UAS Missions - Small UAV's Making a Difference

The particular UAS mission use I am highlighting is that of medical delivery in a foreign country. I was made aware of this usage via a Ted Talk video forum given by Andreas Raptopoulos, which was assigned media viewing footage in a previous class. I was particularly impressed with UAV's being used to perform humanitarian aid to sick and ailing people.
I was impressed because UAV's are given so much media coverage highlighting ISR, military, emergency, and commercial usage, but not much exposure is given to UAV's performing humanitarian missions. The mission focuses particularly on delivering much needed medicine to doctor’s thru-out the rural segment in the country of Africa. The terrain or landscape between the pharmaceutical storage facility and doctors treating patients is varied in its composition.
Some areas of route are mountainous, some are filled with sand dunes with desert like conditions, some areas are populated with dense forest vegetation, some roads may be closed due to weather caused related issues such as mudslides, and some roads and passages are closed due to congestion. Some villages may not be reached for days if traveled by foot, due to large obstacles such as rivers, waterfalls, or jungle vegetation entwinement. According to Raptopoulos “Roads are not travelable during the wet season due to mudslides and unpaved road conditions”
(Raptopoulos, 2013).
The use of a small close or medium range class 1 rotary powered UAV would work well in this situation. The villages would be located between 5 to possibly 100 miles from the medical supply center. A doctor could call in a prescription to the supply center and have the needed medicine in hand to administer to the patient.
Such a delivery system is much more efficient than traditional methods which incorporated the use of automobiles or manned aircraft. In challenging situations which call for medicine to stay within a determined temperature range, dry ice could be used to keep the required degrees within a stable range. Furthermore, the benefits of quicker delivery, accuracy of product deployment, and lower operational costs greatly increases this choice option for such a mission.
Possible setbacks of such an option would be available power within the battery cells. However, with new and advanced battery cell choices this issue is quickly dissipated. The development of a solar/battery powered variant would also be a consideration. The solar/battery variant would allow use of solar energy to charge the battery cell via solar panels incorporated into the UAV.
During times when there is no sunlight available the battery source would be used in order for the UAV to perform its mission. Another challenge for this platform would be that of payload delivery weight. The pharmacy supplier must ensure the weight of the medicine or medical supplies needed does not exceed the payload limits of the UAV.
Control of the UAV to perform its mission would be comprised of three components. According to Raptopoulos:
“Matternet is an ultra-flexible, automated logistics network. It’s a network for the transportation of matter. It is comprised of three technologies, UAV’s automated ground landing stations for battery and package pickup; the cost to transport 2kg. over 10km would be just .24 cents” (Raptopoulos, 2013).
UAV tracking is further enhanced via programmed tracks logging altitude, longitude and latitude, in order to assist in the delivery of the medical necessities.
Challenges to the UAV would be weather related incidents such as extremely high winds, rain and atmospheric pollutants such as sand and dust storms. Another atmospheric condition which would is not easily noticeable is that of high humidity and temperature fluctuations.
Three other platforms capable of performing the mission would be fixed wing variant UAV's, UGV's and manned aircraft. Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) fixed wing variants are capable of completing this mission objective, however, the delivery accuracy is the factor which makes the rotary variant such an attractive option. Delivery of the medical package could be performed via a parachute deployment system. The fixed wing UAV would decrease its speed and altitude in order to increase its delivery accuracy.
However, the possibility exists of the parachute landing atop of a roof, tree, or being caught in a crosswind and landing in a destination different from what was originally intended.
One such example is the Penguin C which give the operator options for UAV payload design as described by the manufacturer:
“The aircraft can be supplied without a payload, to give the customer the option of integrating their own based on their specific application, or it can be fitted with a high-performance Epsilon gyro stabilized gimbal. The Penguin C is also fitted with a parachute system, thus doing away with the need for a net recovery system. The parachute will automatically disconnect from the aircraft once the aircraft touches the ground, preventing dragging, and can be replaced in the field in less than 5 minutes” (UAV, 2016).
An Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) platform is also capable of completing this mission objective. UGV are being developed that can perform a wide application of services according to the Autonomous Vehicles In Support Of Naval Operations report which states:
“The Department of Transportation is developing UGVs as cars, trucks, and buses that can drive themselves or assist a human driver. Commercial applications of UGVs are also beginning to be made—for example, in underground mining, strip mine haulage, crop harvesting, golf course mowing, ship cleaning, and for many other purposes. For logistics applications,
 a number of commercial automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are in daily use in factories around the world” Autonomous Vehicles In Support Of Naval Operations. (2005).
However, there may be instances in which routes may be blocked due to weather related incidents or congestion. The UGV option will yield delivery at an increased cost when compared to the UAV option. The passage obstacles, increased operation cost, and increased delivery time, makes the UAV option a more desirable option for this mission. Factors such as and package theft or interception could also make the UGV option less desirable.
A manned air vehicle platform is also capable of completing this mission objective, however, the factor involved which makes this an unfavorable option are non-existent landing strips, the operational costs involved in maintaining an aircraft, readily available fuel resources. The option of choosing a manned platform would be favorable if these negatives were non-existent however, the cost factor involved would still make the UAV the best favorable option.
However, there still are companies that offer this type of service as described by Amerijet:
“Every day, thousands of small packages are shipped to destinations all across the world; Amerijet offers one of the most economical International and U.S Domestic Small Package Shipping Service for airport-to-airport shipments up to 60 pounds to its service region. To deliver the highest quality and personalized product, Amerijet’s Small Package Shipping Service can be customized for airport-to-airport or integrated with optional door pickup and delivery for commercial and residential shipments” (Amerijet, 2016).
Two ethical challenges centering on using such a delivery mode would center on the other companies wanting to enter the medical delivery market. The issue presented would be that of the delivery of a substance that would be needed yet cannot be obtained unless a price had been met. As competition enters the medical delivery market, prices and delivery options may further expand and more and more participators enter the market.
Delivery entities may choose to compete for business by offering services along the entire value stream, which may entail an increase in prices ultimately passed on to the Dr. or the patient. Such as situation would occur only after the areas developed over time.
 Another ethical issue which could arise would be that of servicing only profitable villages or people over those whom have very little means of compensating the Dr. for medical treatment. Currently the effort is that of a humanitarian scope which functions based on donations. However, if the mission of the humanitarian effort steers toward making a profit from villages and their occupants, only people whom have the financial means will be afforded the much needed health care, leaving those whom cannot afford the services sick and uncared for due to the drive to make a profit.

References

Autonomous Vehicles In Support Of Naval Operations. (2005). Unmanned Ground Vehicles: Capabilities and Potential. Retrieved from https://www.nap.edu/read/11379/chapter/1

Penguin C UAV (2016). Small, Long-Endurance Fixed Wing Unmanned Aircraft and Subsystems. Unmanned Systems Technology, Retrieved from http://www.unmannedsystemstechnology.com/company/uav-factory/

Quality Shipping Services Designed to Meet Your Changing Needs (2016). Small Package Shipping.  Amerijet, Retrieved from https://www.amerijet.com/smallpackage-services
Raptopoulos, A. (2013, November 21). No roads? There’s a drone for that. Ted Talks,
Retrieved from https://youtu.be/9yEl0-bCA9M.