Chief of Army Lieutenant General Simon Stuart said the symposium would showcase the close partnership between Australia’s military and innovators.

“The symposium highlights Army’s focus on new and emerging technologies and the possibilities of tomorrow by harnessing good ideas and innovation across Army, industry and academia,” Lieutenant General Stuart said.

“We are transforming to keep pace with the changing character of warfare and to remain technologically relevant and build flexibility into the system to remain agile. This symposium is just one part of our efforts to develop our capabilities with local defence companies and their global defence industry partners.”

The Army Innovation Day will give companies the chance to explore tactical Logistics Uncrewed Aerial Systems for the Army and display their developments.

“Army is seeking innovative Logistics Uncrewed Aerial Systems for a range of tasks including routine resupply, high risk combat resupply and casualty evacuation missions to troops in contact,” Lieutenant General Stuart said.

“Ongoing conflicts have shown just how important these Uncrewed Aerial Systems are in combat situations. For an army as modest in size as ours, Robotic and Autonomous Systems help us to generate scale, mass, effect and reach across all domains whilst enabling us to reduce the risk to our soldiers wherever possible.”

The Army Quantum Technology Challenge will see academic, industry and Army teams demonstrate the application of quantum technologies to solve major challenges in land warfare, alongside innovative countermeasures to these highly-disruptive emerging technologies.

The Army Robotics Exposition 2022 will feature live displays from industry representatives, including uncrewed ground vehicles and aerial systems.

Source: Australian Defence

The vertiport in Coventry, UK on April 27, 2022 is a modular building that was built in weeks and features a take-off and landing area that rises around 6m above ground level. Urban Air-One is first being used to test drone operations such as delivery, logistics and police surveillance before being used to test eVTOL aircraft in the future.

My name is Ricky Sandhu, founder and executive chairman of urban airport limited. My background is architecture, so I spent a lot of time working on complex buildings, future cities, tall towers and my last project was actually an airport in Qatar.

At the same time I was doing an inner city redevelopment in Sweden and so I guess urban airport is kind of a mixture of those two things aviation and kind of urban cities and so we’re bringing aviation infrastructure into the center of cities and that’s going to be really important if we want advanced air mobility and urban air mobility to actually be viable and sustainable.

So where we are right now in the middle of Coventry City center half a million people live and work here every day we’re 60 seconds from the mainland railway station and we’re 60 seconds from Coventry City center itself and on Monday here on our launch day we had the inaugural flight of the largest drone which has a payload of 150 pounds which is about 70 kg take off safely fly safely and land safely.

In such a built-up setting that’s the first time that’s ever happened anywhere in the world and that happened in an urban airport so that’s what we’re here to do. We don’t make drones, we don’t fly drones, we just kind of provide the infrastructure to charge them, maintain them, load them and then give them a safe departure and then bring them back safely as well.

Could you just explain to me why the platform moves up and down in the way it does? What are the benefits of that? Why have you done that?

Yes our aircraft carrier is the largest aircraft carrier on shore in the world, we have a split technology so when we have smaller cargo drones we use the smaller fata one if you have a slightly larger cargo drain like the Malloy Aeronautics t650, that can carry 300 kilograms that’s you me probably three times, we use fata two and for this air taxi which is the passenger air taxi this would use fata 3 which is the whole thing. So that’s a novel way of allowing these kinds of vehicles to take off.

The reason why we have it as an aircraft carrier is because as a passenger we want you to feel comfortable hence all of our investment in the air taxi lines with the urban airport cafe. So when you are super relaxed and you feel kind of you know I’ve had a croissant and I’ve had a coffee. I’ve even done a bit of shopping. We don’t want you to come up some stairs and go to the top of a windy blustery rainy rooftop so we want you to board in a comfortable manner.

Like you do when you go to the train station, like you do when you go to a normal airport as well and so you board at grade right that makes sense. Also the vehicle needs to be charged and we’re standing next to one of our chargers here.

Needs to be charged at grade we can’t charge it you know six meters in the air and so it’s best for the vehicle it’s best for the passenger and then when the pilot and the passenger is all ready to go, we then get the signal from the pilot, we then move the vehicle up to its take-off position, which is elevated here about six meters, and the reason why we do that is because the pilot then has perfect 360 visibility.

