drone technology, cutting-edge drone business, and future

Nonami, K.

Review:

Drone Technology, Cutting-Edge Drone Business,and Future Prospects

Kenzo NonamiChiba University

1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8522, JapanE-mail: [email protected]

[Received March 27, 2016; accepted April 6, 2016]

The year 2015 marked the beginning of a new phasein the history of drones in which drones came intouse for business purposes in addition to the conven-tional ones flown for recreational purposes, and theamended Civil Aeronautic Act became effective in thesame year. In 2016, full-scale drone businesses includ-ing the inspection of infrastructures, measurements,security, and disaster responses are expected to be-gin. An overview of the rapidly expanding drone busi-ness and the attempt to deliver objects using drones inChiba, which is called the industrial revolution in thesky, are presented in this paper. Next, the technolog-ical characteristics of mini-surveyors using domestic,production-model drones are introduced, and the useof mini-surveyors is outlined. Cutting-edge researchand overseas trends are also discussed. In addition,the approach of the mini-surveyor consortium and theamended Civil Aeronautic Act are introduced. Fi-nally, the tough robotics challenge of an innovative re-search and development promotion program ImPACTinvolving the entire Japan and the future society wheredrones are spreading are described.

Keywords: drone, mini-surveyor, drone business,cutting-edge drone technology, mini-surveyor consortium

1. Introduction

The fully autonomous AR drone released by Parrot,France in 2010 for recreational use ignited the currentboom in the drone industry. Then the phantom droneseries with a high-performance camera manufactured byDJI, China was launched for recreational use in 2013.More than a million drones were sold all over the world,and 70,000 drones are being manufactured and sold everymonth. The year 2015 marked the first industrial droneyear. Lifestyles have been changed with the innovationof cars and computers and the explosive popularizationof smartphones and the Internet. The drones are also ex-pected to bring about a positive change in lifestyles in thefuture. According to a survey by Teal Group, an aerospacemarket survey company, the market scale of the dronetechnology including the research, development, testing,

Fig. 1. Gyro saucer.Fig. 2. Small unmannedhelicopter.

and evaluation is estimated to be 91 billion dollars in thenext decade, influencing the economic market as a newbusiness.

The word drone originates in the shift from groundwars to aerial wars. The word queen bee added a newmeaning between 1931 and 1935 in the UK. It was nec-essary for pilots to be trained in shooting down fighterplanes with flying targets using radio waves from theground or an airplane; an unmanned moving target wasrequired at that time. The U.S. used the term drone ormore precisely the target drone because they liked to usemale bees. The term drone was a technical word usedby military personnel. After approximately 80 years, thedrone has been widely known as a civil word partly be-cause of the drone crash on the roof of the office of theprime minister in April 2015 in Japan. The accident wasdue to the popularization of drones equipped with smallvideo cameras used for recreational purposes.

Unlike the radio-controlled airplanes, drones can flyautonomously and not necessarily operated by humans.Therefore, the radio-controlled airplanes are flown forrecreational purposes just to enjoy the fun of operation.On the other hand, drones are controlled by computersand can be used to capture images. Therefore, dronesallow users to take conventionally unavailable video andphoto images in addition to having the fun of freely flyinga plane in three-dimensional (3D) spaces.

Japan has been leading country in the drone technology.A toy called gyro saucer (manufactured by Keyence), anancestor of civil drones, was launched in the market in1991 (Fig. 1). In 1991, autonomous flying was not possi-ble as realized by Parrot because the performance of com-puters was poor.

In addition, 2,700 small unmanned helicopters (RMAXmanufactured by Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd., Fig. 2) have

262 Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics Vol.28 No.3, 2016

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Drone Technology, Cutting-Edge Drone Business, and Future Prospects

Fig. 3. Sky Ranger (made in Canada).

been registered for crop dusting in Japan; one-third of therice cropping area in Japan is sprayed with crop protec-tion products by RMAX. More than 12,000 pilots havebeen trained as radio operators in training schools at 27locations in Japan to realize the safe operation of RMAX.This is the only example of the industrial unmanned he-licopter that contributes to crop dusting; Japan leads therest of the world in this field.

