Over the last several years, the inevitability of unmanned drones soaring overhead in the U.S. skies has been a controversial subject for countless military and governmental experts, as well as many technology and policy analysts in this country. In fact, last February Congress ordered the Federal Aviation Administration to open up the skies to drones by September 2015.
But imagine a cluster of metallic birds hovering everywhere in the U.S. skies, whizzing across urban cities and rural areas alike, causing chaos and alarming the masses. Techno-thriller writer Daniel Suarez, in his novel “Kill Decision,” tells the story of a group of rebels who produce robotic drones that can recognize enemies and make the premeditated decision to kill them without human intervention.
For over two decades, the former IT consultant said that he designed logistics systems for major corporations and the military in the Silicon Valley and throughout the U.S. Today, Suarez is close to being a drone expert.
“Drone technology is a technology whose time has come,” says the former the tech-head, from his home in California. “Like most new technologies, we have to figure out how to incorporate it into our society without radically altering society. We have done that with many things: cell phones, radios, the Internet and email, and we grappled with these things.” Suarez continues, “It’s always complex, but we still need to adopt these (new) things. I think corporate systems will be used, and I think many companies that will have the most success and receive the least public resistance will use it internally. One industry is precision agriculture, where they will be helping to maintain crops in very rural places.” He added, “Where there aren't many people who will be disturbed by their presence.”
However, Suarez said that corporate America has already embraced the new technology. “I think it will be used in logistics by many corporations. But I think internally it will be used in automated warehouses. Amazon proposed using drones to deliver packages.” he explains. “I don’t see that as a realistic (goal), because I see tremendous complications. There are liability issues. For example, a 55-pound drone could fall on somebody’s head,” he pauses. “But they will use them in the warehouse (distribution centers).”
According to Suarez, one problematic issue surrounding the use of drones is that the impetus for automated warfare seems inevitable. “There are a number of people within the Defense Department who have a problem with it,” he added. “Back in November of last year, the Pentagon said that human beings must be in the loop when a lethal decision has to be made with a drone or with automatic sniper stations. That’s why I wrote ‘Kill Decision,’ ” he remarked.
On the international front, however, the Middle East continues to be a sorely troubled spot. In Pakistan, for example, U.S. assassination drone strikes persist to violate international Pakistani rule, according to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Pakistan is expected to present the issue to the United Nation as a “case of violation of sovereignty.”
Launching a bloodless war by sending out missions using drones could inevitably be detrimental to the U.S, even in the near future, Suarez noted. “Right now the U.S. has the most advanced drones,” he said. “ But 70 other nations are developing drones which can (escalate) cyber-espionage. That’s because technology has a tendency of spreading out throughout modern societies that are data-driven. Individuals with substantial data trails can move through society, using cell phones, telephone records and email. And it’s these trails that killer drones would be able to filter, particularly in autocratic societies. For example, in dictatorships, they can use these machines and set them loose (into a society),” he added.
Suarez said he supports the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots sponsored by Human Rights Watch. The organization calls for a preemptive prohibition on fully autonomous robotic weapons. “I think we have to act ahead of time before these robots are released,” he said. Some experts predict that these autonomous weapons could be fully operational in 20 or 30 years.
Meanwhile, Suarez believes that the drone revolution is alive and well – and functioning largely for the good of mankind.
For example, a “heavy drone-zone” is flourishing in Alaska. Not only are they up on the technology, but the drones have plenty of terrain to roam. And they’re finding their way into many aspects of life in Alaska, on what’s known as “The Last Frontier.”
From mapping shorelines near oil field exploration to monitoring the health of sea lion rookeries located on isolated Aleutian Islands – rocks in the Gulf of Alaska cropping out of some of the stormiest water on the planet – drones play a role in making what is a big, big place seem just a little bit more manageable. Alaska comprises 586,000 square miles, dwarfing Texas, the nation’s second largest state but the most massive one within the contiguous states. It’s often joked, in Alaska, that if Alaska could be cut in half, Texas would then become the third largest state – and by a fairly significant margin at that. Because of its size, rough terrain, extreme weather conditions and rural nature, Alaska has always been an aviation-centric state. A lot of good pilots notwithstanding, there’s plenty of territory to cover in Alaska and drones are taking their place in making things happen.
At the Geophysical Institute located at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Greg Walker heads up the team comprising the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration, a federal program. Its name has been associated with mapping glaciers in Chile, locating ancient burial sites in Iceland and tracking poachers in South Africa, by piloting the center’s various diversified “airplanes” – as Walker likes to call them. Within the United States, those “airplanes” have helped track wildfire patterns, searched for missing hikers, identified the size of the salmon population on Idaho’s dam-laden Snake River, monitored dome activity in what is left of the Mount St. Helens volcano in southern Washington and demonstrated search and rescue mapping capabilities in interior Alaska at temperatures ranging from lows of minus 20 to minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit.
His team has nine different platforms – the more technical term for unmanned aircraft of various types and sizes.
Walker's smallest, weighing in at 3 to 5 pounds, is capable of carrying a highly-sensitive camera into some tight spots. One of the most important of these is the North Slope oil field operations, where thousands of miles of intricate pipes contains oil before being piped more than 800 miles across the state’s wilderness to the port of Valdez, where it is shipped to lower 48 refineries. Even the smallest of leaks is costly, as British Petroleum painfully learned in March 2006, when a dime-sized hole leaking for five days spilled 212,252 gallons of crude oil on 1.9 acres. This cost BP $66 million between the $20 million fine under the U.S. Clean Water Act, a $25 million civil penalty to the state of Alaska and reimbursements to other oil producers for the time period the pipeline was shut down.
