Developments in drone technology, whether that’s the use of artificial intelligence or new technology, is driving a sector that has and continues to rapidly change. The use of drones is accelerating and there are plenty of commercial applications that are now demonstrating their impact. In fact, according to recent analysis, the commercial market was worth over $26bn last year and could be worth almost $150bn by 2032 – that’s a CAGR of over 20 per cent.
Advances in drone technology and falling prices, as well as new regulations making their deployment easier, mean that drones are becoming cheaper, faster, and more capable and new technology is helping to extend their capabilities and the type of industries in which they can be deployed.
As with all forms of technology it has also found a significant role with the military as has been demonstrated by their extensive use in battlefields across Ukraine and in Gaza. Consequently, billions of pounds of investment are being poured into the sector.
In fact, the drone war being conducted in Ukraine in which drones have been used to survey damage, track targets, or drop weapons has seen both sides acquire vast numbers of quadcopter drones. Relatively simple devices they tend to last barely more than three flights before being shot down. Consequently, as the war has progressed, there is growing demand for drones that can navigate autonomously in an environment where GPS can be jammed – and there has certainly been a move away from the simple commercial drones that were prevalent at the beginning of the war.
Credit: Андрей Трубицын - adobe.stock.com
Analysts suggest that over 70 percent of Russian and Ukrainian drone investment is now focused on autonomous systems.
The rise of these drones is being driven and shaped by AI and machine learning (ML), which are being used to enable drones to analyse data and to recognise certain patterns, so that they can make their own decisions.
AI has been critical to enabling advances in navigation, helping drones to better navigate complex urban environments or dangerous battle zones, for that matter, as well as to improve the efficiency of flight plans – saving time and battery life.
Drones no longer need to be remotely-controlled due to their increased levels of autonomy – they can take-off and land on their own, simplifying their operations – and now they can co-ordinate and work together. Whether that’s in a military scenario, or 3D mapping or carrying out search and rescue operations.
When it comes to power, battery life has tended to be a constraint. A drone will use a relatively simple motor structure, which is low cost, but in which battery life can be relatively short. So work is being conducted on battery technology that is more suitable for drones and which helps to extend flight times enabling drones to cover more area, deliver heavier loads and to remain airborne for much longer periods of time.
Power technology
Drones typically use high-rate lithium batteries, because they are lightweight and have high energy density. Their performance is critical when it comes to flight time, speed, and the stability of the drone. Research is focused on Lithium Polymer (LiPo) batteries, which offer a high energy density and are lightweight, along with Lithium-Ion (Li-ion) and Solid-State.
In terms of Solid-State, while it may still be in the research and development stage these batteries are seen as being able to offer higher energy density, improved safety, and longer lifespans providing much higher levels of performance and reliability.
Another area of interest is far-field wireless transfer or power beaming, a wireless technology that can recharge UAVs in flight.
Dr. Ifana Mahbub, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at The University of Texas at Dallas, is leading a team developing wireless technology to transfer electromagnetic waves to and from far distances. This is far-field wireless power transfer, or power beaming, which would enable UAVs to recharge without having to land at power stations. The technology is a significant advance in wireless recharging, which currently is limited to transferring power via low-frequency electromagnetic waves over very short distances.
One of the challenges of power beaming at far distances is preventing electromagnetic waves from scattering along the way so the team has created a system of transmitters, or smaller antennas, called phased-array antennas, to steer the electromagnetic waves along a targeted path. The technology uses telemetry to track the movements of a UAV in real time to ensure the signal moves in the right direction.
Today’s drones are also able to deploy more advanced technology associated with sensors and cameras.
Cameras are being deployed that are high-resolution, while multispectral sensors are being used to collect data beyond the visible spectrum, which is proving particularly useful in agriculture, environmental monitoring, and disaster relief. Drones are also using thermal imaging cameras in search and rescue scenarios, infrastructure inspections, and wildlife tracking.
Where cameras and sensors are combined with AI drones are being used to provide real-time object recognition or to analyse images and videos which can be particularly useful when it comes to something like predictive maintenance.
Drone deliveries
Delivery drones are seen as having a significant impact in terms of transport emissions and our over-reliance on traditional vehicles. With online shopping growing rapidly deliveries are expected to follow suit and with lighter and smaller deliveries it would be much easier to deploy drones.
