Drones in Human Life

Peter Parker

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

030170899

Tony Stark

Electronics and Comm. Engineering – Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

040190999

Clark Kent

Mechanical Engineering – Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

03019999

English 201A

Gülru Arslan

May 24, 2022

Drones in Human Life

Thesis: Drones have improved rapidly in the last decade and have been used extensively in

military, daily life, and city planning.

I. Military

A. Capability of military operations

1. Providing attack capability (Szegedi, 2017, p. 182)

2. Providing battlefield intelligence (Rossiter, 2018, pp. 117- 118)

B. Lower cost of military operations

1. Production cost (Bartsch et al., 2017, p. 19)

2. Operating cost (Jones, 2014, p. 29)

II. Daily Life

A. Medical Drones

1. Ambulance drone (Anand et al., 2018, pp. 369-370)

2. Medical delivery of blood samples (Euchi, 2020, pp. 4-5)

B. Agricultural Drones

1. Crops Monitoring (Reinecke & Prinsloo, 2017, p. 3)

2. Planting and Fertilizing (Salnikov et al., 2017, p. 39)

III. City Planning

A. Traffic Management

1. Monitoring traffic (Christodoulou & Kolios, 2020, pp. 1-5)

2. Smart transportation system (Saputro et al., 2018, p. 110)

B. Data Collection

1. 3D modelling (Erenoglu et al., 2018, pp. 1708, 1711-1713)

2. Managing air pollution (Hu et al., 2018, pp. 3-5)

 Humans have been obligated to stay on the ground for thousands of years; thus, they

have looked up to the birds and their ability to fly. It was firstly around the year 1487 that

scientists such as Leonarda da Vinci started to design vehicles that could fly. With the help of

new technologies that was created in Industrial Revolution, humankind created first projects

of flying vehicles. Among these projects, there was a concept of “planes with no human pilot

inside”. This notion would become more and more common among scientists and engineers

ultimately creating the term “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”. In 1849, Austrians used unmanned

balloons armed with bombs to attack critical positions in their battle against Venice. Although

most of them were inaccurate, this demonstrated the idea behind the drones what would be

produced after almost 100 years later. According to Sherman (2020), first modern drone was

developed in 1936 in the United Kingdom. De Havilland DH.82B Queen Bee was created and

it was controlled by British crew on the ground. Development in USA was started in the same

year after US Navy Admiral William Harrison Standley saw this first UAV in action and then

he would run a program with Lt. Cmdr. Delmar Fahrney who would use the word “drone” for

the first time to describe an unmanned aircraft (p. 38). Consequently, drones have improved

rapidly in the last decade and have been used extensively in military, daily life, and city

planning.

Firstly, application area of drone technology in military provides more efficient and

cost-effective operational capability than the fighter jets used for years. To begin with, since

the emergence and progress of most technological developments are accelerated by the

presence of wars, it will not be surprising that drone technology is also accelerating to

increase military operational capability such as attack capability, reconnaissance, intelligence

by observation and transportation. Primarily, with the development of nanotechnology, drones

have started to shrink thanks to the shrinking of IT equipment, and this seemed to allow

various attack capabilities. As Szegedi (2017) stated, if the military drone applications are
used within a system as both reusable and disposable equipment, they will be further

enhanced in the sense that air access of vehicles can be obstructed by numerous drones

strategically placed on the airways to make these roads unusable or force the vehicles to

change their position. Moreover, aircrafts could be harmed or even be exterminated by a

platform in the air or a dense cloud (p. 182). Considering the information above, it can be said

that with the development of autonomous systems, many drones can be organized and used in

making a kamikaze attack as a flock, and small drones with guns can enter places where

warplanes cannot enter, such as caves where terrorists are hiding, and they can neutralize the

target. Another military operational capability of drones is providing battlefield intelligence.

As Rossiter (2018) stated, drones which are generally mini-sized and modular, have been used

for surveillance and reconnaissance missions by militants. In the summer of 2011, small

Aeryon Scout drones were used to assist Libyan opponents of Gaddafi from Misrata fast make

progress on Tripoli. When most of Eastern Syria and Northern Iraq were scanned, “spotter

mini-drones” that have high-tech cameras have been used comprehensively to spy out Syrian

and Iraqi military installations and locations by Islamic State in 2014. The value of easy-to-

get small drones for reconnaissance tasks has been demonstrated to armed opponents since

that time. Furthermore, drones have been used to find aims for indirect fire assaults and tune

fire precision with real time video feeds (pp. 117-118). In the light of the above information, it

can be said that UAV could give military troops the capability to collect data that could allow

them to move faster and check if they are being pursued during tactical reconnaissance,

tracking, combat assessment, and cartographic missions. All things considered, it will not be

wrong to say that drones have already had a significant capability of military operations and

their important place in military applications is growing day by day; therefore, governments

are going to increase their investment on drone technology.

