Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Drones) An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. The flight of UAVs may operate with various degrees of autonomy: under remote control by a human operator, fully or intermittently autonomously by onboard computers. Other forms of drones are remotely piloted vehicles (RPV), remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), and remotely operated aircraft (ROA).
History One of the first ever recorded use of a drone is dated back in 1849, headed by Austrians. Austrians attacked the city of Venice, Italy, with unmanned balloons that carried explosives which were released from there ship called "Vulcano". A few decades later another similar action was conducted with balloons; U.S. Confederates and Union forces flew balloons for observation missions. In 1896, Samuel P. Langley developed aerodromes that were powered by steam. Later in 1898, the first aerial surveillance photos were taken through the new development of cameras which were attached to kites. Aerial drones were used effectively to capture the movement of enemy forces during World War I. In the year 2000, Drone funding was $284 million in the United States' military. Now, in 2016, budget plans are set to reach around $3 billion dollars.
Technology The computing technology first started out as analog control before evolving into using microcontrollers and then ultimately into a system on a chip and single board computers. Smaller UAV'S hardware uses a flight controller, flight controller board or auto pilot for sustained autonomous unmanned flight.
There are position and movement sensors that give info of the aircrafts status. There are specific types of sensors for these air crafts the Exteroceptive sensors which deal with information like distance and height the exproprioceptive sensors deal with the correlation between external and internal states. Non-cooperative sensors deal with collision avoidance. DOF or degrees of freedom refer to the amount and quality of sensors on board. Example: 6 DOF means there are 3-axis gyroscopes and accelerometers ( a inertial measurement unit - IMU). Most of the DOF and IMU sensors deal with Global positioning systems and their receivers.
The actuators on board include digital electronic speed controllers control the rpm of the motors linked to motors, propellers, servomotors, weapons and payload actuators.
The software that the UAV's use is called flightstack. This gives real time rapid response to sensor data changes. Some of the types of tech used for this is the Raspberry Pi's, BeagleBoard, NavIO, PXFmini, RT Linux, Xenomai or DDS-ROS 2.0. The general overview of the flightstack software has 3 parts the firmware, middleware and operating system. The firmware is time critical and deals with machine code to memory execution and access. Middleware is also time critical and deals with flight control, navigation and radio management. The operating system is computer intensive and deals with optic flow, obstacle avoidance, and decision making which most of these are Linux distributions or Microsoft IOT's and other 3rd party's designed from scratch.
Military Application The UAV has become an essential element in 21st-century warfighting capabilities. Because of their small size and weight, the UAV is able to penetrate areas that were inaccessible to conventional aircraft. The costs involved are significantly lower in terms of purchase and maintenance. The cost of an F-35 Fighter jet is near $100M per aircraft; a UAV is a small fraction of that. A UAV is computer-controlled so a pilot error is no longer an issue. The UAV, being unmanned, does not carry the risks of a human pilot being captured or killed if the plane goes down or is lost.
Commercial Application On the Commercial side, Amazon is piloting a program that will have UAV's deliver packages to your door, Amazon Prime Air. Once fully implemented, Amazon will realize cost savings. By not having to employ trucks and drivers, the savings can be passed on to consumers in lower delivery costs. Another benefit will be a smaller carbon footprint. Drones do not have the emissions that conventional delivery methods have. Just as the Amazon business model brought e-commerce into the 21st century, this program has the ability to redefine home delivery.
Industrial Application Drones in the industry are used very effectively and efficiently in reducing risk and also improving hard to reach areas for inspections. They increase the safety and reduce the need for Rope Access Technicians (RAT) teams. Drones are not only used for the inspections of infrastructures and assets; they also provide aerial observations in agriculture and surveillance for terrain and elevation models, that provide information of the land. As for agriculture, drones are applied for observation to improve crop patterns. This leads to a higher percentage of crop yields and reduces damage.
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. The flight of UAVs may operate with various degrees of autonomy: under remote control by a human operator, fully or intermittently autonomously by onboard computers. Other forms of drones are remotely piloted vehicles (RPV), remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), and remotely operated aircraft (ROA).
