Julio (18 March 2015). "Drones Might Save Lives in Chilean Beaches". Drones' Republic. "The Story of ConservationDrones.org". conservationdrones.org
Unmanned aerial vehicle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from UAVs and drones)
AltiGator civil drone OnyxStar Fox-C8 XT in flight
An
unmanned aerial vehicle (
UAV), commonly known as a
drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. UAVs are a component of an
unmanned aircraft system (UAS);
which include a UAV, a ground-based controller, and a system of
communications between the two. The flight of UAVs may operate with
various degrees of
autonomy: either under remote control by a human operator or autonomously by onboard computers.
[1]
Compared to manned aircraft, UAVs were originally used for missions too "dull, dirty or dangerous"
[2]
for humans. While they originated mostly in military applications,
their use is rapidly expanding to commercial, scientific, recreational,
agricultural, and other applications,
[3] such as policing, peacekeeping,
[4] and surveillance,
product deliveries,
aerial photography, agriculture, smuggling,
[5] and
drone racing.
Civilian UAVs now vastly outnumber military UAVs, with estimates of
over a million sold by 2015, so they can be seen as an early commercial
application of
Autonomous Things, to be followed by the
autonomous car and home
robots.
Terminology
Multiple terms are used for unmanned aerial vehicles, which generally refer to the same concept.
The term
drone, more widely used by the public, was coined in
reference to the resemblance of the sound, of navigation and
loud-and-regular motor of old military unmanned aircraft, to the
male bee. The term has encountered strong opposition from aviation professionals and government regulators.
[6]
The term
unmanned aircraft system (
UAS) was adopted by the
United States Department of Defense (DoD) and the United States
Federal Aviation Administration in 2005 according to their Unmanned Aircraft System Roadmap 2005–2030.
[7] The
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the
British Civil Aviation Authority adopted this term, also used in the European Union's
Single-European-Sky (SES) Air-Traffic-Management (ATM) Research (SESAR Joint Undertaking) roadmap for 2020.
[8]
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. A similar term is an
unmanned-aircraft vehicle system (UAVS)
remotely piloted aerial vehicle (RPAV),
remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS).
[9] Many similar terms are in use.
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".
[10] Therefore,
missiles
are not considered UAVs because the vehicle itself is a weapon that is
not reused, though it is also unmanned and in some cases remotely
guided.
The relation of UAVs to
remote controlled model aircraft is unclear.
[citation needed] UAVs may or may not include model aircraft.
[11] Some jurisdictions base their definition on size or weight, however, the US
Federal Aviation Administration
defines any unmanned flying craft as a UAV regardless of size. For
recreational uses, a drone (as apposed to a UAV) is a model aircraft
that has first person video, autonomous capabilities or both.
[12]
History
The Israeli
Tadiran Mastiff,
which first flew in 1973, is seen by many as the first modern
battlefield UAV, due to its data-link system, endurance-loitering, and
live video-streaming.
[13]
In 1849 Austria sent unmanned, bomb-filled balloons to attack
Venice.
[14]
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 Company invented a pilotless
aerial torpedo that would explode at a preset time.
[15]
The earliest attempt at a powered UAV was
A. M. Low's "Aerial Target" in 1916.
[16] Nikola Tesla described a fleet of unmanned aerial combat vehicles in 1915.
[17] Advances followed during and after World War I, including the
Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane. The first scaled remote piloted vehicle was developed by film star and
model-airplane enthusiast
Reginald Denny in 1935.
[16] More 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.
Jet engines entered service after World War II in vehicles such as the Australian
GAF Jindivik, and
Teledyne Ryan Firebee I of 1951, while companies like
Beechcraft offered their
Model 1001 for the
U.S. Navy in 1955.
[16] 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 unmanned 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,
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".
The
War of Attrition (1967–1970) featured the introduction of UAVs with
reconnaissance cameras into combat in the Middle East.
[23]
In the 1973
Yom Kippur War Israel used UAVs as decoys to spur opposing forces into wasting expensive anti-aircraft missiles.
[24]
In 1973 the U.S. military officially confirmed that they had been using UAVs in Southeast Asia (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
General 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 first UAV with real-time surveillance.
[28][29][30] 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.
[31]
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.
[32]
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 Corporation
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-ground missiles.
CAPECON was a
European Union project to develop UAVs,
[33] running from 1 May 2002 to 31 December 2005.
[34]
As of 2012, the USAF employed 7,494 UAVs – almost one in three USAF aircraft.
[35][36] The
Central Intelligence Agency also operated UAVs.
[37]
In 2013 at least 50 countries used UAVs. China, Iran, Israel and others designed and built their own varieties.
[38]
Classification
UAVs typically fall into one of six functional categories (although multi-role airframe platforms are becoming more prevalent):
- Target and decoy – providing ground and aerial gunnery a target that simulates an enemy aircraft or missile
- Reconnaissance – providing battlefield intelligence
- Combat – providing attack capability for high-risk missions (see unmanned combat aerial vehicle)
- Logistics – delivering cargo
- Research and development – improve UAV technologies
- Civil and commercial UAVs – agriculture, aerial photography, data collection
The
U.S. Military UAV tier system is used by military planners to designate the various individual aircraft elements in an overall usage plan.
Vehicles can be categorised in terms of range/altitude. The following has been advanced
[by whom?] as relevant at industry events such as
ParcAberporth Unmanned Systems forum:
- Hand-held 2,000 ft (600 m) altitude, about 2 km range
- Close 5,000 ft (1,500 m) altitude, up to 10 km range
- NATO type 10,000 ft (3,000 m) altitude, up to 50 km range
- Tactical 18,000 ft (5,500 m) altitude, about 160 km range
- MALE (medium altitude, long endurance) up to 30,000 ft (9,000 m) and range over 200 km
- High-Altitude Long Endurance (high altitude, long endurance – HALE) over 30,000 ft (9,100 m) and indefinite range
- Hypersonic high-speed, supersonic (Mach 1–5) or hypersonic (Mach 5+)
50,000 ft (15,200 m) or suborbital altitude, range over 200 km
- Orbital low earth orbit (Mach 25+)
- CIS Lunar Earth-Moon transfer
- Computer Assisted Carrier Guidance System (CACGS) for UAVs
U.S. UAV demonstrators in 2005
Other categories include:
[39][40]
- Hobbyist UAVs – which can be further divided into
- Ready-to-fly (RTF)/Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)
- Bind-and-fly (BNF) – that require minimum knowledge to fly the platform
- Almost-ready-to-fly (ARF)/Do-it-yourself (DIY) – that require significant knowledge to get in the air.
- Midsize military and commercial UAVs
- Large military-specific UAVs
- Stealth combat UAVs
Classifications according to aircraft weight are quite simpler:
- Micro air vehicle (MAV) – the smallest UAVs that can weight less than 1g.
- Miniature UAV (also called SUAS) – approximately less than 25 kg.
- Heavier UAVs.
UAV components
General physical structure of an UAV
Manned and unmanned aircraft of the same type generally have
recognizably similar physical components. The main exceptions are the
cockpit and
environmental control system or
life support systems.
Some UAVs carry payloads (such as a camera) that weigh considerably
less than an adult human, and as a result can be considerably smaller.
Though they carry heavy payloads, weaponized military UAVs are lighter
than their manned counterparts with comparable armaments.
Small civilian UAVs have no
life-critical systems,
and can thus be built out of lighter but less sturdy materials and
shapes, and can use less robustly tested electronic control systems. For
small UAVs, the
quadcopter
design has become popular, though this layout is rarely used for manned
aircraft. Miniaturization means that less-powerful propulsion
technologies can be used that are not feasible for manned aircraft, such
as small electric motors and batteries.
