Today high technologies play a significant part in aviation, one of the most rapidly growing sectors of industry in the world. Much attention is paid to the development of UAVs (uninhabited aerial vehicles) as an up-to-date trend.
Unmanned aircraft aren’t a particularly new idea. The first was built in 1916, and remote-controlled planes were becoming widely used by World War I. Today, unmanned aircrafts are commonly used for war operations in many countries. But as drone planes grow more capable of performing complex tasks and carrying passengers, unmanned commercial flight seems to be on the horizon. In June, the Federal Aviation Administration announced its two-year plan to bring unmanned flight to the American skies, possibly in a commercial form. Commercial drone crafts could mean cheaper – and possibly safer – flights. However there are serious safety concerns. Even today aircraft can auto-land and fly using the autopilot. However, technology is not fool proof and human intervention is needed from time to time to reset the systems.
One particularly promising non-combat application of unmanned aircraft is search and rescue. A team of researchers at Brigham Young University recently revamped a cheap propeller-driven plane with computerized maps and cameras that determine the locations of lost hikers. These drones can find people more quickly and safely than human rescue teams or helicopters.
One could imagine a future in which planes would be flown in a totally automatic mode. Advanced self-separation and automated station keeping, auto-takeoff and auto-land will be feasible. One could think of a safety pilot who would monitor the onboard systems as an interim phase before accepting fully pilot-less aeroplanes. Manual override capability would be available to the ground-based operator.
If the technology proves to be safe and reliable even large passenger aircraft could become pilot-less. Here the key word will be safety perception rather than technology.
Библиографическая ссылка
Днепровский Д.О., Игнатьева Е.А. БЕСПИЛОТНЫЕ САМОЛЕТЫ – БУДУЩЕЕ АВИАЦИИ // Современные наукоемкие технологии. – 2013. – № 7-1. – С. 60-60;URL: https://top-technologies.ru/ru/article/view?id=31874 (дата обращения: 03.12.2024).