It has been a few months since my last post on Tableau. In this post, we introduce a new label, Drones. For a while I was wondering if I should post articles on Drones under IOT label. Finally, I decided to create a new label for Drones. While I would love to create content on Drones to be more generic, our main focus will be on Quadcopters only. The reason is quite simple: Quadcopters are a good way to start learning about drones and its applications.
Let us understand a few terminology in Drone parlance. A Rotorcraft is an aircraft that flies using the lift generated by a rotor system. A rotor system is a combination of rotor blades and a control system that facilitates the generation of lift for flight. The simplest Rotorcraft is a Helicopter that has only one rotor. A Quadcopter on the other hand has four such rotors.
In the first article on Drones, we will look at different applications and potential uses of Drones. The applications and uses can be classified under three broad areas:
1) Recreational Uses
2) Industrial Uses
3) Military Uses
4) Other Uses
Recreational Uses:
a) Photography and Videography: Drones have found wide acceptance among the photographer community for getting aerial shots both in still photography and videography. I guess majority of the Drones are used in this area only
b) Hobby Supporting Vehicle: Drones can be used to support covering sport events, provide support to gardening and hunting activities
c) Drone Racing: It is an emerging sport where participants fly Drones using FPV. FPV is First Person View meaning that the pilot flying the Drone is allowed to see only what the Drones can see using a camera on Drone with live feed to pilot
d) Drone Show: Using 1500 Drones, Intel put up a Drone Show last year. It can be viewed here
e) Drone as Toy: Drones are quite popular as toys. Toy drones can be as small as fitting into one's palm with easy flight control so that children can take to flying drones easily
Industrial Uses:
a) Healthcare: Drones can be used for delivery of blood samples, blood sachet, emergency kits / medication, first aid kits, organs, emergency food and water supplies for disaster relief
b) Real Estate: During project execution, work in progress can be monitored by drones. After project is complete, Drones can be used as promotional aid to showcase the completed project
c) Shipping & Delivery: Drones can be used for used for delivering small to medium sized packages. and pizzas
d) Security: Drones can be used to monitor any highly secure zone or to navigate to highly secure zone in case of any security breach
e) Transportation: Drones can used to transport humans. Drone cabs can save time as the flights will be along straight lines. A clip showing such an application is here
f) Media: Journalists can leverage Drones for covering live events as sports events, political rallies, etc. While there are privacy concerns, there is no denial in the fact that with Drones, reporting on the field will be more rich in terms of images, live feeds, and more immersive in content
g) Films: Drones have been used to capture aerial shots in many films. Drone shots provide amazing content. More information can be seen here
h/) Mining: Drones can be used to ensure that no human personnel are around blast sites. They can also be used for safety around mining equipment and complex road network around mines. Wherever tunnels are used, they can be used to detect poisonous gases and help prevent human losses
i) Space: NASA is planning to use Drones for exploration of Moon and Mars in areas that cannot be accessed by rover
j) Warehouse Management: Drones can scan bar code on a pallet in a warehouse much faster than a human. Also, time can be saved if Drones are used for managing inventory in a warehouse
k) Mobile Network: Drones can be used to amplify mobile signals if they carry mobile network transmitters. This can improve the signal quality and reliability. More details are here. A similar usage is also improving radio communication using Drones
l) Internet Connectivity: Drones can used to improve internet connectivity in areas that are inaccessible. An example can be seen here
m) Advertising: Drones can be used for aerial advertising, banner advertising for promotion and marketing campaigns
Military Uses:
a) Border Patrol: Drones are being used for border patrolling by countries to prevent illegal border crossing, securing border, smuggling and drug related activities
b) Bomb/IED/Landmine Detection: Basically, the Bomb/IED/Landmine detecting unit is a payload mounted on a Drone. This Drone can then fly to the suspect location and help in preventing loss of human lives
