Case Study: InDro Robotics achieves rapid, low-latency drone delivery of COVID-19 tests with Cradlepoint NetCloud Service

Cellular-Connected Drone Flights Deliver COVID-19 Tests from Island to Nearest Lab

InDro Robotics, a North American leader in BVLOS-capable UAVs, faced a pandemic-era logistics problem: Penelakut Island’s only ferry made transporting COVID-19 tests to the nearest lab slow and tied up local nurses for an entire day. Because satellite links introduced unacceptable latency (up to ~7 seconds) for beyond-visual-line-of-sight flights, InDro turned to Cradlepoint and its NetCloud Service for Mobile and in-vehicle wireless edge routers to find a low-latency alternative.

Cradlepoint’s solution — LTE connectivity (Rogers) managed via NetCloud (Advanced Plan) and GeoView/NetCloud API features — delivered reliable, low-latency video and command links for BVLOS drone flights, plus map-based cellular heatmaps and analytics integrated into InDro’s navigation software. The result: medical samples can be flown in minutes instead of hours, nurses are freed to provide local care, flight paths were optimized by identifying dead zones, and testing time and manual trial-and-error were sharply reduced thanks to Cradlepoint’s cloud-managed monitoring.

InDro Robotics

Philip Reece

President and CEO