What do you think will be the kind of first markets that verticals will be used for and how large and important do you think those are from opportunity?

The supernal vehicle here so their kind of timeline is 2028 they’re in no hurry, they’re backed by Hyundai Motor ?Group obviously, it’s there it’s their Evita brand. But there are other VTOL companies like vertical aerospace. They were all here yesterday, and they’re aiming for 2024. Vola cops in Germany aiming for 2024-25 so we’re in 2022 so it’s two years out and if those vehicles successfully reach their certification that’s great but they won’t be able to you know provide a service unless there’s the infrastructure in place and our job is to pave the way for them and build a ground infrastructure where they can charge where they can maintain where you can board book a ticket and build the industry from the ground up.

You know it’s it’s it’s amazing right i mean we’ve had thousands of people already we’ve only in day three and what I’m really excited about is actually we had VIP days on Monday Tuesday and today um but starting tomorrow Thursday is our first public day and we’re sold out for Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday.

So we’re gonna have to put more slots on but that is awesome because it means the public are genuinely interested and part of our mission has always been we spend a lot of time, effort and money on PR and marketing because there’s no point innovating and going too far ahead if you leave the consumer behind.

So we’ve been kind of you know telling everyone what we’re doing and bringing everyone in and we want people to leave here. You know, having had an awesome experience and got close to an air taxi which people have not done before in a city. But then you know they’ve had a coffee they’ve had a croissant they’ve used a smart vending machine they’ve checked out some cool gear and then they go home and and they kind of say yeah you know it was kind of cool i kind of yeah there’s normal boarding process you know and so that’s our goal.

I think that will have a big impact on how people perceive aviation. You know, sometimes it’s had a very negative perception of the aviation industry but actually it can really be sustainable and I think you know the way that we’ve even designed the infrastructure here designed for assembly design for disassembly.

Which means none of this is going to get wasted and this will always be in service whether it’s in Coventry or whether it’s in another country or another city this will always be in service and that means you know we’ve designed it to last.

If you can fly from here in two years in one of those to London in 25 minutes, yeah that’s going to save you over half an hour of time and time is our biggest investment that we can make as individuals. So let’s get the country being more productive not sitting in traffic um yeah and actually you know lead the way.

Just quickly one final question. I mean it’s important I think that this isn’t just a tourist attraction. Is there some serious research going on here as well?

We’ve got Coventry University here, the national transport design center but we’ve got west midlands police have set up a shop in our logistics sub and they are you know they’re so excited because they’re moving from dogs to drones.

They’ve just done another drone flight where they’re demonstrating their camera technologies and how they’re helping us to, you know, helping us all remain safe and Westminster’s police force is the second largest police force in the UK. So the fact that they’re here adds a lot of you know comfort I think to us all and so they’re using this as a hub for their future kind of police operations which is all again helping us remain safe.

There’s a lot of research going on as well we’ve had all the leading VTOL here from across the world to understand how we can charge their vehicle how the CONOPS works in terms of how the vehicle interacts with the infrastructure and so that kind of coming together of an industry here is super important for us all to move the industry forward otherwise there isn’t an industry we just talk about it and as you said there’s just renderings but now we’re getting it done.

ISO

This document specifies the requirements for vertiport operations (e.g. removal of contaminants, noise) and interface with an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) or vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft operators and with UAS traffic management (UTM) service providers (SPs).

Applicable to operations of vertiports belonging to any type, supporting:

1. a) demonstration of compliance with applicable regulations of vertiport operations to aviation authorities or other public authorities, as a possible acceptable means of compliance (AMC), when applicable regulations require such involvement from the authority and when the authority considers this document acceptable;
2. b) attestation of compliance of vertiport operations by qualified entities or other accredited, competent and independent third parties, supporting the safety risk assessment of the UAS operations required by regulations, in particular when high level of assurance robustness is required;
3. c) attestation of compliance of vertiport operations by qualified entities or other accredited, competent and independent third parties even in the absence of any applicable regulation.

Aspects that are not covered are:

—    requirements for operational procedures of UAS;

—    requirements for physical characteristics and equipment for vertiports;

—    requirements for UTM SPs.

