uav (unmanned aerial vehicle)
TRANSCRIPT
[Type text]
A Seminar ReportOn
UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)
Degree of Bachelor of Engineering for the Gujarat technological University
ByUDIT V. PATELB.E. – III(Year)
Computer Science & Engineering (5th SEM)ER. No.131123131018
Under guidance ofAsst. Prof. Satish Kachhadiya
Head of Dept, Computer Science & Engineering Department
Pacific School of Engineering
AtPacific School of Engineering, Surat
Year- 2014
[Type text]
[Type text]
PACIFIC SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING,SAKI, SURAT (GUJARAT)
Certificate
This is to certify that Mr. UDIT V.
PATEL ER NO: 131123131018, Third Year
Computer Engineering has satisfactorily
completed his term work in SEMINAR for the
term July-2014 to Nov–2014.
Seminar Title: UAV (Unmanned Aerial
Vehicle)
Date:
[Type text]
[Type text]
Prof. Mehul Patel Prof. Satish Kachhadiya
Faculty Guide Head of Department
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgement
Abstract
1. Introduction
4.1. History
4.2. FAA designation and legal regulation
4.3. Historical events involving UAVs
2. Design an development consideration
4.1. Certification aspects
4.2. Degree of authority
4.3. Endurance
4.4. Detect and avoid
4.5. Hardening of the control stations
4.6. Buddy attacks
3. Classification
4. Uses
4.1 Remote sensing
4.2 Commercial aerial surveillance
4.3 Commercial and motion filmmaking
4.4 Sports
4.5 Domestic policing
4.6 Oil, gas and mineral exploration and production
4.7 Disaster relief
4.8 Scientific research
[Type text]
[Type text]
4.9 Armed attacks
4.10 Civilian casualties
4.11 Aerial target practice in training of human pilots
4.12 Search and rescue
4.13 Conservation
4.14 Animal rights
4.15 Maritime patrol
4.16 Forest fire detection
4.17 Archaeology
4.18 Future potential
5. Advantage & Disadvantages
5.1. Advantages
5.2 Disadvantage
6. Future Scope
7 Conclusion
8. Reference
[Type text]
[Type text]
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The satisfaction that accompanies the successful completion of this seminar would be
incomplete without the mention of people whose ceaseless cooperation made it possible, whose
constant guidance and encouragement crowned all efforts with success.
First and foremost, I would like to thank my respected guide, Prof. Satish Kachhadiya for
the valuable guidance and advice. His invaluable guidance has proved to be a key to my success in
overcoming challenges that I faced during the course of the seminar and report preparation. He
inspired me greatly to prepare the seminar. His willingness to motivate me contributed
tremendously to my seminar preparation. I express very sincere thanks to him for showing me some
examples related to the topic of my seminar.
Besides, I am also grateful to the faculties of Computer Department for providing me
encouragement and good facilities to prepare my seminar. I am also obliged to all my dear friends
for building confidence within me and for being with me right from the first lap to the finishing
line.
Finally, an honorable mention goes to my lovable family for the understandings and
supports they entrusted in completing the seminar. Without the help of the particulars those
mentioned above, I would have faced many difficulties while preparing the seminar.
I am thankful to all those people who have helped me directly or indirectly in preparing the seminar
successfully.
[Type text]
[Type text]
- UDIT V. PATEL
(131123131018)
ABSTRACT
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are aircrafts that fly without any humans being onboard. They
are either remotely piloted, or piloted by an onboard computer. This kind of aircrafts can be used in
different military missions such as surveillance, reconnaissance, battle damage assessment,
communications relay, minesweeping, hazardous substances detection and radar jamming. However they
can be used in other than military missions like detection of hazardous objects on train rails and
investigation of infected areas. Aircrafts that are able of hovering and vertical flying can also be used for
indoor missions like counter terrorist operations.
Noah sent a dove out of the ark to investigate if the flood ended instead of risking his life by going
himself.
In the same way UAVs can be sent to investigate areas without risking human lives.
This project is concerned with the development and control of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. The
different ways of flying are examined and the most suitable is selected.
A vehicle is built after investigating the different parts that could be used and a tool will is developed for
the remote control of the aircraft. Furthermore a language is
defined for controlling the aircraft and a compiler and interpreter are implemented for the particular
language. Finally an investigation is done on the use of a simulator that will be used for testing purposes
rather than experimenting directly with the aircraft and a simulator is investigated and customized
according to the needs of this project.
[Type text]
[Type text]
1. INTRODUCTION
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone and referred to as a
Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), is
an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. Its flight is controlled either autonomously by onboard
computers or by the remote control of a pilot on the ground or in another vehicle. The typical
launch and recovery method of an unmanned aircraft is by the function of an automatic system or
an external operator on the ground. Historically, UAVs were simple remotely piloted aircraft, but
autonomous control is increasingly being employed.
They are usually deployed for military and special operation applications, but also used in a
small but growing number of civil applications, such as policing and fire fighting, and non-military
security work, such as surveillance of pipelines. UAVs are often preferred for missions that are too
"dull, dirty or dangerous" for manned aircraft.
[Type text]
[Type text]
1.1 HISTORY
The idea of a pilotless aircraft is not a new concept. The concept of drones dates back to the
mid-1800s, when Austrians sent off unmanned, bomb-filled balloons as a way to attack Venice. The
drone we see today started innovation in the early 1900s, and was originally used for target practice
to train military personnel. It continued to be developed during World War I, when the Dayton-
Wright Airplane Company came up with the pilotless aerial torpedo that would drop and explode at
a particular, preset time.
The earliest attempt at a powered unmanned aerial vehicle was A. M. Low's "Aerial Target"
of 1916. Nikola Tesla described a fleet of unmanned aerial combat vehicles in 1915. A number of
remote-controlled airplane advances followed during and after World War I, including the Hewitt-
Sperry Automatic Airplane. The first scale RPV (Remote Piloted Vehicle) was developed by the
film star and model airplane enthusiast Reginald Denny in 1935.
More were made in the technology rush during World War II; these were used both to train
antiaircraft gunners and to fly attack missions. Nazi Germany also produced and used various UAV
aircraft during the course of WWII. Jet engines were applied after World War II in such types as the
Teledyne Ryan Firebee I of 1951, while companies like Beech craft also got in the game with their
Model 1001 for the United States Navy in 1955. Nevertheless, they were little more than remote-
controlled airplanes until the Vietnam Era.
The birth of U.S. UAVs (called RPVs at the time) began in 1959 when United States Air
Force (USAF) officers, concerned about losing pilots over hostile territory, began planning for the
use of unmanned flights. This plan became intensified when Francis Gary Powers and his "secret"
U-2 were shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960. Within days, the highly classified UAV
program was launched under the code name of "Red Wagon". The 2 and 4 August 1964, clash in
the Tonkin Gulf between naval units of the U.S. and North Vietnamese Navy initiated America's
highly classified UAVs into their first combat missions of the Vietnam War.
There are two prominent UAV programs within the United States:
One of the military and other one is Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The
military’s UAV program is overt, meaning that the public recognizes which government
[Type text]
[Type text]
operates it and, therefore, it only operates where US troops are stationed. The CIA’s
program is clandestine. Missions performed by the CIA’s UAV program do not always
occur where US troops are stationed.
