From the life of shock drones. Drones of the future: what awaits us

Hi all! Many people think that high technology, robots and flying taxis exist only on the cinema screen. In fact, a fantastic future is already on the doorstep. And as proof, I’ll tell you about something that is already widely used in our everyday life. So, what is a drone, what is it for, and how does it fit into our lives.

A flying drone, also known as multi-, quad-, hexa-, octo-, or simply copter, also known as a drone, also known as a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) is a robot with a camera, controlled remotely by a person using a remote control, or through an on-board computer.

What can drones do?

As I already said, the convenience of drones was appreciated by figures from various fields. For example, companies such as Amazon, DHL, Zookal and Domino have hired commercial drones - the courier copter delivers books, parcels and even beer and pizza! And if in the above cases the devices are used for marketing purposes and are perceived as exotic know-how, then some organizations have decided to use UAVs with even greater benefit.

For example, the Matternet company intends to send medicines and essential items with quadcopters to the outback, where it is impossible to easily purchase such things. Just imagine how useful this device is!

The idea of ​​​​creating combat drones is not so humane. They can also be used as a means of transportation. True, they are used to transport less pleasant things, like bombs. Of course, equipped with a camera, they also serve as scouts and observers.

Farmers have also found uses for drones. Agricultural drones spray fertilizers and help control pests. In addition, there are quadcopters equipped with a thermal imager; such devices help to identify a sick animal in a herd in time.

A few months ago, news about a Ukrainian drone spread. Today, this is one of the most powerful agricultural drones, which can inspect 100 hectares of field in an hour, count the number of planted grains, scan the soil and control the yield throughout the season.

A little more about the capabilities of quadcopters

You've probably come across photographs, for example, from wedding celebrations, taken from above. Such footage is the merit of civilian quadcopters. The lucky owners of such devices are most often advanced photographers and journalists: they couldn’t get to the shooting location themselves - they sent a flying video camera-drone, and here they got the material on a silver platter with a golden border.

By the way, some programs that make our lives much easier, for example, an application that determines road congestion, receive information on their tail from drones.

is a godsend for lovers of swimming and diving. Here is one of the advantages of such devices: they are going to be used to track sharks off the coast of Australia, which, on average, will reduce the incidence of attacks on people by predators by 60%.

And the Chinese went even further - in 2016 they invented a drone that you can fly! Can you imagine: you decided to go shopping from the outskirts of the metropolis to the center, there are kilometer-long traffic jams on the streets, and a project deadline is approaching on your heels? Call yourself an air taxi, indicate the desired location on the map, and continue to sweat over the presentation on your laptop... True, using it will cost a pretty penny, and no one has canceled the problem of parking.

Well, seriously, drones are the future. Meteorologists, for example, generally believe that UAVs will soon take the place of weather forecasters, and many other professions will fall into oblivion thanks to such an invention.

How far drones fly depends on the type of device. The maximum range of amateur drones is an average of 100-300 meters. More serious ones can easily cover about 5 kilometers. The longest flying drones reach up to 7 kilometers.

The possibilities of drones are not limitless. One of the key problems is the energy source. Many developers are working to increase battery life, but so far there are no significant results to speak of.

Well, like any computer equipment, quadcopters can get sick. For example, it recently became known that some US combat drones were infected. True, it is still unknown for what purpose and who activated the viruses.

Safety of drones and people

Well, now about the sad stuff. It's sad that the work of a skilled hacker can compromise the security of a drone. It can not only be infected, but also simply stolen.

But, as you know, your shirt is closer to your body, and personally, guided by this principle, I wonder about my own safety.

Copters do not always fall into the hands of reasonable people who respect private property rights. When drones became quite an affordable toy, videos began to appear on the Internet demonstrating who could do what.

Let's remember, for example, the famous video with a drone to which a chainsaw was attached. This, of course, is very inventive, but the idea began to be improved by teenagers who are unlikely to be able to guarantee that the drone will not fail over your site.

In addition, a UAV expands the capabilities of espionage, and an object of interest to someone is unlikely to be asked for permission in writing. For example, you have a nosy neighbor who is interested in your personal life. Having made a request like “drone in Irkutsk”, in a couple of hours he will receive a toy with which he can witness scenes or conversations that are not intended for his ears.

At the beginning of 2017, a conference on this topic was held in San Francisco, the participants of which agreed that regulation in the drone industry is still far from perfect. And even if we ignore the moral side of the issue, this is alarming, because the number of incidents involving copters is growing every year. The fact that not all of them end tragically for people can safely be called pure luck.

A great future awaits. The practice of recent years has convincingly shown that this class of machines has come to us for a long time, if not forever. They are versatile, they are fast, they are maneuverable. They can already do a lot themselves, without absolutely needing a person. So far they have only one Achilles heel, one very vulnerable spot - an energy source, or simply a battery. Today it is still heavy and weak, but miracles are already being done with such an artifact. Let's take a look at the future of our drone friends.

Aircraft sales will triple over the next three years, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Sales will increase due to the development of drone technology, new capabilities and the introduction of these flying robots into areas other than the already familiar entertainment sector.

Drones are becoming an increasingly popular tool for performing serious business tasks.