2. Recent Drone Technology and Trend ofDrone Business

One of the hot topics related to drones is the ability tosense and avoid. The technology used for autonomouslyavoiding obstacles by recognizing them instantly duringthe flight has been attracting more attention. In order tofly freely at very low altitudes, obstacles should be recog-nized appropriately. For this purpose, environment sens-ing and an autonomous control for the real-time process-ing of a new trajectory after detecting the obstacles havebeen implemented. Multiple drones can fly at the sametime while avoiding collisions, which can be called arti-ficial intelligence (AI) in a broad sense. Automatic driv-ing of automobiles, autonomous flying of drones, and au-tonomous speech of robots share a common fundamentaltechnology – recognition and intelligence.

The essence of drones is the software, rather than thehardware [1]. A battery drives the propellers connected toa motor at the end of the arm. The position of a droneis maintained even in a gust. A drone flies smartly tothe destination avoiding obstacles by recognizing envi-ronments and completes a mission. This is the essentialpoint. The software for recognition and intelligence is de-cisive although the hardware performance such as dura-bility and reliability is important. The mainstream droneswith rotors look alike – they are driven by a battery andhave a symmetrical shape with multiple rotors. However,the flying performance differs significantly because of theconsiderable difference in the software.

The sky ranger manufactured by Aeryon Labs, Inc.,Canada (Fig. 3) is the next-generation unmanned aerialsystem [a]. Aeryon Labs, Inc., a university-launched ven-ture company established in 2007, received 3 billion yenfrom the Canadian government (military). The model isequipped with an infrared camera and an optical cameraas shown in the lower part of Fig. 3. It is as light as 1.3 kgand can fly for 50 min at a maximum speed of 90 km/h.

Fig. 4. Image analysis of maximized crop by Airinov (ap-propriate in middle May).

Users can fly the sky ranger by inputting a trajectory ona map in a tablet PC with a touch pen. The captured im-ages can be easily converted to a 3D map. The northernCanada is very cold with temperatures below 30◦C for sixmonths in a year, and the infrastructures such as naturalgas pipelines and electric power lines are maintained us-ing drones. Canada is a leading country in civil droneson par with France. In Canada, laws related to droneshave been in effect since 2007, and the special flight oper-ation certificate (SFOC), an official certificate authorizedby the Canadian Transportation Ministry [b], has been is-sued. Approximately 1,200 companies have obtained theSFOC and registered with the government.

The drone business is also active in France. Airi-nov [c] is one of the most advanced companies in theworld providing unmanned aerial vehicles for agriculturaluse (Fig. 4). If a user sends the drone collection data toAirinov, the company sends back the spray data for fertil-izers and agrichemicals. The spray data enable the farm-ers to spray an appropriate amount of fertilizers and agri-chemicals at appropriate locations, increasing productiv-ity. The price is low at 15� (2000 yen) per ha. In addition,the index visualization service for maximizing the cropyields is also provided. The appropriate time for pickingthe vegetation is visualized based on the vegetation index,biomass, chlorophyll ratio, and moisture stress. Airinovhas 3,000 client companies and is the leading drone busi-ness in the agricultural field.

In Japan, the agricultural drone business market hasbeen established as typified by RMAX (manufactured byYamaha Motor Co., Ltd.). The use of drones for agri-chemical spraying has become a common practice in ricecropping, and it will be further promoted by small multi-copter drones. Furthermore, it is expected that droneswill be used in field cropping, farming, fruit gardening,forestry, and fishery. Infrastructure checking is the mostpromising market. Laws were amended after nine victimswere killed in the ceiling collapse accident in Sasago tun-nel in 2012 [d]; it is now mandatory to check 700,000bridges and 10,000 tunnels every five years, and the re-sults should be submitted to the government of Japan. Thegovernment is promoting the social implementation ofdrones as a growth strategy amid the serious lack of tech-nicians owing to the super-aging Japanese society. Thisseems to motivate the spreading use of drones in infras-tructure checking. In addition, checking targets include

Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics Vol.28 No.3, 2016 263

Nonami, K.

Fig. 5. Trends in domestic drone market according to appli-cations.

Fig. 6. Growth of domestic drone market according to ap-plications.

highways of 90,000 km, 330,000 slopes, 109 first-graderivers, and 7,084 second-grade rivers.

