Back to projects
P-04·NCBiR · POLAND·2018–2020

Airvein

An end-to-end drone transport network for medical cargo — blood, blood components, samples, medications — moving between Regional Blood Donation Centers and hospitals 24/7, in all weather, on a grid of hangars spaced 10 to 15 kilometers apart.

Announced
2 May 2018
Grant
~$1.24M
Duration
24 months
Funder
NCBiR

What we built

A hangar network that closes the autonomy gap.

The hard problem in drone logistics isn't the drone — it's the gap between drone batteries. Airvein solves it with infrastructure: a network of autonomous hangars spaced every 10 to 15 kilometers. Drones fly between them, recharge or hot-swap, and continue. The cargo never stops moving.

“Everyone talks about drone advantages but forgets that a typical drone flies twenty-something minutes, then needs a human. Thanks to hangars we solved this — building a network of hangars every 10 to 15 km, drones fly continuously between them.”— Vadym Melnyk, May 2018

Cargo profile

  • Blood
  • Blood components
  • Blood samples for laboratory analysis
  • Medications
  • Sera

Technical scope

  • All-weather, 24/7 cargo drone capability
  • Ground infrastructure (drone hangars / charging hubs)
  • Hybrid navigation stack
  • Cargo module maintaining transport parameters (temperature, vibration)

Consortium

  • Dronehub (Poland) — Lead
  • Pentacomp Systemy Informatyczne S.A. (Poland)

Strategic context

Airvein is Dronehub's proof of dual-use logistics IP. The hangar-network architecture and cargo handling stack transfer directly to defense resupply, border logistics, and emergency medical operations in disaster zones — the same infrastructure pattern, different payloads.