Autopilot Stack
An open flight-controller stack executes fully autonomous waypoint missions with stabilized control across the flight envelope.
Autonomous fixed-wing aircraft delivering medical payloads to communities that roads can't reach. AEROMED is where advanced aerospace engineering meets humanitarian impact — our most ambitious program, flown in rural Guatemala.
Mission
AEROMED designs autonomous aircraft that carry essential medical supplies — vaccines, medications, and diagnostic samples — across terrain where ground transport is slow, unreliable, or impossible.
It is the fullest expression of the JBAS philosophy: a complete engineering lifecycle applied to a problem that genuinely matters, connecting technical achievement with measurable community impact.
The Challenge
In rural and mountainous regions, the gap between a clinic and a community is measured in hours of difficult travel — not kilometers. Time-critical medical supplies are the first casualty of that distance.
Ground travel times across mountainous terrain delay urgent deliveries.
Rainy-season roads become impassable, cutting communities off entirely.
Vaccines and biologics degrade when transit is slow or unreliable.
Why Guatemala
Guatemala's highlands combine dispersed communities, demanding terrain, and limited infrastructure — exactly the conditions where autonomous aerial logistics can make a tangible difference. It is also home, which keeps our work grounded in the people it serves.
Technical Architecture
AEROMED is engineered as a complete system — airframe, avionics, payload, and ground operations working as a single mission architecture.
Layer 01 · Airframe
Efficient long-range airframe optimized for cruise endurance and payload capacity.
Layer 02 · Avionics
Flight controller, GNSS, and airspeed sensing executing autonomous waypoint missions.
Layer 03 · Payload
Secured medical payload bay with a controlled, precise release system.
Layer 04 · Comms
Long-range radio link streaming live telemetry and mission status to the ground.
Layer 05 · Ground
Mission planning, live monitoring, and operator oversight throughout the flight.
Layer 06 · Safety
Return-to-launch, geofencing, and recovery logic for safe autonomous operation.
Aircraft Platform
Fixed-Wing UAV — Logistics Configuration
Cruise-efficient airframe for medical delivery missions
A fixed-wing layout is chosen deliberately: it delivers far greater range and energy efficiency than multirotor designs, making it the right platform for covering long distances between communities on a single flight.
Autopilot & Avionics
An open flight-controller stack executes fully autonomous waypoint missions with stabilized control across the flight envelope.
Satellite navigation fused with airspeed, barometric, and inertial sensing for precise positioning and route holding.
A long-range radio link provides live telemetry, mission updates, and operator oversight throughout the flight.
Return-to-launch, altitude and boundary geofencing, and loss-of-link logic keep every mission contained and recoverable.
Routes are planned and validated on the ground station, accounting for terrain, range, and delivery coordinates.
Full mission logs enable post-flight analysis, performance tuning, and continuous reliability improvement.
Payload Delivery System
The payload system is engineered around the cargo it carries — keeping medical supplies secure and intact in flight, then releasing them accurately at the destination.
Target Regions
Initial operations focus on Guatemala's highland and remote departments — regions where terrain and infrastructure create the steepest barriers to medical access.
14.5°N · 91.5°W
Dispersed mountain communities where road travel between clinics is slow and weather-dependent.
15.5°N · 90.3°W
Low-density regions with long distances between health posts and limited infrastructure.
14.8°N · 89.5°W
Communities cut off seasonally by rainfall, where aerial delivery offers a reliable alternative.
Engineering Roadmap
Phase 01
Establish the fixed-wing airframe and autopilot stack; validate stable autonomous flight.
Phase 02
Design and test the delivery bay and release mechanism with representative medical payloads.
Phase 03
Extend mission range, verify failsafes, and prove repeatable autonomous delivery.
Phase 04
Operate within the annual field mission, delivering to real communities under real conditions.
Field Mission Integration
AEROMED is the technical heart of the JBAS annual field mission in rural Guatemala. Each year, the program moves from the lab into the field — deploying aircraft alongside local partners and turning a season of engineering into direct community impact.
This is where the full lifecycle closes: concept, design, testing, deployment, and post-mission analysis, all in service of people who benefit from it.
Future Impact
As the platform matures, AEROMED can expand to more regions, larger payloads, and longer ranges — a student-built model for autonomous medical logistics with real humanitarian reach.
AEROMED is open to all students ready to engineer autonomous systems with real-world impact.
Join the program