Medicine from the sky in Bengaluru: Trial run for drone delivery successful

In what is being touted as a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, drone delivery of medicines was successfully tested in Bengaluru. “A trial run by Beyond Visual Line Of Sight for drone delivery of medicines was successfully completed in Bengaluru on 20th August. It was conducted within a 15-kilometre radius at Gauribidanur on the city outskirts,” theMinistry of Civil Aviation tweeted.

Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) trial run for drone delivery of medicines was successfully completed in Bengaluru on 20 August. The pilot was led by Throttle Aerospace Systems (TAS) and UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) under the supervision of the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The trial was conducted within a 15-km radius at Gauribidanur on the outskirts of Bengaluru by UDAN for the last mile delivery of medicines.

Two different models of the drones were successfully tested during the operation. The two models, Medcopter X4 and Medcopter X8 were programmed to deliver the medicines to UDAN customers. Deliveries weighing up to at least 2 kg were used for the trials and the distance of the deliveries varied from two to seven kilometres.

During the trials, it was observed that an average of 3.5 km was covered in five to seven minutes. Along with the weight of the package and the distance of the deliveries, the modes of deliveries were also tested. The two modes being lowering the package so that the customer can collect it and landing the drone to drop off the package.

The success of the pilot run opens up the possibility of using beyond-line-of-sight drones for last-mile delivery of shipments in minimum time, to areas with improper road connectivity as well as faster deliveries in dense urban settings. Once commercialised, in addition to regular deliveries in remote areas, the technology can also be used to supply lifesaving drugs and medicines at the time of the natural disaster, pandemics, and calamities to the remotest corners of the country without facing any infrastructure or logistical challenges.