c) Taking out enemies: Drones are being increasingly used in war to gain asymmetric advantage. UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle) or Drones equipped with missiles are being used in air-to-ground strikes against enemy targets. A Drone in this category recently finished a trans-Atlantic flight
d) Reconnaissance: Drones can be used for military reconnaissance in war to bolster tactical advantage. Such Drones are equipped with technology for monitoring troop movement, provide threat alerts, along with transmission of high definition images in real time during day or night
Other Uses:
a) Monitor Hazardous Situations: Drones can used to monitor and provide information in hazardous situations involving natural calamity as volcano activity, forest fires or in an area which is not human friendly. Volcano monitoring can be seen here
b) Weather Monitoring: Different sensors that monitor temperature, humidity, etc can be attached to a Drone to monitor weather
c) Farming and Agriculture: Drones can been used for planting, crop spraying, crop monitoring, soil and field analysis. Drones can also be used for tree planting to fight deforestation as seen here
d) Search and Rescue Missions: Drones can be used as inexpensive vehicles in Search and Rescue missions
e) Law and Order Enforcement: Drones have aerial advantage and can monitor ground level activity as a riot or traffic disruption and help in bringing any undesirable situation under control
f) Mapping / Surveying: Drones offer the most comprehensive near ground aerial mapping capability. For complete flight path control, Drones can be also programmed to do a complete sweep of the area to be mapped in a step-wise fashion. Once the images are captured, detailed maps and 3D models can be created. Such maps can be used in areas as solar energy, roof inspection, etc
g) Preserving Heritage Sites: Drones can help in preserving heritage sites as it can capture visual features of the site using terrestrial and aerial photography. The data collated can be used to build a 3D model of the site
h) Navigator Aid for Visually Impaired: Drones can be used to provide navigation support to visually impaired folks using sending audio signals and other means
i) Sports / Fitness Aid: Drones can provide excellent feedback about an athlete's physical activity on the field as they are not limited by the angle of the shot. Drones can also be programmed to follow the owner who is jogging, swimming, etc and provide live feedback for any improvement in the training regimen
In the near future, we will see more innovative uses of Drones. This concludes the first post on Drones ...
Let us understand a few terminology in Drone parlance. A Rotorcraft is an aircraft that flies using the lift generated by a rotor system. A rotor system is a combination of rotor blades and a control system that facilitates the generation of lift for flight. The simplest Rotorcraft is a Helicopter that has only one rotor. A Quadcopter on the other hand has four such rotors.
In the first article on Drones, we will look at different applications and potential uses of Drones. The applications and uses can be classified under three broad areas:
1) Recreational Uses
2) Industrial Uses
3) Military Uses
4) Other Uses
Recreational Uses:
a) Photography and Videography: Drones have found wide acceptance among the photographer community for getting aerial shots both in still photography and videography. I guess majority of the Drones are used in this area only
b) Hobby Supporting Vehicle: Drones can be used to support covering sport events, provide support to gardening and hunting activities
c) Drone Racing: It is an emerging sport where participants fly Drones using FPV. FPV is First Person View meaning that the pilot flying the Drone is allowed to see only what the Drones can see using a camera on Drone with live feed to pilot
d) Drone Show: Using 1500 Drones, Intel put up a Drone Show last year. It can be viewed here
e) Drone as Toy: Drones are quite popular as toys. Toy drones can be as small as fitting into one's palm with easy flight control so that children can take to flying drones easily
Industrial Uses:
a) Healthcare: Drones can be used for delivery of blood samples, blood sachet, emergency kits / medication, first aid kits, organs, emergency food and water supplies for disaster relief
b) Real Estate: During project execution, work in progress can be monitored by drones. After project is complete, Drones can be used as promotional aid to showcase the completed project
c) Shipping & Delivery: Drones can be used for used for delivering small to medium sized packages. and pizzas
d) Security: Drones can be used to monitor any highly secure zone or to navigate to highly secure zone in case of any security breach
