How Drones Are Carrying Out Dangerous Scientific Tasks So People Don’t Have To
Drones have been increasingly contributing to in-the-field science in an
impressively diverse number of areas. They’ve been used to track animal
movements and count populations, survey landscape human beings can’t
reach, spot disease patterns in forests and orchards, collect samples
from a whole range of environments, and dozens of other applications.
One of the most practical features of drones contributing to science is
the ability of drone motors and drone propellers
to carry cameras and sensors places human beings can’t go. In essence,
drones are now carrying out dangerous scientific tasks so people like
scientists don’t have to. Here are a few ways drones are contributing in
the field.
Flying Into Radiation
The failure of and explosion in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 is one of the most infamous human-made disasters in history. Radiation levels in the area surrounding the former power plant are still considered too high for human habitation. That fact was underscored recently when scientists from the National Centre for Nuclear Robotics team from the University of Bristol used UAVs carrying gamma spectrometers to map the radiation levels in the forest near Chernobyl. They found that previously unknown “hotspots” are present in the woods with radiation levels far higher than had been previously known.
Flying Into Wind
For several years now, researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have been experimenting with and deploying swarms of Close-in Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft, or CICADAs. The CICADAs are tiny, stackable, gliding microdrones fitted with a circuit board and sensor payload to take meteorological data and GPS technology allowing the drones to land within 15 feet of a collection area. The applications include flying the CICADAs into hurricanes to gain more understanding of them.
Flying Into Fire
A drone motor has some advantages over the motor of a traditional manned aircraft, propeller or jet. Namely, it is far less prone to being clogged up with ash and debris and failing when flown through the plume of an erupting volcano. That’s why in 2017, a team of volcanologists flew specially-engineered custom drones, armed with a number of sensors, through the smoking plume of the Volcán de Fuego volcano in Guatemala. In addition to a manned flight through the plume being unacceptably dangerous, the summit of Volcán de Fuego has an elevation of 12,346 feet. That made it extremely difficult for people to access, though not so for the drones.
Flying Over Ice
Such is the versatility of drones that they can function in environments ranging from volcanos, among the hottest features on the surface of our planet, to the Arctic and Antarctic, the coldest places on Earth. For almost five years now, scientists and researchers from the American Geophysical Union have been experimenting with drones to create maps of sea ice in both the Arctic and Antarctic. The drones can safely travel in places and conditions that humans can’t navigate and could prove a tremendous tool for mapping previously unknown ice structures and tracking the effects of climate change.
Bonus: Anti-Drone Raptors
While this is less about the drones themselves being purposefully piloted in otherwise dangerous places, it’s still about the risks that drones face. Since 2016 in the Netherlands, the Dutch National Police (DNP) has been looking into using trained eagles to intercept, grapple with, and ground hostile or illegal drones. The DNP worked with an anti-drone raptor training company called “Guard from Above” and found their birds so successful they purchased juvenile bald eagles to train themselves.
About XOAR
For more than 40 years, XOAR has excelled as an industry-leading innovator in the drone, ultralight, and RC space. Their reputation was established by the precision, efficiency, and quality of their manufacturing standards and the products themselves. XOAR’s RC propellers, drone rotors, drone motors, and accompanying accessories incorporate their cutting-edge UAV technology, high-quality materials, and incomparable engineering. In addition, XOAR specializes in LSAs, propellers for ultralight aircraft, commercial applications, industrial UAVs, hexacopters and octocopters, civilian aviation, plus any gear and accessories you’d need for them, and a whole lot more.
Take your UAV’s performance to new heights with XOAR, at Xoarintl.com
Flying Into Radiation
The failure of and explosion in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 is one of the most infamous human-made disasters in history. Radiation levels in the area surrounding the former power plant are still considered too high for human habitation. That fact was underscored recently when scientists from the National Centre for Nuclear Robotics team from the University of Bristol used UAVs carrying gamma spectrometers to map the radiation levels in the forest near Chernobyl. They found that previously unknown “hotspots” are present in the woods with radiation levels far higher than had been previously known.
Flying Into Wind
For several years now, researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have been experimenting with and deploying swarms of Close-in Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft, or CICADAs. The CICADAs are tiny, stackable, gliding microdrones fitted with a circuit board and sensor payload to take meteorological data and GPS technology allowing the drones to land within 15 feet of a collection area. The applications include flying the CICADAs into hurricanes to gain more understanding of them.
Flying Into Fire
A drone motor has some advantages over the motor of a traditional manned aircraft, propeller or jet. Namely, it is far less prone to being clogged up with ash and debris and failing when flown through the plume of an erupting volcano. That’s why in 2017, a team of volcanologists flew specially-engineered custom drones, armed with a number of sensors, through the smoking plume of the Volcán de Fuego volcano in Guatemala. In addition to a manned flight through the plume being unacceptably dangerous, the summit of Volcán de Fuego has an elevation of 12,346 feet. That made it extremely difficult for people to access, though not so for the drones.
Flying Over Ice
Such is the versatility of drones that they can function in environments ranging from volcanos, among the hottest features on the surface of our planet, to the Arctic and Antarctic, the coldest places on Earth. For almost five years now, scientists and researchers from the American Geophysical Union have been experimenting with drones to create maps of sea ice in both the Arctic and Antarctic. The drones can safely travel in places and conditions that humans can’t navigate and could prove a tremendous tool for mapping previously unknown ice structures and tracking the effects of climate change.
Bonus: Anti-Drone Raptors
While this is less about the drones themselves being purposefully piloted in otherwise dangerous places, it’s still about the risks that drones face. Since 2016 in the Netherlands, the Dutch National Police (DNP) has been looking into using trained eagles to intercept, grapple with, and ground hostile or illegal drones. The DNP worked with an anti-drone raptor training company called “Guard from Above” and found their birds so successful they purchased juvenile bald eagles to train themselves.
About XOAR
For more than 40 years, XOAR has excelled as an industry-leading innovator in the drone, ultralight, and RC space. Their reputation was established by the precision, efficiency, and quality of their manufacturing standards and the products themselves. XOAR’s RC propellers, drone rotors, drone motors, and accompanying accessories incorporate their cutting-edge UAV technology, high-quality materials, and incomparable engineering. In addition, XOAR specializes in LSAs, propellers for ultralight aircraft, commercial applications, industrial UAVs, hexacopters and octocopters, civilian aviation, plus any gear and accessories you’d need for them, and a whole lot more.
Take your UAV’s performance to new heights with XOAR, at Xoarintl.com
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