MHD TECHNOLOGY
AUSTRALIA’S FUTURE OF DELIVERIES VIA DRONES Could drones be the answer to timely and efficient global distribution of the COVID19 vaccine? Brittany Coles investigates the potential of advanced air mobility with Prof Douglas Creighton and Dr Hermione Parsons at Deakin University.
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n the first study of its kind, Australian researchers have found significant opportunity for drone delivery services. When the team began exploring Advanced Aerial Mobility (AAM) in Australia over a year ago, Dr Hermione Parsons, Industry Professor and founding Director of Deakin University’s Centre for Supply Chain and Logistics (CSCL) says that people would tell her that “it is madness, this is fanciful, this is the Jetsons.” “How can we in the modern era say anything is fanciful? We each have a phone that we call a camera or a calendar, we have documents that fly through space and immediately appear in our computers. We can fly interstate and overseas, so why is Advance Air Mobility (AAM) preposterous for freight? It’s not too out there, it’s just another tool and we must be become transport mode agnostic,” Dr Hermione says. How do we distribute freight quickly in new patterns? She says that often when advancing technology is explored
Dr Hermione Parsons, Industry Professor and founding Director of Deakin University’s Centre for Supply Chain and Logistics.
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to benefit movement in society people think it’s to replace existing modes of transport. “That is not the case. We have a number of new supply chain issues due to the pandemic. We need new delivery methods and new possibilities to solve increasingly complex logistical challenges and that can be helped by focusing on the opportunities this new technology presents,” Dr Hermione says.
SIGNIFICANT OPPORTUNITY FOR HIGH PRIORITY FREIGHT As the world continues to urbanise, and as we move away from fossil fuels to sustainable energy sources, developing new and efficient transportation systems will be critical. To meet the challenge, industries and policy makers will need to develop new skills and change their mind-sets to make a successful transition. Electric aviation is becoming a global movement, with significant recent advances attracting investors, companies and governments in the United States, Europe, Asia and closer to home in New Zealand, where they are set to begin passenger transport trials. Deakin University has released a white paper that evaluates the opportunities and next steps for Advanced Aerial Mobility (AAM) in Australia, focusing on electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft in the passenger and freight context. It is the first and most comprehensive literature review and study of this nature, and analyses the regulatory challenges, operating potential and likely benefits of AAM and eVTOL. The study is a collaboration between
Professor Doug Creighton, Deputy Director of Deakin University’s Institute for Intelligent Systems, Research and Innovation. the Institute for Intelligent Systems Research and Innovation (IISRI) and the Centre for Supply Chain and Logistics. The landmark Deakin study confirms that AAM is a significant opportunity for Australia to develop its high-tech industry sector, with potential for employment and export growth. Areas that could benefit from this advancing technology include high priority freight and personal transport, markets which would enable new technical jobs and new sources of revenue. Professor Doug Creighton, co-author of the white paper and Deputy Director of Institute for Intelligent Systems, Research and Innovation (IISRI), emphasised that while the way forward presented many challenges, the possibilities were exciting. “There are challenges to adopting AAM in Australia, including regulation, safety, noise, community acceptance and locations but we need to support the development of capabilities related to new mobility and explore entrepreneurial ideas,” Professor Doug says.