The potential applications for drone technology continue to grow. The latest was put on display by researchers from John Hopkins as they were able to send human blood samples more than 160 miles across the Arizona desert. In establishing a new distance record for medical drones, additional research can be done in expediting other medical supplies, and possibly even organs or tissues.
Perhaps more impressive than the distance covered was the ability to keep the payload properly cooled to survive the three-hour journey across the desert environment. The samples were deemed viable for lab analysis when the drone landed.
Earlier research had the best drones capable of preserving samples for 25 miles on journeys lasting about half-an-hour. While those parameters still exceeded the efficiency of cars or medical transport vehicles, due to a drone obviously not being susceptible to the pitfalls of traffic congestion, road work, or accidents, it still limited the opportunities for use.
In this instance, the drones were matched against a car carrying similar blood samples. The average temperature of the drone-flown samples was 76 degrees Fahrenheit – four degrees cooler than those delivered by the cars. By getting these samples to the lab more quickly, diagnostic results can be obtained faster, which manifests as improved levels of care.