaborative air and space systems, fault-tolerant flight management and UAV/MAV applications.

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