Basic Drone with the control unit |
Agriculture Drone spraying over crop |
A drone is a pilotless aircraft which is also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The drone is a flying Robot that can be radio controlled from the ground or it can fly autonomously through embedded software-controlled flight plans. The ground control system works in conjunction with onboard sensors and GPS. Drones are being used in a wide range of civilian roles ranging from search and rescue, surveillance of water-bodies, mining areas, electric power lines, oil pipelines, forests fire, traffic monitoring, weather monitoring, and fire fighting. In agriculture applications, these are being used for crop growth monitoring, spraying of liquid type insecticide and fertilizer. Likewise, personal drones are being used by hobbyists and business drone based photography, videography, and delivery of small payloads. In certain countries, heavy version of drones is being used as an aerial taxi carrying one person over a short distance and getting a 3D view of the area below. In technologically advanced countries, drones are being used for door to door delivery of small domestic stores. These drones also find great application in low-level flying and photography by journalists for real-time reporting of movements of public during processions, street/road shows, and public rallies.
Drones / UAVs are being used in the Army for
surveillance, delivery of goods, carrying and dropping of weapons on
assigned military targets. They are slowly replacing pilots while dealing with hideouts of the
terrorist’s organizations like those in Afghanistan and Syria. In various
military operations UAV is used for surveillance of fencing along international
border/Line of Control (LOC), delivery of military stores and other logistics
in difficult mountainous terrain. Although the drone has versatile applications and
low cost for the flying mission, it has issues related to privacy and
weather dependency. Another worrying factor is its misuse by undesirable people
or terrorist groups. There is also a great risk of its interference with air
traffic around airports.
History of pilot-less planes. The pilotless radio-controlled
aircraft were used in World War I. and World War II. These were
used for dropping leaflets and acting as spying decoys. In 1982, the Israeli Air Force used UAVs
for surveillance, spotting and destroying artillery locations and jamming
enemy communication. Israel could destroy the Syrian fleet with minimal
loss of Israeli forces. The Israeli UAVs have continued to contribute significantly in the military for
providing real-time enemy information. However, widespread drone
use started in 2006 when the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency
introduced UAVs to monitor the U.S.-Mexico border. In late 2012, some
manufactures came up with the low cost, lightweight personal drones for entertainment
and aerial photography. Real momentum came in 2014 when many countries started
developing UAV for commercial applications and military operations. Its
popularity continues to rise worldwide.
Types of
drones. Drones are VTOL
(Vertical Take-Off and Landing) air vehicles which neither require a runway for
taking off / landing nor pilots to fly. Drone platforms are mainly of two types:
· Rotor drones. These are small, lightweight low cost having
single-rotor or multi-rotors (tri-copters, quad-copters, hexacopters, and
octocopters). These are used as a toy for entertainment or for hobby or for
surveillance and area mapping.
· Fixed-wing drones. These
are relatively large in size, heavier and fitted with many sensors,
high-resolution camera and capable of delivering small payloads at designated
locations. These are used mainly for military operations, agriculture spraying
and logistics applications. These are launched by special equipment, which is
mobile and can be quickly set up in any location.
Drones can be also categorized as per their applications:
· Personal. These could be toys
for children entrainment or for hobby and aerial photography.
· Commercial
applications. These include spraying of water, insecticide, fertilizer for
agriculture fields. It could also be used for scanning, and mapping
disaster-affected locations, surveillance and area mapping including 3D imaging
of minefields, cement queries, and cement plants. These drones could be
carrying small payloads and delivery of goods to difficult terrain. Drones are
effectively used for monitoring crowd movement during political campaigns/
rallies.
· Military operations. UAVs are
well suited for stealth operations of locating and destroying enemy hideouts
and carrying out many other secret missions.
Drone Size and weight.
·
Personal drones. These are for common use simply to fly around as entertainment,
offering video or still camera capabilities. These drones are easy to
carry like a toy and weigh from 1 to 10 pounds.
Commercial
Applications. These drones are
UAV, larger in weight and size, longer flying time, capable of carrying and delivery of small stores/materials,
surveillance, and area mapping. Boeing Company offers “Scan-Eagle” drone, having
10-foot wingspan and weighs 35 pounds. Its sensors include electro-optic
imagers, mid-wave infrared imagers, infrared markers, and laser rangefinders. Agriculture sprayer drones are heavier
and fitted with special equipment for aerial spraying of liquid pesticides,
fertilizers, and herbicides on agricultural land.