The new year began with a series of announcements in the drone industry at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Broadly speaking, these new products fall into three categories: industrial drones, consumer selfie drones, and awesome racing drones. Some drones have become smaller and more maneuverable, while others have become more intelligent thanks to autonomous navigation systems and support for virtual reality.

Drones that see and think

“Vision and collision avoidance technologies emerged in 2016,” said Anil Nanduri, vice president of the New Technologies Group and general manager of unmanned aerial vehicles at Intel Corporation. He also added that these technologies are starting to come standard on new drone models.

“This year, systems will become more fault-tolerant, that is, they will implement the ability to compensate for operation in the event of machine vision failure,” he said. “Sensor technologies will allow drones to fly in fog and other difficult weather conditions.”

For example, the Yuneec Typhoon H drone with an Intel RealSense 3D camera can avoid collisions by creating a 3D map of the visible space in real time and “remembering” the location of objects in order to fly around them.

The Mavic Pro and Phantom 4 models released in 2016 by DJI are equipped with sensors

, which explore the space for obstacles both ahead and below. And DJI's latest operator drone, the Inspire 2, adds upward-facing infrared sensors to enhance collision avoidance capabilities in confined spaces.

Machine vision and artificial intelligence make drones easier to fly and ensure safe flight.

“Over time, more and more stages will be automated - from launching a drone, controlling it during flight and collecting the necessary data, to transmitting this data and automatically analyzing the information received,” Nanduri said. - Drones are becoming more and more intelligent. They themselves will know what to do, so the bar for requirements for a drone pilot will be lowered.”

In addition to the incredible in-flight capabilities and innovations of hybrid multi-rotor and fixed-wing drones, Nanduri notes that in the future there will also be a greater focus on safety, just like with any other internet-connected device.

“Such security technology already exists,” he shared. “All that remains is to implement it.”

Based on materials from IQ

Automated system for designing drones according to needs

CSAIL researchers have created the world's first system that allows a non-expert user to design and build a drone with the required payload, flight endurance and cost. After creating a virtual version of the device, the user can run the simulation to verify its functionality. “Our system opens up new design possibilities for a wide variety of applications,” said one of the scientific team members, Wojciech Matusik. “Now people won’t have to use the same drones for different purposes.” At the moment, it is still unknown when the developed system will become available to the general public - researchers continue to constantly improve and improve it.

Why not grow drones in test tubes?

A loud statement was made by scientists from the UK, claiming that in the near future drones will be grown in test tubes. Such news is more reminiscent of an annotation for a work of fiction, rather than a product of a technical process. For production in laboratory conditions, scientists used familiar 3D printers. But, unfortunately, thanks to 3D technologies it is only possible to produce parts for drones. The bulk of the work in the process of “growing” aircraft is performed by a chemical computer. Thanks to such a computer, scientists find it possible to speed up reactions at the molecular level. The merit of the authors of the study is that when using the method they proposed, it takes much less time to create a drone. So, to manufacture one drone you need to spend not months, but only a few weeks. Also in their forecast, scientists assure that in the near future the process of autonomous digital synthesis will make it possible to create complex digital objects without human intervention.

Source: DroneFlyers

Drones will become flying sensors

When drones hit the mainstream market, they were seen primarily as video-making toys rather than as useful tools. With the advent of new generation sensors, drones have entered the commercialization phase. Entrepreneurs and companies have found many uses for drones in the construction business, agriculture, oil and gas industry and other industries. In fact, drones are flying sensors.

Drones will become an extension of the Internet

Distributing computing tasks between the drone, the cloud and the Internet allows you to get a powerful platform with which you can perform a huge number of tasks. “By properly connecting the drone to the cloud, you get a system where the drone is essentially an extension of the Internet,” says Anderson.

Drones will give impetus to the development of Linux

Drones are already equipped with Linux-based computer vision. “Drones look like toys, but they are actually flying artificial intelligence platforms,” says Anderson. The progress of microelectronics makes it possible to place increasingly complex control systems in ever smaller volumes, and the price of such devices is steadily decreasing. Anderson predicts that devices will soon be equipped with powerful multi-core processors and cost less than $1,000.

Drones bring together open source standards developers

Over the past couple of years, non-military companies have made significant progress in the development of unmanned technology, taking over the leadership in this area from the army. The non-profit structure Dronecode has emerged - a combination of existing assets and open source drone management projects. The project brings together developers from different fields - computer technology, artificial intelligence, cloud technologies.

Drones have fallen in price and entered the mass market

Drones are rapidly becoming cheaper. Ten years ago they cost millions of dollars and were used by the military, but today they are sold in supermarkets. When drones hit Walmart shelves they cost $1,500; now they cost about $500. Anderson predicts that their price will drop to $50 in the near future.

