A drop of blood: Irish doctors pioneer delivery of supplies …

While still at proof of concept stage, the work by the Cork-based team promises to revolutionise worldwide medical delivery systems. It offers the potential for a safer, faster and cheaper way of getting critical medicines from land to ferries, freighters, cruise ships and even oil rigs.

The system also offers the future potential for critical medicine transfers to islands where vessels may have difficulty in docking, or where a human transfer is either physically impossible or too dangerous.

The drone delivery system was the focus of the world’s first successful medi-delivery trials in Cork harbour last weekend involving a 250ml blood transfusion unit.

It proved blood products could be transferred by drone without any degradation.

Using a special drone, Dr Eoin Fogarty, a consultant in emergency medicine at Cork University Hospital (CUH), was able to transfer a supply of human blood from land to sea at a trials site just south of Spike Island in Cork harbour.

Dr Fogarty was working in collaboration with Cork Institute of Technology (CIT), National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI) and Skytec Ireland.

“The purpose of the trial was to determine if there was any degradation of the blood product due to a drone flight and subsequently dropping it into the sea for retrieval by a boat,” he said.

Data was obtained from the blood product during the transfer.

Data loggers kept track of the temperature, pressure changes, humidity, acceleration, deceleration and even the vibration of the blood during the drone flight and subsequent drop into the sea for retrieval.

“The blood was then brought back to land and on to CUH for testing for its integrity,” Dr Fogarty said.

“It was found that the blood was still perfectly suited to transfusion.”

The transfer was undertaken by a DGIM 6000 commercial drone specially modified by Skytec and physics experts from CIT.

A blood unit was transferred in a special water-tight vehicle which was remotely dropped into the sea close to the intended target, a rigid inflatable boat (RIB).

“The vehicle was in the water for around 30 seconds before retrieval,” Dr Fogarty said.

Retrieval was helped by two special strobe lights which remotely activated once the vehicle entered the water. Dr Fogarty said that while the proof-of-concept trial involved a 250ml blood transfusion unit, the delivery could also have involved medicines for critical care.

Irish Independent

Previous Airport chiefs test radar system that can target drones over…
Next JEDI spending included in DOD funding bill — Defense System…

Check Also

Ukrainian drones aim to turn war experience into civil busin…

Juggling two jobs is hard work. It’s particularly hard work when one of the jobs …

Local tech company expanding with new building in downtown F…

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — A Fresno tech and educational company is expanding. Quiq Labs held …