Drones can spray 50-100 acres area per day, which is 30 times more than the
traditional knapsack sprayer. These
drones can be manually launched and controlled by the farmhouse
staff. Some major advantages of agriculture drone are:
· Drones
have replaced humans for spraying liquid pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides
on agricultural land. Consequently, these protect
farmers from poisoning and heat stroke, when they spraying
manually.
· Water
and soil pollution are considerably reduced with a fixed position and
orientation method.
· More
than 25% of pesticide, wastage can be saved with a high degree of
atomization.
· It
is estimated that 60% to 70% wastage of water can be saved in comparison to
traditional spraying methods.
· We
can get a 90% reduction in cost as compared to traditional spraying methods.
· These are not affected by the terrain and crop height and can be controlled remotely.
· Easy to use and
maintain.
· Monitoring and
control Features. To have good remote control on the flight path and aerial video photography, drones can be equipped with a number of sensors, including distance sensors, time-of-flight
sensors, chemical sensors, and stabilization and orientation sensors. RGB sensors are
used for collecting standard visual Red, Green and Blue wavelengths. In some
special applications, accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, barometers and
GPS are also installed.
Price and Facilities. A simple
toy type drone with a short range of flight and limited control features will
cost you $ 30 to $ 40 or say Rs 2500. You may add more features like
a high-resolution camera with some spare parts and that can cost you additional
$50 to $100. A typical personal drone DJI Spark (Professional), costing Rs.70,000 ($1000) will offer the
following facilities:
· Flight Time: 16 MINS,
Control Range: 4 KM and Speed: 50 KM/H
· Video Resolution: FHD
1920×1080 @ 30fps
· Photographs
Resolution: 4K, Camera
Resolution: 12 MP
While buying a drone online from Amazon, Flipkart,
Alibaba or Google store, you may have a good deal for free Carry Case, spare
accessories like a battery, rotor blades, SD memory card or additional
sensors. If accessories are not offered free, you should still,
buy for a cost of $100 to $ 150. Agriculture-type drone
may cost you $3000 (Rs 2 Lacs) upwards depending upon various equipment installed on board and size of the power pack. Price and other features of military type a drone is very specific for their role
and are not covered here.
Characteristics of a non-military drone. It is small, compact, battery
operated and versatile flying machine with special features to suit
non-military applications. Main characteristics of these drones are :
· It has four to
six rotors and can take off vertically from anywhere and can land anywhere.
· It can fly as
per pre-programmed route or it is radio remote controlled.
· It does not make
noise during its flight and it can fly very low to go undetected,
· It can safely
carry small loads and deliver those at a required place.
· It has a digital
camera and data storage device on board for recoding ground images,
Characteristics of
Military type drone (UAV).
·
It is noiseless
and low flying aerial vehicle which is difficult for the enemy radar to detect.
·
It is pilot-less
and no danger of losing scarce trained human resource.
·
It has a profile of small type aircraft with two
wings.
·
It has a large number of highly sensitive
instruments and sensors for area mapping, locating enemy targets and deliver required
weapon systems.
·
It is launched by mobile ground-based launching
equipment but can sustain its flight with an on-board battery.
·
It has provision to load software based route
plan and contingency plan for maneuver and action.
·
It is a radio controlled and can be maneuvered
as per operational requirement.
·
Weather permitting, it can provide a 3D view of the target area in real-time.
Commercial Applications. Drones are the
most versatile and economical resource for carrying out surveillance
and delivery of small payloads. Some common areas of its applications
for non-military applications are given below:
· Surveillance. It can do low level flying for beachside
search and rescue missions.
· Area mapping. Scanning and photographing
any specific location in inaccessible terrain. It could also be monitoring
the pollution of water-bodies and shifting of sand dunes in the desert area.
· Delivery Systems. Delivery of small payload of food,
water, medicines, clothing, and shelters in difficult areas affected during any
calamity/disaster.
· Patrolling. It can include electrical power
lines, oil pipelines, canals/water channels, railways lines, roads and
bridges, beach sites and trekking
routes.
· Agriculture activities. It is used for monitoring
crop growth and spraying of insecticide and fertilizer.
· Aerial
photography. This can be indoor/outdoor photography, during marriages or and public functions, election
rallies. It can also do 3D imaging of a specific area
· Hobby and sports. It could be any entertainment or
hobby
Military Applications.
·
Patrolling along Line
Of Control (LOC) or border for monitoring any intrusion and any damage of
fencing, bunkers and other vantage points for observation posts/towers
·
Locating and delivery
of weapons on sensitive targets /hideouts of terrorists /gorillas.
