(Source: Goldman Sachs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Drones for\npersonal use account for 94% of all sales: <\/strong>The consumer drone market has\nexploded in popularity in recent years. Consumers are using drones for a\nvariety of purposes, from racing to photography to even taking selfies! This\nmarket accounted for nearly 94% of all drone sales in 2017, though their market\nrevenue share is only 40%. This discrepancy is due to military drones being\nwidely more expensive than personal use drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Toptal)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. The number\nof drones in the sky above the USA is expected to be above 8 million by next\nyear: <\/strong>In 2017, more than one million drones were flying in the US sky. This\nnumber is expected to rise sharply to be above 8 million. <\/strong>This is\nprimarily due to the growing applications of drones and their declining prices,\nmaking them more accessible to the general public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: FAA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. In the\nfirst instance of drone usage, Austria sent 200 balloons with timed fuses and\nbombs to Venice: <\/strong>In the first documented usage of autonomous drones,\nAustria sent over 200 bombs carrying timed fuses and bombs to bomb Venice. This\nwas done as a part of the war for Venice\u2019s independence. Owning to Venice\u2019s\nunique position, Austria found it hard to bring traditional siege artillery to\nbear against the city. They came up with the idea to drop 200, 33-pound, bombs\non the city. However, the wind shifted during the raid and blew most of the\nbombs back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: finding Dulcinea)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. The\nfastest drone in the world can fly at a max speed of 289 km\/hr: <\/strong> DRL\u2019s Racer X drone is the holder of the world\nrecord for the fastest flight by a battery-powered drone. It was created in an\neffort to improve their current entry for the Drone Prix Championship. Racer X\u2019\nofficial record was set at 263 km\/hr due to it being the average speed of two\nruns, though its actual top speed of 289 km\/hr was also documented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: The Verge)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6. Nissan\ncreated a drone that can go from 0 \u2013 100 km\/hr in 1.3 seconds: <\/strong>TheNissan\nGT-R is among the fastest cars in the world. The 2017 GT-R boasted of going\nfrom 0 \u2013 100 km\/hr in less than 3 seconds. Nissan was then faced with a curious\nproblem. They had no way to film the car in action that would provide them with\nthe kind of footage they needed. So, they invited the World Drone Prix Champions\nto design a drone for them. They created the GT-R drone, which is capable of\ngoing from 0 \u2013 100 km\/hr in just 1.3 seconds, with a top speed of 185 km\/hr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: NDTV)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. The\nlongest remote-controlled multirotor drone flight time is over 12 hours: <\/strong>Most\ncommercial drones have a flight time of only a few minutes with the most\nhigh-end versions capable of flying for 30 minutes. This flight time is\nabsolutely nothing compared to the record holder. Metavista, a South Korean\nfuel cell manufacturer, using a hydrogen fuel cell-powered drone to set the\nrecord for the longest drone flight. The drone flew for 12 hours and 7 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Intelligent Energy)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8. Some\ndrones are capable of lifting nearly 101 kilograms: <\/strong>In 2018, a giant drone\ndesigned by Piercarlo Ponchione and Gregory Alessio lifted a load of 101\nkilograms for 37 seconds. It was able to raise this load up one meter. The\nnewest model is reportedly capable of lifting up to 200 kilograms and can fly\nfor 30 minutes. Its creators described the drone as the future of all\ntransport, owing to it being capable of lifting two humans with ease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Dronezine)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9. There has\nbeen a 55% increase in the safety of crewmen on construction sites due to\ndrones: <\/strong>The construction business has seen a rapid increase in drone usage,\nas much as an increase of 239% from 2018 has been reported. This drone\napplication is mainly in places that do not require personnel to be present but\nare very dangerous. Some examples of this are inspecting a potentially\ndangerous fault, surveying an inaccessible area, or even supervising pouring of\nconcrete. This has directly led to a sharp decrease of 55% in workplace safety-related\nincidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Drone Base)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10. Drone\nhave saved 133 lives across the world: <\/strong>Drones are being rapidly adopted by\nemergency services across the world to help in providing aid to people that\nneed immediate help. This has led to a total of 133 people being