Bengaluru: Trial run by Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) for drone delivery of medicines was successfully completed in Bengaluru on Friday. It was conducted within a 15-kilometre radius at Gauribidanur on the city outskirts.
The trial run was led by Throttle Aerospace Systems (TAS) in association with UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) under the supervision of the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
According to a report by ANI, two variants of drones - Medcopter X4 and Medcopter X8 - were tested with simulated deliveries to UDAN customers. The drones with a payload of up to 2 kg were tested at various distances in the designated area between two to seven kilometers of aerial distance.
The report further said that the drones covered an average distance of 3.5 kilometres in 5-7 minutes and two different modes of deliveries - tethered lowering of shipment and landing of copter with the shipment - were also tested.
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With the success of the trial run of the BVLOS drones, they are likely to be used for the last mile delivery of shipments, to areas with improper road infrastructure and fast delivery of shipments in dense urban areas, the report added.
Quoting a product engineer of UDAN, Soumyadeep Mukherjee, the report said that the efforts taken by the authorities to integrate drones in the supply-chain ecosystem is a major step towards creating a framework for efficient last-mile delivery.
The success of the trial run has opened up an opportunity to revolutionise customer experience in the distribution and logistics space and it is aligned with the vision to build tech-enabled solutions to empower small businesses such as kiranas, shop owners, chemists, and MSMEs that are located in remote areas, the report quoted the product engineer.