It has been ten years since GEOCOM sold its first drone or UAS (Unmanned Aerial System), which was the Gatewing X100, a fixed-wing drone that surprised the national industry, not only because the drone market was just beginning to open up in Chile, but also because of its enormous qualities. It was a small Belgian "airplane" that carried a 10 MP camera and was capable of performing photogrammetric surveys of large areas (150 hectares) in a flight time of 35 minutes, with quality results after a couple of hours of processing—something that would have taken several weeks with ground topography.

Clearly, drones are here to stay. Their use has become widespread, and today we see that Geomatics professionals cannot do without them, as the benefits are enormous, especially in terms of productivity, representativeness, and accuracy of surveys. Recently, we have seen great technological advancements in the drone industry, which has led to much more affordable, portable, and easy-to-use equipment. For these reasons, drone sales at GEOCOM have increased exponentially over the past four years, requiring us to increase the number of professionals dedicated to pre-sales, support, and technical service for drones, in order to provide comprehensive solutions to our customers.

These ten years of experience in drone commercialization have allowed us to clearly see the progress and changes that have occurred in several aspects. The first UASs required a mechanical catapult for takeoff, had long analog checklists, had limited autonomy, and used ground control points. In contrast, today we have increasingly automated and productive equipment, with more efficient batteries to increase autonomy, with direct referencing systems to avoid the use of control points, with 45 MP cameras for photogrammetry, and with a series of other cameras or sensors for various applications.

Although we know that advancements in safety have also been significant, at GEOCOM we have continued to convey a fundamental premise to our customers: a drone cannot be considered conventional surveying equipment, as it requires much more care in its operation and maintenance, and its use is much more conditioned by external factors. As we detail in every training we offer, operational safety begins with good flight planning: we must know in advance the location where we will fly, the height of adjacent hills, the presence of antennas or other structures, the weather forecast, air traffic in the area, etc. Furthermore, we must find the most suitable people to be the UAS operators, because they will be responsible for the proper functioning and maintenance of the equipment; they must ensure batteries are charged correctly and keep a record of their charge cycles, conduct a thorough inspection and cleaning of the equipment before and after each flight, ensure no accessories are missing, etc. These and other recommendations are also detailed in the safety guide we provide to our customers with each drone.

Another very important aspect of operational safety is the regulations established by the DGAC (General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics) for the use of drones in Chile. Through DAN 91 and DAN 151, the DGAC has regulated the operation of remotely piloted aircraft (RPAS) for a decade, and these regulations have undergone changes and been refined due to the widespread use of drones in recent times. Other regulations have also been added or adapted. Since 2020, the DGAC requires that any entity or person performing aerial work for commercial purposes must obtain an Air Operator Certificate (AOC), as detailed in DAN 119 and DAN 137.

Within a company or organization that conducts drone operations, in addition to complying with DGAC regulations, procedures must be created to regulate and enable safe work. These procedures should be formulated with special consideration for the experience of UAS operators. One of the most important points that these procedures should consider is that, due to wind effects or other meteorological conditions, there are specific times for safe flying, which will vary depending on the geographical area, local conditions, and time of year. We must get used to the fact that a drone cannot be used at any time; there are occasions when work must be postponed until the next day or until all safety conditions are met.

Undoubtedly, today's drones are safer than those of ten years ago; they have sensor redundancy to avoid collisions, more powerful radio systems to prevent loss of localization, are more resistant to wind, dust, and humidity, their batteries are increasingly efficient, they are operated by increasingly intelligent software that incorporates automatic routines in case of an emergency, etc. However, we must not forget that behind every drone there is a person operating it, and we must continue to be careful and methodical to avoid incidents, especially now that several more drones may be flying around alongside mine.

Written by: Cristián Michell S. - UAS Product Manager