Howard 1

Hayley Howard

Prof. Richarson

Eng 1201.K10

5 April 2020

How do drones affect humanity?

When one thinks about drones, what comes to mind? Large, dangerous, military drones

that attack innocent people and drop bombs? Or, perhaps, the teeny ones that deliver your

amazon ordered gift cards. Most people are regularly affected by drones doing everyday tasks

like delivery. David Schnieder says that, “Today, views on the prospect of getting stuff swiftly

whisked to you this way have shifted … ” (Schnieder 1). This supports the idea that society as a

whole seems to be warming up to the idea drones could affect more than the military and even

the everyday life of the layperson. However, drones do much more than just deliver amazon

packages, they can deliver other goods, save people in danger, monitor damage and large

gatherings, as well as support in the execution of rescue missions. Delivery is a big part of

practical drone usage, but drones are capable of many more complicated tasks, all of which

affect everyday life; whether it’s readily apparent or not.

Delivery drones are arguably one of the most important and useful technological

advances humanity has made. They aren’t only online shopping delivery drones. They’re

delivering life-saving supplies and even blood, rapidly, to areas that would otherwise go nearly

or completely without. Rwanda is one example, “The 50-kilometer trip into western Rwanda will

take us well over an hour. We’re on our way to rendezvous with a blood-carrying drone that will

make the trip in under 14 minutes” (Ackerman and Koziol 1). The application of drones in this

way has saved countless lives, cutting the time in which blood can be delivered down
 Howard 2

astronomically. The same article illustrates just how important it is that the blood be delivered

swiftly, “... it can take up to 5 hours for a Rwandan hospital to receive a blood delivery via road,

which could easily mean death for a patient in need.” Not only do these UAVs help with the

swift delivery of blood, but they also help cut down on the waste of these precious materials and

resources. It’s not just happening in the underprivileged nations either. All countries across the

globe may benefit from what delivery drones have to offer. Even in first world countries, such as

Switzerland, this technology is being adopted. Some are concerned that drone transport of the

blood may decrease the quality of these precious biological materials. That fear, however, is

easily disproved with a single sentence presented in “The Use of Drones in Emergency

Medicine: Practical and Legal Aspects” here, “... there was no adverse impact of drone transport

and no evidence of red blood cell haemolysis; no significant changes in platelet count, pH, and

other blood parameters limiting the possibility of using blood products” (Konert 2). Additionally,

drones can be used to help people in other medically emergent situations. They can be used to

save the lives of those trapped and/or drowning, transport materials like life jackets to victims, as

well as allow rescue personnel to communicate with patients. All of the above points are

illustrated in more detail here, “ … search and rescue services delivered life jackets to people

trapped on rocks in the middle of the Little Androscoggin River in the state of Maine. The water

rescue services in Chile and Iran are equipped with drones with a lifebelt, as well as audio and

video tools to communicate with the person to be rescued” (Konert 2). Their surveying abilities

are excellent as finding victims of major trauma incidents and possibly saving their lives, for

example: “The action ended with locating a man in a car wreck in a desert area, thanks to which

the rescue services could reach the victim more quickly” (Konert 2). Drones are also more than

capable of helping humans in environments that aren’t safe for them to enter. Ultimately,
 Howard 3

focusing from the medical perspective, drones can shorten the delivery time of medical

materials, find hidden victims, help treat unreachable victims, and assist in many more ways with

search, rescue and beyond.

Along with helping humans in crisis situations, drones are also capable of helping the

environment during a crisis and surveying the environment to more effectively identify times of

distress when they aren’t obvious to human eyes. Drones are capable of helping with the

differentiation of healthy and bleached coral in large-scale areas that prove rather difficult for

scientists to cover and study by themselves. Drones get the job done, yes. But they also get the

job done well -- which can’t be said for most human monitoring. Other methods of electronic

survey have drawbacks. Drones are so customizable that most, if not all, of those drawbacks, can

be resolved. The implementation of drones into the surveying of the Great Barrier Reef has saved

valuable time, allowing scientists to spend more time trying to figure out how to better prevent or

maybe even treat the bleaching of coral in the first place. To sum it up, drones are able to map

coral reefs more accurately and with a more specific data set.

Drones’ ability to survey more area than humans extends beyond the likeness of coral.

