Drone for medical products transportation in maternal healthcare: A systematic review and framework for future research

Systematic Research and Application of a 5G Medical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to Deliver COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Samples

The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of COVID-19 throat swab samples delivered by medical drones in epidemic prevention and control. This study was carried out in both southern and northern hospital districts of the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University from May to October 2022. The main participants were the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University and Zhejiang Antwork Technology Co., Ltd. We first constructed an urban medical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) delivery system and developed a UAV-specific storage box for COVID-19 samples. The UAV system was used to transport COVID-19 throat swab samples from the northern hospital district to the southern hospital district, and the following indexes were obtained: (1) flight time of COVID-19 samples delivered by UAV, (2) real-time temperature of COVID-19 nucleic acid samples during transportation, and (3) the time of distribution of COVID-19 nucleic acid samples by road traffic as measured using the Baidu Maps application, compared with the flight time of UAV. The COVID-19 sample delivery system for urban medical UAV mainly consists of intelligent logistics UAV, low-temperature COVID-19 throat swab sample storage box, unmanned logistics hub, and cloud operation control platform. The flight distance between the northern and southern districts of the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University was 10 km, and the ground distance was 24 km. From May 11 to October 28, 2022, a total of 1,190 UAV flights occurred. The average flight time was 13 minutes, which was 40 to 70 minutes faster than the average road travel time required for manual delivery of COVID-19 throat swab samples. At different time points in the day, UAV delivery efficiency increased by 67.5% to 82%. The use of 5G with the Internet of Things and UAV technology to deliver nucleic acid samples has the characteristics of fast speed, being unaffected by ground traffic conditions, and the ability to ensure the safety of nucleic acid samples in the transportation process, which is worthy of further study.

Innovative blood transfusion strategies to address global blood deserts: a consensus statement from the Blood Delivery via Emerging Strategies for Emergency Remote Transfusion (Blood DESERT) Coalition

In rural settings worldwide, many people live in effective blood deserts without access to any blood transfusion. The traditional system of blood banking is logistically complex and expensive for many resource-restricted settings and demands innovative and multidisciplinary solutions. 17 international experts in medicine, industry, and policy participated in an exploratory process with a 2-day hybrid seminar centred on three promising innovative strategies for blood transfusions in blood deserts: civilian walking blood banks, intraoperative autotransfusion, and drone-based blood delivery. Participant working groups conducted literature reviews and interviews to develop three white papers focused on the current state and knowledge gaps of each innovation. Seminar discussion focused on defining blood deserts and developing innovation-specific implementation agendas with key research and policy priorities for future work. Moving forward, advocates should prioritise the identification of blood deserts and address the context-specific challenges for these innovations to alleviate the ongoing crisis in blood deserts.

Risks of Drone Use in Light of Literature Studies

This article aims to present the results of a bibliometric analysis of relevant literature and discuss the main research streams related to the topic of risks in drone applications. The methodology of the conducted research consisted of five procedural steps, including the planning of the research, conducting a systematic review of the literature, proposing a classification framework corresponding to contemporary research trends related to the risk of drone applications, and compiling the characteristics of the publications assigned to each of the highlighted thematic groups. This systematic literature review used the PRISMA method. A total of 257 documents comprising articles and conference proceedings were analysed. On this basis, eight thematic categories related to the use of drones and the risks associated with their operation were distinguished. Due to the high content within two of these categories, a further division into subcategories was proposed to illustrate the research topics better. The conducted investigation made it possible to identify the current research trends related to the risk of drone use and pointed out the existing research gaps, both in the area of risk assessment methodology and in its application areas. The results obtained from the analysis can provide interesting material for both industry and academia.

Unmanned aerial vehicles and pre-hospital emergency medicine

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used in many industrial and commercial roles and have an increasing number of medical applications. This article reviews the characteristics of UAVs and their current applications in pre-hospital emergency medicine. The key roles are transport of equipment and medications and potentially passengers to or from a scene and the use of cameras to observe or communicate with remote scenes. The potential hazards of UAVs both deliberate or accidental are also discussed.

