The Future is Drones

by Rory Richardson

In other words, a low-risk way of viewing the world from above. Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, were first put into use in the 1920s, towed behind planes as targets for battleship gun crews to practice shooting at. They were dubbed “Drones” in the 1930s due to the continuous sound they make whilst in use.

Drones have been used over the past decade in dangerous jobs like in surveying collapsing buildings and replacing overhead electrical cables. Thes jobs would previously have put a human life at risk. The drive to improve the technology caused by the developing commercial market has caused drones to become cheaper. Lower prices mean that they are now easily accessible to the general public, which allows anyone to go online and buy a sophisticated long-range aerial photography device, completely unregulated, and then fly without a licence or training of any kind.

As it stands, the only restrictions placed on consumer drones, which do not need licenses, are that they must:

• Weigh under 20kg
• Fly at a maximum height of 120 meters
• Stay at least 5 km away from airports

Anything falling from the sky weighing 20 kg could cause some serious damage, so it makes sense that a limit would be in place. However, setting such a high limit on what is essentially a toy is useless. It is impossible to buy a drone that weighs over 20kg for under £50,000, which is more than all but the most wealthy enthusiast could justify spending, rendering the restriction pointless.

As a height limit, 120m seems like a reasonable number. If this ceiling was any higher, drones would start to get in the way of planes, which could be dangerous. Despite this, the average consumer drone has a range of roughly 100m and would struggle to climb that high, which means the altitude ceiling is excessive.

After the incident at Gatwick airport in December last year, it is clear that the restrictions around airports are justified. For less than the price of a phone, one person managed to bring one of the busiest airports in Europe to a standstill. That person has not, and probably will not be caught.

That brings us to the next problem that arises from these rules. Who would be able to enforce these rules? There is no specific force for drone policing. Also, these restrictions may as well not exist: there would be no way to prove if a user had violated any of these rules at the moment due to a lack of evidence left by drones.

There is no denying that drones can be fun: you can explore, race and take amazing pictures very easily with them. For under £100, you can buy the freedom to see the world from a different perspective. Yet this also means that for under £100, anyone can watch and record you without you ever knowing. In a world where even you phone is watching what you do, the last thing anyone wants is the threat of being watched in the real world hovering above them. Drones can be anywhere, from stadiums to city streets, but in the most-watched country in the world, do we really need more cameras watching us?

However, if drones are used properly, they can be of huge benefit to people. For example, drones are being used to deliver blood and medicine to hospitals in Rwanda at the moment. The drones replace lorries, which would take longer and increase the time a patient would have to wait for treatment. This scheme is due to be introduced across most of rural Africa in the future. In addition to this, adapted drones can be used to provide network coverage to disaster hit areas to aid relief workers. In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017, three of these drones were deployed in Puerto Rico. Each drone could provide an area of 36km2 with mobile service, and allowed rescuers to communicate more effectively. But this technology does not have to be used exclusively in disaster environments: During the American Super Bowl 2018, the same type of drone allowed the 73,000 supporters to all simultaneously post videos of the game. Usually at events such as this, standard mobile networks cannot cope with such a high concentration of people.

Overall, it can easily be said that drones are very useful, reducing unnecessary risk to human life and boosts productivity in certain industries. Despite this, this technology can be utilised for a whole host of nefarious purposes, such as invading people’s privacy and holding airports to ransom. At the end of the day, Drones are simply machines. They can neither be good or bad, they can only perform the function given to them by their operator… for now. With the rise of artificial intelligence, who knows what the drones of tomorrow will do?