How Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Ensure Sustainable Development

Introduction

No matter how advanced our world can be, without cohesiveness and continuous improvement, the whole system will break down. For sustainability to be maintained, it is essential to provide a security service for three spheres: social, environmental and economic. There are many strategies and smart solutions we are examining scrupulously which help to keep a stability picture. Yet, we would like to concentrate more on the issue regarding aerial robotic vehicles due to many advantages listed below in this post.One of the robotic aerial vehicles that have multifunctional application and can be used for three pillars of sustainability mentioned above are drones and, particularly, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). They are used by small children for fun, by industries for commercial purposes and by countries to defend and protect national interests.

With the extending popularity of aerial technologies and because of innovativeness and therefore lack of awareness, definitions are overlapping enough to confuse. We would like to specify the meaning of the terms which are sometimes misused without clear understanding especially in media. At the beginning, UAV’s produced for military purposes but after 1945, UAV’s changed role and mixed up in new and innovative applications. Nowadays, drones play crucial role in various fields. The industries of interest are those who can change people’s life by making it much more easier or by making the work more efficiently. For instance, surveying a land for a construction project. It would take many weeks to complete this project, instead uavs can inspect and mapping the land in few hours.

InSell has builded a

Uses of Drones with Insell’s impact:

1. Renewable Energy
2. Solid Waste Management
3. Energy Mapping
4. Monitoring of construction projects
5. Survey and Mapping
6. City Services

The aircrafts may be remotely controlled or can fly autonomously through software-controlled flight plans in their embedded systems working in conjunction with onboard sensors and GPS.

Case study

Our partner Flying Inspection GmbH has a large experience in drone’s section. http://www.flying-inspection.de/. The following blog focuses on the “smart applications of UAV such as Energy Resources, Building, Waste Management. Currently, varieties of drones on the market are impressive. The mass of drones can range from a few hundred grams up to ten kilograms, has a size range from 3 cm to 2 meters in diameter and may be applied in different sectors.

However, despite the diversity, the general principles of functioning of drones and their set of basic elements which are present in the construction of every remotely controlled aerial aircraft whether for recreational or commercial purposes are quite similar.

An Unmanned Aircraft or Aerial System can be divided into three succinct elements: The vehicle or platform itself (Picture 3) The picture above illustrates component parts of it.

A frame is the basis of a drone, which all its components are attached to. The main task of developers in the manufacture of the frame is to make the drone as shockproof, light and durable device as possible. Every motor (there are 4) is attached to one propeller and sets it in motion with the speed generated by the rotation controller. The rotation controller sets the speed based on commands received from the flight controller.

The base structure of a flight controller is the following:

• • • The main processor (is responsible for processing commands)
    • Gyroscope (determines the position in space)
    • Barometer (determines the height)
    • Accelerometer (analyzes a device’s accelerations in three planes – x, y, z)
    • Direction arrow (indicates the direction of flight)
    • GPS (determines the location of the drone)
    • Wi-Fi (for communication with external devices (tablet, smartphone, PC))
    • RAM (Random Access Memory)

The final composition of the flight controller depends on the cost of a drone. While the simplest drones can only control the rotation of the motors depending on the incoming commands at that time, the most advanced can, for example, return to the launch point. Another important element of the drone is the battery. Its capacity influences the maximum altitude at which the drone can climb, as well as the range and the flight time. Yet solar panels may increase drones’ endurance.

• It's payload which consists from:
  • Electro-optical Sensing Systems and Scanners
  • Infra-Red Systems
  • Radars
  • Dispensable loads (Munitions, flares, sondes, another)
  • Environmental sensors
• It's Ground Control System or Station and following elements of it:
  • An avionics flight display
  • Navigation Systems
  • System Health Monitoring and Prognostics Display
  • Graphical Images and Position Mapping
  • Secure Communications Systems
  • Inward Data Processing Top Uses of Drones for Non-Military Sectors

The possibilities how drones may be applied can be found in practically every sphere of life – in the public or private sector, and in the military domain. The last one is associated the most with the term „drone”. But we want to emphasize wide range of application of a commercial type of a drone.(Picture 5) That is only a part of tasks drones are able to perform. The potential of drones is huge as their opportunities are extending every day.

Legal laws

Because of the growing number of drones, especially, in the possession of private individuals, regulatory law are appearing worldwide to provide safety. Ethical and legal issues regarding the exploitation of drones are rather common in the most of the countries. This results in the relative universality of the system of rules.

