Systems and the future
Drone pad
hospitalrural health centerwarehousebuilding rooftopemergency center
A clear, marked surface, on the ground or on a roof, where drones or vertical takeoff aircraft take off and land. It can include electric charging and a box for receiving parcels.
What it solves
It brings medicines, blood or spare parts to isolated or congested places. It can be useful when rain or a landslide cuts off a road.
Today
Provide a slab that can bear the load, safe access, fall protection and airspace free of cables, trees and antennas. Keep it away from bedrooms because of the noise and the downwash of the rotors.
Common mistake
Improvising landings on a shared terrace without markings or separation from people.
Tomorrow
A well-planned roof today can receive drones that carry medicines and laboratory samples to towns cut off by rain or landslides. Its location must respect neighbors’ rest and bird routes.
Fact In Rwanda each drone in the medical network carries about 1.5 kg of cargo.
Where it comes from
- 1Urban heliport London, United Kingdom, 1948
A helicopter landed on a rooftop in the city for the first time, on top of a parking garage. - 2Medical drone network Rwanda, 2016
A national service began delivering blood to 21 transfusion centers, dropping the cargo at a marked point next to each clinic. - 3European civil aviation European Union, 2022
The first vertiport design specifications were published, with an obstacle-free volume above the platform.
Sources
See also
Also in Systems and the future
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.