PopularMechanics082017

34 http://www.popularmechanics.co.za _ AUGUST 2017

But drones have not filled the Kenyans
with unbridled enthusiasm. Especially
when it comes to public use. “That has
been informed by the problems we have
encountered in detecting low-flying drones.
To counter this, we have developed a
framework to detect and legislate drones
and are interfacing that with the legislators.”
Astral Aerial is setting out to make sure
that drones don’t encroach on commercial
airspace. The plan is a system of geofencing
around restricted airspace such as hospitals
and embassies.
The company is also seeking to establish
common operating standards for all oper-
ators to work on a common platform
through which information will be shared.
Ultimately, the system is intended to
integrate the company’s drones into
international airspace. A smart move for
a company selling a cargo drone with the
ability to cross borders.

DRONE CON IS THE YOUNGEST OF THREE drone
industry conferences in South Africa, but
still the organisers managed to assemble a
wide variety of speakers from all spheres
of commercial UAV operations. Our local
industry, although dominated by mining
and conservation operations, also supports
a healthy land surveying and film commu-
nity. The event was organised by United
Drone Holdings and chaired by its CEO
Sean Reitz. To be fair to Mr Reitz, it was
almost solely his baby. Which is by no
means a bad thing.
In his snapshot summary of the macro-
economic impact of the South African
drone industry 2017, economist Dr Roelof
Botha estimated the year-ending turnover
at two billion rand. There’s also said to be
24 667 jobs related to unmanned aviation.
“In the EU, by 2021 they’re expecting to
have seven million drones in the air for
leisure activities and 3,5 million in the
US,” he says. The technology’s pervasive-
ness translates into smaller but equally
impressive numbers on the commercial
side: 400 000 in the EU and one million
in the US. “Fifty thousand drones are reg-
istered in the US every month. That is
unbelievable. The value of drone-related
activity in the EU is estimated at 10 billion
Euro per annum over the next decade,
which is almost double our total agricul-
ture production.”
Those numbers suggest that drones are
a far bigger thing than we could ever have
imagined. “The timing of the launch of a
one-ton capacity drone in China is 2019,
which relates to research done there on
the cost saving of delivering by drone.
And it’s something like 70 per cent,” he

continues. Botha believes that these num-

bers should be verified and sent through

to government so that the lawmakers can

be better informed about the cost and then

act in the interests of growing the industry.

The South African Civil Aviation

Authority estimates that, for every regis-

tered remote pilot aerial system (RPAS) in

the sky, there are two or three unlicensed

craft. The number of RPASes registered

each year grew from 216 in January of

2016 to 465 in 2017. Remote pilot licens-

es stood at 33 in 2016 and a year later

had increased tenfold. It’s clear to see

that there is rampant illegal activity hap-

pening within the sector.

Albert Msithini, Civil Aviation Authority

RPAS project lead, explained that the reg-

ulatory challenges stemmed from the

exponential boost in the numbers of small

airspace users, the low cost of personal

aviation and the fact that these aircraft are

designed by mainly non-aviation engineers.

Though his comments weren’t an attack

on the engineering expertise behind some

of the commercially available drones, it

must be made clear that drone manufac-

ture is a largely unregulated industry.

South Africa’s aviation authorities are

committed to align with global RPAS

developments, Msithini says. It’s also con-

fident, he adds, that drone technology will

improve aviation safety and reduce related

costs. But in the midst of all that positive

talk there’s the realisation that malicious

intent and potential threat will exist. And,

in response to that, the authorities will

always err on the side of caution.

Astral Aerial’s universal air traffic management concept won the company a $20 000 International

Air Transport Association Cargo innovation Award at the 2017 World Cargo Symposium.

‡ The drone demo area was the exhibitors’

space to show off their technological prowess.

Inaccessible to plebs like us.

LEVEL 4: 15 000 ft

LEVEL 3: 8 000 ft

LEVEL 2: 4 000 ft

LEVEL 1: 1 500 ft

Medical supplies Precison agriculture and crop spraying Mining

Wind turbineinspections Power lines and

telecommunications Emmergencyresponse

recreationalSport and

inspectionsPipeline

Oil and gas

Wildlife

Commercial jets and airliners

Surveillance, mapping, security

Geofence

General aviation

Large payload, long rangeCARGO DRONES