Over the past decade, drones have become a hot topic within the science and technology community. These devices, formally known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are essentially flying robots that can be controlled remotely, often embedded with a camera or other sensors.
The U.S. military developed early drones in 1918 for combat purposes — first referred to as cruise missiles, these crude UAVs were airborne bombs equipped with 12-ft wings made of cardboard and paper mâché. Over time, military scientists refined the technology, adding weapons and sophisticated precision controls to deliver accurate air strikes while removing soldiers from immediate danger.
“The military has continued to be a catalyst for the development of UAV hardware, which has allowed commercial drones to become cheaper, lighter, and more advanced,” says Barry Alexander, the founder and CEO of Aquiline Drones. “Today, drones aren’t just for delivering military payloads across a variety of terrains or for swarm attacks in foreign lands. In fact, drones are now also used in a wide range of civilian and business roles, including search and rescue, surveillance, traffic and weather monitoring, videography, agriculture, and even delivery services.”
▲ ELIOS 2, a drone developed by Swiss company Flyability, is built for inspecting industrial systems. This includes oil tankers or pressure vessels. Image courtesy of Flyability.
According to Alexander, drones can easily perform many activities, including routine inspections of construction sites, tunnels, bridges, power lines, and energy plants — they are unrivaled in assessing and mitigating potential disasters. Indeed, this quality makes them ideal for use within the chemical process industries (CPI) as well as a plethora of other essential applications.
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