Another article of interest to you...Drones: Possibilities of the FutureIt is widely known that the US military has used unmanned aircraft systems, often referred to as drones, for over 400 times in the past four years . Drones perform the same military tactics as other alternative methods at a relatively low cost, with no risk to U.S. forces while causing less collateral damage. These features make drones the centerpiece in the counter-terrorism strategy for the Obama administration.

Drones bring heated discussions on controversial issues including killing more civilian than terrorists, violation of sovereignty, etc. Despite these issues drones are now widely used in civilian segments and creating enormous possibilities for the future. We have seen live footage of this year’sGolden Globes award ceremony broadcast by drones, rescue teams relying on drones to navigate after the7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal , and mysterious drones spying on a French team training session before the World Cup .

Pop culture has also picked up drones as one of the advance techniques to develop high quality programs. The 2012 the James Bond film “Skyfall” used drones to film the scene where 007 raced across the rooftops of Istanbul . In America, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved exemption of using commercial dronesby 6 filming companies for certain movies in September 2014 . The birds-eye view and endless possibilities to film in hard to reach angles will elevate the quality of the film. FAA’s approval for film industries also showed a positive future for other commercial industries that are seeking to get the drone exemption for their specific needs.

There is much more that a commercial drone can help with. A study from the American Red Cross shows that the flexibility of drones allows for a quick reaction to devastating events, such as hurricanes or superstorms, which is crucial to save lives . Defense contractor Lockheed Martin partnered with Project Lifesaver to develop a drone that can locate missing people with cognitive disabilities . There is also a drone that was designed specifically for agriculture use by a Chinese company Xaircraft, which can crop-dust 143,000 square feet farm land in a single fly .

Regardless of the lagging government policies and regulations on drones, the fast-growing global drone market is getting investments and efforts to advance this new computing market. DJI, a Chinese company accounts for 70% of the global commercial drone market and has raised $75 million from Accel Partners, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm . According to a recent report from BI Intelligence, the market for commercial or civilian drones will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19% between 2015 and 2020 .

The development of drones will obviously impact the demand and supply of certain electronic components on a global level. From an industry standing point, the introduction of drones to the logistic service is also going to impact the supply chain as a whole where manufactures are concerned of just-in-time inventory management. Delivering with drones will also help reduce the cost and time for ground shipping methods. The FAA’s lift for drones in logistic service may come in years, but this is definitely a trend that players in the electronic industry should be watching.

RedHotPoker

I have to say I am very skeptical of all these people predicting amazing applications for drones, because none of them think out the concept properly. We have had the technology for some time to have flying cars, but do you see them in the sky? No, and there are very good reason for that, none of which have anything to do with the technical platform needed to develop the idea. Time will tell.

Geebax Posted at 2016-2-6 18:05
I have to say I am very skeptical of all these people predicting amazing applications for drones, be ...

I agree.  I'm sort of glad we don't have flying cars, judging by the way some people fly drones!

endotherm Posted at 2016-2-6 06:56
I agree.  I'm sort of glad we don't have flying cars, judging by the way some people fly drones!

I tease people sometimes as well and say "Hey! It's 2016. Where are the flying cars?"

However - when you drive your car, you need a driver's license. If your car leaves the road, and becomes airborn (on purpose, of course) you will need a pilot's license. Said pilot license is a far more expensive procedure than a license to drive the car. Not to mention you'll need to know things like MTBF (mean time between failure), identify when your annual inspection is due, certification requirements, etc.

There *could* be a very small, highly limited market for flying cars. But for the general public? Not very soon!

Drone delivery by Amazon (or anyone else) probably isn't right around the corner either!

Art - N4PJ
Leesburg, FL

aburkefl@gmail. Posted at 2016-2-6 07:24
I tease people sometimes as well and say "Hey! It's 2016. Where are the flying cars?"

However - w ...

If anyone ever invents a flying car that the general public can afford, that will be the day that I pack up my family and move far out into the woods never to be seen again.

I think we are at the point where the technology is here.  The problem is the humans.  Just looking at the current drone technology, the computers are doing most of the heavy lifting, making it possible for the average person to do something they probably wouldn't normally be able to do.  It wouldn't take much to upscale the technology to person-sized craft, in fact I've already seen a couple of prototypes.  I think this is why the autonomous self driving Google cars etc are going to be an important part of the equation.  They will incorporate the computer intelligence from the self-driving tech with the stability and flight tech from drones.  Then we will have self-flying passenger vehicles for humans, with humans taken out of the control of the vehicle (unless they are real pilots).  I'd be more comfortable having the sky full of computer-piloted vehicles than having some random human making all manner of mistakes and stupid Top Gun moves.

Way Back When:
Even as I was but a wee young scruffy child, we always read those magazines that talked about the eventual Future!!
You know, Scientific American and Mechanics Illustrated type publications. Flying cars and other dream machines were often written about, and we fantasized about our flights and toys alike...
All though the actual fruition never came to pass. It never happened. Just maybe & perhaps, that future written, is only now just arriving, and we are still getting there. ;-)

Seems like a lifetime ago, but that's only a tiny grain of sand on any beach, in historical time...

