Beneficial Ways That Civilian Drones and UAVs May Be Used
There's a lot of discussion of the introduction of drones into civilian life in the US. Mostly, the discussion is about their use by law enforcement agencies. Many people worry about an increased loss of privacy, and that's an important issue. What is not discussed so much are the ways that these devices might be used in ways of which we approve. It is important to deal with potential negative issues involving UAVs, but there are many, many ways that they will be useful and even life-saving. Some examples include, but are not limited to:
1. Searches for Missing Persons - Already, a drone was used in Texas to locate a missing child in swampy, almost inaccessible terrain. Sadly, they found the child's body, but rather quickly, bringing an end to the search much faster than if human searchers were used.
2. Inspection of Dangerous Environments - Drones and other UAVs will be very useful in situations where risks to people are extreme. Refinery fires, toxic chemical spills, and potential explosives are just some such situation. By assessing the situation visually, operations can be made much safer for the personnel who must enter these areas.
3. Hostile Stand-Off Situations - More frequently than would be wished, people barricade themselves and stand off law enforcement, who do not know where the armed person is located, exactly. A situation like this has already occurred, where an armed person who had committed a violent crime was holed up somewhere in a remote area. Instead of sending in personnel to locate this person and to make sure areas were safe for additional personnel, a UAV was used to pinpoint his location. With that information, the person was arrested and nobody was killed or injured.
4. Crowd Observation - Both crowds at entertainment venues and, yes, protests, could be easily monitored without the need to have large numbers of security or law enforcement personnel in all areas around the crowd. This one has potential for good and bad use of this technology, of course.
5. Traffic Monitoring - This is a natural use of this technology. Currently, in most major cities, helicopters are used to monitor traffic flow, especially when it is interrupted for some reason. Expensive and dangerous, those manned helicopters could easily be replaced by UAVs.
6. Fire Management - Both urban and wild fires require careful management, but often the extent and location of hotspots cannot be easily identified. Manned helicopters can be used, but at high cost and risk to the operators.
7. Toxic Environments - In chemical, radiological, or other hazardous environments monitoring and inspecting with UAV's may be the only way to assess the situation and would allow planning for safe resolution of the hazard.
8. Disaster Management - In natural disasters, inspection and evaluation is needed quickly and accurately. UAVs are a natural technology for this use. Locating individuals at risk, mapping of damage areas, and much more could be quickly and efficiently handled with even multiple UAVs. Current strategies often leave areas uninspected for far too long, and manned aerial inspection is usually limited to available helicopters and operators. UAVs could be quickly brought to the scene and deployed without delay.
9. Pipeline and Power Grid Inspection - Again, UAVs are a natural choice for these jobs, for both economic and time reasons. Locating leaks and the location of outages is a critical need, and time wasted can lead to major losses.
10. Power Outage Management - During major power outages, inspection and location of needed repairs often slows down the recovery and restoration of power. During storm damage, for example, downed trees can prevent surface access and manned helicopter surveillance may not be immediately available or appropriate. UAVs are ideal for this type of inspection, and can make planning and recovery much simpler.
11. Agricultural and Forestry Management - The advantages of using UAVs in these situations are obvious.
Before we simply condemn civilian use of drones and UAVs, we really need to look at all of the ways they might be used, not just the ones that cause us concern over privacy and other issues.
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