A Drone-Based Society

2019/08/19

Drones are tools that allow individuals to freely utilize the sky. Today, beyond hobbyist use for the enjoyment of piloting, they are used for industrial purposes such as aerial photography, logistics, inspection, agriculture, and fishing, as well as for life-saving and disaster response.

Drones have a long history. While there are various theories, their roots are said to be the "Queen Bee," an unmanned target aircraft developed by the British military in 1935 for gunnery training. The Queen Bee was a modified manned aircraft that could be piloted from the ground by applying remote control via radio waves (radio control). Influenced by this, the US military developed an unmanned target aircraft in 1936 that could be remotely piloted using the same principle. However, because it did not perform well, it was named "drone" after the male bee that stays in the hive and does not work. The United States continued to develop unmanned aircraft thereafter, producing over 10,000 drones during World War II.

Since drones were originally radio-controlled versions of airplanes, fixed-wing aircraft were the mainstream. However, what many people think of as a "drone" today is a rotary-wing aircraft called a multi-rotor aircraft, which has multiple propellers. Multi-rotor aircraft are characterized by their ability to move freely in all directions simply by adjusting the rotation speed of each propeller. A major factor in the spread of multi-rotor aircraft in the 21st century is that the performance of small computers has improved, making it possible to control posture and movement in real time. It is expected that as computer technology continues to advance, the degree to which we can freely master the sky will also increase.

The possibilities of drones (multi-rotor aircraft) can be broadly divided into the following three categories. The first is free positioning. Aerial photography is an application that truly takes advantage of this characteristic. By mounting a camera on the aircraft, images can be captured from any viewpoint. This characteristic also allows for approaches to any position on the ground, such as carrying objects to an exact location. In a work unveiled at the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine in France in 2011, eight multi-rotor aircraft autonomously and cooperatively carried bricks to positions indicated on a blueprint to assemble a 7-meter-high tower. This demonstrates the possibility that if the weight that can be lifted by multi-rotor aircraft increases, they could serve as a substitute for cranes, transporting cargo and materials to precise locations.

The second is that the drone itself is a computer. During flight, a drone achieves an ease of use that allows anyone to fly it stably by repeatedly processing the next output in response to input from the pilot while detecting changes in its own posture. Like other computers, if drones can connect to networks, improve computer performance, or utilize more advanced computing resources, they can leverage recognition and learning capabilities represented by AI.

The third is that drones can act in swarms. At the opening ceremony of the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, 1,218 drones deployed and drew pictures in the night sky. Because they can take autonomous cooperative action, it shows the possibility that even if one drone is insufficient, multiple drones can compensate by working together.

Current drones, both multi-rotor and fixed-wing, are composed of a "collection" of digital technologies centered on microcomputers. This is why it is said that "drones are still in their infancy." It can be said that there are almost no technologies specific to drones among those that comprise them. For example, positioning technologies such as GPS, digital video, and digital sensors—technologies that have become widely used in smartphones—are also widely utilized in drones.

I used the expression "collection" because there is a more sophisticated future ahead. For example, the same transmitters and receivers used for radio-controlled airplanes are used for communication to convey the pilot's intentions, but there is still much room for improvement in this communication method. If communication changes from a type where one-to-one connections occupy resources to a network type specialized for drones or one that can share resources with other mobile robots, the current limitations on "radio range" and the "number of units that can be flown simultaneously" can effectively be eliminated. If that happens, it will be possible to pilot from anywhere in the world, and hundreds of drones can be flown simultaneously in one location. In fiscal 2020, legal amendments are planned to allow direct connections between mobile phone networks and drones. In coordination with the market launch of 5G, we should expect the relationship between drones and pilots (operators) and the nature of communication to transform significantly.

The Consortium for Co-Creation of Drone Collaborative Society, where I serve as Vice Representative, defines a society where drones have become as widespread as modern personal computers as a "Drone-Based Society" and conducts activities with its ideal form as the subject of research. The term "Drone-Based Society" is borrowed from my mentor, Professor Jun Murai. When I was a student in the Murai Lab, he passionately told us, "From now on, it will be an Internet-based society," and inspired us. Thirty years have passed since then, and I empathize with my mentor's feelings at that time. With "Drone-Based Society" as our slogan, I want to inspire everyone involved with drones along with many colleagues within Keio and beyond.