The development of a low cost, certifiable, heavy lift cargo UAV for humanitarian operations

为人道主义行动开发低成本、可认证的重型货运无人机。人道主义行动通常依赖直升机在时间紧迫且道路通行受限的情况下运送援助物资。洪水、山体滑坡、地震、火灾和战争都可能使道路无法通行，或者很难运送急需的物资。为了弥补这一出入缺口，直升机被用来将物资从集结地（有时是机场）或最后一个容易到达的公路点运送到需要援助的地方，使用直升机的必要性大大增加了供应成本，并使人的生命处于危险之中。开发无人机解决方案来执行这种空中交付到难以到达的位置将降低人类机组人员的风险。然而，除非这种无人机/无人机的运行成本显著低于直升机的单位有效载荷距离，否则经济学将阻止它们的广泛采用。开发和展示低成本货运无人机/无人机的能力，以低于直升机的成本满足这一需求，将改变援助、疫苗和医疗用品的分配，搜索和救援以及支持偏远地区。该项目是由Flowcopter，Modini，爱丁堡大学和AYR Logistics使用Flowcopter作为无人机验证员Modini为认证和飞行试验提供支持爱丁堡大学建模和优化机身设计AYR Logistics作为注册供应商，提供人道主义航空业务的机构和政府，包括联合国、儿童基金会和世界粮食计划署，提供客户意见、规格和行动概念

The development of a low cost, certifiable, heavy lift cargo UAV for humanitarian operations.Humanitarian operations typically rely on helicopters to deliver aid when time is of the essence and road access is limited. Flooding, landslides, earthquakes, fire and war can all make road access impossible or very difficult to traverse with urgently needed supplies. To bridge this access gap helicopters are used to move supplies from staging areas sometimes airports, or the last easily accessible road point to where aid is needed.The need to use helicopters adds significantly to supply costs and puts human lives at risk. Developing an uncrewed drone solution to perform this aerial delivery to hard to reach locations will reduce the risk to human crews. However, unless the cost of operating such UAVs/drones is significantly lower than that of a helicopter per payload-distance economics will prevent their widespread adoption.Developing and demonstrating the capabilities of a low cost cargo UAV/drone to fulfil this need at a lower cost than that of a helicopter will be a game changer for distribution of aid, vaccines and medical supplies, search and rescue and support for remote areas.This project is a consortium of Flowcopter, Modini, Edinburgh University and AYR LogisticsWith Flowcopter in the role of drone manufacturerModini providing support for certification and flight trialsEdinburgh University modelling and optimising airframe designAYR Logistics as a registered vendor to Aid Agencies and Governments for the provision of humanitarian aviation operations, including UN, UNICEF & World Food Programme providing voice of the customer, specifications and CONOPS (concept of operations)