Drone Air Traffic Control over wireless networks for package pickup, delivery, and return

A drone air traffic control system comprising:

• a processor and a network interface communicatively coupled to one another;
• and
• memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
• communicate to one or more Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) over one or more wireless networks;
• responsive to a delivery request specifying a delivery location, determine whether the delivery location and a second pickup location for a second package are the same;
• and
• direct a UAV of a plurality of UAVs to deliver the first package to the delivery location, and pick up the second package at the pickup location, wherein the air traffic control system provides a flight plan to the UAV based on the delivery and pickup requests.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for delivering packages, the UAV comprising:

• hardware and antennas adapted to communicate with one or more wireless networks;
• a processor communicatively coupled to the hardware and antennas;
• and
• memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
• communicate with an air traffic control system via one or more wireless networks;
• obtain and send data to the air traffic control system in association with a flight of the UAV during delivery and pickup of the packages;
• and
• pick up a first package at a pickup location, deliver the first package to a delivery location, and pickup a second package at the delivery location based on instructions received from the air traffic control system, wherein the air traffic control system provides a flight plan to the UAV based on a delivery request for the first package and a pickup request for the second package.