Cloud-Connected Human-Drone Interface for Intuitive Navigation

As drone technologies become more abundant, efficient and robust, path planning has become increasingly necessary. For ease of use, Human-Machine Interaction (HMI) applications have been developed to simplify the user experience and ensure efficient navigation. These applications enhance the drone's ability to perform various tasks, such as surveillance, delivery, and photography, with reliability and precision. This paper presents an innovative Human-Drone-Interface (HDI) designed to simplify the navigation of drones along user-defined paths. Drone flight paths can be defined by drawing routes or specifying Points of Interest (POIs) on a digital map, streamlining the user experience for users. This work addresses the hardware and software challenges of interpreting user-defined paths in real time, optimizing the drone's route, and generating precise flight commands. Algorithmic computations are delegated to the cloud to enhance battery efficiency. The system incorporates the Long Range (LoRa) protocol to communicate with the drone, which enables a more extended range of operations while providing reliable connectivity in areas with poor coverage and limited broadband access. By making drones easier to operate, the proposed solution seeks to make drones more widely accessible, thus pushing the boundaries of user-friendly drone navigation. Testing results demonstrated the HDI's robust ability to consistently instruct drones along user-defined paths. This capability makes it well-suited for real-world applications such as agriculture, where precise navigation is essential for irrigation or delivery systems, where path optimization ensures timely delivery of nackages.