Draganfly, a Canadian company based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and a pioneer in commercial drones, has partnered with the University of South Australia for the development of a drone that will carry sensors designed for health monitoring and the detection of infectious and respiratory conditions, including monitoring temperatures, heart and respiratory rates among crowds, workforces, airlines, cruise ships and potential at-risk groups.

The sensor technology was developed in collaboration with the Science and Technology Group within the Australian Department of Defence.

“Our talented team of hardware, software, and electrical engineers have been tasked with development of a prototype drone that will collect the data the analytics require,” Draganfly’s COO Patrick Imbasciani told eFlight.

“Draganfly has been selected because of its proven leadership in an industry so important to public safety at such a critical time,” said Draganfly’s CEO Cameron Chell. “We look forward to working with global agencies and industry to rapidly deploy this important technology.”

Former White House chief of staff Andrew Card, who serves as a Draganfly director, added “Draganfly is honoured to work on such an important project given the current pandemic facing the world with COVID-19. As we move forward, drones and autonomous technology doing detection will be an important part of ensuring public safety.”

Photo credit: Draganfly