What does it take for a state to be selected as a drone test site?
Posted 04.01.2013 at 10:00 am
4 Comments
San Diego, California
General Atomics, maker of the iconic Predator Drone, is just one of many companies that provides San Diego with a sizable drone industry. With the industry already there, San Diego anchors southern California's bid for a commercial drone testing site, and it's hard to see how that bid could fail.
Pros
Urban environments, wide open spaces, a stretch of land from the Pacific to the U.S./Mexico border means lots of applications could be tested in a variety of settings, all in one test area.
Cons
Unless you need to see how a drone deals with weather, at all. Southern California has a reputation for perfectly pleasant year-round, and while that makes it a great place to live, it means the FAA will have to look elsewhere to test drones in wind, rain, snow, and freezing temperatures.
Bottom Line
Industry base with a range of climates and easy flying conditions? San Diego is a shoo-in.
wikimedia commons
Click here to enter the gallery
Applicants in 37 different states are trying to be one of six test sites in the Federal Aviation Administration’s pilot program for domestic drone use. As part of a plan to begin authorizing drones for commercial use, the FAA needs a few states to serve as laboratories to test things out before opening up the whole country to drones. The prize for states selected? Jobs, federal money, a chance to influence drone rules for the entire nation, and a head start on the domestic drone industry. Here are six bids I think should make it, and one that really shouldn't.
4 Comments
To comment, please Login.
Popular Tags
Technology
140 years of Popular Science at your fingertips.
Popular Science+ For iPad
Each issue has been completely reimagined for your iPad. See our amazing new vision for magazines that goes far beyond the printed page
Download Our App
Stay up to date on the latest news of the future of science and technology from your iPhone or Android phone with full articles, images and offline viewing
Follow Us On Twitter
Featuring every article from the magazine and website, plus links from around the Web. Also see our PopSci DIY feed
April 2013: How It Works
For our annual How It Works issue, we break down everything from the massive Falcon Heavy rocket to a tiny DNA sequencer that connects to a USB port. We also take a look at an ambitious plan for faster-than-light travel and dive into the billion-dollar science of dog food.
Plus the latest Legos, Cadillac's plug-in hybrid, a tractor built for the apocalypse, and more.
Popular on Popsci
Most Commented
Technology
- Warp Factor
- Bill Gates Will Pay You $100,000 If You Can Make A Better Condom
- FBI Wants To Spy On Your Online Chats As They Happen
- Blueprint: Engineers Invent A Healthier Toilet
- Faster-Than-Light Drive
- Who Are The Casualties Of America's Drone Strikes? [Infographic]
- Why Legal Experts Say It's Okay To Kill A Civilian Hacker In Cyber Warfare
- In The Future We Will All Live In Photosynthetic French Sea Pods
- China Makes 50% Of Your Stuff. How Many Chinese Brands Can You Actually Name?
- The 6 Most Absurd Military Hoaxes By North Korea And Iran
Most Emailed
Technology
- Brain Wave Sensor Shields You From Phone Calls When Your Mind Is Too Busy
- Border Patrol's Newest Tool? VADER On A Drone
- In The Future We Will All Live In Photosynthetic French Sea Pods
- BigPic: The James Webb Space Telescope, Ready To Be Frozen
- The Newest Defense Against Biological Warfare? This Cube
- The Navy Sees A Bright Military Future In 3-D Printing
- 9 Revolutionary Elevators From The Otis Elevator Company
- 9 Revolutionary Elevators From The Otis Elevator Company
- Fund A House That Shapeshifts With The Seasons
- Space Station's Giant Antimatter Magnet Finds Abundance Of Mysterious Particles
Most Viewed
Technology
- Brain Wave Sensor Shields You From Phone Calls When Your Mind Is Too Busy
- Border Patrol's Newest Tool? VADER On A Drone
- In The Future We Will All Live In Photosynthetic French Sea Pods
- BigPic: The James Webb Space Telescope, Ready To Be Frozen
- The Newest Defense Against Biological Warfare? This Cube
- The Navy Sees A Bright Military Future In 3-D Printing
- 9 Revolutionary Elevators From The Otis Elevator Company
- 9 Revolutionary Elevators From The Otis Elevator Company
- Fund A House That Shapeshifts With The Seasons
- Space Station's Giant Antimatter Magnet Finds Abundance Of Mysterious Particles
Online Content Director: Suzanne LaBarre | Email
Senior Editor: Paul Adams | Email
Associate Editor: Dan Nosowitz | Email
Assistant Editor: Colin Lecher | Email
Assistant Editor:Rose Pastore | Email
Contributing Writers:
Rebecca Boyle | Email
Kelsey D. Atherton | Email
Francie Diep | Email
Shaunacy Ferro | Email
Today on PopSci.com
Copyright © 2012 Popular Science
A Bonnier Corporation Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
How do drones benefit surveying an area of known trusted citizens? If it sees couple men taking a sofa and TV out of a house, is this observation from a far seeing a crime in action or just some furniture being moved?
I do see the benefit on our USA boarders, watching who is going over a fence, but for the rest of the country how are these stalking drones helpful. I am just curious?
@Anylcon In regards to crime, after a crime has been reported by a human observer or an alarm system, the drones could be deployed to set up an aerial surveillance perimeter with infrared cameras and motion tracking to help ensure the perpetrator doesn't escape.
Seems like expensive technology we will not use as much to justify the gigantic cost, simuliar to all the camera on the streets and highways we have now.
I wonder if the cost to the USA citizen to have himself stalked will be simuliar to the cost the new NSA facility in Utah, "...The planned structure is 1 million or 1.5 million square feet and it is projected to cost from $1.5 billion to $2 billion when finished in September 2013. One report suggested that it will cost another $2 billion for hardware, software, and maintenance. The completed facility is expected to have a power demand of 65 megawatts, costing about $40 million per year. It is located on Camp Williams, near Bluffdale, Utah..."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Data_Center
and...
NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)
www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/all/
and...
Lawmakers introduce bill on warrantless GPS tracking:
news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57575796-83/lawmakers-introduce-bill-on-warrantless-gps-tracking/