An unmanned aerial vehicle, commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot onboard. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system; which include a UAV, a ground-based controller, and a system of communications between the two.
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Contrary to this belief, they are not like surveillance cameras because they take to the air. They fly and can follow a person’s movements wherever they go.
Things you need to know about drones
UAVs, first developed by the military in the 1990s, are a mind-blowing innovation. They spark curiosity and wonder. Quadcopter Arena presents a few myths and debunks them with a few drone facts.
Interesting drone myths
There are many things about UAVs that you may believe, but they are myths. It can be quite difficult for you to separate fiction from reality. These interesting facts about drones will help you debunk long-standing myths, and put things in perspective.
1. A Model Airplane is a Drone
One of them is that a model airplane is a drone. Drones are machines that fly without a pilot controlling them. In contrast, pilots fly model airplanes within their line of sight. A model airplane cannot move out of a pilot’s periphery of vision, which disqualifies it as a drone.
2. Drones are like surveillance cameras
Drones may seem like street cameras because they have the same functions. Both survey and record images.
Contrary to this belief, they are not like surveillance cameras because they take to the air. They fly and can follow a person’s movements wherever they go.
You may have to merge the feeds taken by surveillance cameras. Drones have a continuous live feed and can capture images without interruption.
3. Only the police and the military use drones
Drone uses have expanded. Many civilians fly them these days. Modern ones like the DJI Phantom 3 or the Nano QX bring joy to many avid hobbyists.
4. Police need a warrant if they are flying a drone below 400 ft
The police often use aerial vehicles to survey backyards for marijuana. You may think that they need a warrant if they fly a drone below 400 feet.
The US Supreme Court has found that it is not a violation of constitutional rights to fly a drone at a low altitude. The ruling enables the police to use such devices to fight crime.
5. The police cannot use the footage delivered by drones
Using drone footage is not a violation of constitutional rights either. As long as an officer has the right to be at a crime scene, he can use the evidence he collects. The same applies to drones. The police can use the footage drones record, as long as it this is not done in a restricted area.
6. Flying drones does not take skill
Contrary to what you may believe, achieving control of a drone’s pitch and yaw takes practice. Experienced pilots can make a drone dance in the air.
7. All drones have weapons
Not all drones do. Drones help people in many ways. While some drones have military uses, others are used for photography and other purposes.
8. Drones cannot stay in the air for long
Lightweight drones like the Blade Nano QX or the Hubsan X4 cannot remain in the air for more than 10 minutes.
Not all drones are mini-drones. The DJi Phantom drones can stay in the air for about half an hour. US military drones can hover for many hours at a time.
9. There are more downsides than upsides to using drones
You may have heard horror stories of low durability, crashes and short flight time. But the advantages of using drones outweigh their disadvantages.
Manufacturers are blending robotics, airframe design and sensors in many ways. These innovations have created jobs and increased the competitiveness of companies.
15 Surprising facts about drones
There are many fun facts about drones waiting for you to discover. Many of them are historical in nature. Others are simply frightening. In all, they will definitely floor you.
1. The first drones targeted terrorists
The first military drone, the Predator, targeted Osama Bin Laden.
The United States built the first drone before the 9/11 attacks, but it was not ready for deployment.
The first drone killing was in 2001 when UAVs shot Muhammed Atel, an Al Qaeda commander.
The first drone killing was in 2001 when UAVs shot Muhammed Atel, an Al Qaeda commander.
2. Military uses for drones are increasing
Drones do not just track and survey the enemy. They bear powerful weapons and are lethal devices.
3. Attack drones need people to man them
That all drones are autonomous is a misconception. The higher the attack capability of a drone, the more people need to man it.
4. Israel was the first country to build drones
The first country to manufacture drones was Israel. Israel Aerospace Industries has production facilities about 24 countries around the world.
5. Drones have taken many lives
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, attack drones have killed about 4756 people. Many were children.
6. Drones help humanity
There are many things a drone can do. Besides having military uses, they enable communication in inaccessible areas. They also survey land for real estate purposes.
The police use them for tracking purposes. The aerial footage they capture serves as evidence to convict criminals.
8. Drones deliver food and medicine
You may not realize how helpful drones are. Many bring food and medicine to people in war-torn areas.
9. They are excellent farming tools
Drones are great farming assistants. They survey crops, and their footage will show farmers the damaged ones.
10. Drones cover important events from the air
Drones can help you to record important sports games or celebrations from the air. With a drone, you will never miss a fireworks display.
11. Theater companies use drones to decorate stages
A drone is a stage manager’s best friend. It dangles decorations as it hovers in place.
12. The Aerial Target was the first attempt at building an aerial vehicle
The Aerial Target made my A.M. Low, was one of the first attempts at putting a UAV together.
13. Americans are the highest users of drones
Over 181000 Americans have registered their drones with the Federal Aviation Administration of America. Stores report selling over 400000 drones.
There are many unregistered American drones. Failing to register an American drone can lead to a fine of $27500.
14. Drones spark creativity
Drones attract creative minds. They have sparked creativity in the areas of robotics and military defense.
15. Industry players disagree about what to call drones
Some industry players call these vehicles UAVs, and others, RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems). They feel that RPAS are different because a pilot controls them from a distant location.
Ten Myths About Drones
Myth #1: A model airplane is a drone.
A drone is an unmanned aircraft that can fly autonomously–that is, without a human in control. By contrast, model airplanes are largely flown within visual line of sight and in the presence of an operator who watches and maintains control of the airplane during flight. That alone is enough to place model airplanes cleanly outside the boundaries of the definition of a “drone.”
