The idea of using civil or commercial drones is relatively new. The usage of drones in various purposes in everyday life is being discovered and the usage is gradually expanding. This report mainly focuses on civil drones with an insight into the technology, usage and future prospects.

1. Insight into an Emerging Technology:
Commercial Drones
Foiz Fahmidur Rahman
17th
May 2015
New Opportunities of ICT (ISM4TX700)

2. Table of contents
1 Introduction .....................................................................................................................1
1.1 What is Drone .........................................................................................................1
1.2 Focus in this report ..................................................................................................2
1.3 Importance of Learning Drone Technology..............................................................2
1.4 Drone Technology in Brief........................................................................................2
1.5 The Difference Between a Quadcopter and a Drone................................................4
2 Personal Motivation to Study this Technology ................................................................5
3 Market Dynamics: Present and Future.............................................................................6
3.1 Google Trend Results .............................................................................................6
3.2 Current Picture.........................................................................................................6
3.3 Future Market Dynamics..........................................................................................6
3.4 Tech Giants Leap.....................................................................................................7
3.5 Venture Capitalists Step-in.......................................................................................8
3.6 Technology Adoption Level......................................................................................9
3.7 Drone on Gartner’s Hype Cycle.............................................................................10
4 Drone Mechanism in Detail............................................................................................11
4.1 How to Build a Drone.............................................................................................11
4.2 Flight control..........................................................................................................12
4.3 Vortex Ring State...................................................................................................12
4.4 Mechanical.............................................................................................................12
4.5 Speeding & Turning...............................................................................................13
5 Opportunities/Impacts....................................................................................................13
5.1 Opportunities..........................................................................................................13
5.2 Impact....................................................................................................................15
6 Challanges Ahead.........................................................................................................16
7 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................16
References......................................................................................................................18
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-market-for-commercial-drones-2014-2?IR=T..........18
In-text References...........................................................................................................19
(1) (http://3drobotics.com/2015/02/droneedu-3dr-launches-uav-sponsorships-education-
programs/.........................................................................................................................19
(2) http://www.psfk.com/2015/02/commercial-drones-business-faa-uas.html..................19
(3) http://www.iii.org/insuranceindustryblog/?cat=29........................................................19
(4) http://www.businessinsider.com/the-market-for-commercial-drones-2014-2?IR=T 19

3. 1 Introduction
1.1 What is Drone
Drone is an aircraft without any human pilot aboard; this unmanned aircraft is also
formally known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or simply as UAV. The aircraft can either be
operated with a remote controller on the ground or through software-controlled embedded
systems with the help of GPS. The word DRONE basically stands for Dynamic Remotely
Operated Navigational Equipment. Essentially, drone is a flying robot.
Historically, Drones were first introduced and operated by military organizations until
recently, various other non-military or civil organizations started using it for various day-to-
day purposes. Therefore, there are mainly 2 different types of drones.
Combat/Military Drones- used for surveillance, espionage, and carrying out missile
attacks on the battlefield, equipped with light missiles and weapons. Combat drones look
similar to combat aircrafts, and the operator runs the vehicle from a remote terminal.
Combat drones can weigh more than 25,600 pounds and can have wingspan as large as
a Boeing 737.
Photo 1 Combat Drone 'Predator'
Commercial/Civil Drones- Used basically for taking aerial pictures and mapping, has
relatively a shorter range-mostly within the reach of sight of its operator on the ground,
controlled by a remote controller and as small as it can easily be placed and carried in
hand. It can be smaller than a radio-controlled model airplane.
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4. Photo 2 Civil Drone ‘Inspire 1’
1.2 Focus in this report
The idea of using civil drones is relatively new. The usage of drones in various purposes
in everyday life is being discovered and the usage is gradually expanding. Therefore, this
report mainly focuses on civil drones with an insight into the technology, usage and future
prospects.
