Advantages And Disadvantages Of Drones

Drone, or formally known as unmanned aerial vehicle, is a flying robot whose innovation started in early 1900’s. First drone was developed in 1849 in Austria and it was sent unmanned, to attack Venice. Although they were primarily developed for military use in World War I and World War II, soon after that drones were used for civil purposes as well.

Today they are used in many fields, from military applications to movie industry. Drones can be remotely controlled by human operator or software control where for example a drone follows a predefined path.

Technology

Unmanned aerial vehicle often uses four to eight rotors to lift and propel itself. Depending on the size battery can last longer or shorter, small drones for example can last

Since drone does not require onboard pilot, not only that money is saved that would be spent for pilot salary it also eliminates risk of human injuries or deaths. Moreover there is no need for qualified pilot thus reducing costs and time of training. Drones can perform various tasks with high precision repetitively in any weather condition such as rain, fog in which plane would have difficulties or not be able to operate at all. Unmanned aerial vehicles can also stay in air considerably longer that any small plane. Considering flight capabilities drones are advantageous when compared to planes because they can take off, fly and land completely under computer control. Since they are control by computers, drones can be guided precisely without worrying of mid-air collision. They can also fly low to the ground by following waypoints which is impossible with planes. Ability to take off and land vertically makes drones more practical than small

This places can be for example mountains, deserts or any remote area. Mapping is another important unmanned aerial vehicles application as they can map land which can be used in many applications, can map forest, wind form, solar power plant etc. For example drone can map rooms in building before firefighter go inside to risk their lives.

An example

Japanese farmers have been using unmanned aerial vehicle since 1987 to dust their crops because it is cheaper than full-sized helicopter or small aircraft. Drones are also used to monitor livestock, crops and water level as well as fast data gathering in farming industry.

Limitations

Even though drones have many advantages, there are also few limitations that could potentially cause problems. First of all hardware failure is most likely to happen due to quality of drone, conditions in which it is used and its age. Propellers are the most prone to failures since they are the only fast moving part. Software failure is another limitations which can cause simple drone crash or unexpected