Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones refer to aircrafts and related systems that function without a flight crew on board. They can be fully autonomous or remotely controlled. UAVs have become popular in the last decade, especially in the military usage. They are ideal for reconnaissance missions in high-risk areas. Due to the versatility possessed by UAVs, they have also gained popularity in many civilian applications. Some of these uses include video shooting and photography. The drones are equipped with high-resolution camera lenses. They are then positioned strategically above the scene to be filmed. Recently, the news network CNN tested camera-equipped drones for news coverage and gathering. UAVs are also used for aerial crop surveys, crowd monitoring, land surveying, and recreational purposes such as racing among many other applications.
The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) is the body that regulates all the practices of aviation in the United States including unmanned aerial vehicles. Foremost, users must obtain a certificate of authorization from the FAA to operate in the national airspace. In addition to that, UAVs weighing more than 250 grams must be registered with the FAA. In order to operate UAVs for commercial purposes, the FAA has put certain regulations that must be adhered to. Some of these regulations include flying below an altitude of 400 feet, the pilot must have aged 16 or above and holder of the pilot airman certificate. The operation is only allowed during daylight hours with a maximum ground speed of 100mph. These rules, however, only apply to remotely piloted drones and do not apply to fully autonomous UAVs (Curry & Jefferson, 2015).
It is reasonable to expect that UAVs will be integrated into the National Airspace in the near future. This may be done by first developing a test program to gather critical data on unmanned air systems and then implementing it. This, however, poses great challenges such as risking individual privacies through an increased usage of UAVs. Another major challenge is the requirement of the monitoring system of millions of numbers of UAVs in America. Furthermore, since drones are much smaller than manned aircrafts, radar cannot be used to identify them in the airspace. Thus, different systems may have to be installed to monitor UAVs.
In military applications, UAVs have helped in transforming the offensive strategies. These UAVs are mostly autonomous with a given flight plan. They are suitable for high altitude reconnaissance in dangerous missions. They are not visible to radar owing to their small size. Some unmanned aerial vehicles carry payloads during combat. The integration of UAVs into the military has been very efficient. In terms of costs, they are far less expensive than actual jet aircrafts to build and run. UAVs can also fly for days without landing. These are the few of the characteristics that are ideal for military uses. However, it can also be argued that the wider usage of highly adaptable UAVs in war-related purposes than in civilian applications is unethical ( Homeland surveillance & electronics LLC UAV, 2015).
Currently, there are many companies that are looking for qualified drone pilots and aerial photographers. The number of UAV-related job opportunities is growing by each day as they are becoming more popular in civilian applications. The other reason for this growth is the recent establishment of well-defined regulations by the FAA. This means that drones are now open to full exploitation.
References
Curry, B. E., & Jefferson, T. A. (2015). Humpback dolphins (Sousa spp.): current status and conservation, part 1. Waltham, MA: Elsevier Academic Press.
Homeland surveillance & electronics LLC UAV. (2015). UAV integration challenges into the National Air Space NAS UAV. Retrieved from http://www.hse- uav.com/uav_integration_challenges_nas.htm.
Greetings Ali,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post, I must say that I felt it was well written, concise, and provided beneficial information as to what UAS are and how they can (and are) being used by civilians and the military. The succinct nature of your paragraph formatting made your post much easier to read and comprehend; in other words, I believe it was extremely reader-friendly!
I think your definition of an UAS/UAV and further explanation of them within your first paragraph was a great way to begin the post. Some people are unaware as to what UAS truly are and are also not cognizant of what/how they can be utilized (in terms of real-world applicability). Thereby, I feel as if your definition provided readers with enough knowledge to be able to read, understand, and discuss the topic even further! While conducting my own research of this topic, I only discovered a couple of uses for UAS, which were aerial photography and videotaping. However, by reading your post I learned several other ways of how these UAS can be utilized by civilians that I did not think of initially. One in particular usage I did not consider was crowd monitoring; this caught my attention because I never heard of the UAS being used for such a task, however the utilization of one in this manner seems to have significant benefits. I feel as if the police and other security related organizations would find the most benefit from UAS for crowd monitoring as it would enable them to cover a larger radius at a faster pace (e.g. during protests, concerts, etc.) while posing less risks to officers.
In regards to your second paragraph, I found information akin to yours pertaining to the regulations governing the use of UAS. However, one thing I learned from reading your post was that the FAA regulations only apply to the UAS being remote piloted and not to units that are fully automated. I did not find this in any of my research, hence the reason why it peaked my curiosity. Thus, the only question/concern I have reading this stipulation is if there are special regulations and/or certification requirements that govern the fully autonomous UAS, and if there are not, why? Although the fully autonomous UAS are not being piloted by an individual, which decreases the opportunity for pilot error (and a subsequent incident or accident), the fully autonomous units are still subject to malfunction due to their avionics.
I completely concur with your sentiments regarding the beneficence and enhancement of military strategy the inception of UAS has helped them achieve. Like you, I think the utmost benefit provided by UAS to the military is denoted by their utilization in high-risk reconnaissance and/or survey type missions. Utilizing an UAS for such a task instead of a soldier not only lessens the risk to said soldier, but also is financially efficient and ethically sound. Furthermore, I liked how you stated utilizing these UAS is more financially effective and efficient when in comparison to the costs to operate jet aircraft to perform a similar function. The fact these UAS can fly for days on end saves the military a significant amount of money on costs, especially jet fuel and maintenance related expenses! Therefore, like you, I believe UAS have allowed the military to expand their operating range and holistically improve their offensive and defensive strategies by providing more options while mitigating risks (associated with missions).
Overall, I believe you did a great job discussing the topic at hand; keep up the great work!
Hey Ali,
ReplyDeleteGood post! I agree with you that a different system may be needed for the surge of UAVs. Using UAVs in war I feel is a must needed. If you have a devise that can save a pilots life if something goes wrong, I feel it must be used even if it is considered "unethical".
Hello Ali,
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you that the use of UAVs could be deemed unethical in cases of war. Although there has been no proof yet that UAVs are more precise (which should decrease the chances of civilian casualties), the great benefit of their use is that they protect the lives of military personnel. In terms of ethics, I feel that UAVs are just as "ethical" as other weapons. The point is that they could be used for unethical purposes just like any other weapons.