EASA

Urban Air Mobility is fast becoming a reality and we all have seen some ideas about what transport could look like in our urban environment through mock-ups and videos. EASA’s study on Urban Air Mobility has clearly indicated that use cases such as air taxis and deliveries for medical reasons have broad acceptance from EU citizens, and they will most likely be the first to be implemented. Our article on ‘Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL)’, explained the concept of aircraft taking off and landing in our urban areas. But where exactly will VTOLs and other aircraft take off from and land? 

NASA
Looking forward to catching an air taxi? NASA is working to answer where Advanced Air Mobility or AAM vehicles will take off and land. Many AAM aircraft will be electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOLs, so they will have the ability to take off and land vertically like helicopters on helipads. AAM vehicle types could also include other power and operating concepts.

NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility mission is researching where these vertiports or vertiplexes, which are multiple vertiports in proximity, will work into existing infrastructure like current airports and heliports. There is also work being done to investigate new landing areas that can be created from repurposed areas, purpose built sites or integrated into existing buildings such as a train or bus station.

Many early cases of eVTOLs taking off and landing will occur at existing airports. Down the road, these vehicles will use their unique performance capabilities to land on the top of buildings or other spaces in crowded urban areas.

Several projects supporting the AAM mission are working on different elements to help make it a reality. This includes work on automation, noise, vertiport and vehicle design, and airspace design to keep everyone safe while flying in the skies together. It is going to take an effort between government agencies, industry, and the public to build new highways in the sky.

HLS.Today Source: Urban-Air Port – Youtube  – NASA – ISO – EASA

He also used the ruse to promote his security company and ingratiate himself with actual officers.Arian Taherzadeh, 40, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a superseding information charging him with a federal conspiracy offense and two District of Columbia offenses: unlawful possession of a large-capacity ammunition feeding device and voyeurism. A sentencing date has not yet been set. He is to appear Nov. 2, 2022, for a status hearing before the Honorable Colleen Kollar-Kotelly. As part of his plea agreement, Taherzadeh has agreed to cooperate with the government’s investigation.

The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office Criminal Division, Dr. Joseph V. Cuffari, Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Tira A. Hayward, Acting Inspector in Charge, Washington Division, U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

According to plea documents, Taherzadeh created a business entity called United States Special Police LLC (USSP), which was described as a private law enforcement, investigative, and protective service based in Washington. The company was not associated in any way with the United States government or the District of Columbia. As the scheme unfolded between December 2018 and April 2022, Taherzadeh falsely claimed to be, among other things, a Special Agent with the Department of Homeland Security, a member of a multi-jurisdictional federal task force, a former United States Air Marshal, and a former Army Ranger. He used these false claims to recruit others to USSP, under the guise that it was part of a covert federal law enforcement task force, defraud owners of three apartment complexes into providing him with multiple apartments and parking spaces for his supposed law enforcement operations, and ingratiate himself with members of federal law enforcement and the defense community.

Taherzadeh and others used assumed law enforcement personas, false and fictious federal law enforcement supervisors, and the company to obtain leases for multiple apartments in three complexes in the District of Columbia. These apartment buildings sustained more than $800,000 in losses from unpaid rent, parking, and associated fees. In one such apartment, Taherzadeh maintained and possessed an unlicensed gun with five fully loaded large-capacity ammunition feeding devices, containing a total of 61 rounds of ammunition.

In furtherance of his scheme, Taherzadeh and others obtained law enforcement clothing, paraphernalia, equipment, and an identification-making device.  This included, among other things, police patches and badges, tactical gear and equipment, police lights, a Sig Sauer P229 firearm, a Glock 19 9mm handgun, large quantities of ammunition, concealed carry holsters, surveillance equipment, and unlicensed long gun components including a firearm barrel, weapon stock attachments, foregrips, a magazine cartridge and scope.

According to the plea documents, beginning as early as the spring of 2020, Taherzadeh began falsely identifying himself as a Special Agent to employees of the U.S. Secret Service.  For instance, he falsely claimed to two Secret Service employees that he was in a gang unit.  He told another that he was part of a covert task force. Taherzadeh also provided these Secret Service employees with tangible and intangible gifts. For instance, Taherzadeh provided one employee and his wife with a generator and a doomsday/survival backpack. He provided another employee with a rent-free penthouse apartment for approximately one year, worth approximately $40,200. He provided a third employee with a rent-free apartment for approximately one year, worth an estimated $48,240, as well as a drone, a gun locker, and a Pelican case. According to the plea documents, he did so to ingratiate himself with Secret Service employees because it deepened their relationship and furthered his ability to impersonate himself as a federal law enforcement officer.