Control systems for UAVs are often different than manned craft. For
remote human control, a camera and video link almost always replace the
cockpit windows; radio-transmitted digital commands replace physical
cockpit controls. Autopilot software is used on both manned and unmanned
aircraft, with varying feature sets.
Body
The primary
difference for planes is the absence of the cockpit area and its
windows. Tailless Quadcopters are a common form factor for rotary wing
UAVs while tailed mono- and bi-copters are common for manned platforms.
[41]
Power supply and platform
Small UAVs mostly use
lithium-polymer batteries (Li-Po), while larger vehicles rely on conventional airplane engines.
Battery elimination circuitry (BEC) is used to centralize power distribution and often harbors a
microcontroller unit (MCU). Costlier switching BECs diminish heating on the platform.
Computing
UAV
computing capability followed the advances of computing technology,
beginning with analog controls and evolving into microcontrollers, then
system-on-a-chip (SOC) and
single-board computers (SBC).
System hardware for small UAVs is often called the Flight Controller (FC), Flight Controller Board (FCB) or Autopilot.
Sensors
Position
and movement sensors give information about the aircraft state.
Exteroceptive sensors deal with external information like distance
measurements, while exproprioceptive ones correlate internal and
external states.
[42]
Non-cooperative sensors are able to detect targets autonomously so
they are used for separation assurance and collision avoidance.
[43]
Degrees of freedom (DOF) refer to both the amount and quality of
sensors on-board: 6 DOF implies 3-axis gyroscopes and accelerometers (a
typical
inertial measurement unit – IMU), 9 DOF refers to an IMU plus a compass, 10 DOF adds a barometer and 11 DOF usually adds a GPS receiver.
[44]
Actuators
UAV
actuators include
digital electronic speed controllers (which control the
RPM of the motors) linked to motors/
engines and
propellers,
servomotors (for planes and helicopters mostly), weapons, payload actuators, LEDs and speakers.
Software
Timeline of software forks
UAV software called the flight stack or autopilot. UAVs are
real-time systems that require rapid response to changing sensor data. Examples include
Raspberry Pis,
Beagleboards, etc. shielded with
NavIO,
PXFMini, etc. or designed from scratch such as
Nuttx, preemptive-
RT Linux,
Xenomai,
Orocos-Robot Operating System or
DDS-ROS 2.0.
Flight stack overview
| Layer |
Requirement |
Operations |
Example |
| Firmware |
Time-critical |
From machine code to processor execution, memory access… |
ArduCopter-v1.px4 |
| Middleware |
Time-critical |
Flight control, navigation, radio management... |
Cleanflight, ArduPilot |
| Operating system |
Computer-intensive |
Optic flow, obstacle avoidance, SLAM, decision-making... |
ROS, Nuttx, Linux distributions, Microsoft IOT |
List of civil-use open-source stacks include:
Loop principles
Typical flight-control loops for a multirotor
UAVs employ open-loop, closed-loop or hybrid control architectures.
- Open loop—This
type provides a positive control signal (faster, slower, left, right,
up, down) without incorporating feedback from sensor data.
- Closed loop – This type incorporates sensor feedback to adjust behavior (reduce speed to reflect tailwind, move to altitude 300 feet). The PID controller is common. Sometimes, feedforward is employed, transferring the need to close the loop further.[45]
Flight controls
Flight control is one of the lower-layer system and is similar to manned aviation:
plane flight dynamics,
control and
automation,
helicopter flight dynamics and
controls and
multirotor flight dynamics were researched long before the rise of UAVs.
Automatic flight involves multiple levels of priority.
UAVs can be programmed to perform aggressive manœuvres or landing/perching on inclined surfaces,
[46] and then to climb toward better communication spots.
[47] Some UAVs can control flight with varying flight modelisation,
[48][49] such as VTOL designs.
UAVs can also implement perching on a flat vertical surface.
[50]
Communications
Most UAVs use a
radio frequency front-end that connects the
antenna to the
analog-to-digital converter and a flight computer that controls
avionics (and that may be capable of autonomous or semi-autonomous operation).
Radio allows remote control and
exchange of video and other data. Early UAVs
[when?] had only uplink. Downlinks (e.g., realtime video) came later.
[citation needed]
In military systems and high-end domestic applications, downlink may
convey payload management status. In civilian applications, most
transmissions are commands from operator to vehicle. Downstream is
mainly video.
Telemetry is another kind of downstream link, transmitting status about the aircraft systems to the remote operator. UAVs use also
satellite "uplink" to access
satellite navigation systems.
The radio signal from the operator side can be issued from either:
- Ground control – a human operating a radio transmitter/receiver, a smartphone, a tablet, a computer, or the original meaning of a military ground control station (GCS). Recently control from wearable devices,[51] human movement recognition, human brain waves[52] was also demonstrated.
- Remote network system, such as satellite duplex data links for some military powers.[53] Downstream digital video over mobile networks has also entered consumer markets,[54] while direct UAV control uplink over the celullar mesh is under researched.[55]
- Another aircraft, serving as a relay or mobile control station – military manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T).[56]
Autonomy
Autonomous control basics
ICAO classifies unmanned aircraft as either remotely piloted aircraft or fully autonomous.
[citation needed]
Actual UAVs may offer intermediate degrees of autonomy. E.g., a vehicle
that is remotely piloted in most contexts may have an autonomous
return-to-base operation.
Basic autonomy comes from proprioceptive sensors. Advanced autonomy
calls for situational awareness, knowledge about the environment
surrounding the aircraft from exterioceptive sensors: sensor fusion
integrates information from multiple sensors.
[42]
Basic principles
One way to achieve autonomous control employs multiple control-loop layers, as in
hierarchical control systems.
As of 2016 the low-layer loops (i.e. for flight control) tick as fast
as 32,000 times per second, while higher-level loops may cycle once per
second. The principle is to decompose the aircraft's behavior into
manageable "chunks", or states, with known transitions. Hierarchical
control system types range from simple
scripts to
finite state machines,
behavior trees and
hierarchical task planners. The most common control mechanism used in these layers is the
PID controller which can be used to achieve hover for a
quadcopter by using data from the
IMU to calculate precise inputs for the electronic speed controllers and motors.
[citation needed]
Examples of mid-layer algorithms:
- Path planning: determining an optimal path for vehicle to follow
while meeting mission objectives and constraints, such as obstacles or
fuel requirements
- Trajectory generation (motion planning): determining control maneuvers to take in order to follow a given path or to go from one location to another[57][58]
- Trajectory regulation: constraining a vehicle within some tolerance to a trajectory
Evolved UAV hierarchical task planners use methods like state
tree searches or
genetic algorithms.
[59]
Autonomy features
UAV manufacturers often build in specific autonomous operations, such as:
- Self-level: attitude stabilization on the pitch and roll axes.
- Altitude hold: The aircraft maintains its altitude using barometric or ground sensors.
- Hover/position hold: Keep level pitch and roll, stable yaw heading and altitude while maintaining position using GNSS or inertal sensors.
- Headless mode: Pitch control relative to the position of the pilot rather than relative to the vehicle's axes.
- Care-free: automatic roll and yaw control while moving horizontally
- Take-off and landing (using a variety of aircraft or ground-based sensors and systems; see also:Autoland)
- Failsafe: automatic landing or return-to-home upon loss of control signal
- Return-to-home: Fly back to the point of takeoff (often gaining
altitude first to avoid possible intervening obstructions such as trees
or buildings).
- Follow-me: Maintain relative position to a moving pilot or other object using GNSS, image recognition or homing beacon.
- GPS waypoint navigation: Using GNSS to navigate to an intermediate location on a travel path.
- Orbit around an object: Similar to Follow-me but continuously circle a target.
