Drone Services and models worldwide

 

D

rones or Unmanned aerial vehicle (U.A.V) is a tiny aircraft without a human pilot aboard. Drones are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (U.A.S); which includes a U.A.V, a ground-based controller and a system of communications between the two. The flight of drones may operate with various degrees of autonomy: either under remote control by a human operator or autonomously by on board computers. Compared to manned aircraft, drones are originally used for missions too "dull, dirty or dangerous" for humans. While they originated mostly in military applications, their use is rapidly expanding to commercial, scientific, recreational, agricultural, and other application of autonomous things, to be followed by the autonomous car and home robots applications, such as policing, peacekeeping and surveillance, product deliveries, aerial photography, agriculture, smuggling and drone racing. Civilian drones are now vastly and rapidly growing which estimates of over a million sold by 2015.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drone models

1.  Multi Rotor Drones.

 

2.  Fixed Wing Drones.

 

3.  Single Rotor Helicopter.

 

4.  Fixed Wing Hybrid VTOL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Multi Rotor Drones

Multi Rotor drones are the most common types of drones which are used by professionals and hobbyists like Aerial photography, aerial video surveillance, amateur drone racing, or leisure flying etc. Multi-rotor drones are the easiest to manufacture and they are the cheapest option available as well.

 

Multi-rotor drones can be further classified based on the number of rotors such as Tricopter (3 rotors), Quadcopter (4 rotors), Hexacopter (6 rotors) and Octocopter (8 rotors).

 

Out of these, Quadcopters are the most popular and widely used variant. Multi Rotor Drones are chip but also have limitation that is limited flying time, limited endurance and speed, not fit for large-scale projects like long distance aerial mapping or surveillance. Today most of the multi-rotor drones are capable of only a 20 to 30 minutes flying time (often with a minimal payload like a camera).

 

 

Fixed Wing Drones 

 

 

 

 

 

Fixed Wing drones are entirely different in design and use a ‘wing’ like the normal airplanes out there and never utilize energy to stay afloat on air. Most fixed wing drones have an average flying time of a couple of hours. Gas engine powered drones can fly up to 16 hours or higher. Owing to their higher flying time and fuel efficiency, fixed wing drones are ideal for long distance operations (be it mapping or surveillance) but not to be kept still in the air to take aerial photography. Obviously Fixed Wing Drones are required an airfield/catapult launcher to take-off or landing.

 

Single Rotor Helicopter

 

 

 

 

Single rotor drones look very similar in design & structure to actual helicopters. Unlike a multi rotor drone, a single rotor model has just one big sized rotor plus a small sized one on the tail of the drone to control its heading. Single rotor drones are much efficient than multi rotor versions. They have higher flying times and can even be powered by gas engines. In aerodynamics, the lower the count of rotors the lesser will be the spin of the object.  And that’s the big reason why quad-copters are more stable than Octocopters. In that sense, single rotor drones are much efficient than multi-rotor drones.

 

 

 

Fixed Wing Hybrid VTOL

 

 

 

 

 

These are hybrid versions combining the benefits of Fixed wing models (higher flying time) with that of rotor based models (hover). This concept has been tested from around 1960’s without much success. However, with the advent of new generation sensors (gyros and accelerometers), this concept has got some new life and direction.

Hybrid VTOL’s are a play of automation and manual gliding. A vertical lift is used to lift the drone up into the air from the ground. Gyros and accelerometers work in automated mode (autopilot concept) to keep the drone stabilized in the air. Remote based (or even programmed) manual control is used to guide the drone on the desired course.

There are some versions of this hybrid fixed wing models available in the market. However, the most popular one is drone used in Amazon commercials (for its Prime delivery service).

 

 

 

 

Drone Services

 

Drones in military

 

 “The life of a pilot don’t have to be risked”- applying  this theory  the several military agencies of developed and under developing  countries hold the strong, advanced, giant, invasive Drones as a weapon as well as a watch dog and producing randomly.

Countries at war have been using drones for a substantial period of time dating back as early as World War-I and now they have played a role in predicting conflicts and also in helping countries fight wars with fewer casualties.

 

 

 

Drones in rescue mission

 

 

In recent years, in several rescue missions DRONES or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) have been used rapidly and indeed gradually increasing its perimeter of applications.

In mid sea or sea-shores, if any drowning/submerging cases are approached, drones are always ready to go there & drop the self-inflating rescue pods or life jackets and obviously to provide back-up facilities and assistance for rescue rangers. Also in any natural disasters, drones are used to provide affected people with food, medicine, supplies and other necessities, some drones are built with infrared sensors to look for humans or life-forms with the help of heat signatures, can take HD pictures of affected areas sharply. So Drones have high potential in search and rescue mission; more governments are beginning to embrace drone technology. Drones are used for rescue missions by military personnel, government authorities, and by non-government agencies which are involved in search and rescue missions.

