Successful test with drone delivery on a sailing ship

Together with Dutch Drone Delta and an ecosystem of partners, KPN recently realized the first delivery by drone on a sailing ship. In the port area of Rotterdam, a parcel was delivered on an inland vessel, the Duancis, without the vessel having to stop.

The purpose of this test flight is to see whether and how drone technology can contribute to optimizing efficiency, convenience and customer-friendliness for ships calling at the port of Rotterdam.

The test with 5G connectivity
To guarantee safe and efficient drone flights, a reliable and stable mobile network at flight level is required. KPN's 5G connectivity is very suitable for this. A characteristic of 5G is the low delay in communication, the low latency. This is important, because a drone must be able to respond immediately when required. In addition, we use network prioritization, "Application Priority", which gives the drone priority over other network traffic in the port.

KPN is actively cooperating within the Dutch Drone Delta with the deployment and testing of the KPN network. We test the network strength at flight height and at a great distance to be covered, between 500 and 700 meters. The test has now been performed with observers (EVLOS: Extended Visual Line of Sight), but in the future we want to move towards fully automated flights out of sight of the pilot (BVLOS: Beyond Visual Line of Sight). A drone operator can then do his or her work independent of place and time.

A successful flight
It was a successful flight, with good network values and speeds, which brings us one step closer to fully automated drone flights over our 5G network. You don't see a drone take to the air every day, but that image will change, drones make life easier, safer and more sustainable. With our new 5G network we help to shape the future: safe and efficient drone operations in Dutch airspace.

Learn more
What role will 5G play in your company in the future? Take a look at our 5G FieldLabs, see which 5G phone suits you or read the whitepaper, where we, as the leader in the Netherlands, show all the possibilities: https://www.kpn.com/zakelijk/5g