1.3 Importance of Learning Drone Technology
“UAV technology can have an incredible impact in scientific study, with real-world
applications in solving both historical mysteries and modern global challenges,” said
Brandon Basso, VP of software engineering at 3DR. In other words, today no one knows
exactly where this technology can take us. The full potential is only now beginning to be
digested and applied to different industries and research fields. What’s already clear is
that UAVs are the most exciting and promising new academic arena to emerge in a while:
They’ll propel science and learning, open up new fields of study and assist in making
discoveries that would have been unrealistic or unimaginable before this technology. (1)
1.4 Drone Technology in Brief
The main components used for construction of a drone are the frame, propellers, either
fixed-pitch or variable-pitch, and the electric motors. For best performance and simplest
control algorithms, the motors and propellers should be placed equidistant. Recently,
carbon fiber composites have become popular due to their lightweight and structural
stiffness. The electrical components needed to construct a drone are similar to those
needed for a modern RC helicopter, which include the electronic speed control module,
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5. on-board computer or controller board, and battery. Radio transmitter device is needed to
control the drone while airborne. Optional components such as GPS (Global Positioning
System) modules, cameras, ultrasonic sensors, barometers (barometric pressure
sensors) etc. can be considered to enhance the performance and adding value to its uses.
More detail of this mechanism will be provided in later chapters.
Photo 3 Key components of a DJI Phantom 2 Drone
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6. 1.5 The Difference Between a Quadcopter and a Drone
Drones like DJI Phantom in photo 3 can also be generalized as a quadcopter of some
sort. Both have the same basic structure with similar mechanism. However, there is a
distinct feature in drones that makes them different from a quadcopter. Drones sometimes
can fly autonomously which a quadcopter cannot. A drone typically comes with a GPS
and several ultrasonic sensors and barometers that enable it to lock the ground while
rotating 360 degrees on a loop. Using the ultrasonic sensors, it can also find a flat and
suitable surface to land while on autopilot mode. It can also perform a flight from point A to
point B autonomously if pre-programmed using the on-board GPS, which a quadcopter
clearly cannot do on its own.
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7. 2 Personal Motivation to Study this Technology
The term ‘drone’ started receiving increasing global exposure through media when the
Obama administration started using it for surveillance and carrying out missile attacks on
terrorist establishments on remote foreign territories in 2009. Back in the time it was just a
military aircraft equipped with modern and smart technologies. Within a few years some
toy manufacturing companies started coming up with their own smaller version of hobby-
drones for recreational use. Some start-up companies got inspired by this and started
creating drones attached with cameras that could take some basic pictures or short videos
from a specific distance-which gained popularity among public and thus, the hype created.
Later on, people started discovering newer and more diversified usage of drones, for
example, in 3D mapping, filmmaking or even in search & rescue operations. Some
universities, realizing the importance of learning this technology, started offering academic
courses on drones.
For me, I was observing all these incidents for last several years quite closely. I believe
drone technology is still in its very beginning stage of inception; there are still a lot more
dynamics to come in near and far future. I like observing the evolution of newer and
innovative technologies like drones, AI (Artificial Intelligence), wearable gadgets, 4D; all
these are quite thought provoking to me and observing these evolution helps me picturize
how would future world look like. Therefore, when I got a chance to prepare a report on
future technologies as a part of the course New Opportunities of ICT (ISM4TX700) I
immediately decided to use this opportunity to make a deeper dive-in to one of the
technologies that I have been following.
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8. 3 Market Dynamics: Present and Future
3.1 Google Trend Results
Google Trends is a web facility from Google Inc., which is based on Google’s Search
feature. It shows how often a particular search-term is entered relative to the total search-
volume across various regions of the world. The horizontal axis in the main graph
represents time and the vertical axis shows how often a term is searched.
A comparison of the search terms ‘Unmanned aerial vehicle’ and ‘drone’ has been
conducted from a period of last five years. This chart clearly indicates that drone is
increasingly getting attention from people all over the world.