Finally, Taherzadeh installed surveillance cameras outside and inside his apartment in one of the complexes. Among other places, he installed, maintained, and utilized cameras in his bedroom. He used these cameras to record women engaged in sexual activity. Taherzadeh then showed these explicit videos to third parties.

Taherzadeh and a co-defendant, Haider Ali, 36, also of Washington, D.C., were arrested on April 6, 2022. Ali has pleaded not guilty to charges filed against him in an indictment. An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth Aloi and Joshua S. Rothstein of the Fraud, Public Corruption, and Civil Rights Section.

Valuable assistance has been provided by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Tortorice and Paralegal Specialists Chad Byron, Quiana Dunn-Gordon, and Lisa Abbe of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorneys Kathleen Campbell and Evan Turgeon of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division.

Source: Independent

The UAV was initially tested as a fire-extinguishing aircraft and had tremendous demand within China’s domestic market. It was flown between Japan and Taiwan at the peak of the tensions between the US and China over Pelosi’s potential visit to the Islands.

A December 2021 video showed the tri-engine drone dropping a fire-dousing bomb on a sandy region in Sichuan. Its latest use to deter Japan and Taiwan indicates it has been adopted for a military role.

It hit the headlines on July 26, when the Japanese Defense Ministry reported it flying from the East China Sea through the Miyako Straits between the Japanese islands of Okinawa and Miyakajima. After reaching the Pacific Ocean, the TB-001 flew past the Sakashima Islands and headed to north-eastern Taiwan.

Is Taiwan Vulnerable To Drones?

It was meant to observe Taiwan’s annual Han Kuang military exercises, with China preparing for a military intervention to retake the island.

It flew off the coast of Taiwan’s Yuelian Country, deep inside the eastern sector of Taiwan’s Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ). It’s possible the UAV passed through the Bashi Channel and returned to China.

The Basi Channel on the northern part of the South China Sea is of great interest to China, given the presence of US vessels and submarines in the area, with many Chinese entries into Taiwan’s ADIZ.

Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) sent several fighters to intercept the TB-001, which had not entered Japan’s airspace. That flight is perceived to have responded to Japan’s latest Defense White Paper.

China’s Ministry of Defense spokesperson Senior Colonel Wu Qian, said the paper “exaggerates the so-called ‘China military threat’ and creates regional tensions.” The Defense of Japan 2022 had separate summaries in English and Chinese and identified China, Russia, and Japan as threats.

A Global Times article boasted Taiwan could not detect the UAV that exposed the “island’s defense vulnerabilities against drones…(which) the PLA can abuse.” That Taiwan’s leading outlet, Taiwan News, did not quote its own Ministry of National Defense (MND) report and cited Japanese Ministry of Defense press releases lends credibility to this claim.

It confirmed the military objective to check the Han Kuang drills, a warning to Taiwan’s independence and secessionist and foreign interference forces.

The report also identified the drones as of “lower cost,” meaning they are highly attritable, which China can afford to lose and still use in large numbers.

Originally A Firefighter?

Interestingly, this drone has also received orders from the Chinese domestic market as it can carry 200 kilograms of satellite-guided fire extinguishing bombs.

It started its fire extinguishing missions in December 2021, when a video showed it dropping a bomb that exploded mid-air over a simulated fire. The bomb releases a cloud of what looks like fire-snuffing smoke.

The satellite-guided bombs are also controlled by sensors on board the UAV and can suppress fires in an area up to 4850 square feet.

The video begins with a crew preparing large fire-retardant bombs, filling them with fire extinguishing material before carting them off to attach them to the drone’s wing pylon.

It was first unveiled in September 2017, and in 2020, a new three-engine variant was announced, which would participate in the Zhuhai Air Show. It has a double tail design similar to the World War 2-era P-38 Lightning fighter.

The three-turbocharged piston engines rotate a three-blade propellor each – two on the main wings and one on the rear of the fuselage.

It has a maximum take-off weight of 3,200 kilograms, a payload of 1,500 kilograms, and a maximum service ceiling of 9500 meters. The maximum flight duration is 35 hours, with an endurance of 4,828 kilometers.

