Drones are a hot topic and for good reason. At the cheaper end, enthusiasts are loving the new gadgets. At the commercial end, enthusiasts are loving the new gadgets, and the possibilities for new business seem limitless.

Balancing all that enthusiasm is law. Authorities have placed restrictions on drones in many countries, and they will most likely evolve in tandem with new commercial and private uses.

Inevitably a drone will be used for illegal or terrorist purposes. As we saw with the “shoe bomber” incident, expect that restrictions will then tighten.

Governments won’t hinder progress by completely banning drones. They will look for ways of making certain that those drones that do fly are registered and monitored.

Phase One involves developing a global standard for drone identification and tracking.:

• Drones that can perform beyond hobbyist activities need to registered
• Drones need to broadcast their ID and location
• Manufacturers will be required to include tracking/ID hardware in their products
• One company in charge of compliance and monitoring makes sense for efficiency on a global scale, as opposed to a myriad of local solutions
• That company should be a group effort from well-regarded technology leaders. Perhaps an OS giant (Google/Apple), a hardware giant (Cisco) and a cryptography leader like Symantec or Gemalto.

Registration of drones is inevitable. Typically all other motorised vehicles are subject to registration. Those that can be driven remotely should be subject to more monitoring, not less. The potential for misuse is exponentially higher.

If the service is provided for free, and the credentials of the parties are impeccable, then governments should be keen to privatise the safeguarding of drone operations.

It Goes The Other Way As Well

By being connected to the System, drones to get to access the mapping information which will be better than anything else on offer. Currently drones rely on 2D maps, onboard sensors, and 3rd party 3D mapping. The System can combine all of these natively, and be updated in real time.

Imagine a drone flying across a harbour. Currently it would need to rise to a drone-only altitude for safety reasons. In the future, it could safely cross the harbour at just above sea level, if all sea craft were being tracked in real time.

Drones will also be able to avoid other drones, using onboard sensors, and real-time monitoring information from the System.

The System can also make sure that commands sent to drones are authentic and authorised. Otherwise, expect the hijacking and theft of drones to become a major issue.

Technical Aspects

2020 is the anticipated launch date for 5G mobile networks. Given the number of devices and information transferred (see Phase Two), 5G is the perfect fit.

Drones are unlikely to operate where cell phones don’t work, and the technology should be backwardly compatible with slower bandwidths. For extra redundancy, Sigfox could be used to transmit owner ID and location every hour.  The data can travel up to 1000 kilometres.

Drones will transmit their ID and location every minute.

Every day a drone will upload their full credentials, including which parties have access to their data. Initially this will just be local authorities checking their ID. Eventually this will include:

• Video from the onboard camera
• Environmental sensors
• Sound
• Relative positions of local drones
• Payload information, including the owner and the destination

Phase One will ultimately become a secure switchboard for transferring information from drones to interested parties.

An important aspect of monitoring the drones will be a 3D mapping system – the first global mapping system.