Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) are useful on the battlefield because they can go places, and do things, that would otherwise not be possible, or would put human life in jeopardy.  They are a relatively low cost means to accomplish force projection in the battle space. 

There are also many non-military uses for UAVs.  Commercial use of UAVs is poised to grow at least as much as military use in the future, and most of us will probably notice UAV advances in commercial applications more than in military applications.  Its like the wild wild west out there, an area of technology that is ripe for innovation.  UAVs are being used to do tasks previously done by humans or more expensive systems, but we are also finding ways to use UAVs to solve problems that we did not even realize we had.  While many lower cost commercial UAVs still require remote human intervention, technology advances may change that in the near future.

I was watching the NFL playoffs last week, and I noticed that many of the camera shots were provided by cameras mounted on UAVs or drones.  This application of UAVs replaces the old way of mounting cameras on guide wires above the field.  Drones are cheaper, less obtrusive, easier to maintain, more resilient, and more capable of providing the good video that we all expect.

When I sold my house last year, my agent hired someone to fly a drone above my house and take video.  It created a very nice sales package, and my house sold quickly.  This is an example of new use of drones, as doing aerial video for real estate sales would have been cost prohibitive a decade ago.

And, let’s not forget about the spectacular drone shows that have replaced many of the fireworks shows that we have seen in the past.  Although there will always be an appetite for a good fireworks display, drone shows are very popular.  Drone shows are more cost effective, safer, and more spectacular, in the authors opinion.

So, how can engineers take advantage of this new opportunity to innovate and come up with new military and commercial applications of UAVs?  ATI is here to help.  Consider enrolling in ATI’s upcoming course Unmanned Air Vehicle Design.

This three-day short course covers the design of unmanned air vehicles. The course will cover the history and classes of UAVs, requirement definition, command and control concepts and UAV aircraft design. It provides first-hand understanding of the entire design and development process for unmanned vehicles.

You can learn more about this course, and register to attend here.

And as always, you can learn more about all of ATI’s other course offerings at www.aticourses.com .