- Pre-programmed aerobatics (such as rolls and loops)
UAV's degrees of autonomy
Functions
Full autonomy is available for specific tasks, such as airborne refueling
[60]
or ground-based battery switching; but higher-level tasks call for
greater computing, sensing and actuating capabilities. One approach to
quantifying autonomous capabilities is based on
OODA terminology, as suggested by a 2002 US Air Force Research Laboratory, and used in the table below:
[61]
Autonomous Control Levels chart
| Level |
Level descriptor |
Observe |
Orient |
Decide |
Act |
|
Perception/Situational awareness |
Analysis/Coordination |
Decision making |
Capability |
| 10 |
Fully Autonomous |
Cognizant of all within battlespace |
Coordinates as necessary |
Capable of total independence |
Requires little guidance to do job |
| 9 |
Battlespace Swarm Cognizance |
Battlespace inference – Intent of self and others (allied and foes).
Complex/Intense environment – on-board tracking
|
Strategic group goals assigned
Enemy strategy inferred
|
Distributed tactical group planning
Individual determination of tactical goal
Individual task planning/execution
Choose tactical targets
|
Group accomplishment of strategic goal with no supervisory assistance |
| 8 |
Battlespace Cognizance |
Proximity inference – Intent of self and others (allied and foes)
Reduces dependence upon off-board data
|
Strategic group goals assigned
Enemy tactics inferred
ATR
|
Coordinated tactical group planning
Individual task planning/execution
Choose target of opportunity
|
Group accomplishment of strategic goal with minimal supervisory assistance
(example: go SCUD hunting)
|
| 7 |
Battlespace Knowledge |
Short track awareness – History and predictive battlespace
Data in limited range, timeframe and numbers
Limited inference supplemented by off-board data
|
Tactical group goals assigned
Enemy trajectory estimated
|
Individual task planning/execution to meet goals |
Group accomplishment of tactical goals with minimal supervisory assistance |
| 6 |
Real Time
Multi-Vehicle Cooperation
|
Ranged awareness – on-board sensing for long range,
supplemented by off-board data
|
Tactical group goals assigned
Enemy trajectory sensed/estimated
|
Coordinated trajectory planning and execution to meet goals – group optimization |
Group accomplishment of tactical goals with minimal supervisory assistance
Possible: close air space separation (+/-100yds) for AAR, formation in non-threat conditions
|
| 5 |
Real Time
Multi-Vehicle Coordination
|
Sensed awareness – Local sensors to detect others,
Fused with off-board data
|
Tactical group plan assigned
RT Health Diagnosis Ability to compensate
for most failures and flight conditions;
Ability to predict onset of failures
(e.g. Prognostic Health Mgmt)
Group diagnosis and resource management
|
On-board trajectory replanning – optimizes for current and predictive conditions
Collision avoidance
|
Self accomplishment of tactical plan as externally assigned
Medium vehicle airspace separation (100's of yds)
|
| 4 |
Fault/Event Adaptative
Vehicle
|
Deliberate awareness – allies communicate data |
Tactical group plan assigned
Assigned Rules of Engagement
RT Health Diagnosis; Ability to compensate
for most failures and flight conditions – inner loop changes reflected in outer loop performance
|
On-board trajectory replanning – event driven
Self resource management
Deconfliction
|
Self accomplishment of tactical plan as externally assigned
Medium vehicle airspace separation (100's of yds)
|
| 3 |
Robust Response to Real Time Faults/Events |
Health/status history & models |
Tactical group plan assigned
RT Health Diagnosis (What is the extent of the problems?)
Ability to compensate for most failures and flight conditions (i.e. adaptative inner loop control)
|
Evaluate status vs required mission capabilities
Abort/RTB is insufficient
|
Self accomplishment of tactical plan as externally assigned |
| 2 |
Changeable mission |
Health/status sensors |
RT Health diagnosis (Do I have problems?)
Off-board replan (as required)
|
Execute preprogrammed or uploaded plans
in response to mission and health conditions
|
Self accomplishment of tactical plan as externally assigned |
| 1 |
Execute Preplanned
Mission
|
Preloaded mission data
Flight Control and Navigation Sensing
|
Pre/Post flight BIT
Report status
|
Preprogrammed mission and abort plans |
Wide airspace separation requirements (miles) |
| 0 |
Remotely
Piloted
Vehicle
|
Flight Control (attitude, rates) sensing
Nose camera
|
Telemetered data
Remote pilot commands
|
N/A |
Control by remote pilot |
Medium levels of autonomy, such as reactive autonomy and high levels
using cognitive autonomy, have already been achieved to some extent and
are very active research fields.
Reactive autonomy
Reactive autonomy, such as collective flight, real-time
collision avoidance, wall following and corridor centring, relies on telecommunication and
situational awareness provided by range sensors:
optic flow,
[62] lidars (light radars),
radars,
sonars.
Most range sensors analyze electromagnetic radiation, reflected off
the environment and coming to the sensor. The cameras (for visual flow)
act as simple receivers. Lidars, radars and sonars (with sound
mechanical waves) emit and receive waves, measuring the round-trip
transit time. UAV cameras do not require emitting power, reducing total
consumption.
Radars and sonars are mostly used for military applications.
Reactive autonomy has in some forms already reached consumer markets: it may be widely available in less than a decade.
[42]
Cutting-edge (2013) autonomous levels for existing systems
Simultaneous localization and mapping
SLAM combines
odometry
and external data to represent the world and the position of the UAV in
it in three dimensions. High-altitude outdoor navigation does not
require large vertical fields-of-view and can rely on GPS coordinates
(which makes it simple mapping rather than SLAM).
[63]
Two related research fields are
photogrammetry and LIDAR, especially in low-altitude and indoor 3D environments.
Swarming
Robot swarming
refers to networks of agents able to dynamically reconfigure as
elements leave or enter the network. They provide greater flexibility
than multi-agent cooperation. Swarming may open the path to data fusion.
Some bio-inspired flight swarms use steering behaviors and flocking.
[clarification needed]
Future military potential
In the military sector, American
Predators and
Reapers are made for
counterterrorism
operations and in war zones in which the enemy lacks sufficient
firepower to shoot them down. They are not designed to withstand
antiaircraft defenses or
air-to-air combat. In September 2013, the chief of the US
Air Combat Command
stated that current UAVs were "useless in a contested environment"
unless manned aircraft were there to protect them.[167] A 2012
Congressional Research Service
(CRS) report speculated that in the future, UAVs may be able to perform
tasks beyond intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strikes;
the CRS report listed air-to-air combat ("a more difficult future task")
as possible future undertakings.[168] The Department of Defense's
Unmanned Systems Integrated Roadmap FY2013-2038 foresees a more
important place for UAVs in combat.[169] Issues include extended
capabilities, human-UAV interaction, managing increased information
flux, increased autonomy and developing UAV-specific munitions.[169]
DARPA's project of systems of systems,
[69] or
General Atomics work may augur future warfare scenarios, the latter disclosing
Avenger swarms equipped with
High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS).
[70]
Cognitive radio
Cognitive radio[clarification needed] technology may have UAV applications.
[71]
Learning capabilities
UAVs may exploit
distributed neural networks.
[42]
Market trends
The
UAV global military market is dominated by pioneers United States and
Israel. The US held a 60% military-market share in 2006. It operated
over 9,000 UAVs in 2014. From 1985 to 2014, exported UAVs came
predominantly from Israel (60.7%) and the United States (23.9%); top
importers were The United Kingdom (33.9%) and India (13.2%).
[72] Northrop Grumman and General Atomics are the dominant manufacturers on the strength of the Global Hawk and Predator/Mariner systems.
The leading civil UAV companies are currently (Chinese) DJI with
$500m global sales, (French) Parrot with $110m and (US) 3DRobotics with
$21.6m in 2014.
