Drones Ascend to New Heights: Bringing Unique Perspective to Broadening Markets
By Michael Parks, PE for Mouser Electronics
Fewer emerging technologies have so vividly captured the public imagination as dramatically as unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAVs) or as they are more commonly referred to, drones. Their use in military operations over the last two
decades has been as game-changing as tanks were to World War I and as rocketry was to World War II.
With all the newfound interest in UAV technology it might be surprising to know that the drones buzzing across the
skies today can trace their lineage back to the late 1840s. During the time of the First Italian War of
Independence, the Austrians would use unmanned balloons to drops explosives on Venice. The 20th century saw the
emergence of remotely controlled aircraft for military training and reconnaissance applications as well as a nascent
hobbyist community.
Now in the 21st century, the same technological innovations that have brought us smartphones, the Internet of Things, and wearables have brought
us an explosion of drones. What’s remarkable is not just the number of drones that are becoming available;
it’s the applications that they are being applied to that is really incredible. This article explores the
types of applications where drones are solving problems, discusses potential barriers to drone adoption, and
explores technical and non-technical solutions needed to help drones reach their full potential.
A Market with Expanding Horizons
Aerial photography and videography are perhaps the two most common uses for drones. Beyond artistic pursuits of
photographers and filmmakers, drones allow real estate agents, event organizers, and proprietors of various business
to easily and inexpensively add stunning visuals to marketing campaigns. The commanding portion of drones
sold—some 94 percent of units sold—are for personal use, either as toys or for photography. While
personal drones dominate unit sales, the market only represents 40 percent of the revenue generated, according to
Recode, a site that focuses on news and trends. The majority of the revenue comes from the relatively miniscule
number of higher cost commercial drone sales. And it’s in this market that some of the most compelling new use
cases and businesses are manifesting themselves as drone technology evolves.
As far as drones themselves, the quadcopter is perhaps the most prevalent in commercial and hobbyist markets
(Figure 1). It’s a rapidly growing market with hundreds of companies competing at various
price points. According to a recent market survey by Recode, drone units sales increased from approximately 1.3
million in 2015 to 2.2 million in 2016. In dollars and cents, those unit sales represented almost 4.6 billion
dollars (USD), a 36 percent increase year-over-year. Looking to the future, some analysts are predicting the drone
market to hit 6 billion dollars this year (2017) and swell to over 11 billion dollars by 2020.
Figure 1: DJI Phantom 4, an example of a quadcopter drone. (Source:
Wikipedia)
Emergency and Medical Response
It’s not just all fun and games for the future of drones. Many companies are looking to applying the
technology to matters where seconds can mean the difference between life and death. Getting lifesaving medications,
blood for transfusions, and devices such as defibrillators to a victim quickly isn’t always easy in certain
locales. Companies such as Zipline have been doing just that in places such as Rwanda where modern healthcare
infrastructure just doesn’t exist. Less than a year ago, Zipline received approval from the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) to begin delivery of the same services within the borders of the United States, initially
targeting rural or highly remote locations such as Appalachia towns and island communities off the mainland.
Search and rescue (SAR) operations are being significantly helped by the availability of drones,
too. Large volunteer organizations are sprouting up to support SAR missions. One such group is S.W.A.R.M. (Search
With Aerial RC Multirotor) that claims a network of more than 1,100 volunteer drone operators across 31 countries
who are ready to support SAR missions. The drones are not only used to spot lost individuals, but also to deliver
supplies such as food, water, first aid kits, and communications devices until rescuers can physically reach the
injured individual.
Firefighting presents a great number of dangers to life and limb of human rescuers. Drones are being used to reduce
that risk by taking on some of the exploratory tasks so that humans can focus on higher order tasks such as rescuing
victims and containing the fire itself. FAROS (Fireproof Aerial Robot System) is one such drone that is equipped
with a number of unique technologies that makes it quite suitable for firefighting. Given that firefighting often
takes place inside buildings where GPS signals may not be reliable, FAROS adopts additional tools such as an
altimeter, 2D laser scanner, and an inertial management unit (IMU) to allow for safe navigation inside buildings. To
combat the unusually high heats that firefighting drones are exposed to, FAROS incorporates special materials and
design features such as an air buffer and a thermoelectric cooling system.