It can carry multiple missiles, guided bombs, and photos on social media that show it sporting a steerable electro-optical system, meaning it has standard surveillance and reconnaissance capability.

It is also being considered for export after it was claimed that the drone had been identified by Saudi Arabia to be manufactured locally in the Kingdom under a Transfer-of-Technology (ToT) agreement with Alam Technologies.

Flying the first such “full-circle” flight around Taiwan, the drone is also capable of attack, target identification, damage evaluation, electronic warfare, and communications relay.

Source: EURASIAN Times

His team just launched the drone off a 30-foot-long slingshot. It’s now crossed the front line and peered into a Russian-occupied village.

Sacha zooms in further. “You see the burned machines,” he says, pointing to a pair of rust-red metal carcasses in the school yard. A turret comes into view as the drone, flying nearly one kilometer above the village, crosses over the school. “That’s a burned tank,” Sacha says.

No cars are moving in the streets. No pedestrians. It appears to Sacha that all the residents of the village have fled. Various animals wander from yard to yard.

“You can see the cows,” he says, pointing at the screen. “They don’t belong to anyone anymore. Unfortunately, animals also suffer in this war.”

Sacha and one of his drone team colleagues monitor a live video feed from a drone they’re flying over a Russian-occupied part of Ukraine.

Their job for the day is to determine whether Russian forces have pulled back entirely from this village. The area is contested, and the Ukrainians have recently shelled it heavily with artillery. “We got this task from intelligence this morning,” Sacha says, referring to the Ukrainian military intelligence service.

The resolution of the live-streamed video is good enough that Sacha says he can recognise stray dogs by sight in many of the villages he monitors. The drone stores even higher-resolution images in an on-board memory chip that his team can analyse more closely once the drone returns.

“The day before yesterday, the enemy truck was in the yard there,” Sacha says, leaning closer to the laptop. “Now the truck is gone.”

The unit is named for a popular fictional character

This Ukrainian drone unit is named Karlson after a flying character from a classic Swedish children’s book, Karlsson on the Roof.

They’ve allowed NPR to visit them under the condition that their full names and location are not disclosed.

The team uses various small drones that you can buy at an electronics store for a few thousand dollars. On this day, they’re operating their largest fixed-wing drone. They raised tens of thousands of dollars to purchase this online. It looks like a miniature plane, with a camera mounted on its nose.

The Karlson aerial surveillance team is officially a territorial defense unit. In Ukraine, just about anybody can set up a territorial defense unit. Some of them are simply a bunch of guys with AK-47s who take turns manning checkpoints outside villages. Others are fully equipped infantry units that have been incorporated into the armed forces.

Karlson is made up of 23 men, mostly in their 30s, from the Dnipro area. Prior to the Russian invasion, none had military experience. The commander, who goes by the nom de guerre “Playboy,” says everyone on the team has different backgrounds. Playboy used to run his own business.

“We have technical specialists, IT specialists,” he says.

Sacha, in his fatigues, body armor and beard, looks every bit the soldier. Playboy says with a laugh, “Can you believe he used to be a politician!”

Sacha quickly corrects him: “Deputy. I was a deputy.”

Drone surveillance supports what its commander calls the “fist of war”

The conflict in Ukraine is predominantly an artillery war. Both sides are shelling each other’s positions across a front line that stretches for hundreds of miles along eastern and southern Ukraine. Playboy calls artillery the “fist of war.” He says he and his colleagues set up this drone surveillance unit to help that fist punch more accurately.

A spokesperson for the Armed Forces of Ukraine declined to comment on how many drone units like this one the country has. She says they won’t comment on military operations. But outside observers say in this conflict, thousands of drones are being used by both sides.

Along most of the front lines, cellphone and GPS signals are being jammed and monitored by both the Russians and the Ukrainians. To communicate, the Karlson team uses handheld walkie-talkies and a mobile Starlink connection donated by Elon Musk’s satellite-based internet company. If they spot a potential target, they use the Starlink connection to call other military units.

“Sometimes if we see a [Russian] convoy, we are in touch with the artillery unit,” Sacha says. “We give them the coordinates and they start shelling.”