However, the use of drones in urban areas has raised concerns over privacy and data collection and the use of cameras and GPS to navigate is seen as being intrusive by many critics. Despite those concerns, however, drones could be used to cut delivery times substantially getting packages to a home or business in a fraction of the time that it takes traditional vehicles and would certainly revolutionise the same-day delivery model.
In fact, Amazon could be delivering packages by drone in the United Kingdom by the end of this year as it has been selected by the UK’s airspace regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to take part in a trial of beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone flights in which operators will not have to retain sight of the drone as they fly them.
Amazon’s Prime Air service which looks to deliver small packages within an hour of being ordered could start operating by the end of 2024.
The CAA has said that these trials are intended to gather key safety data, including how drones detect and avoid other aircraft, by monitoring the electronic signals they send to be visible to other airspace users and air traffic control.
The trial is being described as helping to inform future policy development and regulations that will allow drones to operate more easily and to be integrated with other airspace users.
According to Amazon the trial will likely take place in suburban areas within 7 miles of one of the company’s fulfilment centres and will be using Amazon’s MK30 drone which can carry packages weighting up to 4.8 pounds.
Other participants in the trial include Airspection (drone inspections of offshore wind farms); the National Police Air Service (exploration of uncrewed aircraft in policing); NATS (North Sea inspections); Project Lifeline (medical deliveries) and Project SATE (examination of how drones and aircraft can co-exist at Orkney Airport).
Drones-as-a-Service
In Europe earlier this year Swisscom Broadcast selected Nokia to deploy a nationwide Drones-as-a-Service network, which will see 300 Nokia Drone-in-a-Box units deployed enabling emergency response, perimeter protection and infrastructure inspection.
This is the second nationwide Nokia Drone Networks project after Belgium's Citymesh deployment and will support Switzerland's public safety and Industry 4.0 efforts. It utilises mission-critical industrial edge computing (MXIE) with the support of 3GPP technologies for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) autonomous operations.
The drones can be operated remotely, gathering relevant information within the first minutes following an emergency, providing responders with situational awareness. Public safety agencies will be able to tap into the nationwide drone network by simply requesting a drone flight, similar to a ride-sharing service, from Swisscom Broadcast.
The deployment is expected to be available in all areas of Switzerland and has required Nokia and Swisscom to work closely with regulatory bodies to ensure that all operations comply with regulatory frameworks, especially from spectrum and aviation safety standpoints.
These Drone-as-a-Service operations are a turnkey Drone-in-a-Box solution that can integrate the drone, a docking station, a ground control station, a payload with video and thermal cameras, related software, and service components and can be used to support interfaces and APIs for easy third-party integrations.
Agricultural deployments
Another project that displays the growing role of drones is one that looks to use drone technology to improve yields, fruit quality and forecasting in the UK’s strawberry industry.
The project, ‘Precision Pollination for Higher Strawberry Productivity and Quality', brings together the UK Agri-Tech Centre, Angus Soft Fruits and Polybee, with funding support from Innovate UK, and uses drone technology for pollination and crop imaging.
Fresh strawberries are a high value crop in the UK, worth £377m in 2022, and currently most commercial UK crops are grown under protection in structures such as polytunnels or glasshouses to provide optimal conditions for growing.
Fruit being supplied to retailer customers must meet specifications in terms of fruit size and shape, and that is strongly influenced by pollination. Protected growing environments pose real challenge when it comes to pollination by natural means, and so commercial growers have tended to rely on the introduction of beehives into tunnels – but that can prove ‘hit and miss’. In response, the Singaporean company, Polybee, has developed drone technology to aid pollination in food crops using changes in airflow to assist pollen movement around the flowers.
The aim of this project is to introduce this technology into commercial UK strawberry crops with the aim of improving the success and uniformity of flower pollination, especially at critical stages of the season when poor pollination can lead to reductions in yield and fruit quality.
Katie Clark, Project Manager at the UK Agi-Tech Centre, said that the project represented a critical step towards leveraging innovative drone technology to enhance strawberry yield and fruit quality, addressing the challenges of pollination in protected growing environments.
Conclusion
How drones are being deployed and the technology that they are using is changing rapidly.
They are becoming more integrated with other technologies whether that’s with the Cloud, enhanced sensor fusion, or being able to work more collaboratively with robots. At the same time, they are also benefitting from the rollout of faster networks allowing higher speeds, lower latency, and increased reliability.
All told technology is a game-changer for the drone sector and is helping to revolutionise their deployment.