Industrial and Scientific Applications
Drones are also at the forefront of helping researchers and businesses become more efficient and effective in
performing their missions. Agriculture is an industry that is leading the charge on introducing technology such as
drones to their arsenal of tools in an effort to improve yields and cut costs. DroneSeed is one a of handful
companies in the U.S. that has received government approval to allow a single operator to control multiple drones at
the same time. Their drone swarms are responsible for spreading seeds and pesticides as well as monitoring crop
growth. Operating in a swarm means serving more farmland in less time and at less cost.
Facility managers are also keen to adapting their business services in response to the wide availability of drones.
Tasks such as inspections of roofs, photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, power lines, and roadways are being made
safe and efficient thanks to coupling drones with cameras equipped with high definition or infrared imaging sensors.
Construction planning and site surveys are also benefiting from drones equipped with LIDAR sensors that allow for
centimeter accurate mapping of potential building sites.
In addition to planning for the future, drones are proving to be equally useful for those who study the past. With
drones archaeologists can now do for themselves what they have been relying on small plane pilots or stagnant
satellite imagery to do in studying potential sites for excavations. Researchers from the University of Cambridge in
the UK have eagerly applied drones to their research at a site known as the “British Pompeii” in
Cambridgeshire. Drones allow them to get high-quality, low altitude imagery so they can better plan where to dig
thus saving time onsite. In addition, the imagery is used to visually document finds as they are uncovered.
One other novel emerging use for drones is to provide airborne Internet access points, which could prove useful in
situations such as disaster recovery, high participation events such as sporting events, or in less-developed parts
of the world where the costs of installing traditional telecommunication infrastructure is just too cost
prohibitive. Facebook just recently completed their second test flight of a 737-sized (in terms of wingspan)
solar-powered drone, dubbed Aquila, to do just this, according to Business Insider.
Entertainment and Sports
In 2016 ESPN, the juggernaut sports television network, inked a multi-year deal with Drone Racing League (DRL) to
televise the nascent leagues global competitions. Drone racers represent widely diverse demographics not typically
found in traditional sports. Drone racing is also breaking geographic barriers. In addition, the technology aspects
appeal to a younger demographic, which could be crucial to attracting and maintaining a subscriber base for old
media businesses that are otherwise suffering from a marketplace that’s increasingly embracing cord-cutting.
If watching one drone zipping arounds the skies is exciting, watching an entire swarm of drones is downright
mesmerizing. That’s exactly what Ars Electronica Futurelab thought a few years ago when they set out to create
something akin to a fireworks show, with drones substituted for pyrotechnics. The result was something they call the
“SPAXEL”. According to the Ars website, “The term SPAXEL is derived from “Space
Pixels”; SPAXELS are visual elements positioned freely and dynamically in space. We use drones to carry a LED lighting system and combine them into a beautiful and
organic swarm of airborne lights.” Their work along with partner Intel resulted in a stunning 500 drone
light show late last year (Figure 2). Intel would go on to buy the company behind SPAXELS,
Ascending Technologies.
Figure 2: SPAXELS are akin to fireworks shows, using drones instead of
pyrotechnics. (Source: Ars Electronica)
Barriers to Drone Adoption
If drones can bring all this good to bear on today’s problems, then what is stymying their ability to reach
their full potential? For some with a dystopian worldview, drones with high definition cameras represent the
potential for regular invasion of privacy.
Safety is another major concern raised about the proliferation of drones. From falling out of the sky and injuring
an innocent bystander to catastrophic interaction with manned aircraft, there are many scenarios that could result
in property damage or worse. While many issues could be solved technologically, certainly human error or malfeasance
is likely to play a role much like problems that arise from people and automobiles.
