Bengaluru: CSIR-NAL’s Octacopter has successfully delivered 50 vials of Covid-19 vaccines in remote areas of Karnataka. In a statement issued by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) said it has teamed up with Karnataka Government for aerial delivery of COVID-19 vaccines in remote areas.

“The Octacopter has successfully delivered 50 vials of COVID-19 vaccines along with syringes in a special container from Chandapura PHC to Haragadde PHC on 13th November 2021,” CSIR-NAL Director Jitendra J. Jadhav said.

The Octacopter took off at 9.43 am from Chandapura PHC carried COVID-19 vaccines and delivered to Haragadde PHC at 9.53 am. It flew at an altitude of 300m AGL at a speed of 10m per second and covered an aerial distance of about 7 kms in about 10 minutes, Jadhav said.

After delivery of vaccines at Haragadde, the Octacopter returned to Chandapura PHC and the entire mission covered a distance of about 14 km in 20 minutes, including delivery of vaccines, he said.

The Doctors at PHCs were delighted to witness the demonstration of the fast and safe aerial delivery of vaccines and expressed their happiness and complimented the great initiative of CSIR-NAL towards the societal cause and extended support to continue the joint initiative to farther most remote places in the coming days.

CSIR-NAL (UAV) Head Dr. P.V. Satyanarayana Murthy said that the Octacopter for delivery of vaccines is a need of the hour for the country for a much deeper penetration of vaccines in the remote areas.

The Octacopter is perfectly designed for such a mission and easy to operate by unskilled operators. NAL has already tied up with private firms for drone manufacturing and offering operational services.

The UAV is made out of light-weight carbon fiber foldable structure for ease of transportation and has unique features like autonomous guidance through dual redundant MEMS-based digital Autopilot with advanced flight instrumentation systems.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation had granted conditional permission to CSIR-NAL for conducting BVLOS flight trials on Sept. 13. The Octacopter can carry a payload of 15 kg with hovering endurance of 40 minutes.

It can fly at an operational altitude of 500 m AGL and at maximum flying speed of 36 kmph. Its regulatory compliance includes DGCA-NPNT, Geo fencing and digital sky with 360 degree Collision avoidance making it one of the best UAV in its class.

Octacopter developed by NAL can be used for a variety of BVLOS applications for last mile delivery like medicines, vaccines, food, postal packets,                      human organs etc.

NAL Octacopter is integrated with Powerful on board embedded computer and latest generation sensors for versatile applications like agricultural pesticide spraying, crop monitoring, mining survey, magnetic geo survey mapping etc.