·
Delivery of stores and
field equipment in difficult/mountainous terrain/ jungles.
·
Many other secrets
missions can be carried out to meet tactical objectives
Drone Manufacturers and Suppliers. There are many manufacturers of drones in the USA,
China, Russia, Europe, Japan, Australia and a few other developing countries
like India. However, these are easily available through online stores of
Amazon, Google, Alibaba, Flipkart and at an affordable cost. One can browse
popular websites to select the drone/ UAV which suits one’s requirement and
budget. Some popular suppliers are -www.amazon.com, www.google.com, www.allibaba.com, and www.flipkart.com.
Drones are Boon for industries.
·
Aviation. The pilots that will be
replaced by drones can be employed in their new job to operate and control
drones.
·
Software/IT. Data Analysts, Software system
designers and experts in embedded
software will be in great demand
·
Manufacturing, Drones can assist in
manufacturing and maintenance industries.
·
Dangerous jobs. Jobs in hazardous palaces,
being so far done by humans are slowly being replaced by drones.
·
Enhance Productivity. Drones can add
business value by enhancing productivity with reduced delivery time.
·
Mining.
These can provide real-time status of mining activity in opencast mines and can
also be deployed inside deep mines.
·
Cement Industry. Can assist in monitoring progress at
stone queries as well as the production plant
· Oil industry. It
can help during exploration, monitoring oil production of oil fields and patrolling oil pipelines.
· Agriculture industry. Monitoring
growth of crops and spraying of water,
liquid fertilizers, and pesticides.
·
Delivery
services. Carrying small stores from
warehouse/stores to the customers.
·
Policing and law
enforcement,
·
Aviation manufacturers Aerospace, weapon manufacturers,
Limitations of Drones.
·
Battery life. The battery life
limits the flying time of the drone and you need to have multiple batteries
fitted on the drone to extend its flying time.
·
Weather conditions. Windy weather,
snowing and rain affect the use of drones. Flying drones in rain or snow can
damage the electronic components and interfere with the communication between
the drone and the controller.
·
Low speed. UAVs maximum speed is 30 mph which
is slower compared to manned aircraft.
·
Vulnerable
to hackers: UAVs vehicles require data link for controlling them from
their launching area. Hackers can intercept the data link and affect your
monitoring in the area or even trace your remote location and harm you.
·
Flying Time.
Flying time of a drone is between 8-15 minutes before the battery needs
changing. You need a bigger and heavier
battery to sustain long flying time.
Concerns
and Fears.
·
Cause unemployment. The wide use of
drones can lead to unemployment for the aircraft pilots. Similarly, some agencies
dealing with delivery services fear unemployment to their existing human
resource.
·
Invasion of Privacy. Drone’s
capability to quietly and speedily move to any location and with high-power
zoom lenses fitted in the drone, people fear that it violates individual
privacy.
·
Drone Collisions. In already jammed air space,
drones pose a risk of collisions with airplanes. Keeping track of all
drones/ UAVs and their flight routes is a major concern.
·
Damage to civilian property. UAV poses a
risk of property damage during any collision and who will be liable to pay for
the mishap.
·
Desensitize People: Drones can be
used in war zones to automatically locate and kill people through a switch of a
button. This can cause post-traumatic stress to the people who are controlling
the drones in the killing of people in remote areas.
·
Collateral Damage. Missiles and explosives fired by military
drones can lead to the death of innocent people caught in the targeted area. This can lead to an international issue of human rights,
Drone Education. Wide applications
of drones are promising lots of jobs in the future. Therefore drone education
is picking up momentum in many universities and aviation schools. Some
universities /training institutes offer a BSc degree in Unmanned Systems
Applications (USA). Some are offering an integrated course of MSc in unmanned systems and a minor in unmanned
aerial systems is becoming a good option.
Job opportunities predictions. Initially, there were
inhibitions that drones will take away many jobs. On the contrary, it is now
well recognized that drones will not only supplement human efforts, but these
will also open up many new jobs. These jobs relate to areas of Information
Technology (IT), aviation, logistics, delivery systems, aerial
photography/ videography, Journalism and reporting. Job predictions by some
leading research/consulting institutes are very encouraging.
· PricewaterhouseCoopers. They have valued
the drone-based businesses service market at more than $127 billion, with the
top industries being infrastructure at $45.2 billion, agriculture at $32.5
billion and transportation at $13.0 billion.
· Unmanned Vehicle
Systems International (AUVSI). They have
predicted that the drone industry will create more than 100,000 U.S. jobs
and add $82 billion to the U.S. economy by 2025.
