For the last several years, MassDOT has been deploying a variety of small drones to do aerial surveillance of the state’s transportation assets. Not only can they quickly assess the general condition of train tracks, highways and runways, but they can also spot potential hazards like trees and power lines that may have fallen, blocking rights-of-way after storms.
Now MassDOT is taking drone technology to the next level. By partnering with London-based Skyports, a mobility company developing and operating landing infrastructure for cargo drone deliveries, the state will investigate using drones to connect remote communities to services such as healthcare and package delivery.
The state’s aviation administrator Dr. Jeffrey DeCarlo says the immediate goal is to develop the capability to provide pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and lifesaving equipment after storms or other natural disasters to remote areas like Cape Cod and the Islands. This is something Skyports is already doing in the U.K., according to Skyports' Operations Director Alex Brown, who told GBH News "our drone delivery work is often focused on medical products — as these are small and high value — which works well for delivery drones."
Brown described a three-month project with the National Health Service there during which drones carried COVID tests and pathology samples to and from remote communities and labs, saving 12,000 hours of pathology sample waiting time. "This is the sort of operation which we plan to launch in the U.S. soon," Brown said.
The drones used for the MassDOT operation are fixed-wing vertical takeoff and landing drones, which means they take off and land like a helicopter before “transitioning” into plane mode. According to Brown, they can travel 120 miles, carrying 12 pounds of cargo, and are fully electric.
DeCarlo says the state is partnering with several agencies including the FAA, NASA and the Department of Homeland Security to do demonstration testing. “One of the major safety cases that needs to be addressed is deconfliction of these vehicles with manned or crewed aircraft,” he said, meaning the need to avoid any collisions with other aircraft.
DeCarlo described a recent three-day test of the drone technology over Vineyard Sound. “We are testing the ability of these aircraft to navigate, maintain communications, to go from point A to point B," he said. "In order to do that, we had to daisy chain visual observers in a boat halfway across to Martha's Vineyard.”
According to current FAA regulations, drones must be operated within visual line of sight, but the goal is to eventually be able to operate them without visual observers — and that’s where the collaboration with Skyports comes into play. Skyports has been granted approval by the FAA to operate beyond visual line of sight flights during a week-long feasibility project.
“Skyports has the ability to coordinate the flight of autonomous aircraft to deliver packages over long distances that include significant geographic boundaries,” DeCarlo said. He added that the FAA is gathering data from the tests done here in Massachusetts to determine when the drones are going to be able to go without visual observers, which is the key to long distance delivery.
So when will we see these drones in regular operation? "It's going to take some time before we have ubiquitous use of drones," said DeCarlo. "I think within a year, you're going to start to see individual specific uses in controlled environments." As an example he pointed to the large retirement community known as The Villages in Florida where UPS is using drone delivery for pharmaceuticals. "I think you'll see some of that being introduced into the Commonwealth over the next year or two," he said.
Throughout its project with MassDOT over the coming year, Skyports will complete a series of test flights and demonstrations to prove its operational reliability and technological capability. Following the completion of the test phase, Skyports plans to move into full scale permanent commercial operations in Massachusetts before expanding its operations across other states in the U.S.