From the perspective of people and organizations that are keen to eventually embrace drones, perhaps the biggest
complaint regarding the current generation of drones is the limited flight time that today’s batteries can
sustain. Lack of sensors in drone-friendly form factors or interoperability issues between the sensor and drone are
another stumbling block that has to be worked out as well.
Overcoming Barriers: Technology and Regulatory Solutions
The world is only beginning to witness the ascent of drones as useful tools and not just amusing novelties. It will
take a combination of both technological and non-technological solutions to help drones reach their full potential.
Across the world, RC clubs and other aviation focused groups are offering training courses for new drone pilots. In
the U.S., until a recent court ruling, the FAA required all non-commercial drone operators who flew drones weighing
between 0.55lbs (250 grams) and 55-lbs to register with their Small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) Registration
Service. Other rules apply to drones larger than 55-lbs. Even with the recent court ruling, the registration issue
is likely not a settled matter yet. If the drone operator intends to engage in a commercial enterprise then they
would be subject to a certification process as laid out in FAA Part 107 Certification for Commercial Drone Pilots.
From a technology perspective, there's plenty of lucrative opportunities for innovations in drone friendly hardware
and software. A popular accessory for many camera-equipped drone operators is a pair of First Person View (FPV)
goggles. Such goggles place the view from an onboard camera and place it squarely in front of the operators eyes
making it feel as if they were sitting in a non-existent cockpit. FPV goggles rely on solid, high-speed radio links that minimize latency while also
maximizing image resolution and distance achievable between drone and operator. Encryption of the data link will
also be increasingly critical as more and more drones take to the sky becoming targets of convenience for those with
than less noble intentions.
Improvements in battery capacities and onboard power management will be a major boon
for the continued adoption of drones. Better batteries will lead to improved flight times and/or weight handling
capacities, which in turn leads to more efficient flight operations and inclusion of more hardware to add
functionality. More efficient electromechanical
components, such as motors that drive the propellers or camera gimbals, will also go a long way to help with
power consumption.
Better flight control, enabled by intelligent onboard sensors and systems, will go a long way toward
addressing the safety and privacy concerns associated with drones. Already drones at increasingly lower price points
are being equipped with GPS and/or GLONASS navigation systems to help drones keep track of where they are located.
Virtual walls known as geofences tell drones areas that they should avoid even if told otherwise by their operator.
Of course, knowing where these geofences are (and keeping that information current) is a more complex challenge.
Often this challenged is addressed on higher-end drones by requiring them to connect over a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi
connection to a smartphone-based application to keep a geofence inventory current. Other technologies such as IMUs,
barometers, infrared-based object detection, and computer vision solutions can also incorporated to provide a more
holistic picture of the operating environment to allow for safer flight.
Lastly, as more sensors and higher resolution cameras are incorporated, the brains
of the drones must also improve to handle all the data being thrown at it. Machine learning algorithms that could be
used in object detection and collision avoidance will require a significant bump in onboard processing power. Drone swarms of any
significant size will also add networking to the mix of challenges that must also be addressed. Whether mesh networks or some other dynamic
network topology is embraced, every drone that is intended to operate in a swarm will have to have the ability to
communicate efficiently and in fairly unpredictable environments. Of course, all this must be balanced with the fact
that additional computing horsepower can become a significant burden on a device that must expend most of its energy
just to keep itself in the air. Which is the whole point of having a drone to begin with.
Michael Parks, P.E.
is a contributing writer for Mouser Electronics and the owner of Green Shoe
Garage, a custom electronics design studio and technology consultancy located in Southern Maryland. He produces the
S.T.E.A.M. Power Podcast to help raise public awareness of technical and scientific matters. Michael is also a
licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Maryland and holds a Master’s degree in systems engineering
from Johns Hopkins University.
