In the article titled The Future of Drones: Uncertain, Promising
and Pretty Awesome, published in November of 2015, discusses both the exciting
advancements possible in UAS technology as well as some of the difficulties
facing the future of the UAS industry. The major themes that this article discusses are the current use of UASs, the future uses, and the major regulatory issues
that plague future development.
When this article was
written, the use of UASs to deliver packages by Amazon was the big news. Amazon
was the first company to successfully deliver merchandise via UAS. Google is now
working on Project Wing which is a competitor of Amazon’s Prime Air. Other universities
are also working with industry to develop medical supply delivery UASs that are
able to carry up to 10 lbs. worth of supplies to secluded areas. These are just
some of the current technological changes occurring in 2015 and 2016.
The article goes on to discuss
the FAA regulations that are changing to support the future of UAS technology. The
major changes that occurred in 2016 had to do with relaxing the requirements
for commercial UAS use. The author was pleasantly surprised by the permissiveness
of the FAA’s new regulations that went into effect in the summer of 2016. The
biggest step into the future would have to do with allowing flight beyond line
of sight in order to better support autonomous deliveries that Amazon and
Google are trying to accomplish.
The next major topic that
the article discussed was the huge amount of money that will be spent in the
UAS market of the coming years. This year the UAS market only created about
200-400 million dollars in total revenue, but the author is predicting by 2020,
UAS will create billions in revenue. The author links the future capability of
being able to fly beyond line of sight as the major factor that could cause the
explosion of revenue and innovation in UASs.
Finally, the author
discusses the difficulties in sense and avoid technology and integration into
national airspace. The biggest challenge is going to be trust between the FAA,
manned aviation, and the people living around high UAS traffic areas. A proposal
of a UAS traffic management (UTM) system is something that could help the integration
of UAS, but there are still many hurtles both technologically and regulatory
that are making the future of UASs bright, but challenging.
Reference Article:
Gent, E. (2015, November
5). The Future of Drones: Uncertain, Promising and Pretty Awesome. Retrieved
October 7, 2016, from http://www.livescience.com/52701-future-of-drones-uncertain-but-promising.html
I remember the first time I read over the FAA rules for UAS pilot certification under 14 CFR Part 107. I agree that it seemed pretty lenient (For the FAA) and I was surprised that it wasn't more limiting and specific in restrictions. In the page specifically mentioning "Fly for Work/Business", it is surprisingly light in text (FAA, 2016). I think one would need to peruse the complete text of the Small UAS Rule to ensure thorough compliance.
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). (2016a, September 19). Fly for Work/Business [Fact Sheet]. Retrieved from https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/fly_for_work_business/