The CIA’s UAV program was commissioned as a result of the 11 September terrorist
attacks and the increasing emphasis on operations for intelligence gathering in 2004.[14]
This clandestine program is primarily being used in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and
Somalia. UAVs collect intelligence in these countries by loitering around their target. The
CIA’s first UAV program is called the Eagle Program. It was led by Duane Clarridge, the
director of the Counterterrorism Centre. This program constructed the CIA’s first using “off
the shelf technology,” which included items such as garage door openers and model
airplanes.
Only on 26 February 1973, during testimony before the United States House Committee on
Appropriations, the U.S. military officially confirmed that they had been utilizing UAVs in
Southeast Asia (Vietnam). Over 5,000 U.S. airmen had been killed and over 1,000 more were either
missing in action (MIA) or captured (prisoners of war/POW). The USAF 100th Strategic
Reconnaissance Wing had flown approximately 3,435 UAV missions during the war at a cost of
about 554 UAVs lost to all causes. In the words of USAF General George S. Brown, Commander,
Air Force Systems Command, in 1972, "The only reason we need (UAVs) is that we don't want
to needlessly expend the man in the cockpit." Later that same year, General John C. Meyer,
Commander in Chief, Strategic Air Command, stated, "we let the drone do the high-risk flying ...
the loss rate is high, but we are willing to risk more of them ... they save lives!"
During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Soviet-supplied surface-to-air missile batteries in Egypt
and Syria caused heavy damage to Israeli fighter jets. As a result, Israel developed the first UAV
with real-time surveillance. The images and radar decoying provided by these UAVs helped
Israel to completely neutralize the Syrian air defences at the start of the 1982 Lebanon War,
resulting in no pilots downed. The first time UAVs were used as proof-of-concept of super-agility
post-stall controlled flight in combat flight simulations was with tailless, stealth technology-based,
three-dimensional thrust vectoring flight control, jet steering UAVs in Israel in 1987.
With the maturing and miniaturization of applicable technologies as seen in the 1980s and
1990s, interest in UAVs grew within the higher echelons of the U.S. military. In the 1990s, the
U.S. Department of Defence’s gave a contract to U.S. Corporation AAI Corporation of
Maryland along with Israeli company Mazlat. The U.S. Navy bought the AAI Pioneer UAV that
was jointly developed by American AAI Corporation and Israeli Mazlat, and this type of UAV is
still in use. Many of these Pioneer and newly developed U.S. UAVs were used in the 1991 Gulf
[Type text]
[Type text]
War. UAVs were seen to offer the possibility of cheaper, more capable fighting machines that could
be used without risk to aircrews. Initial generations were primarily surveillance aircraft, but some
were armed, such as the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, which utilized AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-
ground missiles. An armed UAV is known as an unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV).
Ryan Firebee was a series of target drones/unmanned aerial
vehicles.
MQ-1Predator
As a tool for search and rescue, UAVs can help find humans lost in the wilderness, trapped
in collapsed buildings, or adrift at sea.
In February 2013, it was reported that UAVs were used by at least 50 countries, several
of which made their own: for example, Iran, Israel and China.
As of 2008, the United States Air Force employed 5,331 UAVs, which is twice its number
of manned planes. Out of these, the Predators are the most commendable. Unlike other UAVs, the
Predator was armed with Hellfire missiles so that it can terminate the target that it locates
(Carafano & Gudgel, 2007). This was done after Predators sighted Osama Bin Laden multiple times
but could not do anything about it other than send back images. In addition, the Predator is capable
of orchestrating attacks by pointing lasers at the targets. This is important, as it puts a robot in a
position to set off an attack. Their overall success is apparent because from June 2005 to June 2006
alone, Predators carried out 2,073 missions and participated in 242 separate raids.
In contrast to the Predator, which is remotely piloted via satellites by pilots located 7,500
miles away; the Global Hawk operates virtually autonomously. The user merely hits the button for
‘take off’ and for ‘land’, while the UAV gets directions via GPS and reports back with a live feed.
Global Hawks have the capability to fly from San Francisco and map out the entire state of
Maine before having to return. In addition, some UAVs have become so small that they can be
launched from one’s hand and manoeuvred through the street. These UAVs, known as
[Type text]
[Type text]
“Ravens”, are especially useful in urban areas, such as Iraq, in order to discover insurgents and
potential ambushes the next block up (Carafano & Gudgel, 2007).
1.2 FAA DESIGNATION AND LEGAL REGULATION
In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has adopted the name
unmanned aircraft (UA) to describe aircraft systems without a flight crew on board. More
common names include UAV, drone, remotely piloted vehicle (RPV), remotely piloted aircraft
(RPA), and remotely operated aircraft (ROA). These "limited-size" (as defined by the
Federation Aéronautique International) unmanned aircraft flown in the USA's National Airspace
System, flown solely for recreation and sport purposes, such as models, are generally flown under
the voluntary safety standards of the Academy of Model Aeronautics, the United States national
aero modelling organization. To operate a UA for non-recreational purposes in the United States,
according to the FAA users must obtain a Certificate of Authorization (COA) to operate in
national airspace. At the moment, COAs require a public entity as a sponsor. For example, when BP
needed to observe oil spills, they operated the Aeryon Scout UAVs under a COA granted to the
University of Alaska Fairbanks. COAs have been granted for both land and ship borne operations.
The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 set a deadline of 30 September 2015,
for the agency to establish regulations to allow the use of commercial drones. In the meantime,
the agency claims it is illegal to operate commercial unmanned aerial vehicles, but approves non-
commercial flights under 400 feet if they follow Advisory Circular 91-57, Model Aircraft Operating
Standards, published in 1981.However, the FAA's attempt to fine a commercial drone operator
for a 2011 flight were thrown out on 6 March 2014 by NTSB judge Patrick Geraghty, who
found that the FAA had not followed the proper rulemaking procedures and therefore had no
UAV regulations. The FAA will appeal the judgement. Texas EquuSearch, which performs
volunteer search and rescue operations, was also challenging FAA rules in 2014.
As of August 2013, commercial unmanned aerial system (UAS) licenses were granted
on a case-by-case basis, subject to approval by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The
agency expects that five years after it unveils a regulatory framework for UASs weighing 55 pounds
or less, there will be 7,500 such devices in the air. In December 2013, the FAA announced six
operators it was authorizing to conduct research on drone technology, to inform its pending
regulations and future developments. These were the University of Alaska (including locations in
[Type text]
[Type text]
Hawaii and Oregon), the state of Nevada, Griffins International Airport in New York State, the
North Dakota Department of Commerce, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi, and Virginia
Tech.
In May 2014, a group of major news media companies filed an amicus brief in a case before
the U.S.'s National Transportation Safety Board, asserting that the FAA's "overly broad"
administrative limitations against private UAS operations cause an "impermissible chilling effect on
the First Amendment newsgathering rights of journalists", the brief being filed three months before
a scheduled rollout of FAA commercial operator regulations.
The term unmanned aircraft system (UAS) emphasizes the importance of other elements
beyond an aircraft itself. A typical UAS consists of the following:
Unmanned aircraft (UA);
Control system, such as Ground Control Station (GCS);
Control link, a specialized data link; and
Other related support equipment.
