Swoop Aero partners with Skyports and BD Rowa

Drone developer Swoop Aero has announced a strategic partnership with UK unmanned aircraft services provider Skyports and German pharmaceutical logistics and automation firm BD Rowa to develop drone-based medical supply chains worldwide.

The partnership reaffirms an existing partnership between Swoop and Skyports, as well as incorporating new partner BD Rowa, and will support the development of new pharmaceutical drone delivery networks across the UK, continental Europe and the Middle East.

Skyports has already worked in collaboration with Swoop in the past to develop drone logistics technologies on behalf of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) and Royal Mail, and Fed Ex in Ireland.

“We already know the power that drone logistics can bring to healthcare settings from our work with the NHS in the UK, transporting pathology samples and Covid-19 tests,” Alex Brown, Director of Skyport Drone Services, said. “In just the UK to date, we have saved over 12,000 hours of patient waiting time, meaning that patients can start treatment sooner and get on with their lives.”

Eric Peck, CEO and Co-Founder of Swoop Aero, said: “BD Rowa has a strong pedigree in developing automated storing and dispensing solutions for wholesalers, pharmacies, hospitals and patients. We are looking forward to working with them to augment the value they bring to health systems by integrating autonomous air logistics.”

Swoop also announced a partnership with Iridium

Swoop also announced a new partnership with satellite communications firm Iridium on 16 March, which will support closer collaboration between the two companies. This will include the integration of Iridium’s Certus 100 technology into Swoop’s drone logistics technology.

The Swoop Aero technological platform includes a cloud-based digital twin of the aircraft fleet, alongside a suite of administration tools and safety systems. The integration of Iridium Certus will support this cloud-based platform, as well as offering the ability to offer real-time video display through a continuous broadband link – which Swoop says will be useful in the event of search and rescue (SAR) missions, where they will be able to ‘analyze live footage for example, to identify a distressed swimmer, surfer or boat out at sea’.

The Iridium satellite constellation will also enable Swoop to ‘leapfrog’ the limited ground-based communications networks found in the remote areas that Swoop intends to serve, offering weather-resistant connectivity around the world.

“The integration of the Iridium Certus link will guarantee the flight safety record of Swoop Aero’s Kite™ by facilitating continuous communications everywhere between many aircraft and a single operator as we expand from 10:1 to 30:1 operations,” said Andrew Thomas, Chief Architect at Swoop Aero. “The Iridium Certus link facilitates real-time connectivity with low latency due to the geographical proximity of Low Earth Orbit Connection. This means the Swoop Aero team is able to know where the aircraft is in real time, anywhere in the world, via a centralized proprietary communications portal.”