I walk on the path around Brookhaven College. In front of me is a young man flying a drone. It is around 6 p.m. and nice, cool weather — perfect for walking or flying a drone. I have not personally flown a drone myself, but my Sunday school teacher and SMU professor makes short films about history and often uses drones for aerial photography. It has been a bit of a learning curve for him. I believe he crashed the first drone he ever flew. I guess it’s kind of like those remote-controlled cars or model airplanes. You do have to be careful. I will have to say that the aerial photography from drones can be stunning and really add depth and richness to a film. Now that I think of it, I bet the evolution of drones has put aerial photographers out of business. Maybe they evolved too, by mastering the intricacies of drones and continuing to sell their services. I believe drones have a lot more uses. Let’s find out more about them.
According to Wikipedia, an unmanned aerial vehicle or UAV or uncrewed aerial vehicle — also known as unmanned aircraft or uncrewed aircraft or UA, commonly known as a drone — is an aircraft without a human pilot on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system or UAS, which additionally includes a ground-based controller and a system of communications with the UAV. The flight of UAVs may operate under remote control by a human operator ― remotely piloted aircraft or RPA ― or with various degrees of autonomy, such as autopilot assistance up to fully autonomous aircraft that does not allow human intervention.
Compared to crewed aircraft, UAVs were originally used for missions too "dull, dirty or dangerous" for humans. While drones originated mostly in military applications, their use is rapidly finding many more applications including aerial photography product deliveries, agriculture, policing and surveillance, infrastructure inspections, science, smuggling and drone racing.
Terminology Multiple terms are used for unmanned aerial vehicles, generally referring to the same concept. The term drone, more widely used by the public, was coined about the early, remotely flown target aircraft used for practice firing of battleships’ guns, and the term was first used with the 1920s Fairey Queen and 1930s de Havilland Queen Bee target aircraft. These two were followed in service by the similarly named Airspeed Queen Wasp and Miles Queen Martinet, before ultimate replacement by the GAF Jindivik.
The term unmanned aircraft system or UAS was adopted by the United States Department of Defense and the United States Federal Aviation Administration in 2005 according to their Unmanned Aircraft System Roadmap 2005–2030. The International Civil Aviation Organization and British Civil Aviation Authority adopted this term, also used in the European Union's Single-European-Sky Air-Traffic-Management Research roadmap for 2020. This term emphasizes the importance of elements other than the aircraft. It includes elements such as ground control stations, data links and other support equipment. Similar terms are unmanned-aircraft vehicle system or UAVS, remotely piloted aerial vehicle or RPAV and remotely piloted aircraft system or RPAS. Many similar terms are in use. "Unoccupied" and "uninhabited" are occasionally used as gender-neutral alternatives to "unmanned."
A UAV is defined as a "powered, aerial vehicle that does not carry a human operator, uses aerodynamic forces to provide vehicle lift, can fly autonomously or be piloted remotely, can be expendable or recoverable and can carry a lethal or nonlethal payload." Therefore, missiles are not considered UAVs because the vehicle itself is a weapon that is not reused, though it is also uncrewed and in some cases remotely guided. That being said, UAV is a term that is commonly applied to military use cases. The terms autonomous drone and UAV are often wrongfully used interchangeably. This could stem from the fact that many UAVs are automated i.e., they carry out automated missions but still rely on human operators. However, an autonomous drone is a "UAV that can operate without any human intervention." In other words, autonomous drones take off, carry out missions and land completely autonomously. Thus, an autonomous drone is a type of UAV, but a UAV is not necessarily an autonomous drone.
As autonomous drones are not piloted by humans, a ground control system, or communications management software, plays a major role in their operations, and thus they are also considered part of a UAS. In addition to the software, autonomous drones also employ a host of advanced technologies that allow them to carry out their missions without human intervention, such as cloud computing, computer vision, artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning and thermal sensors.
