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How it all began: the story of flying drones



Drones - unmanned aerial vehicles, which are either remotely controlled by the operator, or they move along a predetermined route. Now these devices are at the peak of popularity. There is no need to be surprised, because they can be used for entertainment, photo and video filming (including professional ones), military intelligence and monitoring of industrial systems.

Drones are not new to the 21st century. The first prototypes did not even appear in the 20th, but in the 19th century, when the “figure” did not yet exist. What were the ancestors of modern UAVs and what can they do now?

The beginning of everything


If we talk about the drone as a device that is controlled remotely, the first idea introduced Nikola Tesla . The scientist did not just theorize, but registered a patent, which spoke about a vehicle controlled by radio waves. Tesla developed the concept of battle drones, which he believed would be able to pacify the militant spirit of nations and end wars due to the threat of "unmistakable and unlimited destructive power."
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So, according to Tesla, a combat drone ship could look like (source: United States Patent And Trademark Office )

He conducted a demonstration of the world's first radio-controlled drone in 1898, in the Madison Square Garden pond. Most of the ideas proposed by Tesla were further developed and led to the appearance of drones in their modern guise.


Evolution of ideas


One of the first such drones was the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane, created in 1917. True, he did not have a radio control, for the flight at a given course, its creators set up gyros (there were two on board). About how it all worked, the information is almost not preserved. But there is a photograph of an automatic airplane.



The first combat drone was the Kettering Air Torpedo , developed during the First World War.

Speaking of drones, do not forget about quadrocopters, which are also far from new. The first prototypes (albeit, manned) were developed as early as the 20s of the last century. Two people worked on the creation of devices of this type. The first is the designer George Botezat, who lived in the USA and the French engineer Etienne Emishen. The idea of ​​creating an apparatus with four opposed propellers was in the air, so the fact that two people worked independently on it at once was not surprising.



Copters of that time could participate only in test flights without further practical implementation. As it turned out, the systems have three major drawbacks:
very complex transmission, which must transmit torque from the engine to all rotors at once. She worked, but often broke.

The vehicles were not stabilized in the air, so the slightest breeze could destroy the aircraft.

Too many propellers (Emishen offered eight), plus insufficient maneuverability. So, George Botezat’s rotor could move more or less normally only if there was a wind of a certain direction and force.

In the 1930s, the DH.82B Queen Bee drone was mass-produced. He was a biplane, developed on the basis of two aircraft - DH.60 Moth and DH.82 Tiger Moth. The transmitter on vacuum electron tubes and electromechanical relays served as control equipment. This drone was military, but was used not in battles, but in exercises - pilots practiced air combat techniques on them.



German projectiles like the V-1 are also drones, their relative success gave impetus to the development of not only rocket technology, but also autonomous aircraft.

Further, the drones were used mainly by the military. Among other models, the Ryan Model 147E reconnaissance aircraft developed in the USA and used in Vietnam, the Soviet drones Tu-123, Tu-141 and Tu-143 should be mentioned. All of this is large-sized aircraft, the dimensions of which are about the same as those of aircraft with comparable functionality.


Spy plane Tu-143

In 1982, radio-controlled drones developed by the Israelis entered into the business. They were used during the Lebanese war. The most commonly used IAI Scout and Tadiran Mastiff. They were developed from scratch; they were no longer converted for an autonomous flight. The wingspan of their wings was no more than five meters, and their weight was about 100 kg. It was possible to reduce the size of UAVs due to the emergence and development of semiconductor electronics, which led to the miniaturization of both consumer and military equipment.

Well, then other countries, including the United States, began to produce state-of-the-art military drones like the MQ-1B Predator and the MQ-9 Reaper, capable of transmitting surveillance data in real time. Some models of such drones are able to shoot at the target, and with rockets.

From about the second half of the 20th century, such a direction as household radio-controlled drones began to actively develop. Initially, these were entirely DIY models that were imitations of airplanes. But then the business, seeing the demand for radio-controlled aircraft, took the initiative.