5 Most Exciting Changes Coming to the Drone Industry

1. Drones will be equipped with the latest mobile processors
   The drone industry is attracting billions of dollars in investment in the development of new processors. Soon, drones will have the power of supercomputers, like the latest smartphones.
2. Computer vision and optical tracking will become standard for consumer drones. Drones are still controlled by humans, but to become part of the urban space, they must become autonomous. Drones will acquire “vision” from ultrasonic sensors and stereo cameras, which will allow them to detect obstacles in their path. The decisive moment will be the refinement of sense-and-avoid technology, with the help of which drones communicate with each other and with the surrounding space. “Research will confirm that autonomous drones are safer than human-controlled ones.
3. Large developers will use drones to collect real-time data. Digitizing the physical world is difficult, but drones can do it. By placing sensors on many drones, we can see any point on the planet at any given time. Thus, Autodesk, Salesforce, SAP, Google will create huge databases with which they can analyze everything in the world.
4. Drones will replace satellites. With satellites flying too high and two-thirds of the planet permanently obscured by clouds from space, drones will become the primary means of observing the planet. Satellites will not go out of use, but they will be used additionally to cover larger areas with lower resolution.
5. Drones will become like Wi-Fi. In the future, drones will become so small, smart and safe that the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will not regulate them, just as they do not control Wi-Fi today. Federal Aviation Administrations in different countries are likely to relax legislation to promote the development of unmanned technology.

Probing the future of air combat: the Rafale fighter is accompanied by the Neuron attack drone, designed to penetrate heavily defended airspace. Due to the superior combat effectiveness of the new generation of surface-to-air missiles, only such stealth attack UAVs (with a low effective dispersion area) will be able to close with and destroy a ground target with a high probability of destruction and return home to prepare for the next battle

Resembling giant stingrays, remote-controlled attack drones are considered among the strangest flying systems invented by man. They represent the next evolutionary step in the art of war, as they will definitely soon become the vanguard of any modern air force, since they have a lot of undeniable advantages in frontal combat, especially when dealing with a strong symmetrical opponent.

Lessons that hardly anyone learns

Essentially seen as a means of getting crews out of harm's way in areas with dense air defenses where the chances of survival are not that great, attack unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are essentially the brainchild of countries with strong defense industries and substantial annual budgets and often with high moral standards regarding the cost of the lives of its soldiers. Over the past few years, the United States, Europe and Russia have been actively developing subsonic stealth UAVs, followed on their heels by China, always ready to copy and adapt everything that is invented in the world. These new weapons systems are very different from the MALE (medium altitude, long endurance) drones that everyone sees on their TV screens 24/7 and that are being built by well-known Israeli and American companies such as IAI and General Atomics, which are today excellent experts in the field. the well-studied company Ryan Aero with its BQM-34 Firebee remotely controlled jet aircraft... 60 years ago.

UAVs are not simply “armed” drones, as it may seem, even if today it is common to classify UAVs like the armed MQ-1 Predator or MQ-9 Reaper, for example, as strike systems. This is a completely misused term. Indeed, apart from participating in offensive operations in safe or controlled airspace by allied forces, UAVs are completely unable to penetrate combat formations of properly manned enemy systems. A visit to the Aerospace Museum in Belgrade acts as a real revelation in this area. In 1999, during NATO operations in Yugoslavia, at least 17 American RQ-1 Predators drones were shot down by either MiG fighters or Strela MANPADS missiles. Even with their caution, once detected, MALE drones are doomed and will not survive even an hour. It is worth recalling that in the same campaign, the Yugoslav army destroyed the American F-117 Nighthawk stealth aircraft. For the first time in combat aviation, an aircraft undetectable by radar and considered invulnerable was shot down. For the only time in its entire combat service, the F-117 was discovered and shot down, and on a moonless night (there were only three such nights in the five-week war) by a missile from an antique Soviet-made S-125 air defense system. But the Yugoslavs were not a rabble of outcasts with primitive ideas about the art of war like the Islamic State (IS, banned in Russia) or the Taliban, they were well-trained and cunning professional soldiers, capable of adapting to new threats. And they proved it.

Military aviation is only a hundred years old, but it is already replete with spectacular inventions; the latest include attack unmanned aerial vehicles or combat drones. Over a century, the concept of air combat has changed radically, especially since the end of the Vietnam War. The aerial combat of the First and Second World Wars, using machine guns to destroy the enemy, has now become a page of history, and the advent of second-generation air-to-air missiles has also turned guns into a rather obsolete tool for this task, and now they are useful only as auxiliary weapons for bombarding the ground from the air. Today, this trend is reinforced by the emergence of hypersonic maneuverable missiles for hitting targets beyond visual range, which, when launched in large quantities and in tandem with missiles from a follower aircraft, for example, leave virtually no chance for evasive maneuver to any enemy flying at high altitude. The situation is the same with modern ground-to-air weapons, controlled by an instantly responsive network-centric air defense computer system. Indeed, the level of combat effectiveness of modern missiles, which easily enter well-protected airspace, has become higher than ever these days. Perhaps the only panacea for this is aircraft and cruise missiles with a reduced effective reflection area (ERA) or low-flying attack weapons with a flight mode and encircling terrain at an extremely low altitude.