 

 

 

Drones in Surveillance and border Security

 

 

There are several instances or examples of the wide uses of Drones under the field of Surveillance and Security. From private companies to governmental security forces random uses drones to cover the restricted border areas, track against intruders, monitor against human trafficking, countering illegal drug operations, monitor large festival areas and many more.

 

Drone land surveying

 

 

For making topographic maps Drones are arranged for proper aerial photos to help surveyors and cartographers to make ideal maps of the region aerially and the survey businesses are beginning to use drones instead of relying on traditional methods. Through this less timed, less-manpower, cost-effective method, drones are evolving the whole survey mapping process.

 

 

 

Drone Inspection services

 

Recently Insurance Companies are inspecting damaged vehicles or properties through Drones. Even Cold calling or sudden visiting have been taking place for a new property or physical assets to inspect. While traditional methods of inspections are time-taking and can be dangerous for the person carrying out the inspection, drones can complete the inspection much faster.

Construction projects and building managers are using drones to check the progress of buildings and to construct 3D models of projects. Building managers are using drone technology to identify weaknesses in a building and take quick action to avoid problems at a later stage. Also the inspection method largely visible in industries which utilize and maintain pipelines, cell towers, power lines, cooling towers, solar panels, windmills, railways, several complex infrastructures and many more.

 

Drone Wildlife Monitoring

 

To resist the poachers in wildlife sanctuaries which is a giant problem of wild animals, drones are operating actively even some armed drones are neutralizing the fierce poachers. Also many advanced drones are operated to count vast majority of wild animals within few days without disturbing/annoying them.

 

 

Drone Environmental Monitoring

 

 

Governmental and non-governmental authorities are seriously taking actions through Drones for such environmental areas where human connectivity is almost impossible. Such as -- Surveying  rivers, checking erosion and water flow simulation for rivers, managing erosion and planning beach replenishment in the coastal areas, Keeping a check on deforestation activities, Checking the quality of air at various levels of height, Identifying glacial features, Assessing volcanic craters.

 

 

Drones in Agriculture

 

 

Now day by day, Drones are becoming more peasant-friendly. Within less time and easily through drones, the necessary insecticides/pesticides/nutrients spreading on corps and soil, tracing the diseased plants/corps and growth rates, surveying the drainages and irrigation channels in the farms, the monitoring of grazing farm animals under the area and also more events are occurred.

 

Drones in Mining

 

 

Many private organizations or research companies are developing unique & comparatively safe methods to explore oil, gas and minerals in the recent years only and only through Drones. Because it requires researchers to take hyper-spectral images and also involves Structure from Motion photogrammetry. This helps researchers identify the structural pathways of mineralized fluids ensuring that projects are accelerated through the use of drones with minimum survey expenses.

Drones in Photography and Drones in Videography

Drones provide many new perspectives to places or moments that have long been captured from the ground. Like a bird’s eye view we gain lots of gorgeous photos. These drones also have the ability to reach areas which are otherwise unreachable for humans. This is why drones have been doing so well in this field.

Such as uphill areas photos, nice sea beaches, unreachable hilly provinces, dazzling buildings/skyscrapers from certain heights, marvelous HD videos/images of Film Industries, wedding parties, air observations surrounding big conferences, the close and medium distanced photo shoots of the ground of national games, Olympics, cricket & football matches….Also many news companies are choosing drones to photograph of riot areas where it may not be feasible to send a news photographer and also many more unprecedented operations.

 

 

Drones in Product Delivery and Drones in Business

 

Amazon used its Prime Air Drop Shipping Delivery Service to fulfill a customer order in the UK and US using Drones. Domino’s also made it to the news when it delivered a pizza with the help of a drone in New Zealand. California-based company, Zipline, is working in collaboration with African governments to deliver blood supplies to remote areas clinics. Maersk Tankers used a drone to send supplies to a ship off the coast of Denmark.

Drone deliveries in USA are still limited because of strict FAA regulations. However, there are 6 regions in the US which enjoy some flexibility in the rules as they are considered as “Designated Test Sites”. Nevada is one of these regions. 7-Eleven partnered with the drone company, Flirtey to deliver donuts and a Slurpee to a customer in Nevada.

Private companies as well as government authorities are conducting research and beginning trials to deliver products using drones. This application of drones is still to be researched and has a lot of growth opportunities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drones in Recreational Purposes

 

 

In holidays or in recent social and cultural events or in spare time interested public install Drones to their home and yards with mindful energy to saturate their recreational purposes. Even kids can be seen flying lightweight, small drones within the premises of their homes. Those who use drones for recreation have to be careful about following local laws. Most governments have a set of laws that govern the use of drones for recreational purposes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drones Rules Regulation & Restrictions

The global drone industry is booming and policy makers are having a tough time keeping up. While some countries have clear, established drone laws, many others do not, or the existing regulations do not take into account how much the UAV landscape has changed over the last several years. Yet will have a urgent need to make and apply strong rules, code of ethics for UAV pilots or undertakers, several restrictions observing the gradual abundance of UAVs in everywhere inevitably for security purposes.

 

 

Read also...U.A.V Drone Laws.