Loughborough University and Aujla Business Systems Limited KTP 23_24 R6

A simulator will train autonomous drones to handle the final leg of package delivery in rural and semi-urban areas where vans struggle. Last-mile delivery—the last few miles from a depot to a doorstep—is the most expensive and inefficient part of logistics, especially outside cities where homes are spread out and roads are winding. Current autonomous drone systems are tested mainly in urban settings or open fields, not in the cluttered, unpredictable environments of villages and small towns. This project builds a simulator that replicates those conditions—trees, power lines, narrow lanes, variable weather—so that drone software can learn to navigate them safely before any aircraft takes off. If the simulator works, it could make drone delivery commercially viable in areas that vans serve poorly. That would shift more parcels from roads to the air, cutting traffic and emissions in rural communities. It might also make supply chains more resilient in places where road access is seasonal or unreliable. The project does not build the drone itself; it builds the virtual world where the drone learns to fly.