For example, the RQ-7 Shadow UAS consists of four UAs, two GCSs, one portable GCS,
one Launcher, two Ground Data Terminals (GDTs), and one portable GDT, and one Remote Video
Terminal. Certain military units are also fielded with a maintenance support vehicle.
The term UAS was since adopted by the United States Department of Defence (DOD)
and the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).The term used previously for unmanned aircraft
system was unmanned-aircraft vehicle system (UAVS).
[Type text]
[Type text]
1.3 HISTORICAL EVENTS INVOLVING UAVS
In 1981, the Israeli IAI Scout drone is operated in combat missions by the South African
Defence Force against Angola during Operation Protea.
In 1982, UAVs operated by the Israeli Air Force are instrumental during Operation Mole
Cricket 19, where both IAI Scout and Tadiran Mastiff are used to identity SAM sites, while
Samson decoy UAVs are used to activate and confuse Syrian radar.
During the Persian Gulf War, Iraqi Army forces surrendered to the UAVs of the USS
Wisconsin.
In October 2002, a few days before the U.S. Senate vote on the Authorization for Use of
Military Force Against Iraq Resolution, about 75 senators were told in closed session that
Saddam Hussein had the means of delivering biological and chemical weapons of mass
destruction by UAVs that could be launched from ships off the Atlantic coast to attack U.S.
eastern seaboard cities. Colin Powell suggested in his presentation to the United Nations that
they had been transported out of Iraq and could be launched against the U.S. It was later
revealed that Iraq's UAV fleet consisted of only a few outdated Czech training drones. At the
time, there was a vigorous dispute within the intelligence community as to whether CIA's
conclusions about Iraqi UAVs were accurate. The U.S. Air Force, the agency most familiar
with UAVs, denied outright that Iraq possessed any offensive UAV capability.
The first US targeted UAV killing outside the conventional battlefield took place on 3
November 2002, in the Marin district of Yemen. Six alleged terrorists were killed in their SUV
by a UAV-fired missile. The command centre was in Tampa, Florida, USA.
In December 2002, the first ever dogfight involving a UAV occurred when an Iraqi MiG-25
and a U.S. RQ-1 Predator fired missiles at each other. The MiG's missile destroyed the
Predator.
The U.S. deployed UAVs in Yemen to search for and kill Anwar al-Awlaki, an American and
Yemen imam, firing at and failing to kill him at least once before he was killed in a UAV-
launched missile attack in Yemen on 30 September 2011. The targeted killing of an American
citizen was unprecedented. However, nearly nine years earlier in 2002, U.S. citizen Kemal
Darwish was one of six men killed by the first UAV strike outside a war zone, in Yemen.
In December 2011, Iran captured a United States' RQ-170 unmanned aerial vehicle that flew
over Iran and rejected President Barack Obama's request to return it to the US. Iranian officials
[Type text]
[Type text]
claim to have recovered data from the U.S. surveillance aircraft. However, it is not clear how
Iran brought it down. There have also been claims that Iran spoofed the GPS signal used by the
UAV and hijacked it into landing on an Iranian runway.
In December 2013, The U.S. Navy has successfully launched an Unmanned Aerial System
(UAS) from a submerged submarine, the first step to “providing mission intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities to the U.S. Navy’s submarine force.”
[Type text]
[Type text]
2. DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT CONSIDERATION
UAV design and production is a global activity with manufacturers all across the world. The
United States and Israel were initial pioneers in this technology, and U.S. manufacturers had a
market share of over 60% in 2006, with U.S. market share due to increase by 5–10% through
2016. Northrop Grumman and General Atomics are the dominant manufacturers in this industry
on the strength of the Global Hawk and Predator/Mariner systems. According to the Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute, Israeli companies were behind 41% of all UAVs
exported in 2001-2011. The European market share represented 4% of global revenue in
2006.
In December 2013, the Federal Aviation Administration announced its selections six states
that will host test sites emphasizing respective research goals: Alaska (sites with a wide
variety of climates), Nevada (formulating standards for air traffic control and UAV
operators), New York (integrating UAVs into congested airspace), North Dakota (human
impact; use in temperate climates), Texas (safety requirements and airworthiness testing),
and Virginia (assessing operational and technical risk).
Some universities offer UAS research and training programs or academic degrees.
Development costs for American military UAVs, as with most military programs, have tended to
overrun their initial estimates. This is mostly due to changes in requirements during development
and a failure to leverage UAV development programs over multiple armed services. This has
caused United States Navy UAV programs to increase in cost from 0% to 5%, while United
States Air Force UAV programs have increased from 60% to 284%.
[Type text]
[Type text]
2.1 CERTIFICATION ASPECTS
One of the main barriers to rapid full-scale growth of commercial unmanned aircraft is the
concern for safety. As a myriad of certification agencies scramble to keep up with the unique
demands of this fast-growing industry, one thing is clear – where applicable, pertinent certification
standards for manned aircraft are starting to apply. For the complex electronics that provide
communication and control of these systems, this means a swift move towards compliance with
DO-178C and DO-254 for software and hardware development. In most cases, the unmanned
aircraft can only be operated as part of a system, hence the term “unmanned aircraft system” or
UAS. The UAS consists of an unmanned aircraft (UA), a remote pilot station and the command,
control and communications links that join them; as such, safety considerations address all of these
elements.
In 2011, the International Civil Aviation Organization of the United Nations published
Circular 328 – this document states a UAS should demonstrate equivalent levels of safety as
manned aircraft and thus meet relevant government rules for flight and flight equipment. Within the
United States, the Congress passed a bill in 2012 that mandated the FAA create a plan for
allowing UAS into commercial airspace. Subsequently, the FAA issued “the Integration of Civil
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the National Airspace System (NAS) Roadmap”.
As of 2014, obtaining an experimental airworthiness certificate for a particular UAS is
the only way civil operators of unmanned aircraft are accessing the National Airspace System of
the United States. FAA Order 8130.34, Airworthiness Certification of Unmanned Aircraft
Systems, establishes procedures for issuing this certification, and as such establishes guidance
standards for certification aspects of development and operation, which may be addressed by
adoption of such standards as ARP4754A, and DO-178C.
The FAA roadmap is, in essence, maturation of the acceptance of UAVs from this
“experimental” aircraft certification to requiring the same standard airworthiness type certification
of manufacturing design as is now required of conventional manned aircraft.
[Type text]
[Type text]
Figure: UAV monitoring and
control at CBP
[Type text]
[Type text]
2.2 DEGREE OF AUTONOMY
Early UAVs used during the Vietnam War captured video that was recorded to film or tape
on the aircraft. These aircraft often flew either in a straight line or in preset circles collecting video
until they ran out of fuel and landed. After landing, the film was recovered for analysis. Because of
the simple, repetitive nature of these operations, the aircraft were often called "drones". As new
radio control systems became available UAVs were often remote controlled and the term "remotely
piloted vehicle" came into vogue. Today's UAVs often combine remote control and computerized
automation. More sophisticated versions may have built-in control or guidance systems to perform
low-level human pilot duties, such as speed and flight-path stabilization, and simple scripted
navigation functions, such as waypoint following. In news and other discussions, the term "drone"
is still often mistakenly used to refer to these more sophisticated aircraft.
