UNMANNED aerial vehicles – also known as drones – are proving to be versatile, as new uses for them are being discovered every day.
Many more industries are adopting the use of drones for tasks that are too hazardous for humans such as mapping buildings with structural damages or disaster areas.
Drones have become especially invaluable during the pandemic, making it easier to deliver medicine and food to people in remote locations.
Here are the many ways they are being put to good use:
Survival of the species
Monitoring the koala population has not been easy for researchers who are rushing to preserve the species whose population has been decimated by bushfires.
As spotting koalas from ground-level is challenging even for experienced researchers, a team from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is employing drones fitted with thermal cameras to track them.
These drones use algorithms to identify koalas based on their heat signatures.
According to the QUT website, speed is of the essence as researchers use the system to seek out surviving koalas.
In an interview with Nature Portfolio, associate professor and researcher Dr Grant Hamilton said more efficient ways are needed to monitor and manage threatened species.
“Human monitoring brings substantial errors, and is time-consuming and expensive.
“Now we’ve developed a methodology that covers 40ha, and captures thermal imagery in a couple of hours and only takes two hours to process,” he said.
Hamilton hopes that the technology can also be applied to monitor other species in Australia and beyond.
A sea of drones
New South Wales, Australia, will be deploying the world’s largest domestic fleet of drones to the state’s beaches to monitor for sharks.
The Smart drumlines are designed to capture sharks without harming them while a satellite-linked communication system will alert nearby vessels which will respond within 30 minutes.
A crew will then catch the sharks and implant a tag before releasing them back into the water.
Whenever the tagged sharks are near the beach area, shark listening stations will send alerts to lifeguards and beachgoers via the SharkSmart app.
The number of beaches under the watch of drones will also be increased to 50 from 34.
Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall said the state government is committed towards keeping swimmers and surfers safe while minimising the impact on marine life by using non-invasive technologies where possible.
For the farm
A man in Kampung Paya Nedam in Pendang, Kedah, found a new avenue for revenue when he started using a drone to spray pesticides and fertilisers at paddy fields.
In a Bernama report last June, Mohd Saifullah Halim, 22, said that he initially bought a drone to help care for his family’s 11ha of land.
However, he started getting requests from others in the vicinity to help them with their land.
The demand increased dramatically during the movement control order period, he said, adding that he decided to purchase another drone to fulfil the needs of the other farmers.
Mohd Saifullah and his two assistants charge between RM12 and RM20 for each 0.29ha of land that needs to be sprayed.
The trio is able to cover 10ha a day.
Before long the farmers saw other benefits of using drones in their farms.
“They felt that the drone was able to cover more ground evenly and improve the production of crops compared with standard pump-based spraying methods.
“This season, I also received job offers from those in the Yan district and Alor Setar,” he said, adding that he earns up to RM5,000 a month.
Aid via air
In Indonesia, enthusiasts are helping the country’s Covid-19 task force deliver food and medicine to people self-isolating at home.
Reuters reported that the Makassar Recover Drone Medic – a seven-member team with five drones – has been making deliveries at least five times a day since July.
A 50-year-old housewife who tested positive, along with others in her family of four, welcomed the initiative.
“I think the medicine received from a drone is more sterile,” she said.
Mayor Mohammad Ramdhan Pomato said there are plans to expand the use of drones to surrounding islands and provide deliveries to around 800 people living in a ship that has docked off Makassar.
Drones are also being used to monitor traffic and movement of people in the city.
Voices in the sky
The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) is using drones to monitor the public and remind people to comply with Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) in the Klang Valley.
Bukit Aman Air Wing Unit (drone unit) chief Supt Rasha Azaldin Shafii said three drones have been deployed in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.
“Each drone unit is equipped with a high-definition camera and loudspeaker. It is used to monitor SOP compliance and remind the public to comply through announcements.“
Our main objective is to assist police stations or police headquarters to monitor crowds at recreational spots and places of public interest,” he said.
In June, the police force in Terengganu fitted drones with heat-sensing technology to identify individuals in public with a body temperature of more than 37.5°C.
According to Terengganu police chief Datuk Rohaimi Md Isa, the drone is able to measure body temperatures from 20m in the air.
If it detects someone with a high body temperature, an enforcement personnel will be alerted to track the concerned individual.
Trash talk
As plastic pollution takes the biggest toll on the planet, Britain-based startup Ellipsis Earth is planning to use drones to map the location of plastic pollution around the globe.