In recent years, autonomous drones have begun to transform various commercial industries as they can fly beyond visual line of sight or BVLOS while maximizing production; reducing costs and risks; ensuring site safety, security and regulatory compliance; and protecting the human workforce in times of a pandemic. They can also be used for consumer-related missions like package delivery — as demonstrated by Amazon Prime Air — and critical deliveries of health supplies.
A drone-in-a-box or DIB is an autonomous drone that deploys to carry out a pre-programmed list of missions from and returns to a self-contained landing box that also functions as the drone's charging base.
Under new regulations which came into effect 1 June 2019, the term RPAS or remotely piloted aircraft system has been adopted by the Canadian government to mean "a set of configurable elements consisting of a remotely piloted aircraft, its control station, the command and control links and any other system elements required during flight operation."
The relation of UAVs to remote-controlled model aircraft is unclear. UAVs may or may not include model aircraft. Some jurisdictions base their definition on size or weight; however, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration defines any uncrewed flying craft as a UAV, regardless of size. For recreational uses, a drone — as opposed to a UAV — is a model aircraft that has first-person video, autonomous capabilities or both.
History The earliest recorded use of an unmanned aerial vehicle for warfighting occurred in July 1849, serving as a balloon carrier — the precursor to the aircraft carrier — in the first offensive use of air power in naval aviation. Austrian forces besieging Venice attempted to launch some 200 incendiary balloons at the besieged city. The balloons were launched mainly from land; however, some were also launched from the Austrian ship SMS Vulcano. At least one bomb fell in the city; however, due to the wind changing after launch, most of the balloons missed their target, and some drifted back over Austrian lines and the launching ship Vulcano. UAV innovations started in the early 1900s, and originally focused on providing practice targets for training military personnel. UAV development continued during World War I, when the Dayton-Wright Airplane Co. invented a pilotless aerial torpedo that would explode at a preset time.
The earliest attempt at a powered UAV was English consulting engineer, research physicist and inventor Archibald M. Low's "Aerial Target" in 1916. He confirmed that Geoffrey de Havilland’s monoplane was the one that flew under control on March 21, 1917, using his radio system. Other British unmanned developments followed during and after World War I leading to the fleet of over 400 de Havilland 82 Queen Bee aerial targets that went into service in 1935.
Nikola Tesla described a fleet of uncrewed aerial combat vehicles in 1915. These developments also inspired the construction of the Kettering Bug by Charles Kettering from Dayton, Ohio and the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane, initially meant as an uncrewed plane that would carry an explosive payload to a predetermined target. The first scaled remote piloted vehicle was developed by film star and model-airplane enthusiast Reginald Denny in 1935. In 1940 Denny started the Radioplane Co., and more models emerged during World War II — used both to train antiaircraft gunners and to fly attack missions. Nazi Germany produced and used various UAV aircraft during the war, like the Argus As 292 and the V-1 flying bomb with a jet engine. After World War II, the development continued in vehicles such as the American JB-4 using television/radio-command guidance, Australian GAF Jindivik and Teledyne Ryan Firebee I of 1951, while companies like Beechcraft offered its Model 1001 for the U.S. Navy in 1955. Nevertheless, they were little more than remote-controlled airplanes until the Vietnam War.
In 1959, the U.S. Air Force, concerned about losing pilots over hostile territory, began planning for the use of uncrewed aircraft. Planning intensified after the Soviet Union shot down a U-2 in 1960. Within days, a highly classified UAV program started under the code name of "Red Wagon." The August 1964 clash in the Tonkin Gulf between naval units of the U.S. and North Vietnamese Navy initiated America's highly classified UAVs — Ryan Model 147, Ryan AQM-91 Firefly and Lockheed D-21 — into their first combat missions of the Vietnam War. When the Chinese government showed photographs of downed U.S. UAVs via Wide World Photos, the official U.S. response was "no comment."
During the War of Attrition from 1967 to 1970, the first tactical UAVs installed with reconnaissance cameras were first tested by Israeli intelligence, successfully bringing photos from across the Suez Canal. It was the first time tactical UAVs that could be launched and landed on any short runway — unlike the heavier jet-based UAVs — were developed and tested in battle.
