Drones for missioncritical
use
Drones have the potential to revolutionise public safety operations in areas such as fire
and rescue. But there are regulatory and logistical barriers. By Kate O’Flaherty
The drone market is relatively new, but it is
growing quickly. This rapid growth is expected to
continue – Research and Markets has predicted
that the global drone market will grow from
$14bn in 2018 to more than $43bn in 2024.
One large area of growth is the use of unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAVs) and drones for mission-critical public safety
applications as they become more advanced. But there are
issues to be resolved. There is no single uniform approach to
drones in public safety and it is difficult to implement one
when each organisation uses different technology, ranging
from hi-spec, consumer-grade UAVs at circa £1,000 per
unit to bespoke hardware that can cost tens of thousands.
Regulation is also a barrier, while some industry experts cite
concerns from the public about surveillance.
Drones are very much an evolving technology, says drone
pilot, trainer and industry expert Alan Perrin. But he says
this means emergency services such as the police and fire
departments are “having to play catch-up”, though he notes
that some have been early adopters. He says in the UK,
forces are often using hi-spec consumer equipment: 60 per
cent of those using drones in this type of environment are
using older hardware, while 40 per cent are investing in
more bespoke equipment. “Bespoke equipment can cost
thousands to develop, but this lower-cost equipment has a
lot of functionality and it’s great,” says Perrin.
For example, some drones have 4G GPS navigation and
include high-resolution cameras with zoom capability – giving
first-responders the ability to track a car or person. “They
can even access a 360-degree radar that stops drones from
bumping into objects, which is available on UAVs costing
around £1,000,” says Perrin.
Taking this into account, Eduardo Rodriguez, European
enterprise product manager at DJI, says drone adoption in
public safety and mission-critical applications is “quicker and
at a more mature stage than any other industry vertical”. He
cites US data showing that the number of agencies in the
public safety sphere deploying drones soared 514 per cent
from 2015 to 2018. According to an independent study
from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire
and Rescue Services in 2017, 65 per cent of UK police
forces had purchased at least one drone or had access to one.
Two years later, this is likely to have grown significantly.
A dispatchable asset with enormous benefits
Ken Rehbehn, directing analyst, critical communications
at IHS Markit, hails the drone as a “dispatchable asset with
enormous benefits”. He says UAVs allow first-responders to
get eyes on an incident early, especially in remote areas.
Drones usually operate on the 2.4GHz, 5.8GHz and
900MHz licence-exempt spectrum bands. “For public safety
drones this needs to shift towards licensed public safety
spectrum operating with LTE with priority over consumerlevel
traffic,” says Rehbehn. This offers advantages including
additional range from operating a drone through a network
of base stations deployed across a wide geography, and greater
September 2019 @CritCommsToday 13
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Drones