Most early UAVs were not autonomous at all. The field of air-vehicle autonomy is a
recently emerging field, largely driven by the military to develop battle-ready technology.
Compared to the manufacturing of UAV flight hardware, the market for autonomy technology is
fairly immature and undeveloped.
Autonomy technology that is important to UAV development falls under the following categories:
Sensor fusion : Combining information from different sensors for use on board the vehicle including
the automatic interpretation of ground imagery.
Communications: Handling communication and coordination between multiple agents in the
presence of incomplete and imperfect information
Path planning: Determining an optimal path for vehicle to follow while meeting certain objectives
and mission constraints, such as obstacles or fuel requirements
Trajectory Generation (sometimes called Motion planning): Determining an optimal control
manoeuvre to take in order to follow a given path or to go from one location to another
Trajectory Regulation: The specific control strategies required to constrain a vehicle within some
tolerance to a trajectory
Task Allocation and Scheduling: Determining the optimal distribution of tasks amongst a group of
agents within time and equipment constraints
Cooperative Tactics: Formulating an optimal sequence and spatial distribution of activities between
agents in order to maximize the chance of success in any given mission scenario
[Type text]
[Type text]
Autonomy is commonly defined as the ability to make decisions without human
intervention. To that end, the goal of autonomy is to teach machines to be "smart" and act more
like humans. The keen observer may associate this with the developments in the field of artificial
intelligence made popular in the 1980s and 1990s, such as expert systems, neural networks,
machine learning, natural language processing, and vision. However, the mode of technological
development in the field of autonomy has mostly followed a bottom-up approach, such as
hierarchical control systems, and recent advances have been largely driven by the practitioners in
the field of control science, not computer science. Similarly, autonomy has been and probably will
continue to be considered an extension of the controls field.
To some extent, the ultimate goal in the development of autonomy technology is to replace the
human pilot. It remains to be seen whether future developments of autonomy technology, the
perception of the technology, and, most importantly, the political climate surrounding the use of
such technology will limit the development and utility of autonomy for UAV applications. Also as a
result of this, synthetic vision for piloting has not caught on in the UAV arena as it did with manned
aircraft. NASA utilized synthetic vision for test pilots on the HiMAT program in the early
1980s (see photo), but the advent of more autonomous UAV autopilots greatly reduced the need for
this technology.
HiMAT remote cockpit synthetic vision display (Photo: NASA
1984)
Interoperable UAV technologies became essential as systems proved their mettle in military
operations, taking on tasks too challenging or dangerous for troops. NATO addressed the need for
commonality through STANAG (Standardization Agreement) 4586. According to a NATO press
release, the agreement began the ratification process in 1992. Its goal was to allow allied nations to
easily share information obtained from unmanned aircraft through common ground control station
technology. Aircraft that adhere to the STANAG 4586 protocol are equipped to translate
[Type text]
[Type text]
information into standardized message formats; likewise, information received from other
compliant aircraft can be transferred into vehicle-specific messaging formats for seamless
interoperability. Amendments have since been made to the original agreement based on expert
feedback from the field and an industry panel known as the Custodian Support Team. Edition Two
of STANAG 4586 is currently under review. There are many systems available today that are
developed in accordance with STANAG 4586, including products by industry leaders such as AAI
Corporation, CDL Systems, and Raytheon, all three of which are members of the Custodian Support
Team for this protocol.
Military analysts, policy makers, and academics debate the benefits and risks of lethal
autonomous robots (LARs), which would be able to select targets and fire without approval of a
human. Some contend that LAR drones would be more precise, less likely to kill civilians, and less
prone to being hacked. Heather Roff replies that LARs may not be appropriate for complex
conflicts, and targeted populations would likely react angrily against them. Will McCants argues
that the public would be more outraged by machine failures than human error, making LARs
politically implausible. According to Mark Gubrud, claims that drones can be hacked are
overblown and misleading, and moreover, drones are more likely to be hacked if they're
autonomous, because otherwise the human operator would take control: "Giving weapon systems
autonomous capabilities is a good way to lose control of them, either due to a programming
error, unanticipated circumstances, malfunction, or hack, and then not be able to regain
control short of blowing them up, hopefully before they've blown up too many other things
and people."
[Type text]
[Type text]
2.3 ENDURANCE
Because UAVs are not burdened with the physiological limitations of human pilots, they can
be designed for maximized on-station times. The maximum flight duration of unmanned aerial
vehicles varies widely. Internal combustion engine aircraft endurance depends strongly on the
percentage of fuel burned as a fraction of total weight (the Breguet endurance equation) and so is
largely independent of aircraft size.
Because of the small size, weight, very low vibration and high power to weight ratio,
Wankle rotary engines are increasingly being used in UAV aircraft. The engine is approximately
one third of the size and weight of a piston engine of equivalent power output, which offers
significant advantages for UAV aircraft. Additionally: the engine rotors cannot seize, since rotor
casings expand more than rotors; the engine is not susceptible to shock-cooling during descent; it
does not require an enriched mixture for cooling at high power and having no reciprocating parts,
there is less vulnerability to damage when the engines revolves higher than the designed maximum
running operation. The attributes of the Wankel engine transpire into less fuel usage in UAVs
giving greater range or a higher payload.
Solar-electric UAVs hold potential for unlimited flight, a concept originally championed by
the AstroFlight Sunrise in 1974 and the much later Aeroevironment Helios Prototype, which was
destroyed in a 2003 crash.
Electric UAVs kept aloft indefinitely by laser power-beaming technology represent another
proposed solution to the endurance challenge. This approach is advocated by Jordin Kare and
Thomas Nugent.
[Type text]
UAV-741 Wankle engine for UAV operations
[Type text]
One of the major problems with UAVs is the lack of in-flight refuelling capability. In 2012,
the US Air Force was promoting research that should end in an in-flight UAV refuelling capability.
A UAV-UAV simulated refuelling flight using two Global Hawks was achieved in 2012.
One of the uses for a high endurance UAV would be to "stare" at the battlefield for a long
period of time to produce a record of events that could then be played backwards to track where
improvised explosive devices (IEDs) came from. Air Force Chief of Staff John P. Jumper started a
program to create these persistent UAVs, but this was stopped once he was replaced.
In 2007, the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) revealed a program
to develop technology for a UAV with an endurance capability of over 5 years. The program,
entitled VULTURE (Very-high altitude, Ultra-endurance, Loitering Theatre Unmanned
Reconnaissance Element), entered Phase II on 14 September 2010, with a contract signed with
Boeing for development of the SolarEagle flight demonstrator.
[Type text]
[Type text]
[Type text]
[Type text]
2.4 Detect and avoid
The U.K.'s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has stated that it will require non-military
drones larger than 20 kg to be able to automatically sense other aircraft and steer to avoid them, a
technology still missing in civilian UAVs as of 2012.
2.5 HARDENING OF THE CONTROL STATIONS
Given the increasing military use of cyber attacks against Microsoft software, the United States
Armed Forces have moved towards Linux ground control software.
2.6 BUDDY ATTACKS
The USAF said in 2012, that it will focus development of UAVs to be collaboratively networked
with manned aircraft in "buddy attacks," while continuing to be able to fly as standalone systems.
