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THE CURRENT TOP 3 COMMERCIAL USES OF A DRONE

Drones are quickly becoming a valued tool for a wide range of businesses, with these time, money and lifesaving machines proving to be incredibly useful beyond their popular hobbyist and entertainment purposes. Just as more drone based applications are being discovered, airspace regulations are adjusting across the world in order to enable businesses to embrace this new technology like never before and in turn, revolutionising their services and product offerings.

Our drone flight training partner ConsortiQUAVair specialise in giving companies the theoretical knowledge and practical skills needed in order to use a drone to leverage their business offering.

With numerous and obvious benefits to a number of our clients and supporter organisations, we asked them to identify the top 3 current commercial uses of a drone and they identified:

Agriculture

The agriculture industry has adopted drone technology, favouring a UAV due to its small initial investment to purchase, as opposed to regularly using a manned aircraft to perform vital operations. The industry is experiencing a revolution, using insight gained from a drone to drastically increase productivity while increasing profits. Farmers are adding sensors such as high resolution and thermal cameras to a drone in order to gain geospatial data that can inform decisions such as seed distribution, managing crop health and safeguarding against crop disease. As well as gathering initial data, drones are often used to continuously monitor crops for ongoing assessment.

Filming

Just as the agriculture industry is customising its drones with appropriate sensors, drones equipped with professional cameras are transforming the filming industry. Television and film making studios are creating breath-taking shots by flying a drone over dramatic landscapes and scenes, taking advantage of the unique aerial view that this aircraft can give them. While aerial shots have been used for years, a drone can film angles that wouldn’t be achievable by conventional techniques, capturing beautiful panoramic shots, filming speedy chases, and catching a 360-degree view of any area. ConsortiQ, have extensive experience in this area and have been involved in many high-profile projects. These include assisting in the filming of two US movie productions, ‘Criminal and London has Fallen’.

Inspection/Surveying

Engineers and construction professionals are using drones to monitor, inspect and survey sites with improved ease and accuracy. Where once a surveyor or inspectors job was time-consuming and involved lots of expensive tools, when using just one drone this can be completed much more efficiently. Geospatial sensors such as laser scanners and high-resolution cameras can be used to capture perfectly accurate information about a site, even in hard to reach projects such as bridges or power lines. As a result, they can identify risks quicker, improving the safety of a project.

These are just a few of the many commercial uses of a drone, with more innovations using the technology being discovered every day…

If you think your business could be the next to benefit from using a drone or would like to discuss measures to counter drone activity, please contact kevin.wootton@global-support.org