Ironworks are also checked using drones. Pipes andchimneys at 100 locations of 18 ironworks owned by fourcompanies are mainly checked using drones. Industrialcomplexes and tanks of liquid natural gas or other mate-rials are also checked. Drones will be used for checkingelectrical facilities including 58 power plants, 3,000 dams,mega solar power plants of 60 GW as well as 580,000base stations for cell phones. In the future, drones will bedistributed for use in 45,000 patrol cars and 25,000 fire-fighting vehicles. Drones are used for checking very im-portant facilities including infrastructure as well as for thedisaster prevention and disaster risk reduction. Figs. 5 and6 illustrate the abovementioned points as market trends inJapan. To summarize, the four fields of maintenance andchecking, disaster research, measurements, and securitywill form large markets for drones. Moreover, if lows aredeveloped, drones will be used for logistics and delivery,and the industrial revolution in the sky will commence.

Currently, ten special districts have been designated forthe technology field tests in the future. The governmentstrongly supports the special districts for remote medi-cal care, remote education, automatic driving, and au-

tonomous flying. The Prime Minister of Japan, ShinzoAbe, stated in a public-private discussion that the dronedelivery technology would be in practical use by 2018.Figs. 7 and 8 show the special district plan proposed byChiba City to the cabinet office. It includes a drone cityplan for delivery from a logistics base in Ichikawa City tothree high-rise condominiums with 50 floors that will beconstructed in the Mihama district, Chiba City (Makuharinew urban area). Risks are low because drones would flyabove Tokyo Bay and Hanami River from Ichikawa Cityto the Mihama district. In the high-rise condominium areain the Mihama district, drones would fly above green ar-eas. Drones can land on a porch located in the condo-miniums. It is planned that this technology will be com-pleted in 2018 and commercialized in 2019 when the Mi-hama district will be ready. In this plan, the domesticdrone mini-surveyor developed by Autonomous ControlSystems Laboratory Ltd. (ACSL), a venture company byChiba University in Chiba City, will be used. Testing hasbeen initiated by Chiba City, IT companies and logisticscompanies, and ACSL. This will possibly be the first caseof drone delivery depending on the cutting-edge dronetechnology in the world, certainly attracting attention inTokyo Olympic Games, 2020.

3. Mini-Surveyor, a Production-ModelDomestic Drone

ACSL, established on November 1, 2013, currentlyproduces and sells mini-surveyors shown in Fig. 9 on acommercial basis. As shown in Fig. 10, this model fea-tures an autopilot flight controller manufactured in Japan,which is the largest sales point of ACSL. Only ACSL usesan autopilot manufactured in Japan for the drones. Thecommercial production of mini-surveyors has been estab-lished, and an order will be executed within one week.Almost all autonomous flying drones depend on GPS. Onthe other hand, ACSL established a simultaneous localiza-tion and mapping (SLAM) technology that enables dronesto fly autonomously in locations with no GPS signals.This is a leading technology and the strongest advantageof ACSL. A mini-surveyor with SLAM implemented canbe used for checking bridges, tunnels, and other infras-tructure and also for radiation measurement in a thick for-est. ACSL makes tremendous efforts to lead the industrialrevolution in the sky by competing with other manufactur-ers in the world and develop the drone industry in Japan.

The model shown in Fig. 9 has a net weight of 3 kg anda payload of 6 kg. It can fly for 20–30 min at 15 m/s,or 54 km/h. A survival wind speed of 15 m/s can beachieved. Such flying objects can move in 3D spacesif the following four inputs are given: three angles (an-gle velocity) of roll (aileron), pitch (elevator), and yaw(ladder) as well as the vertical movement called throttle.Therefore, four independent motors are necessary. If threemotors are used, a complicated algorithm is required.Consequently, four motors are used. A drone can be con-trolled if four independent motors are used. A drone with



Fig. 7. Drone delivery plan in Chiba City (above Tokyo Bay).

Fig. 8. Drone delivery plan in Chiba City (in Mihama district).

Fig. 9. Mini-surveyor. Fig. 10. Autopilot part.

five or more motors is more reliable; a five-motor dronecan fly even if one stops and a six-motor drone can flyeven if two stops. The basic flying principle is deter-mined by the rotation of the propellers. The conventionalhelicopters adopt a very complicated servomechanism be-cause of the cyclic pitch control that adjusts the pitch an-gle of a rotating propeller. Electric-powered drones canreact instantly because a motor is simply connected to apropeller without a reducer. They can resist strong windsand gusts because the propellers rotate rapidly instantlyafter a current is applied to the motor.

