Folding roller conveyor for an automated servicing system of agricultural unmanned aerial vehicles

The operational efficiency of agricultural drones is currently constrained by the lack of mobile, field-based service solutions. To address this, the use of autonomous service platforms, or “droneports,” is required. This study investigates approaches for automating ground-based support for agricultural unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) through the development of a folding, modular conveyor-type droneport. The proposed design features a mobile service platform that utilizes a folding roller conveyor to transport heavy-duty drones. The conveyor is driven by a sequential toothed belt system powered by a NEMA23/NEMA24 stepper motor (5 A phase current) coupled with a 1:20 planetary gearbox. Full-scale laboratory testing was conducted on a 1.88 × 0.90 m prototype at speeds of 0.05 to 0.15 m/s across horizontal and inclined (3° and 6°) surfaces. An EFT G630 agri-drone, weighing 70 kg with a 100 kg payload capacity, was used to simulate extreme operational loads. Results showed that power consumption during transport remained below 30 W, even at a 6° incline. The system demonstrated high fault tolerance; the failure of individual rollers did not disrupt overall operation. The experimental findings confirmed the feasibility, energy efficiency, and reliability of the folding conveyor module, highlighting its potential as a mobile servicing infrastructure for agricultural UAVs

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