A brief history of drones (part 2)

Although the military use of drones still captivates us, there is now a large marketplace for these aircraft in the commercial and business world. Entrepreneurs were quick to see that there were civilian applications for this technology as early as the late 1990s. The movement for low cost drones, accessible to the public has been growing since 2007. Companies that cater to remote control enthusiasts now sell completed UAVs and kits to amateur pilots the world over.

Personal drones have become more sophisticated and reliable and more and more practical applications are emerging. UAVs have been used for example in

Law enforcement

Search and rescue

Conservation

Maritime patrol

Real Estate

The future for these platforms is expanding exponentially. For example, Amazon.com has most recently been in the news having been granted a new patent for home delivery of goods by way of drone. The company hopes to promise delivery of goods within hours of placing an order. As the technology becomes a more realistic option for business, scientists and normal citizens at large some stigmas regarding drones could crumble and the true potential be reached.

The technology is growing so fast that even our laws are having to bee re-written to accommodate the explosion in the use of UAVs. As the FAA moves forward with its governing laws regarding civilian use of UAV's popularity will surely grow. The biggest obstacle to overcome with mass civilian use is the safety of the airspace. According to government sources there are an estimated 87,000 commercial and civilian flights over the United States every day. That means there are hundreds of thousands of people in the air every day. These flights range anywhere from 1000 feet to 35,000 feet in altitude. This all comes down to a small range of safe airspace for the use of UAV technology in a crowded air system.

This video represents 24 hours of flight data

Drones are still divisive. However, attitudes are changing as fast as the technology. Nobody speaks of the fact the unmanned submersibles have brought many of the early and most important discoveries in the ocean. Unmanned vehicles have been used in volcanoes, the moon, Mars, and thousands of other places. One can even argue that the thousands of satellites orbiting the earth are basically nothing more than drones, but since our GPS, cellphone signal, television, and national security all depend on the presence of these satellites. Many of these technologies were also first developed by the military but now, have commercial uses. In time, commercial drone technology will become mainstream and even now, we can put this technology to work for science.

For more on how one man's hobby kicked off the drone industry, check out Wired.com 's interview with Chris Anderson over at http://www.wired.com/2012/06/ff_drones/