In US, Amazon granted approval to deliver packages by drones

The Federal Aviation Administration has granted Amazon approval to deliver packages by drones. The online shopping giant has been working on drone delivery for years. Amazon unveiled self-piloting drones that are fully electric in 2019 which can carry 5 pounds of goods and are designed to deliver items in 30 minutes by dropping them in a backyard.

What are delivery drones?

Delivery drones are one of the types of unmanned aerial vehicles which can be operated remotely or autonomously and provides advantages such as delivery or distribution of packages during last mile delivery for commercial logistics or transportation industry. The logistics & transportation vendors are taking sheer interests for adopting drone technologies in order to provide their services efficiently at rural & urban areas wherein, transportation vehicles have difficulty to reach at remote locations due to bad condition of roadways.

Applications

• Topography surveying: Mining, roads and railway development, urban planning, asset management, land records, large construction sites, and stockpile/quarry management;
• Industrial inspections: Solar power plants, power transmission lines, telecom towers and chimneys; and
• Precision agriculture: Crop stress mapping, health assessment, and Chlorophyll mapping.
• Search and Rescue: In search and rescue operations call in a micro-drone as air support! When fire-fighting, for example, we can determine the proportion of any particular gas present using sophisticated measuring equipment and react appropriately.
• Security: Protect the public with micro-drones! Many authorities worldwide are already using our aerial platforms – for example to help coordinate security operations or preserve evidence.
• Science and Research: With a micro-drone you can break through barriers into areas which previously would scarcely have been within reach. Observe a volcanic eruption from the sky or document an archaeological excavation.
• E-Commerce Delivery: By amazon

Challenges

• Drones have been used by voyeurs and paparazzi to obtain images of individuals in their homes or other locations once assumed to be private.
• Drones have also been deployed in areas deemed to be potentially unsafe, such as urban areas and near airports.
• Growth in commercial and personal drones has created fear of mid-air collisions and loss of control.

As drones of several sizes have increased across domains, several start-ups have started to do research to solve the problem. The best counter-drone system is yet to be made, and there is furious research going on world over for this. Several countries have already incorporated drone-detection system. India must master in development of these technologies and using their capabilities.

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2020