Drones have been talked about a lot since the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) passed the Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Registration Rule last December, which requires the registration of all unmanned aircraft weighing 0.55 to 55 pounds. With this ruling, and presumably more to come regarding commercial use of drones to make deliveries and the like, what will a drone filled city look like in the future? 

Currently drones are assisting the Architecture/Engineering/Construction (AEC) and realty industries with their aerial visual capturing capabilities. Nothing is worse than staring at a brick wall out your window. When evaluating a design for a new development, drones can capture the view from each floor and every side of a building. Tocci Building Companies has used these kinds of drone images to assist with developing the best use of the lot, the best floor plan, and the best location for the building on the plot of land. Drones are also used to discover underutilized areas of land that may have potential for future development. Capturing aerial footage of the site shows developers and future tenants what the cityscape looks like around them. Having real versus rendered surroundings on the design helps to bridge the gap between the unimaginable and the imaginable.  It’s much easier to visualize how a building will look once completed if it’s surrounded by the actual environment where it will be built.

(Tocci’s latest project at 3 Journal Square in Jersey City, New Jersey)

Now to the future. With more drones being operated in a city a big concern will be the wind tunnels created by high-rise buildings. Though users have successfully flown drones in wind gusts reaching into the double digits, best practice recommends flying in winds less the 10mph. Even the most powerful and expensive drones will have trouble when flying in strong winds and there’s also the potential for losing connection with the controller. On average the annual wind speed in Boston is 11.6 mph. As drones become as prevalent as pigeons, buildings will need to be designed to reduce wind tunnels through the design of the envelope of the building or the height of it.

Another design element to consider is what drones will be doing to enhance our lives. They could be used for cleaning windows, traffic surveillance, a companion and light for your way home, or making deliveries such as packages, food, or whatever else you need brought directly to you. In these cases every apartment floor or place of business will need a delivery dock for drones to leave their goods. This may seem futuristic now but it’s already a reality. South Park Tower in LA has been designed with a sixth floor amenity deck, which includes a drone landing dock.

(Photo courtesy: Ten50)

So how do we keep these drones flying for miles on end? Two items to consider are battery life and GPS connectivity. It will be important to have infrastructure that will support these functions. In order to support the weight of carrying packages, drones will need to have very powerful batteries, which won’t necessarily translate to holding a charge longer. Of course better batteries will hold a charge longer but having charging stations around the city or at intervals in more remote locations will allow drones to travel farther. But we also need to stay connected to arrive safely and securely at the correct destination. Integrating more satellite technology would enable drones to travel from one zone to the next. This infrastructure is imperative to making this drone filled world a reality.

A hot topic with drones becoming more readily accessible is privacy and safety. Even with regulations about how close a drone can be flown to an airport, over the past couple of years there has been a surge in near-collision and other dangerous encounters with small drones and larger aircraft. Most times the operator cannot be found. What can be done to stop this? It has been suggested to develop zoning laws for drones. Implementing sensors around areas that are restricted at all times or during specific times would create invisible fences that would communicate with the drones and block them from entering these zones. These invisible barriers could automatically redirect the drone away from the restricted areas.

(Photo courtesy: The Humanitarian Space)