[73]
As of March 2017, more than 770,000 civilian UAVs were registered with
the U.S. FAA, though it is estimated more than 1.1 million have been
sold in the United States alone.
[74]
UAV companies are also emerging in developing nations such as India
for civilian use, although it is at a very nascent stage, a few early
stage startups have received support and funding.
[75]
Some universities offer research and training programs or degrees.
[76] Private entities also provide online and in-person training programs for both recreational and commercial UAV use.
[77]
Development considerations
Animal imitation – Ethology
Flapping-wing
ornithopters, imitating birds or insects, are a research field in
microUAVs. Their inherent stealth recommends them for spy missions.
The Nano Hummingbird is commercially available, while sub-1g
microUAVs inspired by flies, albeit using a power tether, can "land" on
vertical surfaces.
[78]
Other projects include unmanned "beetles" and other insects.
[79]
Research is exploring miniature optic-flow sensors, called
ocellis, mimicking the compound insect eyes formed from multiple facets, which can transmit data to
neuromorphic chips able to treat optic flow as well as light intensity discrepancies.
Endurance
UEL UAV-741 Wankel engine for UAV operations
Flight time against mass of small (less than 1 kg) drones.
[42]
UAV endurance is not constrained by the physiological capabilities of a human pilot.
Because of their small size, low weight, low vibration and high power to weight ratio,
Wankel rotary engines
are used in many large UAVs. Their engine rotors cannot seize; the
engine is not susceptible to shock-cooling during descent and it does
not require an enriched fuel mixture for cooling at high power. These
attributes reduce fuel usage, increasing range or payload.
Hydrogen fuel cells, using hydrogen power, may be able to extend the endurance of small UAVs, up to several hours.
[80][81][82]
Micro air vehicles endurance is so far best achieved with
flapping-wing UAVs, followed by planes and multirotors standing last,
due to lower
Reynolds number.
[42]
Solar-electric UAVs, a concept originally championed by the
AstroFlight Sunrise in 1974, have achieved flight times of several
weeks.
Solar-powered atmospheric satellites ("atmosats") designed for
operating at altitudes exceeding 20 km (12 miles, or 60,000 feet) for as
long as five years could potentially perform duties more economically
and with more versatility than
low earth orbit satellites. Likely applications include
weather monitoring,
disaster recovery,
earth imaging and communications.
Electric UAVs powered by microwave power transmission or laser power beaming are other potential endurance solutions.
[citation needed]
Another application for a high endurance UAV would be to "stare" at a
battlefield for a long interval (ARGUS-IS, Gorgon Stare, Integrated
Sensor Is Structure) to record events that could then be played
backwards to track battlefield activities.
Reliability
Reliability improvements target all aspects of UAV systems, using
resilience engineering and
fault tolerance techniques.
Individual reliability covers robustness of flight controllers, to
ensure safety without excessive redundancy to minimize cost and weight.
[92] Besides, dynamic assessment of
flight envelope allows damage-resilient UAVs, using
non-linear analysis with ad-hoc designed loops or neural networks.
[93] UAV software liability is bending toward the design and certifications of
manned avionics software.
[94]
Swarm resilience involves maintaining operational capabilities and reconfiguring tasks given unita failures.
[95]
Applications
Aerospace
Airlines and
maintenance, repair, and operations contractors use UAVs for aircraft maintenance. In June 2015 EasyJet began testing UAVs in the maintenance of their Airbus A320s
[96]
and in July 2016 at the Farnborough Airshow, Airbus (manufacturer of
the A320), demonstrated the use of UAVs for the visual inspection of an
aircraft.
[97]
However, some aircraft maintenance professionals remain wary of the
technology and its ability to properly catch potential dangers.
[98]
A helicopter UAV has been proposed to accompany a future NASA Mars
rover mission. Investigators believe a solar-powered craft would be able
to fly for a few minutes at a time despite the thin atmosphere of the
planet, and help the rover scout out interesting destinations.
[99]
Military
UAVs are used by a broad range of military forces, from Argentina
[100] to the US and also by
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).
As of January 2014, the
U.S. military operated 7,362
RQ-11B Ravens; 145
AeroVironment RQ-12A Wasps; 1,137
AeroVironment RQ-20A Pumas; 306
RQ-16 T-Hawk small UAS; 246 Predators and
MQ-1C Grey Eagles; 126
MQ-9 Reapers; 491
RQ-7 Shadows and 33
RQ-4 Global Hawk large systems.
[101] The MQ-9 Reaper costs $12 million while a manned F-22 costs over $120 million.
[102]
ISIS announced a "Unmanned Aircraft of the Mujahideen" unit in
January 2017 and use drones for both reconnaissance and to drop bombs.
[103]
Reconnaissance
The
Tu-141 "Swift" reusable Soviet
reconnaissance UAV is intended for reconnaissance to a depth of several hundred kilometers from the front line at
supersonic speeds.
[104] The
Tu-123
"Hawk" is a supersonic long-range reconnaissance UAV intended for
conducting photographic and signals intelligence to a distance of
3200 km; it was produced beginning in 1964.
[105] The La-17P (UAV) is a reconnaissance UAV produced since 1963.
[106] In 1945 the Soviet Union began producing "doodlebug".
[107] 43 Soviet/Russian UAV models are known.
[108]
In 2013, the U.S. Navy launched a UAV from a submerged submarine, the
first step to "providing mission intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance capabilities to the U.S. Navy's submarine force."
[109]
Attack
UAVs avoid potential diplomatic embarrassment when a manned aircraft is shot down and the pilots captured.
[110][111][112][113]
MQ-1 Predator UAVs armed with
Hellfire missiles
have been used by the U.S. as platforms for hitting ground targets.
Armed Predators were first used in late 2001, mostly aimed at
assassinating high-profile individuals (terrorist leaders, etc.) inside
Afghanistan.
[114]
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have used drones, adapting UAVs bought online, to drop explosives, primarily using
quadcopters.
[115]
Defense against UAVs
The US armed forces have no defense against low-level UAV attack, but the
Joint Integrated Air and Missile Defense Organization is working to repurpose existing systems.
[116] Two German companies are developing 40-kW lasers to damage UAVs.
[117] Other systems still include the OpenWorks Engineering Skywall and the Battelle DroneDefender.
[118]
Targets for military training
Since 1997, the US military has used more than 80
F-4 Phantoms converted into UAVs as aerial targets for combat training of human pilots.
[119] The F-4s were supplemented in September 2013 with
F-16s as more realistically maneuverable targets.
[119]
Demining
Since January 2016 British scientists are developing UAVs with
advanced imaging technology to more cheaply and effectively map and
speed up the clearing of minefields. The
Find A Better Way
charity, working since 2011 to advance technologies that will enable
safer and more efficient clearance of landmines, teamed up with
scientists at the
University of Bristol to develop UAVs fit with
hyperspectral imaging
technology that can quickly identify landmines buried in the ground.
John Fardoulis, project researcher from Bristol University states that
"the maps [their] UAVs will generate should help deminers focus on the
places where mines are most likely to be found". Their intended UAVs
will be able to perform flyovers and gather images at various
wavelengths which, according to Dr John Day from the University of
Bristol, could indicate explosive chemicals seeping from landmines into
the surrounding foliage as "chemicals in landmines leak out and are
often absorbed by plants, causing abnormalities" which can be detected
as "living plants have a very distinctive reflection in the near
infrared spectrum, just beyond human vision, which makes it possible to
tell how healthy they are".
[120]
The Dutch Mine Kafon project, led by designer Massoud Hassani is
working on a UAV system that can quickly detect and clear land mines.
