Study of an Emerging Technology: Civil/Commercial

Drones

Foiz Fahmidur Rahman

17th May 2015

New Opportunities of ICT (ISM4TX700)

Degree Programme in

Information Systems Management

Table of contents

1 Introduction......................................................................................................................1

1.1 What is Drone..........................................................................................................1

1.2 Focus in this report..................................................................................................2

1.3 Importance of Learning Drone Technology.............................................................2

1.4 Drone Technology in Brief.......................................................................................2

1.5 The Difference Between a Quadcopter and a Drone..............................................4

2 Personal Motivation to Study this Technology.................................................................5

3 Market Dynamics: Present and Future............................................................................6

3.1 Google Trend Results.............................................................................................6

3.2 Current Picture........................................................................................................6

3.3 Future Market Dynamics.........................................................................................6

3.4 Tech Giants Leap....................................................................................................7

3.5 Venture Capitalists Step-in......................................................................................8

3.6 Technology Adoption Level.....................................................................................9

3.7 Drone on Gartner’s Hype Cycle............................................................................10

4 Drone Mechanism in Detail............................................................................................10

4.1 How to Build a Drone............................................................................................10

4.2 Flight control..........................................................................................................11

4.3 Vortex Ring State..................................................................................................11

4.4 Mechanical............................................................................................................11

4.5 Speeding & Turning...............................................................................................12

5 Opportunities/Impacts....................................................................................................13

5.1 Opportunities.........................................................................................................13

5.2 Impact....................................................................................................................15

6 Challanges Ahead.........................................................................................................15

7 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................16

References.........................................................................................................................17

1 Introduction

1.1 What is Drone

Drone is an aircraft without any human pilot aboard; this unmanned aircraft is also for-

mally known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or simply as UAV. The aircraft can either be op-

erated with a remote controller on the ground or through software-controlled embedded

systems with the help of GPS. The word DRONE basically stands for Dynamic Remotely

Operated Navigational Equipment. Essentially, drone is a flying robot.

Historically, Drones were first introduced and operated by military organizations until re-

cently, various other non-military or civil organizations started using it for various day-to-

day purposes. Therefore, there are mainly 2 different types of drones.

Combat/Military Drones- used for surveillance, espionage, and carrying out missile at-

tacks on the battlefield, equipped with light missiles and weapons. Combat drones look

similar to combat aircrafts, and the operator runs the vehicle from a remote terminal. Com-

bat drones can weigh more than 25,600 pounds and can have wingspan as large as a

Boeing 737.

Photo 1 Combat Drone 'Predator'

Commercial/Civil Drones- Used basically for taking aerial pictures and mapping, has rel-

atively a shorter range-mostly within the reach of sight of its operator on the ground, con-

trolled by a remote controller and as small as it can easily be placed and carried in hand.

It can be smaller than a radio-controlled model airplane.

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Photo 2 Civil Drone ‘Inspire 1’

1.2 Focus in this report

The idea of using civil drones is relatively new. The usage of drones in various purposes

in everyday life is being discovered and the usage is gradually expanding. Therefore, this

report mainly focuses on civil drones with an insight into the technology, usage and future

prospects.

1.3 Importance of Learning Drone Technology

“UAV technology can have an incredible impact in scientific study, with real-world applica-

tions in solving both historical mysteries and modern global challenges,” said Brandon

Basso, VP of software engineering at 3DR. In other words, today no one knows exactly

where this technology can take us. The full potential is only now beginning to be digested

and applied to different industries and research fields. What’s already clear is that UAVs

are the most exciting and promising new academic arena to emerge in a while: They’ll

propel science and learning, open up new fields of study and assist in making discoveries

that would have been unrealistic or unimaginable before this technology. (1)

1.4 Drone Technology in Brief

The main components used for construction of a drone are the frame, propellers, either

fixed-pitch or variable-pitch, and the electric motors. For best performance and simplest

control algorithms, the motors and propellers should be placed equidistant. Recently, car-

bon fiber composites have become popular due to their lightweight and structural stiff-

ness. The electrical components needed to construct a drone are similar to those needed

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for a modern RC helicopter, which include the electronic speed control module, on-board

computer or controller board, and battery. Radio transmitter device is needed to control

the drone while airborne. Optional components such as GPS (Global Positioning System)

modules, cameras, ultrasonic sensors, barometers (barometric pressure sensors) etc. can

be considered to enhance the performance and adding value to its uses. More detail of

this mechanism will be provided in later chapters.