3.2 Current Picture
According to Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) projections, the global market for
consumer UAVs will approach $130 million in revenue in 2015, increasing by more than
50 percent from 2014; with unit sales of consumer UAS expected to approach 425,000, an
increase of 65 percent. (2)
3.3 Future Market Dynamics
Although using drones on a commercial purpose these days are extremely low, the
potential role of drones in future business world is being realized as more and more
companies are including drones in their future business plans. Therefore, the market for
research, sales and use of drones is increasing. The Association for Unmanned Vehicle
Systems International said in its 2013 economic report that the current UAS global market
is of $6.6 billion. It also predicts that within 10 years (2015 to 2025) drones will create
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9. approximately 100,000 new jobs and around $82 billion in economic activity. (3)
Figure 1 Projected annual sales of unmanned vehicles
In another report from Business Insider, it estimates that 12% of an estimated $98 billion
in cumulative global spending on aerial drones over the next decade will be for
commercial purposes. (4)
Figure 2 Global Aerial Drone Market
3.4 Tech Giants Leap
Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos had unleashed an idea of using unmanned drones to deliver
the orders to its customers within 30 minutes after ordering, with its new Prime Air service.
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10. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, desirous to embrace drones to provide the Internet
facility to the Internet deprived areas. Google has acquired a drone start-up this year,
Titan Industries, to pursue its dream to reach to the underserved area by providing new
users an access to the Internet, with the help of unmanned drones. In June this year,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given a nod to British Petroleum (BP) to fly
drones over Alaska to inspect and study new oil fields in the region, which makes BP the
first one to get an approval by FAA to fly an unmanned drone for commercial purpose
over American soil. (5)
Not only the big organizations but startups and smaller businesses are also looking at
these useful toys to elevate the level of customer service at the least possible cost. A
florist from Michigan area was found to be testing drones for delivery of flowers, small
pizza outlets in India and Russia are showing their mettle to serve the customer the best
by using drone delivery, are some of the examples. Looking at all these innovative ways
of using Unmanned Ariel Vehicles (UAV), it is evident that the leading enterprises have
started looking at the drones as a tool to be used for commercial purposes. Whatever is
the purpose of the using drones it is learnt that it will have myriads of applications
independent of the core business of the organization.
3.5 Venture Capitalists Step-in
As more and more the potential of drones in shaping up future economy appears, venture
capitalists are rushing in to invest on various projects related to research and
development of drones. Tim Draper, who previously invested in Hotmail, Skype and Baidu
is backing up a start up called DroneDeploy that builds softwares for unmanned aircraft
used for land mapping and surveillance of agriculture field. Airware, another start-up from
California raised $13.3 million in 2013 from several investors, Google Ventures being one
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11. of them. According to CB Insights data, investment in 2014 to the nascent drone industry
topped $108M across 29 deals. Year-over-year funding increased 104% as venture firms
including Lightspeed Venture Partners, GGV Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
among others jumped into the drone space with sizable bets. (6)
Figure 3 Fundings and Deals on Drones
As part of this course, we studied Technology Adoption Life Cycle model/The
Diffusion Process and Gartner’s Hype Cycle Model. In this report, I would like to show
where does the term DRONE stand on these two models.
3.6 Technology Adoption Level
Drone technology is relatively new. But there are several companies, governments and
organizations, which has successfully implemented this technology in various private,
commercial, scientific and national uses. Therefore, in general it is located in the innovator
stage of the technology life cycle. It is receiving a great deal of attention and interest with
high expectations for rapid growth in the near future. The main reason for placing this
technology in the innovator stage is because of the huge potential market of users. The
United States accounts for roughly 70% of the global growth and market share of UAVs
today, making it the biggest segment for this technology. (7)
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12. Figure 4 Drone's Technology Adoption Level
3.7 Drone on Gartner’s Hype Cycle
Gartner’s hype cycle represents where some current and upcoming technologies are in
their path to maturity. Gartner thinks that are 5-10 years to the "Plateau of Productivity",
but with the higher "inflated expectations" still to come (followed by the inevitable "trough
of disillusionment". Here, in this hype cycle, drones are a combination of ’Autonomous
vehicles’ and ’Mobile robots’.
