
Drone Delivery Becomes a Reality in Remote Pacific Islands - sohkamyung
https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/drone-delivery-becomes-a-reality-in-remote-pacific-islands
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tomp
Why are they showing only quadcopter drones on images? AFAIK for long distance
flights you _need_ winged drones, which are much more efficient... You should
of course adapt them so they can take off & land vertically, like Google's
Project Wing.

~~~
sandworm101
Because fixed wings require either landing/takeoff strips, or complex systems
to transition between two modes of flight. Quadcopters, with their only four
moving parts, are a simpler option. If the capacity/range is there, why not go
with the easiest to maintain? It's not like they are paying for fuel.

~~~
schiffern
> _Because fixed wings require either landing /takeoff strips, or complex
> systems to transition between two modes of flight_

For small planes you don't need a full strip. You can use launch accelerator
ramps and capture harnesses for a very small footprint, ala Zipline.
[https://www.cnet.com/pictures/take-a-look-at-ziplines-new-
dr...](https://www.cnet.com/pictures/take-a-look-at-ziplines-new-drone-
delivery-system/)

~~~
sandworm101
Such systems require someone trained at the receiving end. A quad can land and
take off without much, if any, human interaction needed. That can matter if
you perhaps want to drop something at a location where there might not even be
any people waiting to receive it. (In SAR scenarios helos often drop supplies
in fields even though those who need them are hours away.) Needing any
physical landing/takeoff equipment at the destination also means that you can
only deliver to prepared routes. So you couldn't do rapid response to remote
locations. Physical equipment can also be damaged in disasters(hurricanes)
after which air transport is most needed.

~~~
apendleton
Zipline's landing system is totally automated, so I don't think it needs
anyone specially trained, but it does need equipment to land. They don't land
at the receiving end, though, they drop the package via parachute, with a
claimed accuracy of within two parking spaces. So, the origin point (where the
packages come from) is fixed, by they can do arbitrary destinations so the
routes aren't fixed.

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icebraining
[http://www.flyzipline.com/](http://www.flyzipline.com/) is already doing this
in Africa (specifically Rwanda and Tanzania), seems like a good contender.

~~~
yostrovs
Vayu too, though they're less publicized about:
[https://www.vayu.us](https://www.vayu.us)

~~~
walrus01
The Vayu craft strongly resembles the prototype passenger-carrying tilt-rotor-
wing craft Airbus is test flying at the Pendleton, OR test range:

[http://nwnewsnetwork.org/post/robo-air-taxi-makes-first-
flig...](http://nwnewsnetwork.org/post/robo-air-taxi-makes-first-flight-
pendleton-airport)

~~~
airpmb
Other than having two wings I don’t really see the similarities between Vayu
and Vahana. BTW, a better source of info on Vahana is from the project itself:
[http://vahana.aero](http://vahana.aero). Disclaimer: I work on the project.

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forinti
I was expecting drone boats, which I imagine might take larger loads farther.

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M_Bakhtiari
> Today, shipments are flown from the three major islands (which have cities
> and airports and such) to small rural islands in 9-seater planes. When a
> plane rolls to a stop on the grass airstrip, it’s met by someone from the
> local health clinic—but that’s assuming that one of the few trucks on the
> island is available and in working order.

Why do small parcels need to be moved by big trucks? Why not motorcycles?
Cheaper and easier to operate and maintain, and off-road models can be used
where trucks can't. Motorcycles are ubiquitous on the islands and is an
appropriate technology. Drones are the exact opposite.

They already have the planes, motorcycles can be sourced in a matter of weeks.
Whereas this will take a fortune and years to develop, and it's not even
certain it will work before they run out of money.

I've been there and I know how Vanuatu works. This is clearly some elected
retard in Vila playing games with the national budget as every other one has
done since 1980.

~~~
adrianN
As I understand the article, drones replace people hiking over mountains. It
seems plausible that these hiking trails can't be safely navigated on bikes.

~~~
cimmanom
But can be navigated by trucks?

~~~
adrianN
No the trucks bring the packages to the central hospital, not to the secluded
villages.

~~~
cimmanom
So then what does using trucks instead of motorcycles have to do with the
passes being non-navigable by bikes?

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gambiting
>>When the delivery drones fly behind a mountain, the operators will have to
send signals either via a relay aircraft or a satellite.

Wouldn't it be easier to deploy a high-altitude balloon tethered to the
ground, with an antenna? Should be much much lower operating cost than relay
aircraft and better latency than satellite relay?

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stephengillie
> _The conditions in Vanuatu make vaccine distribution a tough challenge.
> Today, shipments are flown from the three major islands (which have cities
> and airports and such) to small rural islands in 9-seater planes. When a
> plane rolls to a stop on the grass airstrip, it’s met by someone from the
> local health clinic—but that’s assuming that one of the few trucks on the
> island is available and in working order.

The health worker picks up the vaccines, which are packed in ice, and hurries
back to the clinic to stash the precious vials in a refrigerator—but that’s
assuming the fridge and the clinic’s solar power system are working. Any
breakdown is a serious problem, because spare parts can take weeks to arrive.
And the whole operation is very expensive._

It sounds like they're going for JIT delivery, deliver the vials to the remote
hospitals as they're using them - instead of transporting a supply that the
remote hospital would store. This would obviate remote refrigeration, removing
numerous situations where the supplies could go bad. They could get an email
from the remote hospital and send a drone with a few insulated vials right
away.

If the drone payload is big enough, they could replace the airplane and trucks
too, saving a lot on fuel and maintenance costs.

~~~
sebcat
The drones would have to be pretty tough to do JIT delivery during cyclone
season. Maybe it can be done when the weather is good, provided that it is
beneficial to do so.

~~~
tomp
I wonder if there's another way to "protect" them during bad weather... Maybe
by turning drones into zeppelins? So they couldn't "crash" but would merely
get "blown away", and hence wouldn't need motors for levitation, but only for
horizontal movement.

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dmckeon
PR stunt for delivery-by-drone companies: deliver symbolic vaccines to Nome,
Alaska, and get video of the competing Iditarod teams along the way. Be sure
to keep both batteries & vaccines warm.

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spraak
I wonder how regularly these vaccines are needed, or what is the frequency of
demand for them? Maybe the drones will deliver other medical supplies as well?

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lr4444lr
There's a joke to be made here about the cargo cults, but I'm having trouble
coming up with anything sufficiently witty.

