The Future of Commercial UAS

Assignment 4.4 - Research Blog 3: Unmanned Aerospace Systems

Don Moore

UNSY 501 Applications of Unmanned Systems

Embry Riddle Aeronautical University 

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