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Welcome,
UcanDrone, founded on January 2013, is specialized in the area of UAV and remote airmodelling, in the meaning of design, construction and flight of the airplane models. Working as a team for many years with great experience of applied research in the field of geographic information systems, development of forestry maps and aerial photography, motivated us to deal professionally with the field of UAV's and more specific Civil Applications.
Since the very beginning, our research included several tests of automated flight control systems, until the introduction of Ardupilot first generation. It was very clear for us that there was the beginning of a new philosophy in the design of the automated flight control systems. In this context we wish to inform and get closer to the people, scientists or professionals, who are interested in this field, the CIVIL UAV's technology, which will make easier and enrich artistically their science or their profession as well as their hobby.
We hope, that scientists, students, professionals and of course hobbyists will find a great variety of services and products.
Main fields:
- Forestry
- Precision Agriculture
- Tailor made UAS
- Remote Sensing
- Environment
- UAS components
We are proud to be part of the evolving DIYDrone’s community and recently 3DR Distributors.
We would like to thank:
-3DRobotics, for their confidence, support and guidance.
-All the users and costumers that supported us to our first steps.
-Dave Buckley, for his beautiful Arduplane/copter illustrations
For info, suggestions and quotes please email us at info@ucandrone.com
With Regards,
for UcanDrone
Dimitrios Stefanakis (James)
Good evening to All.
The fifteen plus years of my involvement with airmodelling, has sometimes brought me in strange paths, mysterious driveways, beautiful agony. The journey to Ithaca continues with great passion for research, construction, testing new technologies. In this journey I meet people who inspire me, support me, eventually becoming ... Friends with a capital F. I think that even if I had a second life, this is how I’d like to live it again…
When Dimitris showed me his work of creating an unmanned aerial platform for Precision Agriculture and related mapping applications, I thought ... Oh man… that guy is ingenious! And I wanted to share that creation with him. The effort was finally started among 4 friends with a 5th already helping us on building the airframe, six months ago, we named our team "UcanDrone" and only God knows where all this will lead us, but... he also knows just how much we love it.
A team member suggested this ship should be called Phoreas, which means “carrier” in English, and so we did. It was originally designed as a low drag motorglider, carrying an FPV camera and another one for GIS or other specialized applications, as well as an autopilot. We necessarily had to involve with mold making for the fuselage, motor mount and boom. Everything is handmade, new techniques for me and the team, but we’re steady learning more and more each day. Dimitris’s prototype algorithm shows the health of the Plants by a percentage greater than 95%, directing the owner of the plantation at correct decisions. APM autopilot, developed by an open group of genius people who love what they do, transforms that plane on a fully autonomous and Safe aerial platform, since it not only controls the airspace on which it will be flown, but also corrects the flight behaviour from stalls etc… Nice stuff.
Phoreas as a model plane and Dimitris’s work on Argiculture, was originally presented this year at the annual conference of ASPRS (American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing) in Baltimore U.S.A. on March 27th. The road is difficult ahead of us, but our passion will eventually overcome any obstacle.
Specifications:
* Wing Span: 2.400m
* Wing Area: 53.4dm2
* Flying weight: 2700gr (with Autopilot and FPV gear)
* Wing Loading: 50.5gr/dm2
* Flight Time: >1 hour with the Recommended Power Setup (2 x Lithium-Polymer 4s 5000mah Batteries)
For the whole 2013 year, we will keep Phoreas on a Beta form, until everything is ready for the production of the most delicate plane on which we All were involved so far... For more information, please visit this link...
Many Thanks Everyone,
Gadetsakis Apostolos (aka DeltaMan)
UcanDrone – Airframe Department
Here is an interesting quad frame that Hobbyking is selling. I can see this really working.
Nice enclosures for the motors
A lot of space inside to mount a controller and PDB
and what is awesome is the camera mounting area.
The only problem I see with this is, that it is fiberglass and that when you crash (and you will) there is no replacement parts, so this is for a intermediate flyer.
From an Indiana TV station. There is some really bad stuff here, including this: "When he did not know he was speaking to a reporter, Spencer said he could fly at any altitude that a customer would want. He said he "wasn't supposed to" fly above 400 feet, but he sometimes flew above 1,000 feet or higher, depending on the job."
Needless to say, that's reckless and irresponsible. Read the whole piece:
INDIANAPOLIS - A hidden camera investigation from the Call 6 Investigators found a growing threat from illegal business flights of drones nationwide, prompting concerns from Indianapolis pilots and calls for action in Congress.
