Page 29 - GCN, March and April 2017

Michigan State Police Sgt. Matt Rogers and Trooper Don Zinz bring the Aeryon SkyRanger in for a landing during a demonstration in January 2015. The police department received Federal Aviation Administration approval to use the drone, which will help officers get a better view of car accidents and emergency situations statewide.
The FAA expects high-flying cameras and sensors to proliferate by the millions in the coming years. Government agencies at all levels are getting in on the act.
BY MATT LEONARD
“Five years from now, we will look back to a world before and after drones,” predicted Steve Sarnecki, vice president of federal and public sector at OSIsoft.
The company’s software collects and analyzes sensor data and makes it more accessible. In recent months, Sarnecki said his customers have been deploying unmanned aerial systems in new ways to gather data. The electrical power, oil and gas industries, for instance, are us- ing them to gather images and sensor data on their infrastructure.
And Sarnecki is not alone.
The Federal Aviation Administration is projecting a jump to more than 4 mil- lion hobbyist and commercial drones by 2020, according to its most recent Aerospace Forecast. The largest market for drones, according to that forecast, is industrial inspection of the kind cited by Sarnecki. Government is the small- est market, making up just 2 percent of the total.
That forecast, moreover, was pub- lished prior to the FAA’s release of new rules that make it easier to use drones for commercial purposes. The finaliza- tion of those rules — Part 107 of the Federal Aviation Regulations — means potential users are free to put drones to work as long as they respect the new guidance. Previously, would-be com- mercial users had to get a certificate of waiver or authorization, which is a more involved process.
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