· Drone
Pilots. They should possess mechanical skills,
self-evaluation skills, ability to analyze information, problem-solving skills,
communication skills, multitasking.
· UAV
Pilots. UAV Pilot required
for flying drones and executing data acquisition from Industrial
Asset Inspections, Area Mapping, Asset Mapping as per the client requirement. These
people should have sufficient knowledge on engineering of UAVs, handle safe
drone flying with industry standards.
· Software Developers. Software
developer ( system software designers) are needed to implement flight
algorithms and security aspects for Drone firmware and ground control
software. They should have proficiency in
Ardupilot, Protobuf,, Python. Ruby, Java/
Scala.
· Data
Analytics. There is a great demand for data analytics to
undertake drone operations for data acquisition on agriculture, mining, survey,
monitoring, & site inspection.
· Business Developers. Require
dynamic sales executives with good soft skills and basic knowledge of computers and drone operations.
· Skilled camera persons. Developing
agencies require photographers skilled in DSLR operations, High-Resolution
Imaging, Light Manipulation, Corel Draw, Abode Illustrator, Photo Editing,
Abode Photoshop, Colour Correction, Special Effects, and LightRoom Operations.
· Electronics,
Instrumentation and Control (EIC) engineers. These system
engineers are to deal with radio communication, instrumentation, and control
systems for the safe and efficient operation of Drone/UAV. They need to be
proficient in the microcontroller, Assembly Language, embedded
technologies, robotics, and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
· PCB Designers. These
hardware engineers are required to develop compact two-layer PCB design for
accommodating various components and their inter-connectivity. They should be
proficient in using software tools like Altium Designer,
Eagle, Lab-VIEW, Multi-sim, power supply design, GSM/GPS designing, and ARM
Cortex motor driver, switching supply and power supply design.
· Software
Engineers. They are action-taker, problem/ troubleshooter,
multi-task manager. They should have high proficiency in software design, good
communication skills, and decision-making skills.
· UAV
Developers. These technical people must have
experience in developing flight path planning, localization, and control
algorithms for aerial robots. They should have good knowledge in robotics,
computer vision, simulation, MATLAB, Simulink and Machine Learning (ML) to undertake
the development of various algorithms and tools for autonomous
systems.
· AI
Experts. They are
to deal with the Analysis and Design of
Algorithms (ADA) and have good expertise in ML to help us extract value from scanned data.
Privacy security and safety Regulations (Non-military drones ). The army of the country may have its own considerations and regulations in response to
military operations and prevailing battle zone conditions As drones/UAV are
being used for many commercial applications, newer laws are being introduced by the user country. Before using a drone, it
is very essential to check the laws of the country in which drones are being operated. All major user
counties have enforced strict regulations on the operation of
drones so that these do not interfere with the privacy of any citizen or
interfere with the operation of another aircraft, helicopters or air balloon
flying in close vicinity. USA
regulations, as shown below, are very comprehensive and may be suitably
modified /adapted as per prevailing law of the country where these
drones are to operate :
·
Unmanned aircraft must
remain within visual line-of-sight and control of the remote pilot who is handling
the flight controls.
·
Drones may not operate over anyone not directly
participating in the operation.
·
Drones may operate during good light/weather
conditions (30 minutes before official sunrise to 30 minutes after official
sunset, local time).
· A drone must yield right-of
-way to other aircraft flying in the vicinity.
·
Don't fly near airports or airfields
· The drone must stay below 400 feet and at
least 150 feet away from buildings and people.
·
The base station controller must observe
his/her drone at all times.
·
The drone should never fly near aircraft.
Future Drones. The future of
drones industry is very bright as it promises many new jobs in various
technical and non-technical fields. We usually associate drones which can fly
in the sky. The design and experimentation of underwater drones have
picked up lots of momentum in the last 4 years. These underwater drones are
designed to look for cracks in nuclear reactors’ water tanks, search ships for
contraband hidden in cavities. As drone technology continues to gain popularity for
various applications, young professionals should move in
this direction and upgrade their skills to match the needs of the emerging drone
market.
Dr. Sarbjit
Singh.
1) Author
of “A2Z -26 Steps for Assured Success”
and “ Career Challenges during Global Uncertainty” - Books are available on www.amazon.com.
2) Former Principal /
Exec Director Apeejay College of Engineering, and Advisor, School of
Engineering and Technology, Apeejay Stya University, Gurgaon, Haryana, India
Comments
Drones are for logistics and military actions. Well delivered
Very helpful