Just like with non-drone aerial survey of coral, alternative ways of surveying vegetation are

limited in how much they are capable of covering. In addition to only being able to cover a small

amount of space, alternative methods also require the same human input of the precious time and

effort one would be trying to save with aerial study that human recorded data would. It is

completely redundant to use aerial study methods if it still requires a large amount of time and

effort from the human counterparts. Enter, the drone. Drones cut the time and human effort

needed down drastically from traditional study methods and aerial study methods. A portion of

the benefit of drone survey is demonstrated in “Reaching New Heights: Can Drones Replace
 Howard 4

Current Methods to Study Plant Population Dynamics?” here, “The increasing availability of

multispectral sensors mounted on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) thus offers new means to

address this gap in observational methods to sample heterogeneously distributed plant

populations” (Tay 2). Drones won when pitted against tried and true traditional methods,

alternative aerial survey methods and even new remote sensing-based techniques. They proved

leaps and bounds better in most measurable ways, every time.

Drones being able to survey and track the environment also opens the door for more

survey tasks that are more applicable to the every-day person's life. One example of this is the

survey of construction, which hosts a reported “7.29 Million” (BLS 1) workers as of 2018. Drone

survey of construction sites is much more efficient, and more accurate than human survey, much

like with drone survey of vegetation and coral bleaching, mentioned above. This is also more

cost-efficient than the labor intensive human survey. The paper “A Look at the Industry: 5

Practical Benefits of Drones in Construction” supports these statements: “... a drone can do the

job far more quickly at a much lower cost than traditional methods” (Wiratunga 1). Drone survey

can help prevent accidents and injuries, as well as see how possible accident and injury came to

be, play by play, to better prevent it in the future and highlight any possible flaws with the

current safety guidelines. Drones are additionally capable, and very useful, for the marketing of

construction projects, which could be a compelling point for construction companies to switch to

drones, if nothing else. The use of drone tracking construction sites also saves money with the

need for less employees.

That does not mean drones take jobs. With the rise of drone usage in a less

commercialized and militarized way, turning them into a more integrated part of society, many

fear the loss of jobs. While this concern is definitely valid, one should look to all of the positions
 Howard 5

that open up with the integration of drones. For every job taken by drones, one or two more are

added. In fact, “... drone industry could create hundreds of thousands of jobs and add up to $82

billion to the U.S. economy over the next decade” (Page 8) according to the journal “Drone

Trespass and the Line Separating the National Airspace and Private Property”. Most drone

management or operation jobs do require training, some even a college degree. However, most

training required to maintain drones can be provided to employees and paid for by the company

in question.

There are many concerns when it comes to drones. This extends beyond jobs and into

concerns about privacy: people don’t want the government spying on them. The prospect of a

camera attached to this possibly small, very maneuverable device that can look down on you and

your family is concerning to many, and even frightening to some. The government saw these

concerns and solved them the way one would readily expect: legislation. They devised a plan to

track drones, and keep record of what the drones were for. This information, with the exception

of classification, is largely available to the public. With a projected seventy-nine percent of

companies expected to be delivering packages by drone within the next five years, it is very

important to tackle the tough issues now, which the industry is still young. Creating legislation to

regulate drones is harder than it sounds. There’s a lot of grey area in an issue like privacy. It’s

obvious drones shouldn’t be peeking through people's windows, but what about their backyards?

On their evening strolls? During public gatherings, perhaps a family reunion? These all seem,

and are considered by many to be immensely intimate places and activities. The government

however, may not see it the way we do. Parks are public spaces, and the government could not

see any need, or right for drone privacy in a public space. One, however, would argue that

Tommy’s third birthday party, or the annual family reunion is an immensely private thing, and
 Howard 6

not worthy of drone surveillance. There is still very much a gap to be bridged between what the

government considers a private moment and what is personally considered a private moment.

The current legislation isn’t clear about privacy regulations either, as the journal “Drone

Trespass and the Line Separating the National Airspace and Private Property” described, “The

rule does not address privacy or trespass at all, which are two of the largest concerns that the

American public has with drones” (Page 8). There is definitely much grey area to still be worked

out but with cooperation between the government and citizens, and open dialogue this privacy

issue could be discussed, considered, and resolved.

Drones are capable of more than mapping and tracking for people. Drones can be very

deadly when used in war, they can and do kill and injure the target. All of this very conveniently

done without the emotional impact and possible combat related PTSD- which a staggering “62%

of veterans” (Howley 2) suffer from. Drone use in war is practical. It may seem cold to the

enemy, or the misunderstanding civilian, but there is no denying that it lessens the possibility of

life changing combat effects on our very own soldiers, who protect us from the enemy they’re

fighting every day. Out of respect for our military, our soldiers, our neighbors, sons, daughters,

fathers, mothers, and countless other loved ones, who sometimes double as those PTSD suffering

soldiers and veterans, it is our responsibility as U.S. citizens to allow and support drones use in

certain combat situations in place of some personnel.

