Download the free PDF version of this blog
Next
Almost there!
Back
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Drones Help Authorities & Businesses Fight COVID-19

FlytBase, for our part, is making FlytBase available for free for customers who seek to deploy drones as an aid to help control the coronavirus virus.

Last updated on

March 23, 2020

Read time

mins

https://www.flytbase.com/blog/fight-covid-19-with-drones

Copy Linkwww.flytnow.com/blog/drone-for-hazmat-response

Get the PDF Version of this Blog for Free!

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Aerial Monitoring, Medical Delivery, Emergency Response

COVID-19 i.e. the coronavirus disease has been aptly called the Black Swan of 2020 - a global contagion that will disrupt public health and the global economy. With social distancing turning out to be insufficient, governments across the world are moving to comprehensive lockdowns, likely for weeks if not months, in order to ‘flatten the curve’ and get this pandemic under control.

drones for coronavirus

In these trying times, each company is striving to do its part in helping their employees, partners and customers cope. FlytBase, for our part, is making FlytBase Pro available for free (until at-least May 31, 2020) for customers who seek to deploy drones as an aid to help control the virus.

Safety via Autonomy

The most powerful weapon in the battle against COVID-19 is avoiding human-to-human contact. Drones can thus serve us well - when used remotely and autonomously. Whether monitoring public spaces via live video feeds, delivering medicines to the last mile, or aiding public safety personnel during incident response, autonomous drones can help minimize human interactions while ensuring that food, medicines and help reach people on time.

Monitoring of Public Spaces

Across the world, national and local governments have rapidly started closing public spaces - train & bus terminals, schools, colleges, airports, parks, malls - and soon even commercial offices and retail shops. Unfortunately, there remains a need to monitor and enforce such shutdowns, since not all members of the public are diligently adhering to social distancing and self-quarantines.

Drones, equipped with payloads such as beacons, loudspeakers, and sirens, can thus serve as a public safety aid - sending live video feeds to COVID-19 control centers, warning people of the need to stay indoors, and perhaps even spraying disinfectants! Thermal cameras mounted on drones, and controlled remotely via FlytBase, can automatically identify crowds, which can then be quickly dispersed to minimize human-to-human transmission of the virus. Such low-latency video streams can be shared with stakeholders across geographies to help monitor the overall social situation and make informed decisions about shutdowns, crowd control and public safety.

Food & Medicine Delivery

With health workers directly exposed to the virus, drone service providers can use FlytBase to deliver medicines, first aid kits and other emergency supplies - to homes as well as hospitals. Via 4G connectivity, drones and their payloads can be remotely controlled - such missions can be planned and launched from cloud-based dashboards, accessible to multiple stakeholders. Live video streams in the FlytBase dashboard can help confirm medical deliveries, and the recipients can participate in flight planning and monitoring, in a remote yet secure manner.

At a time when supply chains are getting disrupted, remote and/or rural populations need to be proactively assisted with daily supplies. Drones are an ideal solution for this urgent need - via EVLOS and BVLOS operations that can be remotely planned, controlled and monitored using FlytBase. Even in urban areas, public health officials are strongly encouraging e-commerce and delivery of daily provisions, instead of people visiting supermarkets, restaurants and pharmacies.

Emergency Response

First responders, whether police, firefighters or health workers, now need to be themselves protected against the virus during incident response. Sending drones before people must become an integral part of such operations - powered by FlytBase capabilities such as fleet management, precision landing, autonomous charging, video recording, dual-camera feeds and airspace compliance.

Drone Public Safety & Emergency Response

With the pandemic expected to last a while, public safety officials will have to plan for emergency response (with minimal involvement of humans) during floods, hurricanes, and other natural disasters.

FlytBase, Inc. salutes and wishes well, all those involved in this mammoth exercise - our doctors, nurses, aid workers, public servants, first responders, and many other selfless and brave volunteers. We are keen to do our part by leveraging autonomous drone technology to mitigate the adverse effects of the novel coronavirus.

Get Your Free Drone Autonomy Guide Today!

Use this guide to identify your specific support software needs, understand the types of solutions to look for, and get leadership buy-in.
Get the Guide

Baisali Ghosh

As a Marcom Manager at FlytBase, Baisali oversees the content strategy, creation, and management! With over 7 years of experience in the drone industry and 3 years of it at FlytBase, she’s a self-proclaimed drone fanatic and is obsessed with all things geographical. In 2022, she has been recognized as the “Women to Watch in UAS” for AI/Autonomy category by Women and Drones.

When she’s not busy hosting FlytBase’s webinar series or organizing NestGen - a global drone autonomy focused event, you can find her exploring the Patagonian Desert, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, or the Yellowstone Caldera on Google Earth.

Read More

Contact Us