Think of this as the dinosaur era in digital electronics...

The future is still arriving. And so tomorrow, will be yesterday, all too soon.

Today, is the first day, of the rest of your (9) live/s. ;-) so get out and fly, like there is no tomorrow, today!! ;-)

RedHotPoker

The previous posts reminded me of the time, back in 1959, when Doc Bertelsen was featured on the cover of Popular Science magazine. Bertelsen was credited with being the father of the air cushion vehicle, or hovercraft. The front page headline read 'Here come cars without wheels'.

57 years later, where are the cars without wheels? For that matter, where are hovercraft? By an large, they have vanished, hardly anyone uses them, the huge ones that crossed the English Channel could have been bought for a song a few years back. It demonstrates, I think, that while a new technology may exist, it may not be practical to use it. People carrying drones fit into that category in my opinion.

I hope this comes to a town near me...soon.

Make it uber... Oy... Hahaha

RedHotPoker

RedHotPoker Posted at 2016-2-7 09:50
I hope this comes to a town near me...soon.
https://youtu.be/wbeoTnuo2-U
Make it uber... Oy... Hahah ...

Yeah, another one of those human slicers & dicers. Horrendously dangerous and badly designed. It is getting a lot of press lately because it looks cute, but seriously, unprotected props? Props on the bottom instead of the top? What are they thinking?

It must be built with a near bullet proof body.
If a rotating blade was ever to become dislocated... Yikes!!

Yeah, they sure are enticing, & does appear ultra cool, much like a future James Bond vehicle. ;-)

RedHotPoker

I admire their resolve: 'Once we begin, we will never give up". But as I have said before, can you imagine the state of California letting one of those things fly over it, as shown on the map in that demo? No chance.

Small city, or big town commuter vehicles, in rush hour... Hahaha

Let those bright Sparks fall where they might... ;-)

RedHotPoker

The part that puzzles me is that they have got so far and produced all that glossy bumph to promote it, when anyone who works in the aircraft industry will say it does not have a snowball's chance in hell of being certified for flight in the largest market, the US. They should give one away to Kim Jong Ill, that would solve two problems at the one time.

And another thing. My wife comes home in the car with the tank empty - always. And it is 10 kilometres to the nearest petrol station. She would hop into that Ehang thing and fly off on an empty battery, guaranteed. That's the sort of stupidity it would have to deal with.

Not sure how you can say "Safety by design" and show those 2-feet props in one frame with a straight face.

I can remember talk about putting a man in space years before anyone ever tried it.    It was just a futuristic plan at the time.  Look how far we have come.

RedHotPoker Posted at 2016-2-7 07:03
It must be built with a near bullet proof body.
If a rotating blade was ever to become dislocated.. ...

I don't see that as a big deal, look at piston engine small twin engine aircraft. Those spinning props are pretty close to your head.

Goldchucker Posted at 2016-2-7 13:41
I can remember talk about putting a man in space years before anyone ever tried it.    It was just a ...

There are amazing things to come, I love technology. I've flown small aircraft for over 20 years and when I started flying there was no portable GPS. I remember having maps opened up across the whole windshield trying to triangulate my position with a ruler and pencil bouncing in the air.
I haven't opened up a paper map in years and don't miss it at all.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-2-7 17:24
I don't see that as a big deal, look at piston engine small twin engine aircraft. Those spinning p ...

That's true, but where do light aircraft operate from? An airport where access to airside is strictly controlled and the public are kept out of. And the aircraft are operated by trained pilots who know the dangers and are trained to be mindful of accidents involving people and propellers.

Where does the Ehang thing operate from? Your driveway, where people already are stupid enough to back over young children. And the Ehang thing is designed to be operated by idiots who don't have a clue how to fly an aircraft, much less consider the safety issues.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-2-7 01:29
There are amazing things to come, I love technology. I've flown small aircraft for over 20 years a ...

I have a friend who has two planes. The larger (a Mooney Ovation) he flies on "serious" trips. The smaller one (a Lake amphibian) he flies just for fun. The last time we were in the Lake amphib, instead of a sectional map on a folded page, we were looking at a sectional (and other maps) on a iPad.

We were flying one day in his Mooney and I asked if we could fly by such-and-such an airport. He asked me if I knew where it was. I programmed it into the GPS and he was astounded. I learned how to use that GPS from Microsoft Flight Simulator. The thing was so sophisticated that we downloaded the real manual from Garmin to learn how to use it.

For many years, the FAA was "suspicious" of using GPS to take the place of ILS. The technology has come forward enormously in the last few years. I even have a pretty sophisticated GPS on my bicycle.

Art - N4PJ
Leesburg, FL

Geebax Posted at 2016-2-7 16:20
That's true, but where do light aircraft operate from? An airport where access to airside is stric ...

You do not fly the Ehang, it is 100% autonomous and you are only a passenger in it. I think that's what the future of travel will be, but we'll see.
Who knows what will happen in the next 10 years.

aburkefl@gmail. Posted at 2016-2-7 20:48
I have a friend who has two planes. The larger (a Mooney Ovation) he flies on "serious" trips. The ...