Photo 3 Key components of a DJI Phantom 2 Drone

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1.5 The Difference Between a Quadcopter and a Drone

Drones like DJI Phantom in photo 3 can also be generalized as a quadcopter of some

sort. Both have the same basic structure with similar mechanism. However, there is a dis-

tinct feature in drones that makes them different from a quadcopter. Drones sometimes

can fly autonomously which a quadcopter cannot. A drone typically comes with a GPS

and several ultrasonic sensors and barometers that enable it to lock the ground while ro-

tating 360 degrees on a loop. Using the ultrasonic sensors, it can also find a flat and suit-

able surface to land while on autopilot mode. It can also perform a flight from point A to

point B autonomously if pre-programmed using the on-board GPS, which a quadcopter

clearly cannot do on its own.

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2 Personal Motivation to Study this Technology

The term ‘drone’ started receiving increasing global exposure through media when the

Obama administration started using it for surveillance and carrying out missile attacks on

terrorist establishments on remote foreign territories in 2009. Back in the time it was just a

military aircraft equipped with modern and smart technologies. Within a few years some

toy manufacturing companies started coming up with their own smaller version of hobby-

drones for recreational use. Some start-up companies got inspired by this and started cre-

ating drones attached with cameras that could take some basic pictures or short videos

from a specific distance-which gained popularity among public and thus, the hype created.

Later on, people started discovering newer and more diversified usage of drones, for ex-

ample, in 3D mapping, filmmaking or even in search & rescue operations. Some universi-

ties, realizing the importance of learning this technology, started offering academic cour-

ses on drones.

For me, I was observing all these incidents for last several years quite closely. I believe

drone technology is still in its very beginning stage of inception; there are still a lot more

dynamics to come in near and far future. I like observing the evolution of newer and inno-

vative technologies like drones, AI (Artificial Intelligence), wearable gadgets, 4D; all these

are quite thought provoking to me and observing these evolution helps me picturize how

would future world look like. Therefore, when I got a chance to prepare a report on future

technologies as a part of the course New Opportunities of ICT (ISM4TX700) I immediately

decided to use this opportunity to make a deeper dive-in to one of the technologies that I

have been following.

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3 Market Dynamics: Present and Future

3.1 Google Trend Results

Google Trends is a web facility from Google Inc., which is based on Google’s Search fea-

ture. It shows how often a particular search-term is entered relative to the total search-vol-

ume across various regions of the world. The horizontal axis in the main graph represents

time and the vertical axis shows how often a term is searched.

A comparison of the search terms ‘Unmanned aerial vehicle’ and ‘drone’ has been con-

ducted from a period of last five years. This chart clearly indicates that drone is increas-

ingly getting attention from people all over the world.

3.2 Current Picture

According to Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) projections, the global market for

consumer UAVs will approach $130 million in revenue in 2015, increasing by more than

50 percent from 2014; with unit sales of consumer UAS expected to approach 425,000, an

increase of 65 percent. (2)

3.3 Future Market Dynamics

Although using drones on a commercial purpose these days are extremely low, the poten-

tial role of drones in future business world is being realized as more and more companies

are including drones in their future business plans. Therefore, the market for research,

sales and use of drones is increasing. The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems

International said in its 2013 economic report that the current UAS global market is of $6.6

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billion. It also predicts that within 10 years (2015 to 2025) drones will create approximately

100,000 new jobs and around $82 billion in economic activity. (3)

Figure 1 Projected annual sales of unmanned vehicles

In another report from Business Insider, it estimates that 12% of an estimated $98 billion

in cumulative global spending on aerial drones over the next decade will be for commer-

cial purposes. (4)

Figure 2 Global Aerial Drone Market

3.4 Tech Giants Leap

Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos had unleashed an idea of using unmanned drones to deliver

the orders to its customers within 30 minutes after ordering, with its new Prime Air service.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, desirous to embrace drones to provide the Internet fa-

cility to the Internet deprived areas. Google has acquired a drone start-up this year, Titan

Industries, to pursue its dream to reach to the underserved area by providing new users

an access to the Internet, with the help of unmanned drones. In June this year, Federal

Aviation Administration (FAA) has given a nod to British Petroleum (BP) to fly drones over

Alaska to inspect and study new oil fields in the region, which makes BP the first one to

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get an approval by FAA to fly an unmanned drone for commercial purpose over American

soil. (5)

Not only the big organizations but startups and smaller businesses are also looking at

these useful toys to elevate the level of customer service at the least possible cost. A

florist from Michigan area was found to be testing drones for delivery of flowers, small

pizza outlets in India and Russia are showing their mettle to serve the customer the best

by using drone delivery, are some of the examples. Looking at all these innovative ways

of using Unmanned Ariel Vehicles (UAV), it is evident that the leading enterprises have

started looking at the drones as a tool to be used for commercial purposes. Whatever is

the purpose of the using drones it is learnt that it will have myriads of applications inde-

pendent of the core business of the organization.

