8.4: A Measure of Success: Drone Racing

            Drone racing is a sport where specifically designed drones are raced against each other in competition. Racing drones are small unmanned aerial vehicles about the size of the palm of a human hand. They typically have four propellers arranged in an “H” configuration and can reach speeds over 100 mph. A distinguishing feature of these drones is that they carry a camera with a live video feed connected to a headset that the pilot wears to allow a first-person view (FPV) of the drone’s flight path. Competitors then use this view to pilot their drones around a three-dimensional obstacle course while avoiding colliding with objects and other racing drones.There are many leagues around the world that have different rules and regulations. They mainly aim for rules that allow fair competition between racers.

            These drones face many limitations including maximizing speed and handling while carrying all the equipment needed to operate. A typical drone consists of a frame, four motors, a battery, a camera, receivers, transmitters, and identification lights. Other limitations include the technology itself to allow this to happen. The first recorded organized races began in Australia in 2013. The camera technology is still relatively new and is being constantly updated. The drones themselves are developing technology. Each year, racing leagues like the popular Drone Racing League update their drones with the best camera, motor, electrical, and sensor technology available. For example, bigger batteries allow individual races to last longer and it allows more races per tournament.

            Ethics in drone racing are guided by rules and regulations set by each governing league. The main goal of each league is to ensure a fair competition between each drone and pilot. A common rule for many leagues is that all pilots race with the same model of drone. The Drone Racing League goes a step further and provides all the drones and parts to pilots. MulitGP league separates drones into different performance classes. Standard rules that punish cheating, unfair play, and un-sportsman-like conduct also ensure fair competition.

            There is an interesting take on the challenge of privacy. Many leagues broadcast their races with the pilots taking on callsigns instead of their own names. For example, the Drone Racing League’s website lists its pilots starting with their callsigns then giving more information afterwards. Many of these pilots follow similar privacy practices that traditional athletes do. Many have social media accounts but don’t include any private information that may harm them if it falls into the wrong hands.

            Safety in drone races come from holding races outdoors or in stadiums to minimize the risk of collision with people or causing damage to property. The pilots themselves are placed off to the side and out of the path of the drones. Spectators are also placed out of the way and often at a vantage point to see the race in its entirety. Protective netting is placed between drones and people when needed. The Drone Racing League even has dedicated staff, like “Race Director”, “Drone Handler”, “Area Manager” etc. who each have defined jobs to ensure safe operations. For example, only Drone Handlers can retrieve crashed drones and only do so if there are no drones flying the course. There are also specific safety protocols for pilots too. One such rule is that pilots will only touch their controllers when cleared to prior to a race and they also must put down their controller as soon as their drone lands or crashes.

            Last, lost of link or system control is not a big issue in drone races unless the drone is on a ballistic collision path with people or property. In that case, protective netting is usually placed to prevent out-of-control drones from harming people. A typical race may have one or several drones crash. Typically, these crashes happen at turns around obstacles. These obstacles are strategically placed in locations so that crashes will minimize damage. Once a crash happens, ground crew or the pilot go and retrieve it after a race is over.

            Drone racing is an exciting to watch sport that pushes the limits of drone performance. Each racing leagues has its own set of rules that provide fair and safe competition. It will be interesting to see how this sport continues to evolve in the future.

References:

Drone Racing League. (2019). Safety Always Wins. Retrieved from http://www.droneracingsafety.org/  

Drone Racing League. (2019). About. Retrieved from https://thedroneracingleague.com/about/

Drone Racing League. (2019). Official Rules: Tryouts 2020. Retrieved from https://thedroneracingleague.com/official-rules-tryouts-2020/

Drone racing. (2019). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_racing

Happy Holidays!

This is my report on a research article that covers the future of unmanned system applications

           This article, Drone methodologies: Taking flight in human and physical geography, fully supported the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in the fields of physical and human geography. The three aims of this paper were to “start a discussion” between different geographical fields to foster the spread of UAS methodologies, to discuss how UAS “expand the potential for thinking about  ‘visual’” geographic uses, and to also do the same for “volumetric” methods. The authors also proposed the creation of drone airspace where drones can operate above obstacles but safely stay below air traffic. This airspace was coined the “Neophosphere” which was derived from the Greek word for cloud (nepho) and sphere (which is also a Greek word).  This airspace carries the characteristic of also being the volume of air from which a drone can operate within contact with its human manned control center. For example, a line-of-sight drone would have a small localized Neophosphere compared to the Global Hawk military drone which has a global-reaching Neophosphere (Garrett & Anderson, 2018). In addition to these goals, the article explored and discussed not only the impact that UAS could have on geographic methods, but also the possible political and societal implications of UAS.

