As they get smaller, cheaper and easier to use, drones provide the potential for growth and innovation across many sectors. From casual flying and aerial videography to farming and remote rescue services the use of drones can not only be used for fun but can also provide solutions that have long been required.

A drone is defined as an unmanned aerial system (UAS), predominantly used by the military, but have become readily available at reasonable cost , for leisure and commercial usage.

In the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) guide An introduction to unmanned aircraft systems, there are 2 key ways in which drones can be operated:

1. Visual Line Of Sight (VLOS) - This means that the aircraft must be able to be clearly seen by the person flying it at all times when it is airborne.

2. Beyond the Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) - If the person flying the aircraft is unable to maintain direct unaided visual contact with it while it is airborne, then an alternative method of collision avoidance must be employed in order to ensure that it can still be flown safely.

As with all technologies, the use of drones has its benefits and challenges and these were the key focal points of discussion at the Westminster eForum policy conference - Next steps for developing the UK's drone sector - innovation, safety and regulation, and latest on commercial and public sector applications which took place on the 15th September 2020.  These points also resonate with our interest in privacy and security of data.

The conference began with a presentation of a case study ‘Counter drone measures in law enforcement and  police operations by Chief Inspector Simon Bachelor, Legislation and Policy Lead, Counter Drones, National Police Chiefs Council.  Simon highlighted these challenges:

Counter drones or counter UAS was not a service traditionally delivered by the police, so there lies the immediate challenge.  

Specifically, these are the issues highlighted in the case study:                   

low level of knowledge of drones, not enough understanding of the demand for the counter drone service,  establishing the  right police training and understanding what counter drone equipment to use

In order to tackle these issues they had to define the problem space and use peer reviews of EU and US counterparts to develop a basic concept of operations model. The Heathrow and Gatwick airport incidents drove the setting up of the counter drone teams in the Home Office and the Police. 

Future of commercial drone operations 

Farming: With drones farmers can assess their crops across many fields in much less time than by foot. Jack Wrangham, Founder, Drone AG pointed out that drone usage in farming provides the lowest risk as farms are generally located in the middle of nowhere away from big airports and cities, providing a lot of potential for testing and development.

Transport: Network Rail's drone operations, set up to help increase safety and productivity, have increased by 45% in the first 8 months of 2020. With an ever expanding training programme for their drone operators and a plan to implement a flight management system by the end of the year, Network Rail has fully embraced the use of drones.

A vision of flying drones with 3D printing capabilities and aquatic drones with data mapping capabilities was presented by Professor Mirko Kovac, Director, Aerial Robotics Laboratory, Imperial College London. The overview gave us an idea of how drones could help build, manufacture and repair future cities.

From Kumardev Chatterjee, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Unmanned Life, we heard how AI and drone technologies are being combined to create autonomous robots and drones that can work together to deliver emergency response, rescue operations or sort parcels for deliveries. 

The potential for drone operations is huge however there was a key issue that kept coming up around the need to move to BVLOS operations as current VLOS operations are limited.

In November 2018 the Drone Delivery Group was set up to look at how to get to BVLOS operation. 64 industry stakeholders came together to write a whitepaper which was published in July 2020 to advise government on the steps that need to be taken for the commercialization of the UK civil drone industry.

Robert Garbett, Chief Executive Officer, Drone Major Group explained 

There was a lot of frustration in the industry as to the steps weren't moving forward and we still seem to be in a cycle of trial after trial after trial, which  aren't necessarily connected together, which aren't necessarily delivering a roadmap to commercialization

The main advice from the whitepaper is that trialling is important but is not the only solution, and companies need to start testing and developing drones.

Regulatory frameworks

Andrew McQuillan, Managing Director, Crowded Space Drones provided an overview of the current regulations for hobbyists and commercial users and the new EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency),  regulations are coming in from the 31st December 2020, regardless of Brexit. 

Andrew also made some key points around BVLOS trials that currently take place within segregated airspace (danger areas) and highlight the hurdles that need to be overcome:

The reason they are segregated is because there is no current system for unified traffic management (UTM)

The biggest hurdle is to establish a standardized pan European approach.

Drone risks and mitigations

Drone usage is risky and unregulated drone operations pose a risk to personal safety, privacy, and airspace usage. There is a need for innovation and commercialization however ensuring safe and lawful usage, as well as developing public trust is just as important. 

From research conducted by NATS it was apparent that demand and social acceptance for drones had grown during the pandemic.  Andrew Sage, Head of Unified Traffic Management, NATS pointed out:

we don't need to wait for perfection or the perfect business model to get going¦

He also concluded that:

the key to safe integration is to start integrating safely...now

Speaking on social acceptance Anne-Lise Scaillierez, Director, ARPAS-UK and Partner, The Drone Office emphasised that: 

It’s important that the general public feels confident that the regulations are well known by all drone users and that there is a safety culture such that safety, security, noise, breach of privacy risks are well understood by all drone users and are mitigated in accordance with the regulation

Anne-Lise called for the need for ongoing education and communications for drone users especially in light of the new legislation coming in at the end of 2020.

By assessing the level of risk posed by drone flying and ways to mitigate against them, discussions around the need to ensure that all users take out mandatory insurance was brought up and how this might look. Sam Golden, Sales and Marketing Lead, Flock Cover presented their drone insurance model which provides flexible cover for a range of drones and usage requirements. 

Although there is uncertainty the key points of continuing with trialling and, moreover, testing and development were emphasized with the understanding that users will need to be agile and responsive to demand, regulations and frameworks

In conclusion, with their low cost and availability drones are attractive for a wide range of usages however nobody appears to know the full extent of the demand and without shared standards and agreed frameworks, the risks are high to personal safety, airspace usage, privacy and security of data. 

Written and edited by Yejide Adeoye (Digital Reporter) and Kiah Olowu (Digital Reporting Intern)