Ever since drone technology was introduced to the market, it has captured the imagination of people belonging to different sectors. From the military to real estate to sports, drones have found applications in almost every industry. However, even with the staggering success of drones, people have identified a need for continuous improvement in order for these aerial vehicles to reach their true potential. This is the reason why scientists and techies around the world are trying to make improvements and upgrades to the existing drone technology to fix its flaws. The following are some of the areas of drones where improvements are being made.

Battery duration

One of the biggest challenges people face when using drones is limited battery life. The drones that are currently available cannot stay in the air for more than half an hour as their batteries do not have that much power. This is one of the aspects of drones in which a lot of progress is being made. Scientists are trying to come up with more powerful batteries that can keep drones in the air for a longer period of time. Furthermore, techies are also exploring the possibility of using solar power to power the drones. It is expected that in the very near future the battery life of drones will increase considerably, allowing them to fly long distances without recharging.

collision avoidance

Safety has always been one of the most discussed aspects of drone technology. There is a risk of the drone colliding with objects that get in its way, such as power lines, trees, and other aircraft. To combat this risk and increase the safety of drones, scientists are working on a collision avoidance system for drones. The idea behind this is that the drones will be equipped with a system that would be able to detect the presence of other objects in its path and perform evasive maneuvers to avoid collisions. Although such a system has yet to be developed, the research is ongoing and the chances of a breakthrough happening are quite bright.

Autopilot

The drones that are available on the market at the moment need to be controlled to some extent from the ground. You must have to pilot the drone remotely and tell it where to go. This means that drones can only be operated by someone who has the necessary training and certifications to fly a drone. However, this is about to change. Tech experts are working on autopiloting drones so they can fly autonomously without the need for a human pilot. With this autopilot feature, people who have no idea how to fly drones could also use them.

Navigation

Navigation is another area of ​​drone technology that is seeing a lot of improvement these days. For now, GPS is used for the purpose of navigating drones, but this strategy has several flaws. GPS is unreliable in crowded environments like forests and cities with large buildings. GPS signals can be lost in such locations, which can negatively affect the flight pattern of the drone. To get around this problem, scientists are working on backup navigation systems that can take over if GPS stops working for some reason. These complementary navigation systems would go a long way in ensuring that drones can complete their missions, even if something goes wrong.

Control systems

Control systems are critical to the success of drones. These systems are used to control different aspects of the drone as it flies, such as interference, power conditions, acceleration, humidity, and temperature ranges. Without these control systems, the drone would become rogue and it would be impossible to control its movements. The improvements being made to control metrics are focused on your security. Tech experts are trying to make sure that control systems are resistant to malware and cannot be easily hacked. In addition to this, new and improved control systems are being developed that give pilots on the ground a greater degree of control over the drone’s movements.

Comunication system

As with any other aircraft, communication systems are extremely important for drones. They are used by the ground crew to communicate with the drone and provide it with the necessary instructions. The communication system must be fault free and error resistant as it is the only means of staying in contact with the drone. Like the control systems, the communication systems on board a drone must also be firewalled so they cannot be hijacked. Drone innovators are working tirelessly to improve the safety aspect of UAV communication systems so that they cannot be taken over and continue to function even in the most unfavorable conditions.

data processing

Drones are generally used for the purpose of obtaining data. Whether in the form of images or any other format, it must be processed before it can be used. There are a number of software programs available that can process the data that drones transmit in real time. However, the software programs currently in use cannot handle large amounts of data and therefore require a lot of processing time. To reduce the time required for data processing, new and improved software applications are being developed that can process drone data much faster.

So as you can see there are a number of improvements being made to drone technology. Technologists and scientists are joining forces to find ways to improve the capabilities of drones and make them as safe as possible. If this rate of advancement and improvement continues, it can be expected that within a few years we will have a number of drones flying overhead.