            Defining and creating a Neophosphere is something I agreed with the authors about. The FAA in the United States had worked hard in recent years to create regulations to facilitate drones into the national airspace (Federal Aviation Administration, 2019). These regulations however lacked the completeness of the Neophosphere proposed by the authors. Using already defined airspace was an advantage of the Neophosphere proposal. It would include the FAA defined airspace that is closest to the ground and below most general and commercial aviation traffic (Garrett & Anderson, 2018). In aviation language, the Neophosphere would encompass class G airspace where crop-dusters, helicopters, and low-flying aircraft, well-accustomed to the dangers of low-flying bird and drones, operate. I agree with this argument for a defined airspace for drones because the current FAA rules were few and limited in scope. The rules only stated that a drone must be registered, stay below 400 feet, and not fly into airport-controlled airspace (Federal Aviation Administration, 2019).  I also think that a bit of education about FAA airspace would educate drone pilots better about the general aviation aircraft their drones might encounter.

            A point that this article made was that geographers use UAS in small volumes of the Neophosphere when there is much more airspace to use to enhance UAS operations. An example was of recent digital mapping project of the “Christ the Redeemer” statue in Brazil. Researchers started the project using satellite images (like traditional geographers) and found that these images lacked the detail to accurately render the statue. Local, on-sight images of the statue were also used to provide more fidelity but they couldn’t capture details on the top of the statue. UAS fitted with cameras flew around the statue and finally provided the full image overage and fidelity needed to create the desired rendering (Garrett & Anderson, 2018). This example was a very strong argument for the unique capabilities that drones provide provided that operators take full advantage of available airspace.

            The case most brought up was the fact that many people associate drones with an oppressive narrative of being the ever-watching eyes of an oppressive “Big Brother” observer. Whether it was a drone operated by law enforcement to monitor crime or a hobbyist enjoying some sight-seeing, people associate drones with the fear of being constantly monitored. A defense for operators was to create and know the policies and laws that govern drone use. The author recalled the story of using a drone to film a skyscraper under construction while on a trip. A security guard from the building demanded that the author stop filming the building because the building is privately owned. The author calmly explained that he was filming from a public park in uncongested airspace implying that he was legally allowed to film the building. The frustrated security guard snapped back with the claim that air around the building was also privately owned! (Garrett & Anderson, 2018).  

            Lastly, the authors argued that UAS could be used in new, creative, and innovative ways to gather data. Many geographic methods involving UAS were limited to just using aerial imaging operated by a line-of-sight pilot. The article argued that drone technology had advanced to the point that other sensors and other control methods could be used to conduct geographical surveys. One example was to use autonomous drones more to survey wide swaths of land. I agreed that this technology is useful because other industries like the pipeline monitoring industry used and are considering autonomous drones for surveillance (Kochetkova, 2019).

            Overall, I agree with the points this article made about UAS applications in geographical studies. UAS can provide an enormous advantage but they still have several political and societal challenges to overcome.

-Marty

Garrett B., & Anderson K. (2018). Drone methodologies: Taking flight in human and physical           geography. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 43, 341–359. Doi: 10.1111/tran.12232

Kochetkova, L. I. (2018). Pipeline monitoring with unmanned aerial vehicles. Journal of Physics, 1015. doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1015/4/042021

Recreational Flyers & Modeler Community-Based Organizations. (2019). Federal Aviation Administration. Retrieved from https://www.faa.gov/uas/recreational_fliers/

Good evening everyone,

For this assignment, I'm going to discuss an article that I found that discusses the future of UMVs in navies around the world.

I've found an article from NewAmerica.org that talks about the future of drones in maritime warfare. It first highlights that maritime drones are not only being researched and fielded by nations with modern navies (like the U.S., Great Britain, and China), but also smaller military organizations like the Houthi rebels. The Houthi's famous aerial drone attack of a Saudi oil field within the past year showcased their ability to use drones to the world . However, there was an earlier incident where they struck a Saudi Navy frigate with a UMV by ramming into the frigate then exploding. I bring up this incident to show that, while still relatively new, UMVs are being widely used across the world .