At the beginning of the new millennium, American pilots wondered what new things could be done with remotely piloted aircraft, which had become quite a fashionable topic after its expanded use in military operations. As entry into heavily defended airspace became more and more dangerous and posed enormous risks to combat pilots, even those flying the latest jet fighter-bombers, the only way to solve this problem was to use weapons used outside the range of enemy weapons. , and/or the creation of stealth attack drones with high subsonic speed, capable of disappearing into the air through the use of special radar avoidance technologies, including radio-absorbing materials and advanced jamming modes. A new type of remotely controlled attack drone, using data links with enhanced encryption and frequency hopping, should be able to enter the protected “sphere” and command air defense systems without risking the lives of flight crews. Their excellent maneuverability with increased overloads (up to +/-15 g!) allows them to remain to some extent invulnerable to manned interceptors...

Aside from the “access denial/area blocking” philosophy

With two advanced stealth aircraft, the F-117 Nighthawk and the B-2 Spirit, unveiled with much fanfare and fanfare - the first in 1988 and the second a decade later - DARPA and the US Air Force played a major role in to ensure that this new technology is successfully introduced and demonstrates its benefits in combat conditions. Although the stealth F-117 tactical strike aircraft has now been retired, some of the technology gained from the development of this unusual aircraft (which periodically became the target of outrage from zealous aestheticists) has been applied to new projects, such as the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning. II, and to an even greater extent in the promising B-21 bomber (LRS-B). One of the most secretive programs being implemented by the United States is associated with the further development of the UAV family using radar-absorbing materials and modern technologies for actively ensuring extremely low visibility.

Building on the Boeing X-45 and Northrop Grumman X-47 UAV technology demonstration programs, whose achievements and results remain largely classified, Boeing's Phantom Works division and Northrop Grumman's classified division continue to develop attack drones today. The RQ-180 UAV project, apparently being developed by Northrop Grumman, is shrouded in special secrecy. It is assumed that this platform will enter closed airspace and conduct constant reconnaissance and surveillance, while simultaneously performing the tasks of active electronic suppression of enemy manned aircraft. A similar project is being implemented by Lockheed Martin's Skunks Works division. In the process of developing the SR-72 hypersonic vehicle, the issues of safe operation of a reconnaissance UAV in protected airspace are being addressed, both through the use of its own speed and through the use of advanced radio-absorbing materials. Promising UAVs designed to break through modern (Russian) integrated air defense systems are also being developed by General Atomics; its new Avenger drone, also known as Predator C, includes many innovative stealth elements. In fact, it is vital for the Pentagon today, as before, to stay ahead of what Russia is creating in order to maintain the current military imbalance in favor of Washington. And for the United States, the attack drone is becoming one of the means to ensure this process.

Dassault's Neuron drone returns to Istres air base from a night mission, 2014. Flight tests of the Neuron in France, as well as in Italy and Sweden in 2015, demonstrated its superior flight characteristics and signature characteristics, but all of them still remain classified. The Neuron armed drone is not the only European program to demonstrate UCAV technology. BAE Systems is implementing the Taranis project, it has almost the same design and is equipped with the same RR Adour engine as the Neuron drone

What the developers of American UAVs call today “defensible airspace” is one of the components of the “access denial/area denial” concept or a unified (integrated) air defense system, successfully deployed today by the Russian armed forces, both in Russia itself and abroad. its borders in order to provide cover for expeditionary forces. No less smart and savvy than American military developers, although with significantly less money, Russian researchers from the Nizhny Novgorod Research Institute of Radio Engineering (NNIIRT) created a mobile two-coordinate radar station with a circular view of the meter range (from 30 MHz to 1 GHz) P-18 ( 1RL131) "Terek". The newest versions of this station with their specific frequency ranges can detect F-117 and B-2 bombers from several hundred kilometers, and this does not remain a mystery to Pentagon experts!

Beginning in 1975, NNIIRT developed the first three-coordinate radar station capable of measuring the altitude, range and azimuth of a target. As a result, the 55Zh6 “Sky” surveillance radar of the meter range appeared, deliveries of which to the armed forces of the USSR began in 1986. Later, after the demise of the Warsaw Pact, NNIIRT designed the 55Zh6 Nebo-U radar, which became part of the S-400 Triumph long-range air defense system, currently deployed around Moscow. In 2013, NNIIRT announced the next model 55Zh6M Nebo-M, which combines meter and decimeter range radars in a single module. With extensive experience in developing high-end stealth target detection systems, Russian industry is now very active in offering new digital variants of the P-18 radar to its allies, which can often double as an air traffic control radar. Russian engineers also created new digital mobile radar systems “Sky UE” and “Sky SVU” on a modern element base, all with the ability to detect subtle targets. Similar complexes for the formation of unified air defense systems were later sold to China, while Beijing received at its disposal a good irritant for the American military. The radar systems are expected to be deployed in Iran to defend against any Israeli attacks on its fledgling nuclear industry. All new Russian radars are semiconductor active phased array antennas, capable of operating in fast sector/path scanning mode or in traditional circular scanning mode with mechanically rotating antennas. The Russian idea of ​​​​integrating three radars, each of which operates in a separate range (meter, decimeter, centimeter), is undoubtedly a breakthrough and is aimed at obtaining the ability to detect objects with extremely low signs of visibility.

