Potential and Challenges in Airborne Automated External Defibrillator Delivery by Drones in a Mountainous Region

Delivering an automated external defibrillator (AED) to a patient suffering from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) as quickly as possible is a critical task. In this field, airborne drones may help to overcome long response times, especially in mountainous regions where topography and weather pose several challenges for rescuers. Drones are considered a fast option to shorten the time to the first AED shock. This study presents insights into the safety regulations, performance, reliability and public perception of this specific drone-based application. The findings are based on field tests that focused on the operational/logistical benefits and challenges of semi-autonomous drone-based AED delivery to simulated emergency sites in mountainous terrain. The generated results underline the operational and technical feasibility of the proposed system given successful AED delivery in all simulation scenarios. Several challenges remain, such as improvements in terms of the AED pick-up, mobile phone connectivity, tracking of GPS coordinates and weather resistance of the used drone are required. Overall, the study supports paving the way for future trials and real-world implementations of drones into existing emergency response systems.