Week 2: The Purposes of Drones

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Hello Everyone! This week, Professor Siewert, the team and I are waiting to hear back about the proposal for funding through Embry-Riddle. This week, I have been learning to utilize support vector machines (SVMs) and program in the OpenComputerVision software (OpenCV).

For week 2, I would like to answer the following question:

What is the purpose of a drone?



Drones actually have many different applications across the world. I will attempt to provide a few examples, categorize the main uses for drones and explain their relevance to Drone Net.

  1. Fully compliant: A drone pilot flies his personal drone around on public lands to film video footage of landscapes. He files a flight plan, follows all drone flight zone regulations, and his drone self reports its location using GPS. 
  2. Fully compliant: Amazon utilizes cargo drones to deliver packages to customers nearby their distribution facilities.
  3. Semi-compliant: A drone hobbyist pilots his personal drone above public lands. He follows all drone flight zone regulations, but does not file a flight plan. His drone is also self-reporting false position data due to a faulty GPS module.
  4. Non-compliant passive: A drone is spotted carrying no cargo. The drone is not entering airspace illegally, but is not reporting its position using the proper channels.
  5. Non-compliant hostile: A drone is spotted flying extremely close to the path of incoming aircraft. Whether or not the drone operator intended to cause an air-based incursion, the action of flying near active aircraft flight paths is considered inherently hostile.
  6. Non-compliant hostile: A drone is spotted without any cargo. The drone is hovering outside business offices and conference rooms, either illegally recording video of the business meetings or hijacking the wireless communications to procure confidential documents.
  7. Non-compliant hostile: A drone carries a package of illegal narcotics over the US-Mexico border fence, acting as part of an apparent drug-trafficking operation. 
As you may have noticed, the bolded examples above fall under the important category of "non-compliant hostile" drones. These are the kind of drones that Drone Net seeks to eventually identify and combat in real time. Next week, I will discuss how Drone Net seeks to confront the problem of non-compliant hostile drones.

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