Drones
with the CAA and have the necessary insurances in
place. Currently in the UK, certain rules, restrictions and
responsibilities apply to drone use, including ensuring
that the drone is flown safely, within sight and not over a
congested area, says Jacqueline Watts, director at A City
Law Firm. Meanwhile, she says: “Other laws and regulations
that cover the relevant emergency services will also apply to
drones, as they do with other tools or pieces of equipment.
For example, the police will still have to ensure that they are
acting within the relevant police and surveillance powers and
other legislation.”
The UK is thought to have the most advanced drone
regulations, for personal or commercial use. However, the
current law in England stipulates that drone operators
are not allowed to fly higher than 400 feet and they must
maintain visual contact with the drone at all times. In
addition, recent EU legislation has imposed that member
states are able to define so-called no-fly zones where –
through satellite geo-location – drones will not be allowed to
enter. These areas may include airports and airfields or city
centres, says Watts.
It could add major headaches for the use of drones
in beyond-visual-line-of-sight operations. “The rules
undoubtedly currently place limitations on the scenarios
in which emergency services are able to operate drones
restricting their potential uses,” says Watts. “One would
expect to have specific carve-outs to develop as the use of
drones for emergency operations are expanded to ensure that
legitimate uses for emergency operations do not place the
operator in foul of the law.”
And as Watts points out, it is critical for drone operators
in emergency services to be able to engage in beyond-visualline
of-sight operations. Therefore, the current law needs
to change before organisations can realise the full scope
of UAVs’ potential uses. “The current legislation would
preclude the possibility of the majority of search and rescue
operations in which it is not possible to maintain sight of
your drone due to uninhabitable landscapes or operations at
sea,” says Watts.
Another (but less significant) barrier to adoption in the
UK centres around new legislation set to come into force
from 30 November 2019. This will stipulate that it is a legal
requirement for all drone operators to register and for pilots
to complete an online competency test.
But at the same time, the UK government is also
consulting with manufacturers to introduce new
technologies that will help ensure drones are used in
accordance with the law, says Watts. This includes geofencing,
where a drone can be automatically prevented from
flying within protected areas through in-built software,
which will allow the automatic identification of all airspace
users, including drones.
Reporting and data use
Other than regulation, challenges to using drone technology
in mission-critical scenarios also arise from the reporting
processes and data use, says Rodriguez. “Many agencies
are just starting to adopt their first standard operating
procedures, which are adapted and improved as agencies
learn from each incident and share best practices with each
other,” he explains.
Once the issues are overcome, there will be multiple uses
for drones in public safety. While drones start off as devices
to get a better view of the situation, they become increasingly
important as decision-making tools, Rodriguez says. “Realtime
footage can be provided to the incident commander,”
Adobe Stock/Richard Johnson
he says. But he points out that those in charge must feel
comfortable with the data and have workflows in place that
get the right people in the correct places to deal with the
incident effectively.
The area is developing quickly, so what does the future
hold? Neubauer highlights the value of edge computing.
“Edge processing really kicks in when there is a large amount
of data from the drone to process,” he says. “Some AI
processors deployed in mobile phones today – and many new
categories of processors with ultra-low power consumption
– could be optimised to conduct some very clever operations
already at the drone.”
This could enable the identification of obstacles, targets,
or real-time rendering of possible landing areas in case of an
emergency. “This is actually already happening today: it’s what
delivery drones are doing to make sure that they don’t land
the packages on a person laying in the sun in the garden,” says
Neubauer. “It’s the same with search and rescue drones – they
will do some pre-processing on the onboard AI processors.”
In the future, many experts predict the use of augmented
reality, such as the software offered by Edgybees, in public
safety. “This will blend the live information you get from
the drone with the systems,” Neubauer says. “If you can
send drone footage to your helmet, you can directly provide
augmented reality pictures. And if you can make on-the-spot
decisions when the live pictures arrive in your helmet, the
process will become much more efficient.”
Drones will also be used for deliveries beyond consumer
applications, says Neubauer. “In the public sector we see
drones used for delivery – such as flying blood from one
hospital to another, or even organs. Drones could replace
anything that’s currently done by a helicopter.”
Werner predicts that in the future, there will be more
operations without people. “I think you will see drones able
to fly to high-rise buildings and extinguish fires,” he says.
The use-cases are fascinating, but there are some huge
barriers to break down before drones can reach their full
potential. However, it seems regulators and governments are
realising this, so some big changes may be in store for us.
Legal restrictions
around beyondline
of-sight
operations and
the use of drones
in certain areas
need to ensure
that they do not
affect legitimate
use by public
safety agencies
September 2019 @CritCommsToday 15