While the Federal Aviation Administration has not approved a single drone flight for business purposes anywhere in the country, the Call 6 Investigators found many businesses and entrepreneurs flying drones for aerial photography, including several that advertise drone flights in Indiana.
The Call 6 Investigators also pushed for the release of new documents from the FAA that show a rising number of safety complaints from pilots, as well as several drone companies that continue to fly after being warned by the FAA that their flights are illegal.
"I hope that the FAA gets involved in this and we get this stopped. This is a dangerous situation," Indianapolis pilot Roger Tomey said in response to the Call 6 Investigators' report.
Drones, or Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), are only legal for hobbyists to fly under 400 feet of altitude and away from airports and populated areas, according to standing FAA rule s. The agency has ruled that any time money changes hands or profits are generated from flying a drone, those hobbyist rules no longer allow such flights.
The Call 6 Investigators requested enforcement documents, never before released by FAA, showing a rising number of complaints about drones surprising manned aircraft pilots in the air. The documents also show the FAA frequently issuing cease and desist letters or other warnings to drone services found to be advertising flights for hire, usually to produce aerial photography.
Among the highlights of those enforcement documents reviewed by Call 6 Investigators:
- 23 investigations were launched by FAA over the past two- years in response to complaints or inspectors finding drone flights depicted online
- 10 drone operators received warning letters or advisories that their flights were illegal
- 5 unauthorized drones were spotted by pilots and reported to FAA
- Several drone operators garnered new complaints after having been previously warned by the FAA that their flights were illegal
In some cases, the FAA closed its investigations into illegal drone flights when the suspected drone operators would simply claim that photos posted online were actually taken from licensed and manned planes or helicopters.
"It concerns me greatly. This is an accident waiting to happen," said Tomey. "You’'re going to end up causing a very serious situation that could cost somebody their life," he said, calling the Call 6 Investigators reporting "highly upsetting."
FAA enforcement records provided to the Call 6 Investigators also included:
- March 2011 -- The only fine ever issued: A proposed $10,000 fine against a drone operator for an aerial picture-taking flight at University of Virginia (Charlottesville), where FAA inspectors wrote that dangerous maneuvers were performed near bystanders.
- March 2012 -- FAA inspectors wrote that drones were used in filming of "On Dangerous Ground" in Alaska. Case closed when drone operator couldn't be established.
- October 2012 -- FAA asked for Orlando police assistance in locating a drone near an airport. Pictures were posted online, but case was closed when operator couldn't be established.
- Several investigations launched in New York City after photos were posted online or drones were reported by bystanders.
- August 2012 -- Contractor hired to map out evacuation routes for FEMA admitted to flying up to 10,000 feet without any approval by FAA
- November 2012 -- Operator of drone warned to stop after online video showed flight near Winthrop, Mass.
- September 2012 -- Air traffic controller in Warwick, R.I. complains of drone flying in his airspace
- September 2011 -- Pilot in Houston reported spotting drone flying near him along Interstate 10 near downtown
- May 2012 -- Pilot in Fredericksburg, Va. reported seeing drone pass within 100 feet of his wing
In March of this year, an Alitalia airliner made national news headlines when the pilot reported spotting a drone as he was trying to land at New York's JFK Airport.
An Indianapolis pilot of a small plane reported spotting a drone to airport managers in Greenwood. Those managers told Call 6 Investigators that the pilot spotted the drone a few hundred feet below him and flying in the opposite direction at a high rate of speed.
Another Indianapolis pilot, Tom Jeffries, who runs a flight school at the same Greenwood airport, said, "It just puts a whole new dimension on the idea of safety, because we're concerned about birds, we're concerned about other airplanes, and now we're throwing in something that is totally uncontrolled.
"They're not going to appear on radar, you're never going to see them until they hit something," Jeffries said.
"When they suck one of those drones into the engine of an airplane, then it'll get everybody's attention. And they'll have
to do something at that point," he said.
Hidden cameras aimed at Indianapolis drone flight
The Call 6 Investigators found several companies advertising drone flights anywhere in Indiana. One company quoted the price of $500 per hour or $2,000 per day for snapping photos or shooting video from a drone.
That company representative said he had flown hundreds of flights for TV commercials and real estate ventures, including a TV commercial last month for a Houston car dealership.
