Assignment 3.4 - Research Blog 3:
Unmanned Aerospace Systems
Don Moore
UNSY 501 Applications of Unmanned
Systems
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University
The Future
of Commercial UAS
Growth is the
prediction for the future of commercial UAS according to U.S. Aviation
officials in an article written in the Insurance journal magazine. While many
remain in doubt; the framework for the future of commercial UAS/Drones is
currently being written. Many businesses
within the real estate, insurance, and agriculture sectors are deeply invested
in the present as well as the future use of UAS/Drones. The FAA also seems to be on board and taking
steps for the integration of UAS into the National Airspace (NAS) and making
forecasts for future growth in UAS/Drone usage. For example “In its most recent aviation forecast, “the Federal Aviation
Administration estimates that combined total hobbyist and commercial UAS sales
will rise from 2.5 million in 2016 to 7 million in 2020. Hobbyist UAS purchases
may grow from 1.9 million in 2016 to as many as 4.3 million by 2020.
Sales of drones for commercial purposes are expected to grow from 600,000 in
2016 to 2.7 million by 2020” (Insurance Journal, 2016)”.
I
believe that in order for commercial UAS to flourish; clear rules need to be
established. As of August 29, 2016 the
FAA has tweaked the rules so that the waiting period for COA’s would not stop
those who have certain qualifications from operating small UAS. The Tweak is formally known as FAR Part 107 -Small
Unmanned Aircraft Regulation; it covers a broad spectrum of commercial uses for
drones weighing less than 55 pounds (FAA, 2016b). Part 107 lists many of the
rules that would be established in section 333 Exemptions. The fairly new
exemption also has added certifications and requirements such as pilot
certification, UAS certification/ inspection and privacy requirements (FAA,
2016b).
The
FAA predicts that small UAS/drones will be broken down into two categories,
which are high end and low end (Insurance Journal, 2016). The average sales
price for high-end drones will be about $40,000 per UAS/drone and the low end
UAS/drone average sales price will be about $2,500 (Insurance Journal, 2016). Currently the FAA predicts that once all
rules are set in there will be about 542,500 small commercial UAS/drones
operating within the UAS (Insurance Journal, 2016).
Although,
the FAA is working with the UAS commercial industries; I believe that studying
beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) will accelerate the future commercial use
of UAS. BVLOS is defined as “flying
an unmanned aircraft without the Remote Pilot having to keep the unmanned
aircraft in visual line of sight at all times. Instead, the Remote Pilot flies
the aircraft by instruments from a Remote Pilot Station” (ACUO). I am not alone
in saying that BVLOS will slingshot commercially used UAS “Venture capitalists are already investing
considerable amounts of money into this emerging industry with the intention to
build early market share in this technology,” (Insurance Journal, 2016).
“Manufacturers’ efforts are focused on building systems optimized for
particular segments of the market (Insurance Journal, 2016). Unmanned aircraft
systems will be the most dynamic growth sector within aviation” (Insurance Journal,
2016).. The FAA is also I’m doing its part to study BVLOS in a program called
the Focus area pathfinder. The Pathfinder program explores incremental
expansion of UAS in the NAS in the following areas:
-Visual line of sight (VLOS) operations
over people
-Extended visual line of sight (EVLOS)
operations in rural areas
-BVLOS operations in rural/ isolated areas.
The FAA is working
with at least three organizations in order to combat this task. VLOS operations are being studied by CNN;
they will explore how UAS could be safely used for newsgathering and populated
areas (FAA,
2016a). EVLOS operations are being studied by
Precision Hawk; they will explore how UAS flights outside the pilot's direct vision might allow
greater UAS use for crop monitoring in precision agriculture operations (FAA,
2016a). BVLOS operations are being studied by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railways;
they will
explore command-and-control challenges of using UAS to inspect rail system
infrastructure (FAA, 2016a).
As it currently stands unlawful UAS
sightings reported by commercial pilots have increased. Although the future of commercial UAS seems
promising; the FAA, the commercial industry, and law enforcement agencies we’ll
need to work together for the building of illegal UAS prosecution plans. I
believe that if the future commercial UAS is to continue to accelerate; options
for rogue/Illegal UAS Capture, destruction, in prosecution should also be
explored.
References
Australian Certified UAV Operators. (n.d.). How do we see them: VLOS, EVLOS, BVLOS &
FPV? Retrieved 2014, from
http://www.acuo.org.au/industry-information/terminology/how-do-we-see-them/
FAA. (2016, June 14a). Focus Area Pathfinder Program. Retrieved from
https://www.faa.gov/uas/programs_partnerships/focus_area_pathfinder/
FAA. (2016, June 21b). Fact
Sheet – Small Unmanned Aircraft Regulations (Part 107). Retrieved from
http://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=20516
Insurance Journal, (2016, March 29). The Future of Commercial Drone Use. Retrieved from
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2016/03/29/403149.htm