“A little leak – and it was a little leak in terms of the size of the hole – can cause a lot of environmental damage,” Walker said. In 2006, humans on the ground checked pipeline integrity. Today, drones are being tested and demonstrated for the task.
Other applications include flying drones at ten feet above sea ice – far closer than even the most sophisticated traditional airplane can safely manage – to track how much solar radiation the ice is absorbing, as well as measuring the depth of ice. That second parameter has major financial implications for transportation as increases in cross-polar shipping traveling via the Arctic Ocean between Asian and European ports includes icebreakers shepherding large cargo ships through treacherous conditions.
If drones can prove successful in measuring sea ice depth ahead of the ice breakers, capable of directing them to areas with thinner ice, the savings in the cost of fuel alone will make this northern shipping lane even more viable and its reach global. Using drones could also save human lives. Three Canadian Coast Guardsmen died in Sept. 2013 from exposure after their helicopter crashed in McClure Strait in the Canadian Arctic Ocean while monitoring ice depth for a Canadian icebreaker.
For now, Walker’s program is focused on developing unmanned aircraft that can perform civilian or commercial-oriented tasks. It’s challenging, as each type of terrain; each weather condition has its own specifications.
“Initially, these aircraft were built for military surveillance in the desert in the Middle East,” Walker said. “Something that was designed to basically be a glider in the desert isn’t going to work in other environments such as we have here in Alaska and other parts of the world. So we have to find ways to adapt the technology.”
Actually, small and large drones have been used for years to aid top-secret military missions, but today small business owners are also finding new ways to use drones – small flying remote-controlled objects that are equipped with cameras – to shoot aerial photos and videos.
In fact, in the city of Detroit an innovative entrepreneur is already making his mark, using his version of drone technology to aid police and fire departments in financially cash-strapped municipalities. Harry Arnold, founder of Detroit Drone, has always loved flying radio-controlled airplanes. As a young boy, it was one of his favorite hobbies. Detroit Drone allows Arnold to combine his love for flying model airplanes with his love for photography.
“I've always wanted to get involved with technology that would help get cool camera shots,” Arnold said. “I like working with drones because the shots are unique. The pictures the drones take are not the same as a traditional camera. They are very different.”
Arnold is developing a program that would allow first responders to deploy drones to an emergency situation prior to their arrival. “Firefighters would be able to see footage and know how a fire is burning before arriving on the scene,” Arnold said.
Arnold is a part of a growing trend among small and large business owners using drone technology to take aerial photos from high above building rooftops. Drone flights last between four and five minutes and have the ability to capture high resolution shots to be used for research and development.
The technology in small drones has been rapidly growing. Small drones that use GPS technology to find locations are currently being developed. In a recent interview with CBS “60 minutes,” Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com, said that the company is researching ways to implement drone technology to fly packages weighing five pounds or less from its fulfillment centers to customer homes. The drones Amazon proposes using would have a flying range of 10 miles or less, requiring permission from the FAA.
The U.S. military is also looking at ways to expand its hefty lead in deploying drone technology. Some of the latest developments include electric and fuel powered versions of drones that can be used for defense purposes. While some larger businesses can offer the use of drone technology, small business owners or struggling municipalities can't afford to pay the cost of using it. Harry Arnold is launching a $20,000 crowd funding campaign in 2014 to fund more equipment so he can lease his drones to the city of Detroit and to small businesses, who wish to use drones for other research purposes.
“Big companies who provide drone service can cost up to $100,000.” Arnold said. “People should support an independent effort to help first responders. As an independent business I can make drones much more affordable. These drones are something that can help Detroit since they are going through financial problems.” As for the future of drone technology, Arnold agrees with Amazon CEO Bezos.
“In the next five to 10 years, I see the use of drones expanding.” Arnold said. “I wouldn't be surprised if mail will start being delivered by drones.”
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Meanwhile, thousands of civilian drones are expected to crowd the U.S. skies within a few years, raising much concern that they can be used for corporate spying. “It’s not difficult to create essentially a flying hacking platform,” Suarez argues. “I saw one installed in an old gunnery drone from the 1980s, which was used in the military. They were able to put in a 4-5 pound tracking system and use it to intercept cell phones. And when the drone was done. It was able to fly away,” he added: “Basically, eliminating the evidence.”
Jay Stanley, a Policy Analyst for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in New York, said that the stirring controversy surrounding drones and the issue of privacy has been hotly debated amongst lawmakers, policy analysts and law enforcement officials. “Our biggest concern is that drones potentially might be used in mass surveillance and could track an entire city,” Stanley explains. “We want to ensure that we adopt privacy regulations, so privacy invasions don’t happen.”
Now the drone revolution has landed squarely in middle America. In a small rural town in Colorado’s Eastern Plains, Mayor Frank Fields has declared war on drones. The town of Deer Trail plans to pass an ordinance in April 2014 to begin issuing drone-hunting licenses. “The ordinance was to prohibit drones in our airspace and in the town limits,” Fields said. “It was more of a novelty to generate a little money for a community center,” he added. “People in our town are leery. So it kind of opened up people's eyes to drones.”
If the mayor of Deer Trail spots a cluster of drones airborne in the sky will he shoot to kill? “No, because I haven’t bought my license yet,” he says with sly chuckle.
