Showing posts with label Federal Aviation Administration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Federal Aviation Administration. Show all posts

Saturday, October 18, 2014

If They Need Air Traffic Control, They Are Also Going To Have Accidents

Drones. There will also be noise pollution. No?

Air Traffic Control for Drones
7,500 unmanned craft weighing 55 pounds (25 kilograms) or less will be operating in the U.S. by 2018. There is strong interest from agriculture, mining, and infrastructure companies in using drones for tasks like inspecting crops or gathering geospatial data .... gridlock in the skies, or at least increasingly unsafe traffic patterns. ...... If a drone strayed out of its approved area, for example, the system might automatically send a command that made it return to its assigned area, or land immediately. ..... Airware believes that equipping drones with cellular data connections could be the best option. The equipment that conventional aircraft use to communicate or send digital data to air traffic control systems is too bulky for use on drones. ..... Giving drones relatively free reign below an altitude of a few hundred feet, except in the vicinity of airports, would mostly remove conflict between drones and general aviation



Tuesday, September 09, 2014

Agricultural Drones

Manufacturing need not fear information technology. This is solid proof. I mean, if agriculture can do it. I think this is cowboy technology. Sheep farmers in Australia could put this to good use.



Agricultural Drones
Easy-to-use ­agricultural drones equipped with ­cameras, for less than $1,000. ..... using sensors and robotics to bring big data to precision agriculture. ..... a low-cost aerial camera platform ..... This low-altitude view (from a few meters above the plants to around 120 meters, which is the regulatory ceiling in the United States for unmanned aircraft operating without special clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration) gives a perspective that farmers have rarely had before. Compared with satellite imagery, it’s much cheaper and offers higher resolution. Because it’s taken under the clouds, it’s unobstructed ...... due largely to remarkable advances in technology: tiny MEMS sensors (accelerometers, gyros, magnetometers, and often pressure sensors), small GPS modules, incredibly powerful processors, and a range of digital radios. ..... Drones can provide farmers with three types of detailed views. First, seeing a crop from the air can reveal patterns that expose everything from irrigation problems to soil variation and even pest and fungal infestations that aren’t apparent at eye level. Second, airborne cameras can take multispectral images, capturing data from the infrared as well as the visual spectrum, which can be combined to create a view of the crop that highlights differences between healthy and distressed plants in a way that can’t be seen with the naked eye. Finally, a drone can survey a crop every week, every day, or even every hour. Combined to create a time-series animation, that imagery can show changes in the crop, revealing trouble spots or opportunities for better crop management. ......... a trend toward increasingly data-driven agriculture. ..... We expect 9.6 billion people to call Earth home by 2050. All of them need to be fed. ...... More and better data can reduce water use and lower the chemical load in our environment and our food. Seen this way, what started as a military technology may end up better known as a green-tech tool, and our kids will grow up used to flying robots buzzing over farms like tiny crop dusters.

Friday, August 03, 2012

Drones In The Sky

A MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle prepares...
A MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle prepares to land after a mission in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The Reaper has the ability to carry both precision-guided bombs and air-to-ground missiles. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This is like the Google Maps truck peering through your window, all the time. Allowing domestic use by law enforcement will be tricky enough. Wait until civilians get their hands on the licenses. This thing is a serious invasion of privacy, potentially speaking. Paparazzi would have a field day. Too bad because so many great uses can be thought of.


Lawmakers Want to Know: What Are Those Drones Doing Up There?
issue licenses to commercial drone operators and to make it easier for law enforcement and other government agencies to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles ..... Drones are already used to monitor movement on the borders .... shooting Hollywood movies, monitoring oil spills and conducting criminal investigations ..... the possibility of ubiquitous surveillance, especially because the law currently protects the right to take pictures of anyone and anything in public. ..... a voluntary code of conduct which includes a provision to “respect the privacy of individuals.” .... The prospects of any imminent movement on Capitol Hill, though, seem to be minimal. Stubborn partisan divisions have so far doomed agreement on a bill that seeks to strengthen cybersecurity for the electrical grid, nuclear power plants and other critical infrastructure

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