An aerial game of spy vs. spy

In the city of Zaporizhzhia, Denis Pasko, who is not part of the Karlson unit, runs a drone school. He trains Ukrainian soldiers on using them both for surveillance and, in his words, to “drop explosives on the Russians heads.”

Pasko says drones can be incredibly useful to a military unit. They can relatively safely and quickly give soldiers a view of the battlefield. But he warns that commercial drones are incredibly easy to track and often expose information about the location of the operator.

Sacha, from the Karlson team, gets ready to launch a surveillance drone in southern Ukraine. Both the Ukrainians and the Russians are using drones to try to gain an advantage in the conflict.

Jason Beaubien/NPR

“You need to be close to the front lines,” he says. “And if the enemy knows your position, you can be dead.”

When a drone is “lost” in combat, Pasko says it’s usually not shot down. Usually the enemy managed to commandeer control of its navigation system. If a drone is caught by the enemy, Pasko says, it can give away a lot of information.

“It has the geo-position of the operator. It keeps a history of all the places where it was flying,” he says, “including the exact location of where it was launched. The enemy can immediately target the drone team with a missile or mortar shells.”

The spot where the Karlson team is working on this day is a cluster of trees separating a recently harvested wheat field from a long patch of sunflowers. Next to the van where Sasha and his colleagues monitor the drone, there are coffin-sized pits that the team can dive into if the Russians start shelling their mobile base.

In addition to surveillance, the unit is also trying to track and intercept Russian drones — while, on the other side of the front line, Russian drone operators are hunting for Karlson’s drones. It’s an aerial game of spy vs. spy.

On many days, the work can involve hours of staring at video footage. Searching. Looking for clues.

“This is our task,” Sacha says. “We sit the whole day and watch.”

Amidst the animals and deserted houses on the laptop, he spots what could be a dug-in Russian tank. A trampoline-size patch of dirt looks like it was recently dug up and then smoothed over. Sasha makes a note of its position. He says he’ll look at the location more closely on the high-definition images when the drone returns.

Shelling can be heard in the distance. Sasha doesn’t so much as look up from his screen.

“Outgoing,” he mutters.

He says it’s nothing to worry about. Their drone keeps scanning across the front line. And presumably, somewhere in the sky nearby, Russian drones are also scanning the landscape — looking for Karlson’s mobile base among the trees.

Source: NPR

Drones also referred to as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), are slowly making their presence felt in the healthcare sector. Gone are the days when sending emergency life-saving medicines to the remotest part of the country was unthinkable and would take days to reach.

With the advent of drone technology and healthcare and Medtech companies adopting it in a new way plus the government’s push, has opened a new era for drones in the health sector.

The usage of drones in the healthcare industry is becoming a new norm set to bring a revolution in the sector. The drone technology in healthcare, previously envisioned for aerial and military use, is touted to become the future of healthcare. With the advent of drones, it is possible to deliver blood, vaccines, birth control, snake bite serum and other medical supplies to rural areas, where it can reach the victims who require immediate medical attention within minutes. The need for drones was more relevant when COVID-19 vaccines were transported to remote corners during the pandemic. 

According to Rashmi Pimpale, CEO, Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad (RICH), many countries have recognised the potential and have already begun implementing drone technology in healthcare. For instance, Rescue Robotics, a mission to deliver medical supplies to remote areas in Rwanda and Ghana, and the Maryland kidney delivery for transplant were successful missions proving the usefulness of drones.

APAC and global drone market 

According to Fortune Business Insight, the global commercial drone market size was valued at $6.51 billion in 2021. The market is projected to grow from $8.15 billion in 2022 to $47.38 billion by 2029, exhibiting a CAGR of 28.58 per cent during the forecast period. The market in the Asia Pacific is predicted to display sudden growth, owing to increasing drone production and operation corporations across the region, as per the report.

China became the global hub for drone industry manufacturing over the past six years. About 70 per cent of the world’s civilian drone market is supported by China, with about 1200 drone manufacturers in 2019 (up from 130 manufacturers in 2013), as per a report by Research and Market. Various subsidies and schemes are being provided by the Chinese Government. Besides, favourable domestic policies for drone purchases to promote technological advancements in industrial sectors are some of the welcome moves. Some of the prominent players in the market are SZ DJI Technology Co (DJI), Hubsan, Terra Drone Corporation, Guangzhou EHang Intelligent Technology Co, Yuneec and MicroMultiCopter Aero Technology Co etc. The country has recently launched a drone carrier with a one-of-a-kind artificial intelligence system that includes dozens of autonomous drones, ships, and submersibles for marine research and observation.