The Nebo-M radar complex itself is radically different from previous Russian systems, since it has good mobility. Its design was initially designed to avoid unexpected blitz destruction by American F-22A Raptor fighters (armed with GBU-39/B SDB bombs or JASSM cruise missiles), whose primary task is the destruction of low-frequency detection systems of the Russian air defense system in the first minutes of the conflict. The 55Zh6M Nebo-M mobile radar complex includes three different radar modules and one signal processing and control machine. The three radar modules of the Nebo M complex are: RDM-M meter range, a modification of the Nebo-SVU radar; UHF RLM-D, modification of the “Protivnik-G” radar; RLM-S centimeter range, modification of the Gamma-S1 radar. The system uses state-of-the-art digital moving target display and digital pulse Doppler radar technologies, as well as a spatial-temporal data processing method, which provides such air defense systems as the S-300, S-400 and S-500 with amazingly fast response, accuracy and the power of action against all targets, except for subtle ones flying at extremely low altitudes. As a reminder, one S-400 complex deployed by Russian troops in Syria was able to close a circular zone around Aleppo with a radius of approximately 400 km from access to allied aircraft. The complex, armed with a combination of no less than 48 missiles (from 40N6 long-range to 9M96 medium-range), is capable of dealing with 80 targets simultaneously... In addition, it keeps Turkish F-16 fighters on their toes and keeps them from rash actions in the form of an attack on a Su-24 in December 2015, as the area controlled by the S-400 air defense system partially covers the southern border of Turkey.

For the United States, the research of the French company Onera, published in 1992, came as a complete surprise. They talked about the development of a 4D (four-coordinate) radar RIAS (Synthetic Antenna and Impulse Radar - an antenna with a synthetic aperture of pulsed radiation), based on the use of a transmitting antenna array (simultaneous radiation of a set of orthogonal signals) and a receiving antenna array (formation of a sampled signal in processing equipment signals providing Doppler frequency filtering, including spatio-temporal beamforming and target selection). The 4D principle allows the use of fixed sparse antenna arrays operating in the meter band, thus providing excellent Doppler separation. The great advantage of the low-frequency RIAS radar is that it generates a stable, irreducible target cross-sectional area, provides larger coverage area and better pattern analysis, as well as improved target localization accuracy and selectivity. Enough to fight subtle targets on the other side of the border...

Creation of stealthy UAVs

Well aware of a new, effective anti-access denial system that would counter Western manned aircraft in wartime, the Pentagon settled on a new generation of stealth, jet-powered flying wing attack drones around the turn of the century. New unmanned vehicles with low visibility will be similar in shape to a stingray, tailless with a body smoothly turning into wings. They will have a length of approximately 10 meters, a height of one meter and a wingspan of about 15 meters (the naval version fits standard American aircraft carriers). The drones will be able to carry out either surveillance missions lasting up to 12 hours, or carry weapons weighing up to two tons over a distance of up to 650 nautical miles, cruising at speeds of about 450 knots, ideal for suppressing enemy air defenses or launching a first strike. Several years earlier, the US Air Force had brilliantly paved the way for the use of armed drones. The piston-engined RQ-1 Predator MALE drone, which first flew in 1994, was the first remotely controlled aerial platform capable of delivering air-to-ground weapons with precision. As a technologically advanced combat drone armed with two AGM-114 Hellfire anti-tank missiles, adopted by the Air Force in 1984, it has been successfully deployed in the Balkans, Iraq and Yemen, as well as Afghanistan. Undoubtedly, the vigilant sword of Damocles hangs over the heads of terrorists around the world!

While Boeing was the first to create the X-45 UAV capable of dropping a bomb, the US Navy did not begin practical work on the UAV until 2000. Then he awarded contracts to Boeing and Northrop Grumman for a program to study this concept. Requirements for the naval UAV project included operation in a corrosive environment, carrier deck takeoff and landing and associated maintenance, integration into command and control systems, and resistance to the high electromagnetic interference associated with aircraft carrier operating conditions. The Navy was also interested in purchasing UAVs for reconnaissance missions, in particular for penetrating protected airspace in order to identify targets for subsequent attack on them. Northrop Grumman's experimental X-47A Pegasus, which became the basis for the development of the X-47B J-UCAS platform, first took off in 2003. The US Navy and Air Force had their own UAV programs. The Navy has selected the Northrop Grumman X-47B platform as its UCAS-D unmanned combat system demonstrator. In order to conduct realistic testing, the company manufactured a vehicle of the same size and weight as the planned production platform, with a full-size weapons bay capable of accepting existing missiles. The X-47B prototype was rolled out in December 2008, and taxiing using its own engine took place for the first time in January 2010. The first flight of the X-47B drone, capable of semi-autonomous operation, took place in 2011. He later took part in real-life sea trials aboard aircraft carriers, flying missions alongside F-18F Super Hornet carrier-based fighters and receiving mid-air refueling from a KC-707 tanker. What can I say, a successful premiere in both areas.

While the American industry was already testing the first models of its UAVs, other countries, albeit with a ten-year delay, began to create similar systems. Among them are the Russian RSK MiG with the Skat device and the Chinese CATIC with a very similar Dark Sword. In Europe, the British company BAE Systems went its own way with the Taranis project, and other countries joined forces to develop a project with the rather apt name nEUROn. In December 2012, nEUROn made its first flight in France. Flight tests to develop flight mode ranges and evaluate stealth characteristics were successfully completed in March 2015. These tests were followed by tests of on-board equipment in Italy, which were completed in August 2015. At the end of last summer, the last stage of flight testing took place in Sweden, during which tests on the use of weapons were carried out. The classified test results are called positive.