The Call 6 Investigators went undercover to hire another drone company for a flight above a neighborhood on the eastern edge of Indianapolis.
Brandon Spencer, owner of Drone Photo Services of Louisville, offered to snap photos of several parcels of real estate along Post Road and East 56th Street for $300, claiming he'd flown hundreds of other flights.
When he did not know he was speaking to a reporter, Spencer said he could fly at any altitude that a customer would want. He said he "wasn't supposed to" fly above 400 feet, but he sometimes flew above 1,000 feet or higher, depending on the job.
Local pilots pointed out that they often fly at that same altitude in small planes and helicopters. Some pilots expressed concerns about mid-air collisions or "drones for hire" crashing into homes, cars, or people on the ground.
Spencer arrived for the arranged meeting and cameras were rolling as he scouted out a small lot from which to launch his drone. He removed the aircraft from the passenger seat of his pickup truck, strapped on a remote control device on a vest, attached a battery and then took to the air.
Passing motorists barely noticed as the drone rose into the air, clearing the tree line and then hovering more than 300 feet in the air.
After he was paid $300 for the aerial photos, the Call 6 Investigators team emerged to question him on camera.
When asked if he researched the laws on flying drones for profit, Spencer answered, "No … I just got into it thinking I could make a little money."
When asked if he was putting people in danger with flights that were not approved by the FAA, he answered, "Not that I know of."
While his company's website displayed pictures of a water treatment plant, construction sites and a pedestrian bridge in Louisville, he claimed no money changed hands for those flights.
"You're actually my first paying customer," he told the Call 6 Investigators.
"I just figured, you know, they're selling it out there, I can buy it, I can get it and, it's a helicopter. People fly helicopters and planes all the time, put a camera on it and try to make a little bit of money. That's what I thought," he said.
"If I'm going to get in any trouble over it, it's not worth it," said Spencer.
He said he had paid $10,000 for his helicopter-like drone, known as an F800 Hexacopter that was made in China.
Several pilots and other drone operators also mentioned another leading competitor for paid drone flights known as Copter Kids LLC of Reno, Nev. Company representatives did not respond to emails requesting comment.
A spokesman with the FAA's Unmanned Aircraft Systems section, Les Door, said that no commercial flights have ever been permitted anywhere in the country, including those involving real estate agents or news organizations.
Several types of drones were on display for sale earlier this month at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas. Television and news executives saw a number of aircraft that could be used for aerial photography once the FAA establishes guidelines.
Congress has mandated that the FAA come up with regulations for allowing commercial flights of drones in late 2014, but it remains unclear whether training will be required for all drone operators or whether air traffic controllers will be alerted to all flights.
With so many flights taking to the air in advance of those regulations, the Call 6 Investigators asked FAA headquarters whether enough was being done to protect people from unauthorized drone flights.
The agency responded with a written statement (in its entirety):
"The FAA thoroughly investigates possible violations of the agency's regulations by unmanned aircraft operators. In cases where we have verifiable proof of a violation, we do not hesitate to pursue enforcement action. Lacking such proof, we still make sure the operator understands FAA regulations and policy on unmanned aircraft systems. We expect to publish a proposed rule on small unmanned aircraft later this year that will offer regulations for a wide variety of users in the small UAS community, including commercial operators."
U.S. Representative Andre Carson , D-Indianapolis, member of the House aviation subcommittee, said the Call 6 Investigators' reporting has him pushing for action at the FAA and among members of his committee.
He wrote in a statement (in its entirety):
"As a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation and as a former law enforcement officer, I am
very concerned about the instances where the FAA issued cease and desist orders against commercial operations of drones and they were ignored. Commercial drones, including drones for rent, are not authorized under current law and pose a threat to public safety.
“Even before the new regulations go into effect in 2015, we must ensure the FAA is enforcing current law as vigorously as possible and adequately protecting the safety of air traffic and those of us on the ground. I will be raising these concerns with the committee, as well as the FAA.
“I also encourage all drone operators to do the right thing and stop all flights. Unauthorized drone flights put lives at risk and should not be continued, even when FAA fails to enforce the law.”
A trade group that represents industries using robotics or unmanned aircraft, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International in Arlington, Va., has released a code of conduct for its members who may be testing or designing drones for future use.
"AUVSI condemns the misuse of UAS, and believes that anyone who abuses UAS technology should be held accountable," said the group's Melanie Hinton in an email to the Call 6 Investigators.
