With the view to the sky: the drones or UAV in RD
SANTO DOMINGO. Three engineering students from Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) recently manufactured a drone for the final project of their Physics II class, which exceeds three thousand feet in height and measures several environmental variables. The project inspired students to advance the intellectual registration of the software they designed for the device.
In recent years, Drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) multiply in the skies of the Dominican Republic for different applications. These devices, which can be autonomous or semi-autonomous (remote control), perform unusual maneuvers and can reach difficult access spaces.
Although they were used in the country since the 70 years mainly for personal entertainment purposes, drones have been established mainly for two types of applications: commercial and technical. As explained by the manager of the Mechatronics Laboratory of INTEC, engineer Edwin Sánchez, the commercial application is based on the purchase of prefabricated kits that have contributed to the market of photography and artistic video, currently booming.
Similarly, to the scientific remote verification market, a relatively new use in which multispectral cameras are used to monitor the quality of crops, waters, livestock and others, as well as in construction to verify the level of buildings in difficult areas. access.
At a technical level, the application of these devices is based on the design, construction, modification, research and testing of systems, which contributes to the market of control engineering and software.
Without regulation
The drone scenario poses opportunities for exponential growth towards fields such as surveillance, freight transport and its operation in aspects such as battery life, which in its most modern versions is approximately 40 minutes.
According to Sánchez, given the expected exponential growth, the definition of regulations that preserve security in aviation, as well as those of people and goods, is required.
At the end of 2014, the Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation (IDAC) announced that it is working on a regulation for the use of drones, given the proliferation of companies that request permits to transfer their UAVs in the airspace. However, the draft of these regulations has not yet been submitted.
At the international level, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) meets with executives from each country and influential people for the establishment of clear regulations on the subject.
"Clear regulations and people with good imagination can make this technology something everyday that provides society with an improvement in their standard of living," said Sanchez, also president and CEO of InventaRD.
Source: "A look at the Unmanned Aircraft Market in the DR" -Edwin Sánchez- Mercado Magazine (May-June 2015).
Photos: lacolmena.intec.edu.do