Referring to Germany, an empirical evidence of it is an amendment to the Air Traffic Licensing Regulation and the Air Traffic Regulation entered into force on April 7, 2017. The amendment introduced mores stringent rules for the operation of commercial drones. In addition, the new rules will also be applicable to the operation of model aircraft. The Air Traffic Act defines unmanned aerial systems (UAS), commonly called “drones,” as “unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), including their control stations, which are not used for hobby or recreational purposes.” If on the other hand, the UAVs are merely used for hobby or recreational purposes, they qualify as “model aircraft.”

Advantages

Referring to drones as unmanned aerial systems for commercial purposes, they have numbers of advantages.

• Drones are neither affected by human factors such as inattention, fatigue, sickness, existence of bad habits nor can be influenced by person’s own gain that keep pace with corrupt practices
• Identification and notification time is on a higher level and is not commensurate with a reaction of an average person
• While human life may be under the threat and the probability of getting injured or, even worse, die in carring out of duties is high, drones minimize such workplace accidents.
• No commitment of illegal actions (it’s not a part of UAV’s programming)
• In financial terms, robotic drones may be one-time funding in contrast to the human labor force that requires financing.

Possible problems

1. Maintenance service. Nevertheless, the last advantage regarding financial side is quite controversial since it may simultaneously cause problems. It is obvious, there is limited knowledge regarding any innovation. That is why such procedures as fixing or updatingsoftware for drones are not available widely and require some additional amount of money and respectively some extra time to find a suitable service provider.
2. The most widespread use of the commercial drones is a multi-copter form of unmanned aerial vehicle, because of its vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability. However, due to the structural characteristics, it has a disadvantage that the flight time is quite short, which is typically ranging between 15 to 30 minutes. The fixed wing type of unmanned aerial vehicles has a longer flight time and duration, but it is not easy to secure a safe landing space, especially in the city areas. It is more likely that a bigger air frame affects the flight time. For drones that use electric motors, the battery capacity is directly related to the flight time. However, a bigger battery size inversely affects the payload capacity. According to the analysis of three types, it appears that the fixed wing type VTOL drones with no tilting mechanism are getting more and more popular.[i]
3. An issue of training. For the small sizes drones there is no obligation to be trained and to receive a certificate. Nevertheless, managing a drone is not an easy process. Moreover, in order to fly safely and to get basic knowledge of handling the software training is worthwhile solution. The most basic course includes the following:
   • Basics of managing quadcopter;
   • Manual and semi-automatic flying;
   • Manual and automatic takeoff and landing;
   • Flight at given GPS co-ordinates;
   • Maneuvering and obstacle avoidance;
   • A safe approximation to the object;
   • Emergency landing;
   • Basics of making photos and video from the UAV;
   • Practical lessons with an instructor.
4. Drones are able to fly everywhere, sometimes even out of our sight. In this way, they can break existing privacy laws, interact with guarded by government objects, hurt someone or damage somebody’s property. That is why, new regulatory laws exist and a possibility to be trained professionaly on managing UAV is available.

1. 1. Industries of Interest

>

The top uses of UAV, concerning a sustainable future, applied on a smart concept are:

1. 1. • Renewable Energy Resources;
      • Monitoring & Survey Mapping;
      • Construction Inspection;
      • Waste Management;
      • Agriculture.

As the time goes by, the need of more clean energy becomes urgent due to carbon dioxide variations on the atmosphere. Drone wind energy provider is an innovative attempt in order to bring together the digital revolution with the industry of clean energy. Wind harvesting drone contains small turbines which they catch the wind and turn it into electricity. After that process, drone sends back to the land the electricity.

But why drones instead of windmills? There are a couple of reasons why aerial turbines are friendlier than windmills. The first one is that drones are portable. Something that makes it easier to the humans to move it somewhere where is windy. Controversy, windmills depend on the weather. Secondly, it is faster, cheaper and more efficient in operation.

Monitoring & Survey Mapping

Drone is being applied more and more by oil gas and pipeline companies to help with everything from surveying and mapping during the route planning process, to inspect pipelines, power lines, wind turbines, and solar farms, replacing the obsolete way which was unaffordable, time-consuming and unsafe for the employees.

Drones are able, through aerial videos and photos, to offer precious data, inspect problems, map an area and lastly they enable companies to have a full vision without having to send any employee.

Apart from that, drones lead to fastest, cheapest and more efficient operations, they can be characterized safer – and the reason is that there are dangerous terrains, or places which people cannot reach but drones can.

