Automated External Defibrillator (AED) is already quite developed, optimizing the whole AED system or solution is more meaningful than AED itself, and of course the developing target is to save people faster and better.
One important subject is about how to deliver AED faster and drone delivery has been in our sight for many years.
However, it has not been widely put into commercial use or only stop at the demo/POC stage
Today we will elaborate on AED drone delivery, not focusing on concept, but more about commercialization.
Why focusing on AED drone delivery
Drone AED delivery addresses two major challenges of traditional AED deployment: limited AED coverage and long response times.
When sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) occurs, without immediate intervention, the chance of survival decreases rapidly with every minute that passes.
The first 4min is widely recognized as a critical window for emergency intervention. Early CPR helps maintain blood flow to vital organs, while early defibrillation can restore a potentially life-saving heart rhythm in patients with shockable cardiac arrest.
However, CPR alone cannot restore a normal heart rhythm in most cases. The sooner an AED is delivered, the greater the chance of successful resuscitation.
This makes rapid AED access and delivery a critical link in the chain of survival. Traditional AED deployment often relies on fixed locations, which can result in limited coverage and long delivery times—especially in large, remote, or hard-to-access areas.
Also, it transforms to having AED find people, instead of people finding AED, which allows the rescuer concentrating on saving the patient on site.
The barrier of previous trial of AED drone delivery for commercialization
The concept of AED drone delivery is simple, which means carrying an AED with a drone and fly to the site as fast as possible.
It mainly consists of 3 elements: drone, AED and control system.
We have concluded the main barriers of stopping the commercialization process from the previous trials or POC worldwide.
- Manually piloted drones cannot provide rapid, on-demand response anytime, anywhere. It only works when you know the rescue location in advance like the demo scenario.
- Naturally, the technology transforms from manual flight drone to fully autonomous drone, which refers to drone-in-box concept. However, before year 2025, the drone-in-box solution also stays at demo stage and has not been deployed at large scale. Also no single manufacturer had a real mature and stable drone-in-box solution, even including the world No.1 drone manufacturer, DJI.
• 3. Lacking of a lightweight AED for drone delivery. The traditional fixed AED requires larger payload capability of drones, resulting in increased size of drone and hard to access especially for urban areas. Of course, the regulation of drone such as Beyond Visual Line of Sight（BVLOS） is always a barrier although it keeps evolving in recent years.
The latest off-the-shelf solution ready for commercialization
In the drone industry, the common classification is DJI drone and others. Leveraging its core technology such as flight controller, motor, ESC, transmission system, sensors, and price advantages, DJI dominates the global market with over 80% market share.
But even for this giant, drone-in-box is not an easy thing to do.
DJI firstly launched its Dock version 1 in year 2023. The drone M30T did a fantastic job but the box encountered many problems such as returning to home, auto-charging, box opening in extreme weather and control system. Then Dock 2 was launched with smaller size of box and drone, but still not performed well and lasted for a very short life time. Until DJI launched the Dock 3, the drone-in-box solution is finally ready for commercial deployment.
Here are the highlights of DJI Dock3 and the drone Matrice 4D.
Another advantage of DJI platform is that it has a big ecosystem to fulfill vertical demand, and there’s one company called Windrise, of which the core team members also come from DJI enterprise department, focusing on dock vertical solution such as AED delivery, auto-inflated lifebuoy, traffic cone, etc.
Their AE-01 system enables the AED to be remotely and automatically mounted on top of the drone, making it go beyond situation awareness and become a vital force for rapid aerial rescue.
The AED they use in the AE-01 system is the smallest and lightest AED in the world, measuring just 53 × 86 × 150 mm and weighing only 670 g.
With this solution, the drone can deliver an AED to any location within a 3-kilometer radius in just 4 minutes.
In addition, their PB-34 solution enables the drone to carry and deliver an AED while supporting a winching function, providing greater flexibility in the choice of AED devices.
Here is a reference price for the overall solution.
- DJI Dock3 + Matrice 4D: 20K-30K USD
- AE01 System: ~5K USD
Case Study
AED drone delivery solutions are typically deployed in two major types of scenarios: urban public areas and remote or restricted-access areas. They help overcome challenges such as traffic congestion, insufficient AED coverage, and the inability to reach patients quickly by conventional means.
Here are some case studies in real world.
In Zhejiang Province, China, the Health and Public Security authorities have jointly deployed an aerial emergency response station project. The initiative aims to address challenges in older urban areas, including traffic congestion, limited AED coverage, and difficulties for ambulances to reach patients quickly.
In Poland, the local rescue organization TOPR uses this solution to provide emergency assistance to people in distress in mountainous areas. The drone can rapidly reach remote locations in the mountains, often arriving faster than both rescuers on the ground and helicopters.
The future
The drone and AED industries have both reached a relatively mature stage of technological development. Looking ahead, cross-industry integration and deeper system-level integration will be an important direction for future development. Let’s look forward to more integrated and innovative solutions.
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