In our ever expanding and ever changing economy, we must always be on the lookout for the next new and exciting developments. You have probably heard of the one we will be talking about today: Drones.
Maybe you've heard them buzzing in the air above your street or local park, or perhaps scanning a local field as it flew overhead. Or perhaps you've just caught wind of the new market while strolling through the toy isle of Wal-Mart, or seen the thrilling races on ESPN. One thing is for sure though: Drones are numerous. With many different types available and suited to so many different tasks, they are quickly becoming the new favored device in many fields of work, fun, and even (if not especially) Military.
Over the next few minutes, we will explore what drones are, why they have become such a big deal, and where we as consumers and commercial users are headed from here.
Drones are defined as “an unmanned aircraft or ship that can navigate autonomously, without human control or beyond line of sight or any unmanned aircraft or ship that is guided remotely.”
So, you already know that drones can fly around by themselves or at least without someone on board, but maybe now you're wondering what the point of all this is. And the answer is... Just about anything you could want!
You see, drones can be many different shapes and sizes, and can be outfitted with many many different tools, often called packages. Whether those packages are different types of sensor arrays, for gathering data or pictures on any number of things in any number of ways, or bigger batteries for longer flight times and more distance capabilities... To actually carrying an Amazon package to your doorstep! Although I have to admit, we're still in testing stages for that one.
In any case, drones can carry and use all manner of electrical components, or even just carry payloads for various needs. Now the way in which these different payloads may be used, could indeed surprise you!
Technology today has been influenced by a great many things, but one of the biggest is
information. Using cameras and other sensors, drones can be used as one of the largest, and often cheapest, information and data gathering resources. Knowing this, it isn't that surprising that professional market analysts have said "Between now and 2020, we forecast a $100 billion market opportunity for drones - $70 billion for military, $17 billion for consumer, and $13
billion for commercial."
Drone sensor technology currently in (military) development can map 2.7 million square miles in a single flight – nearly the area of the 48 contiguous US states. With these tools being used for information gathering, the next step is how to actually use that data, and that is where things start to get really exciting.
As I mentioned, drones have many data gathering possibilities. Luckily people have been working on ways to deal with all this data. Instead of taking a picture of your corn field and looking for brown spots for instance, now the drone can take off, take pictures of your entire
field and land, then upload all the data from the flight, and give you a detailed report of how much rot, disease, or varmint you might be dealing with and in which sections of your field, among growth charts and many other data points. And it can do this almost completely by itself! This in turn, helps people to be more efficient in seed planting, pesticide and exterminator use, and just promote general all in all better plant growth. More efficiency also equals lower costs and higher yields, making for happier farmers and business owners.
Another one of the largest growing fields for drone usage, is in construction and building maintenance. Whether you're scanning for heat leaks with a thermal camera, or just scanning buildings for structural issues with a regular camera, it can save massive amounts of time and money to use a drone. Using this method can be far safer and cheaper than paying a whole crew of men to scaffold up a building. These can also be used for full on roof reports as mentioned before, showing the area of each part of your roof, the types of roof slants you have, and even the pitch degree. All from a simple flight again, instead of sending men into possibly unsafe conditions.
These are only a couple of things drones are used for, and on a small scale, but we could be here all day talking about more. Whether it's cinematography, recreational fun, taking video of your vacation or even a wedding, or even racing them (my personal favorite!) the possibilities are near endless!
So, as you can see, drones are a fairly new, but very exciting new market that promises to change the way we gather and use information, while promoting efficiency and safety in many different levels of our current and ever expanding workplace.
As the years move on and the technology expands, you should expect to start seeing drones in many workforces, and possibly even places you didn't expect since they can cover such a wide range of uses. What you will notice now that others may not however, is the interesting and amazing efficiency increase we may see in day to day life, as we learn to harness the data from these drones more and more.
All in all, this expanding market deserves attention, and will be around for a long time to come. Seems like it may be time to jump on the safe, efficient, and unmanned bandwagon!
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