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HELSEVEL-Gode og effektive helse-, omsorgs- og velferdstjenester

Research an implementation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems for a fast and secure transport of biological material and blood products

Alternative title: same

Awarded: NOK 8.0 mill.

PATHOLOGIC BLOOD SAMPLES MAY TOLERATE EXPOSURE TO DRONE TURBULENCE https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9328789 Most of the previous studies of drone transport of blood samples examined normal blood samples transported under tranquil air conditions. We studied the effects of 1- and 2-hour drone flights using random vibration and turbulence simulation (10-30 g-force) on blood samples from 16 healthy volunteers and 74 patients with varying diseases. For all hematologic and most biochemical analytes, test results before and after turbulence exposure were similar, but some samples demonstrated significant changes associated with the test. These changes increased form 10 G to 30 G but were not observed when the samples were separated after vibration and turbulence, as opposed to centrifugation before test. We concluded that whole blood shows little vulnerability to turbulence whereas plasma samples separated from blood cells may be significantly influenced by turbulence when separated by spinning before the exposure. TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING WIND IMPACT FOR DRONE OPERATIONS: A COMPARISON OF WIND MODELS OPERATING ON DIFFERENT SCALES IN A NESTED MULTISCALE SET-UP. The application of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in health services is increasing, with a large variety of objectives: delivering medicines and vaccines, transporting blood samples and providing care technology in emergency situations. However, for use in emergency medical purposes, the expectations are a drone should be available at most times. Severe wind conditions are considered to be one of the prime factor that can hamper this expected drone availability. Most of these drone operations are expected to be linked to urban hospitals and understanding urban micro-scale weather patterns are important. The current work tries to develop a methodology for obtaining wind fields in an urban landscape. The multi-scale methodology involves coupling three models operating on different scales namely an operational meso-scale numerical weather prediction model HARMONIE, a micro-scale model that captures terrain-induced wind influence and a super-micro scale Computational Fluid Dynamics code to capture building-induced wind influence. Existence of a large variation in the spatio-temporal scales in an atmospheric flow necessitates such a coupling between different models each of which handles a particular range of scales. In this article, we describe the multi-scale methodology and present a qualitative comparison of the wind velocity predicted by different numerical models with the measured experiment data and then explain the potential of the tool for drone operations. A CONCEPTUAL APPROACH TO TIME SAVINGS AND COST COMPETITIVENESS ASSESSMENTS FOR DRONE TRANSPORT OF BIOLOGIC SAMPLES WITH UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS (DRONES) Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, drones) are expected to save transport time and improve service reliability for transport of biologic samples, but few studies have evaluated the potential time savings of such services. We used the total transport time defined as time from sample ready for transport until arrival at the laboratory to assess the absolute and relative time savings of drones compared with ground transport using ground distances from 4-7 km (urban model) to 179 km - 262 km (rural district routes) with one to eight daily scheduled trips. Costs of existing ground transport were allocated to drone flight times as a proxy for drone cost competitiveness. Time savings were less than 20%?30% in the urban model but 65%-74% in the rural routes using drone speeds of 100 km/h, but the time between trips (route frequencies) and drone speeds influenced the relative time savings substantially. Cost of time gains per number of samples were less favorable using drones in the rural models due to lower transport volumes. We conclude that drone solutions give marginal gains for short-distance transports, whereas time savings are more promising in long transport models with appropriate scheduling and sufficiently high drone speeds. The study suggests differing concepts for sustainable drone solutions. Regular routes for transporting blood samples may have limited value, whereas combinations of transport for various purposes such as biological material, home transport of medical equipment / medicines to patients/districts, technological equipment and other types of transport may create economic profitable drone solutions.

PROJECT IMPACT. Weather conditions influence drones significantly and detailed models for turbulence are needed. Pathological blood samples tolerate substantial turbulence if proper precautions are taken. Drone services may enable the merger of large hospitals laboratories with response times of analyses within one hour but depend on optimal clinical processes. Short-range drone solutions (inner-city models) give small time gains with unconvincing economic value, long-range solutions may have a potential for time gains if drone speeds are sufficiently high and properly planned routings. Drone services should be established as multi-purpose solutions (transporting biologic samples/medicines/technology) to be sustainable. Drone implementations have similarities to the implementation of other new technologies, should be planned as a part of, and carefully integrated in, ordinary ground transport, and innovative and openminded leadership may facilitate such implementations.

The project will lay the foundation for an implementation of a fast, secure and reliable 24/7/365 UAV based medical transport service between the OUS hospitals. OUS cover four of the five largest hospitals in Norway, all in the capital of Norway, with a current annual patient activity of 94,000 hospitalizations, 45,000 day-care treatments and 853,000 outpatient consultations and with 24,000 employees. OUS represents a highly relevant institution for studies of both the medical, organisational, economical and technical perspectives of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) services for medical purposes. Being a national hospital offering services varying from local hospital services to transplantations and advanced national services, OUS represents a complexity that ensures a wide perspective of dissemination and applicability of the results nationally and internationally. The current mission critical transportation services between the hospitals depends on road based transport with dedicated vehicles and taxies resulting in a service that is slow, has varying capacity and with unpredictable transport time due to big city congestion. The transportation service also represents a risk due to the lack of control and status of the transports in process. This project will address the two issues highly relevant to Norway, and not being researched in other known international UAS projects, (1) weather related challenges in a congested city with high variations in weather and (2) hospital processes and health economy scenarios. The participants in the project represent the best competencies in Norway with strong international connections: Oslo University Hospital, Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, The Norwegian Meteorological Institute and Sintef.

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HELSEVEL-Gode og effektive helse-, omsorgs- og velferdstjenester