In the past decade, an increased number of humanitarian operations have benefited from the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones. With their higher resolution and flexibility, drones offer an effective way to capture aerial imagery for multiple purposes including damage assessment, population displacement, land registering, situation monitoring and disaster preparedness and risk mitigation efforts. As an example, especially in large-scale sudden onset disaster situations, arranging the aid distribution to the affected area requires knowledge about the road accessibility. Acquiring this information with a land-based assessment is time consuming, while a deployment of a helicopter costs a lot of money. In the meanwhile, the weather conditions may not be ideal for tasking of satellites. In such circumstances, drones may provide a fast and cost-effective method for obtaining the required imagery and knowledge.
As with the satellite imagery, drones also come with a range of practical, technical and ethical limitations that should be taken into account when considering their deployment. While many industrialized countries have regulated the use of drones in their legislation, this is not usually the case with the least developed states. This does not mean that one should not check if any national or local regulation exists. For example, flying of drones might not be allowed at the proximity of airports or military sites. Beyong the legal issues, one should also consider the ethical issues, including the safety of the drones, as well as the accountability to the population in the area of interest. Are the people in the area - possibly just affected by a major disaster - aware if and why the drone(s) is being flown at the proximity of their homes?
Process
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Outputs/Resources
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