Creating a buzz
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Drones are increasingly being adopted across various sectors, including agriculture, film, and energy, for their efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Agricultural research indicates that UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) can facilitate precision management decisions, while the film industry utilizes drones for aerial cinematography, replacing costly helicopter operations. However, the rapid growth of drone usage raises concerns about regulations, safety, and potential misuse, necessitating carefully tailored legislation to keep pace with the evolving technology.
![science&technology
and can be used effectively to capture
imagery for precision management decisions
such as variable-rate in-season fertilisation,
weed identification, livestock inventory and
identifying sick animals,” advised John
Nowatzki, an agricultural machine systems
specialist at North Dakota State University
and the principal investigator on a first-of-
its-kind agricultural research project incor-
porating drone technology. However, Mr
Nowatzki went on to note that small UAS
are “relatively limited by flight time” and
“cannot easily capture imagery of thou-
sands of acres on the same day”.
He points out that large UAS will be
required to collect high-spatial and tem-
poral-resolution imagery over entire regions
in a timely manner. “A large UAS could cap-
ture high-resolution imagery of one square
mile in a single image,” he suggested. “This
would make it possible to capture imagery
useable for precision crop management over
hundreds of thousands of acres in a single
day at very high resolution.” That said, while
advancements in drone technology are crit-
ical, the development of sensors and down-
stream analytical packages to generate
meaningful insights from these farmland
images is perhaps the real driver for growth
in agricultural drone adoption.
Harnessed by Hollywood
Meanwhile, Juniper’s research also found
that demand for UAVs in the film and tele-
vision sectors is soaring. Drones provide a
much cheaper, more flexible alternative to
the use of helicopters and other methods
to capture footage for the film and TV
industry, particularly for action sequences.
Certainly, drones have already become a
firm fixture on the sets of Hollywood block-
busters, with early examples including
James Bond’s Skyfall, which used drones to
follow the action as 007 chased a terrorist
across the rooftops of Istanbul’s famous
bazaar – and won an Oscar for its aerial
imaging platform, Flying-Cam 3.0 SARAH,
in so doing. Other early adopters included
The Wolf of Wall Street, The Hunger Games,
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,
Van Helsing and HBO blockbuster series
Game of Thrones.
Darryl Duzak, aerial cinematographer
and pilot at Skyline Studio – a company
specialising in cinema-quality aerial cine-
matography and video production – sees
ease of use, agility, and low cost as the
major advantages ushered in by drone
technology. “Drones are bridging the gap
between camera cranes on the ground and
helicopters in the air,” he enthused. “It
allows that level between 40 and 400 feet
to be filled unlike anything before it, and
enables me to add a needed new perspec-
tive in modern day film and television.”
Beyond that, with helicopter rental costing
around US$10,000 per day, the cost sav-
ings when compared to renting a drone for
an eight-hour day are clearly substantial.
Much needed power boost
Many companies in the oil, gas and power
industries have started adopting drones for
various operations as a faster, safer and
more efficient alternative to manned opera-
tions. Mitigating risk to workers is clearly of
great value to such businesses – especially
given that the stakes are typically high, the
standards are accordingly stringent, and the
price of personnel comes at a premium. As
such, the energy sector is increasingly using
drones to inspect both offshore and onshore
facilities at heights, in hazardous areas or
within confined spaces. “Minimising risk
by utilising cutting-edge technology in this
way is of great importance to the energy
industry. This technology provides a real
opportunity to decrease the number of falls
and fatalities that occur due to traditional
methods of working at height,” suggests
Chris Wilber, Pipeline Services Director at
SGC Engineering – a Houston-based sub-
sidiary of Lloyd’s Register. “Drones can also
be operated at a much lower per-hour cost
than many manned inspection vehicles and
offer the ability to collect data on a pre-pro-
grammed repeatable track, providing con-
sistency in the inspection data and making
the identification of maintenance trends
much easier.”
Given the sustained slump in oil price
and thousands of recent rig closures, per-
haps now more than ever drones could play
an important role in creating operational
efficiencies – and in a cost-effective way.
