DronesBy …...Class04/20/2015

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone is an aircraft without a human pilot on board. Its flight is either controlled autonomously by computers in the vehicle, or under the remote control of navigator, or pilot on the ground or in another vehicle.

What is a drone?

Brief History of Drones

• In 1916, A. M. Low’s “Aerial Target” was one of the first unmanned aerial vehicle

* The birth of U.S. UAVs began in 1959 when United States Air Force officers were concerned about losing pilots over hostile territory and they thought of unmanned flights.

* In the year 1964, U.S Navy initiated America’s highly classified ‘Red Wagon’ UAVs into their first combat missions of the Vietnam war.

Types of Drones

There are three types of drones-* Military Drones* Commercial Drones* Agriculture Drones

IAI RQ-5 Hunter: United States Army's Short Range UAV system for division and corps commanders.

Lockheed Martin Polecat : Used for research.

MQ-1 Predator drone : Used for airstrikes.

Military drones

Real estate agents are using remote-controlled aircraft to film bird's-eye-view video tours of homes, land and commercial properties.

Drones could allow businesses to deliver products to customers without having to send a driver.

Commercial photography has a lot to gain from legal UAVs.

Drone-aided search and rescue missions have been adopted by law enforcement across the country.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eYIZDLXqOo

http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2014/02/11/t-north-dakota-drones-aerospace.cnnmoney/index.html

http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2013/12/02/t-amazon-drone-delivery.cnnmoney/index.html

Commercial Drones

Commercial Drones

Relatively cheap drones with advanced sensors and imaging capabilities .

Equipped with autopilot using GPS and a standard point-and-shoot camera.

Collects data such as patterns in irrigation, soil variation, and pest infestations.

Agricultural Drones

Manufacturing of Drone

More advanced drone are made from large, old – anti – ship missiles which had their war heads removed. Obsolete jet & propeller powered aircraft have also been modified into remote controlled drones, but such modifications are costly.

Uses of Drone

They are predominantly deployed for  military applications, but also used in a small but growing number of civil applications, such as policing, firefighting, and nonmilitary security work, such as surveillance of pipelines. UAVs are often preferred for missions that are too "dull, dirty, or dangerous" for manned aircraft.

Drone Operating SystemThe launching of a target drone, used as a weapon carrier to attack on a required target is controlled of in commanding center. It is monitored by commanding officers called Combat System Officers in the operating room. These pilot sensor operators in the operating room send commands to satellite (to fly the drone via satellite link). Satellite will receive command and then it further sends to aircraft. The heat detectors present in the aircraft detects warm & heat of living bodies. After finding and identifying, it automatically fixes & tracks the ground targets.

The use of drones for information collection in the journalism industry is still new.

Kanye West has a fear that a drones could accidentally electrocute his daughter.

PSJD is the first international organization dedicated to the emerging field of drone journalism.

http://time.com/2967209/best-drone-videos/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiSEIUnPlEE

Drone Journalism

Applications of UAV

• There are many different applications of drones. Some of the applications of drones are listed below, while some are explained further

i. Search and rescue

ii. Disaster relief

iii. Sports

iv. Commercial aerial surveillance

v. Commercial and motion picture filmmaking

vi. Armed attacks

Disaster relief

Drones transport medicines and vaccines, and retrieve medical samples, into and out of remote or otherwise inaccessible regions

Drones can help in disaster relief by gathering information from across an affected area

Search and rescue

During the 2008 hurricanes that struck Louisiana and Texas, Micro UAVs, such as the ‘Aeryon Scout’, have been used to perform search for missing persons.

‘Predators’, operating between 18,000–29,000 feet above sea level, performed search and rescue and damage assessment.

Sports

Drones were used in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi for filming skiing and snowboarding events

Some advantages of using unmanned aerial vehicles in sports are that they allow video to get closer to the athletes, they are more flexible than cable-suspended camera systems.

Armed AttacksArmed ‘Predators’ were first used in late 2001 from bases in Pakistan and Uzbekistan, mostly aimed at assassinating high profile individuals (terrorist leaders, etc.) inside Afghanistan

A Predator based in a neighboring Arab country was used to kill suspected al-Qaeda terrorists in Yemen on November 3, 2002. This marked the first use of an armed Predator as an attack aircraft outside of a theater of war such as Afghanistan.

Drone strikes make the United States safer by decimating terrorist networks across the world.

Drone strikes are cheaper than engaging in ground or manned aerial combat.

Drones make US military personnel safer.

The majority of Americans support drone strikes.

Pros About Drones

Drone strikes kill large numbers of civilians and traumatize local populations.

Drone strikes violate international law.

Drone strikes violate the sovereignty of other countries.

Drone strikes are extremely unpopular in the affected countries.

Many drone operators have emotional and psychological stress.

Cons About Drones

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration currently prohibits the commercial use of UAVs.

In Canada, operators can apply for special licenses.

Drone strikes are legal under international law.

Drone strikes are legal under US law.

Laws About Drones

Statistics About Drone Strikes

Year Number of Attacks

Militants

Civilians

Unknown

Total

2008 36 223 28 47 334

2009 54 387 70 92 603

2010 122 788 16 45 971

2011 73 420 62 35 590

2012 48 268 5 33 354

2013 26 145 4 4 179

Total 369 2,291 286 274 3220

Now Consider.........

What do you think about drones?

Do you think we should use drones?

If so, where should we use them?

Who should regulate the usage of drones?

Conclusion

BOYLE, M. J. (2013). The costs and consequences of drone warfare. International Affairs, 89(1), 1-29. doi:10.1111/1468-2346.12002

Bachman, J. (2013). Waiting for That Delivery Drone? Regulators Are in No Rush. Businessweek.Com, 3.

Anderson, C. (2014). Agricultural Drones. (cover story). Technology Review, 117(3), 58-60.

(2003). The Case of the 'Deadly' Drone; An unmanned aircraft with a 25-foot wingspan is at the center of a US/UN weapons controversy. The Christian Science Monitor.

Benjamin, M. (2014). Good Drone, Bad Drone: How to Fix the Drone PR Problem. Time.Com, 1.

References