Critical UAV Capability Under Development

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Accessing remote sites by ground transportation is sometimes challenging. When medical resupplies are at stake, this becomes a critical problem. A new development will advance innovation in drone delivery systems. A US patent was awarded to Draganfly for a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) cargo delivery drone with a variable center of gravity. The design is ideal for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) and for transporting goods in hard to reach areas or flight over people at night.

The patent is an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) configured for both vertical take-off and landing and fixed-wing flight operations, it includes forward, and aft wing assemblies mounted to the fuselage, each wing assembly equipped with motor-driven rotors powered by an onboard control system capable of adjusting rotor speeds.

According to the company’s announcement, the UAS may transition between a powered-lift VTOL configuration to a winged-flight configuration by shifting its center of gravity forward.

The forward rotor blades may be folded back so that the aft rotors may provide primary thrust for winged flight operations. Onboard attitude sensors may detect rotor or control failures, to which the control system responds by triggering a conversion to the winged-flight configuration for recovery operations.

The company was recently selected by Coldchain Technology Services to immediately develop and provide flight services of a robust vaccine delivery payload for use in critical regions for drone delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The payload to be developed by Draganfly is a sustainable thermal management system with capability to carry a minimum of 300 multi-doses or 100 single doses. It is being designed as part of a comprehensive delivery and logistics platform of which Draganfly will operate.