Structure of Global Hawk
[Type text]
[Type text]
3. Classification
The modern concept of U.S. military UAVs is to have the various aircraft systems work
together in support of personnel on the ground. The integration scheme is described in terms of a
"Tier" system and is used by military planners to designate the various individual aircraft elements
in an overall usage plan for integrated operations. The Tiers do not refer to specific models of
aircraft but rather roles for which various models and their manufacturers competed. The U.S. Air
Force and the U.S. Marine Corps each has its own tier system, and the two systems are themselves
not integrated.
(i) U.S. Air Force tiers
An MQ-9 Reaper, hunter-killer surveillance UAV
Tier N/A: Small/Micro UAV. Role filled by BATMAV (Wasp Block III)
Tier I: Low altitude, long endurance. Role filled by the Gnat 750
Tier II: Medium altitude, long endurance (MALE). Role currently filled by the MQ-1 Predator and
MQ-9 Reaper.
Tier II+: High altitude, long endurance conventional UAV (or HALE UAV). Altitude: 60,000 to 65,000
feet (19,800 m), less than 300 knot (560 km/h) airspeed, 3,000-nautical-mile (6,000 km) radius, 24
hour time-on-station capability. Complementary to the Tier III- aircraft. Role currently filled by the
RQ-4 Global Hawk
Tier III-: High altitude, long endurance low-observable UAV. Same parameters as, and
complementary to, the Tier II+ aircraft. The RQ-3 DarkStar was originally intended to fulfil this role
before it was "terminated". Role now filled by RQ-170 Sentinel
[Type text]
[Type text]
(ii) U.S. Marine Corps tiers
Tier N/A: Micro UAV. Wasp III fills this role, driven largely by the desire for commonality with the
USAF BATMAV.
Tier I: Role currently filled by the Dragon Eye but all ongoing and future procurement for the
Dragon Eye program is going now to the RQ-11B Raven B
Tier II: Role currently filled by the ScanEagle
Tier III: For two decades, the role of medium range tactical UAV was filled by the Pioneer UAV. In
July 2007, the Marine Corps announced its intention to retire the aging Pioneer fleet and transition
to the RQ-7 Shadow tactical unmanned aircraft system by AAI Corporation. The first Marine
Shadow systems have already been delivered, and training for their respective Marine Corps units
is underway.
(iii) U.S. Army tiers
Tier I: Small UAV. Role filled by the RQ-11B Raven
Tier II: Short Range Tactical UAV. Role filled by the RQ-7B Shadow 200
Tier III: Medium Range Tactical UAV. Role currently filled by the MQ-5A/B Hunter and
IGNAT/IGNAT-ER, but transitioning to the Extended Range Multi-Purpose (ERMP) MQ-1C Gray Eagle
(i )v Future Combat Systems (FCS) (U.S. Army) classes
Class I: For small units. Role to be filled by all new UAV with some similarity to micro air vehicle
Class II: For companies (cancelled).
Class III: For battalions (cancelled).
Class IV: For brigades. Role to be filled by the RQ-8A/B / MQ-8B Fire Scout
[Type text]
[Type text]
4. USES
Beyond the military applications of UAVs with which "drones" became most associated,
numerous civil aviation uses have been developed, including aerial surveying of crops, acrobatic
aerial footage in filmmaking, search and rescue operations, inspecting power lines and pipelines,
and counting wildlife, delivering medical supplies to remote or otherwise inaccessible regions, with
some manufacturers rebranding the technology as "unmanned aerial systems" (UASs) in preference
over "drones." Drones have also been used by animal-rights advocates to determine if illegal
hunting is taking place, even on private property. Drones equipped with video cameras are being
used by the League against Cruel Sports, a British animal-rights group, to spot instances of illegal
fox hunting. UAVs are nowadays routinely used in several applications where human interaction is
difficult or dangerous. These applications range from military to civilian and include
reconnaissance operations, border patrol missions, forest fire detection, surveillance, and
search/rescue missions.
41. . Remote sensing
UAV remote sensing functions include electromagnetic spectrum sensors, gamma ray
sensors, biological sensors, and chemical sensors. A UAV's electromagnetic sensors typically
include visual spectrum, infrared, or near infrared cameras as well as radar systems. Other
electromagnetic wave detectors such as microwave and ultraviolet spectrum sensors may also be
used but are uncommon. Biological sensors are sensors capable of detecting the airborne presence
of various microorganisms and other biological factors. Chemical sensor use laser spectroscopy to
analyze the concentrations of each element in the air.
42. . Commercial aerial surveillance
Aerial surveillance of large areas is made possible with low cost UAV systems. Surveillance
applications include livestock monitoring, wildfire mapping, pipeline security, home security, road
patrol, and anti-piracy. The trend for the use of UAV technology in commercial aerial surveillance
is expanding rapidly with increased development of automated object detection approaches.
43. . Commercial and motion picture filmmaking
In both Europe and the United States, UAV videography is a legal gray area. The Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) and their European equivalents have not issued formal regulations
[Type text]
[Type text]
and guidelines surrounding drones in the private sector. Much like how the explosive growth of
crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo has caused headaches for legislators, UAV
technology has advanced too quickly for bureaucrats to handle.
The FAA is debating offering guidelines for drone operators in the private sector by 2015,
and European regulators are meeting on 9 February to iron out rules for UAVs in EU airspace.
Domestically, lobbyists are petitioning the agency to give wide leeway to the use of unmanned
aircraft for commercial photography, videography, and surveillance purposes. At the same time,
lobbyists for occupations that stand to lose business to drones such as commercial pilots are
petitioning the FAA to restrict drone use as well.
Colin Guinn of DJI Innovations, a Texas-based retail UAV manufacturer, told Co. Create
that FAA regulations generally permit hobbyist drone use when they are flown below 400 feet, and
within the UAV operator’s line of sight. For commercial drone camerawork inside the United
States, industry sources told us that use is largely at the de facto consent – or benign neglect – of
local law enforcement. Use of UAVs for filmmaking is generally easier on large private lots or in
rural and exurban areas with fewer space concerns. In certain localities such as Los Angeles and
New York, authorities have actively interceded to shut down drone filmmaking efforts due to
concerns driven by safety or terrorism.
On 2 June 2014, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it had received a petition
from the Motion Picture Association of America seeking approval for the use of drones in video and
filmmaking. Low-cost drones could be used for shots that would otherwise require a helicopter or a
manned aircraft, which would reduce costs argued seven companies behind the petition. Drones are
already used by movie makers and media in other parts of the world. The FAA is required by
Congress to come up with rules for commercial use of drones by 2015.
44. . Sports
Drones are starting to be used in sports photography and cinematography. For example, they
were used in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi for filming skiing and snowboarding events. Some
advantages of using unmanned aerial vehicles in sports are that they allow video to get closer to the
athletes; they are more flexible than cable-suspended camera systems.
[Type text]
[Type text]
45. . Domestic policing
UAVs are increasingly used for domestic police work in Canada and the United States: a
dozen US police forces had applied for UAV permits by March 2013. Texas politician and
commentator Jim Hightower has warned about potential privacy abuses from aerial surveillance. In
February 2013, Seattle Mayor Michael McGinn responded to protests by scrapping the Seattle
Police Department’s plan to deploy UAVs.
