NBEC - ARPAS UK

ARPAS-UK Member Cranfield University is participating in two new research projects that focus on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for medical delivery purposes.

There are over 2.5 million movements of medical supplies, samples and other items between hospitals and medical centres annually in the UK, with the majority of movements being undertaken by commissioned couriers on the country’s road network. The projects, funded by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will seek to facilitate the movement of medical items and speed up deliveries, while also alleviating strain on congested roads and reducing emissions.

A project led by Skyfarer will look to create a flight testing corridor – subject to Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) approval – in Warwickshire, making history by providing the UK’s first drone-based medical deliveries in a populated suburban environment within unsegregated airspace. A second project, working with hospitals and NHS trusts directly, will create the first UK set of standard operational procedures (SOPs) for routine, drone-enabled delivery operations and demonstrate within hospital environments the automatic take-off, remote piloting and precision drone landing by hospital staff using the SOPs.

Professor Antonios Tsourdos, Head of the Autonomous and Cyber-Physical Systems Centre, Cranfield University, said: “The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent social distancing measures have expedited the need for home deliveries of goods, with the influx in demand putting massive strain on traditional delivery methods and supply chains, as well as hospital inventories. Autonomous drones are the ideal solution for efficiently delivering essential goods in compliance with social distancing regulations, since they don’t require a person to operate them or rely on traditional road-based infrastructure. We are delighted to be involved in these projects which could significantly improve point-to-point movement of critical medical supplies and allow hospitals to get the right product at the right time, quickly and efficiently, while limiting staff exposure to health risk and avoiding cross-contamination.”

Elliot Parnham, CEO and Founder, Skyfarer Ltd, said: “The Skyfarer project will move the adoption of drone solutions for logistics in the UK one step closer to reality. Heralding a new age of aerospace innovation, setting up this flight testing corridor will enable the testing of autonomous beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone technology in a suburban setting, providing a sustainable blueprint for gaining CAA approval and paving the way for commercial deliveries by drones to begin in the UK.”

Jens Mangelsen, Technical Director, DGP Intelsius Ltd and Principal Investigator for the Enabling UK Inter-site Medical Delivery Drone Operations project, said: “DGP Intelsius is continually seeking to be involved in the next generation of medical transportation systems and recognises that short-distance, airborne movements through the use of drone technologies are a potential new transportation mode, particularly in times of national contagion. This project brings together for the first time a unique consortium of hospital NHS trusts, nationally recognised airspace and drone specialists and ourselves to provide a rapid study, with outputs scalable at a UK level.”

The Skyfarer project will focus on validating the reliability and redundancy of the technology and creating a Concept of Operations (ConOps) in order to work towards an application to the CAA for the creation of the drone flight corridor. Regulations currently require UAVs to be operated within visual line of sight of the remote pilot at all times. Through the ongoing creation of the National Beyond visual line of sight Experimentation Corridor (NBEC), Cranfield University is also working with partners Blue Bear Systems Research, Thales and Vodafone to provide a safe, managed environment for UAV experimentation, ultimately working towards their unsegregated operation with manned aircraft in both controlled and uncontrolled airspace. NBEC is a member of the CAA’s Innovation Sandbox, which only contains eight approved organisations.

Co-investigators for the ‘Skyfarer – enabling drone powered medical logistics in the UK’ project also include Skyfarer and Altitude Angel, with Apian, ERS Medical, Avy and FlyPulse supporting. Other partners for the ‘Enabling UK Inter-site Medical Delivery Drone Operations: Meeting the logistical and operational challenges presented by SARS-CoV-2’ project are Blue Bear Systems Research, The Drone Office, Herotech8 and Kings College London University, who will work closely with Milton Keynes, Bedford and Luton & Dunstable hospitals.

Press Release by Cranfield University

21 October 2020

Blue Bear Systems Research Ltd, in Bedford, has successfully demonstrated a fully autonomous suite of multiple drone swarm assets, under Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) conditions as part of the National Beyond visual line of sight Experimentation Corridor with partner ARPAS-UK Member, Cranfield University.

This technology enables complex drone operations, where multiple assets are able to carry out simultaneous tasks, controlled by a single user, to create a swarm effect.

The five fixed wing drones clocked up 15 hours of flying time, over four days, in challenging weather conditions. The swarm comprised a combination of Blue Bear’s own Redkite and Cobra fixed wing systems, which flew multiple, simultaneous, sorties from a test range in the North West of England.

The drones were equipped with the latest Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology, and the airspace was managed by Blue Bear’s airspace deconfliction software. All of the assets were controlled by a single operator from Blue Bear’s Mission Command Control System (MCCS).

Ian Williams-Wynn, Managing Director of Blue Bear Systems, said: “This is an exciting development for us, proving our ability to operate multiple drones, simultaneously, using the latest Blue Bear technology to deliver a swarm effect under BVLOS conditions.”

Yoge Patel, CEO of Blue Bear, added: “As agile innovators, this, once again, proves that we are able to develop game-changing capability rapidly.”

NBEC is a collaboration between Cranfield University and Blue Bear Systems Research Ltd that aims to create an experimentation corridor that will enable drones and unmanned aircraft to fly in the same airspace as manned aircraft.

Blue Bear executed three-kilometre Extended Visual Line of Sight (EVLOS) race track flights within the Cranfield Air Traffic Zone, utilising their Blackstart Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) towards their facility in Oakley. Regulations currently require drones to operate within visual line of sight of the operator at all times. Under EVLOS conditions, observers are used to maintain the line of sight while providing situational awareness to the operator.

The NBEC partners believe the key to future drone operations is not segregation, but unification ensuring fair and equitable use of airspace for all. NBEC will provide a safe, managed environment for drone and unmanned aircraft experimentation which will work towards their integration into controlled and uncontrolled airspace. The aim is to see the corridor eventually stretch across Bedfordshire from Blue Bear’s headquarters in Oakley to Cranfield University’s airport.

Ian Williams-Wynn, Managing Director of Blue Bear, said: “When fully operational, the NBEC will be operated with Blue Bear and Cranfield running their respective systems, and will create an environment that allows other companies to come and test their UTM (Unified Traffic Management) concepts in a safe, managed environment.

“These initial flights, enabled us to provide Cranfield Airport with reassurance from an operational safety perspective that the systems Blue Bear had developed and put in place are appropriate and compatible with Cranfield Airport operations.”

Professor Iain Gray, Director of Aerospace at Cranfield University, said: “The Government’s new aviation strategy green paper highlights the exciting potential of modernising the UK’s airspace. These initial flights, mark an important step in the realisation of NBEC, which will be a national asset that will support the journey to the creation of a Unified Traffic Management system.”

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) recently hosted the NBEC Team at its London headquarters, and provided the team with support and encouragement on their project and their staged risk, managed approach. Workup flights will be continuing at both ends of the NBEC Corridor throughout 2019.

During this first phase of testing, the Cranfield Air Traffic Zone was cleared of manned aircraft, to enable the project team to establish the principles for future integrated NBEC operations.

22nd April 2020