During the drop, the braking flaps of the Wings for Aid cardboard boxes deploy to stabilise its trajectory and decelerate the descent to safely deliver emergency supplies to their destination.
In the projects on unmanned automated aerial transport, DLR scientists are also investigating the humanitarian application of the new transport concepts. But how do you test such concepts when the technology is being implemented in a prototype for the first time? One would have to evaluate the technology in advance for this application. That's all well and good in theory, but how do you test these theoretical considerations?
Specialists from both fields, drone technology and humanitarian aid, would have to join forces here. Ideally, they would meet in a setup where both groups could test the relevant aspects in practice. This is exactly what DLR has done together with the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations and the Dutch company Wings for Aid.
Since a prototype in this class of drones does not yet exist, the research team is using a flight test vehicle from the DLR drone family, which best meets the transport requirements. The flight testbed superARTIS (Autonomous Rotorcraft Testbed for Intelligent Systems) is a helicopter drone capable of transporting packages of 20 kilogram payload.
The investigation
Disasters such as floods or earthquakes mean that people are suddenly cut off from the outside world and need to be supplied with vital relief supplies as quickly as possible. Up to now, manned airplanes, helicopters or boats have brought relief supplies such as blankets, water or food to cut-off disaster areas. The last mile, which is usually difficult to access, poses a particular challenge. The Dominican Republic has also experienced severe flooding in various places in recent years. For this reason, the WFP has chosen this country to carry out trial missions there.
Flights for the project will use the unmanned helicopter superARTIS to fly aid packages to disaster areas that are difficult to access. New types of disposable cardboard boxes from Wings for Aid are used to drop off the aid supplies at their destination undamaged. These boxes are inexpensive to manufacture and biodegradable. They have special surfaces that automatically pop up when dropped to break and stabilise the fall. Compared to other existing technology carriers in the field of unmanned aviation, such as multicopters, the superARTIS can transport and drop a comparatively large payload of up to 20 kilogram with these boxes.
Focal points of the project
Technical equipment of the helicopter by dropping systems
Investigation of self-deploying cartons for dropping by a drone
Using the new Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA) to evaluate trial operations
Test operation in simulated, realistic application scenarios
Survey of logistical properties and transfer to the ALAADy transport concepts