3.5 Venture Capitalists Step-in

As more and more the potential of drones in shaping up future economy appears, venture

capitalists are rushing in to invest on various projects related to research and develop-

ment of drones. Tim Draper, who previously invested in Hotmail, Skype and Baidu is

backing up a start up called DroneDeploy that builds softwares for unmanned aircraft used

for land mapping and surveillance of agriculture field. Airware, another start-up from Cali-

fornia raised $13.3 million in 2013 from several investors, Google Ventures being one of

them. According to CB Insights data, investment in 2014 to the nascent drone industry

topped $108M across 29 deals. Year-over-year funding increased 104% as venture firms

including Lightspeed Venture Partners, GGV Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

among others jumped into the drone space with sizable bets. (6)

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Figure 3 Fundings and Deals on Drones

As part of this course, we studied Technology Adoption Life Cycle model/The Diffu-

sion Process and Gartner’s Hype Cycle Model. In this report, I would like to show

where does the term DRONE stand on these two models.

3.6 Technology Adoption Level

Drone technology is relatively new. But there are several companies, governments and or-

ganizations, which has successfully implemented this technology in various private, com-

mercial, scientific and national uses. Therefore, in general it is located in the innovator

stage of the technology life cycle. It is receiving a great deal of attention and interest with

high expectations for rapid growth in the near future. The main reason for placing this

technology in the innovator stage is because of the huge potential market of users. The

United States accounts for roughly 70% of the global growth and market share of UAVs

today, making it the biggest segment for this technology. (7)

Figure 4 Drone's Technology Adoption Level

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3.7 Drone on Gartner’s Hype Cycle

Gartner’s hype cycle represents where some current and upcoming technologies are in

their path to maturity. Gartner thinks that are 5-10 years to the "Plateau of Productivity",

but with the higher "inflated expectations" still to come (followed by the inevitable "trough

of disillusionment". Here, in this hype cycle, drones are a combination of ’Autonomous ve-

hicles’ and ’Mobile robots’.

Figure 5 Gartner's Hype Cycle

4 Drone Mechanism in Detail

4.1 How to Build a Drone

These are some of the basic components required to build a small drone:

Frame

Motor x4

Electronic Speed Control (ESC) x4

Flight Control Board

Radio transmitter and receiver

Propeller x4 (2 clockwise and 2 counter-clockwise)

Battery & Charger

Unlike most quadcopters, drones use two sets of identical fixed pitched propellers; two

clockwise (CW) and two counter-clockwise (CCW). These use variation of RPM to control

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lift and torque. Control of vehicle motion is achieved by altering the rotation rate of one or

more rotor-discs, thereby changing its torque load and thrust/lift characteristics.

4.2 Flight control

Each rotor produces both a thrust and torque about its center of rotation, as well as a drag

force opposite to the vehicle's direction of flight. If all rotors are spinning at the same an-

gular velocity, with rotors one and three rotating clockwise and rotors two and four coun-

terclockwise, the net aerodynamic torque, and hence the angular acceleration about the

yaw axis, is exactly zero, which implies that the yaw stabilizing rotor of conventional heli-

copters is not needed. Yaw is induced by mismatching the balance in aerodynamic

torques (i.e., by offsetting the cumulative thrust commands between the counter-rotating

blade pairs).

Diagram 1- A UAV hovers or adjusts its altitude by applying equal thrust to all four rotors.

Diagram 2- A UAV adjusts its yaw by applying more thrust to rotors rotating in one direc-

tion.

Diagram 3- A UAV adjusts its pitch or roll by applying more thrust to one rotor and less

thrust to its diametrically opposite rotor.

4.3 Vortex Ring State

Small quadcopters are subject to normal rotorcraft aerodynamics, including vortex ring

state.

4.4 Mechanical

The main mechanical components needed for construction are the frame, propellers (ei-

ther fixed-pitch or variable-pitch), and the electric motors. For best performance and sim-

plest control algorithms, the motors and propellers should be placed equidistant. Recently,

carbon fiber composites have become popular due to their lightweight and structural stiff-

ness. The electrical components needed to construct a working quadcopter are similar to

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those needed for a modern RC helicopter. They are the electronic speed control module,

on-board computer or controller board, and battery.