In the power utilities segment, companies
are deploying drones to inspect overhead
transmission lines and equipment – typi-
cally a high-risk activity to personnel,
however experienced. One such company
embracing UAVs is Austin Energy, which
is testing a novel solution for inspecting
transmission lines from the air using drones
and breakthrough imaging software from
It was almost 15 years ago – on 4th February
2002 – in Afghanistan’s Paktia province,
that the CIA first utilised an unmanned
Predator drone. It would become the first
of many targeted killings that would make
drones or UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles)
synonymous with death and destruction.
Between 2009 and 31st December 2015,
President Obama’s administration admitted
launching 473 strikes, predominantly with
drones, that killed a reported 2,372 and
2,581 terrorist “combatants”, alongside
up to 116 civilians. Indeed, according to
John Sifton – Advocacy Director for Asia at
Human Rights Watch – the advent of UAVs
in US military operations has ushered in an
era of killing that is “risk-free, remote and
detached from human cues”.
Yet as UAVs become more affordable and
ubiquitous, such technology is being put to
work in countless less controversial emerging
applications. A low price point – with high
performance models now available for less
than US$3,000 and consumer models for
as low as US$30 – has significantly reduced
the barrier to entry in many sectors, with
strong uptake of the technology for applica-
tions involving mapping, inspection and
monitoring. As a result, according to a recent
study from Juniper Research – Drones:
Consumer & Commercial Applications,
Regulations & Opportunities 2015-2020
– annual revenues from commercial drones
sales are forecast to reach US$481 million
this year, up an impressive 84 per cent on
last year’s figure (US$261m).
Agricultural applications on the up
Often viewed as one of the few remaining
bastions of tradition due to its considerable
dependence on human labour and intel-
lect, agriculture has, perhaps surprisingly,
emerged as one of the front-runner appli-
cations for drone technology. Juniper asserts
that the strongest growth is likely to occur
within the agricultural sector, which it fore-
casts will account for 48 per cent of all com-
mercial drone sales this year. Very much
part of the emerging concept of precision
agriculture, UAVs help save time and costs
over established methods like walking fields
on foot and using planes for fly-over filming,
alongside for more regular crop surveying.
“Small UAS [unmanned aerial systems]
are ideal for scouting crops and livestock,
With drone sales set to rise more than
80 per cent this year, to approach
US$500 million, Euroasia Industry
explores some of the most prospective
applications across the commercial
and consumer spectrum.
8 | EUROASIA INDUSTRY
science &
technology
CREATING
A BUZZ
‡](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/creatingabuzz-170112073921/85/Creating-a-buzz-1-320.jpg)
Creating a buzz
- 1. science&technology and can be used effectively to capture imagery for precision management decisions such as variable-rate in-season fertilisation, weed identification, livestock inventory and identifying sick animals,” advised John Nowatzki, an agricultural machine systems specialist at North Dakota State University and the principal investigator on a first-of- its-kind agricultural research project incor- porating drone technology. However, Mr Nowatzki went on to note that small UAS are “relatively limited by flight time” and “cannot easily capture imagery of thou- sands of acres on the same day”. He points out that large UAS will be required to collect high-spatial and tem- poral-resolution imagery over entire regions in a timely manner. “A large UAS could cap- ture high-resolution imagery of one square mile in a single image,” he suggested. “This would make it possible to capture imagery useable for precision crop management over hundreds of thousands of acres in a single day at very high resolution.” That said, while advancements in drone technology are crit- ical, the development of sensors and down- stream analytical packages to generate meaningful insights from these farmland images is perhaps the real driver for growth in agricultural drone adoption. Harnessed by Hollywood Meanwhile, Juniper’s research also found that demand for UAVs in the film and tele- vision sectors is soaring. Drones provide a much cheaper, more flexible alternative to the use of helicopters and other methods to capture footage for the film and TV industry, particularly for action sequences. Certainly, drones have already become a firm fixture on the sets of Hollywood block- busters, with early examples including James Bond’s Skyfall, which used drones to follow the action as 007 chased a terrorist across the rooftops of Istanbul’s famous bazaar – and won an Oscar for