Myth #2: Drones are no different than street surveillance cameras.
The ACLU, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and other organizations have raised concerns over the privacy issues associated with the use of drones. One of the first questions privacy advocates get about UAVs is how they differ from the street cameras many cities already employ. But drones are very different from fixed cameras because, most fundamentally, they fly. Not only can drones monitor public spaces, but they can also see any area visible from the air. Drones can also be used to follow a suspect from place to place without having to merge multiple videos feeds from different fixed cameras. Finally, attitudes toward drones appear to differ than attitudes toward more familiar cameras, creating an opportunity to reexamine privacy law.
Myth #3: Drones can only stay in the air for a short amount of time.
Another common belief about non-military UAVs is that they have a short flight time and range. Many battery-powered UAVs are indeed limited to flight times of well under an hour. However, there is enormous variety in the shapes, sizes, and capabilities of UAVs. Some U.S. military UAVs can stay aloft for many hours at a time and have a range of thousands of miles. Boeing is currently developing the Solar Eagle, a solar-powered UAV that will be able to stay aloft at very high altitudes for five continuous years.
Myth #4: Only the police can use dronesMyth #4: Only the police can use drones.
Authors
Ryan Calo
Assistant Professor, University of Washington School of Law
John Villasenor
Nonresident Senior Fellow - Governance Studies, Center for Technology Innovation
Much of the attention regarding domestic drones has been concerned with their likely use by law enforcement agencies. But there are many other potential applications as well, including agriculture, surveying, news reporting, and firefighting. And Congress has charged the FAA with developing a plan to integrate many more private drones in the nation’s airways by September of 2015. The impact of drones in the United States will be profound — and will go well beyond law enforcement applications.
Myth #5: Police need a warrant to observe you with a drone flying below 400 feet.
There is a 1989 Supreme Court case, Florida v. Riley, where police flew a helicopter at 400 feet in order to look at a backyard and greenhouse for evidence of marijuana cultivation. The Court found no constitutional privacy violation. Four of nine justices remarked that a helicopter is allowed to fly at 400 feet, adding “We would have a different case if flying at that altitude had been contrary to law or regulation.” One justice agreed with the holding but wrote separately, reasoning in part that “there is considerable public use of airspace at altitudes of 400 feet and above.” Presumably based on this language, it has been suggested that a warrant is needed to operate a drone for surveillance purposes below 400 feet. But nothing in either the four-justice plurality or one-justice concurrence in Riley — or any other Supreme Court case — supports this bright line view.
Myth #6: Police flying a drone to the scene of a crime can only use footage acquired at the crime scene itself.
Another misconception is that police who are flying a drone to a specific location such as a crime scene or emergency cannot use the footage the drones gather on the way to that location. Generally speaking, if an officer has a right to be somewhere — whether a sidewalk, stairwell, or helicopter — she can gather whatever evidence she can see, smell, hear, or record. The same is likely true of drones. Of course, it may be a matter of best practice only to record the activities of citizens when necessary. But it is not a constitutional limitation; “incidental” drone surveillance may well be in the cards.
Myth #7: The Supreme Court’s January 2012 decision in Jones (the warrantless GPS tracking case) means that police need a warrant to follow your car using a drone.
In the recent case of United States v. Jones, the Supreme Court held that officers generally need a warrant to follow a vehicle with a GPS device continuously for an extended period of time. A majority of justices (five of nine) expressed a general concern with sustained surveillance by electronic means. Technically, however, the Jones case was decided on a narrower basis: five justices thought that the act of affixing the GPS device to the car was itself a kind of trespass to personal property, thus triggering a Fourth Amendment violation. Drones do not need to be affixed to anything, so the Jones ruling won’t necessarily limit how they might be used for surveillance.
Myth #8: Most “drones” used by the U.S. military overseas are armed.
Many of the impressions regarding drones come from media coverage of military UAVs. In particular, UAVs are often described in the press as firing missiles at insurgents or terrorists. It turns out, however, that the overwhelming majority of U.S. military unmanned aircraft are unarmed, and are used to acquire imagery. In many cases, this imagery provides vital information that can help save the lives of American troops on the ground.
Myth #9: It doesn’t take any flying skill to operate a U.S. military “drone.”
Sometimes you hear the disparaging claim that UAVs, unlike fighter jets, is easy to fly. U.S. military unmanned aircraft such as the Predator is capable of autonomous flight but are piloted by extremely skilled aviators. Thanks to a combination of technology advances, these pilots no longer need to be physically sitting in the airplane. But that doesn’t make them any less skilled in most respects than traditional in-the-cockpit pilots. Indeed, many U.S. military unmanned aircraft pilots prefer not to use the term “drone,” as it fails to recognize the high levels of skill and extensive training behind real-world flight operations. Instead, they often use terms such as UAV or RPA (“remotely piloted aircraft”).
Myth #10: The downsides of drones in U.S. airspace outweigh the benefits.
Myth #10: The downsides of drones in U.S. airspace outweigh the benefits.
Like almost any technology, drones can be misused. It’s important to put in place appropriate frameworks to ensure that they are operated responsibly. In doing so, however, we shouldn’t lose sight of the bigger picture: The domestic use of drones will provide a long list of benefits. They can provide vital, lifesaving imagery in many different scenarios. The drone community, which includes companies, universities, and hobbyists, is merging robotics, sensors, and airframe design in an amazing variety of innovative ways. These innovations, and jobs they create, both now and in the future, can help American competitiveness not only within the drone industry but also more broadly.
