Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.
Issue link: https://insideunmanned.epubxp.com/i/720234
23 unmanned systems inside August/September 2016 ugust/Septe August/September 2016 August/September 2016 be August/September 2016 0 August/September 2016 6 August/September 2016 ENGINEERING. POLICY. POLICY. ENGINEERING. PRACTICE. POLICY. PRACTICE. ENGINEERING. on a vessel off the New Jersey coast. The drones also transported medical supplies from the vessel to the onshore medical camp. This isn't the first time Flirtey has complet- ed successful missions for the health care field. Last summer, the company was part of the Let's Fly Wisely event in Wise, Va., where they worked with the Remote Area Medical clinic (RAM), the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership at Virginia Tech (MAAP) and NASA to deliver medical packages to volunteers on the ground, who in turn made sure underserved attendees received the packages—marking the first time a UAS delivered medical supplies and pharma- ceuticals in the US. Main: Zipline's Zip UAS makes a delivery. Bottom: The Zipline team. team. DELIVER CARE Stan Brock, founder and president of RAM, a nonprofit organization that provides medical care to remote areas, first became interested in deploying delivery drones a few years ago. At the time, the group had just begun air am- bulance operations to bring medicine and vac- cines to parts of the upper Amazon rain forest. Manned fixed-wing helicopters f ly about ev- Manned fixed-wing helicopters f ly about ev- ery two days to take vaccines, snakebite serum and other medical supplies to remote villages, a more costly and complex operation as com- pared to using UAS. "It would be extremely helpful if we were able to send packages of medicine and vaccines over great distances by drone," Brock said. "In that part of Virginia (where Let's Fly Wisely took place), a large number of underserviced people can't get out of the house during the winter, particularly during inclement weath- er, but are in desperate need of blood pressure medicine or whatever medicine it is. A drone could take that medicine to them where a ve- hicle wouldn't be able to do so." UAS AND TELEMEDICINE During search and rescue operations, responders can potentially use drones to communicate to victims through telemedicine, said Will Stavanja, founder of the consulting fi rm Wilstair. The drone can quickly reach the person and be used to assess the situation so responders can be better prepared for the mission and also ebable them to communicate with victims through voice or even video.