e) Transportation: Drones can used to transport humans. Drone cabs can save time as the flights will be along straight lines. A clip showing such an application is here
f) Media: Journalists can leverage Drones for covering live events as sports events, political rallies, etc. While there are privacy concerns, there is no denial in the fact that with Drones, reporting on the field will be more rich in terms of images, live feeds, and more immersive in content
g) Films: Drones have been used to capture aerial shots in many films. Drone shots provide amazing content. More information can be seen here
h/) Mining: Drones can be used to ensure that no human personnel are around blast sites. They can also be used for safety around mining equipment and complex road network around mines. Wherever tunnels are used, they can be used to detect poisonous gases and help prevent human losses
i) Space: NASA is planning to use Drones for exploration of Moon and Mars in areas that cannot be accessed by rover
j) Warehouse Management: Drones can scan bar code on a pallet in a warehouse much faster than a human. Also, time can be saved if Drones are used for managing inventory in a warehouse
k) Mobile Network: Drones can be used to amplify mobile signals if they carry mobile network transmitters. This can improve the signal quality and reliability. More details are here. A similar usage is also improving radio communication using Drones
l) Internet Connectivity: Drones can used to improve internet connectivity in areas that are inaccessible. An example can be seen here
m) Advertising: Drones can be used for aerial advertising, banner advertising for promotion and marketing campaigns
Military Uses:
a) Border Patrol: Drones are being used for border patrolling by countries to prevent illegal border crossing, securing border, smuggling and drug related activities
b) Bomb/IED/Landmine Detection: Basically, the Bomb/IED/Landmine detecting unit is a payload mounted on a Drone. This Drone can then fly to the suspect location and help in preventing loss of human lives
c) Taking out enemies: Drones are being increasingly used in war to gain asymmetric advantage. UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle) or Drones equipped with missiles are being used in air-to-ground strikes against enemy targets. A Drone in this category recently finished a trans-Atlantic flight
d) Reconnaissance: Drones can be used for military reconnaissance in war to bolster tactical advantage. Such Drones are equipped with technology for monitoring troop movement, provide threat alerts, along with transmission of high definition images in real time during day or night
Other Uses:
a) Monitor Hazardous Situations: Drones can used to monitor and provide information in hazardous situations involving natural calamity as volcano activity, forest fires or in an area which is not human friendly. Volcano monitoring can be seen here
b) Weather Monitoring: Different sensors that monitor temperature, humidity, etc can be attached to a Drone to monitor weather
c) Farming and Agriculture: Drones can been used for planting, crop spraying, crop monitoring, soil and field analysis. Drones can also be used for tree planting to fight deforestation as seen here
d) Search and Rescue Missions: Drones can be used as inexpensive vehicles in Search and Rescue missions
e) Law and Order Enforcement: Drones have aerial advantage and can monitor ground level activity as a riot or traffic disruption and help in bringing any undesirable situation under control
f) Mapping / Surveying: Drones offer the most comprehensive near ground aerial mapping capability. For complete flight path control, Drones can be also programmed to do a complete sweep of the area to be mapped in a step-wise fashion. Once the images are captured, detailed maps and 3D models can be created. Such maps can be used in areas as solar energy, roof inspection, etc
g) Preserving Heritage Sites: Drones can help in preserving heritage sites as it can capture visual features of the site using terrestrial and aerial photography. The data collated can be used to build a 3D model of the site
h) Navigator Aid for Visually Impaired: Drones can be used to provide navigation support to visually impaired folks using sending audio signals and other means
i) Sports / Fitness Aid: Drones can provide excellent feedback about an athlete's physical activity on the field as they are not limited by the angle of the shot. Drones can also be programmed to follow the owner who is jogging, swimming, etc and provide live feedback for any improvement in the training regimen
In the near future, we will see more innovative uses of Drones. This concludes the first post on Drones ...