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13. Figure 5 Gartner's Hype Cycle
4 Drone Mechanism in Detail
4.1 How to Build a Drone
These are some of the basic components required to build a small drone:
Frame
Motor x4
Electronic Speed Control (ESC) x4
Flight Control Board
Radio transmitter and receiver
Propeller x4 (2 clockwise and 2 counter-clockwise)
Battery & Charger
Unlike most quadcopters, drones use two sets of identical fixed pitched propellers; two
clockwise (CW) and two counter-clockwise (CCW). These use variation of RPM to control
lift and torque. Control of vehicle motion is achieved by altering the rotation rate of one or
more rotor-discs, thereby changing its torque load and thrust/lift characteristics.
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14. 4.2 Flight control
Each rotor produces both a thrust and torque about its center of rotation, as well as a drag
force opposite to the vehicle's direction of flight. If all rotors are spinning at the same
angular velocity, with rotors one and three rotating clockwise and rotors two and four
counterclockwise, the net aerodynamic torque, and hence the angular acceleration about
the yaw axis, is exactly zero, which implies that the yaw stabilizing rotor of conventional
helicopters is not needed. Yaw is induced by mismatching the balance in aerodynamic
torques (i.e., by offsetting the cumulative thrust commands between the counter-rotating
blade pairs).
Diagram 1- A UAV hovers or adjusts its altitude by applying equal thrust to all four rotors.
Diagram 2- A UAV adjusts its yaw by applying more thrust to rotors rotating in one
direction.
Diagram 3- A UAV adjusts its pitch or roll by applying more thrust to one rotor and less
thrust to its diametrically opposite rotor.
4.3 Vortex Ring State
Small quadcopters are subject to normal rotorcraft aerodynamics, including vortex ring
state.
4.4 Mechanical
The main mechanical components needed for construction are the frame, propellers
(either fixed-pitch or variable-pitch), and the electric motors. For best performance and
simplest control algorithms, the motors and propellers should be placed equidistant.
Recently, carbon fiber composites have become popular due to their lightweight and
structural stiffness. The electrical components needed to construct a working quadcopter
are similar to those needed for a modern RC helicopter. They are the electronic speed
control module, on-board computer or controller board, and battery.
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15. 4.5 Speeding & Turning
UAV can control its roll and pitch rotation by speeding up two motors on one side and
slowing down the other two. So for example if the UAV wanted to roll left it would speed
up motors on the right side of the frame and slow down the two on the left. Similarly if it
wants to rotate forward it speeds up the back two motors and slows down the front two.
Here is how a GJI Phantom 2 looks from inside:
Photo 4 DJI Phantom 2 Inside
5 Opportunities/Impacts
5.1 Opportunities
Drones are already being used in many different sectors including commerce, military and
government uses, agriculture, photography and filming. And there are a lot of different
sectors where drones can be used. Here are some of the applications:
3-D Mapping- Small and lightweight drones help in surveying large landscapes with
thousands of digital images that can be stitched together into a string of 3-D maps.
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16. Though military and other government satellites produce similar maps, but the stupendous
outcomes of UAV technology outshines them repeatedly.
Search and Rescue- Drones are a widespread application to rescue patients during
injury or any calamity, manmade or natural. Drones have the ability to help assist, locate
and save victims, faster with more efficiency than any other option. There are campaign
missions to provide a string product line of Search and Rescue (SAR) Drones. Advanced
technology is used to create drones that can reach people in small spaces and supply
food, water and medicine to trapped victims. Many advances like water-resistance, high
definition GPS tracker and cameras in quadcopters prove a great benefactor especially in
the search and rescue aim.