She said her group is working with the FAA and others to carve out rules for the safe operation of unmanned aircraft.
"AUVSI expects all users of UAS to abide by FAA guidelines, including receiving an FAA Certificate of Authorization before using the technology," she wrote.
Indiana State University in Terre Haute has actually started its own drone program to train students how to fly unmanned aircraft. The program's leader and another instructor did not respond to requests for comment.
Even local police agencies are not yet approved to fly drones for routine public safety missions. In January 2010, the nation's first-ever test flight of a police drone made headlines worldwide, but the FAA still hasn't drawn up plans for how police drones can be safely integrated into the nation's airspace.
Unlike commercial drones, police agencies can apply for a Certificate of Authorization (COA) from the FAA for specific flights, but very few flights have actually been requested or approved, according to the FAA.
While police use of drones have spurred debate over civil liberties or spying on people without a warrant, the FAA's review of how to regulate police flights has focused solely on airspace safety.
The FAA is poised to announce six drone test sites around the country, including one in Indiana, where police or private commercial ventures will be able to test their aircraft prior to a full battery of regulations being issued for all drone flights.
For Jeffries, the Indianapolis flight instructor, it's a scary notion.
"Everybody could have their own drone. They could do all kind of things from taking pictures, who knows, seeding their yard, anything! I mean, it's just organized confusion," he said. "It has some broad-reaching implications if we don't get some kind of control of what's going on."
I like devices that have multiple purposes. My theory is that if I am going to load up my UAS with electronics that it may as well be electronics capable of performing multiple tasks.
For those that have seen my posts on Telemetry over 3G, you would know I am a fan of the Fatbox 3G router for Telemetry over cellular networks.
Its a small, compact device with two Ethernet ports which means I can easily add in Video over 3G later for a super long range UAS. For the same weight or less than a custom hack, I get a device capable of delivering two completely different tasks. Best of all, it works out of the box with no tinkering or software development required.
In the same regard, the problem of how to locate a lost model has been something I have long looked for a 'multi-tool' solution for. Especially if I'm looking at a really long range platform.
After looking at the options, I determined that a smartphone with a prepaid SIM actually makes a great 'lost model' location device. Simply activate the "Find my iPhone" mode and you can find it in no time.
As a byproduct, you are putting a fairly capable device in the air, so I set about looking at what else could be done with an iPhone on a UAS. Aside from the obvious task of taking video, it turns out that the iPhone geotags any photos it takes. You can then use the geotags to create 3D models.
They aren't the greatest quality or accuracy compared to doing it properly with expensive gear, but its a fun / cheap way of dipping your toes into 3D models without breaking the bank.
You will need to mount your iPhone on your aerial platform on a slight angle for the best results, then download one of the many cheap or free apps that allow you to take a snapshot every X seconds.
I used the free Hyper3d service to process my images, but there are quite a few options on that front now.
Obviously, an iPhone is an expensive bit of gear to have hurling around in a UAS and you wouldn't want it to get broken in a big crash. This is why I bought a 'pre-broken' iPhone off Ebay for $20.
The reality is that you are not going to be using this thing to make calls or surf the web, so the condition of the screen is almost irrelevant. iPhones work perfectly fine with a smashed screen and if you do have a big crash then there is nothing more to break on it. All you need to be able to do is turn it on and make it start taking photos.
In terms of the quality, with a bit of practice you can get fairly good results.
Certainly good enough to make your Grandmother go... Thats pretty cool.
Now, if I could only figure out how to use the iPhone to deliver 3G telemetry, then I could get rid of another device.
While ordering parts for my V959 today, I perused the BG website a bit, and came across this little guy. I have been aware of it for awhile, but I decided to do a little more research, and am seriously considering buying one. It is the Walkera Ladybird V2 FPV quad. This thing is tiny, Its about 4 inches square, and a little over an inch tall, by my mental math (8.5cm square, 3cm tall). It has a built in FPV system operating at 5.8ghz, and THIS package comes with the DEVO4 controller with built-in video screen. The control board has built in 3 axis gyros, and 3 axis accelerometers. The whole thing ticks in around $200 US. I have been saving pennies for either building, or buying a pre-built quad to use for APV and FPV, but I may have to divert some cash the direction of this quad.
These little all-in-one packages are becoming more complex, and cheaper at the same time, which really amazes me. I have been looking at a couple of other quads with interesting bells and whistles, and thinking about how the technology could be applied to my personal interest, disaster relief, but I will go into that at a later time.
