When many people think of drones, they often think of the cool overheard video footage one can take with them. Many professional photographers and videographers have been catching onto the trend of drones over the past few years, and their popularity continues to increase. However, as technology is expanding, there are many different industries also hopping onto the drone bandwagon and implementing this technology in a variety of ways. Drones are now being used in many companies and are helping these industries work more efficiently to their end goal.
Deliveries
One of the biggest uses of drones that people are hearing about is with deliveries. Amazon first started testing this service several years ago, and now many other companies are figuring out how to implement it as well, such as pizza companies. With Amazon’s delivery service, called Prime Air, one can place an order and receive the package via drone within 30 minutes. Amazon tested this service and made their first delivery in December 2016, in Cambridge England. In February 2017, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office “granted Amazon a patent for a method to guide packages released from drones safely to the ground” (CNN Tech). This patent suggests that Amazon should keep drones high above customer’s homes, and rather than landing them in people’s yards, they will be dropping parachutes from the drones. Once these parachutes are dropped, the drones would monitor them to ensure they are dropped in the correct location, making sure wind does not interfere. Since Amazon’s testing, Google has started to work with similar plans.
Construction
Another newer trend with drones has been with construction. Drones are cheaper to fly than planes and are a lot faster than human surveyors. In addition, drones “collect data more frequently than either, letting construction workers track a site’s progress with a degree of accuracy previously unknown in the industry” (Fortune). With the data that drones are able to collect at construction sites, builders will be able to create 3D structural models, topographical maps, and volumetric measurements. Other tasks that drones can perform are enhancing safety at construction sites, since they will have real-time data of safety violations or situations that could have a negative impact during the process (The Balance). The benefits of using drones are endless including minimizing potential issues, decreasing costs, and limiting delays.
Public Safety and First Responders
Drones have been a hot topic discussion in regards to their use by the police. The first initial response by the public was a fear of privacy being violated. Since the technology was and still is in its infancy stage, many erred on the side of precaution. But in recent times, this thought of losing privacy has dwindled, while the awareness for the positive drones can bring to helping people has become clearer. In 2013, an Institute for Homeland Security Solutions (IHSS) and RTI International survey found 57 percent of the general public supports the use of unmanned aircraft systems for any application. It found:
- 88 percent of the general public supports drone use in search and rescue operations
- 67 percent support drone use in homeland security missions
- 63 percent support drone use in fighting crime
The potential for the use of drones by police has always been there. Yet a better understanding of the practicality of this becoming a reality recently has become clearer. Drones would be able to help forensic photographers cut down their process time at accident sites. Using a few simple ground measurements as reference points, the drone can fly over the accident to capture images, and the analyst can conduct the accident investigation on a computer rather than at the scene. This allows for the roads to be reopened quicker and traffic can get back to a normal flow.
Agriculture
Drones have also shown a potential in agriculture uses. With this comes the potential to help increase productivity and sustainability. There following are the 6 main reasons drones can help the agriculture industry:
- Soil and Field Analysis - This will allow for the farmers to better strategize where to plant seeds.
- Planting Seeds - Drones can also help in physically planting the seeds. In fact, drone-planting systems that achieve an uptake rate of 75 percent and decrease planting costs by 85 percent.
- Crop Spraying - the tools drones are equipped with allow them to accurately fly over fields and spray the right amount of liquid. This results in increased efficiency with a reduction of in the amount of chemicals penetrating into groundwater.
- Crop Monitoring - This is one of farming's biggest obstacle. Since farms can be so large there hasn’t been an efficient way to monitor a field. By using a drone one can increase efficiency and cut down costs.
- Irrigation - Drones are able to help identify which areas of a field are not getting enough water. This information can be used to adjust watering practices.
- Health Assessment - By using a drone to scan crops, farmers are able to tell if a plant is growing well. One is also able to tell if the plant has a fungal or bacterial infections. A speedy response can save an entire farm. In addition, as soon as a sickness is discovered, farmers can apply and monitor remedies more precisely.
Sources:
"Amazon Prime Air." Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & More. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.
Very good presentation. I enjoyed learning about other uses for drones in addition to the pictures/videos that seem to be all over social media. I had heard of drones potentially being used to deliver packages, but had never considered or heard about them being used in agriculture. The six reasons you listed about how drones can help agriculture seem like they would be very beneficial to the industry. Have drones already started to be used in this way? And if so, how prevalent are they?
ReplyDeleteGreat presentation! I was especially interested in the statistics in the Public Safety and First Responders section. I want to know the reasons behind the people voted against the use of drones in those particular situations. I don't see any substantial reasons why people would not support the use of drones for those situations.
ReplyDelete