A wave of the future - small portable UAV's for aerial mapping and emergency response. Hip video takes 3:55 to walk you through the sequence of set-up, launch, data collection and platform recovery. Go here.
Comment: The flip side of this capability is deconfliction with piloted aircraft. Given a couple of geese were enough to bring down USAir 1549 onto the Hudson River on January 15, 2009 (Miracle on the Hudson), the FAA is rightful concerned about the uncontrolled proliferation of these platforms. As such, on December 1, 2010, it issued FAA Fact Sheet - Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) that relates the extent of the issues and how the agency is working to resolve them.
It depends on how you look at it. The FAA does it best to keep all UAS grounded - irrespective of their risk level and beneficial impact of society - while millions of uncontrollable geese are happily flocking around ...
ReplyDeleteAnonymous is correct with regard to the disparity between the value to society of UAV systems and current restrictions imposed. It’s an idea that reinforces a point I have made several times before on this blog. As geospatial technologies have evolved from simply being a way to take a paper map and make it electronic, to becoming an exploding technology that is integrated into all parts of modern life, the decision making and legal communities have failed to keep up. Consequently, many geospatial capabilities (like UAV’s) are poorly understood and remain underutilized. One of the efforts underway to change this is the Department of Homeland Security and GITA GECCo program. Find out more about that effort by using the link at the bottom of the page.
ReplyDelete