Age of Drones
How drones are becoming right hand for humans?
What does come to your mind when you think of drones? A flying saucer, UFOs, Start Trek, A Fighting Machine, Mythological Flying Objects, or Modern DJI's. If any of the above mentioned is your answer then you are not wrong. Even if it's not any one of the above, believe me, it's not your mistake either, it is due to the large untapped space which we are yet to take advantage of.
In this article, we will take look deeper into a brief history of drones, modern-day drones, different applications for drones, the drone economy, and the future of drones.
What is a Drone?
A drone is an Unmanned Arial Vehicle(UAV), an aircraft that flies without direct assistance or control of a human pilot on board. Drones are generally controlled remotely by human pilots which is why drones are also known as Remotely Piloted Vehicles(RPV). But that may not be always true, many modern-day drones use remote sensing, GPS, and pre-compiled instructions to fly on their own without the need of a remote pilot. In simple words, we can say a drone is an unmanned flying object which may or may not be controlled remotely.
History of Drones
Like many other great inventions in history, the idea of drones was generated during a war. Back in the mid-1800 drones were being used by the military for various purposes like Surveillance, Training, attacks, etc. . These drones were nowhere near the modern-day advanced unmanned planes. In 1849 Austrian Navy used the balloon drones carrying explosives in their mission to capture Venice. These drones were not very effective since they depend on winds instead of the instructions.
The first version of the modern-day drone started appearing in World War I. During World War I Britain and USA started developing the first pilotless vehicle. Britain’s Aerial Target, a small radio-controlled aircraft, was first tested in March 1917 while the American aerial torpedo known as the Kettering Bug first flew in October 1918. These may look promisable but neither were used in War. But this fueled the idea of unmanned vehicles and lead to the development of modern-day drones.
Above mentioned history is a premodern history of drones when the man-made drones were just started. There is another side to the story of drones which may be the product of our imagination(or may not ;) ) UFOs. Yes, Unidentified flying objects, stories of which we have been hearing since our inception are another type of drone which may exist. We won’t go deep into this topic and start exploring UFOs' stories, but this could be another interesting topic for some other day.
Modern-Day Drones
Drones have come a long way from the day they came into being. From uncontrolled Austria’s Balloon Drones to the Highly Controllable Flying objects. From very big, chunky, and inefficient World War I prototypes of Britain and USA to the modern-day small, lightweight, and highly efficient drones. From the applications which were just limited to the war and destruction to a wide range of applications in Agriculture, Exploration, Media, and our favorite Military spaces.
This transformation of the drones has been no less than amazing. Today drones have different shapes and forms. There are drones with a single wing on top, there are drones with four arms(Quadcopters), drones similar to aerodynamic planes, and many more. These different shapes and sizes of drones have enabled applications that would not have been possible before.
Applications of Drones
Drones have a wide range of applications owing to this flexibility of design, their remote operation, and their efficiency, and safety. A new application of drones is being discovered every day and drones are able to prove themselves in each of those. Next, we will be looking at some of the important applications of drones.
Military
This was one of the primary applications of drones from their inception. Although things have changed a lot and the world is moving from just the military applications but we cannot ignore the advancement of drones due to the military. Military drones are one of the most advanced and sophisticated which may be the result of the amount of money poured into these things. Almost all the major militaries of the world are now using drones in their operations. R&D of drones might take a lot of time and money but the use of drones is still cheaper than the other similar military equipment, it may be the economic cost or the most important cost of the life of our soldiers. The military is and will remain a major user of drones.
Exploration
This is one of the most interesting applications of drones since this is helped humans to expand their horizons on earth and even beyond earth. Drones have helped humans to reach where they could have never thought of. Centuries back it used to take decades of exploration just to discover a piece of land. Then came the time of air travel and it enabled us to travel between any two points on earth in a matter of hours and this enabled us in exploring far away places on earth and even beyond. Where drones help is covering all the middle ground between these. Many a time our need is not to explore faraway places but to explore places that are not easy to explore and explore places fast, this is where the drones are more helpful.