Drone a technological leap in health care delivery in distant and remote inaccessible areas: A narrative review

In developing countries, last-mile delivery of medical products is a challenge, especially in hilly and rural areas where there is no road connectivity. As helicopters or other air services are not affordable all the time, drones can be used for the supply of medical products. They are cost-effective as compared to other air or road transport. However, the carrying capacity of drone is less, it is not able to carry heavier payloads. Also, operating drones requires trained operators, and it is a new venture in a developing country so possibilities of confusion and lack of clarity on operating procedures are there. Drones are becoming increasingly reliable for the health care delivery. This narrative review explores the use of drones in healthcare delivery globally.

Acceptance of medical drone technology and its determinant factors among public and healthcare personnel in a Malaysian urban environment: knowledge, attitude, and perception

Introduction

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used for commercial, medical, public safety, and scientific research purposes in various countries.

Methods

This study aimed to explore the acceptance of medical delivery drones among medical practitioners as well as the public community in Malaysia using a knowledge, attitude, and perception (KAP) model and statistical analysis to decrease uncertainty. Bivariate and multivariate analyses of the results were performed in SPSS.

Results

A total of 639 respondents took part in the survey, of which 557 complete responses were finally analyzed. The results showed that the overall acceptance rate for medical delivery drones was positive. The acceptance rate was significantly correlated with knowledge, attitude, and perception scores but not with sociodemographic factors.

Discussion

Raising awareness and educating the medical as well as public communities regarding the potential role and benefits of drones are therefore important in garnering support for drone usage for medical purposes.

Exploring the transformative role of drone technology in advancing healthcare delivery in Africa; a perspective

This perspective article delves into the transformative potential of drone technology in revolutionising healthcare delivery in Africa. The continent faces numerous challenges in providing timely and efficient medical services to its vast and diverse population, compounded by geographical barriers, inadequate infrastructure and limited access to medical facilities. Amidst these challenges, the integration of drone technology emerges as a promising solution, offering unprecedented opportunities to overcome longstanding obstacles and improve healthcare accessibility across Africa. Drawing from existing drone-based healthcare initiatives in Africa, the article explores various applications of drones in healthcare delivery. These encompass but are not limited to, delivering vaccines, medications, blood samples, diagnostic tools and medical personnel to remote locations in a timely and cost-effective manner. Furthermore, the paper examines the operational challenges and regulatory considerations in deploying drone technology for healthcare and the ethical implications surrounding privacy and security.

Emvolio - A battery operated portable refrigerator preserves biochemical and haematological integrity of biological samples in preclinical studies

Background: Emvolio is a non-medical device, indigenously developed portable refrigeration for maintaining the internal temperature 2-8˚C. The Indian Patent Office has granted patent for applications such as preservation and transport of medicines, vaccines, food, beverages, dairy etc. Further, use of Emvolio can be utilized in transport and store biologicals to preserve their biochemical and cellular integrity.  The objective of this study was to evaluate the biochemical and haematological integrity of biological samples such as rat blood, serum and liver. Methods: The steady temperature was maintained inside the Emvolio, and it was compared to that of thermocol and polypropylene boxes aided with frozen gel packs. The blood and liver samples were isolated from Wistar rats and kept in Emvolio, thermocol and polypropylene boxes for 10 hrs, and the temperature was monitored. The blood parameters, namely red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC), platelets, haematocrit, haemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and red cell distribution width (RDW), serum parameters like alanine transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, total protein, albumin, creatine kinase, blood urea nitrogen and liver parameters like superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), catalase were estimated and compared. Results: Emvolio maintained a constant inner temperature range of 2-8˚C, whereas a significant temperature variation was seen in thermocol and polypropylene boxes. There was no significant deviation in the parameters tested when samples were kept in Emvolio for six hours compared to the zero hour readings. In contrast, there was a significant deviation among the parameters for the samples kept in thermocol and polypropylene boxes for six hours compared to zero hour parameters. Conclusions: Emvolio maintained constant temperature and preserved the biological integrity of rat blood, serum and liver. Thus, Emvolio can be efficiently used as a biological sample carrier, especially in preclinical studies.

