Transportation of medical supplies with drones. This is the object of the trial, which has just been successfully concluded, designed and built by Leonardo, Telespazio (joint venture between Leonardo 67% and Thales 33%) and Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù, in collaboration with ENAC (National Civil Aviation Authority). This is one of the first demonstrations in Italy of the delivery of biological samples and biomedical products, on routes that are not easily accessible by ordinary roads, with the aid of vertical take-off drones equipped with electric propulsion and therefore with very low ecological and acoustic impact.
The trials took place between 19 and 22 October. The drone transported medical material by flying near Rome between two sites of the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital over 32 km apart: from the sampling center of S. Marinella to the analysis center of Palidoro and vice versa, using an automatic control mode over operator's field of vision (BVLOS – Beyond Visual Line of Sight). The experimentation saw the use of Telespazio's T-DROMES cloud-based digital platform, which allows for the provision of end-to-end services: from planning to executing a drone's mission, up to processing the data acquired from edge.
“We are satisfied – commented Laurent Sissmann, Leonardo's SVP Unmanned Systems – with this milestone, achieved thanks to excellent partners such as the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital and Telespazio and with the collaboration of ENAC. The project is part of Leonardo's path of innovation and experimentation in Advanced Air Delivery, of which another fundamental element is the D-FLIGHT platform for the management of drone air traffic, created with ENAV. Leonardo is committed to supporting and protecting people and communities, contributing to their sustainable growth, thanks to its leadership in next generation technologies. Partnering with governments, private and other industries to deliver the best possible security capabilities is a cornerstone of our 'Be Tomorrow – Leonardo 2030' Strategic Plan and investing in autonomous systems is in line with our growth strategies. In particular, with the skills we are developing in this field, we want to support the country in gaining a leading position in the development of operations and services with remotely piloted aircraft systems".
"We are very happy to be able to collaborate with Leonardo on such an innovative project - added the president of the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital, Mariella Enoc - We strongly wanted to start the experimentation in this period of pandemic, which requires all health workers to have a strong acceleration of diagnostic pathways. The experimentation will allow us to study the development of a service that can produce strong improvements in clinical and logistic processes, to the future benefit of the entire regional and national health system".
“Remotely piloted aircraft - declared the Director General of ENAC, Alessio Quaranta - represent one of the driving elements of the current industrial revolution which the scientific and industrial communities around the world are looking at with interest. Being able to use them for health and social purposes makes these tools even more essential for the sustainable development of our society. The release of the authorization that allowed the experimentation is the result of an important support activity for the development of the operational concept project and the technical evaluation carried out by ENAC and the institutional coordination with all the actors involved, for the execution of the operations in a particularly complex context such as that of the terminal area of Rome which includes approaches and departures from the airports of Fiumicino and Ciampino. A special thanks from us to the Ministry of the Interior, the Prefecture of Rome, the Rome Police Headquarters, the Air Force, the Italian Army, the Port Authority and the Coast Guard, ENAV, the 118 Rescue Service, the Municipality of Santa Marinella, the Municipality of Fiumicino, as well as which, naturally, to Leonardo, Telespazio and the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital ”.