Farming- In agriculture technology helps in great precision to monitor fields, increase
yields and also save money. Moreover, drones also help precise applications of
pesticides, water, or fertilizers by identifying exactly where such resources are needed
and delivering them there too. Cameras in drones are able to spot nitrogen levels (low or
high) or watch the growth of a particular section. Infrared light cameras inform about plant
health by measuring the efficiency of photosynthesis in various plants. These infrared
cameras also detect which land is suitable for appropriate growth of which plant.
Photography- Commercial photography has a lot to gain from legal UAVs. Real estate
agents could contract a drone-savvy photographer to take aerial shots of a property, and
festival organizers could conduct accurate headcounts using overhead photos.
News- Huge, expensive news helicopters might not be the standard for much longer.
Drones equipped with cameras can fly lower and into smaller areas than larger manned
aircraft. Instead of wide aerial shots of the freeway in a high-speed chase, viewers could
one day get a look into the driver’s side window of a speeding car on the local news.
Internet Service- Some were left puzzled when Facebook moved to acquire Titan
Aerospace, a maker of solar-powered drones. The potential sale could further Mark
Zuckerburg’s Internet.org initiative, which aims to provide wireless Internet to remote parts
of the world. The solar-drones, which can reportedly stay airborne for five years, would act
as movable wireless access points. (8)
Hurricane Hunting- Drones can charge into the heart of a storm without risking human
life and limb. That's one reason NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
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17. Administration (NOAA), and Northrop Grumman teamed up on a three-year, $30-million
experiment to use long-range Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to spy on storms as they
evolve.
Whale Watching- Andrew Duggan, managing director of Insitu Pacific, told CNN that
drones like the Insitu Integrator have been used for monitoring marine mammals off the
coast of Australia and in firefighting situations.
Shooting Commercials- Former adult film director Christopher Kippenberger combined
the cold, grey streets of Berlin, the growl of a Maserati V8, and some gorgeous film to
create this car commercial.
Law Enforcement- A drone’s thermal imaging technology can help during hostage
situations, search and rescue operations, bomb threats and when officers need to pursue
an armed criminal.
Environmental compliance- Midnight dumping of toxic waste and other surreptitious
activities are the bane of environmental law enforcement. But drones may prove to be a
cost-effective solution to that problem.
Disaster relief- Drones have a wide range of applications for disaster relief, from entering
radiation-filled "hot zones" where human access would be dangerous (after a nuclear
accident, for example) to searching for survivors across a debris-filled landscape.
Journalism- Besides learning how to create a snappy headline, journalism students at
the University of Missouri in Columbia are taking drone-flying lessons. The top-ranked J-
school is now offering a class in drones as info-gathering tools. (9)
5.2 Impact
Realizing the huge potential drones are going to have in future, some universities already
started offering degrees and courses on drone technology. Kansas State University (K-
State) Salina, is one of the first three US universities to offer an undergraduate degree in
UAS operations. The University of North Dakota introduced a major in Unmanned Aircraft
Systems Operations in 2009, while Florida aeronautical university Embry-Riddle’s B.S. in
Unmanned Aircraft Systems Science debuted in 2011. “Unmanned aircraft systems is like
the Wild West of aviation,” said John Robbins, assistant professor in the Aeronautical
Science Department at Embry-Riddle. “It’s a brand-new area, and we know that these
aircraft are going to be a component of the future of aviation.” (10) University of Alaska
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18. Fairbank's Geophysical Institute has started a drone program as part of the engineering
department. The course will focus on the technology that makes drones fly.
6 Challanges Ahead
Despite having some advantages, there are some concerns that should be thought about.
These are:
Drones don’t have the ability to communicate with human in order to gather more
intelligence.