Melbourne-based drone logistics company Swoop Aero has been delivering medical supplies through drones across Malawi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, and Vanuatu in Africa over the last two years. Recently, the company completed a $16 million Series B venture capital raise. In March and April 2022, polio vaccines were distributed via drones.

Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has also granted Swoop Aero BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line Of Sight) approval for medical logistics operations in Queensland. The company will be able to operate in a fully integrated airspace with an aerodrome based hub at the local airport in Goondiwindi.

Japan-based Toyota Tsusho Corporation and US-based Zipline launched an automated, on-demand delivery service to distribute medical supplies across Japan’s Gotō Islands of Nagasaki Prefecture. There were plans for regular flights to Naru Island, with plans to gradually increase it to western Fukue Island, other islands in the city, Shinkamigoto and other areas.

The South-East Asian countries fared better compared to India when it came to implementing drones, especially in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. Let us look into some of the drone initiatives which the South East Asian countries have undertaken in the recent past. 

Malaysia deployed drones to sanitise outdoor public spaces. Drones carried out large-scale misting of areas with disinfectants. The health ministry also used drones to transport COVID-19 vaccines and medical supplies to remote areas. Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has taken on the task of leading the country’s drone industry. Recently SME Corporation Malaysia and MDEC have embarked on an initiative to scale drone tech adoption in the health industry. 

Says Gopi Ganesalingam, Chief Digital Industry Officer, MDEC, “Rules and regulations need to be up to date with technology. If we don’t have forward-looking policies, we cannot implement drone tech successfully.”

India-based drone startup Garuda Aerospace has teamed up with Malaysia-based HiiLSE Global (HiiLSE Drones) to set up a 2.42 hectares drone factory in Malaysia with an investment of Rs 115 crore. The company manufactures 30 different types of drones and offers over 50 types of services which includes drone delivery of medicines for hospitals and drone delivery of packages for food.

A group of drone enthusiasts in Indonesia used their aerial skills to provide contactless medicine and food delivery to COVID-19 patients isolated at home. As Indonesia is geographically spread out across thousands of islands, the ‘Makassar Recover Drone Medic’ team worked with the local coronavirus task force to deliver medicines at least five times a day. It was reported that during the peak covid outbreak around 25 rounds of deliveries were made in one day.

Singapore’s first drone delivery service started with the first parcel containing 2 kg of vitamins dropped onto a ship anchored off the island. The 2.7km, a seven-minute flight took place off Marina South Pier, under a one-year deal inked between shipping giant Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) and local startup F-drones. Each drone can take up to 5 kg of supplies and travel up to 5km offshore each way.

In Singapore, the National University Health System (NUHS) makes use of drones, robots and touch-free technology on its various campuses. The use of drones to conduct building inspections has been rolled out since October last year, with Alexandra Hospital, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital and NUH having gone through two rounds of inspections. These checks will be done quarterly. 

Thailand started testing medical deliveries to people in remote areas under a new project called Delivers Wellness. Thailand Post is leading the project and has already been distributing medical equipment to hospitals across the country and delivering medical supplies from hospitals to patients.

The Middle East and the US market

Moving from Southeast Asia to the Middle East Asia, The Abu Dhabi Department of Health (DoH) announced that the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is adopting advanced drones to distribute and transfer medical supplies within the healthcare sector. The project collaborates between the DoH, the General Civil Aviation Authority, SkyGo (a drone provider), and Matternet, the logistics service. 

In 2020, the US-based drone logistics company Volansi piloted the first delivery of temperature-controlled vaccines in the US, in partnership with Merck. San Francisco-headquartered Zipline has partnered with Walmart to trial the small-scale delivery of non-prescription drugs in Pea Ridge, Arkansas. Zipline has also completed the first drone deliveries in Nigeria’s Kaduna State. Zipline will operate three distribution centres across the state, covering an area of 46,000 sq km and delivering to approximately 500 health facilities serving millions of people.

