Newly-developing blood-carrying UAV brings support to emergency call from the air
In Chengdu Blood Center, two pieces of drones flight straight to the hospital, with full capacity of plasma, building a bridge between life and death for the impending surgery.
On the morning of December 25th, two large drones loaded with plasma took off one after another, flying to the Longquan campus of West China hospital and Longtan campus of The Second People’s hospital respectively. The former journey covered 14km and took 17minues and the latter 16.25 km and 20 minutes —— these are the first two routes to be launched, and they are now operating on a regular basis.
Compared with traditional ground transportation, low-altitude logistics can facilitate the efficiency up to 50%, with the ability of carrying all types of blood products in clinical emergency use: red blood cell, blood platelet, plasma etc.
Flying fast, steadily, and not have to worry about the traffic jam are what brings UAVs to the very stage of emergency aid. Moreover, low-altitude transportation of blood can also be customized with specific temperature ranges for different blood products, maintaining precise temperature control within 0.5℃ throughout the entire process to ensure blood viability. The drones feature AL-4 automated flight, multi-redundancy design, intelligent active emergency response, and parachute protection, providing high reliability and enabling safe operation in various conditions, including nighttime, moderate rain, moderate snow, and winds up to force 6. This is an advantage that ordinary transportation methods cannot offer. Previously, transporting blood to these two hospitals by conventional vehicles took approximately 40 minutes or even longer; now, low-altitude transportation has reduced the time by more than half.
The low-altitude blood delivery project is not only a landmark achievement in promoting the deep integration of the low-altitude economy and public welfare, but also a key practical application of technological innovation in solving the challenges of medical emergency response during sudden public health events in megacities. It opens up a new path for improving urban medical emergency response capabilities.
As a major application breakthrough in the integrated development of the low-altitude economy and smart healthcare, this project represents a forward-looking exploration by Chengdu, a national strategic hub city, in building a modern and multi-dimensional public health emergency response system. Furthermore, it provides a replicable and scalable solution and experience for the large-scale and systematic development of the low-altitude economy in the medical and health fields worldwide. In the future, drones will weave a low-altitude network to protect lives, empowering public welfare through technology and making new and greater contributions to human health and well-being.