Bengaluru: The original drone developed by the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), the Scientific Council Laboratory and Industrial Research (CSIR), used to provide Covid-19 vaccine from a primary health center (PHC) to Bengaluru on Saturday.
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The drone sent 50 bottles of Covid-19 vaccine along with syringes in a special container from Chandapura PHC to Haragadde PHC.
Octocopter CSIR-NAL, unmanned air vehicle, has a vaccine operator with a weight of 5kg and takes off from Chandapura PHC at 9.43 in the morning.
It arrived at Haragadde PHC at 9.53 in the morning.
It was flown at an altitude of 300m above the ground at a speed of 10Mps (meters per second) and covered the air distance about 7 km in 10 minutes.
After sending vaccines at Haragadde, Oktokopter returned to Chandapura PHC.
The entire mission covers a distance of 14 km in 20 minutes.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has given conditional permits to CSIR-Nal to conduct outside the visual lines (BVLOS) flight test.
“Nal’s Occocopter can carry a 15kg charge with a 40-minute durability.
It can fly at the operational height of 500m above the ground and at the maximum flight speed of 36kmph,” said the release from the lab.
This drone is made of light carbon fiber with a folding structure.
PV Satyanarayana Murthy, Head of UAV, CSIR-Nal, said that using Octocopter for delivery is needed in this country for deeper vaccine penetration in remote areas.
“UAV is actually designed for agricultural purposes.
It can carry a 20kg charge.
See a pandemic situation, we want to see if we can use it for vaccine shipments.
We have used the UAV to send a vaccine for the first time,” he said.
He added that vaccine delivery drones can be increased elsewhere if the country approaches the nal.
“Nal octocopter is perfectly designed for such missions and is easy to operate.
Nal has been tied with private companies for drone making and offering operational services,” said the release.
‘It might be more useful at Hills’srinivas SG, District Health Officers, Bengaluru Urban, said drone shipments vaccine save time and human resources.
“To send a vaccine operator via the road, it will take a minimum of 30-45 minutes, depending on traffic.
This device might be more useful in the hills of Kodagu Regency and Uttara Kannada,” he said.
Nal Oktocopter can be used for various BVLOS applications for drug delivery, vaccines, food, postal packages, and human organs.
It can also be used to spray pesticides, monitor plants, and for mining surveys and mapping Geo magnetic surveys, the release said.