The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) launched its first drone delivery system pilot in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, in 2021. It delivered COVID-19 tests, personal protective equipment (PPE) and medicines to some of the UK’s most remote communities.

Drone Delivery Canada worked in partnership with the University of British Columbia to deploy drones to the Stellat’en First Nation.

Alphabet subsidiary Wing launched its first commercial drone delivery service in a US metro area on April 7 in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to several thousand suburban homes. The drones fly health and wellness products from Walgreens directly to customers’ homes.

Last year, UPS Flight Forward began making COVID-19 vaccine deliveries via drone for Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist medical centre in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, using packaging from Cold Chain Technology developed for drones. UPS’s drone airline received first-of-its-kind approval from the FAA to carry alkaline and lithium batteries to power temperature monitoring devices required by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for COVID-19 vaccine transport.

Says Aarti Chitale, Senior Industry Analyst, Healthcare & Lifesciences, Frost & Sullivan, “Across Asia Pacific, drone usage is gaining traction in line with that of India. Countries including Singapore, South Korea (which are amongst the developed nations in APAC) as well as Malaysia, Indonesia (amongst the emerging/ developing nations), have built stringent drone laws for the commercial-scale usage of these machines.”

It may be noted that across Singapore, the country’s law mandates the registration of any drone (whether private or commercial) with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) for any drone weighing more than 250 grams. It is followed by obtaining the relevant certifications and licenses. Similarly, Malaysia does not permit flying drones above 400 feet and within 50 meters of any person, vehicle or structure which is not associated with the drone flying. 

According to the South Korea Office of Civil Aviation, drones for commercial usage require registration with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport with the operator requiring a legible license for operation in addition to the restriction on flying height, vicinity of structures and people amongst other things.

The India market

According to a recent report from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and EY, there are estimates that the drone market in India will surpass $900 million in the next two to three years. A report by 6Wresearch states that the Indian UAV market is poised to grow at a CAGR of 18 per cent during 2017–23, in terms of revenue. BIS Research predicts that the market for commercial drones superseded the military market by 2021, cumulatively hitting approximately $900 million.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recently released ‘Guidance Document for use of Drones in Healthcare’. The institute has published the document based on the field experience in Manipur and Nagaland. The objective of this document covers areas such as how to obtain regulatory approvals from competent authorities for various kinds of drones and utilising air space for delivering medical supplies restricted to medicines, vaccines and surgical materials. Over 15 startups in India are into manufacturing drones.

Challenges

There is a general perception that drones will make the matter easy for the healthcare industry. However, getting regulatory approvals from the government for startups and drone manufacturers can be a daunting task. Also, with many terror attacks being planned via drone from the neighbouring country, all aspects need to look into before giving a go-ahead. It may be noted that a proper tracking mechanism should be in place for countries having international borders to ensure that drones are not misused for human fatality.

Apart from the above concerns, investing in drones in rural areas can be quite challenging due to lower affordability leading to significantly lower adoption. Drones run on batteries and limited battery life could limit their usage across longer distances, especially in the rural/ remote locations in India. Also, drones require the corresponding infrastructure such as landing stations and communication systems, with good Internet connectivity, a lack of which will directly impact their usage.

When delivering temperature-sensitive medical supplies such as cold-stored vaccines, the environmental temperature, humidity and air and weather conditions can deplete the quality of the medical supplies and delay the supply timelines.  

The future

There is tremendous scope for drones in the healthcare sector. However, the easy availability of drones will lead to security issues where terrorist attacks take place using drones. With proper regulations in place, the drone culture in India’s health sector can be a win-win situation for the government, healthcare providers and patients.

Dr Neeraj Sood, Professor and Vice Dean- Research, University of Southern California Price School of Public Policy, says, “The need for drones is much more in India than in other places. A major challenge to the application of drone technology in the healthcare space would come concerning the regulatory infrastructure. The government must get all stakeholders together and build the required infrastructure for smooth operations of the drone technology for healthcare. For countries like South Korea, where things are generally more regulated and the people are more accepting of these regulations, and it’s smaller in size when compared to India, it might be faster for them to move forward with drone technology. Also, the application of drone technology might be easier in other fields such as retail since more checkpoints are required in the healthcare space, making it more stringent. For example, temperature monitoring of a blood sample needs to be done etc.”

Source: BioSpectrum