Achieved 14km including sea route from Kowa Port on Chita Peninsula to Shinoshima at LEVEL 3 (beyond visual line of sight flight)

"PD6B-Type3" undergoing delivery experiment in Minamichita Town

Aichi Prefecture has been conducting the ``Project to Promote the Social Implementation of Unmanned Flying Robots'' since last fiscal year as part of the Cabinet Office's future technology social implementation project, ``Near Future Technology Accumulation and Social Implementation Project Produced by Industrial Capital Aichi''. (The implementation of this year's project was announced on July 7, 2020)

On November 12th, we conducted a demonstration experiment of an unmanned flying robot (drone) with the theme of "delivery to remote islands" in Mihama Town and Minamichita Town, Chita District, assuming the delivery of medicines etc. after online medical treatment and online medication guidance.

PRODRONE Co., Ltd. (President: Masakazu Kono; hereinafter referred to as PRODRONE) provides the PD6B-Type3 multicopter drone, and achieved a 14km flight including the sea route from Kowa Port, Chita City, where Chita Kosei Hospital is located, to Shinoshima at LEVEL 3 (beyond visual line of sight). In this experiment, we verified the safety of temperature control and other aspects of transporting medical supplies, delivery speed, and operating costs, and demonstrated a seamless, non-face-to-face process from online medical treatment and medication guidance to delivery of medical supplies. PRODRONE was in charge of the drone aircraft and operation management.

Katsuei Matsunaga, sales manager of PRODRONE, who was in charge of managing the drone operations on the day, said the following.

"The 14km long sea route included the sea route, so there was almost no wind at the takeoff point, but at the landing site there was a wind speed of over 8m/sec, making the weather conditions different. However, the newly developed PD6B-Type3, which is based on the PD6B-Type2, which has excellent wind resistance, exhibits stable flight performance and I think we have demonstrated that it is effective as a means of transporting goods to remote islands and other archipelago areas."

■Implementation details(1) Experiment content・Demonstration area: Mihama Town, Minamichita Town (Mihama Town Kowa Port ~ Minamichita Town Northern Shinoshima) approximately 14.0km
・Demonstration theme: Pharmaceutical delivery using unmanned flying robots on remote islands
・Experiment details:
Regarding the delivery of medicines to patients, which is one of the challenges of the online medical treatment and online drug guidance project that Chita Kosei Hospital and other organizations are working on in Shinoshima, we conducted a flight experiment to deliver medicines to remote islands in order to verify an operational model in which unmanned flying robots deliver medicines directly and quickly to patients.
In this experiment, PRODRONE's PD6B-Type3 delivered pharmaceuticals on a flight route of approximately 14 km over the ocean from Kowa Port to Shinoshima at flight level 3 (flight without visual line of sight without an assistant in an unmanned area) using LTE communication. Additionally, in response to future airspace management issues, Nakanihon Air Service Co., Ltd., in cooperation with KDDI Corporation and others, conducted a test of a system that could link the operation management systems of helicopters and unmanned flying robots and monitor each other's location information.
Before and after the flight test, with the participation and cooperation of Chita Kosei Hospital and Nippon Chouzai Co., Ltd., we conducted demonstrations simulating online medical treatment and online medication guidance, as well as confirmation of the arrival of medicines after they were delivered, thereby demonstrating a series of processes that can be performed in a non-face-to-face manner, from online medical treatment and online medication guidance to pharmaceutical delivery.

Online medical demo scene

Nippon Pharmacist's pharmacist loading medical supplies into "PD6B-Type3"

"PD6B-Type3" flying at an altitude of 50m above sea level

(2) Verification issues・Calculation of operating costs and comparison verification with existing services when automation and labor savings are achieved through unmanned flying robot delivery
・Verification of safety such as temperature control, delivery speed, etc. in pharmaceutical delivery(3) Project implementation structure・Implementing business operator (project outsourcing company)
Meitetsu Group Drone Joint Venture (Representative: Nagoya Railway Co., Ltd., Members: Nakanippon Airlines Co., Ltd.)
・Cooperating companies: PRODRONE (aircraft management), KDDI Corporation (communications management), Nippon Chouzai Co., Ltd. (online medication guidance), Chita Kosei Hospital (online medical treatment)
・Cooperating municipalities: Mihama Town, Minamichita Town■About Prodrone Co., Ltd.Prodrone Co., Ltd. is a B2B company whose goal is to become the world's number one industrial drone system manufacturer and change the world. We provide a one-stop service for many companies entering the industrial drone market, from research consulting, aircraft development, control software development, service application development, and mass production.
Prodrone Co., Ltd. Company Profile
・Company name: PRODRONE Co., Ltd.
・Representative: Masakazu Kono, Representative Director and President
・Capital: 100 million
・Head office location: 1-115 Nakadaira, Tenpaku-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 468-0014
・Website: https://www.prodrone.com/jp