UAS Strengths and Weaknesses

There has been a growing need for the use of unmanned aerial system (UAS) in civilian applications. Decades ago, UAS development had been largely driven by military applications and only been deployed for military use, such as in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Radio technology then had enabled unmanned flights using altimeter, gyrocompass and later with GPS technology in stealth-based three dimensional thrust vectoring flight control and advanced avionics. There are numerous applications of UAS such as security, search and rescue, monitoring, disaster management, crop management, survey and communications (UAVSA, 2016). However, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has prohibited the use of UAS for commercial purposes, except for certain specific activities such as in law enforcement and disaster management. As at September 2015, 1400 of such exemptions had been granted for agricultural, real estate, film and broadcasting, oil and gas, and construction activities (Canis, 2015). Legislation aside, the biggest strength in the use of UAS lies with the fact that they are able to be operated in hazardous conditions, such as extreme heat, darkness, hostile enemy environments, etc. that would have otherwise pose significant risks to pilots in manned aircraft.

The Scan Eagle X200 and Puma RQ-20A were the two UAS platforms approved by FAA for commercial use in 2013, mainly for aerial surveillance. Later in March 2015, FAA approved the use of drones below 200 feet of altitude for those companies who had already obtained approval after going through the ‘Section 333’ process (Dillow, 2015). The Puma was originally used by military and government agencies to conduct intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and target acquisition (ISRT), battle damage assessment, maritime patrol, search and rescue and drug interdiction missions over water or land. The system can be launched by hand and has ground control stations (GCSs) that can receive live imaginary from the UAS payloads and process data in real time for interested parties. The GCS can also be used by the firm’s own Raven and Wasp/BATMAV systems. The strength of the Puma is that it is highly portable, requiring only two people to operate. It can be set up within five minutes for it to operate with a range of 15 km for an endurance of 2 hours (AeroVironment, 2016). Unlike for any defence organizations where cost is the least of a concern due to the paramount importance of national security, at a price tag of about $250,000, Puma AE system can be a significant cost if it is to be acquired and deployed for civil use.

In general, UAS used in military has significantly higher costs compared to those required by civil missions. Endurance and range are important factors so that the UAS can be launched far from enemy territory. Operating flight ceiling has to be large enough to avoid detection or getting destroyed by the enemy. For aerial surveillance at high altitudes with good endurance and range, the UAS will need to have expensive and complex payloads, GCSs and manpower to provide for all these requirements. Civil applications using UAS may not have these same requirements during aerial surveillance. Applications such as monitoring forests for illegal logging, wildlife observation or monitoring illicit drug trafficking can be performed using UAS platforms at a much cheaper cost of less than $10,000. Where designs are concerned, the other platforms can also be easily deployed at a much lower cost.

UAS usage is expected to proliferate over the next decade. As such interest grows, there should be significant investments into this market, both military and civil, to cater to a wider scope of applications. If the authorities continue to relax their policies to encourage more UAS use into future civil applications, we can expect to see more cross-sharing of knowledge between military and civil groups in this technology, and with multiple correlation of missions between them, will certainly bring about more unique and advanced technological improvements.

Reference

Aerovironment (2016). The Puma AE Datasheet. Retrieved from http://www.avinc.com/downloads/PumaAE_0910.pdf

Canis, B. (2015). Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS): Commercial outlook for a new industry. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved from https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44192.pdf

Dillow, C. (2015). FAA issues blanket approval for commercial drone use below 200 feet. Fortune. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2015/03/24/faa-commercial-drone-approval/

UAVSA (2016). Civil and commerical UAS applications. Retrieved from https://www.uavs.org/commercial