The good drones: industries eagerly await FAA rules to allow them to fly

To monitor for signs of trouble with the cotton, tomato, cantaloupe and other crops on his 11,000-acre family farm in California’s Central Valley, Cannon Michael turns to aerial images.

Michael uses satellite photos, as well as images taken from a private plane, to manage water, fertilizer and pesticide use. But the satellite flies over his farm only once every two weeks, and its photos don’t have enough resolution to provide fine details. Hiring a private plane even a few times a year is expensive.

Enter the drones, which promise high-resolution images at less cost and greater frequency. “Now we are reacting to images that come to us. With drones, we will be able to be more proactive,” said Michael, president of the Bowles Farming Company and member of an advisory board for drone research at the University of California at Merced. “You can send the drone out to get images when you want it.”

Robotics companies such as Aireware, 3D Robotics and Yamaha see farmers as among the early adopters of drones in the US. Like Michael, many already rely on aerial images to guide planting, irrigation and pest management decisions throughout a growing season. Plus farms are usually in open spaces with sparse population – safer than busy urban settings for drone operation.

Images from government satellites require data processing to be useful. Hiring someone to download and process images from government agencies such as the US Geological Survey can cost around $0.25 to $0.30 per acre, Michael said.

Hiring a plane and pilot to shoot aerial images is much more expensive, costing around $2 to $4 per acre, Michael said. These offer more information than satellite images, but fly-bys are only feasible over 10-15% of his fields.

For growers to replace these image sources with drones, however, both policy- and drone-makers have some thorny regulatory and technology hurdles to overcome.

US lags in commercial drone use

Drones are already used commercially in Europe, Latin America and elsewhere in the world. The United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, is offering a $1m prize for a drone that can deliver government documents to its citizens.

But the size of the US market for drones is anyone’s guess because the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is still developing rules for where and how high commercial drones can go, as well as what safety, communication and other features will be required for operating them.

At the moment people can fly drones recreationally and must keep them within the line of sight.

Congress has instructed the FAA to allow commercial drone flights by September of 2015. A report released earlier this year by the Department of Transportation inspector general charged that the agency was way behind schedule in creating rules for commercial drone use.

But The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the FAA will propose rules by the end of the year that would require drone operators to hold pilot licenses, as well as limit flights to altitudes of less than 400 feet, daylight hours only, and within sight of the operator. If finalized, such rules could undercut hopes for a vibrant domestic commercial drone industry.

So for now American drone firms are looking overseas for clients. Customers of San Francisco-based Airware, such as Delta Drone, are using its autonomous flight-control software to survey land in Europe for quarrying operations and crop management.

“I see applications in Africa where mining companies that need to restore land use UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) to image before, during and after to show the areas have been restored,” said Jesse Kallman, head of global business development and regulatory affairs at the venture-backed Airware.

Reducing danger and protecting wildlife

The FAA has so far approved only a handful of special permits for commercial drone flights.

ConocoPhillips received one in September 2013 to monitor whales and ice floes in the Arctic and minimize harm to wildlife while drilling. In June, BP secured the first permit to fly drones over land, to inspect oil pipelines and track wildlife in Alaska.

Hollywood is also a fan of drones, with six movie companies receiving permits in September to use the aerial carriers for filming. Drones, being smaller and nimbler, could shoot film or video footage from a variety of angles and promise to be safer to operate than helicopters.

A wide range of US businesses hope to follow suit. Utilities are looking into using drones to inspect transmission lines and power stations, as well as survey post-storm damage – especially in areas that are hard to reach by humans and vehicles.

Emergency responders also fancy using drones to take stock of damages after earthquakes, fires or other disasters.

Wind farm operators have approached Berkeley, California-based 3D Robotics about engineering drones to inspect wind turbines as well as reduce injury and death to wildlife.

“The classic scenario is they hire a lot of biologists to do surveys. That takes a long time and data collection can be inaccurate,” said Brandon Basso, who heads research and development at 3D Robotics.

Replacing ground delivery services with drones – and ditching the reliance on fossil fuel – is also in the works. Amazon became the poster child for this concept last year after revealing its prototype package delivery drone. The firm states that it will launch a “Prime Air” service within four to five years.

The drones “will revolutionize the world in handling the most difficult, dangerous and dull jobs,” said Michael Toscano, CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. “We don’t know all the applications yet.”

Farmers may be first to reap improved tech

Some sizable technology gaps need to be bridged for drones to become attractive options for a broad array of businesses, however.

Proving a drone’s ability to spot and avoid collisions with humans and objects (trees, powerlines, each other) – especially in more populated areas – remains a formidable challenge. Although the drones that are under testing or consideration are generally on the smaller side, weighing ten to a few dozen pounds, they still can pose safety hazards if they land improperly or crash.

Battery life also presents a major hurdle. Advanced batteries that pack a lot of energy into a small space are too expensive and heavy for use in drones, according to David Doll, a farm advisor with the University of California Cooperative Extension.

Another technology shortcoming is the software for processing raw images to extract and present useful information.

Doll has received a $250,000 grant to work with researchers at UC Merced on a drone design, and imaging equipment. He hopes to lower costs significantly for farmers – from several thousand dollars to around $500 for a drone and an attached camera.

“The dream is to have a home pad where the drone will take off and go on its mission,” Doll said. “It will take 15 minutes and come back and download the data before charging itself on that pad.”

The technology and innovation hub is funded by BT. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled “brought to you by”. Find out more here.