University and Royal Mail trial drone deliveries to Isles of Scilly

The University of Southampton has worked with Royal Mail on a trial of fully autonomous scheduled drone flights. The trial will see the Company use Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flights to deliver Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), COVID testing kits and other mail to the Isles of Scilly.

The Government-funded project, which has been developed in partnership with DronePrep, Skyports, Consortiq Limited, Excalibur Healthcare Services and Windracers Limited, will initially have a particular focus on helping to fight the pandemic by delivering crucial PPE and testing kits to the islands’ most vulnerable and remote communities.

Mail will be flown to the islands’ airport in St. Mary’s by the twin-engine Windracers ULTRA which was designed and built by engineers at the University of Southampton, led by Professor Jim Scanlan. The ULTRA can carry up to 100kg worth of mail at a time – equivalent to a typical delivery round.

For full report

royal mail deliveries by drone trial | University of Southampton