AT 309 Week 2: The Digital Transformation
Many aspects of life are being moved online. This is especially evident when looking at the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Schools are largely being taught online, food services are offering contact-free deliveries, and more people are working from home. This is all possible because of the technological advancements of the last few decades. These technological advancements have streamlined daily life for many people and changed the way we live. This change is the digital transformation and it is very relevant to the future of UAS.
The Internet of Things (IoT)
The internet of things is a system of 'smart objects' that are all interconnected. These objects can communicate with each other by sharing data without human intervention.
UAS are one such smart object that would fit into the IoT framework very well. IoT requires many smart objects to contribute data. Unmanned systems help in various industries including: agriculture, construction, search and rescue, and mapping. UAS are autonomous and easily programmable which would make them useful in the internet of things.
UAS were being used in military applications before IoT devices were around. UAS help make jobs more efficient. This can be seen in jobs like pipeline inspection and wildfire response. IoT devices attempt to do the same thing by allowing technology to work together. While the article refers to UAS and IoT as competitors, they would both be better off working together.
UAS are easy to deploy and can be equipped with many sensors. This makes them an attractive candidate for the future of IoT. With the wide variety of sensors that can be equipped, UAS are not a one dimensional technology. This means that unmanned systems can provide many different types of data which would contribute to the internet of things.
IoT sensor data can be used with drones for defense. With the rise in popularity of UAS, drones are being used for many good things but also bad things. Utilizing UAS, for their mobility, along with IoT sensors, companies can detect unmanned systems that are being used for malicious intent.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is the process of using remote servers to process data instead of doing it locally. This allows users to lower the workload on any device that can use cloud computing.
UAS would benefit greatly from cloud computing. One of the problems in data collection is that the data is not available until the unmanned system returns to the ground station. Once the drone is back at the ground station, data still has to be analyzed and sent to the client. With cloud computing, UAS users would be able to access data from anywhere as long as they had access to the internet.
Cloud computing could increase the efficiency of UAS. Unmanned systems do a lot of data collection that often comes from long flight missions. By using remote servers to do some of the work, many of the demanding tasks could be offloaded from UAS. This could save battery life, allowing missions to last longer.
UAS can be difficult to control in numbers. With the use of cloud computing, UAS fleets could communicate through a remote server. Better fleet control would benefit UAS as well as the internet of things.
Cloud computing allows remote servers to do some of the work for the machine. For UAS, this means computing technology would be less important. UAS with cloud computing capabilities would not need on board computers and could instead have a bigger payload.
Big Data
With the increase in technology development, data collection is getting better. Large amounts of data have to be processed on a regular basis.
UAS are primarily used for data collection. Whether they are being used in construction, inspection, or search and rescue they can collect a lot of data. This makes UAS a good addition to work forces in many different industries.
UAS have gained popularity in the last decade. Because of the large amount of data that UAS collect, many users may not be following IT policies and security measures. IT companies should be aware of the impact of UAS and potentially help users make sure data is processed correctly. If IT companies adjust, UAS may run into fewer problems in the future.
IT companies also need to be aware of the bandwidth usage that UAS may bring with it. If the trend of UAS usage increases, bandwidth may be stretched thin. This could lead to a higher demand in IT companies as well as cloud storage and remote processing.
UAS can collect a large amount of data. This big data paired with UAS' ability to easily access remote areas makes it much more efficient than older methods of doing things.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial intelligence is a machine with human-like intelligence. AI is crucial to truly autonomous machines.
AI UAS would not yet be practical. AI cannot fly as well as humans yet so they would be less efficient than human controlled UAS. For AI drones to be practical in real world situations, like search and rescue, they will need to be able to fly efficiently. Currently AI drones are being used in drone racing so they can learn how to fly better than the best drone pilots.
AI allows machines to work more efficiently than humans. Pairing AI with UAS could streamline them the way that unmanned systems already streamline everyday tasks around the world. UAS with AI capabilities would be able to work autonomously with human surveillance.
AI could be used with drones to monitor densely populated areas and watch for various things like violence. Although this would be convenient, AI would likely make mistakes. In a surveillance example, an AI drone may see something that was not violent and report it as a violent act. AI needs to be better before an idea like this could be implemented.
AI drones are being used in the military to carry out intelligence missions without endangering human life. AI is assisting in these missions by using facial recognition software to do jobs military soldiers would have to risk their lives for. These unmanned systems are also capable of flying themselves, using detect and avoid systems.
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