About Drones
"Drones are more formally known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Essentially, adrone is a flying robot. The aircraft may be remotely controlled or can fly autonomously through software-controlled flight plans in their embedded systems working in conjunction with GPS" ("What is a Drone?").
Drones are very resourceful and interesting, but they come with risks. Though the FAA is working on securing these risks, drones are a danger towards the public in some cases. For example, they can jeopardize aviation, can be a risk for safety, and can invade the privacy of the people.
Risks of standard aviation for drones has a high probability of happening. For example, owners of the drone will want to insure the aircraft itself in case of accidents and also cover any ensuing liability because of the recent occurring events of aviation risk. According to Willis Towers Watson Wire, there have been many reports of close operation of drones to commercial aircraft to the FAA, and these reports have been increasing monthly. Though, the FAA has issued a Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA) to permit public agencies and organizations to operate a particular aircraft for a specific purpose and in a particular area. The COA allows the operator to use a defined block of airspace and includes special safety provisions unique to the proposed operation. The FAA works with these organizations in order to develop conditions and limitations for UAs operations to ensure they do not jeopardize the safety of other aviation operations.
Drones are spectacular to use, but there are safety risks to them. Despite their size, they can create a great amount of damage when in a collision. Because of this, agency officials are concerned drones may inflict major damage upon planes. Drones are often flown too closely to airports or planes, which is dangerous and can cause major problems. The FAA even receives about one hundred reports a month about drones flying to close to the perimeters of planes and airports from pilots.
The way drones are used is efficient, but they also raise privacy concerns. As an example, commercial drones are used often to inspect wind turbines for cracks or roadways for storm damage, but because of the drone’s wide view of vision, the privacy of bystanders in the footage is compromised. The footage of bystanders would be sent back to the owner, which violates the privacy rights of those bystanders. Similarly, if drones were used as surveillance of employees or non-employees, it could cause a serious liability repercussion that would need to be addressed.
It is said numerous of times that communication is a key to success, especially in business. From the Pony Express to the telegraph to the instant text messaging or emailing today, it has presented an idea of how quickly a person could send another person a message. The Pony Express’s mission was to send mail from the American east coast to west coast. Before the Pony Express, sending a letter could take as long as eight weeks, because most letters were shipped via boats. The letters that traveled transcontinental were delivered within half of the time it took a boat to send out mail. But even with the time cut shorter, many people were still frustrated with the length of which it took to send a letter. The telegraph is what revolutionized long-distant communication. It worked by the transmission of electrical signals through wire stations using Morse code. The telegraph was the replaced by telephones and the Internet. Today, a message can be sent within seconds through faxing or email, and video calls can be made when collaborating with others – whether it is with business partners or school colleagues. The Internet is changing education. It is providing mass amount of information in other accessible forms that are not physical copies. Books, audio, images, and videos are available for students to research information. Scholars are taking on their own learning responsibilities with using the Internet, along with other technologies, to gather relevant data for their research. Technology is not only an advantage to students; it is also beneficial to teachers. A teacher may use a smart whiteboard that connects from a computer and projects the screen onto the board to assist in visualizing information to students. This helps in both understanding and engagement of the students.
Human medicine and health sciences are improved with modern technologies. Safer and better improvements are being made on diagnosis, surgical procedures, and patient care. Artificial organs and robotic prosthetic limbs are improving patients’ lifestyles as well as prolonging their lifespan. More and more hospitals are adopting the practices of medical technology, which are increasing the accuracy of diagnosis. X-rays, MRI scans, and CT scans are being used to identify potential health threats. These
technologies are being put to use in medical research in developing new procedures to help diagnose, prevent and cure diseases, and develop new pharmaceutical medicines to lessen and or treat illness.
Unmanned aerial vehicles, more commonly known as drones, could be used for economic advancement. Drones display many opportunities to problem solving and exploring. They can be tiny or huge, silent or noisy, slow or fast. These vehicles provide many solutions to farming, medical usage, and even entertainment. Farmers can see if their watering systems are working, how well or bad their plants are flourishing, even check if any of the cropsare defective by using infrared technology. Medical treatment could be assisted by drones delivering equipment to needed attention. Drones can be used to monitor and televise sporting events or other extraordinary activities. People can enjoy their favorite sports from a different perspective. Drones add new ways for our society to make a better living.
Imagine if you could attach a fire hose to a drone. You can fly the drone to unreachable heights and save many lives by distinguishing a fire. Drones have many uses for saving lives. Attach them with cameras and fly them around traffic or streets to make sure citizens are obeying driving laws. Drones can be used to deliver packages. Medical prescriptions can deliver anytime of the day. Emergencies or immediate medical needs can be covered within minutes. Using these unmanned vehicles, you
can search and predict weather patterns to get early warnings. Face scanning on drones can save missing children or bust on the run criminals. Not only time will be saved, but also lives.
Drones are unmanned aircrafts. They are remotely controlled or can fly around autonomously through software-controlled flight plans in their embedded systems. A drone could be used for many things such as, search and rescue, surveillance, traffic and weather monitoring, and fire fighting to name a few. But the greater successes of drones lie in the future. Researchers have made it possible for drones to be used in farming. The radio controlled RMAX drone can be used to spray crops with fertilizers and pesticides. These drones would give farmers a more efficient and precise way to do their work. Another type of drone is the Tacocopter. The Tacocopter was developed by an MIT grad and was used to deliver tacos to customers. This could lead to a future where food is delivered by air instead of cars. Unfortunately, the launch of the Tacocopter is being blocked by the U.S government and is no longer in use.
UAVs, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, are aircrafts that may be remotely controlled or can fly autonomously through software-controlled flight plans in their embedded systems working in conjunction with GPS. Drones were built a certain way in order to perform different functions for many uses. Therefore, these drones have many different components to its structure.
Some of the few components of the drone are the different sensors. For example, they carry color and black and white TV cameras, image intensifiers, a radar, an infrared imaging for low-light conditions, a GPS, a compass, and targeting lasers. Each part of the drone contributes to the role of the drone. The drone is unique because of the different parts and functions of the components.
The little parts of the drone have their own function. As an example, the radar of the drone displays the current positon and the location of the drone in relation to its pilot. The calibration of the compass allows the drone to know its exact flight location and allows it to seek the location of GPS satellites. Furthermore, the cameras have FPV, First Person View, meaning the video camera can broadcast the live video and stream it back to the pilot on the ground so the pilot has the vision of the drone. FPV allows the unmanned aircraft to fly much higher and further than the view of the drone from the ground; it also allows for more precise flying around obstacles especially with unmanned aerial vehicles which can easily fly indoors and through forests where limited vision from a fixed position wouldn’t allow sight of obstacles.
The technology of drones represents the progression of technology for human kind. The high quality and different functions of the drones are have progressed the past two years, meaning that human kind can create many more fascinating innovations. The technology of drones started off as a weapon or provider for the military, but it has built up to an everyday useful drone.
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