A Conceptual Approach to Time Savings and Cost Competitiveness Assessments for Drone Transport of Biologic Samples with Unmanned Aerial Systems (Drones)

Abstract

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. The total transport time defined as time from sample ready for transport until arrival at the laboratory was used to assess the absolute and relative time savings of drones compared with ground transport, using ground distances from 4–7 km (urban model) to 179–262 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 was less favorable using drones in the rural models due to lower transport volumes. This research concludes that drone solutions provide marginal gains for short-distance transports, whereas time savings are more promising in long transport models with appropriate scheduling and sufficiently high drone speeds.

Realities of Using Drones to Transport Laboratory Samples: Insights from Attended Routes in a Mixed-Methods Study

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“… 13 Even with open roads, delivery by drone transport may be faster and cheaper than ground transport in these areas. Although drone technology is developing quickly, drones will show their full potential only when they are able to fly beyond the line of sight (BVLOS) 14 and fully autonomously for long distances. Nentwich et al 15 predicted that autonomous drones would need to be programmed to reach their targets, to have self-reliant route planning, and to be self-sufficient in averting obstacles.…”

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