A Belgian project to test the feasibility and scalability of medical drone delivery operations has successfully completed its first flight in Kortrijk, a city of nearly 80,000 inhabitants in the Flemish province of West Flanders.

Supplied by local drone logistics start-up ADLC, and using an unmanned traffic management system provided by Skeydrone, the ground-breaking drone successfully completed a four-kilometre journey between the De Zon Residential Care Centre in Bellegem and Groeninge General Hospital in Kortrijk.

The beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) flight marks a significant milestone in TETRA’s ‘Medical Drone Supplies’ (MEDROS) project, led by the VIVES University of Applied Sciences.

TETRA is a programme for practice-oriented research by university colleges, and for integrated university programmes specifically targeted at enterprises and non-profit organizations.

The drone flight partially took place within the vicinity of Kortrijk-Wevelgem Airport, where strict safety regulations apply to drone flights. This was the first ever time that a drone has flown beyond the pilot’s line of sight in this geozone without the need to interrupt other air traffic

“We are very pleased with the results of this test flight,” says Joke Van Vooren, Lecturer and Project Staff Member Aviation at VIVES.

“It demonstrates that drones can be a valuable addition to our current transport methods, especially in emergencies where speed is crucial. This is an important step toward more efficient and faster transport of medical goods within the healthcare sector.”

The parties to the project say MEDROS aims not only to explore but also to implement the possibilities of drone technology for transporting medical goods within the Flemish healthcare sector, with the overall goal of integrating medical delivery by drone into the entire healthcare logistics chain.

And the success of the pilot flight provided concrete proof that the rapid and efficient exchange of this concept.

“The successful completion of this medical transport flight is a testament to the versatility and potential of drone delivery services,” said Rayan Quintaes, Co-founder & Managing Director at ADLC.

“We are proud to use our experience to contribute to the healthcare sector by offering an efficient, convenient and sustainable alternative to current means of transportation.”

ADLC ensured that the drone operated safely and fully automatically throughout the flight mission, with real-time remote monitoring from ADLC’s operations control room.

The start-up obtain its BVLOS flight licence from the Belgian Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA) in November last year, after an extensive Specific Operational Risk Assessment (SORA) process.

The process involved BVLOS flights without in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges over a stretch of 12,5 km to deliver goods with a weight of up to 15kg.

The licence includes the possibility of flying at night.

Concurrent research being conducted by MEDROS project partner, KU Leuven, will determine how the drones fare in transporting blood samples, as compared to the samples transported by road.

The safety of the operation was ensured by using SkeyDrone’s BVLOS framework, which is based on a range of advanced digital services, guaranteeing the safety of everyone in the air and on the ground.

“This test flight perfectly illustrates how our BVLOS framework can ensure the safety and efficiency of drone operations, even in complex airspace,” Didier Decaestecker, Head of Sales at SkeyDrone added.

“It is a significant step toward the integration of drone technology in critical sectors such as healthcare.”

The flight was closely monitored by a team of experts, and the collected data will be analysed to formulate further recommendations.

“At AZ Groeninge, we are open to innovation in the healthcare sector,” Brian Desplinter, Innovation Project Leader at AZ Groeninge said.

“The MEDROS project gave us the opportunity to contribute to the technical and economic aspects of drone transportation in healthcare.

“Although it had already been demonstrated that this is possible, we also find it important to know that this can be done safely and that the quality of the goods can be guaranteed.”

Based on their authorisation from the BCAA, ADLC is setting up a Drone Delivery Network through which they will be able to offer drone-based delivery services to the users of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges.

The Network stretches from the north of the Port to the south, and part of the route runs through controlled airspace.

ADLC’s Drone Delivery Network includes Landing Pads, Communication infrastructure, Drones and a central Operations Control Center (OCC) from which all flights are controlled.