saved through\ndrone assistance. Some of the ways the drones helped in saving lives were by\nallowing a lifejacket to be dropped to a drowning surfer, thermal imaging\ndrones locating people in building collapses, and even aiding in identifying\nhostage locations during a bank robbery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: DJI)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 11. The real\nestate industry is selling 68% more houses due to drones: <\/strong>Real estate firms\nhave begun using drones to provide aesthetic aerial images of the houses they\nhave on sale. They reported in seeing a sharp rise of 68% in sales after making\naerial pictures of the properties available to the prospective buyers. Drones\nare also sued extensively in taking footage for hotels and resorts from\nappealing angles and to survey large areas of land to aid in real estate\ndevelopment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Altitude University)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 12. Farmers\nsave up to 98% of their time that was spent on surveying their fields using\ndrones: <\/strong>Taking stock of their fields is an important task for all farmers.\nIt aids in keeping tabs on the growth of their plant and identifying any issues\nthat might crop up (no pun intended). Surveying a large property can take\nhundreds of hours, which can be detrimental to production. Drones are aiding\nfarmers to keep an eye on their field remotely, cutting down the time to survey\na 12-acre field from 100 hours to just 2 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: The Boston Globe)<\/p>\n\n\n\n While drones are\ntechnically also unmanned aerial vehicles, there are some clear differences between\nthe two categories. The international community agrees with the following\ndifferences that set UAVs apart from drones:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 13. The\nfastest unmanned vehicle that was ever created flew at a mind-boggling 11,854\nkm\/hr: <\/strong>NASA\u2019s \u2018X\u2019 series of planes is an experimental series of planes\ncustom-built for a variety of testing purposes. The X-43A was built to\ndemonstrate the power of scramjet technology. On November 16, 2004, the X-43A\nwas scheduled for its final flight. The plane was fueled and launched. As soon\nas it\u2019s Pegasus ScramJet was activated, the onlookers knew they were witnessing\nhistory in the making. The X-43A achieved a speed of 9.6 Mach (9.6 times the\nspeed of sound). <\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: NASA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 14. The\nlargest UAV in the world is the size of a Boeing 737: <\/strong>Israel Aerospace\nIndustries unveiled their UAV named \u2018Eitan\u2019. Eitan has a wingspan of 86 feet,\nwith a length of 46 feet, almost making it the size of a Boeing 737. It is the\nlargest UAV in service today, capable of staying in the air for over 20 hours\nat an altitude of 45,000 feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Airforce-Technology)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 15. Military\ndrones have killed 2515 \u2013 4026 people in Pakistan: <\/strong>Many countries have been\nusing military drones for various purposes including using them for remotely\neliminating threats. The USA has been using drones to bomb suspected terrorist\ncamps in Pakistan since 2004. These bombings have claimed anywhere from 2515 \u2013\n4026 lives in Pakistan, of which at least 424 – 969 were confirmed as civilians\nout of which 172 – 207 were confirmed to be children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: The Bureau of Investigative Journalism)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 16. The\nlongest duration for an unmanned aerial vehicle is 26 days: <\/strong>The UAV named\nZephyr S HAPS, designed by the British defense contractor Qinetiq and\nmanufactured and overseen by Airbus. The Zephyr S HAPS set its record over\nArizona, the USA, from 11th<\/sup> July to 5th<\/sup> August 2018. It\nhas solar panels capable of charging the UAV through the day and fly using that\npower through the night. It was designed for satellite grade surveillance but\ncapable of launching on-demand. According to Airbus Zephyr will soon be capable\nof flying for months at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Airbus)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 17. Terrorists\nonce used a software worth $26 to shut US UAVs down: <\/strong>In 2009, the US\ngovernment was using drones to gather intel to aid in the war in Afghanistan.\nThese drones were controlled using satellites, but the feed from the satellite\nto the drone was unencrypted. Insurgents took advantage of that by using a\nRussian software named \u2018Skygrabber,\u2019 worth only $26. This enabled them to hack\ninto the video feed of the drones. They could then predict where the drone was\nflying and hide the information they didn\u2019t want the US to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: The Guardian)<\/p>\n\n\n\nUnmanned Aerial Vehicles<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nReferences and Data Sources<\/h3>\n\n\n\n