Domesticating the Drone: The Demilitarisation of Unmanned Aircraft for Civil Markets

Abstract

Remotely piloted aviation systems (RPAS) or ‘drones’ are well known for their military applications, but could also be used for a range of non-military applications for state, industrial, commercial and recreational purposes. The technology is advanced and regulatory changes are underway which will allow their use in domestic airspace. As well as the functional and economic benefits of a strong civil RPAS sector, the potential benefits for the military RPAS sector are also widely recognised. Several actors have nurtured this dual-use aspect of civil RPAS development. However, concerns have been raised about the public rejecting the technology because of their association with military applications and potentially controversial applications, for example in policing and border control. In contrast with the enthusiasm for dual-use exhibited throughout the EC consultation process, the strategy for avoiding public rejection devised in its roadmap would downplay the connection between military and non-military RPAS and focus upon less controversial applications such as search and rescue. We reflect upon this contrast in the context of the European agenda of responsible research and innovation. In doing so, we do not rely upon critique of drones per se, in their neither their civil nor military guise, but explore the extent to which current strategies for managing their public acceptability are compatible with a responsible and socially beneficial development of RPAS for civil purposes.

Review of the Current State of UAV Regulations

“…Here, the discourse of UAV regulations includes public safety and liability in case of an accident, societal benefits and stakeholders in international regulatory bodies such as the European Commission [40], rule-guided risks and opportunities of UAV [44], ethical tolerability [45], and effects upon privacy and other civil liberties [46]. The latter mentioned authors further used self-reported material of representatives of different drone sectors (including civil aviation authorities and data protection authorities) to study perspectives on privacy, data protection and ethical aspects [47].…”

“…significant gaps in the industry's knowledge about their privacy, data protection and ethical obligations under European and national laws" and that the legislation regarding these concerns lacks tremendously [47]. Interestingly, Boucher [40] showed another example of non-compliance. The authors conclude that the strategies to manage public acceptance in the European roadmap [48]) do not conform with the European concept of responsible research and innovation [49].…”

“…This lack creates a significant barrier to research and development as scientific projects are hindered [6], as are both private and public innovation. As a result, market opportunities and societal gains are not being exploited [40]. Common problems with UAV regulations include flight approval times [41] and poorly documented administrative processes that limit the desired flexibility and impede the widespread utilization of the technology.…”

Task scheduling system for UAV operations in indoor environment

“…It checks each predecessor in the (immediate) predecessor list of the currently visited task. If it is contained in the new sequence, then it shall be removed from the list (lines [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. If the list of predecessors of the currently visited task is empty, then this task is ready to be moved into the new sequence (lines 11-15)-the task is added at the end of the sequence (line 12).…”

“…Most of the UAVs commercially available so far have the capability of operating in an outdoor environment [1,47]. Previously, UAV applications used to be limited for only military purposes, but nowadays the situation has changed [8]. UAV emerges as a viable, low-cost technology [42] for use in various indoor applications [38].…”