Development of Low Cost Medical Drone, Using COTS Equipment

This paper describes the development of a low cost Drone System developed with 3D printer and Commercial of the Shelf equipment (COTS), for the use in a pandemic scenario, where the authorities have a lack of resources to guarantee of the law, order and sanitary procedures. In the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, due the lack of knowledge of this disease, only the strict necessary services were working, directly affecting the medical workforce, cleaning services and others related, as well the social relationship between the people. The infected “places”, e.g., Hospital and places where people tested positive for COVID-19, were physically isolated, with limited communication and restrict access. Considering the intrinsic challenges by this situational hazard scenario, three Drone model were developed, the Medical Drone System (MDS). The first system is called by Cargo Drone, it was developed to carrier medical equipment and/or medicines between two points, the second development was the Aerial Eye Drone, to remotely check the people temperature on the ground using thermal cameras. The third system, is called by Sterilizer Drone. It is employed for spraying/disinfect the environment, e.g., urban region (train, metro, bus stations or indoor big places). During the pandemic scenario, we had a lack of resources to develop our equipment, employees, logistics and money. For this reason, the manufacture process was changed to use COTS equipment, 3D printers and other machines that allowed us to increase the automatization of the manufacture process. In addition to the development and manufacture challenges, the Drone operation is a factor that shall be considered. The Drone will flight over the cities, in VLOS or BVLOS envelop, e.g. restrict areas, and according with our laws, the equipment must guarantee that the airworthiness follow the requirement. The Drone operation will be monitored in real time by the local operator and/or for a situation room, using IoT devices, that shall be able to control de Drone remotely, access the air space controller, and manages the data, which will reflect the situational analysis of the situation/areas, allowing a better management of available resources.