First drone-assisted arrest of an American
On 28 January 2014, a North Dakota cattle rancher was sentenced to three years in prison,
with all but six months suspended, for terrorizing police officers who were trying to arrest him at
his property in 2011. The case garnered national attention because it was the first time a law-
enforcement agency had used an unmanned aerial vehicle to assist in carrying out an arrest. The
Predator drone was from the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Patrol.
46. . Oil, gas and mineral exploration and production
UAVs can be used to perform geophysical surveys, in particular geomagnetic surveys where
the processed measurements of the Earth's differential magnetic field strength are used to calculate
the nature of the underlying magnetic rock structure. Knowledge of the underlying rock structure
helps trained geophysicists to predict the location of mineral deposits. The production side of oil
and gas exploration and production entails the monitoring of the integrity of oil and gas pipelines
and related installations. For above-ground pipelines, this monitoring activity could be performed
using digital cameras mounted on one or more UAVs. The In View UAV is an example of a UAV
developed for use in oil, gas, and mineral exploration and production activities.
47. . Disaster relief
UAVs transport medicines and vaccines, and retrieve medical samples, into and out of
remote or otherwise inaccessible regions. Drones can help in disaster relief by gathering
information from across an affected area. Drones can also help by building a picture of the situation
and giving recommendations for how people should direct their resources to mitigate damage and
save lives.
[Type text]
[Type text]
48. . Scientific research
Unmanned aircraft are especially useful in penetrating areas that may be too dangerous for
manned aircraft. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began utilizing
the Aerosonde unmanned aircraft system in 2006 as a hurricane hunter. AAI Corporation subsidiary
Aerosonde Pty Ltd. of Victoria, Australia, designs and manufactures the 35-pound system, which
can fly into a hurricane and communicate near-real-time data directly to the National Hurricane
Centre in Florida. Beyond the standard barometric pressure and temperature data typically culled
from manned hurricane hunters, the Aerosonde system provides measurements far closer to the
water’s surface than previously captured. NASA later began using the Northrop Grumman RQ-4
Global Hawk for extended hurricane measurements.
Further applications for unmanned aircraft can be explored once solutions have been
developed for their accommodation within national airspace, an issue currently under discussion by
the Federal Aviation Administration. UAVSI, the UK manufacturer, also produces a variant of their
Vigilant light UAS (20 kg) designed specifically for scientific research in severe climates, such as
the Antarctic.
There have also been experiments with using UAVs as a construction and artwork tool at
locations such as the ETH Zurich.
49. . Armed attacks
MQ-1 Predator UAVs armed with Hellfire missiles are increasingly used by the U.S. as
platforms for hitting ground targets. Armed Predators were first used in late 2001 from bases in
Pakistan and Uzbekistan, mostly aimed at assassinating high profile individuals (terrorist leaders,
etc.) inside Afghanistan. Since then, there have been many reported cases of such attacks taking
place in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. The advantage of using an unmanned vehicle
rather than a manned aircraft in such cases is to avoid a diplomatic embarrassment should the
aircraft be shot down and the pilots captured, since the bombings take place in countries deemed
friendly and without the official permission of those countries.
A Predator based in a neighbouring Arab country was used to kill suspected al-Qaeda
terrorists in Yemen on 3 November 2002. This marked the first use of an armed Predator as an
attack aircraft outside of a theatre of war such as Afghanistan.
[Type text]
[Type text]
The U.S. has claimed that the Predator strikes killed at least nine senior al-Qaeda leaders
and dozens of lower-ranking operatives, depleting its operational tier in what U.S. officials
described as the most serious disruption of al-Qaeda since 2001. It was claimed that the Predator
strikes took such a toll on al-Qaeda that militants began turning violently on one another out of
confusion and distrust. A senior U.S. counter-terrorism official said: "They have started hunting
down people who they think are responsible" for security breaches. "People are showing up dead, or
disappearing.”
By October 2009, the CIA claimed to have killed more than half of the 20 most wanted al-
Qaeda terrorist suspects in targeted killings using UAVs. By May 2010, counter-terrorism officials
said that UAV strikes in the Pakistani tribal areas had killed more than 500 militants since 2008 and
no more than 30 (5%) nearby civilians – mainly family members who lived and travelled with the
targets. UAVs linger overhead after a strike, in some cases for hours, to enable the CIA to count the
bodies and attempt to determine which, if any, civilians are. A Pakistani intelligence officer gave a
higher estimate of civilian casualties, saying 20% of total deaths were civilians or non-combatants.
In February 2013, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham stated that 4,756 people have been killed
by U.S. UAVs.
CIA officials became concerned in 2008, that targets in Pakistan were being tipped off to
pending U.S. UAV strikes by Pakistani intelligence, when the U.S. requested Pakistani permission
prior to launching UAV-based attacks. The Bush administration therefore decided in August 2008
to abandon the practice of obtaining Pakistani government permission before launching missiles
from UAVs, and in the next six months the CIA carried out at least 38 Predator strikes in northwest
Pakistan, compared with 10 in 2006 and 2007 combined.
In 2012, the USAF trained more UAV pilots than ordinary jet fighter pilots for the first time.
One issue with using armed drones to attack human targets is the size of the bombs being
used and the relative lack of discrimination of the 100 lb (45 kg) Hellfire, which was designed to
eliminate tanks and attack bunkers. Smaller weapons such as the Raytheon Griffin and Small
Tactical Munition are being developed as a less indiscriminate alternative, and development is
underway on the still smaller US Navy-developed Spike missile. The payload-limited Predator A
can also be armed with six Griffin missiles, as opposed to only two of the much-heavier Hellfires.
[Type text]
[Type text]
The United States armed forces currently have no defence against low level drone attack,
but the Joint Integrated Air and Missile Defence Organization is working to repurpose existing
systems to defend American forces.
410. . Civilian casualties
Questions have been raised about the accuracy of UAV-based missile strikes. In March
2009, The Guardian reported allegations that Israeli UAVs armed with missiles killed 48
Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, including two small children in a field and a group of women
and girls in an otherwise empty street. In June, Human Rights Watch investigated six UAV attacks
that were reported to have resulted in civilian casualties and alleged that Israeli forces either failed
to take all feasible precautions to verify that the targets were combatants or failed to distinguish
between combatants and civilians. In July 2009, Brookings Institution released a report stating that
in the United States-led drone attacks in Pakistan, ten civilians died for every militant killed. S.
Azmat Hassan, a former ambassador of Pakistan, said in July 2009 that American UAV attacks
were turning Pakistani opinion against the United States and that 35 or 40 such attacks only killed 8
or 9 top al-Qaeda operatives.
Although it may never be known how many civilians have died as a result of U.S. UAV
strikes in Pakistan, there are estimates of hundreds or thousands of innocent bystanders who have
perished in such attacks. Pakistani authorities released statistics indicating that between 1 January
2009 and 31 December 2009, U.S. RQ-1 Predator and RQ-9 Reaper UAV strikes have killed over
700 innocent civilians. The website PakistanBodyCount.Org (by Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani, a
Fulbright Scholar at the Florida Institute of Technology) shows 1,065 civilian deaths between June
2004 and 30 January 2010 and tallies 103 UAV strikes carried out by the United States.