The unmanned airborne de-mining system called
Mine Kafon Drone
uses a three step process to autonomously map, detect and detonate land
mines. It flies above potentially dangerous areas, generating a 3D map,
and uses a metal detector to pinpoint the location of mines. The UAV
can then place a detonator above the mines using its robotic gripping
arm, before retreating to a safe distance. The firm claims its UAV is
safer, 20 times faster and up to 200 times cheaper than current
technologies and might clear mines globally in 10 years.
[121][122][123] The project raised funds on the
crowdfunding site
Kickstarter with their goal set at €70,000 and receiving over €100,000 above it.
[124]
Civil
Civil uses include aerial crop surveys,
[125] aerial photography,
[125] search and rescue,
[125] inspection of power lines and pipelines,
[126][127] counting wildlife,
[126] delivering medical supplies to otherwise inaccessible regions,
[128] and detection of illegal hunting,
[129] reconnaissance operations,
[127][130] cooperative environment monitoring,
[131] border patrol missions,
[127][132] convoy protection,
[133] forest fire detection and monitoring,
[127] surveillance,
[127][134] coordinating humanitarian aid,
[135] plume tracking,
[136] land surveying,
[137] fire and large-accident investigation,
[137] landslide measurement,
[137] illegal landfill detection,
[137] the construction industry,
[138] smuggling,
[139] and crowd monitoring.
[137]
US government agencies use UAVs such as the
RQ-9 Reaper to patrol borders, scout property and locate fugitives.
[140] One of the first authorized for domestic use was the ShadowHawk in Montgomery County, Texas
SWAT and emergency management offices.
[141]
Private citizens and
media organizations use UAVs for surveillance, recreation, news-gathering, or personal land assessment.
[142] In February 2012, an
animal rights group used a
MikroKopter hexacopter to film hunters shooting pigeons in South Carolina. The hunters then shot the UAV down.
[143] In 2014, a UAV was used to successfully locate a man with
dementia, who was missing for 3 days.
[144]
Hobby and recreational use
Model
aircraft (small UAS) have been flown by hobbyists since the earliest
days of manned flight. In the United States, hobby and recreational use
of such UAS is permitted (a) strictly for hobby or recreational use; (b)
when operated in accordance with a community-based set of safety
guidelines and nationwide community-based organizations; (c) when
limited to not more than 55 pounds (with exceptions); (d)without
interfering with and giving way to any manned aircraft; and (e) within 5
miles of an airport only after notifying air traffic control.
[145] The
Academy of Model Aeronautics is a community based organization that maintains operational safety guidelines
[146] with a long proven history of effectiveness and safety.
Recreational uses of UAVs include:
Commercial aerial surveillance
Aerial surveillance
of large areas is possible with low-cost UAS. Surveillance applications
include livestock monitoring, wildfire mapping, pipeline security, home
security, road patrol and antipiracy. UAVs in commercial aerial
surveillance is expanding with the advent of automated object detection.
[150]
Professional aerial surveying
UAS technologies are used worldwide as aerial
photogrammetry and
LiDAR platforms.
Commercial and motion picture filmmaking
For commercial UAV camerawork inside the United States, industry sources state that usage relies on the
de facto
consent – or benign neglect – of local law enforcement. Use of UAVs for
filmmaking is generally easier on large private lots or in rural and
exurban areas with fewer space constraints. In localities such as Los
Angeles and New York, authorities have actively interceded to shut down
UAV filmmaking over safety or terrorism concerns.
[151][152][153]
In June 2014, the FAA acknowledged that it had received a petition from the
Motion Picture Association of America
seeking approval for the use of UAVs for aerial photography. Seven
companies behind the petition argued that low-cost UAVs could be used
for shots that would otherwise require a helicopter or a manned
aircraft, saving money and reducing risk for pilot and crew.
[154] UAVs are already used by media in other parts of the world.
UAVs have been used to film sporting events, such as the
2014 Winter Olympics, as they have greater freedom of movement than cable-mounted cameras.
[155]
Journalism
Journalists are interested in using UAVs for newsgathering. The College of Journalism and Mass Communications at
University of Nebraska-Lincoln established the Drone Journalism Lab.
[156] University of Missouri created the Missouri Drone Journalism Program.
[157] The Professional Society of Drone Journalists was established in 2011.
[158] UAVs have covered disasters such as typhoons.
[159] A coalition of 11 news organizations is working with the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership at
Virginia Tech on how reporters could use unmanned aircraft to gather news.
[160]
Law enforcement
Many police departments in India have procured UAVs for law and order and aerial surveillance.
[161][162][163][164]
UAVs have been used for domestic police work in Canada and the United States.
[165][166] A dozen US police forces had applied for UAV permits by March 2013.
[38] In 2013, the Seattle Police Department's plan to deploy UAVs was scrapped after protests.
[167] UAVs have been used by
U.S. Customs and Border Protection since 2005.
[168] with plans to use
armed UAVs.
[169] The
FBI stated in 2013 that they use UAVs for "surveillance".
[170]
In 2014, it was reported that five English police forces had obtained or operated UAVs for observation.
[171] Merseyside police caught a car thief with a UAV in 2010, but the UAV was lost during a subsequent training exercise
[172] and the police stated the UAV would not be replaced due to operational limitations and the cost of staff training.
[172]
Approximately 167 police and fire departments bought unmanned aerial
vehicles in the United States in 2016, double the number that were
purchased in 2015.
[173]
In August 2013, the Italian defence company
Selex ES provided an unarmed surveillance UAV to the
Democratic Republic of Congo to monitor movements of armed groups in the region and to protect the civilian population more effectively.
Dutch train networks use tiny UAVs to look out for graffiti as an alternative to CCTV cameras.
[174]
Search and rescue
UAVs were used in search and rescue after hurricanes struck Louisiana
and Texas in 2008. Predators, operating between 18,000 and 29,000 feet,
performed search and rescue and damage assessment. Payloads were an
optical sensor and a
synthetic aperture radar.
The latter can penetrate clouds, rain or fog and in daytime or
nighttime conditions, all in real time. Photos taken before and after
the storm are compared and a computer highlights damage areas.
[175][176] Micro UAVs, such as the
Aeryon Scout, have been used to perform search and rescue activities on a smaller scale, such as the search for missing persons.
[177]
In 2014, a UAV helped locate an 82-year-old man who had been missing
for three days. The UAV searched a 200-acre field and located the man in
20 minutes.
[178]
UAVs have been tested as airborne lifeguards, locating distressed swimmers using thermal cameras and dropping
life preservers to swimmers.
[179][180]
Scientific research
UAVs are especially useful in accessing areas that are too dangerous for manned aircraft. The U.S.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began using the
Aerosonde unmanned aircraft system in 2006 as a
hurricane hunter. The 35-pound system can fly into a hurricane and communicate near-real-time data directly to the
National Hurricane Center. Beyond the standard
barometric pressure
and temperature data typically culled from manned hurricane hunters,
the Aerosonde system provides measurements from closer to the water's
surface than before. NASA later began using the
Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk for hurricane measurements.
Conservation
In
2011, Lian Pin Koh and Serge Wich conceived the idea of using UAVs for
conservation-related applications, before coining the term 'Conservation
Drone' in 2012.
[181]
By 2012 the
International Anti-Poaching Foundation was using UAVs.
[182]
Anti-poaching
In June 2012,
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) announced it would begin using UAVs in
Nepal to aid
conservation efforts following a successful trial of two aircraft in
Chitwan National Park. The global wildlife organization planned to train ten personnel to use the UAVs, with operational use beginning in the fall.
[183][184] In August 2012, UAVs were used by members of the
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in Namibia to document the annual seal cull.
[185] In December 2013, the Falcon UAV was selected by the Namibian Government and WWF to help combat
rhinoceros poaching.
[186] The UAVs will operate in
Etosha National Park and will use implanted
RFID tags.