Providing the user / pilot a good feedback is very important.. Right now most autopilots just have 1-3 LEDs, but no interaction concept. We would like to collect some feedback on this topic. It takes less than 60 seconds to complete and will help us a lot: Link to survey
Based on this feedback and general UI concepts we're trying to come up with a consistent interaction concept using the different LEDs, switches and buzzers to make the operation of the PX4 hardware as user friendly and safe as possible.
Today Marco doing a great test with his Hexa and VRBrain he used firmware Arducopter32 2.9.2b developed by official DIYDRONES Team and ported on VRBrain and supported by VRI Lab Team.
The Dev Team doing a great work :) The main advantages of VRBRain is that is 30x faster of standard APM 2.5. The main difference is processor: VR Brain use STM32F4 168 mhz and integrated FPU . APM used a standard AVR 8 bit processor at 16 mhz.
On VRBrain the scheduled time task is respected at 99% , we have 80 % of cpu time in idle and 3/4 flash free for future development of firmware and 1 year of test by our VRI flight team.
With this feature you have a great smoth flight and the attitude is processed at 500 hz , sensor is update at 1 khz instead of 250 hz in APM 2.5.
In this test the VRBrain is controlled directly by AndroPilot. The application is available on Google Play and supported by Android 4.x Pad and Smartphone.
The AndroPilot is connected to VRBrain by 3DR radio telemetry module directly connected to USB port of ASUS Pad.
In video is possible to see the guided mode and Follow me functionality available on AndroPilot application.
The AndroPilot use internal GPS Pad for position of Marco and send every some times and when Marco move the new point to drone that follow Marco during his travel in the field.
I think that this result is very impressive . The integration of different technology is developed very good , It's only an early stage prototype but the result is yet very good .
The board use by Marco is VR Brain 4.0 with enclosure and 3DR Ublox GPS the quality of fix is very good.
Thanks to Marco , Emile , Randy and the other guys of devteam for this great result. Thanks to Kevin for his great CGS Android Application Andropilot.
For more info of VRBRAIN :
http://www.virtualrobotix.com/page/vr-brain-v4-0
Original blog post:http://www.virtualrobotix.com/profiles/blogs/arducopter-vr-brain-first-test-with-andropilot-in-guided-and-foll
Best
Regards
Roberto Navoni
From Mashable:
Last year, as part of Congress' mandate to prepare the American airspace for the age of the unmanned aerial vehicle -– or drone -– the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was ordered to designate six locations as test sites for this up-and-coming technology. These sites will be used to make sure drones are safe to be integrated into the airspace to share it with regular manned airplanes. Privacy advocates, for their part, have proposed that this is the perfect opportunity to test the drone's exceptional surveillance powers -– on fake, dummy cities specifically built for this purpose.
"You know those creepy images of the Nevada nuclear test site, with the fake houses and fake people? Think like that, but for testing drone surveillance," said Dave Maass, an Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) spokesperson, in an email to Mashable.
Both the Center for Democracy and Technology (PDF), another digital rights advocacy group, and the EFF included this original idea in proposals sent to the FAA yesterday. For Jennifer Lynch, the EFF staff attorney who wrote the group's proposal (PDF), "the goal of the test sites is to test the capabilities of drones and to plan for their integration in the national airspace," she toldMashable in a phone interview. "And as part of that we should have a rigorous testing program related to privacy and surveillance, so we need to see what drones are capable of doing."
To test the technology, the groups have called for what the CDT called a "mock testing environment" — basically fake houses and businesses. The idea is to then have drones fly over them and see how much data they can collect. If the military does the same thing to test weapons or missiles, why not do it for drones as well?
The rules and dates of the 2014 UAV Outback Challenge have been released - http://www.uavoutbackchallenge.com.au/index.cfm?contentID=49
The aim of this challenge is to design/build/operate a UAV beyond line-of-sight to search and 2.5km area for a missing hiker and drop a bottle of water to them within a 60 minute time limit.
The is a AU$50,000 prize for the winner, which is yet to be claimed.
Last year's first-place holder CanberraUAV used a APM2 based Mugin UAV and successfully found the missing hiker. Unfortunately, the bottle drop mechanism malfunctioned before they were over the hiker.
This competition attracts entrants (both amateur and university based) from across the world and it would be awesome to see more representation from the DIYDrones community.