With the increase of UAV strikes, January 2010 proved to be a deadly month in Pakistan
with 123 innocent civilians killed, according to a story in The International News. In addition, it has
been reported that 160 children have died from UAV-launched attacks in Pakistan. Further, over
1,000 civilians have been injured. This evidence runs counter to the Obama administration's claim
that "nearly for the past year there hasn't been a single collateral death" due to UAV-based attacks.
According to the 24 February 2010 policy analysis "The Year of the Drone", released by the
New America Foundation, the civilian fatality rate since 2004 is approximately 32%. The study
[Type text]
[Type text]
reports that 114 reported UAV-based missile strikes in northwest Pakistan from 2004 to present
killed between 830 and 1,210 individuals, around 550 to 850 of whom were militants.
After more than 30 UAV-based strikes hit civilian homes in Afghanistan in 2012, President
Hamid Karzai demanded that such attacks end, but the practice continues in areas of Pakistan,
Yemen, and Somalia that are not in war zones. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has criticized
such use of UAVs: "We don't know how many hundreds of innocent civilians have been killed in
these attacks...This would have been unthinkable in previous times."
In October 2013, the Pakistani government revealed that since 2008, civilian casualties
made up only 3 percent of deaths from drone strikes. Since 2008, there have been 317 drone strikes
that killed 2,160 Islamic militants and 67 civilians. This is far less than previous government and
independent organization calculations of collateral damage from these attacks.
An attack by the US in December 2013, in a wedding procession in Yemen, killed 12 men
and wounded at least 15 other people, including the bride. US and Yemeni officials said the dead
were members of the armed group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), but witnesses and
relatives told Human Rights Watch the casualties were civilians. Witnesses and relatives told
Human Rights Watch that no members of AQAP were in the procession and provided names and
other information about those killed and wounded. They said the dead included the groom’s adult
son and the bride received superficial face wounds. The local governor and military commander
called the casualties a “mistake” and gave money and assault rifles to the families of those killed
and wounded – a traditional gesture of apology in Yemen. A few days after the incident, Yemeni
MPs voted for a ban against the use of drones in Yemen, though it is unclear what effect this will
have on drone usage.
411. . Aerial target practice in training of human pilots
Since 1997, the U.S. military has used more than 80 F-4 Phantoms converted into robotic
planes for use as aerial targets for combat training of human pilots. The F-4s were supplemented in
September 2013 with F-16s as more realistically manoeuvrable targets.
412. . Search and rescue
UAVs will likely play an increased role in search and rescue in the United States. This was
demonstrated by the use of UAVs during the 2008 hurricanes that struck Louisiana and Texas.
[Type text]
[Type text]
Micro UAVs, such as the Aeryon Scout, have been used to perform Search and Rescue activities on
a smaller scale, such as the search for missing persons. For example, Predators, operating between
18,000–29,000 feet above sea level, performed search and rescue and damage assessment. Payloads
carried were an optical sensor, which is a daytime and infrared camera in particular, and synthetic
aperture radar (SAR). The Predator's SAR is a sophisticated all-weather sensor capable of providing
photographic-like images through clouds, rain or fog, and in daytime or nighttimes conditions, all in
real-time. A concept of coherent change detection in SAR images allows for exceptional search and
rescue ability: photos taken before and after the storm hits are compared, and a computer highlights
areas of damage.
UAVs have been tested as airborne lifeguards, locating distressed swimmers using thermal
cameras and dropping life preservers to plural swimmers.
413. . Conservation
In June 2012, WWF announced it will begin using UAVs in Nepal to aid conservation
efforts following a successful trial of two aircraft in Chitwan National Park with ambitions to
expand to other countries, such as Tanzania and Malaysia. The global wildlife organization plans to
train ten personnel to use the UAVs, with operational use beginning in the fall. In August 2012,
UAVs were used by members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in Namibia to document
the annual seal cull. In December 2013, the Falcon UAV was selected by the Namibian Govt and
WWF to help combat rhino poaching. The drones will be monitoring rhino populations in Etosha
National Park and will use RFID sensors.
414. . Animal rights
In Pennsylvania, Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) used drones to monitor
people shooting at pigeons for sport. One of their Octocopter drones was shot down by hunters.
In March 2013, the Times published a controversial story that UAV conservation nonprofits
ShadowView, founded by former members of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, had been
working for several months with anti-hunting charity The League Against Cruel Sports to expose
illegal fox hunting in the UK. Hunt supporters have argued that using UAVs to film hunting is an
invasion of privacy.
[Type text]
[Type text]
In April 2013, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals announced its intention to use
drones to monitor hunters, as well as possibly industrial farms, fishing areas, and "other venues
where animals routinely suffer and die". Some gun owners responded by suggesting they'd shoot
down these drones.
In 2014, Will Potter proposed using drones to monitor conditions on factory farms. The idea
is to circumvent ag-gag prohibitions by keeping the drones on public property but equipping them
with cameras sensitive enough to monitor activities on the farms. Potter raised nearly $23,000 in 2
days for this project on Kickstarter
415. . Maritime patrol
Japan is studying how to deal with the UAVs the PRC is starting to use to enforce their
claims on unmanned islands.
The Indian
Navy uses UAVs for maritime surveillance mainly Herons and Searcher IIs
[Type text]
[Type text]
416. . Forest fire detection
Another application of UAVs is the prevention and early detection of forest fires. The
possibility of constant flight, both day and night, makes the methods used until now (helicopters,
watchtowers, etc.) become obsolete. Cameras and sensors that provide real-time emergency services
including information about the location of the outbreak of fire as well as many factors (wind speed,
temperature, humidity etc.) that are helpful for fire crews to conduct fire suppression.
417. . Archaeology
In Peru archaeologists use drones to speed up survey work and protect sites from squatters,
builders and miners. Small drones helped researchers produce three-dimensional models of
Peruvian sites instead of the usual flat maps – and in days and weeks instead of months and years.
Drones have replaced expensive and clumsy small planes, kites and helium balloons. Drones
costing as little as £650 has proven useful. In 2013 drones have flown over at least six Peruvian
archaeological sites, including the colonial Andean town Machu Llacta 4,000 metres (13,000 ft)
above sea level. The drones continue to have altitude problems in the Andes, leading to plans to
make a drone blimp, employing open source software.
Jeffrey Quilter, an archaeologist with Harvard University said, "You can go up three metres
and photograph a room, 300 metres and photograph a site, or you can go up 3,000 metres and
photograph the entire valley."
418. . Future potential
In December 2013, the DHL parcel service subsidiary of Deutsche Post AG tested a "micro drones md4-
1000" for delivery of medicine.
In the military sector, Predators and Reapers are tailor-made for counterterrorism operations
and in war zones in which the enemy lacks sufficient firepower to shoot them down, but are not
[Type text]
[Type text]
designed to withstand antiaircraft defences or air-to-air combat; in September 2013 the chief of the
Air Combat Command stated that current UAVs were "useless in a contested environment” unless
manned aircraft were put there to protect them. A 2012 Congressional Research Service (CRS)
report indicated that in the future, UAVs may be able to perform a variety of tasks beyond their
present roles in intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strikes; the CRS report listed
resupply, combat search and rescue, aerial refueling, and air to air combat ("a more difficult future
task") as possible future undertakings. The U.S. Department of Defense's Unmanned Systems
Integrated Roadmap FY2013-2038 foresees UAVs having a more important place in combat,
recognizing that the near future will involve making sure the technology works at all, before
exploiting their potential in the following decade. Beyond solving technical issues, issues to be
resolved include human-UAV interaction, managing expected increases in amounts of information
generated by UAV fleets, transitioning from direct human control to UAVs' automatic adaptation to
changing conditions, and developing UAV-specific munitions.