[187]
In 2012, the WWFund supplied two FPV Raptor 1.6 UAVs
[188] to Nepal National Parks. These UAVs were used to monitor rhinos, tigers and elephants and deter poachers.
[189] The UAVs were equipped with time-lapse cameras and could fly for 18 miles at 650 feet.
[190]
In December 2012,
Kruger National Park started using a
Seeker II UAV against rhino poachers. The UAV was loaned to the
South African National Parks authority by its manufacturer,
Denel Dynamics of South Africa.
[191][192]
Anti-whaling activists used an
Osprey UAV (made by Kansas-based Hangar 18) in 2012 to monitor Japanese
whaling ships in the Antarctic.
[193]
In 2012, the
Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals used a
quadcopter UAV to deter
badger baiters in Northern Ireland.
[194] In March 2013, the British
League Against Cruel Sports
announced that they had carried out trial flights with UAVs and planned
to use a fixed-wing OpenRanger and an "octocopter" to gather evidence
to make private prosecutions against illegal
hunting of foxes and other animals.
[191] The UAVs were supplied by
ShadowView. A spokesman for
Privacy International
said that "licensing and permission for UAVs is only on the basis of
health and safety, without considering whether privacy rights are
violated."
[191] CAA rules prohibit flying a UAV within 50 m of a person or vehicle.
[191][195]
In Pennsylvania, Showing Animals Respect and Kindness used UAVs to monitor people shooting at pigeons for sport.
[196] One of their UAVs was shot down by hunters.
[197]
In March 2013, UAV conservation
nonprofit ShadowView, founded by former members of
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, worked with antihunting charity the
League Against Cruel Sports to expose illegal
fox hunting in the
UK.
[198] Hunt supporters have argued that using UAVs to film hunting is an invasion of privacy.
[199]
In 2014,
Will Potter proposed using UAVs to monitor conditions on
factory farms. The idea is to circumvent
ag-gag
prohibitions by keeping the UAVs on public property, but equipping them
with cameras sensitive enough to monitor distant activities.
[200] Potter raised nearly $23,000 in 2 days for this project on
Kickstarter.
[200]
Pollution monitoring
UAVs equipped with air quality monitors provide real time air analysis at various elevations.
[201][202]
Surveying
Oil, gas and mineral exploration and production
Camclone T21 UAV fitted with
CSIRO guidance system used to inspect power lines (2009)
UAVs can be used to perform geophysical surveys, in particular geomagnetic surveys
[203]
where measurements of the Earth's varying magnetic field strength are
used to calculate the nature of the underlying magnetic rock structure. A
knowledge of the underlying rock structure helps to predict the
location of
mineral deposits.
Oil and gas production
entails the monitoring of the integrity of oil and gas pipelines and
related installations. For above-ground pipelines, this monitoring
activity can be performed using digital cameras mounted on UAVs.
In 2012,
Cavim,
the state-run arms manufacturer of Venezuela, claimed to be producing
its own UAV as part of a system to survey and monitor pipelines, dams
and other rural infrastructure.
[204][205]
Disaster relief
UAVs can help in disaster relief by providing intelligence across an affected area.
[206]
For example, two George Mason University students are aiming to
design a device that uses soundwaves to extinguish fire. Their idea
specifies using the technology with UAVs: Equip unmanned aerial vehicles
with an extinguisher that works through soundwaves and send them into
fires that are too dangerous for people to enter.
[178]
T-Hawk[207] and
Global Hawk[208] UAVs were used to gather information about the damaged
Fukushima Number 1 nuclear plant and disaster-stricken areas of the
Tōhoku region after the
March 2011 tsunami.
Archaeology
In
Peru, archaeologists used UAVs to speed up survey work and protect
sites from squatters, builders and miners. Small UAVs helped researchers
produce three-dimensional models of Peruvian sites instead of the usual
flat maps – and in days and weeks instead of months and years.
[209]
"You can go up three metres and photograph a room, 300 metres and
photograph a site, or you can go up 3,000 metres and photograph the
entire valley."
[209]
UAVs have replaced expensive and clumsy small planes, kites and
helium balloons. UAVs costing as little as £650 have proven useful. In
2013, UAVs flew over Peruvian archaeological sites, including the
colonial Andean town
Machu Llacta 4,000 m (13,000 ft) above sea level. The UAVs had altitude problems in the Andes, leading to plans to make a UAV
blimp.
[209]
In Jordan, UAVs were used to discover evidence of looted archaeological sites.
[210]
In September 2014, UAVs were used for 3D mapping of the above-ground ruins of
Aphrodisias and the
Gallo-Roman remains in Switzerland.
[211][212]
On 6 February 2017 it was reported that scientists from the UK and
Brazil discovered hundreds of ancient earthworks similar to those at
Stonehenge in the
Amazon rainforest with the use of UAVs.
[213][214]
Cargo transport
The
RQ-7 Shadow can deliver a "Quick-MEDS" canister to front-line troops.
In 2013, the
DHL parcel service tested a "microdrones md4-1000" for delivery of medicine.
UAVs can transport medicines and medical specimens into and out of inaccessible regions.
[128] In 2013, in a research project of
DHL, a small quantity of medicine was delivered via a UAV.
[215][216]
Initial attempts at commercial use of UAVs, such as the Tacocopter company for food delivery, were blocked by FAA regulation.
[217] A 2013 announcement that
Amazon was planning deliveries using UAVs was met with skepticism.
[218]
In 2014, the prime minister of the
United Arab Emirates announced that the UAE planned to launch a fleet of UAVs
[219] to deliver official documents and supply emergency services at accidents.
[220]
Google revealed in 2014 it had been testing UAVs for two years. The
Google X program aims to produce UAVs that can deliver items.
[221]
16 July 2015, A NASA Langley fixed-wing
Cirrus SR22
aircraft, flown remotely from the ground, operated by NASA's Langley
Research Center in Hampton and a hexacopter UAV delivered
pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies to an outdoor free clinic at
the Wise County Fairgrounds, Virginia. The aircraft picked up 10 pounds
of pharmaceuticals and supplies from an airport in Tazewell County in
southwest Virginia and delivered the medicine to the Lonesome Pine
Airport in Wise County. The aircraft had a pilot on board for safety.
The supplies went to a crew, which separated the supplies into 24
smaller packages to be delivered by small, unmanned UAV to the free
clinic, during multiple flights over two hours. A company pilot
controlled the hexacopter, which lowered the pharmaceuticals to the
ground by tether. Health care workers distributed the medications to
appropriate patients.
[222]
The Uvionix Nksy aerial delivery service is planning to allow local shops to deliver goods from a UAV.
[223] The company wants to deliver fast food, beer, coffee, soda, electronics, prescriptions and personal care products.
[223]
Agriculture
Japanese farmers have been using
Yamaha's R-50 and RMAX unmanned helicopters to dust their crops since 1987.
[224][225] Some farming initiatives in the U.S. use UAVs for
crop spraying, as they are often cheaper than a full-sized helicopter.
UAV are also now becoming an invaluable tool by farmers in other aspect of farming, such as monitoring
livestock, crops and water levels.
NDVI images, generated with a
near-IR
sensor, can provide detailed information on crop health, improving
yield and reducing input cost. Sophisticated UAV have also been used to
create 3D images of the landscape to plan for future expansions and
upgrading.
[226]
Construction
In construction, drones can be used to survey building sites for errors or defects in installing
plumbing, electricity, and
HVAC
systems. In China, drones may fly over a building site to monitor
progress made during the day, although this is currently not allowed
under United States
FAA
regulation. Errors in construction can be costly in terms of money and
time to resolve, so detecting these errors can result in large savings.
Drones may also be used in construction to measure raw materials as
inputs to building construction. Aerial photographs can be used to
create a 3D model of buildings. Safety concerns may also be lessened
since construction sites are closed spaces, with workers that wear
hard hats.