its aerial imaging platform, Flying-Cam 3.0 SARAH, in so doing. Other early adopters included The Wolf of Wall Street, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Van Helsing and HBO blockbuster series Game of Thrones. Darryl Duzak, aerial cinematographer and pilot at Skyline Studio – a company specialising in cinema-quality aerial cine- matography and video production – sees ease of use, agility, and low cost as the major advantages ushered in by drone technology. “Drones are bridging the gap between camera cranes on the ground and helicopters in the air,” he enthused. “It allows that level between 40 and 400 feet to be filled unlike anything before it, and enables me to add a needed new perspec- tive in modern day film and television.” Beyond that, with helicopter rental costing around US$10,000 per day, the cost sav- ings when compared to renting a drone for an eight-hour day are clearly substantial. Much needed power boost Many companies in the oil, gas and power industries have started adopting drones for various operations as a faster, safer and more efficient alternative to manned opera- tions. Mitigating risk to workers is clearly of great value to such businesses – especially given that the stakes are typically high, the standards are accordingly stringent, and the price of personnel comes at a premium. As such, the energy sector is increasingly using drones to inspect both offshore and onshore facilities at heights, in hazardous areas or within confined spaces. “Minimising risk by utilising cutting-edge technology in this way is of great importance to the energy industry. This technology provides a real opportunity to decrease the number of falls and fatalities that occur due to traditional methods of working at height,” suggests Chris Wilber, Pipeline Services Director at SGC Engineering – a Houston-based sub- sidiary of Lloyd’s Register. “Drones can also be operated at a much lower per-hour cost than many manned inspection vehicles and offer the ability to collect data on a pre-pro- grammed repeatable track, providing con- sistency in the inspection data and making the identification of maintenance trends much easier.” Given the sustained slump in oil price and thousands of recent rig closures, per- haps now more than ever drones could play an important role in creating operational efficiencies – and in a cost-effective way. In the power utilities segment, companies are deploying drones to inspect overhead transmission lines and equipment – typi- cally a high-risk activity to personnel, however experienced. One such company embracing UAVs is Austin Energy, which is testing a novel solution for inspecting transmission lines from the air using drones and breakthrough imaging software from It was almost 15 years ago – on 4th February 2002 – in Afghanistan’s Paktia province, that the CIA first utilised an unmanned Predator drone. It would become the first of many targeted killings that would make drones or UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) synonymous with death and destruction. Between 2009 and 31st December 2015, President Obama’s administration admitted launching 473 strikes, predominantly with drones, that killed a reported 2,372 and 2,581 terrorist “combatants”, alongside up to 116 civilians. Indeed, according to John Sifton – Advocacy Director for Asia at Human Rights Watch – the advent of UAVs in US military operations has ushered in an era of killing that is “risk-free, remote and detached from human cues”. Yet as UAVs become more affordable and ubiquitous, such technology is being put to work in countless less controversial emerging applications. A low price point – with high performance models now available for less than US$3,000 and consumer models for as low as US$30 – has significantly reduced the barrier to entry in many sectors, with strong uptake of the technology for applica- tions involving mapping, inspection and monitoring. As a result, according to a recent study from Juniper Research – Drones: Consumer & Commercial Applications, Regulations & Opportunities 2015-2020 – annual revenues from commercial drones sales are forecast to reach US$481 million this year, up an impressive 84 per cent on last year’s figure (US$261m). Agricultural applications on the up Often viewed as one of the few remaining bastions of tradition due to its considerable dependence on human labour and intel- lect, agriculture has, perhaps surprisingly, emerged as one of the front-runner appli- cations for drone technology. Juniper asserts that the strongest growth is likely to occur within the agricultural sector, which it fore- casts will account for 48 per cent of all com- mercial drone sales this year. Very much part of the emerging concept of precision agriculture, UAVs help save time and costs over established methods like walking fields on foot and using planes for fly-over filming, alongside for more regular crop surveying. “Small UAS [unmanned aerial systems] are ideal for scouting crops and livestock, With drone sales set to rise more than 80 per cent this year, to approach US$500 million, Euroasia Industry explores some of the most prospective applications across the commercial and consumer spectrum. 8 | EUROASIA INDUSTRY science & technology CREATING A BUZZ ‡