So true, I have flown some REAL cross country flights (Indiana to California, Maryland to California were the longest ones) and I had paper maps but never opened them. I flew 100% by iPad and WingX Pro.

In the older ways, I once lost GPS for about 5 minutes in the middle of the desert and it took me minute to remember how to find my position by VOR.
And awesome aircraft you have, for about 10ys all of my passwords for everything is your aircraft
Never had one though

Amazing how far aviation has come. I found my pilot log from my last flight. It was for .4 hours. I also found the bill for aircraft rental for that flight. I rental for the plane included cost for fuel. Those 4/10ths of an hour cost me all of $4.00. (Cessna 150 rented for $10.00 per hour wet).

j30trouble Posted at 2016-2-7 21:47
Amazing how far aviation has come. I found my pilot log from my last flight. It was for .4 hours. I  ...

How long ago was that?  Last time I checked it was about $150/hr US.  I thought abut flying lessons, but too much money to do it just for fun.  Every hour would be a new battery for my Pantom.

How many intelligent flight batteries, become a point of diminishing returns?
I don't have enough hours in a day as it is, without adding more batteries to the equation. Haha
But perhaps you need a few more, and so for you, the added power packs add value to your experience.

RedHotPoker

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-2-8 02:07
You do not fly the Ehang, it is 100% autonomous and you are only a passenger in it. I think that's ...

"You do not fly the Ehang, it is 100% autonomous and you are only a passenger in it."

I realise that, but it only makes the situation worse.

The original Mercury Astronauts initially refused to fly in the rockets unless they had some control over the flight. Methinks they were right.

Geebax Posted at 2016-2-8 17:53
"You do not fly the Ehang, it is 100% autonomous and you are only a passenger in it."

I realise th ...

I agree, just like the Tesla Model S autopilot. it pretty much drives the car for you BUT they still say that you have to have control of the vehicle at all times.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-2-9 02:58
I agree, just like the Tesla Model S autopilot. it pretty much drives the car for you BUT they sti ...

The thing I keep coming back to is the collision or obstacle avoidance. There are a number of clips on YouTube of the work done by Mercedes Benz in developing an autonomous vehicle, and they are not ready to release it. The Mercedes car would never handle autonomous driving in any Asian, French or Italian city, due to the chaotic nature of the traffic. So if someone as experienced as Mercedes have not yet perfected it, what chance a Chinese model drone company?

And just for fun, trying imagining what happens in a fly-away?

Geebax Posted at 2016-2-9 07:07
The thing I keep coming back to is the collision or obstacle avoidance. There are a number of clips ...

But you haven't seen Elon Musk's drone with autopilot? JK
The Model S autopilot works pretty good.

As Craig Fergeson  said in his theme song,  The future is just tomorrow,  yesterday.
And,  you forgot the Dating Drone.  You fly it around until you see someone you want to date.  Then you fly down,  grab a skin sample for DNA and fly to the clone factory where a clone drone will make your new date.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-2-9 10:13
But you haven't seen Elon Musk's drone with autopilot? JK
The Model S autopilot works pretty good. ...

Hmm, there is this comment:

"when you were on the the freeway going into that intersection it just kept going. If it had been a red light would it have kept going??"

To which he replies:

"Yes, the car does not currently stop for lights or stop signs. It is designed for freeway use."

Interesting perhaps, but if you want to see amazing, then watch this clip:
This shows a Mercedes driving on city and country roads, not just a freeway, the roof is not full of cans and stuff and it recognises street lights and things like roundabouts.

Don Loftus Posted at 2016-2-7 22:26
How long ago was that?  Last time I checked it was about $150/hr US.  I thought abut flying lesson ...

It was 1971 at the Aero Club at Albrook AFB in the Canal Zone.  They closed down the Aero club shortly after that and then I ended up with an eye injury that blinded my left eye.  

j30trouble Posted at 2016-2-10 10:18
It was 1971 at the Aero Club at Albrook AFB in the Canal Zone.  They closed down the Aero club sho ...

The Aero Club is probably why the rental cost was so reasonable.  I did some flying with a friend in a 1946 Aeroncia Chief back in 1977-78.  He was getting his instructor rating and would try stuff on me before doing it to a paying student.  It was fun.  Sorry to hear about the eye injury, but at least the FAA can't ground you for flying your Phantom because of a medical.  Take Care!

Goldchucker Posted at 2016-2-6 22:41
I can remember talk about putting a man in space years before anyone ever tried it.    It was just a ...

Or was it only a large sound stage in Hollywood?
Why haven't we gone back?

I appreciate all the comments and vids... Awesome.


RedHotPoker

Goldchucker Posted at 2016-2-6 22:41
I can remember talk about putting a man in space years before anyone ever tried it.    It was just a ...

Or was it only a large sound stage in Hollywood?
Why haven't we gone back?

I appreciate all the comments and vids... Awesome.


RedHotPoker