In the private sector, initial attempts at commercial use of UAVs, such as the Taco copter
Company for the food delivery, were blocked by FAA regulation.Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos'
December 2013 announcement that Amazon is planning rapid delivery of lightweight commercial
products using UAVs was met with scepticism, with perceived obstacles including federal and state
regulatory approval, public safety, reliability, individual privacy, operator training and certification,
security (hacking), payload thievery, and logistical challenges. In July 2014 it was revealed Amazon
was working on its 8th and 9th drone prototypes, some that could fly 50 miles per hour and carry 5-
pound packages, and had applied to the FAA to test them.
In December 2013, in a research project of Deutsche Post AG subsidiary DHL, a sub-
kilogram quantity of medicine was delivered via a prototype Micro drones “parcel copter,” raising
speculation that disaster relief may be the first place the company will use the technology.
In February 2014, the prime minister and cabinet affairs minister of the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) announced that the UAE planned to launch a fleet of UAVs for civilian purposes.
Plans were for the UAVs to use fingerprint and eye-recognition systems to deliver official
documents such as passports, ID cards and licenses, and supply emergency services at accidents. A
battery-powered prototype four rotor UAV about half a metre across was displayed in Dubai.
In 2014, Fendi started making plans to use drones to show its catwalk fashions.
[Type text]
[Type text]
Solar-powered atmospheric satellites ("automats") designed for operating at altitudes
exceeding 20 km (12 miles, or 60,000 feet) for as long as five years can perform duties more
economically and with more versatility than low earth orbit satellites. Likely applications include
weather monitoring, disaster recovery, earth imaging, and communications.
In 2014, a company called Sense post demonstrated at a security conference in Singapore a
quadricopter UAV with software which could steal data from smart phones in the vicinity - such as
identities, passwords and banking data. The software attacked smart phones with WIFI switched on
by impersonating a previously used network
The European Union sees benefits and challenges for civilian drones, and in 2014 proposes
a set of regulations to control the effects of drones on peoples' safety, security and privacy. Drone
market share could be up to 10% of aviation in 10 years, and the
EU suggests streamlining R&D efforts. The CB-CID on Sunday
and Monday conducted sorties with an unmanned aerial vehicle
over the scene of crime — a largely inaccessible area covered in
thick brush — looking for clues to solve the slaying
of Uma Maheswari.
Delhi police would by no means be the first police force in the world to adopt drones—police departments in the US and in Mexico are already using them.
[Type text]
[Type text]
5. Advantages & Disadvantage
5.1 Advantages:
Does not contain or need a qualified pilot on board
Can enter environments that are dangerous to human life
Reduces the exposure risk of the aircraft operator
Performing visual or thermal imaging of region
Measuring cell phone, radio or TV coverage over any terrain
Can be programmed to complete the mission autonomously even when contact with its gas
is lost
5.2 Disadvantage:
Immoral
Civilian Casualties
Angers Many People In Foreign Countries
Can Be Hacked Or Given Viruses
Too Small For Transportation Of Materials
Low Resistance To Weather
Cannot Refuel In Flight
If Contact Is Lost With The Ground Station, The Vehicle May Be Lost.
[Type text]
[Type text]
6. PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE
India’s present holdings of UAVs are extremely low and there is a need for greater
quantities to meet battlefield requirements for the future. The versatility of the UAVs has been
demonstrated particularly in strikes against terrorist camps in Iraq and Afghanistan.
There is serious thinking in the UK Royal Air Force (RAF) that 30 percent of the present
strength of fighter aircraft should be replaced by UCAVs. The United States Navy already has plans
for deploying the unmanned Northrop Grumman X 47-B Unmanned Combat Air System (UAS)
which was test flown at the Edwards Air Force base in California recently. According to a Northrop
Grumman statement, the programme will demonstrate the first ever carrier launches and recoveries
by an autonomous unmanned aircraft with a low observable platform. They would also undertake
autonomous aerial refuelling.
This indicates the direction the world is heading with regard to UAVs and UCAVs. Further,
India has to note that China has already featured its Chang Hong-3 UCAV platforms in various
defence exhibitions in recent years. Considering China’s developments in this field, the day is not
far when the illogically hostile Pakistan will receive these Chinese built aerial systems.
The Indian Armed Forces have to judiciously examine their future requirements of UAVs.
In as much as the Army is concerned at the strategic and operational levels, there is a requirement
for UCAVs and short range loitering missiles. The UCAVs could be formed on the Herons each of
them mounted with two Fire and Forget missiles. Each divisional artillery brigade must have a
battery of UCAVs comprising eight aerial systems.
Further, each Corps must have a Loitering Missile Battery consisting of eight missiles with
associated ground systems. At the tactical level there is a need for Mini UAVs which would be hand
launched. They should have an endurance of two hours, range of 10 km and a payload which can
provide good details of the area under surveillance.. In the initial stages it would suffice if each
infantry battalion, combat group and artillery regiment be provided with two systems each having
two aerial vehicles.
[Type text]
[Type text]
This would help in providing real time battlefield transparency, direction of own artillery
fire and PSDA. The Air Force must acquire additional UCAVs and also work towards developing a
fighter UCAV. The Navy must look at Rotary UAVs and UCAVs. The future would also see the
entry of directed energy weapons. Needless to say, they would also get mounted on UAVs for
effective usage.
While the requirements are clear, the moot point is what the road map for their procurement
is. DRDO has developed Nishant and is presently developing Rustam, a Medium Altitude Long
Endurance (MALE) UAV. Any process undertaken must meet timelines, as inordinate delay is
operationally never acceptable. Particularly as technology keeps changing and then so do the
requirements.
The Mini UAV is of simple technology and could be indigenously developed. This could
meet the tactical requirements. The UCAV and the loitering missile are being produced by Israel
which is willing to set up joint ventures with DRDO. It would be prudent if our inescapable
requirements are fine-tuned in cooperation with the selected Original Equipment Manufacturers
(OEMs) and then subsequent requirements are delivered by Joint Ventures. The private sector could
be encouraged for participation in their manufacture as well as research. Various development
issues, including technology milestones, could be examined by the three Services in conjunction
with DRDO.
[Type text]
[Type text]
7. Conclusion
Unmanned aerial vehicle are an exciting field in the world of aviation, with new discoveries. Over the next 16 years, UAVs will become a significant component of military, civil and perhaps even commercial aviation.
However, the very dynamic nature of the field also creates a significant amount of uncertainty. The wide range of UAV physical ancd performance characteristics, many of which will be very unlike any current aircraft, will place additional challenges on an air traffic management
[Type text]
[Type text]
8. Reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_aerial_vehicle http://youtube.com/Unmanned_aerial_vehicle http://google.com http://www.slideshare.net/ http://www.indiastrategic.in/topstories1369_Unmanned_Aerial_Vehicle.htm http://zeenews.india.com/state/news/index785.html http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/unmanned-aerial-vehicle http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/
[Type text]