4.5 Speeding & Turning

UAV can control its roll and pitch rotation by speeding up two motors on one side and

slowing down the other two.  So for example if the UAV wanted to roll left it would speed

up motors on the right side of the frame and slow down the two on the left.  Similarly if it

wants to rotate forward it speeds up the back two motors and slows down the front two.

Here is how a GJI Phantom 2 looks from inside:

Photo 4 DJI Phantom 2 Inside

5 Opportunities/Impacts

5.1 Opportunities

Drones are already being used in many different sectors including commerce, military and

government uses, agriculture, photography and filming. And there are a lot of different

sectors where drones can be used. Here are some of the applications:

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3-D Mapping- Small and lightweight drones help in surveying large landscapes with thou-

sands of digital images that can be stitched together into a string of 3-D maps. Though

military and other government satellites produce similar maps, but the stupendous out-

comes of UAV technology outshines them repeatedly.

Search and Rescue- Drones are a widespread application to rescue patients during in-

jury or any calamity, manmade or natural. Drones have the ability to help assist, locate

and save victims, faster with more efficiency than any other option. There are campaign

missions to provide a string product line of Search and Rescue (SAR) Drones. Advanced

technology is used to create drones that can reach people in small spaces and supply

food, water and medicine to trapped victims. Many advances like water-resistance, high

definition GPS tracker and cameras in quadcopters prove a great benefactor especially in

the search and rescue aim.

Farming- In agriculture technology helps in great precision to monitor fields, increase

yields and also save money. Moreover, drones also help precise applications of pesti-

cides, water, or fertilizers by identifying exactly where such resources are needed and de-

livering them there too. Cameras in drones are able to spot nitrogen levels (low or high) or

watch the growth of a particular section. Infrared light cameras inform about plant health

by measuring the efficiency of photosynthesis in various plants. These infrared cameras

also detect which land is suitable for appropriate growth of which plant.

Photography- Commercial photography has a lot to gain from legal UAVs. Real estate

agents could contract a drone-savvy photographer to take aerial shots of a property, and

festival organizers could conduct accurate headcounts using overhead photos.

News- Huge, expensive news helicopters might not be the standard for much longer.

Drones equipped with cameras can fly lower and into smaller areas than larger manned

aircraft. Instead of wide aerial shots of the freeway in a high-speed chase, viewers could

one day get a look into the driver’s side window of a speeding car on the local news.

Internet Service- Some were left puzzled when Facebook moved to acquire Titan Aero-

space, a maker of solar-powered drones. The potential sale could further Mark Zucker-

burg’s Internet.org initiative, which aims to provide wireless Internet to remote parts of the

world. The solar-drones, which can reportedly stay airborne for five years, would act as

movable wireless access points. (8)

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Hurricane Hunting- Drones can charge into the heart of a storm without risking human

life and limb. That's one reason NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-

tion (NOAA), and Northrop Grumman teamed up on a three-year, $30-million experiment

to use long-range Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to spy on storms as they evolve.

Whale Watching- Andrew Duggan, managing director of Insitu Pacific, told CNN that

drones like the Insitu Integrator have been used for monitoring marine mammals off the

coast of Australia and in firefighting situations.

Shooting Commercials- Former adult film director Christopher Kippenberger combined

the cold, grey streets of Berlin, the growl of a Maserati V8, and some gorgeous film to cre-

ate this car commercial.

Law Enforcement- A drone’s thermal imaging technology can help during hostage situa-

tions, search and rescue operations, bomb threats and when officers need to pursue an

armed criminal.

Environmental compliance- Midnight dumping of toxic waste and other surreptitious ac-

tivities are the bane of environmental law enforcement. But drones may prove to be a

cost-effective solution to that problem.

Disaster relief- Drones have a wide range of applications for disaster relief, from entering

radiation-filled "hot zones" where human access would be dangerous (after a nuclear ac-

cident, for example) to searching for survivors across a debris-filled landscape.

Journalism- Besides learning how to create a snappy headline, journalism students at

the University of Missouri in Columbia are taking drone-flying lessons. The top-ranked J-

school is now offering a class in drones as info-gathering tools. (9)

5.2 Impact

Realizing the huge potential drones are going to have in future, some universities already

started offering degrees and courses on drone technology. Kansas State University (K-

State) Salina, is one of the first three US universities to offer an undergraduate degree in

UAS operations. The University of North Dakota introduced a major in Unmanned Aircraft

Systems Operations in 2009, while Florida aeronautical university Embry-Riddle’s B.S. in

Unmanned Aircraft Systems Science debuted in 2011. “Unmanned aircraft systems is like

the Wild West of aviation,” said John Robbins, assistant professor in the Aeronautical Sci-

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ence Department at Embry-Riddle. “It’s a brand-new area, and we know that these aircraft

are going to be a component of the future of aviation.” (10) University of Alaska Fairbank's

Geophysical Institute has started a drone program as part of the engineering department.