 In addition to operational capability of drones, lower cost of production of vehicles

and operations emerge as an important parameter. Primarily, production cost constitutes the

majority of the costs as in most products. According to Bartsch et al., usually unmanned aerial

vehicle systems are considered more reasonable by politicians as the initial purchase costs are

less than manned aircraft systems, as in the comparison of the F35 Lightning II of almost $70

million with the Reaper of nearly 17 million dollars at 2013 prices (2017, p. 19). Secondly,

operation cost is another important parameter on determining the feasibility of military’s

operations. Jones (2014) stated that an observation analyst, an operator and a maintenance

team beside a pilot are needed by most American military drones. In comparison with the

number of people needed for an F-16 fighter jet, which is 100, approximately 180 people are

needed to keep a Predator drone in the air. Considering that a new F-16 fighter plane costs

$55 million, drones still cost much less than manned aircrafts (p. 29). On account of all these

facts, it can be said that although the personnel cost of drones required in the military

operation process is high, the production costs, which make up the majority of the cost, are

much lower than manned aircraft, making the use of drones more attractive. As can be seen

when the cost element in the use of drones in the military field is examined, it will be more

advantageous to use drones instead of warplanes for various operations.

Secondly, as a result of the quick expansion of the drone industry, they have started to

be used in daily life to make our lives simpler. To begin with, health is the most important

thing in our life and drones can be used to respond faster to emergencies or deliver medical

stuff like blood samples. Primarily, in case of immediate injuries, it may be impossible for an

ambulance to reach the victim due to a traffic jam or some other conditions. Anand et al.

(2018) stated that the major issue is accessing the victim which could take around fifteen

minutes even though the ambulance heads to a spot as near as a few miles away. These fifteen

minutes may be crucial in determining if the victim can live. A few minutes lost by the first
aid team could lead to the death of the victim especially in case of emergency heart attacks.

The problem is aggravated by the fact that an ambulance can take 10 to 40 minutes to reach

the patient depending on location and congestion. The more the distance is, the worse the

situation gets. In cases like this, drone ambulances can be very useful to decrease the time to

reach the victim by 95% by flying straight line and eliminating the traffic issue.

Consequently, the probability of recovery is increased by a remarkable percentage (pp. 369-

370). Based on the information above it can be said that in emergency situations, one of the

most important things is reaching the victim as soon as possible. And in some circumstances

with a normal ambulance, this can be really hard and worst of all the death of the victim can

be seen. Moreover, drones in medical delivery provide a really fast and hygienic service due

to supporting non-contact delivery. Euchi (2020) explains that to test babies for HIV, a drone

carriage system has started to be tested in cooperation with the local government in Malawi.

Reducing the transport time between blood samples collection site and the laboratories where

the samples are examined, was the purpose of this project (pp. 4-5). Drones might be useful

during outbreaks since they reduce contact between people and also, they can deliver medical

stuff faster than other vehicles. It is obvious from the above that since drones have started to

be used in medical area, they have made healthcare system better.

In addition to the health sector, agriculture is also an area where drones are used in

daily life. Agriculture requires lots of labor, but with drones, farming can be made with less

effort. Firstly, monitoring the crops is important since the farmers have to know the condition

of their plants. In case something goes wrong, drones give opportunity of intervening earlier.

Reinecke and Prinsloo (2017) explained that there are three types of crop diseases known as

fungal, bacterial and viral. Drones can see inside of the crops and clearly capture their status

by the infrared cameras attached on them. Certainly, precautions can be taken if the farmer

could notice before the infection spreads to nearby crops. Also, drones can be attached a
multi-spectral camera. This camera can determine groundwater and allows the farmer to know

if the crops need irrigation or they are overwatered. In this way the farmer can arrange the

right amount of water. Drones can take photographs of the planting field from the beginning

of the season to the harvesting time to survey the growth of the corps and show the marks of

limited growth because of low watering and low nitrogen of the soil. And there are a few

more advantages like determining the effect of wind or detecting and warning the fire (p. 3).

As we can see drones make farming more effortless and give the advantage of having better

harvest by informing earlier in cases like disease, lake of underground water and nitrogen

content or some natural diseases. Secondly, drones can be used to plant and fertilize the crops.