Survey on Path Planning for UAVs in Healthcare Missions

This article presents a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art applications and methodologies related to the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the healthcare sector, with a particular focus on path planning. UAVs have gained remarkable attention in healthcare during the outbreak of COVID-19, and this study explores their potential as a viable option for medical transportation. The survey categorizes existing studies by mission type, challenges addressed, and performance metrics to provide a clearer picture of the path planning problems and potential directions for future research. It highlights the importance of addressing the path planning problem and the challenges that UAVs may face during their missions, including the UAV delivery range limitation, and discusses recent solutions in this field. The study concludes by encouraging researchers to conduct their studies in a realistic environment to reveal UAVs' real potential, usability, and feasibility in the healthcare domain.

3D Global Path Planning Optimization for Cellular-Connected UAVs under Link Reliability Constraint

This paper proposes an effective global path planning technique for cellular-connected UAVs to enhance the reliability of unmanned aerial vehicles' (UAVs) flights operating beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS). Cellular networks are considered one of the leading enabler technologies to provide a ubiquitous and reliable communication link for UAVs. First, this paper investigates a reliable aerial zone based on an extensive aerial drive test in a 4G network within a suburban environment. Then, the path planning problem for the cellular-connected UAVs is formulated under communication link reliability and power consumption constraints. To provide a realistic optimization solution, all constraints of the optimization problem are defined based on real-world scenarios; in addition, the presence of static obstacles and no-fly zones is considered in the path planning problem. Two powerful intelligent optimization algorithms, the genetic algorithm (GA) and the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, are used to solve the defined optimization problem. Moreover, a combination of both algorithms, referred to as PSO-GA, is used to overcome the inherent shortcomings of the algorithms. The performances of the algorithms are compared under different scenarios in simulation environments. According to the statistical analysis of the aerial drive test, existing 4G base stations are able to provide reliable aerial coverage up to a radius of 500 m and a height of 85 m. The statistical analysis of the optimization results shows that PSO-GA is a more stable and effective algorithm to rapidly converge to a feasible solution for UAV path planning problems, with a far faster execution time compared with PSO and GA, about two times. To validate the performance of the proposed solution, the simulation results are compared with the real-world aerial drive test results. The results comparison proves the effectiveness of the proposed path planning method in suburban environments with 4G coverage. The proposed method can be extended by identifying the aerial link reliability of 5G networks to solve the UAV global path planning problem in the current 5G deployment.

Best Practices to Implement Dried Blood Spot Sampling for Therapeutic Drug Monitoring in Clinical Practice

BACKGROUND

Sampling of blood at home to determine the concentration of drugs or other compounds can be effective in limiting hospital-based sampling. This could lower hospital visits and patient burden, improve the quality of life, and reduce health care costs. Dried blood spot (DBS) microsampling is often used for this purpose, wherein capillary blood, obtained by pricking the heel or finger, is used to measure different analytes. Although DBS has several advantages over venous blood sampling, it is not routinely implemented in clinical practice. To facilitate the bench to bedside transition, it is important to be aware of certain challenges that need to be considered and addressed.

RESULTS

Here, important considerations regarding the implementation of DBS in clinical practice, the choice of patients, blood sampling, transport, and laboratory analysis are discussed. In addition, we share our experience and provide suggestions on how to deal with these problems in a clinical setting.

