The e-commerce giant Amazon.com, Inc. has been awarded a patent to build a floating warehouse that would serve as a launchpad, or mothership, for drones carrying packages to customers.

The patent for "airborne fulfillment center," or AFC, was filed in 2014, awarded in April, and "unearthed" this week by CB Insights, a company based in New York that analyzes data on companies in emerging industries to provide predictive intelligence on company health and strategy, investor performance and technology adoption trends.

Amazon, headquartered in Seattle, Washington state in the US Pacific Northwest, has called its ground-based warehouses, which also work as regional distribution hubs, "fulfillment centers."

While making the warehouse airborne, the AFC is essentially a logistics technology site for building an airship capable of flying at altitudes of 45,000 feet, or 13,000 meters, or more while stockpiling items Amazon will sell through its online marketplace. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), popularly known as a drone, would depart from the AFC when a customer places an order, and flies down to deliver the package.

As it glides down, instead of taking off and land, the drone supposedly would require little power. The patent filing explains that, "it may descend from the high altitude of the AFC using little or no power other than to guide the UAV towards its delivery destination and/or to stabilize the UAV as it descends." The used drone then would fly to a grounded installation.

The AFC would remain in the air and be refueled and replenished using a shuttle, possibly a smaller aircraft capable of docking onto the airship and unloading products as well as fuel. The shuttle would also bring used drones back onto the AFC, as the delivery vehicles currently being tested by Amazon are unable to reach the height where the AFC stays.

The idea seems to be an extension for Amazon's drone delivery initiative, known as Prime Air. The company has been working on the technology for years, trying to reach customers' homes without relying on logistics companies.

With the completion of its first drone delivery test in the UK earlier this month, Amazon plans to expand its drone testing in 2017.

(Source: Xinhua)