The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) is working with public and private partners to launch three projects using drones to aid in COVID-19 relief efforts. According to NCDOT, the initiative will be launched in May.
For the first project, Novant Health and Zipline are proposing to deliver personal protective equipment and other medical equipment across Novant Health’s medical campuses in the Charlotte area.
For the second project, UPS Flight Forward and Matternet are proposing to work with a Winston-Salem hospital on an operation to use drones to take healthcare equipment, medicine and personal protective equipment to medical providers. UPS Flight Forward, which earned the necessary federal certifications to operate a drone airline, has an ongoing drone delivery service at WakeMed’s main campus in Raleigh, NCDOT said.
Finally, for the third project, Flytrex is proposing to deliver food from multiple restaurants in a shopping center to neighborhoods in the Holly Springs area.
The first two programs are aimed at reducing the strain on medical supply chains, and the third will make it easier for people to follow the stay-at-home order. According to NCDOT, officials will use data collected during the project to determine how this technology can be used in other areas of the country.
“North Carolina has been a leader in demonstrating how drones can help people in times of crisis,” said State Transportation Secretary Eric Boyette. “We look forward to putting this technology into productive use as we work to help citizens and medical professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Funding for the individual drone missions is coming from private partners, while NCODT is coordinating the initiative.
Drone service slated to begin February 2020, with goals of enhancing efficacy, reliability and predictability of delivering medical products between hospitals and laboratories.
In February, the University of California (UC) San Diego Health will launch a pilot project to test the use of unmanned aerial vehicles to transport medical samples, supplies and documents between Jacobs Medical Center, Moores Cancer Center and the Center for Advanced Laboratory Medicine (CALM), speeding delivery of services and patient care currently managed through ground transport.
Trained professionals will load and operate the drones, which will follow predetermined, low-risk flight paths and will carry no cameras. (Photo: UC San Diego Health)
The program is a collaboration with UPS, which received in September 2019 the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Part 135 Standard certification and authorization to use unmanned aircraft systems for a drone delivery program, and Matternet, a Mountain View, California-based drone systems developer for health care institutions. This latest effort builds upon the UPS and Matternet drone project already taking place at WakeMed Health and Hospitals, a private, non-profit health care system based in Raleigh, N.C.
“Currently, medical samples that must be transported between health care sites are carried by courier cars, which are naturally subject to the variabilities of traffic and other ground issues,” said Matthew Jenusaitis, chief administrative officer for innovation and transformation at UC San Diego Health. “With drones, we want to demonstrate proof-of-concept for getting vital samples where they need to be for testing or assessment more quickly and simply. It’s another way to leverage emerging technologies in a way that can tangibly benefit our patients.”
The project calls for medical professionals at Jacobs Medical Center, located on the east health campus of UC San Diego in La Jolla, to pack payloads, such as blood samples or documents, into a secure container that attaches to one of Matternet’s M2 rechargeable battery-powered drones.
The drones will follow predetermined, low-risk flight paths, initially between Jacobs Medical Center and special landing sites at Moores Cancer Center, located less than a mile away and within visual line of sight under the FAA’s Part 107 rules, and then subsequently at CALM, which is near the Jacobs Medical Center. The flights will take only minutes to complete and will be monitored by remote operators. The drones will carry no cameras.
In May 2018, the FAA designated the city of San Diego as one of nine lead participants in the regulators’ Integration Pilot Program. UC San Diego was also approved by the FAA to test the use of drones in transporting lab specimens and pharmaceuticals throughout its health system.
“Right now, most biological samples must travel between sites by courier car, within designated hours,” said James Killeen, MD, clinical professor of emergency medicine and director of information technology services at UC San Diego School of Medicine. “That leaves the system vulnerable to the vagaries of road congestion, accidents, construction and more. Travel time can be slow and unpredictable. A drone can fly over such obstacles in a much more direct way, and take just a few minutes to cover the same distance.”
The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has awarded air carrier and operator certification to UPS Flight Forward, an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) delivery company.
Through the DOT’s UAS Integration Pilot Program, the FAA has now approved a Part 135 operating certificate for UPS Flight Forward. This allows the company to perform revenue-generating package delivery activities within federal regulations.
UPS Flight Forward may now operate multiple drones under one certificate. Under Part 135, the company can deliver vital healthcare supplies including by flying beyond visual line of sight.
The UPS subsidiary immediately launched the first drone delivery flight by any company under Part 135 Standard at WakeMed’s hospital campus in Raleigh, N.C. That flight, using a Matternet M2 quadcopter, was flown under a government exemption allowing for a beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) operation, also a first in the U.S. for a regular revenue-generating delivery.
UPS said it has proven the need for drone delivery in healthcare operations, where the shortest time in transit can improve efficiency and help healthcare professionals better serve patients.
The medical delivery program at WakeMed is the result of testing conducted by UPS and Matternet in August of 2018 as part of their participation in the UAS Integration Pilot Program (UAS IPP).
UPS partnered with Matternet to launch its healthcare delivery service on the WakeMed campus. The revenue-generating service demonstrated the business case for drone delivery of medical products and specimens.
Now, with its Part 135 Standard certification, UPS is ready to build on this application and expand to a variety of critical-care or lifesaving applications.
Photo: UPS
“This is history in the making, and we aren’t done yet,” said David Abney, UPS chief executive officer. “Our technology is opening doors for UPS and solving problems in unique ways for our customers. We will soon announce other steps to build out our infrastructure, expand services for healthcare customers and put drones to new uses in the future.”
The company will initially expand its drone delivery service further to support hospital campuses around the country, and to provide solutions for customers beyond those in the healthcare industry.
Part 135 Standard certification enables UPS to integrate drones into the UPS logistics network, creating potential for new applications in many industries. The company has a long-term plan with milestones that include:
expansion of the UPS Flight Forward delivery service to new hospitals and medical campuses around the country.
rapid build-out of ground-based, detect-and-avoid (DAA) technologies to verify drone safety, while enabling future service expansion.
construction of a centralized operations control center.
regular and frequent drone flights beyond the operator’s visual line of sight.
partnerships with additional drone manufacturers to build new drones with varying cargo capacities.
adding new services outside of the healthcare industry, including the transport of special commodities and other regulated goods.
“UPS is committed to using technology to transform the way we do business,” said Scott Price, UPS chief transformation and strategy officer. “UPS’s formation of a drone delivery company and application to begin regular operations under this level of certification is historic for UPS and for the drone and logistics industries.”
As a participant in the U.S. Transportation Department’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) partnered with UPS Flight Forward. As the operator, they have been engaged in delivery of healthcare supplies around a major hospital campus in Raleigh, North Carolina. The flights have focused on the delivery of blood for potentially life-saving transfusions, as well as other medical samples for lab work.
The company demonstrated that its operations met the FAA’s rigorous safety requirements to qualify for an air carrier certificate. This is based on extensive data and documentation, as well as test flights.
