Introduction


Over the next two decades I believe that the unmanned technology that will have the biggest impact on society will be the Unmanned Aircraft System or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. UAVs today already play a big part in with the explosion of the personally owned UAV. But moving forward, I think the commercial side of the UAV market will have the greatest impact on society.

Gross Domestic Impact

McKinsey & Company, estimates that the commercial drone industry that was valued at an estimated $1 billion in 2017, will grow to over $46 billion by 2026. (McKinsey, 2017). Investments are quickly growing in the UAV industry for current UAV mission applications as well as newly discovered applications.


Applications
One new UAV application that is getting attention is the air-taxi application. Although still in early development, the air-taxi business in one that is promising. One hurdle for this application will be public acceptance.



Applications for UAV operation are only limited to the human imagination. McKinsey & Company places UAV application in to five categories, with dozens of specific applications within those categories.


 The five categories of UAV applications include:
• Surveillance
• Operations
• Entertainment/advertising
• Signal emission
• Movement.


Specific examples of the categories include drug interdiction operations, school security, farm surveying, real estate advertising, sporting event coverage, providing multimedia bandwidth by emitting signal/video/sound, and transportation and delivery.
Improvements
Systems that will improve to ease public concerns of UAV include:
• Better autonomous flight
• Better battery life
• Detect-and-avoid technologies
• Integrated air-traffic-management
• Location technologies.




Regulations that must be considered and addressed include:
• Beyond Visible Line of Sight (BVLOS) operation
• Autonomous flight • Altitude restriction
• Flying above populated areas
• Airspace integration,
• Operator certification,
• Identification
• Airworthiness
• Weight restrictions


Infrastructure


Infrastructure for support of UAV operations is not robust currently. Currently in many cases, just a patch of dirt is needed to launch a UAV. But new missions will require better infrastructure. Engineers and developers are aware of this and are already planning for requirements like these.


Examples of theses infrastructure requirements include:
• Charging stations for drones
• Charging stations for extra batteries
• Landing facilities
• Verti-ports with multiple landing pads
• UAV service centers
• Distribution hubs for drone delivery
• Receiving stations for delivered goods.

Corporate UAS Adopter and Investors

Companies and investors realize the UAV potential in applications, which leads to company success and profit, and many are eager to join the party. Having said that, the drones are not fun drones in the commercial world. These drones are to improve a process, take over hazardous missions or to solve critical problems, and corporations and investors are eager to get onboard.

Conclusion

Many have observed the boom in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Industry, and there are no signs of it slowing down any time soon. New ideas for application, improvements in automation, safety, integration and detect and avoid ability will only make the industry stronger. For the most part the only limit on UAVs moving forward is the human imagination.

References

McKinsey & Company. (2017). Commercial drones are here: the future of unmanned aerial systems. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/capital-projects-and-infrastructure/our-insights/commercial-drones-are-here-the-future-of-unmanned-aerial-systems
 

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