AUV’s are more than capable of exploring this planet, but what about others? Space

agencies are considering employing drones into outer space, and to study interplanetary systems

in place of rovers and robots. Just like on earth, and in the shallow atmosphere, legislation was

both needed and required for drones in outer space, and on celestial bodies. This issue was

foreseen and solved before drones were put into deep air space in the first place.
 Howard 7

With all of the talk about drones needing to be regulated, it’s a wise idea to discuss and

lay out the current FAA regulations. Drones are allowed in a lot of places, for a lot of reasons.

However, fear of and the reality of drones surveying and recording things like sporting events is

a real concern for those who make money off of selling the recordings of majorly monetized

events. This has led to venue specific bans, and some blanket drone bans by the FAA. There are

currently three classifications of drones- civil, public and model. Even Tommy’s new birthday

present must follow community based safety guidelines. Back to those classification levels. A

civil drone is one being used as part of a person's job, or if they are paying a qualified operator to

operate the drone and for the photos and videos taken with said drone. Public drone use is limited

to governmental use. This includes military purposes, firefighting, search, rescue, and law

enforcement. Model classified drones are for the hobbyist and refer to educational use as well.

They have some looser, but still specific restrictions. This mostly means model UAVs have to let

airports know if they plan to fly within a certain radius of their port. There are regulations a

drone operator must follow. Conveniently, the FAA has a pre-flight checklist for new and

experienced drone operators alike. The FAA states that you must: “fly below 400 ft, always fly

within visual line of sight, be aware of FAA space requirements, never fly within 5 miles of an

airport (without notifying them first), never fly over stadiums, never fly over groups of people,

never fly near emergency response efforts, never fly near other aircraft, and never fly under the

influence” (Attwood 3). It is within the realm of expectation for the FAA to soon require a pilot's

license to commercially operate a drone also.

In conclusion, drones help humanity out by assisting in medically emergent situations,

including delivering medical supplies, blood, and rescuing victims from toxic and flammable

environments. UAVs help with monitoring the environment, including coral bleaching, plant
 Howard 8

population dynamics, and vegetation. Drones exceed human expectation and performance when

employed to survey construction sites, they also create more jobs for the expectation-having

humans. They explore this planet, and others alike all while operation legislation is relatively

clean and clear-cut.

Works Cited

Ackerman, E., and M. Koziol. “The Blood Is Here: Zipline’s Medical Delivery Drones

Are Changing the Game in Rwanda.” IEEE Spectrum, Spectrum, IEEE, IEEE Spectr, vol.

56, no. 5, May 2019, pp. 24–31. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1109/MSPEC.2019.8701196.

Attwood, Emily. “Understanding the Latest FAA Drone Regulations.” Athletic Business,

vol. 40, no. 6, July 2016, pp. 26–29. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=s3h&AN=116602893&site=eds-live.

Boyd, John. “Drones Survey the Great Barrier Reef: Aided by AI, Hyperspectral

Cameras Can Distinguish Bleached from Unbleached Coral - [News].” IEEE Spectrum,
 Howard 9

Spectrum, IEEE, IEEE Spectr, vol. 56, no. 7, July 2019, pp. 7–9. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1109/MSPEC.2019.8747297.

Bureau, Census. “Construction.” Data USA, 2018, datausa.io/profile/naics/construction-

group.

Howley, Elaine. “Statistics on PTSD in Veterans.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S.

News & World Report, 28 June 2019, health.usnews.com/conditions/mental-

health/ptsd/articles/ptsd-veterans-statistics.

Konert, Anna, et al. “The Use of Drones in Emergency Medicine: Practical and Legal

Aspects.” Emergency Medicine International, Dec. 2019, pp. 1–5. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1155/2019/3589792.

Page, Lane. “Drone Trespass and the Line Separating the National Airspace and Private

Property.” George Washington Law Review, vol. 86, no. 4, July 2018, pp. 1152–1179.

EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=bsu&AN=131959554&site=eds-live.

Schneider, David. “The Delivery Drones Are Coming.” IEEE Spectrum, Spectrum, IEEE,

IEEE Spectr, vol. 57, no. 1, Jan. 2020, pp. 28–29. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1109/MSPEC.2020.8946304.

Tay, Jessica Y. L., et al. “Reaching New Heights: Can Drones Replace Current Methods

to Study Plant Population Dynamics?” Plant Ecology, vol. 219, no. 10, Oct. 2018, pp.

1139–1150. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s11258-018-0865-8.

Wiratunga, Kumar. “A Look at the Industry: 5 Practical Benefits of Drones in

Construction.” Tech Directions, vol. 79, no. 3, Nov. 2019, pp. 16–17. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=b9h&AN=140819888&site=eds-live.
Howard 10