Influence of drone carriage material on maintenance of storage temperature and quality of blood samples during transportation in an equatorial climate

The disruptive potentials of drones are rapidly growing including for the delivery of blood samples in healthcare. Maintenance of the quality of blood samples is important to ascertain that the drone is a safe mode of transportation, particularly during emergencies and in critical cases. The influence of the drone carriage material on blood samples transportation was investigated in this study. Two phases of drone simulation flights were conducted in Cyberjaya, Malaysia. In Phase 1, the effect of drone carriage material on the internal storage temperature during blood samples transportation was determined. Three types of carriage materials were compared: aluminium, expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam, and polypropylene (PP) plastic. In Phase 2, the quality of drone-transported blood samples was assessed, using the best material from Phase 1 as the drone carriage material. Biochemical and hematological analyses of 60 blood samples were conducted using five parameters. In Phase 1, EPS foam was found to be the best material to maintain a stable and favorable internal storage temperature at mean kinetic temperature ±SD of 4.70 ±1.14°C. Much higher and unfavorable mean kinetic temperatures were recorded for aluminium (11.46 ±0.35°C) and plastic (14.17 ±0.05°C). In Phase 2, laboratory tests show that the quality of blood samples was well maintained, and the mean biochemical and hematological parameters of drone-transported blood samples showed no significant alteration compared to ground controls. Drone carriage material is an important determinant of the quality of blood samples transported by drone, particularly in hot equatorial climates as in Malaysia. The blood storage temperature was best maintained using EPS foam, as evidenced by the favorable average temperature and preservation of hematological and biochemical parameters of the blood samples.

Reliable Aerial Mobile Communications with RSRP & RSRQ Prediction Models for the Internet of Drones: A Machine Learning Approach

The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry is moving toward beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations to unlock future internet of drones applications, including unmanned environmental monitoring and long-range delivery services. A reliable and ubiquitous mobile communication link plays a vital role in ensuring flight safety. Cellular networks are considered one of the main enablers of BVLOS operations. However, the existing cellular networks are designed and optimized for terrestrial use cases. To investigate the reliability of provided aerial coverage by the terrestrial cellular base stations (BSs), this article proposes six machine learning-based models to predict reference signal received power (RSRP) and reference signal received quality (RSRQ) based on the multiple linear regression, polynomial, and logarithmic methods. In this regard, first, a UAV-to-BS measurement campaign was conducted in a 4G LTE network within a suburban environment. Then, the aerial coverage was statistically analyzed and the prediction methods were developed as a function of distance and elevation angle. The results reveal the capability of terrestrial BSs in providing aerial coverage under some circumstances, which mainly depends on the distance between the UAV and BS and flight height. The performance evaluation shows that the proposed RSRP and RSRQ models achieved RMSE of 4.37 dBm and 2.71 dB for testing samples, respectively.

A Conceptual Approach to Time Savings and Cost Competitiveness Assessments for Drone Transport of Biologic Samples with Unmanned Aerial Systems (Drones)

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, drones) are expected to save transport time and improve service reliability for transport of biologic samples, but few studies have evaluated the potential time savings of such services. The total transport time defined as time from sample ready for transport until arrival at the laboratory was used to assess the absolute and relative time savings of drones compared with ground transport, using ground distances from 4–7 km (urban model) to 179–262 km (rural district routes) with one to eight daily scheduled trips. Costs of existing ground transport were allocated to drone flight times as a proxy for drone cost competitiveness. Time savings were less than 20–30% in the urban model but 65–74% in the rural routes using drone speeds of 100 km/h, but the time between trips (route frequencies) and drone speeds influenced the relative time savings substantially. Cost of time gains per number of samples was less favorable using drones in the rural models due to lower transport volumes. This research concludes that drone solutions provide marginal gains for short-distance transports, whereas time savings are more promising in long transport models with appropriate scheduling and sufficiently high drone speeds.

