U-Space and UTM Deployment as an Opportunity for More Complex UAV Operations Including UAV Medical Transport

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) commonly called drones are relatively new entrants to the airspace. The regulatory agencies, numerous States and entities are involved in creation of the safe integration with manned aviation. The so-called U-space concept announced by the European Commission is one of the approaches to achieve that goal. There is also known concept of Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) – a tool which would enable the services needed for safe conduct of UAV flights in generally accessible airspace. There are quite a few European projects which focuses on testing UTM capabilities in order to find a solution which could enable the market and ensure safe UAV operations. One of those systems is PansaUTM – which was developed in order to coordinate drone flights in different types of airspace in Poland. The first part of the paper will present an example of the implementation of this system as a foundation for new possible applications of drones and increasing number of operations. The conclusion of the first part of the article is that, in line rapid growth of UAS flights and different applications of drone services, the European drone ecosystem should evolve even further to deploy very complex drone operations in scalable manner. In order to accommodate unmanned air taxi operations, cargo flights, medical cargo flights, automatic surveillance flights, etc. Europe is preparing towards deployment of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). The second part of the text indicate the possibility of extensive use of drones in medical logistics as well as minimizing the epidemiological risk as a result of the use of this mean of transport. At the same time, it should be stressed out that the medical transport using drones can be used in urgent situations, where the main variable that has an impact on the success of life and health saving is the breaking of barriers to reaching difficult-to-reach places. In addition, the development of transport using drones can have a lasting impact on improving the quality of life of chronically ill patients who experience severe disease recurrence and thus on the need to implement emergency prevention or treatment measures. The second part of the article focuses as well on the U-space concept as an opportunity for UAVs to be widely used in the field of day-to-day supplies as well as health-related supplies. In the context of the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus, drones may be used to provide diagnostic screening tests, medicinal products and septic materials, transport of samples of biological material, as well as an information campaign on how to deal with an epidemic, quarantine or isolation at home. The use of UAV for medical supplies is economically and legally justified. The U-space environment from the operational and regulatory side is a multidisciplinary approach that requires the interaction of aviation, law, medicine, robotics, mechatronics and engineering experts. The legal framework for the development of U-space should be taken into account, as well as sector-specific regulations taking into account the principles of the use of drones in strictly defined areas, including in the process of medical supply, and liability for damage caused by UAV medical supply or AI-controlled intelligent machines.