Activity 6-4

For this activity I have selected agricultural land surveying as the specific unmanned aircraft system (UAS) mission.  UAS agricultural land surveying consists of flying UAS over farmland and conducting an aerial photographic survey of the property.  Aerial surveys can be used to check crop health or soil conditions or numerous other operations dependent upon the farmers’ specific needs (Rohr, 2014).  This will also drive the technology needed during the flight (Garland, 2013).

There are several UAS options available to perform this mission; size and complexity vary with need.  Three options would typically be an electric powered vertical take off and landing (VTOL) UAS, an internal combustion engine (ICE) powered VTOL UAS, and an electric powered horizontal take off and landing (HTOL) UAS.  The benefits of the VTOL variants are their ability to launch and recover in a minimum amount of space and the ability to fly precisely; the electric powered variants also tend to be less expensive than the fixed wing HTOL (Amato, 2014).  Due to a reduced number of moving parts as compared to a fixed wing HTOL, electric powered VTOL have the added benefit of lower maintenance (Butler, 2014).  Most of the popular electric powered agricultural VTOL UAS are configured as quad or multi-rotor copters that have the disadvantage of a shorter run time as opposed to the fixed wing variants (Amato, 2014). 

ICE VTOL UAS have the benefit of larger payload capacities thus enabling a variety of configurations depending upon the customers’ needs and budget (Barnard Microsystems, n.d.).  A disadvantage to ICE VTOL UAS is that they are generally larger, making them more difficult to transport, and significantly more expensive than their electric counterparts (Barnard Microsystems, n.d.; Hanlon, 2004).  Fixed wing electric powered UAS possess the advantage of higher speeds and longer run times therefore making them better suited to large operations (Butler, 2014), they also tend to be more robust and have better crash survivability than a HTOL (Butler, 2014).  A detractor, when compared to electric HTOL options, is their higher initial purchase price (Amato, 2014).

The FAA ban on most commercial UAS use however, disallows legitimate use of UAS for agricultural aerial surveys (Garland, 2014) making the decision to purchase and use one a legal and ethical decision as well as a financial choice.  Depending upon the results of the soon to be released FAA rulings of UAS in the national airspace (NAS) there is a possibility of this issue being (partially) resolved (Garland, 2014).  Should the FAA allow commercial use of UAS in the NAS, based upon the specific limitations imposed such as size or altitude, the farmer will simply have to choose the UAS that fits his/her needs, FAA restrictions, and budget.  The famer will also have the option of hiring out a service to perform the survey similar to what is currently done with manned aircraft (Garland, 2014).

The second ethical barrier the farmer must contend with is the privacy concerns of neighbors (Sterbenz, 2014).  Fortunately, by the nature of the operations and area of operations, privacy while conducting surveys should generally not be an issue as the mission involves flying over farm land and not residential areas.  Due to the apparent desire of many famers to use agricultural UAS (Ploetz, 2014) I speculate that privacy concerns and UAS acceptance within the local communities affected will not be as contentious as it may be in an urban environment.  It will be incumbent upon the operator and user to follow FAA flight restrictions as well as any locally imposed restrictions and be mindful of the privacy concerns of residences or public areas in the vicinity of flight operations.

References

Amato, A.  (2014).  The 7 Best Agricultural Drones on the Market Today. 

Dronelife.com.   Retrieved from http://dronelife.com/2014/10/01/best-agricultural-drones-available-today/

Barnard Microsystems.  (n.d.).  Yamaha RMAX Type II G unmanned helicopter. 

Retrieved from http://www.barnardmicrosystems.com/UAV/uav_list/yamaha_rmax.html

Butler, I. (2014).  Which Aerial Platform to use for Precision Agriculture.

TheUAVguy.  Retrieved from http://theuavguy.wordpress.com/2014/05/16/which-aerial-platform-to-use-for-precision-agriculture/

Garland, C.  (2014).  Drones may provide a big lift to agriculture when FAA allows

their use.  Los Angeles Times.  Retrieved from http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-81352913/                                                                                  

Hanlon, M. (2004).  Yamaha’s RMAX – the world’s most advanced non-military UAV.

             Gizmag.   Retrieved from http://www.gizmag.com/go/2440/

Ploetz, K.  (2014).  Dear Modern Farmer: Can I Use a Drone on My Farm?  Modern   

            Farmer.  Retrieved from http://modernfarmer.com/2014/02/dear-modern- 

            farmer-can-use-drone-farm/

Rohr, R.  (2014).  Meet the New Drone That Could Be a Farmer’s Best Friend.  Modern Farmer.  Retrieved from http://modernfarmer.com/2014/01/precision-

             hawk/

Sterbenz, C.  (2014).  Should We Freak Out About Drones Looking In Our Windows?

            Business Insider.  Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/privacy- 

            issues-with-commercial-drones-2014-9