The contract for the nEUROn project, worth €405 million, is being implemented by several European countries, including France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. This allowed European industry to begin a three-year refinement phase of the system's concept and design, with associated research into visibility and increased data rates. This phase was followed by a development and assembly phase, ending with the first flight in 2011. During two years of flight testing, approximately 100 missions were flown, including the dropping of a laser-guided bomb. The initial budget of 400 million euros in 2006 increased by 5 million because a modular bomb bay was added, including a target designator and the laser-guided bomb itself. France paid half of the total budget.

Potential of the British-French UAV

In November 2014, the French and British governments announced a two-year, €146 million feasibility study for an advanced attack drone project. This could lead to the implementation of a stealth UAV program, which will combine the experience of the Taranis and nEUROn projects to create a single promising attack drone. Indeed, in January 2014, at the British airbase Brize Norton, Paris and London signed a statement of intent on the future combat air system FCAS (Future Combat Air System). Since 2010, Dassault Aviation has worked with its partners Alenia, Saab and Airbus Defense & Space on the nEUROn project, and BAE Systems on its own Taranis project. Both flying wing aircraft have the same Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour turbofan engine. The decision made in 2014 gives new impetus to joint research already being implemented in this direction. It is also an important step towards British-French cooperation in the field of military aircraft. It is possible that it could become the basis for another first-class achievement like the Concorde aircraft project. This decision will undoubtedly contribute to the development of this strategic area, as UCAV projects will help maintain the technological expertise in the aviation industry at the level of world standards.

Meanwhile, the European FCAS program and similar American UAV programs face certain difficulties, since defense budgets on both sides of the Atlantic are quite tight. It will take more than 10 years before stealth UAVs begin to take over from manned combat aircraft in high-risk missions. Experts in the field of military unmanned systems believe that the air force will begin deploying stealth attack drones no earlier than 2030.

Based on materials from sites:
www.nationaldefensemagazine.org
www.ga.com
www.northropgrumman.com
www.dassault-aviation.com
www.nniirt.ru
www.hongdu.com.cn
www.boeing.com
www.baesystems.com
www.wikipedia.org

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The drone market is experiencing incredible growth. The commercial and hobby drone market will grow to approximately $127 billion by 2020, according to a report from PriceWaterCoopers House. The numbers seem unrealistic when you consider that the market is now only $2 billion. How can such a jump of 6000% be explained?

It's simple. Drones are changing our world, just like phones once did. In this article we have prepared 6 main theses! drone development.

1. The price of drones is rapidly falling, almost everyone can afford to buy a drone

Drones are becoming more popular day by day, both among amateurs and professionals. The cost of design, development and production is gradually decreasing.

This is due to the fact that large manufacturing companies are streamlining the processes of creating drones, standardizing production and saving on components through large purchases, without losing the quality of the equipment. As a result, the buyer receives a high-quality device for a reasonable price.

And not only ordinary buyers, many commercial companies have turned their attention to drones and their prices. Using drones in your industry can make a company a market leader. The Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation has already approved the profession of UAV operator, with further receipt of certificates. Experts estimate that in the United States alone, 100,000 new jobs will be created for drone operators in the next 7 years.

2. Drones can get into places where a person, plane or helicopter cannot go.

Drones are increasingly beginning to replace humans or conventional aircraft. And this is not surprising, because drones are cheaper to use, there is no risk to human life and there is no need to use expensive equipment. Drones also open up new avenues of research that were not available before.

The drone is already being used in new, previously unavailable roles, such as collecting volcanic rock from an erupting volcano. For objective reasons, a person or other aircraft cannot get there, but a drone could!

Another of the latest developments is the aquadron. This drone is similar to seabirds; it can fly in the air, dive into the water, and return to the starting point. This drone is still only a prototype, the main task is to obtain water samples in hard-to-reach areas or during an emergency: an oil spill or a chemical leak. Previously, such studies were difficult to implement or very expensive.

The drone is also used to survey the territory during an emergency. Broadcasting video online from a drone allows you to assess the scale of the disaster and effectively plan measures to eliminate the consequences or combat the disaster.

Drones are used in UN humanitarian missions to monitor the activities of militants in dangerous zones. For example, in Congo and Rwanda, drones are actively monitoring the situation, and local residents are confident that UN peacekeepers will be able to ensure their safety.

3. Drones help law enforcement maintain order

Already, funds dedicated to the creation of high-quality law enforcement drones are collecting large investments. The main purpose of such drones will be to detect emergencies and obtain a complete picture of what is happening from the air online. Previously, and even now, helicopters and expensive equipment were used for such purposes.

It is very easy to control such drones. This attracted the attention of many departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Emergency Situations. With the help of drones, employees can track suspects, monitor law and order, detect emergencies and effectively eliminate them.

Drones' unique ability to collect sensitive information, coupled with their low price and small size, will make them indispensable to law enforcement agencies in the future.

