Before writing this blog, I actually didn't know what UAS stood for and soon after I began researching I found out that it was short for Unmanned Aircraft Systems. The difference between UAS and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is that a UAV only consists of the vehicle itself. The switch from vehicles to systems is explained by this quote "in order to encompass the entirety of the vehicle that flies, the ground-based controller, and the communications connection that connects the two" (Stanly 2013)
Now that we understand the difference between a UAV and a UAS lets talk about their usage. As you know their is a lot of excitement building around drones and their increased role in our society. UAS are being operated world wide and are being used to assist in many ways. listed Below are some of the primary usage of UAS.
Military use- The Military mainly uses drones for search and destroy operations, instead of sending manned aircraft into battle we can send a drone to eliminate enemy targets without putting our own men/women at risk. (Epatko 2013)
Law Enforcement- Law enforcement agencies primary use drones for search and rescue operations, and surveillance. (Ferner 2013)
Commercial use- Commercial use of drone primarily consists of aerial surveillance, company's use them to monitor live stock, home security and wildfire mapping.
Conservation- Drones are being used to monitor endangered animals such as rhinos and lions, for example South African National Parks utilizes drones in their conservation efforts.
Animal rights- Apparently activists use drones to monitor illegal activities that are endangering animals, like poaching. For example anti whaling activists are using drones to monitor whaling ships in the antarctic. (lallanilla 2013)
Survey and archeology- The use of drones for oil, gas and mineral exploration is fairly new. More commonly drones are used to monitor oil and gas pipelines. Archeologist utilizes drones to speed up surveys and help produce 3-D maps instead of flat maps.
Disaster Relief- Drones have been used to assist in locating injured civilians, they also are used gathering data to determine the scale of destruction.
Crop Dusting- Japanese farmers have been using drones to dust their crops since 1987.
Stanley, J. (2013, May 20). "Drones" vs "UAVs" -- What's Behind A Name? Retrieved October 3, 2015, from https://www.aclu.org/blog/drones-vs-uavs-whats-behind-name
Lallanilla, B. (2013, March 23). 9 Totally Cool Uses for Drones. Retrieved October 5, 2015, from http://www.livescience.com/28137-cool-uses-for-drones.html
Epatko, L. (2013, April 18). How Are Drones Used in the U.S.? Retrieved October 5, 2015, from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/how-are-drones-used-in-us/
I also was unsure what the difference was between UAS and UAV, your quote explains the difference very well.
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