Unmanned aerial vehicles: The future of drone – Business Week

Some parcel service explore the use of drones for package delivery. A new study says the technology have a great future.

Whether for parcel delivery or for military surveillance: drones will continue to play an important role in the economy. According to a report by the Teal Group, a market research company in the aircraft industry, the annual spending on drones and related technologies over the next ten years will almost double. Current accounts worldwide each year $ 6.4 billion on the development of drone technology. By 2024 is expected in the military and commercial sector of spending up to $ 11.5 billion.

The military sector is mainly driven the military institutions of the countries. In the U.S., are already numerous “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”, “unmanned aerial vehicles” used in German in various sizes. According to Teal Group, the U.S. military will invest “Predator” drone, especially in the development of. In addition, an unmanned combat aircraft were developed. Examples include Boeing X-45 Phantom Ray, which was developed for the U.S. Air Force, as well as Northrop Grummas X-47 Pegasus. These aircraft could make the medium fighter pilots unemployed -., But they also preserve before launch

drones for the civilian sector, according to Teal Group provide only a small proportion of the total market; Only 11 percent of drone technology is developed for the civil sector. By 2020, this proportion will increase to 14 percent. These include drones for the agricultural and cartographic, but also for use at national borders and the fight against crime. The public sector is investing the most, according to Teal Group in the development of drones for the civilian sector.

The civilian use of drones is especially for parcel delivery and shipping service an interesting field. With the help of autonomous aircraft, part of the shipment could handle, running times could be shortened greatly. A big problem is currently still the power supply is: Until now create the civilian drones only a few miles distance, before needing to be recharged. New recharging methods and handling are already in the works.

In addition, the surveillance of the airspace problematic: In Germany there are numerous no-fly zones, especially around airports. Whether special permits are granted depends among other things on the altitude.