CNN reported that by using drones with image recognition capabilities that can identify the type of plastic, size and even origin of the trash, researchers can use the data to inform relevant parties about the plastic pollution in their area.
Ellie Mackay, the company founder and CEO, explained that if a beach has tons of fishing nets and discarded lobster traps, it would speak to the fishing industry and work towards regulations around dumping of ghost nets.
On the other hand, if the beach was filled with sanitation wet wipes, it would recommend educating people not to flush things down the toilet and will also speak to local sewage outlets.
Ellipsis Earth’s data collection from the UK coastline to the river banks in India has led to some action.
CNN reported that Galapagos has banned the use of single-use plastic across the archipelago to prevent it from polluting island shores.
Mackay described the drones as a “game changer” for environmental reporting.
“They allow us to survey an entire stretch of coastline... in a few minutes,” she said.
Buzz off
The Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District in Los Angeles, US, is fitting metal canisters filled with 20 pounds (9kg) of larvicide on drones to control the population of mosquitoes.
As they are launched in the air, operators are able to cover more ground and reach areas that were previously inaccessible.
They will also release the larvicide into selected water sources.
The canisters contain VectoBac GS which is a type of bacteria that is said to be able to prevent mosquito larvae from reaching adulthood.
“The technology allows us a more efficient and more environmentally sensitive way to provide that same application without having to go into heavy brush or disrupt any habitat.
“With the drone, we can fly overhead and treat all the water sources we see,” district spokeswoman Lora Young said in a Los Angeles Times report.
By treating water sources, the Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District is hoping to prevent mosquitoes from spreading harmful diseases, particularly the West Nile virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has described the West Nile virus as the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the US.
Reservoir drones
In May, Singapore’s national water agency PUB announced it will deploy drones at six reservoirs to monitor water quality and look out for activities such as illegal fishing.
Channel News Asia explained that the drones are housed in an automated pod with the capability of taking off and landing autonomously.
An operator will monitor the drones remotely while they go on pre-programmed flight paths within the reservoir.
When activities such as illegal fishing or overcrowding are spotted, the drones will send alerts to officers.
According to the FAQ, the drones are installed with cameras and video analytics capabilities for monitoring water quality, aquatic plant growth and water-related activities.
It also said that the drones are equipped with a “robust redundancy system” to prevent total failure and contingency plans are in place for an operator to take over and manually land the drone in water to avoid unwanted incidents.
PUB said using drones will help its manpower focus on more critical works such as inspection and maintenance.
It added that the drones can also act as an early warning system that enhances the officers’ response time.
Precious cargo
Drones have also become handy in the fight against the Covid-19 coronavirus.
In February, Ghana announced it was partnering with medical drone delivery company Zipline and UPS Foundation with the aim of delivering 2.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines across the country.
Zipline works with Ghana’s Health Ministry to gauge the amount of vaccines needed at various rural health facilities for the day.
Workers will then place the vaccines in specially designed packages that protect them from damage and keep them cold before attaching them to the drones.
Staff at the health facilities will be alerted via text messages about the details of the delivery, including the drop off time.
When the drones arrive at the target location, they will descend to 10m above the ground and release the packages which are attached to parachutes.
Recently, India also announced that it’s piloting a Medicine In The Sky project to deliver Covid-19 vaccines in remote areas
It will be using drones the size of a mini refrigerator to make the deliveries.
Meanwhile, in Helsinki, Finland, a company is testing the delivery of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) by drones.
Everdrone AB said in a statement that it will be deploying drones equipped with AEDs to the scene of an emergency, allowing even bystanders to initiate life- saving measures while awaiting professional medical care.
It said 5,000 to 10,000 people die from out-of-hospital cardiac arrests every year in Finland.
In the case of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, the chance of survival decreases by approximately 10% with each minute following the collapse, it claimed.
The drone will fly autonomously to the location where it is needed and will lower the defibrillator to the person assisting the patient, according to the company.
The route of the drone is automatically planned to avoid densely populated residential areas and crowds as much as possible.
“Drones eliminate problems like rush hour traffic and traffic jams and allow help to arrive faster than when having to keep to the road, as traditional emergency service vehicles do.
“Drones can also reach places like islands that are otherwise hard or impossible to get to with cars or trucks,” said ground operations manager Daniel Blecher of Everdrone.
As a part of the pilot, information and data will be gathered about how a drone could accelerate the initiation of life-saving measures in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest situations.
The CO2 emissions of the drone will also be compared with other modes of transport.
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