4. Drones help farmers

More and more agricultural enterprises have become interested in high-tech drones as a solution to optimize production: drones are capable of finding crops suffering from diseases or lack of fertilizers or pesticides. Analysts predict high potential for the use of drones in agriculture as low-cost automation. They can dramatically change the situation in this market, and the falling price of drones only contributes to these trends.

The use of drones for field mapping allows farmers to receive significant economic benefits, since the resolution of aerial photographs from drones is much higher than that of satellite images, and the cost of obtaining such images is much lower than with standard AFS, which may also be of poor quality due to cloudy weather.

There are three main advantages of using drones in agriculture. Firstly, by observing the field from the air, you can immediately detect obvious problems: places with poor irrigation, attacks by pests or insects and other common problems in agriculture.

Secondly, cameras on board drones can shoot not only in the visible range, but also in IR and other ranges. Such images allow you to more accurately understand the condition of the crops being grown and see what is inaccessible with the ordinary human eye.

Third, drones can be set to automatically fly over fields at your discretion, every week, day or hour. In this way, it is possible to accumulate information for analytics, which was practically not possible before.

The use of drones as sprayers of pesticides and fertilizers is just beginning to be tested. There are already ready-made solutions, but they cannot be called complete. In the future, we can expect drones to refuel themselves with pesticides, spray them over the fields only in the necessary places, charge when the battery is low, complete the mission and fly back to the garage. And so on with the frequency you need.

5. Drones can deliver items to hard-to-reach places

Most people have already heard about Amazon's attempts to deliver goods using drones. Unfortunately, big problems in this direction are currently arising due to flight bans from the state. However, drones are actively used for delivery to difficult-to-reach places.

For example, in Switzerland, the local postal service uses drones to deliver orders to hard-to-reach places. Isolated Swiss mountain villages are often difficult to reach by conventional means. Drones can easily deliver orders to these villages. This is especially important when there is an urgent need to deliver medical supplies or other important cargo.

Speaking of medicine, in Malawi in 2016, with the support of UNICEF, a program to combat HIV infection was launched, which affected many children in this country. Drones play an important role in this program.

Drones deliver blood from newborns and young children to laboratories for HIV testing. In this way, the government plans to reduce the time required to obtain results. Previously, this process could take several weeks, as tests were delivered by truck or motorbike. It is very important that children can get help as quickly as possible.

In addition, these drones can detect natural disasters that frequently occur in this country, such as drought or floods.

The success of this project will lead to an improvement in the situation, not only in this country, but also in other distressed regions of our planet.

6. New profession - pilot of an unmanned aerial vehicle

In our country, in July 2016, a federal law was passed that directly affected UAVs. In January 2017, the official profession of UAV operator appeared. By the summer of 2017 they want to introduce mandatory registration of drones. The need for professionals who can operate drones is certainly growing, and the number of jobs will continue to increase.

Basically, jobs will appear in industries related to camera photography - cartography, land management, land surveying, cinematography, extreme sports photography and artistic photography. As the price of drones decreases, the number of orders and supply will only increase.

As the drone market grows, so will the UAV operator training industry. In the near future, we can expect that control of drones will be available only to those individuals who have been trained in specialized centers.

Perhaps flying cars will remain a pipe dream. A different future awaits us - passenger drones that will be able to transport people without stops for recharging and outside interference. And most likely, this future will come very soon.

True, they won't drive on roads - they'll only fly and embody the best of autonomous driving technology, drone design and ride-sharing software.

We will be able to see them in the skies very soon, perhaps even within the next ten years. Flying cars in the form in which we are accustomed to understand them have no future, while there are no hard limits for the development of passenger drones.

Simple part of the plan

If you were planning on cutting through the air in your personal flying car, then those dreams are unlikely to come true. If every owner of such a vehicle had to fly 40 hours just to obtain a pilot's license, this would have no prospects. Passenger drones need to be autonomous, and this is easier than it seems.

The tricky part of the plan

Developers of passenger drones have come further than most people think. In June 2016, the Chinese company EHang received permission from the Nevada state authorities to test the world's first passenger drone. According to the Guardian, the drone is capable of rising to a height of 3,500 meters and moving at a speed of just over 100 km/h, but no longer than 23 minutes. Uber expects to launch its on-demand flight service Uber Elevate within ten years. Its vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) vehicles are in many ways similar to drones from Lilium Aviation, which raised $10 million in Series A funding. Other manufacturers such as DJI, 3D Robotics, Hubsan and even Amazon could soon join the technology race. .

If we can give passenger drones room to evolve, the way we think about personal transportation will completely change.

These companies will face two main problems:

Charger. Currently, the main obstacle to increasing flight duration is battery capacity. No one can guarantee a breakthrough in the field of creating batteries, so everyone is solving the problem on their own.

In-flight charging capability must be developed for passenger drones. The most notable progress here comes from Seattle-based startup LaserMotive, which is creating wireless charging technology. In 2012, the company, together with Lockheed Martin, conducted an experiment to increase the flight duration of the Stalker Unmanned Aerial System. Their “laser transmission” system helped keep the drone in the air for 48 hours by directing a laser beam into the solar cells installed on the device. Thus, the increase in flight time was 2400%.