In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israel used UAVs as decoys to spur opposing forces into wasting expensive anti-aircraft missiles. After the 1973 Yom Kippur war, a few key people from the team that developed this early UAV joined a small startup company that aimed to develop UAVs into a commercial product, eventually purchased by Tadiran and leading to the development of the first Israeli UAV.
In 1973, the U.S. military officially confirmed that they had been using UAVs in Southeast Asia or Vietnam. Over 5,000 U.S. airmen had been killed and over 1,000 more were missing or captured. The USAF 100th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing flew about 3,435 UAV missions during the war at a cost of about 554 UAVs lost to all causes. In the words of USAF Gen. George S. Brown, commander, Air Force Systems Command, in 1972, "The only reason we need (UAVs) is that we don't want to needlessly expend the man in the cockpit." Later that year, General John C. Meyer, commander-in-chief, Strategic Air Command, stated, "we let the drone do the high-risk flying ... the loss rate is high, but we are willing to risk more of them ... they save lives!"
During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Soviet-supplied surface-to-air missile batteries in Egypt and Syria caused heavy damage to Israeli fighter jets. As a result, Israel developed the IAI Scout as the first UAV with real-time surveillance. The images and radar decoys provided by these UAVs helped Israel to completely neutralize the Syrian air defenses at the start of the 1982 Lebanon War, resulting in no pilots downed. The first time UAVs were used as proof-of-concept of super-agility, post-stall, controlled flight in combat-flight simulations involved tailless, stealth technology-based, three-dimensional thrust vectoring flight control, jet-steering UAVs in Israel in 1987.
With the maturing and miniaturization of applicable technologies in the 1980s and 1990s, interest in UAVs grew within the higher echelons of the U.S. military. In the 1990s, the U.S. DoD gave a contract to AAI Corp., along with Israeli company Malat. The U.S. Navy bought the AAI Pioneer UAV that AAI and Malat developed jointly. Many of these UAVs saw service in the 1991 Gulf War. UAVs demonstrated the possibility of cheaper, more capable fighting machines, deployable without risk to aircrews. Initial generations primarily involved surveillance aircraft, but some carried armaments, such as the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, that launched AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles.
CAPECON was a European Union project to develop UAVs, running from May 1, 2002 to December 31, 2005.
As of 2012, the United States Air Force employed 7,494 UAVs — almost one in three USAF aircraft. The Central Intelligence Agency also operated UAVs.
In 2013 at least 50 countries used UAVs. China, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Turkey and others designed and built their own varieties.
Military market As of 2020, 17 countries have armed UAVs, and more than 100 countries use UAVs in a military capacity. The global military UAV market is dominated by companies based in the United States and Israel. By sale numbers, the U.S. held over 60% military-market share in 2017. Four of the top five military UAV manufactures are American including General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing, followed by the Chinese company CASC. Israel companies mainly focus on small surveillance UAV system and by quantity of drones, Israel exported 60.7% — in 2014 — of UAVs on the market while the United States export 23.9% in 2014; top importers of military UAVs are the United Kingdom (33.9%) and India (13.2%). The United States alone operated over 9,000 military UAVs in 2014. General Atomics is the dominant manufacturer with the Global Hawk and Predator/Mariner systems product-line.
Civilian market The civilian drone market is dominated by Chinese companies. Chinese drone manufacturer DJI alone had 74% of civilian-market share in 2018, with no other company accounting for more than 5%, and with $11 billion forecast global sales in 2020. Following increased scrutiny of its activities, the U.S. Interior Department grounded its fleet of DJI drones in 2020, while the Justice Department prohibited the use of federal funds for the purchase of DJI and other foreign made UAVs. DJI is followed by Chinese company Yuneec, U.S. company 3D Robotics and French company Parrot with a significant gap in market share. As of March 2018, more than one million UAVs — 878,000 hobbyist and 122,000 commercial — were registered with the U.S. FAA. 2018 NPD Group data point to consumers increasingly purchasing drones with more advanced features with 33% growth in both the $500+ and $1000+ market segments. The civilian UAV market is relatively new compared to the military one. Companies are emerging in both developed and developing nations at the same time. Many early-stage startups have received support and funding from investors, as is the case in the United States, and by government agencies, as is the case in India. Some universities offer research and training programs or degrees. Private entities also provide online and in-person training programs for both recreational and commercial UAV use.
