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Photonics News 38

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Drones Will Change the World

Photonics News 38

Science Fiction was Yesterday


The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) registered over 468,214 hobbyist owners of drones in the US within the first 6 months after it began its registration program in ­December 2015. The rapid rise in the sale of drones increases the risk of collisions, crashes, and accidents. Now it is time for clear regulations to ensure air traffic safety beyond model airfields. In 2016 the FAA received over 100 reports per month about flying objects in close proximity to airplanes and helicopters. Even though the FAA has not confirmed any collision between a civil aircraft and a private drone, they want to send a clear message on where and how to safely operate unmanned aircrafts.

Drones are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that can be used privately or commercially. They often pose concerns about privacy and are no stranger to controversy. In addition to safety-relevant regulations, it is crucial to observe local data privacy laws. Because the federal government has not regulated privacy in the airspace, many states are passing their own laws. This leads to many uncertainties and regular updating of information is required.

Commercial use opens up entirely new application possibilities for drones; discussions in this direction presumably include parcel delivery via UAVs. Horror scenarios paint pictures of flying objects filling the sky. The application of UAVs in civil protection or disaster control is undisputed: fire-fighting and sea and mountain rescue missions can be coordinated more efficiently with UAVs. In the future, industrial facilities will also be able to be monitored by drones to detect gas leaks, for example. Feasibility studies are being carried out to test their use in production facilities.

Drones in Fire Department Operations
UAV systems are already used today in rescue missions. In the most straightforward fire department operations, they are used to localize the source of the fire, which is especially useful in forest fires when initiating targeted fire-fighting operations.
These systems should also be used to save lives in accidents involving the transportation of hazardous materials. Drones aid in determining the condition of the injured or whether there are leaks, detecting hazardous materials, and measuring the concentration of the hazardous materials. With this data, dispersion forecasts of pollutant clouds can be deduced and appropriate preventive measures coordinated.

Sensor Technology Challenges
Small UAVs, weighing between 0.55 and 55 pounds, must be operated under a specific set of rules and are currently only allowed to fly within direct sight of the operator. However, modifications of these rules will continue to happen with the ultimate goal to allow autonomous drones. Therefore, high demands will have to be placed on their safety systems to maintain adherence to flight rules and air traffic control. Autonomous UAVs will have to be able to determine their exact position at any time and react automatically to external influences. Sophisticated sensor technology is then necessary for aircraft operations.

Safe Flying
Take-off and landing are particularly challenging at high-speed winds. It is necessary to quickly offset so-called gust effects and, thus, be able to determine the exact ­position. Satellite navigation and reference measurements aid this procedure. The interaction between the flight calculator and the navigation and air-data sensors makes it possible to take effective countermeasures.

DHL Paketkopter 3.0
DHL Paket tested autonomous cross-country flights in the Bavarian area in Germany at the beginning of 2016. Packages were successfully delivered across 5 miles and ascending 1,640 foot in altitude at quickly-changing weather conditions and high temperature fluctuations. Medicine was able to be expedited to the DHL Skyport in the mountains in just eight minutes; a car would have taken thirty minutes under winter conditions.

This flight was carried out without visual contact; therefore, redundant safety systems were applied and a data link set up with a long range: Radio communication and a mobile phone network made operation possible. Delivery was also carried out intelligently: Loading and unloading of the package were carried out automatically and the batteries were even changed to facilitate an immediate return flight. This flight proved the technical feasibility of such delivery methods.

DHL was the first parcel service worldwide to test the extensive integration of package delivery via UAVs into the delivery chain (dpdhl.de/paketkopter).

Other companies like Amazon and Google are also talking about drones as part of their delivery services. They are working together with NASA and the FAA to build a system that would allow for that kind of air traffic. For daily application of UAVs, it will be necessary to establish the legal parameters of UAV flights and also continue to refine the drones. This is a long-term project and is not likely to be in place before 2019.

Future Project: Autonomy and Swarming
In large-area disasters, drones should be able to fly without active control in order to autonomously analyze a given area and forward the recorded data. Possible application scenarios include nuclear accidents or major earthquakes, in which streets are damaged or the telephone network fails, for example. This autonomous areal analysis is only possible in drone swarms in which the individual UAVs communicate with each other and forward their information and data to ground stations. The fact that drones in a swarm must not be allowed to cause collisions goes without saying.

Prevention of Collision via Distance Measurement

UAVs present a large risk to the cockpits and engines of rescue helicopters and low-flying passenger airplanes. To allow drones to avoid other aircrafts, distance sensors are integrated into autonomous UAVs; depending on the distance to be measured, radar systems or LiDAR systems could be used. LiDAR systems will probably also play a role in so-called near-field navigation near buildings (e.g., for inspection tasks) or even inside buildings.



Dangers of Drones
We will soon see the commercial application of autonomous drones, in which the control pilot does not have visual contact with the UAVs during flight. Another challenge will be tracking enemy drones.
Thus, not only is intelligent automation the focus of development of these flight systems, but also simultaneous drone detection in order to ensure reliable drone defense.

Drone Defense
Multi-sensors are already being used to monitor the airspaces above prisons, government buildings, industrial facilities, and stadiums. If a dangerous drone is detected, there are a few conceivable defense techniques available. The possibility of taking over or destroying a UAV system via electromagnetic fields is currently the topic of research. Attacks via jammers or spoofers could force the drone to return to its starting position, leave its current path, land, or crash. Counter-drones with capture systems would not be practical because they would have to be very large and controlled in a targeted manner.

The Dutch police are developing an unusual method. They are currently training eagles to catch small drones in flight. You will find a video showing the eagles in action here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HifO-ebmE1s



Source: Deutsche Post AG; © Andreas Heddergott


© RWTH Aachen


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