- 2. 10 | EUROASIA INDUSTRY science & technology Indian company Arcturus Business Solutions. The firm’s pattern recognition algorithms compare images of new transmis- sion equipment with images taken by drone to detect damaged tower components, hot spots and coronas, and even to measure line sag. Should such tests prove successful, utilities have the potential to lower costs and improve the safety, speed and precision of inspections. Current inspection techniques require physical access by lineworkers or costly flyovers by helicopter. Longer wait for drone deliveries While the advantages for such applications seem obvious, research by Juniper also cautioned that a raft of privacy, safety and security concerns could mean the usage of drones within built-up areas for delivery purposes is severely constrained or even prohibited in the future – something that would scupper the lofty plans on some of the world’s tech giants. Flying at an altitude of up to 400ft and clocking speeds of up to 60mph, with sense-and-avoid technologies that help the drones evade obstacles, Amazon claims its Prime Air drone innovation would make deliveries a near instantaneous affair, with vertical take-off and landing on an Amazon branded landing mat that doubles as a homing beacon for the drone (although deliveries to those living in a flat or a tower block would be somewhat trickier). Tests have begun, yet there has been no roll-out date announced, as the company waits for UAV regulation to catch up with the tech- nology’s real-life potential. Elsewhere Google’s Project Wing claims to be building the ‘next generation of auto- mated aircraft, and is working towards the day when these vehicles deliver everything from consumer goods to emergency medi- cine – a new commerce system that opens up universal access to the sky’. Such uni- versality raises issues, of course, given that the skies would become significantly more crowded – and more hazardous – should unknown numbers of consumer consign- ments suddenly become airborne. According to Dr Windsor Holden – the research co-author of Juniper’s new report – regulators would be extremely wary of giving planned services such as Amazon Prime and Google’s Project Wing the green light, except as a means of deliv- ering to isolated rural communities. “Regulators are understandably con- cerned that the deployment of delivery drones in inner cities would significantly increase the risk of potentially fatal colli- sions with cars or even pedestrians,” Dr Holden warned. Yet in more remote set- tings, the viability seems greater for e- commerce deliveries – German logistics giant Deutsche Post-DHL, for example, is exploring the use of ‘Parcelcopter’ drones to deliver goods to tap the growing Indian e-commerce market with a specific focus on the smaller towns in which the firm soon plans to set up operations. Dark skies or bright prospects? Beyond the risk of mid-air accidents over crowded city skies, Juniper’s new report also highlights a potential danger that delivery drones could be hacked by terror- ists, conceivably delivering an explosive payload into areas where they would be capable of causing high levels of civilian casualties. Such concerns are not without grounding. In October, Peshmerga fighters operating against ISIS near Erbil, Iraq, downed a small hobby drone, although upon closer inspection were killed by a bomb that it was carrying. With that inci- dent, it is believed ISIS claimed its first casualties using a weaponised hobby drone. The ubiquity and cheapness of such tech- nology (off-the-shelf consumer drones can be acquired for as little as US$30) means that such threats from terrorism and cyber- attacks via drones are something lawmakers will need to factor in to new legislation. Certainly, in many places regulation is having a hard time keeping up. While some countries have clear, established drone laws, many others do not – or the existing regulations fail to take into account how much the UAV landscape has changed in recent years – both in terms of opportunity and risk. What is clear is that unmanned air-borne technology is emerging as a smart and oft transformational driver across a whole host of industries, with many more likely to benefit in the future – in those markets that get the regulatory balance right. Carefully tailored legislation that keeps pace as UAV tech sophisticates should go a long way to ensuring aviation safety and security, alongside providing more certainty to commercial adopters and developers of the technology alike. o