Drones have some advantages against the current system such as preventing waste of sources,

keeping the soil as it is and much more. They are also environmentally friendly. Salnikov et

al. (2017) claimed in their patent that crop manufacturing systems have caused unwanted

environmental side effects in many cases. Few of the examples in recent years have been soil

deterioration, erosion, overuse of sources and pollution by chemicals. Moreover, some

systems were also unmaintainable economically. They also introduced automated farming as

an alternative to the current system in the patent. Automated farming system can dust the

crops, plants, fertilizes and also does other field jobs. Some advantages of the automated

system are reducing energy costs by using lighter and more suitable equipment;

removing carbon fuel usage by replacing current energy sources with renewable ones;

reducing fertilizer usage by putting the fertilizer in the right place where the crops need it the

most and therefore avoiding wasting sources and keeping the water cleaner; eliminating soil

compaction by having nothing to drive on soil; and finally organizing a more accurate

planting since this system can place the crops precisely where they should be and gives us the

efficiency that has never been possible before (p. 39). Obviously automated farming system

has lots of advantages against current systems. It becomes possible to eliminate wasting
limited sources, produce crops more efficiently and much more importantly the nature can be

protected. To sum it up, in these days with the limited sources but the increased production

requirement people have due to rapid population growth, more efficient, more economical and

more nature friendly systems are to be sought. That is why, drones that can make a great

contribution to production should be used in agricultural fields.

The final usage field of drones is city planning. What drones can add to cities are

almost endless and those changes can make our lives easier and more convenient. To begin

with, drones are used for traffic management in cities, mainly for monitoring roads and the

traffic fast and cheaply. As Christodoulou and Kolios explain, monitoring traffic by drones is

easier and faster compared to traditional loop detectors and Bluetooth receivers. Their ability

allows them to reach key locations fast to gather data from different parts of city at different

times depending on the population density change in the city. That said, they have some

challenges in themselves; for instance, obstacles between their vision and roads may cause

problems, therefore a strategy has been developed. The strategy is to determine specific paths

and angles and traveling between these locations to gather the best footage of the traffic.

Ultimately, this strategy made drones efficient compared to their alternatives (2020, pp. 1-5).

Objectively speaking, managing traffic by fixed sensors in cities where cars get dense in

different places in different times is not as efficient or as easy to control without drones.

Moreover, drones called Smart Transportation Systems can be used to increase

communication and safety in cities. Sapurto et al. (2018) revealed that drones can be used to

provide a lot of services thanks to their various abilities. Due to Intelligent Transportation

System applications, in case of extraordinary situations that may occur on the road,

communication between drones and civilian vehicles and federal authorities such as police

and medics will be provided to organize people and prevent further problems as long as

drones are in touch with communication center through a cellular communication link (p.
110). In short, adding communication system on top of drones’ mobility creates revolutionary

impact to get us to the cities of tomorrow, Smart Cities. All in all, it can safely be said that the

impact drones in managing traffic is extremely significant as they can be used to fight modern

day problems in city planning.

Another way of improving cities is through data collection. To begin with, data is the

most valuable resource of our world and collecting data around the cities simultaneously is

both time and resource consuming which is a big negative effect. Hence, drones are one of the

most useful advancements that can help us collect information with ease and at low cost.

Primarily, drones have been getting 3D models and maps of territories which is essential for

managing and planning cities. Erenoglu et al. (2018) reported that, as cities are getting more

populated, urban planning needs improvement and 3D models of terrain is one topic drones

can be very useful. Also, UAV photography can be an alternative for GPS and other satellite

systems. Images taken by drones are then processed in an SfM (Structure-from-Motion) and

MVS (Multi-View-Stereo) software to complete transaction from photos to 3D models. Their

study shows that 3D models made by drone images are just as accurate as the ones taken from

satellite systems, if not more. IT should also be noted that, drones are much cheaper than their

satellite or manned aircraft counterparts (pp. 1708, 1711-1713). As a result, drones may be the

answer to problems generated by migration into cities, by making efficient use of money and

space. Additionally, drones are used to collect data of air pollution, which is becoming a huge

problem of our age. Hu et al. (2018) state that air pollution is becoming the largest problem of

human health; therefore, collecting data of air quality has become very important. Since

sensing devices naturally are pinned on to the ground, the data they gather is restricted to the

surface level which can be misleading for dense cities. Drones become significant as they can

reach high altitudes and expose sensing device to air up there for a few seconds to gather

information of any point in a large amount of 3D space (pp. 3-5). Considering the information
above, drones can be practical devices to monitor air pollution due to their ability to sense

different points of a special area because intrinsically, air sensing devices are unable to reach

places drones can. To sum up, developing 3D models of areas requiring development and

stepping in reacting to conclusive decisions in fighting air pollution are only two of the major

abilities of drones in data collection.

