Concepts such as “drones” and unmanned aerial vehicles have long ceased to be associated exclusively with the military industry. The commercialization of unmanned devices is in full swing: the scope of their application is expanding, technologies are becoming more functional and accessible, including for ordinary people.
The UAV market statistics confirm this trend – UAV sales are growing at double-digit rates. The development of telecommunications and the emergence of new communication standards opens up excellent prospects in using drones for various spheres of the economy: from delivering small loads and photography and video filming to patrolling the streets and observing for multiple studies.
In what areas of life are drones applicable today, and how do they affect our lives? Let’s look at some examples:
Agriculture
In one shooting day, the drone can scan more than 1000 hectares of area. It allows you to calculate the volume of extracted minerals with an accuracy of cubic centimeters. For comparison, one specialist will not do the same amount of work using GNSS receivers or total stations in a month.
Drones solve the main task of the enterprise – they minimize the actions and stay of personnel in the industrial area during the continuous operation of equipment. It is essential because the stoppage of equipment for surveying work, even for 30 minutes, leads to production losses of the enterprise, which can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Ecosystem Observation
Unmanned aerial vehicles are used to observe endangered flora and fauna and make changes in various ecosystems worldwide. The share of drone participation in environmental protection activities will expand over time as it allows for faster and better ecological analysis.
Future of Delivery
The idea of delivery by drones has become actively popularized around the world. A drone can deliver anything that a courier can deliver. Food, recipes, birthday present – shortly, there will be significant changes in the way parcels are delivered to our doors. The convenience of drones here also lies in the fact that you could order delivery not only on land but also, for example, on a yacht. Or to such places – where it is difficult for an ordinary courier to reach.
Help During Natural Disasters
It is difficult to overestimate the help of drones when a person or an animal is in a natural disaster zone. Many rescuers find it difficult to get to the scene. It is also difficult to detect signs of life to have time to save a person. On the other hand, Drones can move to places inaccessible to people, so they are ideal for dangerous search and rescue operations, as well as for the delivery of essential items.
Real Property
Using the drone system, you can get more explicit photos of real estate, taken from all sides and inside. Undoubtedly better and more complete camera angles will make this industry full of more detail thanks to drones.
Filmmaking and Photography
Drones are already significantly affecting this area. The ability to shoot low-budget tapes while having a beautiful picture is worth a lot. Unmanned aerial vehicles are also in demand among photographers and photojournalists. How about taking an image from a height and covering the entire scale of the event without investing too many resources? Easy if you have a drone. This Forbes article explores even more examples on how drones can impact business today.
Communication Nodes
Drones can also act as communication hubs. In April 2014, Google acquired Titan Aerospace, a manufacturer of straight-wing drones powered by solar panels at an altitude of several kilometers. The Internet giant plans to use the company’s developments for its Google Loon project, aimed at distributing Internet via Wi-Fi for zones in developing countries where, for one reason or another, it is impossible to organize an Internet connection in any other way.
Logistics
Heavy drones can replace trucks for managing inventory and moving goods between warehouses. It seems that in this way we will soon be able to get rid of huge trucks on the roads.
Ensuring Law and Order
To ensure the protection of people at public events and quickly obtain data of “the whole picture” of what is happening, drones in the police service in the city are a vital thing.
Soon, drones will be able to complement police work at public events.
Personal Drones
An increasing number of people want to use drones for personal purposes. Capture the moment of your vacation or birthday from a height for your photo and video archives, use it to participate in WorldSkills drone competitions and other competitions, conduct educational drone-based robotics classes, even for lazy fishing.
For example, remotely controlled underwater drones can search for schools of fish, obtain information about fish, assess the bottom topography of the reservoir, the state, and temperature of the water; inspection the reservoir with the effect of total immersion using VR glasses, and conduct underwater surveys.
Insider Intelligence expects drone sales to surpass $12 billion in 2021. And a considerable amount of them will come from the sale of personal drones.
To Sum Things Up
In the coming years, the same thing will happen with drones as with the modern smartphone market – drones will become available to almost everyone. The development and simplification of drone work is a prospective task for any software development company like MLSDev and other IT teams worldwide.
Drones will have a long flight time (from several hours to a day on one battery), high-resolution cameras, various flight safety systems, and assistance in management. In photography and video, drones will revolutionize the way GoPro did with action cameras.
Thanks to the development of technology, drones will actively penetrate construction (help create 3D-modeling of objects, control construction stages), agriculture (crop forecasting, sowing), and many other areas that significantly increase labor productivity and reduce company costs. Drones are the future that begins now.
Thanks to the development of observation technologies and various sensors, almost unlimited possibilities for industrial use open up for drones. For example, according to ScienceDaily using drones with installed thermal imagers, archaeologists could find an ancient settlement in New Mexico.
With the help of heat sensors on drones, you can search for heating network breaks much more efficiently and faster. And drones equipped with meteorological sensors will help predict the weather.
Over time, as technology advances further, drones will become even safer and easier to operate. It will allow for their subsequent massive introduction into all areas of our life.