Another prototype of a passenger drone. Photo: Joby Aviation

Of course, the idea of ​​shooting a powerful laser into the sky raises some questions, but not if this infrastructure will minimize the number of accidents. Cities could designate space for drone flights and limit the use of lasers outside of it. An in-flight recharging system would significantly increase the duration and frequency of flights, since drones would be able to carry out their work continuously.

Legislation. Unfortunately, regulators are in no hurry to come up with full-fledged rules for the drone industry. In the US, the current version of the rules from August 2016 requires that the drone be in the field of view and under the constant control of the operator. Because of this, further development of the industry will be slowed down.

In some countries, all conditions have been created for the use of autonomous drones.

For example, the world's first network of fully autonomous drones with charging stations and rental points will be created in the Dutch city of Delft. In New Zealand, Flirtey and Domino's will launch the first commercial delivery service, since the country's laws do not prevent this. On November 16, pizza was delivered for the first time using a drone.

In the US, the situation could be improved by testing drones for emergency services. Unmanned vehicles can be used for search operations and in situations where human life is at stake. For example, in the event of cardiac arrest, assistance must be provided within six minutes to save a life. At the same time, the average wait time for an ambulance in New York in 2015 was 12 minutes. So why not take a risk to save a person who would otherwise die anyway?

Such tests, if positive, would help push the administration and speed up the adoption of the necessary laws.

In Russia

Despite the fact that recently in our country, it cannot be said that nothing is hindering work in this direction. We asked experts what legal restrictions are currently hindering the development of passenger drones in Russia.

It is not advisable to try to apply modern legislation to such passenger drones, since it is not adapted to such problems.

With development, the legislator will face the following problems:

• Determining the personality of a robot from the point of view of the legal system. Obviously, every robot will be involved in relationships with people. At least on issues of participation in air traffic, interaction with other robots and people. And here a curious question arises - is it necessary to recognize him as equal to a person, create a fictitious personality, or qualify this apparatus as a mechanical thing with specific functions.
• It is clear that unmanned vehicles, both on the ground and in the air, will not be able to go into mass use until unified algorithms for the behavior of such vehicles in motion are determined.
• Well, probably the most obvious legislative limitation is the lack of rules for the mass use of airspace and ensuring the safety of people and the city from such flying machines. Current civil aviation regulations are not suitable for regulating the movement of thousands of drones at once.

Sergey Voronin,

Passenger drones are still a new technology, and therefore still require a lot of improvement. Such devices most often contain military technology, which also leaves its mark on their use. Among the possible restrictions in application, it is also worth noting that in order to control an aircraft, you must have a pilot’s license, and a valid one. This also applies to large-sized devices.

In addition, it will be necessary to determine the technical requirements for the landing and take-off locations of such “taxi”, the duration of their stay in the air, and also develop rules for the transportation of passengers taking into account the designs of the drones themselves.

The legislative problem is today the greatest obstacle to the effective development of the creation of drones - both ground and airborne. Including passenger ones.

On March 30, 2016, the updated Air Code came into force. The new edition of the Air Code includes, for example, the term “remote pilot”. At the same time, the new edition of Article 57 of the code states that “the commander of the aircraft<...>is a person who has a valid pilot license (pilot, remote pilot) and the training and experience necessary to independently fly a specified type of aircraft.” It is the remote pilot who will have the rights of the aircraft commander. It turns out that both the drone and the passenger drone must be controlled by an external pilot with.

The main question for passenger drones is who is responsible for the accident involving unmanned vehicles. In the case of flying drones, the issue has not yet even been raised for consideration. It is relevant everywhere, including in our country. Who should be responsible for an accident involving a drone, especially a passenger one: the owner of the vehicle, or the company that developed the technology, or the drone manufacturer that manufactured and sold it? Legislators give a more or less consolidated answer.

The resolution document adopted following the results of the “round table” in the Commission on Information Systems of the State Duma Committee on Science-Intensive Technologies in March 2016 clearly states: “Retain full responsibility for managing the BPTS with the driver (operator). This provision should be regulated by an additional paragraph in Art. 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation or an additional paragraph to this article, which will clearly translate this change.” And this is so far the only tangible guideline on this topic. It is expected that Article 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation will also apply to the operator of aerial drones.

We also foresee that The anti-terrorism law will seriously curtail the development of the unmanned aerial vehicle industry. The technological portrait of terrorism is seriously changing during the development of unmanned systems. A flying drone with a bomb attached can be remotely directed into a crowd, and control of a passenger drone can be intercepted from a third-party computer... This prospect will be the main obstacle for now in developing the legislative framework.

Symbol of progress

Cinema, literature and television have already prepared us for the fact that engineers will eventually create accessible air transport. Although many still consider this to be just a fantasy from science fiction, in fact, this time may come very soon.

While we may not see the flying cars that Eddie Rickenbacker promised us, we will actually get something better. Americans alone lose 6.9 billion hours each year to traffic jams. More importantly, unmanned drones in emergency services will help save thousands of lives. If we can give passenger drones room to develop, the way we think about personal transportation will completely change.