Parcel Shippers
Pallet Shippers
Personal Shippers
Connected Packaging
Dry Ice Packaging
Temperature Loggers
Pallet Covers
UN3373 Packaging
Category A Packaging
95kPa Sample Bags
GreenTherm Fully Recyclable Packaging
Postal Kits
Labels and Components
ORCA Rental
ORCA Cloud
Fulfilment Services
Drone Packaging Integration Experts
2°C-8°C
15°C-25°C
-20°C
Postal Kits
Label Compliance
Case Studies
Resource Centre
Jargon Guide
Webinars
How to Achieve Class 6.2 Special Case Compliance
Frequently Asked Questions
Buy Online
Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology
Clinical Trials
Blood Transport
Human and Animal Health
Laboratory Research and Development
Food Testing
Epidemic and Pandemic Testing and Vaccine Transport
Cell and Gene Therapies
Company History
Academic and Strategic Partnerships
Compliance and Certification
Our Carbon Reduction Plan
Our Green Mission
Intelsius Brochure
For the first time, a live drone flight successfully transported lab samples between NHS Borders and NHS Lothian in Scotland. The flight trial was part of Project CAELUS – a drone healthcare initiative led by AGS Airports. Live flying took place between Edinburgh BioQuarter next to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Borders General Hospital in Melrose.
The goal of using drones to transport samples is to cut the time it takes for samples to travel between healthcare facilities. It can take up to five hours for samples to travel between NHS Borders and NHS Lothian via road.
Project CAELUS has estimated that drone deliveries on this route (about 37 miles) could take as little as 35 minutes, allowing quicker decisions on urgent clinical matters.
Intelsius is part of the 16-member CAELUS consortium, which aims to create the first national drone healthcare network across Scotland for the transport of essential medical samples and supplies.
Project Director for CAELUS Fiona Smith said: “Our consortium has been working extremely hard to get to this stage, and we are delighted we have been able to test this important use case for the NHS. Transporting laboratory specimens by drone could speed up clinical decision-making, allowing for same-day diagnosis and treatment.
It is also one of the first times in the UK that there has been a demonstration of beyond-the-visual-line-of-sight medical drone operations transiting between controlled and uncontrolled airspace.
This is an important milestone for our project, and we look forward to testing more potential drone use cases across Scotland in the coming months.”
Watch the video below on the groundbreaking flight trial:
Intelsius designed and developed ORCA Drone as part of its role in the consortium. ORCA Drone is a high-performance multi-use temperature-controlled packaging system equipped with real-time temperature and location tracking, allowing samples to be traced at any point throughout its journey.
ORCA Drone Features
- Provides temperature control at -78°C, -25°C to -15°C, +2°C to +8°C, +15°C to +25°C and +20°C to +24°C.
- Multiple sizes and configurations to match your drone platform
- Able to track key data points like temperature, external temperature, exact location, orientation and battery status using onboard data loggers
- Reusable solution.
Get in Touch
If you would like to know more about ORCA Drone or our involvement in Project CAELUS, reach out to us at cs@intelsius.com.
