Drones

Roles and Impacts of Drones
on Society
GENE SOSANKIN
What Are Drones?
 An unmanned robot either preprogrammed or remotely

controlled
 RPA (Remote Piloted Aircraft)- controlled by a short-range
remote control or a remote base station in “real- time”
 UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)- preprogrammed prior to
flight to do a specific set of tasks on a specific flight path
Attack Drones
 Used only by the military

 Equipped with lethal weapons for
controlled air strikes in hostel or
inaccessible areas
 Provide troops with “eyes in the sky” 24
hours, 7 days a week
 First big demonstration of drone use was
during the Gulf War in 1991
 In the U.S. Air Force it is estimated that
1 in 3 of its aircraft are drones
Key Military Drones
 MQ-9 Reaper- a hunter-killer surveillance UAV

 Carries multiple sensors including color and
black and white TV cameras, image intensifiers,
radar, infra-red imaging, and lasers.
 Can be armed with Hellfire missiles and laser-
guided smart bombs.
 Cruise speed of 194 mph
 Operational altitude of 25,000 ft
 Endurance of 14 hours fully loaded
`
MQ-9 Reaper UAV Video
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kfrWcVBMhs
Key Military Drones
 RQ-7 Shadow- small drone launched

from a catapult used for
reconnaissance, surveillance, and
cargo transport.
 Can deliver first aid equipment to
front-line troops
 RQ-11 Raven- small hand-launched
drone used for reconnaissance.
 Can fly completely autonomous
missions using GPS navigation
Future Military Drones
 PD-100 Black Hornet- tiny bug-like drone that weighs

18 grams with a range of 2 miles and battery life of 25
minutes.
 Can be used in swarms to confuse enemy radar and
overwhelm enemies with so many targets that they have
difficulty destroying them all.
 X-37B- top secret USAF unpiloted spacecraft.
 Last mission was in 2012, spent 672 days in orbit
 Conspiracy Theories- Surveillance, Space Bombing,
Interfering With Other Satellites, Spying on the Chinese
Space Station, and Deploying Spy Satellites
Delivery Drones
 Delivery drone- an unmanned aerial vehicle utilized to

transport packages, food, or other goods. Usually attached with
a type of claw or tool to grip a package.
 Used in healthcare to transport medicines, vaccines, and
retrieval of medical samples into and out of remote and
inaccessible regions
 Smuggling- Drug cartels have been known to transport
contraband. Increasingly amount of attempts to smuggle drugs,
cell phones, and weapons into prisons.
Delivery Drones
 Tacocopter- a taco delivery concept utilizing a

smartphone app to order drone-delivered tacos in San
Francisco
 Large shipping companies like DHL, Amazon,
FedEx, and USPS are testing drones for delivery to
minimize shipping times, overhead costs, and
dangerous driving conditions.
 Amazon Prime Air video
Photography/Videography Drones
 Prior to drones, aerial photos and videos had to be taken

from an airplane or helicopter and was very expensive.
 Range anywhere from $100-thousands and thousands of
dollars and they are either equipped with a pre-mounted
camera or you can add a camera of your own
 Allows for low-altitude aerial photography
 Uses range anywhere from paparazzi and film crews to
college student film project
Photography/Videography Drones
 Live stream from camera and controls directly connected to your tablet, phone, or your
computer.
 Follow Me feature available on most drones. Allows the drone to trail after the user and
waypoint navigation for setting multipoint routes.
 Parrot Drone video
Monitoring Drones
 Equipped with both standard and infrared cameras and/or

sensitive instrumentation to measure various chemicals,
weather, etc.
 Agricultural Crop Surveillance
 Search and Rescue/ Disasters
 Surveying/ Map Making
 Tracking Wildlife
 Security
 American Red Cross Drones video
Drone Regulation in the United States
 FAA approves civilian recreational uses under 400 feet however some states limits uses
 FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 established regulations to allow the use of commercial
drones
 As of August 2013 licenses were granted on a case by case basis
 In 2014 the FAA approved of at least ten applications including movie makers and surveyors
 In February 2015 the FAA announced up to 7,000 business could get approval to fly drones and the White
House mandated federal agencies to disclose publicly where they are flying drones and what they do with
the data they acquired
 Lobbying from farmers, real-estate agents, criminal defense lawyers, and at least 68 other groups. At least
28 universities and numerous businesses including Amazon want to use drones civilly.
Safety and Privacy Issues
 Air Safety- issues of drones flying dangerously close to

commercial aircraft and crowding airspace.
 In 2014 pilots reported 238 incidents of close encounters with drones
 FAA allows max speed of 100mph and max altitude of 500 ft
 Delivery companies like DHL only operate drones in rural locations
 Privacy- drones invading private property and people’s privacy
 Reports of drones outside people’s windows and over sensitive
airspace
 Drone footage can be live streamed and shared anywhere to anyone
Ethical and Safety Concerns of Drone Pilots
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2jepIJXHwM
 Some believe that fighting humans with machines that are controlled from a safe distance
lacks integrity and honor that was once valued during warfare
 Some feel that if such technology is available, then a moral duty exists to employ it to
save as many lives as possible
Civilian Casualties
 Drone strikes in Pakistan,

Yemen, and Somalia
 Every independent
investigation has found more
civilian casualties than
officials admit.
 “Drones and their weapons are
extremely precise, the failure
lacks in the intelligence
gathered.”-General Stohl

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Roles and Impacts of Drones

 An unmanned robot either preprogrammed or remotely

 Used only by the military

 MQ-9 Reaper- a hunter-killer surveillance UAV

 RQ-7 Shadow- small drone launched

 PD-100 Black Hornet- tiny bug-like drone that weighs

 Delivery drone- an unmanned aerial vehicle utilized to

 Tacocopter- a taco delivery concept utilizing a

 Prior to drones, aerial photos and videos had to be taken

 Equipped with both standard and infrared cameras and/or

 Air Safety- issues of drones flying dangerously close to

 Drone strikes in Pakistan,

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