The course will focus on the technology that makes drones fly.

6 Challanges Ahead

Despite having some advantages, there are some concerns that should be thought about.

These are:

Drones don’t have the ability to communicate with human in order to gather more intelli -

gence.

Drones are not fully autonomous yet. Bigger or smaller, at least one or two people are

needed to operate a drone. Therefore, it requires a ’human’ coordination.

Battery life for drones is very low. Most of the drones have a flight span of 10-20 minutes

per battery recharge.

Drones are not yet ready for being used commercially. For example, Amazon wants its

drones to be able to carry 5-pound packages on a 20-mile round trip route. The eight-rotor

prototype that Amazon demonstrated in 2013, it is virtually impossible to reach that perfor-

mance yet.

And delivery drones would have to fly autonomously, which requires sensors and software

that can three-dimensionally map the environment and navigate it on the fly. Such tech-

nology isn't yet ready.

Every drone will have to deal with extreme weather at one time or another. Any condition

ranging from wind, to rain, snow, hail, extreme heat or extreme cold, will need a contin-

gency plan for both the retrieval and safe delivery of the cargo.

The larger the drone and the greater the distance it has to cover, the more the noise will

be on its flight path. Considering in future, there will be a lot of sectors where drones will

be used, the noise formed by drones engine might cause an issue.

7 Conclusion

Drones show great promises in shaping-up future technologies and businesses. Drones

first came to application as small toys, or school/university projects and then no sooner

began to garner widespread attention- used in big budget movies, photography of high

profile sports, agricultural use to rectify lands and detect levels of pesticides as well as

other components search and rescue, land mapping, military etc. The commercial as well

as private use of drones is enlarging. Drones will soon take on to be an imperative exis-

tence in the coming future. The innumerable advantages of drones lead to their growth in

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a short span of time. They have a few demerits but those can be rectified. Today most

drones are controlled either by softwares or other computer programs. The components of

a drone also vary based on what type of work needs to be done and how much payload

needs to be carried. Hence drones have an exemplarily bright future. The responsibility

lies upon us as to how effectively we can take advantage of this technology.

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References

Photo

1 Combat Drone 'Predator'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_aerial_vehicle#/media/File:MQ-

9_Reaper_in_flight_%282007%29.jpg

2 Civil Drone ‘Inspire 1’ REFERE

http://gizmodo.com/dji-inspire-1-a-badass-drone-that-shoots-lovely-4k-vid-1658076017

3 Key components of a DJI Phantom 2 Drone

http://www.dolstra.nl/Modelvliegen/DJI%20Phantom/DJI%20Phantom.htm

Figure

1 Projected annual sales of unmanned vehicles

http://www.iii.org/insuranceindustryblog/?cat=29

2 Global Aerial Drone Market

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-market-for-commercial-drones-2014-2?IR=T

3 Fundings and Deals on Drones

https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/drone-startups-venture-capital/

4 Drone's Technology Adoption Level

http://blogs.salleurl.edu/itmanagement/2015/03/16/life-cycle-for-drone-technology/

5 Gartner's Hype Cycle

http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/where-drones-sit-on-the-gartner-hype-cycle?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

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In-text References

(1) (http://3drobotics.com/2015/02/droneedu-3dr-launches-uav-sponsorships-

education-programs/

(2) http://www.psfk.com/2015/02/commercial-drones-business-faa-uas.html

(3) http://www.iii.org/insuranceindustryblog/?cat=29

(4) http://www.businessinsider.com/the-market-for-commercial-drones-2014-2?IR=T

(5) http://www.mbaskool.com/business-articles/operations/10108-drones-the-present-and-

future-of-robotics-in-logistics.html

(6) https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/drone-startups-venture-capital/

(7) http://blogs.salleurl.edu/itmanagement/2015/03/16/life-cycle-for-drone-technology/

(8)http://www.boston.com/business/2014/03/14/commercial-uses-for-drones/

dscS47PsQdPneIB2UQeY0M/singlepage.html

(9) http://www.livescience.com/28137-cool-uses-for-drones.html

(10) http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/04/as-demand-grows-midwestern-colleges-

prep-students-to-fly-drones/

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