Introduction
Drones, or more accurately Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) or Small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) (the term coined by the FAA for small unmanned aircraft systems) have been in existence since WWII. They have just recently become more popular due to the advent of reliable, low cost autopilots. sUAS involves those systems which are guided at least part of the time with an “autopilot”. We refer to RPV remotely piloted vehicles as those which are stabilized and have sensors, but not operating with an autopilot which directs the plane to fly to waypoints. FPV (First Person View) allows the pilot to fly using a camera mounted on the aircraft but not necessarily using an autopilot. RPV and FPV are complementary to sUAS because some sUAS require manned intervention, especially during takeoff and landing.
Critical to the autopilot is the use of a precise GPS and gyroscope technology. Once these were available inexpensively for modelers in the early 2000s, some of these worked their way into commercial applications. As they became more and more prevalent, the FAA put the hammer down and restricted flying to hobbyists only until rules could be passed regarding the operation of sUAS in the national airspace. The FAA passed regulations governing the use of sUAS in the USA on 8/29/2016. Since then there has been a huge influx of money into R&D from many major electronics companies as well as countless private investors. Millions of dollars have been invested into aircraft, sensors, navigation systems, collision avoidance, data processing, battery technology, data recording, integration into the national airspace and more. Investment will continue to grow at an exponential pace for decades. This can be compared to the beginning of other major industries like the automotive industry or the computer industry where dozens or hundreds of companies are all entering the market simultaneously.
Today, almost all survey type sUAS fly completely autonomously from takeoff to landing. They operate completely using waypoints generated by an easy to use mission planning system. All systems use similar hardware, the major differences are the formats and interfaces. In most cases a boundary is set up around the area to be surveyed by the pilot/engineer, and the actual flight path is determined by the software.
frantic pace. Companies are competing to make totally autonomous aircraft. They not only fly completely autonomously but they recognize the sensor being used. They automatically decide the altitude to fly at to get the resolution required. They also decide the separation of the flight paths to be the most efficient that they can be. Who, what, when, where and how to gather data are being completely computerized. The human factors will be greatly reduced which will greatly enhance safety and productivity. When large areas are mapped, many photos are taken. It takes time and high computing power to stitch the photos together into a usable format for surveyors. At the field, some companies offer a quick stitching program which takes only minutes. This program does not give a usable final result (yet) but it does show if there is some bad data and if all or part of the mission needs to be flown again. This saves a lot of time because if the data is incomplete and it isn’t discovered for days, then another trip must be made to the area to gather the missing data. This is a huge leap forward in the technology. Some companies can transmit the photos to a cell tower to upload as the sUAS is still flying. This cuts down on the time it takes to get a deliverable to a client. If the region lacks proper cell technology, the data can be transferred to a laptop in the field as it is flying, and the software on the laptop starts to process the data. The goal is that the data will be delivered to the customer immediately after flying.