A Socio-Analytical Approach to the Integration of Drones into Health Care Systems

The integration of drones into health care as a supplement to existing logistics methods may generate a need for cooperation and involvement across multiple resource areas. It is currently not well understood whether such integrations would merely represent a technical implementation or if they would cause more significant changes to laboratory services. By choosing socio-technical theory as the theoretical lens, this paper intends to harvest knowledge from the literature on various organizational concepts and examine possible synergies between such theories to determine optimal strategies for introducing the use of drones in a health care context. Our particular interest is to examine whether the insights generated from the multi-level perspective (MLP) may have the potential to create dynamic spin-offs related to the organizational transitions associated with the implementation of drones in health services. We built our study on a scoping literature review of topics associated with the MLP and socio-technical studies from differing arenas, supplemented with studies harvested on a broader basis. The scoping review is based on 25 articles that were selected for analysis. As a way of organizing the literature, the niche, regime, and landscape levels of the MLP are translated to the corresponding health care-related terms, i.e., clinic, institution, and health care system. Furthermore, subcategories emerged inductively during the process of analysis. The MLP provides essential knowledge regarding the context for innovation and how the interaction between the different levels can accelerate the diffusion of innovations. Several authors have put both ethical topics and public acceptance into a socio-technological perspective. Although a socio-technical approach is not needed to operate drones, it may help in the long run to invest in a culture that is open to innovation and change.

Application of Smart Mobile Medical Services in Maternal Health Care Management

In order to standardize the health management of pregnant women, improve the health level of pregnant women, and improve the outcome of pregnancy with the help of the smartphone mobile terminal app, the 100 pregnant women who gave birth in the hospital and participated in the management of the health assistant app were selected as the observation group, and the 100 hospitalized pregnant women who did not participate in the management of the app were selected as the control group. The two groups of pregnant women were compared in their knowledge of health care, compliance of prenatal examination, delivery mode, and follow-up rate. The results showed that the observation group was significantly higher than the control group in the knowledge of health care during pregnancy and perinatal period, the rate of natural childbirth, the compliance rate of prenatal examination, and the follow-up rate. After the system was launched, the number of registered pregnant women reached more than 60% of the total number of pregnant women in the hospital, the number of clicks reached more than 2 million times, the number of clinic settlement accounted for more than 30%, and the interpretation rate of fetal heart rate in outpatient and remote clinics reached more than 20%. The diagnosis and treatment process has been significantly improved, and the implementation effect has reached the expectation. O2O maternal and child service mode has been realized through mobile internet technology. It has been proved that the use of smart mobile terminals in the out-of-hospital health care management of pregnant women not only facilitates medical staff to provide timely personalized medical services for pregnant women but also is convenient for pregnant women to obtain health care knowledge through multiple channels, improve the quality of home health management for pregnant women, and effectively improve the pregnancy outcome.

Drone versus ambulance for blood products transportation: an economic evaluation study

BACKGROUND

Medical transportation is an essential step in health care services, and includes ground, air and water transportation. Among the important uses of medical transportation is the delivery of blood products in the event of a clinical emergency. Drone technology is the latest technological advancement that may revolutionize medical transportation globally. Nonetheless, its economic evaluation is scant and insufficient, whilst its cost-effectiveness remains controversial. The aim of this study was to compare the cost-effectiveness of drone transportation versus the ambulance.

METHODS

The setting of the study was within a developing nation. An economic evaluation study of drone versus ambulance for emergency blood products transportation between the Sabah Women and Children Hospital (SWACH) and the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital (QEH2) on Borneo Island was conducted using the Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) technique. The total cost of each mode of transportation was calculated using the Activity Based Costing (ABC) method. Travel time was used as a denominator to estimate the Incremental Cost Effectiveness Ratio (ICER).

RESULTS

For one clinical emergency in SWACH, a round trip of blood products transportation from SWACH to QEH2 costs RM1,266.02 (USD307.09) when using the ambulance, while the drone costs RM1,313.28 (USD319.36). The travel time for the drone was much shorter (18 min) compared to the ambulance (34 min). The Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (CER) of ambulance transportation was RM37.23 (USD9.05) per minute whilst the CER of drone transportation was RM72.96 (USD17.74) per minute. The ICER of drone versus ambulance was - 2.95, implying an increase of RM2.95 in cost for every minute saved using a drone instead of an ambulance.