(FYI - I am part of the CanberraUAV team, so I'm happy to provide further advice about the challenge)
Tecscorp ™ launch today its gyro stabilized gimbal Cyclop™, with roll axis compatible with APM and for trex 600 heli, It is manufactured on carbon fiber and null vibration technology in its 3 axis. More info http://tecscorp.co/cyclop-gimball.html
Weight: 1.1 Kg with servos and physical connections.
Roll axis: +/- 40°
Till yaw Axis: 360 °
Gear reduction: ROLL 1;1 / TILL y YAW 4;1
Dimensions fo camera plate - 127 mm width
Inside Height: 148 mm
for all who have APM 2.5 with X5 wing. PIDS these are the ones I use, after several flights of tuning achieves a decent navigation.
in this video you can see the X5 in auto mode, with acceptable results.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThDRcmgPRRE
more info
I want to share with all of you some really awesome videos made by National Geographic!
Just wanted to let y'all know the Nurf Kit has been released.
Build videos, assembly instructions, and plans are also available here:
https://www.flyingfoam.com/content/nurf
It's even made in the USA.
We have released a test / alpha version of the 2D GCP generation tool for Windows. You may experience a bug or two but overall it should be functional. Let us know if you have problems working with the 2D GCP utility or have additional feature requests.
Essentially, you want to create a list of images that the GCP appear in and load them into the tool. The images must be geo-tagged. Once, you've loaded all the images you can navigate between the imagery to add the 2D GCP locations. The GCPs appear in a small text box on the lower left side. When you've completed all the GCP you can save this list as the 2D GCP text file. The 2D GCP file is one half of the required GCP data needed for our processing chain.
Download Link
Let us know if you have any questions.
Instructions for use:
ZOOM IN - Control Up Arrow or Mouse Scroll Wheel
ZOOM OUT - Control Down Arrow or Mouse Scroll Wheel
ADD GCP - Hold Shift Key and Click GCP Target
PAN - Right Click on Mouse and Drag (or use scroll bars)
NEXT IMAGE - Next Button
PREV IMAGE - Previous Button
SAVE 2D GCP - Save GCP Button or File -> Save
CLEAR 2D GCP - Clear GCP Button or File -> New
We will add additional features and fixes as needed. Best regards,
JP
A hydrogen fuel cell is a device that converts hydrogen gas & air into electricity and water. Although these devices are much lower power density than batteries, they can pump out that power for many hours, depending on the amount of fuel you are storing.
At Loughborough University UK, we are working on a fuel cell and LiPo hybrid, to give you the oompf for take off (and go-arounds!) and the long endurance for cruise and loiter.
The base aircraft is the Skywalker X8, modified to carry considerably more weight than it is designed for (currently 4.5kg all up, and pushing towards 6kg with more testing).
This video briefly explains the platform setup, shows a video using ArduPilot's autonomous take-off, and concludes with a short 4.5kg flight.
In the coming weeks look forward to videos of the payload approaching 6kg, and the fuel cell being connected properly and providing some of the power!
Good piece from Harvard Business Review. Excerpts:
Mass-market drones clearly hold potential for what Paul Nunes and I call "big bang disruption." This is a kind of innovation that, thanks to fast-evolving technology, arrives in the marketplace simultaneously better, cheaper, and more capable of improving than the existing alternatives.
....
As George Mason University's Jerry Brito pointed out in a thoughtful essay last month, "Small drones are made from many of the same components as smartphones, and the economies of scale of that industry have driven the cost of gyroscopes, accelerometers, GPS chips, and CPUs to the ground. As a result," Brito writes, "the widespread use of drones in commerce is imminent — unless politicians overreact to the bad press."
That last phrase, of course, is a big "unless." The FAA's impending deadline has created panic among state and local governments, who are falling over each other to legislate who gets to use drones and for what purposes before the FAA rules are issued. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, thirty states have already passed or are considering restrictions on drones, if not outright bans.
Local authorities are getting in on the pre-regulation act as well. Recently, the town of Rancho Mirage, CA joined Charlottesville, VA, St. Bonifaciuis, MN, and Seattle, WA in considering or adopting local rules restricting or prohibiting drones in their respective communities. In Alameda County, near where I live, a public hearing on a plan by the sheriff to deploy drones for law enforcement quickly turned ugly. "We oppose the use of public resources to buy machines to surveil its citizens," one resident was quoted as saying. Another rejected just the potential use of drones by the police as "an assault on my community."
