Telengana’s T-Works designs UAV to deliver medicines from the sky

The Government of Telangana’s IT and electronics prototyping center, T-Works, has designed and tested an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can be used for the state’s Medicine from Sky initiative. The UAV, christened the Airborne Medical Rapid Transport-25 (AMRT-25), runs on both gasoline and battery power. It has four fixed brushless DC (BLDC) motors and can take-off and land vertically, which is important for drones that will deliver medicines in urban areas since they are unlikely to have a runway available for them to land.

“Commonly available drones called multi-rotors have a range  of 20-25km. To cover longer distances, say over 100km, with speed, we must break this range barrier. Here, fixed-wing VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) UAVs are an efficient option,” pointed out Sujai Karampuri, CEO of T-Works. 

Additionally, the AMRT-25 also has a 2-stroke, 30cc gasoline powered internal combustion (IC) engine, which allows forward flight. The 25 in its name denoted the 2.5 metre wingspan and the UAV also runs on battery power. T-Works managed to cover 45 kms distance in a span of 33 minutes, at an average speed of 81kmph during its test run. 

“AMRT-25 is a versatile UAV design that can be configured to be used for medical supplies delivery as well as for survey and mapping, aerial inspection, surveillance, reconnaissance, and research applications,” the company said in a blog post.

T-works said that the new design will be capable of carrying heavier payloads over larger distances owing to the design of the wings, which provide added buoyancy. Compared to traditional drones, the winged UAV will consume 75% less power, the innovation hub claimed.

Primarily built for supplying medicines, the UAV will also be eventually used for inspection, defence applications, surveying and other experiments that require payloads. The Telengana government’s Medicine from the Sky initiative was announced last year and officially began in September this year. T-Works has also open sourced the tools used for designing and constructing the UAV on proto.tworks.in.