CONCLUSION

Although drone transportation of blood products costs more per minute compared to the ambulance, the significantly shorter transport time of the drone offset its cost. Thus, we believe there is good economic potential for drone usage for blood products transportation in developing nations particularly if the drone price decreases and its operational lifespan increases. Our limitation of a non-clinical denominator used in this study leads to the recommendation for use of clinical outcomes in future studies.

Rahim MH, Nordin R, Mohamed F, Abu-Samah A, Abdullah NF. Ionizing Radiation Monitoring Technology at the Verge of Internet of Things

As nuclear technology evolves, and continues to be used in various fields since its discovery less than a century ago, radiation safety has become a major concern to humans and the environment. Radiation monitoring plays a significant role in preventive radiological nuclear detection in nuclear facilities, hospitals, or in any activities associated with radioactive materials by acting as a tool to measure the risk of being exposed to radiation while reaping its benefit. Apart from in occupational settings, radiation monitoring is required in emergency responses to radiation incidents as well as outdoor radiation zones. Several radiation sensors have been developed, ranging from as simple as a Geiger-Muller counter to bulkier radiation systems such as the High Purity Germanium detector, with different functionality for use in different settings, but the inability to provide real-time data makes radiation monitoring activities less effective. The deployment of manned vehicles equipped with these radiation sensors reduces the scope of radiation monitoring operations significantly, but the safety of radiation monitoring operators is still compromised. Recently, the Internet of Things (IoT) technology has been introduced to the world and offered solutions to these limitations. This review elucidates a systematic understanding of the fundamental usage of the Internet of Drones for radiation monitoring purposes. The extension of essential functional blocks in IoT can be expanded across radiation monitoring industries, presenting several emerging research opportunities and challenges. This article offers a comprehensive review of the evolutionary application of IoT technology in nuclear and radiation monitoring. Finally, the security of the nuclear industry is discussed.

Impact of Using Drones in Emergency Medicine: What Does the Future Hold?

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles or "drones" has expanded in the last decade, as their technology has become more sophisticated, and costs have decreased. They are now used routinely in farming, environmental surveillance, public safety, commercial product delivery, recreation, and other applications. Health-related applications are only recently becoming more widely explored and accepted. The use of drone technology in emergency medicine is especially promising given the need for a rapid response to enhance patient outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to describe some of the main current and expanding applications of drone technology in emergency medicine and to describe challenges and future opportunities. Current applications being studied include delivery of defibrillators in response to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, blood and blood products in response to trauma, and rescue medications. Drones are also being studied and actively used in emergency response to search and rescue operations as well as disaster and mass casualty events. Current challenges to expanding their use in emergency medicine and emergency medical system (EMS) include regulation, safety, flying conditions, concerns about privacy, consent, and confidentiality, and details surrounding the development, operation, and maintenance of a medical drone network. Future research is needed to better understand end user perceptions and acceptance. Continued technical advances are needed to increase payload capacities, increase flying distances, and integrate drone networks into existing 9-1-1 and EMS systems. Drones are a promising technology for improving patient survival, outcomes, and quality of life, particularly for those in areas that are remote or that lack funds or infrastructure. Their cost savings compared with ground transportation alone, speed, and convenience make them particularly applicable in the field of emergency medicine. Research to date suggests that use of drones in emergency medicine is feasible, will be accepted by the public, is cost-effective, and has broad application.