[227]
Passenger transport
In January 2016,
Ehang UAV announced UAVs capable of carrying passengers.
[228]
Light show
UAVs equipped with LED's can be used to give a nighttime aerial display, for example
Intels "Shooting star" UAV system used by
Disney and
Super Bowl 2017 halftime show[229]
Criminal and terrorist
Some UAVs have been observed dropping contraband onto U.S. prisons.
[230]
The New York City Police Department is concerned about UAV attacks with
chemical weapons, firearms, or explosives; one UAV nearly collided with
an NYPD helicopter.
[231] Others have voiced concerns about assassinations and attacks on nuclear power stations.
[232]
Uses already seen include:
- Surveilliance for ISIS in Iraq and Syria[232]
- Landing radioactive material on the roof of the Japanese Prime Minister's office[233] possibly in protest of nuclear energy policy
- Incitement of a brawl when an UAV flew a flag over a soccer stadium[234]
- Invasion of Israeli airspace by Hezbollah[235]
Existing UAVs
UAVs are being developed and deployed by many countries around the
world. Due to their wide proliferation, no comprehensive list of UAV
systems exists.
[36][236]
The export of UAVs or technology capable of carrying a 500 kg payload at least 300 km is restricted in many countries by the
Missile Technology Control Regime.
As of 2016 China had exhibited many UAV designs, and its ability to operate them was beyond other countries.
[237]
Events
Safety
US Department of Agriculture poster warning about the risks of flying UAVs near wildfires
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.
Malicious use
UAVs
could be loaded with dangerous payloads, and crashed into vulnerable
targets. Payloads could include explosives, chemical, radiologial or
biological hazards. UAVs with generally non-lethal payloads could
possibly be hacked and put to malicious purposes. Anti-UAV systems are
being developed by states to counter this threat. This is, however,
proving difficult. As Dr J. Rogers stated in an interview to A&T
"There is a big debate out there at the moment about what the best way
is to counter these small UAVs, whether they are used by hobbyists
causing a bit of a nuisance or in a more sinister manner by a terrorist
actor.”
[238]
Security vulnerabilities
The interest in UAVs cyber security has been raised greatly after the Predator UAV video stream hijacking incident in 2009,
[239]
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. In recent years several security researchers
have made public vulnerabilities for commercial UAVs, in some cases even
providing full source code or tools to reproduce their attacks.
[240] 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.
[241]
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[242] and the
North Fire.
[243][244]
In response, California legislators introduced a bill that would allow
firefighters to disable UAVs which invaded restricted airspace.
[245] 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.
[246]
Regulation
Ethical concerns and UAV-related accidents have driven nations to regulate the use of UAVs.
Ireland
The
Irish Aviation Authority
(IAA) requires all UAVs over 1 kg must be registered with UAVs weighing
4 kg or more requiring a license to be issued by the IAA.
[247][248]
Netherlands
As of May 2016, the
Dutch police is testing trained
bald eagles to
intercept offending UAVs.
[249][250]
Canada
In 2016
Transport Canada
proposed the implementation of new regulations that would require all
UAVs over 250 grams to be registered and insured and that operators
would be required to be a minimum age and pass an exam in order to get a
license.
[251] These regulations are expected to be introduced in 2017.
South Africa
In April 2014, the
South African Civil Aviation Authority announced that it would clamp down on the illegal flying of UAVs in South African airspace.
[252]
"Hobby drones" with a weight of less than 7 kg at altitudes up to 500m
with restricted visual line-of-sight below the height of the highest
obstacle within 300m of the UAV are allowed. No license is required for
such vehicles.
[253]
Italy
The ENAC (Ente Nazionale per l'Aviazione Civile), that is, the
Italian Civil Aviation Authority
for technical regulation, certification, supervision and control in the
field of civil aviation, issued on May 31, 2016 a very detailed
regulation for all UAV, determining which types of vehicles can be used,
where, for which purposes, and who can control them. The regulation
deals with the usage of UAV for either commercial and recreational use.
Last version was published on December 22, 2016.
[254]
United States
Recreational use
From
21 December 2015 all hobby type UAV's between 250 grams and 25
kilograms needed to be registered with FAA no later than 19 February
2016.
[255]
The new FAA UAV registration process includes requirements for:
- Eligible owners must register their UAV's prior to flight.
- If the owner is less than 13 years old, a parent or other responsible person must do the FAA registration.
- UAV's must be marked with the FAA-issued registration number.[256]
- The registration fee is $5. The registration is good for 3 years and can be renewed for an additional 3 years at the $5 rate.[257]
- A single registration applies to all UAVs owned by an individual.
Failure to register can result in civil penalties of up to $27,500 and
criminal penalties of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment for up to three
years.[258]
On May 19, 2017, in the case
Taylor v. Huerta,
[259] the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that that the FAA's 2015 drone registration rules were in violation of the 2012
FAA Modernization and Reform Act. Under the court's holding, although commercial drone operators are required to register, recreational operators are not.
[260] On May 25, 2017, one week after the
Taylor decision, Senator
Diane Feinstein introduced S. 1272, the
Drone Federalism Act of 2017,
[261] in Congress.
Commercial use
On
21 June 2016 the Federal Aviation Administration announced regulations
for commercial operation of small UAS craft (sUAS), those between 0.55
and 55 pounds (about 250 gm to 25 kg) including payload. The rules,
which exclude hobbyists, require the presence at all operations of a
licensed Remote Pilot in Command. Certification of this position,
available to any citizen at least 16 years of age, is obtained solely by
passing a written test and then submitting an application. For those
holding a sport pilot license or higher, and with a current flight
review, a rule-specific exam can be taken at no charge online at the
faasafety.gov website. Other applicants must take a more comprehensive
examination at an aeronautical testing center. All licensees are
required to take a review course every two years. At this time no
ratings for heavier UAS are available.
[262]
Commercial operation is restricted to daylight, line-of-sight, under 100 mph, under 400 feet, and
Class G airspace only, and may not fly over people or be operated from a moving vehicle.
[263] Some organizations have obtained a waiver or Certificate of Authorization that allows them to exceed these rules.
[264]
For example, CNN has obtained a waiver for UAVs modified for injury
prevention to fly over people, and other waivers allow night flying with
special lighting, or non-line-of-sight operations for agriculture or
railroad track inspection.
[265]
Previous to this announcement, any commercial use required a full
pilot's license and an FAA waiver, of which hundreds had been granted.
Government use
The use of UAVs for law-enforcement purposes is regulated at a state level.
[citation needed]
Popular culture
- Toys (1992) depicts unwitting child soldiers in training to fly UAVs.
- A UCAV AI, called EDI, was central to the sci-fi action film Stealth (2005).
- UAVs feature in video games, such as Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon (2001–), Battlefield (2002–), Call of Duty (2003–), F.E.A.R. (2005) and inFamous (2009).[266]
- An MQ-9 reaper controlled by a rogue supercomputer appears in the film Eagle Eye (2008).
- The hapless would-be terrorists in the film Four Lions (2010) are targeted by and attempt to shoot down an RQ-1 Predator.
- The Bourne Legacy (2012 film) features a Predator UAV pursuing the protagonists.
- An episode of the TV show Castle, first broadcast in May 2013, featured a UAV hacked by terrorists.[267]
- The British movie Hummingbird (2013) ends with ambiguity as to whether the main protagonist is taken down by a drone or not.
- Ennui Ennui (2013), a short film by Portuguese director Gabriel Abrantes, features a self-aware baby-drone sent by Barack Obama in Afghanistan to find and kill a future local warlord.
- 24: Live Another Day, the ninth season of "24", revolves around the usage of UAVs (resembling the BAE Systems Taranis) by terrorists who have created a device to override control from a military base.