Drones are not fully autonomous yet. Bigger or smaller, at least one or two people are
needed to operate a drone. Therefore, it requires a ’human’ coordination.
Battery life for drones is very low. Most of the drones have a flight span of 10-20 minutes
per battery recharge.
Drones are not yet ready for being used commercially. For example, Amazon wants its
drones to be able to carry 5-pound packages on a 20-mile round trip route. The eight-rotor
prototype that Amazon demonstrated in 2013, it is virtually impossible to reach that
performance yet.
And delivery drones would have to fly autonomously, which requires sensors and software
that can three-dimensionally map the environment and navigate it on the fly. Such
technology isn't yet ready.
Every drone will have to deal with extreme weather at one time or another. Any condition
ranging from wind, to rain, snow, hail, extreme heat or extreme cold, will need a
contingency plan for both the retrieval and safe delivery of the cargo.
The larger the drone and the greater the distance it has to cover, the more the noise will
be on its flight path. Considering in future, there will be a lot of sectors where drones will
be used, the noise formed by drones engine might cause an issue.
7 Conclusion
Drones show great promises in shaping-up future technologies and businesses. Drones
first came to application as small toys, or school/university projects and then no sooner
began to garner widespread attention- used in big budget movies, photography of high
profile sports, agricultural use to rectify lands and detect levels of pesticides as well as
other components search and rescue, land mapping, military etc. The commercial as well
as private use of drones is enlarging. Drones will soon take on to be an imperative
existence in the coming future. The innumerable advantages of drones lead to their
growth in a short span of time. They have a few demerits but those can be rectified. Today
most drones are controlled either by softwares or other computer programs. The
16

19. components of a drone also vary based on what type of work needs to be done and how
much payload needs to be carried. Hence drones have an exemplarily bright future. The
responsibility lies upon us as to how effectively we can take advantage of this technology.
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20. References
Photo
1 Combat Drone 'Predator'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_aerial_vehicle#/media/File:MQ-
9_Reaper_in_flight_%282007%29.jpg
2 Civil Drone ‘Inspire 1’ REFERE
http://gizmodo.com/dji-inspire-1-a-badass-drone-that-shoots-lovely-4k-vid-1658076017
3 Key components of a DJI Phantom 2 Drone
http://www.dolstra.nl/Modelvliegen/DJI%20Phantom/DJI%20Phantom.htm
Figure
1 Projected annual sales of unmanned vehicles
http://www.iii.org/insuranceindustryblog/?cat=29
2 Global Aerial Drone Market
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-market-for-commercial-drones-2014-2?
IR=T
3 Fundings and Deals on Drones
https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/drone-startups-venture-capital/
4 Drone's Technology Adoption Level
http://blogs.salleurl.edu/itmanagement/2015/03/16/life-cycle-for-drone-technology/
5 Gartner's Hype Cycle
http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/where-drones-sit-on-the-gartner-hype-cycle?
utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
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21. In-text References
(1) (http://3drobotics.com/2015/02/droneedu-3dr-launches-uav-sponsorships-
education-programs/
(2) http://www.psfk.com/2015/02/commercial-drones-business-faa-uas.html
(3) http://www.iii.org/insuranceindustryblog/?cat=29
(4) http://www.businessinsider.com/the-market-for-commercial-drones-2014-
2?IR=T
(5) http://www.mbaskool.com/business-articles/operations/10108-drones-the-present-and-
future-of-robotics-in-logistics.html
(6) https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/drone-startups-venture-capital/
(7) http://blogs.salleurl.edu/itmanagement/2015/03/16/life-cycle-for-drone-technology/
(8)http://www.boston.com/business/2014/03/14/commercial-uses-for-
drones/dscS47PsQdPneIB2UQeY0M/singlepage.html
(9) http://www.livescience.com/28137-cool-uses-for-drones.html
(10) http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/04/as-demand-grows-midwestern-colleges-
prep-students-to-fly-drones/
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