A primary study on construction of urban unmanned aerial vehicle emergency blood distribution system / 中华急诊医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the feasibility and effectiveness of the construction of urban unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) blood distribution system, and to provide a novel way for the distribution of emergency blood.Methods:The study was completed in Hangzhou from April 2019 to January 2021, and the main participants were from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang Province Blood Center and Hangzhou Fast Ant Network Technology Co., Ltd. Firstly, an unmanned aircraft delivery system was built for urban emergency blood and a special blood storage box for drones were developed. The drone was used to deliver blood products from Zhejiang Province Blood Center to Binjiang Campus, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, and the following indicators were obtained: (1) flight time of the drone blood delivery; (2) real-time temperature of blood products during transportation; (3) Baidu map software was used to measure the blood delivery time of road traffic, which was compared with the flight time of the drone.Results:The urban drone blood delivery system consists of intelligent logistics drones, cryogenic blood storage tanks, unmanned logistics hub stations, and cloud-based operation control platforms. The drone route distance from Zhejiang Provincial Blood Center to Binjiang Campus, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine was 2.36±0.06 km, and the ground distance was 5.8 km, with 27 flights from April 12, 2019 to January 29, 2021, and the drone flight time was, shorter than the road travel time for a round trip [(6.37±0.35) min vs. (17.00±1.94) min]. At different time points of the day, UAV blood delivery could save 15.98-4.28 min, with an average saving of 10.62±1.87 min. Conclusions:Urban UAV blood delivery systems have the advantages of being fast, unaffected by ground traffic conditions, and can ensure the safety of blood products during transportation, and are worthy of further exploration.