Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused very serious problems almost to the whole world, so every opportunity must be considered to improve the situation. One such improvement strategy is decontamination carried out from the air. This technique can be considered for surface clearance of larger areas; hence, there is the need to investigate its effectiveness regarding the pandemic. There are many examples of the use of drones for disinfection to improve epidemic situations, but good practices, as well as factors influencing effectiveness, have not yet been identified. In the case of using drones for disinfection during a pandemic, the adapted use of agricultural drones is clear from reports. In this paper, the authors performed calculations with different values of flight speed (10 to 50 km/h), flight altitude (1 to 5 m), and flow rate (1 to 5 L/min) to determine the possible amount of disinfectant fluid per unit area. The results show that by changing the parameters, the amount of disinfectant per unit area can be given within quite wide limits (30–0.24 g/m2). Although the results raise many new questions, they can help to identify adequate flight parameters depending on different disinfectant liquids.
Highlights
In the last hundred years, a total of six epidemics have swept the world, including the latest epidemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus
Matrix data were determined by correlating the disinfectant fluid value of unit area to the flight speed values calculated as a function of flight altitude and fluid flow
With the data of surface coverage and the size of tank installed on board, we can calculate the area that can be sprayed by each drone mission
Summary
In the last hundred years, a total of six epidemics have swept the world, including the latest epidemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. At the end of World War I, in 1918, the Spanish flu caused a pandemic. From January 1918 to December 1920, the Spanish flu infected just over a quarter of the world’s population at that time, 500 million people. The mortality has been put at least 17 million, but pessimistic estimates record the deaths of 50 or even 100 million people [1]. Almost exactly 100 years after Spanish flu, we face the sixth pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, commonly known as COVID-19 or novel coronavirus. More than 165 million people are infected while mortality exceeds 3.5 million all over the world [2]
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