Although cameras are used on the drones to create the point clouds, other sensors, such as thermal or light sensors can also be used for other applications such as assessing the health of vegetation along right-of-ways, and searching for hot spots potentially caused by pipeline leaks.

The use of Drones in Construction and Inspection

Drone inspection might be the revolution of building and construction industry. By using drones, projects go accordingly to the plan without delays. Thus, drones can save thousands of money in rebuilds. What is their offerings? While mapping the construction area, constructors, architectures, real estates and whoever associates with, can get a holistic view of the project and illustrate structural issues. Moreover, they give the opportunity to check on the roof of a skyscraper or a tunnel while they are under construction. More advanced technology, better drones create detailed 3D models of new construction projects.

A great example is surveying a land for a construction project. It would take many weeks to complete this project, instead UAV’s can inspect and mapping the land in few hours.

Many construction companies are now training a member of their team to become proficient in the operation of drones. This can help them to save thousands of euros in inspection fees in the long run. Many real estate photographers have also become very well learned in the art of drone flying. With the aid of this new technology, they are able to create photos that are very valuable to agents.

The use of Drones in Solid Waste Management

Solid waste management is an increasingly critical issue for municipal authorities across the globe. One of the most serious problems on the planet is the uncountable waste exist on earth that every day sets in danger all the living beings. Drones may solve the problem or at least limit it.

There are two types of drones offer a hope to the issue. Unmanned aerial vehicles are used to identify solid wastes and collect abandoned garbage left on the nature or streets. Dubai has already applied UAV for reducing the wastes and many countries showed interest on this new technology.

The second type is the disposal of liquid waste. Rotterdam has one of the biggest ports in Europe but municipality deals with garbage and petrol. Under these circumstances, they came up with the solution of “aqua-drones”-unmanned boats, equipped with a camera. It sends images in real time to the quay, thus providing a flexible solution for surveillance and inspection from the water surface.

Agriculture, Geospatial and Drones

No matter the location, the weather or the terrain, farmers throughout the world are facing issues of productivity and sustainability. A new farming technology concept is based on UAV’s offering crucial insights to the farmers. Precision agriculture is a method in which farmers optimize inputs such as water and fertilizer, to enhance productivity, quality, and yield. Note that drones are able to detect pests and suggest the exact posology of pesticides and indicate the areas where needed. It is based on state-of-art technologies like satellites imagery, GPS, IT, GIS. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) allow farmers to monitor crop and livestock conditions consistently by air to find problems that would not be visible in ground-level spot checks. An apt example, a farmer can inspect whether his crop is not being properly irrigated through time-lapse.

Many companies are investing in precision farming technologies like software, sensors and aerial-based data. More and more farmers and companies invest in aerial vehicle while specialists mention that is something that will change sharply the previous techniques. Operating more accurate and safe within centimeters, compared to meters.

Legal laws (PLAGIARISM 48%) http://loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/germany-new-rules-for-operation-of-drones-and-model-aircraft/ Because of the growing number of drones, especially, in the possession of private individuals, regulatory law are appearing worldwide to provide safety. Ethical and legal issues regarding the exploitation of drones are rather common in the most of the countries. This results in the relative universality of the system of rules.

Referring to Germany, an empirical evidence of it is an amendment to the Air Traffic Licensing Regulation and the Air Traffic Regulation entered into force on April 7th 2017. The amendment introduced mores stringent rules for the operation of commercial drones. In addition, the new rules will also be applicable to the operation of model aircraft. The Air Traffic Act defines unmanned aerial systems (UAS), commonly called “drones,” as “unmanned aerial vehicles” (UAV), including their control stations, which are not used for hobby or recreational purposes.” If on the other hand, the UAVs are merely used for hobby or recreational purposes, they qualify as “model aircraft.”

Summary-InSell’s role

This is only a part of tasks drones are able to perform. The potential of drones is huge as their opportunities are extending every day. Nowadays, a lot of government institutions, private agencies, and other companies have their private drones which help them to be more efficient, productive and independent. The potential of drones in the future is huge. An improvement of its features will make drones even more desired and widespread. In turn, an operator of a drone may become a well-paid and highly promising job.

Consequently, an urban infrastructure will have to adjust to the presence of new smart technology (as Amazon did having patented new typology of buildings (towers for drones) for quicker delivering their goods to customers and society must be aware of the possibilities it can provide.

Insell wants to be part of the aerial robots evolution and currently we are working with one of the most experienced companies in Germany called Flying Inspection Services. Together we try to build a sustainable future with the help of drones and suggest smart solutions to private or public sectors.