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Vaccine Delivery via Drone
1593 6 2017-6-14
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Yorick Nicholls
lvl.3
Flight distance : 790758 ft
Vanuatu
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Good morning fellow pilots,

As the title suggests, the delivery of vaccines via drones is the subject matter. And I would greatly appreciate input from the most knowledgeable pilots of the industry.
Before I lay out my concerns, please read the follow article from today's Vanuatu Daily Post newspaper:
20170615_092713.jpg
I find the endeavour noble and original. And I'm sure it's been trialed/done before elsewhere, even for other purposes. After all, DHL are contemplating it for parcel deliveries, or might even have already implemented it.

Anyways, back to the concerns at hand. As I understand it, consumer level drones can for the moment only be operated via line of sight. Not so much for controls, but more importantly for feedback of data and imagery. Satelitte control, is not accessible to common folk and isn't reliable for rapid data feedback. At least not for this application I read in an article. The pre-programming of a drone I believe can only aid with flight paths (waypoints) but ultimately I don't see how one could pre-program a drone to land and take-off at/from X location. That's the main concern. On top of this, Vanuatu is riddled with wild vegetation, meaning without the aid of human controls it is likely many drones will experience signal issues, followed by craches from impact with fauna due to poor positioning or tropical winds.

If one was to rely on line of sight alone thus manual controls, here again vegetation would cause issues. As tree lines are very high and dense, which would almost always cause a loss of signal before a drone could even touch ground. Let alone be 5m from it.

I'm wanting to lend my knowledge to the Vanuatu GOV to ensure they don't get sidetracked over this. Ultimately I won't be able to participate as I aim to depart by end of 2017.

What do you folks think?

Cheers,

Yorick Nicholls
Daisy The Drone
www.daisythedrone.com

2017-6-14
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Euc
lvl.3
Flight distance : 69 ft
Australia
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The technology is out there already. It would probably be best for the Govt to tie in with Google etc; whoever is trialing drone deliveries. The software Litchi, would be capable of taking off at X and landing at Y, since the flight program is uploaded to the drone and not dependent on the remote (which is not legal flight in Australia without appropriate licensing). Most communities in Vanuatu have an open field, school etc for a clear landing. Given the extra weight of the vaccines, and distances required, they would need something bigger than the humble Phantom 4.
2017-6-18
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Yorick Nicholls
lvl.3
Flight distance : 790758 ft
Vanuatu
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Euc Posted at 2017-6-18 02:06
The technology is out there already. It would probably be best for the Govt to tie in with Google etc; whoever is trialing drone deliveries. The software Litchi, would be capable of taking off at X and landing at Y, since the flight program is uploaded to the drone and not dependent on the remote (which is not legal flight in Australia without appropriate licensing). Most communities in Vanuatu have an open field, school etc for a clear landing. Given the extra weight of the vaccines, and distances required, they would need something bigger than the humble Phantom 4.

Hi Euc,

Thank you very much for your constructive feedback!
So Litchi might offer them a solution? Good to know. I shall liaise that to the Dir of CAAV and ensure your contribution is noted.

Their biggest issue is going to be expanding the network to cover the dozens of islands of the archipelago of Vanuatu. Given standard battery life + payload of even a higher performance drone, they'll have to launch within only a few kms if they hope to get the unit back in one piece.

When dealing with such an intricate project in an environment so dense, tropical weather, and a people so tech-challenged, I see so many challenges ahead for them.
2017-6-22
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Richard - Drone
lvl.1

Australia
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Yorick, a medical delivery drone from Vayu (www.vayu.us/) that is VTOL with forward flight which would be suitable for Vanautu is already on the market. Flights are autonomous (up to 100km), it has built in LIDAR for obstacle avoidance on landing. If you'd like more information e-mail me at richard@droneservicesfiji.com.fj
2017-11-6
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Yorick Nicholls
lvl.3
Flight distance : 790758 ft
Vanuatu
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Richard - Drone Posted at 2017-11-6 00:26
Yorick, a medical delivery drone from Vayu (www.vayu.us/) that is VTOL with forward flight which would be suitable for Vanautu is already on the market. Flights are autonomous (up to 100km), it has built in LIDAR for obstacle avoidance on landing. If you'd like more information e-mail me at

Thank you Richard.
They contacted me direct recently. Although I'm soon leaving the country so it's up to the Van Gov now...
2017-11-9
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M.C. Pilot
Captain
Flight distance : 10278435 ft
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United States
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Drones doing a great deed. Exceptional service for those in need.
2017-12-11
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Nebuchadnezzar
Captain
Flight distance : 3428747 ft
Spain
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aMAZING !! tHANKS FOR SHARE !
2017-12-12
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