LoRa Communications as an Enabler for Internet of Drones towards Large-Scale Livestock Monitoring in Rural Farms

Currently, smart farming is considered an effective solution to enhance the productivity of farms; thereby, it has recently received broad interest from service providers to offer a wide range of applications, from pest identification to asset monitoring. Although the emergence of digital technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs), has led to significant advances in the smart farming industry, farming operations still need more efficient solutions. On the other hand, the utilization of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, is growing rapidly across many civil application domains. This paper aims to develop a farm monitoring system that incorporates UAV, LPWAN, and IoT technologies to transform the current farm management approach and aid farmers in obtaining actionable data from their farm operations. In this regard, an IoT-based water quality monitoring system was developed because water is an essential aspect in livestock development. Then, based on the Long-Range Wide-Area Network (LoRaWAN^®) technology, a multi-channel LoRaWAN^® gateway was developed and integrated into a vertical takeoff and landing drone to convey collected data from the sensors to the cloud for further analysis. In addition, to develop LoRaWAN^®-based aerial communication, a series of measurements and simulations were performed under different configurations and scenarios. Finally, to enhance the efficiency of aerial-based data collection, the UAV path planning was optimized. Measurement results showed that the maximum achievable LoRa coverage when operating on-air via the drone is about 10 km, and the Longley–Rice irregular terrain model provides the most suitable path loss model for the scenario of large-scale farms, and a multi-channel gateway with a spreading factor of 12 provides the most reliable communication link at a high drone speed (up to 95 km/h). Simulation results showed that the developed system can overcome the coverage limitation of LoRaWAN^® and it can establish a reliable communication link over large-scale wireless sensor networks. In addition, it was shown that by optimizing flight paths, aerial data collection could be performed in a much shorter time than industrial mission planning (up to four times in our case).

The effect of drone transport on the stability of biochemical, coagulation and hematological parameters in healthy individuals

Objectives

Transport of blood tubes is mainly by car or pneumatic transport. The transportation of blood tubes by drones is a novel approach for rapid transportation of blood tubes over long distances. However, limited data on the stability of biochemical, coagulation and hematological parameters is available after transport of blood tubes by drone.

Methods

To investigate the effect of drone transport on the stability of blood parameters, four test flights were performed. Blood was drawn from 20 healthy individuals and 39 of the most frequently measured blood parameters were compared between 4 groups; immediate measurement (control), late measurement, transport by car and transport by drone. Total Allowable Error (TAE) of the EFLM Biological Variation Database was used to determine the clinical relevance of significant differences.

Results

The majority of blood parameters were not affected by drone transport. Eight of the measured parameters showed significant differences between all the groups; glucose, phosphate, potassium, chloride, hemoglobin, platelet count, APTT and Lactate dehydrogenase (LD). A clinically relevant increase for LD after transport and a decrease for glucose values in time and after transport compared with the control group was shown.

Conclusions

Transportation of blood tubes from healthy individuals by drones has a limited clinically relevant effect. From the 39 investigated blood parameters only LD and glucose showed a clinically relevant effect.

Mobile Network Performance and Technical Feasibility of LTE-Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Conventional and license-free radio-controlled drone activities are limited to a line-of-sight (LoS) operational range. One of the alternatives to operate the drones beyond the visual line-of-sight (BVLoS) range is replacing the drone wireless communications system from the conventional industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) radio band to a licensed cellular-connected system. The Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology that has been established for the terrestrial area allows command-and-control and payload communications between drone and ground station in real-time. However, with increasing height above the ground, the radio environment changes, and utilizing terrestrial cellular networks for drone communications may face new challenges. In this regard, this paper aims to develop an LTE-based control system prototype for low altitude small drones and investigate the feasibility and performance of drone cellular connectivity at different altitudes with measuring parameters such as latency, handover, and signal strength. The measurement results have shown that by increasing flight height from ground to 170 m the received signal power and the signal quality levels were reduced by 20 dBm and 10 dB respectively, the downlink data rate decreased to 70%, and latency increased up to 94 ms. It is concluded that although the existing LTE network can provide a minimum requirement for drone cellular connectivity, further improvements are still needed to enhance aerial coverage, eliminate interference, and reduce network latency.