2015-07-11 11:34:05
In this second installment on drones, Israel Quintanilla, professor of Aeronautical Engineering and Geomatic Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, talks about the training and challenges that those people who decide to pilot a drone will have to face in the future. Although current regulations in Spain do not allow drones to fly above 150 meters in altitude, so as not to interfere with air communication routes, the immediate future promises to be very different. Listening to Professor Quintanilla, it is easy to imagine a world crossed by drones of all sizes and capabilities that fly on an equal footing with manned aircraft. If that premise is true, and everything indicates that it is, it is not difficult to imagine veritable legions of drones flying through the air to carry out the most varied tasks: distribution of goods, inspection of facilities, fire surveillance, inspection of areas. catastrophic, observation of the territory, photography, etc. Such a diverse field of applications is the topic of the second part of the interview that we offer you today.
The drone pilot of the future.
As our guest says, paraphrasing a controller, when it comes to ordering air traffic there are only aircraft in the air. It does not matter if they have the pilot inside them or if the person who controls it is located on the ground piloting by remote control. Any airline passenger will agree that when flying on an aircraft, the important thing is that the airspace is safe. The volume of flights that land and take off from an international airport like Madrid-Barajas daily exceeds a thousand and there are no accidents. The reason is easy to understand, all flights strictly comply with the safety regulations that govern air traffic. In the near future, when drones share airspace with manned aircraft, the rules must be respected equally by everyone, drones or non-drones. This seemingly simple idea contains a truth that sooner or later must be taken into account: When drones share airspace with commercial aircraft, the drone pilot must have, in addition to the knowledge and skill necessary to pilot your device, preparation, experience in flight hours, knowledge of the regulations on air safety, communications and that are required of a pilot of a commercial aircraft.
Given that we are talking about a very young field of activity, which is evolving at breakneck speed, it is essential to look to the future with an open mind. This is what our guest today, Israel Quintanilla, and a group of professors from the Polytechnic University of Valencia do. The test is the course on Piloting of Remotely Controlled Manned Aircraft Systems (RPAS) in which drone pilots are prepared to face the challenges that the present and future will demand of these unmanned aircraft.
Drone applications.
A drone, in its simplest description, is an unmanned aircraft or, perhaps better said, remotely manned by remote control. Said like this, the description leaves a lot to be desired because it would include model airplane devices, toy drones that can be bought for a few euros in any establishment or military missiles capable of traveling enormous distances until reaching their target with unfriendly intentions. The new concept of “drone”, however, goes further. A drone is more than a toy and much more than a flying bomb. The true value of a drone is that in addition to flying without endangering the physical integrity of its pilot, it can perform an enormous variety of tasks that promise to provide unsuspected benefits to society. We are facing a true technological revolution.
In the previous program, Israel Quintanilla offered us a very graphic example of the application of drones. A wind energy company may have immense wind turbines rising dozens of meters above its base, some more than a hundred. Inspecting the blades of these monsters, whose presence would make Don Quixote himself pale, is an important challenge. A drone equipped with the appropriate observation equipment can do this at a low cost and controlled safely from the ground. It can be equipped with cameras capable of detecting the smallest crack or sign of fatigue in the blade material, even when they are in motion, if the drone pilot is skilled enough.
Drones are valuable tools in precision agriculture. There are plantations of dozens of hectares of corn, to give an example, that are impossible to inspect on foot because a person is unable to cover the enormous distances between plants that prevent vision beyond a couple of meters and whose leaves cut like saws. . A drone loaded with sensors can fly tirelessly over the plantation, providing a faithful measurement of the degree of plant growth, use of irrigation water, extent of pests or lack of nutrients. All this information is received by the farmer under the roof of a control center and without having to walk the field under the scorching sun.
Images taken from a drone equipped with infrared sensors can be of capital importance in the early detection of forest fires, searching for missing people or locating survivors of accidents or disasters. It is recently being developed a drone to inspect the interior of the radiation-laden rooms of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant which was seriously damaged by the tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011. This application is an example of the importance and versatility of drones to analyze inaccessible or dangerous places.
Drones equipped with observation cameras can, thanks to their mobility and little interaction with the environment, follow animals in the wild, contributing to the research and protection of wild species. The data collected in this way, in addition to being economically much more accessible, allows for continuous monitoring of the environment, which gives the possibility of knowing the evolution of a population and its behavioral habits.
In the summer course at the Polytechnic University of Valencia on Applications of unmanned aircraft systems (Drones) directed by Israel Quintanilla, these and many other things are discussed: Photogrammetry, remote sensing, cartography, topography, construction applications, graphic journalism , etc.
We invite you to listen to Israel Quintanilla, professor at the Department of Cartographic Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. He currently teaches in the Master of Engineering in Geomatics and Geoinformation and in the Degree and Master of Aeronautical Engineering. He is the director of the University Degree in Piloting of Remotely Controlled Manned Aircraft Systems (RPAS), as well as the Applications of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Drones). His lines of research focus on satellite air navigation systems (SBAS) and drone applications in the field of Geomatics.
CLARIFICATION: In a first edition of the interview, the accident that singer Enrique Iglesias suffered with a drone during a performance in Mexico was mentioned. Professor Quintanilla commented that in this country there is still no regulation on these devices. Thanks to the email sent by Adolfo Hernández from Mexico, we have learned that on April 15, 2015, the regulations on Requirements to operate a remotely piloted aircraft system
Thanks to Adolfo Hernández for his message.
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Unmanned aircraft systems applications
Polytechnic University of Valencia
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