In support of my continued graduate studies
in Unmanned Systems, this week’s Blog assignment was to comment on a recent
article centered on the future of unmanned aerial systems in either the
military or civilian sectors.
Ironically, this morning I found an article under the
subtitle of Future Technology, on the
front page of my locally delivered newspaper, THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE. The
article, SoCal’s Changing Urban Landscape-How
driverless cars, drones and other tech will change the urban landscape of
Southern California, was written by Neil Nisperos June 18th,
2017.
With the influx of 21st century technologies, Nisperos
offered a future consisting of driverless cars, drones and virtual reality
(para. 2). Big yellow-taxis will be replaced
with driverless vehicles, drones will deliver packages to a specific location
at your residence and virtual reality applications will be enhanced by faster
internet speeds, perpetuating and enhancing a work from home environment,
thereby significantly reducing traffic congestion at peak commuter time frames.
This vision of the future is all well and good, but in case
you just crawled out from under a rock, the article is already old news. Internet speeds are already supporting work
from home and working hub environments, with real-time video conference
applications such as MeetingBurner, Meetin.gs, GoToMeeting, Yugma, WebEx, and 321Meet
(Fance, n.d.) to name a few, all of which enable the teleworker to be virtually
present in business meetings and all-hands office discussions both globally and
internationally.
Hardly considered futuristic, at the pace in which technology
is proving these systems out, driverless cars are only 2-3 years away from full
scale production and will be capable of providing level 4 autonomy to the
market. A list of these autonomous cars
and their manufacturers can be found at this link.
Where the futures of drones or UAS are concerned, one only
needs to see how the technology is already proliferating into our daily lives.
Technology/Operations
Nisperos wrote in his article:
The future is now- Much of the
changes hinted at are already under way. New apartment projects, including a
yet-to-be named 570-unit rental project to be built just north of the Citizens
Business Bank Arena in Ontario, will incorporate design concepts for people to
better work from home and areas to accept packages from Amazon and other online
retailers (The future is now section, para. 1).
Amazon, thru its proposed airborne delivery system, Prime Air, is actively working with the
FAA thru one of many pathfinder programs to develop the sensory capabilities and
show regulatory compliance, where package delivery relates to UAS operations
beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS), sense/detect and avoid (SAA/DAA), and
operations over people (OOP).
A description of how the service is provided and when it
will become a reality can be found on the Prime Air website:
·
Amazon Prime Air is a service that will deliver
packages up to five pounds in 30 minutes or less using small drones.
·
Safety is our top priority. Our vehicles will be
built with multiple redundancies, as well as sophisticated “sense and avoid”
technology. Additionally, through our private trial in the UK, we will gather
data to continue improving the safety and reliability of our systems and
operations.
·
We will deploy when and where we have the
regulatory support needed to safely realize our vision. We’re excited about
this technology and one day using it to deliver packages to customers around
the world in 30 minutes or less.
·
We are testing many different vehicle designs
and delivery mechanisms to discover how best to deliver packages in a variety
of operating environments. The look and characteristics of the vehicles will
continue to evolve over time.
·
We have Prime Air development centers in the
United States, the United Kingdom, Austria, France and Israel. We are testing
the vehicles in multiple international locations.
·
We believe the airspace is safest when small
drones are separated from most manned aircraft traffic, and where airspace
access is determined by capabilities.
·
We are currently permitted to operate during
daylight hours when there are low winds and good visibility, but not in rain,
snow or icy conditions. Once we’ve gathered data to improve the safety and
reliability of our systems and operations, we will expand the envelope. (FAQs,
2017).
·
We are working with regulators and policymakers
in various countries in order to make Prime Air a reality for our customers
around the world, and expect to continue to do so.
By employing the resources of one of their many
geographically located distribution facilities, the likelihood of Amazon Prime Air package delivery is on
the horizon and not as far out in the future as one would imagine.
References
Amazon (2017). Prime Air, Frequently asked Questions, Retrieved
from https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Prime-Air/b?node=8037720011
Fance, C. (n.d.) Online Meeting and Web Conferencing
Tools-Best Of, Retrieved from http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/online-meeting-tools/
Nisperos, N (2017). SoCal’s Changing Urban Landscape, How
driverless cars, drones and other tech will alter the look and development of
cities, Future Technology, The Press Enterprise, Retrieved from http://www.pe.com/2017/06/18/how-driverless-cars-drones-and-other-tech-will-change-the-urban-landscape-of-southern-california-4-2/
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