Post courtesy of the InfoComm Show Blog:
Who wouldn’t want to program the path of a drone and stream its 4K footage to their mobile device? Sure you would. But that’s just one of the many features of drones. Dronethusiasts keep up with the latest regional regulations (e.g., Federal Aviation Administration [FAA] and European Aviation Safety Agency) even though those rules mostly affect commercial uses. By the way, if you’ve never flown a drone but would like to know what you can or cannot do, visit Know Before You Fly, which spells out acceptable environmental conditions, privacy, proximity and more. Clearly, safety is a huge issue, even for recreational use. And video recording carries its own set of challenges. Do you seek permission and how?
But what would you want to do with a drone that would compel you to seek the FAA’s approval? The latest rules proposal is a band-aid solution for keeping burgeoning commercial drone use safe. The rules limit aircraft weight, confine operation to daylight hours and demand training and certification. Today’s Drones allow you to do inspection, 3D modeling, temperature sensing and high-resolution mapping. Some are capable of gesture and motion tracking, and facial and color recognition. AR Parrot Drone even has a built-in HTTP Server.
And, according to Stampede President and COO Kevin Kelly, applications are only limited by your own imagination. The FAA received over 4,000 comments to the proposal, a good number of which were exemption requests ranging from oil and gas companies to pop-and-son fishing operations. In the proposal itself, the FAA lists examples of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operations, including crop monitoring/inspection, research and development, educational/academic uses, power-line/pipeline inspection in hilly or mountainous terrain and antenna inspections.
“It’s not a surprise to anybody when we look at the publications and media coverage regarding drone technology,” says Kelly. “Although around for years and years, certainly software-enhanced stability and GPS piloting have made the drone a product that has gone from being somewhat challenging to fly to something that people can use on a regular basis for a wide variety of applications.”
Unmanned Vehicle University (UVU) has identified more than 300 commercial applications for the technology, which creates numerous ways for the AV industry to leverage drones to accomplish their clients’ goals.
“It basically revolves around the same principles that enable the general audiovisual business to grow and develop, and it’s typically helping companies and organizations make money, save money, save time and, in certain cases, save lives,” adds Kelly. “Those principles exist for this category as well, especially when you marry it with a wide variety of different video-based expertise that exists in the industry. That includes video signal management, video information management, analytics and archiving media.”
Unsurprisingly, one of the pro AV markets that is already taking advantage of commercial drone use is higher education. Their monitoring needs cover everything from public safety to crowd control to planning to infrastructure management. According to Kelly, “they are writing certificates of authority from the FAA to go ahead and deploy their drones in a meaningful commercial way.”
Want more? You’re in luck because Stampede and UVU are bringing you an AV-oriented training program complete with flying and business lessons. The following is just a sample of the full-day, half-day and a la carte sessions that will be available in Unmanned Systems and Drone Pavilion:
Monday, June 15 – Tuesday, June 16
UVU’s Unmanned Systems and Drone Fundamentals Overview Course
8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
This course provides those new to the UAS/drone industry with quick comprehensive overview of all the technologies and involved with the safe operations of a drone.
Wednesday, June 17
The Drone/Unmanned Systems Business Opportunity for the Pro AV Integrators
10:15 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
This tutorial will discuss the business opportunities for the pro AV. An industry expert will lecture on how your pro AV company can benefit from the upcoming drone revolution.
Thursday, June 18
Large Sporting and Entertainment Event Coverage
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
This tutorial introduces the concept of using drones and drone technology to cover large sporting and entertainment events better, faster and cheaper than before thought possible.
Friday, June 19
Drone-vertising — Using Drones to Deliver Marketing Messages
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Drone-vertising is advertising using drone technology. Drones are much more cost effective than using manned aircraft for carrying advertisement banners aloft. This tutorial explores the market for using Drones in support of the advertising industry.
When we say, “and much more,” we mean it. Stay tuned for a full session schedule, which will include additional use cases. And let’s fly some drones!