What are drones, unmanned aerial vehicles?

          Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are unmanned aircraft which are controlled by someone on the ground.

The evolution of drones:

          The first driverless vehicles were developed in Britain and the USA during the First World War. Then reconnaissance drones first deployed on a large scale in the Vietnam War eventually emerged. Drones have also started to be used in a number of new functions, such as acting as bait in combat, launching missiles at fixed targets and launching leaflets with important information. After the Vietnam War, other countries outside Britain and the United States began to explore unmanned aerial technology. UAV technology has continued to evolve constantly and now has many and varied functions such as monitoring climate change, conducting search operations after natural disasters, photography, filming, delivering goods and inspecting buildings and other types of infrastructure. Nowadays anyone can purchase a UAV but when using it you will have to pay attention to the regulation of drones that is different from country to country. In the case of Portugal there is a map showing the areas where flights are allowed and where there are restrictions (these can consist of an altitude limit, most of the time 60 or 30 meters, or even a ban) and the maximum altitude allowed in national territory is 120 meters.

Who invented drones?

          The type of drone we know today was created by Israeli specialist engineer Abraham Karem. According to him, in 1977, it took seven people to fly a drone, which led him to start developing current, simple and intuitive technology.

What are RPAs?

          RPA is considered the correct term to refer to flights of aircraft that are controlled remotely during the flight. To perform filming during these flights, specific authorizations are required, for example from ANAC if we are in Portugal.

What are drones used for?

          As we can see in the image below, drones are used to perform various types of tasks such as infrastructure maintenance, agriculture, transportation, aerial filming and much more.