Consumer drones are also widely used by military organizations worldwide because of the cost-effective nature of consumer product. In 2018, Israeli military started to use DJI Mavic and Matrice series of UAVs for light reconnaissance mission, since the civilian drones are easier to use and have higher reliability. DJI drones are also the most widely used commercial unmanned aerial systems that the U.S. Army has employed. DJI surveillance drones have also been used by Chinese police in Xinjiang since 2017. The global UAV market will reach $21.47 billion — with the Indian market touching the $885.7 million mark — by 2021. Lighted drones are beginning to be used in nighttime displays for artistic and advertising purposes.
Transport market The Aerospace Industries Association reports large cargo and passenger drones should be certified and introduced over the next 20 years. Sensor-carrying large drones are expected from 2018; short-haul, low-altitude freighters are expected outside cities from 2025; long-haul cargo flights are expected by the mid-2030s and then passenger flights by 2040.Spending should rise from a few hundred million dollars on research and development in 2018 to $4 billion by 2028 and $30 billion by 2036.
Agriculture market As global demand for food production grows exponentially, resources are depleted, farmland is reduced, and agricultural labor is increasingly in short supply, there is an urgent need for more convenient and smarter agricultural solutions than traditional methods. The agricultural drone and robotics industry is expected to make progress. Agricultural drones have been used in areas such as Africa to help build sustainable agriculture.
Law enforcement and firefighting market Police and firefighters can use UAVs for applications such as search and rescue, disaster management, firefighting, computer-aided dispatch and traffic monitoring.
Air traffic
UAVs can threaten airspace security in numerous ways, including unintentional collisions or other interference with other aircraft, deliberate attacks or by distracting pilots or flight controllers. The first incident of a drone-airplane collision occurred in mid-October 2017 in Quebec City, Canada. The first recorded instance of a drone collision with a hot air balloon occurred on August 10, 2018 in Driggs, Idaho; although there was no significant damage to the balloon nor any injuries to its three occupants, the balloon pilot reported the incident to the National Transportation Safety Board, stating that "I hope this incident helps create a conversation of respect for nature, the airspace, and rules and regulations." In recent events, UAVs flying into or near airports shut them down for long periods of time.
Regulatory bodies around the world are developing unmanned aircraft system traffic management solutions to better integrate UAVs into airspace.
Wildfires In the United States, flying close to a wildfire is punishable by a maximum $25,000 fine. Nonetheless, in 2014 and 2015, firefighting air support in California was hindered on several occasions, including at the Lake Fire and the North Fire. In response, California legislators introduced a bill that would allow firefighters to disable UAVs which invaded restricted airspace. The FAA later required registration of most UAVs. The use of UAVs is also being investigated to help detect and fight wildfires, whether through observation or launching pyrotechnic devices to start backfires.
Security vulnerabilities
The interest in UAVs cyber security has been raised greatly after the Predator UAV video stream hijacking incident in 2009, where Islamic militants used cheap, off-the-shelf equipment to stream video feeds from a UAV. Another risk is the possibility of hijacking or jamming a UAV in flight. Several security researchers have made public some vulnerabilities in commercial UAVs, in some cases even providing full source code or tools to reproduce their attacks. At a workshop on UAVs and privacy in October 2016, researchers from the Federal Trade Commission showed they were able to hack into three different consumer quadcopters and noted that UAV manufacturers can make their UAVs more secure by the basic security measures of encrypting the Wi-Fi signal and adding password protection.
your Sunday School teacher is a piece of work. One in a million! But then, so are you!