i3 - July/August 2016 - 14

NVIDIA offers a module that enables
faster time to market for drone vision,
smart surveillance and robotics designs.
Drones equipped with cameras and sensors provide companies with more precise
data to improve their operational efficiencies and profitability. Many corporations
and their venture arms, such as Intel,
Qualcomm and Google Ventures are now
active investors in drone startups or adjacent converging technologies.

DRONES
FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL
RESEARCH
Drones in agriculture
are gaining attention
for precise spraying
of plants and also
for giving a boost
to biofuels. The U.S.
Dept. of Energy's
Advanced Research
Projects AgencyEnergy (ARPA-E) is
funding research
to breed sorghum

plants - a competitor to corn - using
sensor-laden drones
and datamining.
In May 2016, a
team of researchers
loaded one small
aerial drone and
two ground drones
with sensors and
released them on a
field planted with
hundreds of varieties of sorghum. In
just one trip, the

JULY/AUGUST 2016

three drones along
with several stationary sensors, are
expected to gather
enough intel to construct a 3D model of
the field to help researchers measure
as many physical
characteristics of
each individual plant
as possible - and
garner data faster
than humans taking
measurements in the
field ever could.
Unlike its competitor, corn, interest
in sorghum as a
biofuel alternative
has been heightened
because it requires
less water and can
thrive in drought
and heat conditions.
This sustainable
energy source also
could impact both
the environment and
the economy since
it produces less than
half of the greenhouse gas emissions
as compared with
traditional petroleum products.

Drones are expected to surpass satel$127 billion of human labor and services.
lites for gathering higher-resolution useful
Infrastructure ranks at the top at a total
data. While satellites will continue to cover addressable market valued of roughly
larger areas, drones with sensors will accel- $45.2 billion, followed by agriculture at
erate worldwide digitization and create
$32.4 billion and transportation at $13 bilinfinite data opportunities.
lion. Other sectors under $10 billion were
Subsequently, the emerging role of data
security, media and entertainment, insuranalytics will create new value through
ance, telecommunications and mining.
innovation. While Google has made strides
in digitizing the physical world, capturing
The Public Good
street views - the next stage will enable
While consumer fascination is focused on
software companies like Salesforce, SAP
amateur photography, drone-delivered
and Autodesk to integrate drone data into
pizza or potential package delivery services
their core commercial offerings, to provide
from Amazon and Google - drones are
greater value, transformative decisionbeginning to deliver an adroit solution to
making and revenue generation.
some formidable challenges involved in
At CES, companies like Yuneec and
reaching marginalized communities.
Parrot showcased prodThe UAE-based
ucts suitable for hobbymobile operator Etisalat
ists as well as commercial
recently debuted a vaccine
purposes. Intel-funded
transport and monitoring
"Drones for
Yuneec's Typhoon H drone
service called "Drones for
Good" uses
was chosen the "Best of
drones to deliver Good" - that uses drones
CES 2016."
to deliver immunizations
immunizations
And Ford launched a
to the world's poorest in
to the world's
developer challenge along
remote regions. U.S.poorest in
with the United Nations
based Matternet is also
Development Program
remote regions. working on special purand drone maker DJI. The
pose drones with UNICEF
goal is to assist emergency
and the Government of
aid workers by launching
Malawi as a cost-effective
drones from the bed of an F-150 pickup to
way to reduce waiting times for HIV testinspect disaster areas inaccessible
ing of infants.
to vehicles.
Similarly, it is working on an initiative in
Today drones are used for commercial
the Dominican Republic to create a small
newsgathering and filmmaking from comnetwork of drones to transport medicines
panies like Airborne Innovations, Autel,
between rural clinics and hospital labs to
Freefly, Eclipse Rover, Roxy Drones, and
deliver better healthcare. And in Rwanda,
distributors such as Stampede and MultiUPS is partnering with U.S. drone manucopter. And spherical 360-degree cameras
facturing company Zipline and Gavi, an
mounted on drones are generating more
international organization dedicated to
immersive entertainment experiences.
expanding access to vaccines, to create a
drone network aimed at delivering timecritical emergency medical supplies, such
Drones, a Serious Business
as blood and rabies vaccines, from Kigali
What's more, real-time monitoring and
the capital, to Rwanda's remotest regions.
data collection is letting companies create
Drone technologies have the potential to
new business models. They are particularly
propel worldwide disruption not only for
useful in sectors that require both mobility
business benefits but also for the greater
and high-quality data, as well as for busigood of society - and we are just at the
nesses that manage assets dispersed over
beginning of this journey.
n
large areas.
The May 2016 PwC report Clarity
From Above, found drones could replace
Reach Susan: susan@c4trends.com
I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

Robert Mandel/Getty Images

Tech

http://www.yuneec.com

i3 - July/August 2016

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