The emergence of modern non-military drones


Experts believe that the era of modern non-military drones began in 2006. It was this year that the US Federal Aviation Administration approved the flights of small user UAVs. The spread did not come from household drones for entertainment, but aircraft for scientific tasks and industry.



Thus, government organizations monitored the spread of fires using such systems, studied the situation at the epicenter of disasters (earthquakes, floods, etc.). Commercial companies studied the state of oil pipelines, crops, and marine land (monitoring the movement of fish schools). Drones were used (and are being used) in construction, geodesy and other areas.

Over time, custom drones, which serve as entertainment for flight lovers, have become increasingly popular. From the very beginning, the market of radio-controlled drones was divided into two areas:


Among the companies whose products became popular in the first case, we can distinguish Parrot, Gaui, DJI, Xaircraft, GoPro and others. In the second direction, the products of MultiWii, KaptainKuk, ArduCopter are popular. DIY enthusiasts are actively using Arduino, Raspberry Pi and others.

After cameras appeared in the drones, transmitting the video stream directly to the phone, video glasses or laptop, the popularity of personal UAVs skyrocketed. On Habré published a lot of materials about personal drones - a variety of models.

Ethics and security as part of the story


The emergence of cameras and personal drones, which are able to move away from the operator for many kilometers, raised a number of questions about the ethical side of working with "homemade" UAVs. After all, anyone could now look into the window of a neighbor, or the window of a neighboring company, sending audio and video directly to your phone or computer. It became known about a large number of abuses when the owners of drones filmed what was happening in private homes, offices, commercial and government organizations.

Drones fell on the heads of spectators in sports stadiums , threatened passenger aircraft and industrial facilities. Drone is almost an ideal tool for amateur spy, spy (commercial or government), anarchist, etc.

As a result, in many countries, lawmakers began to quickly adopt new laws regulating the sale and operation of drones. Each country has its own laws, but in most cases it is prohibited for owners of drones to take pictures of people without their explicit consent, UAVs cannot be used near airports, train stations, military or industrial objects. In most cases, the drone can not fly up to a height of more than 150 meters, manufacturers set limits on both the distance traveled by the drone and the maximum speed.

In Russia, obtaining permission to shoot from a multicopter is mandatory. If the rule is violated, a fine of 3–50 thousand rubles may be imposed on the culprit. Yes, and to obtain permission to fly, you must obtain permission. This requires:


Piloting drones in the Russian Federation is governed by the following documents:


The following UAV models are allowed in Russia:
Syma,


What's next?


The future of drones is not limited to personal models. After multikopter became popular, their capabilities are actively explored by the business:


Copters are used in medicine, for example, for the rapid delivery of necessary medicines. The other day, UPS announced the launch of a drug and sample delivery service using drones . True, so far the service works only in one city in the USA - Raleigh (North Carolina). Drones will deliver on a specific route between hospitals and WakeMed medical centers.

The delivery of goods using drones was tested by DHL as early as 2013 , now this practice is gradually becoming more and more widespread.


Not lagging behind DHL and Amazon - in the same 2013, the company announced Prime Air service (it works in a limited number of regions), which is positioned as the fastest way to deliver purchases. With it, purchases are delivered within half an hour, which is at least four times faster than the fastest land service Amazon Prime Now.



In Russia, at one time they tested the service of delivery of goods by Copter Express copters. On June 21, 2014, Dodo Pizza began delivering pizza by drones for promotional purposes , with a total of six boxes delivered. After that, the officials decided to fine the creator of the company, supplying drones for 50 thousand rubles. But although the fine was later canceled, the delivery of cargo by drones in the Russian Federation did not receive much distribution.

Deliver (or rather, plan to deliver) with the help of drones and people. So, some companies, including Uber and Lyft, are developing aero taxi . Similar work is carried out by other companies, including a startup from Saudi Arabia.

AI technologies are gradually developing, and battery capacities are growing, so there is no doubt that drones will become smarter, more maneuverable and more functional. They will become an integral part of many spheres of our life: work and study, including transport, research, cargo delivery and everything else that I mentioned above.

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/446520/

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