Unmanned Vertical Lift for Medical Equipment Distribution

This report provides a comprehensive methodical design of an autonomous flying vehicle, for the purpose of transporting medical supplies. Current medical supply transportation infrastructure lacks the ability to adequately service the rapidly growing industry, especially in times of crisis. To help solve this issue, this report details the design of an unmanned drone which can carry a fifty-kilogram payload for fifty kilometers, in twenty-eight minutes. The drone is also capable of transporting a fifty-kilogram payload for two hundred kilometers in seventy-five minutes or less, all while flying at an altitude of up to one thousand meters. Since the medical field often involves emergencies, the drone is designed to load and unload the payload quickly. Methods of analysis include the DMAIC approach, which was implored in order to proliferate the design process. TOPSIS analysis and flow simulation were analysis methods used as well. The final design is a VTOL craft, with a rotating wing design which allows the craft to take off and hover like a helicopter, but also fly horizontally like a traditional plane. The final weight of the craft is 198.56 kilograms, excluding the payload. The aircraft is electric and powered via lithium sulfur batteries. The aircraft carries the payload on the underside of the fuselage, via a system of brackets which raise and lower between the landing gear to drop off this payload at its destination autonomously. This design has the potential to completely change the way medical supplies is transported, and in turn increase efficiency in the medical field. While it is still just a design, this craft can be built, refined, and used in the real world with further optimization