It's not surprising that potential private and law enforcement use of drones invokes intense emotional responses, including fears of an expanded police state with an "eye in the sky" and the further erosion of personal privacy. The Rancho Mirage ordinance, for example, had its origins when a private citizen saw a model drone flying over his backyard. He asked the operators to relocate their activities, and they did. But he wrote to his mayor the next day anyway.
The visceral objection we're seeing to drones is a great example of the "creepy response" I wrote about in a previous post. Novel uses of information technology often trigger deeply negative emotions, particularly among Americans. The truth is that we usually adjust to the new technology by coming to recognize that its benefits outweigh the costs. In the interim, however, the temptation to regulate it out of existence is hard to resist.
And of course, the use of the term "drone" doesn't help. Drones, like many of the most valuable innovations of the past century, began life as military technology, and have notably been used for targeted killings as part of the so-called "war on terror." Hobbyists have made a serious tactical error in adopting the same term for unmanned aircraft that, at least so far, have no weapons attached to them.
As understandable as the psychological response may be, however, there is a serious problem with the rush to regulate. Overreacting to fears of the unknown could prove disastrous to the development of technology with tremendous potential to benefit society. Drones could make safer and cheaper a number of essential activities that today require human pilots, and also make other activities possible that are today simply unfeasible. These include emergency transportation of supplies to remote areas, agricultural monitoring and maintenance, aerial photography and mapping, protection of wildlife from poachers, pipeline inspection — perhaps even local delivery.
As with any emerging, potentially revolutionary new technology, it is impossible to anticipate all the uses to which unmanned aircraft might be put once they reach mass markets. And therefore, it is hard to know whether existing laws are adequate to limit or ban the potentially destructive uses. Indeed, many of the local authorities considering drone legislation believe the FAA's current restrictions give them a rare opportunity to regulate before a dangerous new technology gets a chance to become mainstream. "We certainly want to get ahead of that curve before there are some abuses of that information," one Virginia legislator said.
As drones continue to become better, cheaper, and more useful, the legal debate is sure to heat up. But until and unless we get more evidence of what "abuses" will actually appear, drafting appropriate laws will be impossible. The mishmash of laws, restrictions, and bans add up to a response that is inefficient, imprecise, bound to cause collateral damage — and certainly not worthy of a drone.
Hopefully we have dodged the bullet and this post can be marked up as "paranoia"
Potential threat of GPS disablement! I know this has been an ongoing issue for a while. A company called LightSquared has been trying to build a cellular network that interferes with GPS. You don't hear much in the news about it these days, but it seems that maybe the threat has not completely gone away yet.
Although LightSquared was denied the frequencies after building out much of a network and had to file for bankruptcy, they are still petitioning the government to try to get a deal that would allow them to use some of the frequency's that are a little further from the GPS frequency. And apparently some venture capitalists seem the think that somehow the network could be resurrected and salvaged. Still there is a strong resistance from the Airforce, Trimble, and others, but I am worried that the power of big money could prevent this threat to the GPS system from going away.
Does anybody have an updated status on this issue?
When I hear about problems with GPS inaccuracies and runaways, I wonder if testing of the lightsquared network might be going on, or similar cellular interference could be a factor.
Interference on GPS and other links we use in out UAV's bring to mind the concern as it already applies with existing RF sources in our environment. There is a spot I would love to do a fly around getting some nice video, but a cell tower and some other towers sits on the top of the hill that I want to video, along with various other frequencies such as 2 meter, 70cm, GPRS an cellular services from Sprint, AT&T and maybe others. Probably not a good place to fly!
Anyway, the LightSquared technology is referred to in some articles as LTE, I know that LTE is been deployed around the country, so it doesn't seem to be the same LTE that light squared plans to deploy is it? as far as I can tell, so far they have been blocked from deploying the GPS blocking technology and lets hope they continue to be blocked!
Here is the latest thing I can find on it right now on the position of the FCC:
http://www.gps.gov/spectrum/lightsquared/
Anyway, hopefully, like I said: we have dodged the bullet..
This is the result of two years of intense work with major support from Diydrones without this project would have been impossible.
The results are a UAV to perform accurate flight plans in order to photograph large areas with the overlap needed for later processing by a powerful photographs photogrammetry program.
The project has been presented at the Polytechnic University of Cartagena UPCT with great acceptance.
