Lights, Action, Drones
The skies are opening up and Integration will be Key in The Game of Drones
The big question, "WHY" - The possibilities are endless.
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as drone is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. Its flight is controlled either autonomously by onboard computers or by the remote control of a pilot on the ground or in another vehicle also called as remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS). The utilities are endless, equip it with a camera and a GPS device, fly it through the window of a burning building, then have it roll around hallways seeking survivors and sounding an alarm when it finds one. Check for damage on road and rail bridges, monitor natural disasters such as flooding and spray crops with pinpoint accuracy. Estate agents and architects can use them for aerial photography. Energy firms will be able to monitor pieces of vital infrastructure, such as pipelines. See logistic and online shopping giants delivering customers' packages via air drone, Routine aerial surveillance, domestic policing, etc.
Reality check - Hurdles are just a jump away.
Civil drones are increasingly being used in Europe, in countries such as Sweden, France and the UK, in different sectors, but under a fragmented regulatory framework. Basic national safety rules apply. Commercial use of drones is banned by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in US; there are few exceptions to this, such as running remote controlled flights as a hobby in unpopulated areas where the aircraft stays in sight of a human operator. By Sep '15 FAA has plans to select six UAS testing sites from a list of 25 applicants in 24 states. These sites will help the FAA understand how to integrate Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into American airspace. In 2014 rules will be published on the use of craft weighing less than 25kg/~55lb. This is the area most of the restrained commercial demand appears to be coming from.
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) reckons that by 2025 civil drones could boost the domestic economy by as much as $82 billion a year, which includes tax revenue from sales of drones and their components as well as more than 100,000 direct and indirect jobs created.
There have been lots of controversies surrounding usage policy on domestic drones rules must be put in place to ensure that all can enjoy the benefits of this new technology without bringing us closer to a "surveillance society" in which our every move is monitored, tracked, recorded, and scrutinized by the government. Drones are here to stay and policies will evolve.
Front runners in Commercial Space – All set to make Drone happen.
All are waiting for the green signal and they will be ready to rock and roll. Retailers like Amazon and other major tech giants like Google and Facebook have and are investing hundreds of millions in drone technology. The motivation behind investments might seem to be slightly different for each of them.
Amazon will likely want drones to deliver packages within hours of orders being placed. Amazon Prime is a popular service offered by retail giant Amazon to ensure customers get their packages as quickly as possible. The company is about to take things to the next level. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos recently revealed Amazon Prime Air on 60 Minutes. The service would see customers' packages delivered via air drone as soon as 30 minutes after they placed their order.
Facebook may use its drones to make internet available in remote areas of the world. Facebook already has more than a billion users on its service, but the fact remains that two thirds of the world population does not have Internet access, and to sign up the rest of world it needs to get them online. Facebook's new Connectivity Lab is researching on drones and other mediums to spread the reach of the Internet to isolated locations in provide basic Internet access to "every person in the world".
Google may use them to deliver products ordered through Shopping Express and also use them for making internet available along with its balloons(another interesting spear you might want to explore), couple of weeks ago Google, the search engine giant announced that it has acquired Titan Aerospace, a start-up founded in 2012 that makes high-altitude, solar-powered drones.
Logistics giants DHL, FedEx and UPS are experimenting with drones for delivery. On top of that there are law enforcement departments that will be buying drones for surveillance. Recreational use of drones for purposes such as hunting is also being explored. FAA estimates 10,000 drones in US airspace by 2017.
Will Integration play a key role in The Game of Drones:
No matter what the motivation may be, one thing's for sure that popular use of drones for various purposes is becoming a reality in the near future.
As more and more companies start deploying hordes of drones for various purposes, they will be handling enormous amount of data generated by these machines. Data streams such as battery status, locational data, delivery confirmation, video streams, engine health, environmental data and several other types of data will be sent back to control tower. This data will in turn be used to give customers update via push notifications, SMS, emails etc. This can open up n number of use cases:
§ Buy online and get it delivered via drone in 20 minutes
§ Check status of your delivery drone online (or mobile)
§ Try out new purchases and return if do not like (while drone waits)
§ Farm fresh food delivered via drone right from the farm
§ Deliver time critical medical devices (or harvested organs) bypassing airport delays
To enable these use cases, Integration platforms will need to evolve to handle drone data and treat them like any other application. Integration with drone management systems might become a mainstream requirement in next 5 years. Shippers might soon be switching to generating drone prototypes for shipping and Enterprise resource planning (ERP) business management softwares might be exchanging information with Drone servers via Integration layer. ITs might need to establish a drone center of excellence to manage and control drone applications.
Both B2B and B2C uses of drones will require integration of different types of data streams and integration will become the key in making commercial drone programs successful.
References:
http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/14/technology/innovation/google-titan-drone/
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/27/tech/innovation/facebook-drones-lasers-connectivity/
http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/04/facebook-drone-company-internet/
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amazon-prime-air-drone-delivery,25252.html
https://www.aclu.org/blog/tag/domestic-drones
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