Drones are becoming a great tool to explore many unreachable places on earth(believe me there are still many …) it may be the jungles of Amazon, caves of Ghats in India, brutal hot deserts of Sahara, or super cold Antarctica. You name it and drones can reach there. Another interesting angle to the exploration of the area is exploring the area fast. Whenever and wherever comes the topic of urban planning and development, drones with their versatility and speed become the best and cheapest option of all the available options.
Agriculture
Agriculture is the first known occupation for Humans. We always keep finding new ways for improving our efficiency and yield from a given piece of land. Agriculture has moved from animal plowing fields to modern-day John Deeres. Drones with their flexibility are a great fit for the field of agriculture. From the extensive type of farming in the USA to intensive farming in India, drones have many applications.
Drones can help farmers to optimize the use of inputs (seed, fertilizers, water), to react more quickly to threats (weeds, pests, fungi), to save time on crop scouting (validate treatment/actions taken), improve variable-rate prescriptions in real-time and estimate yield from a field. With their wide range and speed, drones can easily be used to look after extensive fields. Drones and also be an extension for farmers in tasks like giving fertilizers to the field. That time is not away when we will see these small objects all over the field saving farmers money and efforts and increasing their yield.
Media
The media is the front runner in adopting drone technology. The goal of media is to provide the best quality and instant coverage. The drone has been a perfect fit for this block of problems. Right from the News to Sports coverage or from super high budget Hollywood movies to ultra low budget YouTubers Vlogs drones are everywhere.
News Agencies are using drones to reach and report the crime scene as fast as possible. These small drones have taken place of the helicopters used by new agencies. All those interesting and challenging scenes of Hollywood that simply would not have been possible earlier without using visual effects, drones have not only made those scenes a reality but also increased the horizon of imagination of a director. With drones becoming cheaper and consumer-oriented many YouTubers also have started using drones for visual effects and storytelling. A prime example would be Casey Niestat’s Vlogs which contain beautiful and mesmerizing drone shots.
Deliveries
The world is coming online and people are buying more stuff online than offline. Where earlier delivery by 10 days and 1-week delivery was the norm, now this is being reduced to 1 or 2-day delivery by optimizing the supply chains. Walmart and Amazon of this world are continuously trying to reduce the delivery times further offering a better experience to the costumers and in turn, is increasing their revenues. Customers want things as early as possible and this has led to the offering line Walmart Plus and Amazon prime. Where Amazon offer free 2 days of shipping, Walmart with its wider spread of stores can provide even free 2 hours of shipping 2 to their plus customers.
It may be 2-day shipping or 2-hour shipping, the most challenging part of this is the Last Mile Delivery. This is also the most expensive part for the giants. This is where the drones come into the picture. Drones of different shapes and sizes can help can be used to deliver different types of products and with the GPS becoming more and more accurate drones can directly deliver the products at your doorsteps. Walmart has already started deliveries of the products by drones and the use of drones for deliveries is only going to increase from here onwards.
These are just hand full of applications for drones. There is a large number of Applications and all cannot be covered here. Also, new applications for drones are being discovered every day.
Drone Economy
The engine of the world economy continuously wants innovation and changes. Drones are coming out to be that new disruption in the economy that have huge impacts on various sectors. With millions of dollars getting dumped into the drones and its R&D world have huge hopes for the drones and Covid-19 had only amplified this. With people stuck in their homes not able to travel and move out of walls, big companies have started using more drones and automation for getting things done.
The market for drones is estimated to be $127 billion across a variety of industries. This is just the tip of the iceberg. These numbers will tell you just the direct sales of drones and their market. The kind of impact that drones have and indirect benefits of the drones if we say are more than 5 times the estimates then it would be not a overstretch. On a macroeconomic scale, the integration of drones could create more than 100,000 jobs. Drones are ready for disruption and the world looks after and prepares for that.
Conclusion
We have discussed the history of drones to the modern-day drones. We have also looked deeper into various Applications of drones in the field of Military, Agriculture, Exploration, Media, and Deliveries. At this speed of innovation, days are not far away when drones will no longer require commands from Humans to operate but can operate on their own.
In the end, it will not be wrong if we say…….
‘ It is a definately a Age of Drones. ‘
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