- The film Good Kill features the life of an USAF drone pilot.
- The 2008 Ridley Scott film Body of Lies prominently features CIA-operated drones used to surveil the main protagonist as he operates in Iraq, Jordan and Syria.
- The 2016 Miles A. Maxwell short story DRONE in the State Of Reason
Mystery series features terrorist drones purchased at local department
stores used to take down a jet in a future United States Presidential
election.
- On Transformers: Prime, Soundwave's altmode is that of a Predator B drone.
- Leslie Wolfe's first novel from Alex Hoffmann series, Executive (2011) is an in depth look into drones manufacturing.
- The Ghost Pattern (2015) by Leslie Wolfe features also UAVs assisting in military operations.
- In Stargate SG-1, UAVs were often used by Stargate Command
- In an episode of Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson used a drone in the studio to show off as his Christmas present and did a chase with a crashing car using the drone to record.
"UAE Drones for Good" award
In 2014, the
United Arab Emirates announced an annual international competition and $1 million award,
UAE Drones for Good,
aiming to encourage useful and positive applications for UAV technology
in applications such as in search and rescue, civil defence and
conservation. The 2015 award was won by Swiss company for their
Gimball search and rescue drone, while the 2016 edition awarded Loon Copter's sea-hybrid UAV.
[268]
See also
References
A General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, a hunter-killer surveillance UAV
AltiGator civil drone OnyxStar Fox-C8 XT in flight
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS); which include a UAV, a ground-based controller, and a system of communications between the two. The flight of UAVs may operate with various degrees of autonomy: either under remote control by a human operator or autonomously by onboard computers.[1]UAV launch from an air-powered catapult
Winston Churchill and others waiting to watch the launch of a de Havilland Queen Bee target drone, 6 June 1941
A Ryan Firebee, one of a series of target drones/unpiloted aerial vehicles that first flew in 1951. Israeli Air Force Museum, Hatzerim airbase, Israel. 2006
In 1849 Austria sent unmanned, bomb-filled balloons to attack Venice.[14] UAV innovations started in the early 1900s and originally focused on providing practice targets for training military personnel.The Israeli Tadiran Mastiff, which first flew in 1973, is seen by many as the first modern battlefield UAV, due to its data-link system, endurance-loitering, and live video-streaming.[13]
UAVs typically fall into one of six functional categories (although multi-role airframe platforms are becoming more prevalent):Although most UAVs are fixed-wing aircraft, rotorcraft designs (i.e., RUAVs) such as this MQ-8B Fire Scout are also used.
Vehicles can be categorised in terms of range/altitude. The following has been advanced[by whom?] as relevant at industry events such as ParcAberporth Unmanned Systems forum:Schiebel S-100 fitted with a Lightweight Multirole Missile
Other categories include:[39][40]U.S. UAV demonstrators in 2005
Manned and unmanned aircraft of the same type generally have recognizably similar physical components. The main exceptions are the cockpit and environmental control system or life support systems. Some UAVs carry payloads (such as a camera) that weigh considerably less than an adult human, and as a result can be considerably smaller. Though they carry heavy payloads, weaponized military UAVs are lighter than their manned counterparts with comparable armaments.General physical structure of an UAV
UAV software called the flight stack or autopilot. UAVs are real-time systems that require rapid response to changing sensor data. Examples include Raspberry Pis, Beagleboards, etc. shielded with NavIO, PXFMini, etc. or designed from scratch such as Nuttx, preemptive-RT Linux, Xenomai, Orocos-Robot Operating System or DDS-ROS 2.0.Timeline of software forks
UAVs employ open-loop, closed-loop or hybrid control architectures.Typical flight-control loops for a multirotor
ICAO classifies unmanned aircraft as either remotely piloted aircraft or fully autonomous.[citation needed] Actual UAVs may offer intermediate degrees of autonomy. E.g., a vehicle that is remotely piloted in most contexts may have an autonomous return-to-base operation.Autonomous control basics
UAV's degrees of autonomy
Cutting-edge (2013) autonomous levels for existing systems
UEL UAV-741 Wankel engine for UAV operations
UAV endurance is not constrained by the physiological capabilities of a human pilot.Flight time against mass of small (less than 1 kg) drones.[42]
IAI Heron, an unmanned aerial vehicle developed by the Malat (UAV) division of Israel Aerospace Industries
TAI Anka is a family of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries for the requirements of the Turkish Armed Forces
A Hydra Technologies Ehécatl taking-off for a surveillance mission
A helicopter UAV has been proposed to accompany a future NASA Mars rover mission. Investigators believe a solar-powered craft would be able to fly for a few minutes at a time despite the thin atmosphere of the planet, and help the rover scout out interesting destinations.[99]Argentine Army "Lipán M3" UAV,2008
UAVs avoid potential diplomatic embarrassment when a manned aircraft is shot down and the pilots captured.[110][111][112][113]Predator launching a Hellfire missile
Interspect UAS B 3.1 octocopter for commercial aerial cartographic purposes and 3D mapping
Civil uses include aerial crop surveys,[125] aerial photography,[125] search and rescue,[125] inspection of power lines and pipelines,[126][127] counting wildlife,[126] delivering medical supplies to otherwise inaccessible regions,[128] and detection of illegal hunting,[129] reconnaissance operations,[127][130] cooperative environment monitoring,[131] border patrol missions,[127][132] convoy protection,[133] forest fire detection and monitoring,[127] surveillance,[127][134] coordinating humanitarian aid,[135] plume tracking,[136] land surveying,[137] fire and large-accident investigation,[137] landslide measurement,[137] illegal landfill detection,[137] the construction industry,[138] smuggling,[139] and crowd monitoring.[137]Civil UAV FOX-C8-HD AltiGator
UAVs were used in search and rescue after hurricanes struck Louisiana and Texas in 2008. Predators, operating between 18,000 and 29,000 feet, performed search and rescue and damage assessment. Payloads were an optical sensor and a synthetic aperture radar. The latter can penetrate clouds, rain or fog and in daytime or nighttime conditions, all in real time. Photos taken before and after the storm are compared and a computer highlights damage areas.[175][176] Micro UAVs, such as the Aeryon Scout, have been used to perform search and rescue activities on a smaller scale, such as the search for missing persons.[177]Aeryon Scout in flight
By 2012 the International Anti-Poaching Foundation was using UAVs.[182]ShadowView Eco Ranger
UAVs can be used to perform geophysical surveys, in particular geomagnetic surveys[203] where measurements of the Earth's varying magnetic field strength are used to calculate the nature of the underlying magnetic rock structure. A knowledge of the underlying rock structure helps to predict the location of mineral deposits. Oil and gas production entails the monitoring of the integrity of oil and gas pipelines and related installations. For above-ground pipelines, this monitoring activity can be performed using digital cameras mounted on UAVs.Camclone T21 UAV fitted with CSIRO guidance system used to inspect power lines (2009)
The RQ-7 Shadow can deliver a "Quick-MEDS" canister to front-line troops.
UAVs can transport medicines and medical specimens into and out of inaccessible regions.[128] In 2013, in a research project of DHL, a small quantity of medicine was delivered via a UAV.[215][216]In 2013, the DHL parcel service tested a "microdrones md4-1000" for delivery of medicine.
Japanese farmers have been using Yamaha's R-50 and RMAX unmanned helicopters to dust their crops since 1987.[224][225] Some farming initiatives in the U.S. use UAVs for crop spraying, as they are often cheaper than a full-sized helicopter.A Yamaha R-MAX, a UAV that has been used for aerial application in Japan
Krossblade SkyProwler transformer UAV for research into vertical take-off and landing technologies for aircraft
US Department of Agriculture poster warning about the risks of flying UAVs near wildfires
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