Communications of the ACM
What The First Lung Delivered by Drone Means for Transplant Science
The team enhanced the drone's connectivity so radio frequencies wouldn't interfere with its GPS, and installed a parachute set to open automatically in case of midair malfunction.
Credit: Jason VanBruggen
The first successful delivery of a human donor lung by aerial drone in Toronto, Canada, has implications for the future of transplant science.
Researchers at Toronto General Hospital and Canada-based biotechnology company Unither Bioelectronics substituted the drone's landing gear with a carbon-fiber organ container and augmented its connectivity to block global positioning system interference from radio frequencies.
The drone transported the lung from Toronto Western Hospital to Toronto General in five minutes (rather than the 25-minute car ride between those facilities), where it was successfully implanted into a patient.
The researchers are negotiating with aviation authorities to establish a drone corridor through commercial airspace.
From Scientific American
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