With UMVs being so widely used, the article then talks the U.S. Navy's drone plan for the future. The Navy has created its first Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Squadron (UUVRON) to start fielding UMVs. The goal of this unit is to use UMVs to 'extend the reach of the fleet; including near shore and denied areas' . Most of the UMVs in the Navy have been focused on performing dangerous defensive, reconnaissance, and patrol duties. For example, a swarm of drones were used to track and identify ships in a harbor for base defense. The Navy also tested an anti-submarine UMV with an operational trial where it sailed from California to Hawaii. Lastly, there is a reconnaissance UMV that can operate submerged for 6 months on end. 

The main point of this article is that the US Navy, and others around the world, are focusing on designing larger single UMVs for patrol and reconnaissance with swarm UMVs to supplement. I agree that these drone are a viable use of technology and will definitely be used in the future. Large, capable UMVs will be essential to many navies' future warfare plans. In my opinion though, I think that the future of UMVs is going to include a lot more cheap, "suicide-run" drone like the one the Houthi rebels used.

I believe that a majority of drones will be cheaper drones armed with explosives because the drones needed to operate them are cheap, easy to make, and hard to stop. Terrorist organizations like ISIS, who don't have large budgets and are limited in weapons technology, have also used simple UAVs to drop grenades and IEDs onto opposing troops in recent conflicts. Also, many drones used to today in military operations are of the cheaper and more expendable type. For example, the U.S. Army and Marines use the RQ-12A Wasp drone which is basically a small RC plane with cameras and sensors on it. 

To continue with examples mentioned before, ISIS used $1,500 dollar Chinese-made drones in combat. These drones not only drop explosives but can provide quick and hard to counter reconnaissance of enemy positions. The U.S. and allies have very few weapons available that can easily knock a drone out of the sky. There are underwater UMVs that cost a similar price- like the SOFAR Trident that costs roughly $1,500. With UMVs costing the same as a drone, it would not take much effort to convert an underwater drone into a weapon system. 

With the Houthis' attack on the Saudi frigate, UMVs have been shown to be a potent weapon systems for single-use strike attacks. More modern navies are pursuing larger, more sophisticated UMVs for reconnaissance, surveillance, and  patrol purposes. While these more sophisticated UMVs will have the ability to attack and inflict damage, I think that cheaper UMVs will be more widespread as non-state actors continue to explore their use. They may also see more use in the world's oceans because that has typically been the domain of powerful nation's navies. Cheap, expendable UMVs will provide an easy access point for smaller military forces to strike against larger foes.

-Marty

References:

Bergen, P., Sterman, D., Salyk-Virk, M, & Mellon, C. (2019). The future of drone warfare: The rise of maritime drones. New America. Retrieved from https://www.newamerica.org/in-depth/world-of-drones/7-future-drone-warfare-rise-maritime-drones/

Cavas, C. P. (2017). New Houthi weapon emerges: a drone boat. DefenseNews. Retreived from https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/idex/2017/02/19/new-houthi-weapon-emerges-a-drone-boat/

Pomerleau, M. (2017). In drones, ISIS has its own tactical air force. C4ISRNET. Retreived from https://www.c4isrnet.com/digital-show-dailies/modern-day-marine/2017/09/21/in-drones-isis-has-its-own-tactical-air-force/

Trident. (2019). Retreived from https://www.sofarocean.com/products/trident

About me

Hello!

My name is Marty and I'm currently a T-6  instructor pilot at Laughlin, AFB TX. Below is an awesome photo of the plane that I fly:

I'm pursuing my master's degree in aeronautics with a focus on aerodynamics in order to continue my education from my B.S, degree in aeronautical engineering. I'm also pursuing this degree to get an education to prepare me for the future and help me at my current job. The purpose of this blog is to help me express my ideas and learn from others' feedback.

I'm currently enrolled in the UNSY 501 Application of Unmanned Systems class. My own definition of an unmanned system is a vehicle that operates autonomously or remotely to perform a task better than a human or human operated vehicle can.

-Marty