As a result, drones are technological devices that have been changing human life

quickly over past decades and have been widely used in variety of places and most commonly

in military, daily life, and city planning. Firstly, the fact that drones are more effective than

warplanes in terms of attack and intelligence capabilities on the battlefield and flight time,

safety and cost will continue to increase their use in the military field. In addition, drones can

save lives by serving as an ambulance in the medical field or by carrying medical products in

our daily life, and in the agricultural field, they will make our lives easier while increasing

efficiency by helping in monitoring, planting and fertilization works. Moreover, drones can

also be used in city planning. Especially data collecting and creating smart cities is extremely

efficient and easy with drones. By considering the afore mentioned findings, it seems that

development of drone technologies is not going to slow down and usage of drones are going

to increase even more. Therefore, people should be introduced to these technologies and

young people should be incentivized to learn and research about them.

 References

Anand, P., Arjun, P., Kumar, N. B., & Gowtham, K. (2018). Drone ambulance support

system. International Journal of Engineering and Techniques, 4(2), 369-373.

https://www.academia.edu/36679485/Drone_Ambulance_Support_ System

Bartsch, R. I. C., Coyne, J., & Gray, K. (2017). Drones in society: Exploring the strange new

world of unmanned aircraft. http://0-search.ebscohost.com.divit. library.itu.edu.tr/

login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat01696a&AN=itu.b2545794&lang=tr&site=eds-live.

Christodoulou, C., & Kolios, P. (2020). Optimized tour planning for drone-based urban traffic

monitoring. Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE 91st Vehicular Technology Conference

(VTC2020-Spring), Antwerp, Belgium, (pp. 1-5). https://doi.org.10.1109/VTC2020-

Spring 48590.2020.9128519

Erenoglu, R. C., Erenoglu, O., & Arslan, N. (2018, November 1). Accuracy assessment of

low- cost UAV based city modeling for urban planning. Technicki Vjesnik-Technical

Gazette, 25(6), 1708-1714. https://doi.org.10.17559/TV-20170904202055

Euchi, J. (2020). Do drones have a realistic place in a pandemic fight for delivering medical

supplies in healthcare systems problems. Chinese Journal of Aeronautics, 1-9.

https://doi.org.10.1016/j.cja.2020.06.006

Hu, Z., Bai, Z., Yang, Y., Zheng, Z., Bian, K., & Song, L. (2018). UAV aided aerial-ground

IoT for air quality sensing in smart city: Architecture, technologies and

implementation. IEEE Network, 33(2), 3-12. http://0-search.ebscohost.com.divit.

library.itu.edu.tr/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsarx&AN=edsarx.1809.03746&lang=

tr&site=eds-live

Jones, M. V. (2014, September). Drones: the sky’s the limit--or is it? Technology &

Engineering Teacher, 74(1), 28–32. http://0-search.ebscohost.com.divit.library.itu.

edu.tr/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asn&AN=97666412 &lang=tr&site =eds-live.

Reinecke, M., & Prinsloo, T. (2017). The influence of drone monitoring on crop health and

harvest size. Paper presented at the 2017 1st International Conference on Next

Generation Computing Applications (NextComp), Mauritius, Mauritius. https://ieee

xplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8016168

Rossiter, A. (2018). Drone usage by militant groups: Exploring variation in adoption. Defense

and Security Analysis, 34(2), 113–126. https://doi.org.10.1080/14751798.2018.14781

83

Salnikov, V., Filin, A., & Burema, H. (2017). U.S. Patent No. 9,852,644. Washington, DC:

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Saputro, N., Akkaya, K., & Uluagac, S. (2018). Supporting seamless connectivity in drone-

assisted intelligent transportation systems. Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE 43rd

Conference on Local Computer Networks Workshops (LCN Workshops (pp. 110-116).

https://doi.org.10.1109/LCNW.2018.8628496

Sherman, P. (2020). Continued… A brief history of drones. Model Airplane News, 149(3),

46-55. https://www.pressreader.com/usa/model-airplane-news/ 20200201/page/4

Szegedi, P. (2017). UAVs and the military leadership. Scientific Research & Education in the

Air Force- AFASES, 2, 179–188. https://doi.org doi:10.19062/2247-

3173.2017.19.2.26