History
One of the first ever recorded use of a drone is dated back in 1849, headed by Austrians. Austrians attacked the city of Venice, Italy, with unmanned balloons that carried explosives which were released from there ship called "Vulcano". A few decades later another similar action was conducted with balloons; U.S. Confederates and Union forces flew balloons for observation missions. In 1896, Samuel P. Langley developed aerodromes that were powered by steam. Later in 1898, the first aerial surveillance photos were taken through the new development of cameras which were attached to kites. Aerial drones were used effectively to capture the movement of enemy forces during World War I. In the year 2000, Drone funding was $284 million in the United States' military. Now, in 2016, budget plans are set to reach around $3 billion dollars.
Technology
The computing technology first started out as analog control before evolving into using microcontrollers and then ultimately into a system on a chip and single board computers. Smaller UAV'S hardware uses a flight controller, flight controller board or auto pilot for sustained autonomous unmanned flight.
There are position and movement sensors that give info of the aircrafts status. There are specific types of sensors for these air crafts the Exteroceptive sensors which deal with information like distance and height the exproprioceptive sensors deal with the correlation between external and internal states. Non-cooperative sensors deal with collision avoidance. DOF or degrees of freedom refer to the amount and quality of sensors on board. Example: 6 DOF means there are 3-axis gyroscopes and accelerometers ( a inertial measurement unit - IMU). Most of the DOF and IMU sensors deal with Global positioning systems and their receivers.
The actuators on board include digital electronic speed controllers control the rpm of the motors linked to motors, propellers, servomotors, weapons and payload actuators.
The software that the UAV's use is called flightstack. This gives real time rapid response to sensor data changes. Some of the types of tech used for this is the Raspberry Pi's, BeagleBoard, NavIO, PXFmini, RT Linux, Xenomai or DDS-ROS 2.0. The general overview of the flightstack software has 3 parts the firmware, middleware and operating system. The firmware is time critical and deals with machine code to memory execution and access. Middleware is also time critical and deals with flight control, navigation and radio management. The operating system is computer intensive and deals with optic flow, obstacle avoidance, and decision making which most of these are Linux distributions or Microsoft IOT's and other 3rd party's designed from scratch.
Military Application
The UAV has become an essential element in 21st-century warfighting capabilities. Because of their small size and weight, the UAV is able to penetrate areas that were inaccessible to conventional aircraft. The costs involved are significantly lower in terms of purchase and maintenance. The cost of an F-35 Fighter jet is near $100M per aircraft; a UAV is a small fraction of that. A UAV is computer-controlled so a pilot error is no longer an issue. The UAV, being unmanned, does not carry the risks of a human pilot being captured or killed if the plane goes down or is lost.
Commercial Application
On the Commercial side, Amazon is piloting a program that will have UAV's deliver packages to your door, Amazon Prime Air. Once fully implemented, Amazon will realize cost savings. By not having to employ trucks and drivers, the savings can be passed on to consumers in lower delivery costs. Another benefit will be a smaller carbon footprint. Drones do not have the emissions that conventional delivery methods have. Just as the Amazon business model brought e-commerce into the 21st century, this program has the ability to redefine home delivery.
Industrial Application
Drones in the industry are used very effectively and efficiently in reducing risk and also improving hard to reach areas for inspections. They increase the safety and reduce the need for Rope Access Technicians (RAT) teams. Drones are not only used for the inspections of infrastructures and assets; they also provide aerial observations in agriculture and surveillance for terrain and elevation models, that provide information of the land. As for agriculture, drones are applied for observation to improve crop patterns. This leads to a higher percentage of crop yields and reduces damage.
References
Anderson, C (2015, February 03). How Drones Came to Your Local Farm. Retrieved July 14, 2017 from
http://www.technologyreview.com/s/526491/agricultural-drones/
Ian G. R. Shaw, (2014), “The Rise of the Predator Empire: Tracing the History of U.S. Drones”, Understanding Empire,
https://understandingempire.wordpress.com/2-0-a-brief-history-of-u-s-drones/