The most important characteristic of the electric-powered drones is that the drones can carry loads twicetheir own weights. This cannot be achieved by conven-tional helicopters with a gasoline engine. It is difficult fora car to carry loads twice its own weight. This is the bene-fit of advanced power electronics. Because drone delivery

Fig. 11. Radiation measurement above trees.

is unmanned, it is estimated that the prime air deliveryof Amazon would cost 1 dollar (8 dollars in conventionaldelivery) and one-half to one-fourth of the delivery time.Low costs and sophisticated service are pushing the dronedelivery technology.

In Africa, where there is a population explosion, in-frastructures including roads have not fully been devel-oped. This is the case in India. Drones are appropriatefor such developing countries. Drones do not require newinfrastructure and are the most appropriate technology, orvehicle, for an environment-friendly low-carbon society.As drones are advancing, drones that carry humans area matter of time. The batteries in drones have improveddrastically and are currently capable of a 1-h flight. ABritish venture enterprise manufactured a drone equippedwith fuel cells that can fly for more than 2 h. ACSL alsodeveloped this technology.

4. Examples of Drone Usage

This section introduces the examples of the usage ofmini-surveyors. Fig. 11 shows the radiation measure-ment. In particular, drones are suitable for radiation mea-


Nonami, K.

Fig. 12. Solar panel checking.

Fig. 13. Flying routes of growth investigation in fields inHokkaido.

surement above woods and decontamination surplus soilwhere manual measurement is difficult. Fig. 12 illustratessolar panel checking. A drone equipped with an infraredcamera flies approximately 10 m above a solar panel, and6,000 panels can be checked in approximately 2 h. Ab-normal points are highlighted using colored spots shownin Fig. 12. Fig. 13 shows a wheat field of dimension250× 480 m in Hokkaido with waypoints indicated us-ing light dots and lines. The drones always fly above thepoints; they can fly an area of 12 ha in 13 min at an alti-tude of 125 m, taking 120 near infrared ray images every5 m per second. Fig. 14 shows a compiled image. Be-cause chlorophyll absorbs red light, well-grown fields areshown in a color other than red, whereas places with noplants including roads are shown in red. Orange and yel-low show poorly grown plants. The crop cultivation canbe increased if places in orange or yellow are providedwith fertilizers, and the map is updated every 2–3 weeks.This is called accurate agriculture. Owing to drones, anew IT agriculture has begun that can analyze the cropsprecisely at low cost, whereas the conventional remotesensing technology based on pictures taken by artificialsatellites are expensive.

Figures 15 and 16 show Urayama Dam in ChichibuCity, Saitama Prefecture, which is the second largest grav-

Fig. 14. Growth analysis result using vegetation index.

Fig. 15. Urayama Damin Chichibu City, SaitamaPrefecture.

Fig. 16. Three-dimensional reconstructionfrom airborne images.

Fig. 17. Wall surface ofconcrete dam.

Fig. 18. Enlarged pic-ture of location framed insquare in Fig. 17.

ity dam in Japan. A 3D reconstruction image was createdusing still images from an ordinary digital camera at aheight of 180 m.

In this case, a 3D map was reconstructed using 130–140 still images. An accuracy of approximately 5 cm wasrealized by extracting specific points with a commercialsoftware based on the images taken from 180 m aboveUrayama River, downstream of the dam. Dioramas canbe developed if the 3D reconstruction data are input to a3D printer.

When checking the wall surface of a dam, still imagesare taken 5 m away from the surface at a height of ap-proximately 150 m. Fig. 17 presents a picture of the wallsurface of the dam. Damage can clearly be observed fromthe enlarged part (Fig. 18) framed in square in Fig. 17.The resolution is higher compared to the visual check and



Fig. 19. Conveyor beltchecking in ironwork.

Fig. 20. Volcano researchin Mt. Hakone.

Fig. 21. Autonomous fly-ing when checking bridge.

Fig. 22. Autonomous fly-ing in Cedar Forest.

sufficient for practical application.Figure 19 shows an example of the application of

drones in checking a conveyor belt from the material yardto the furnace in an ironwork. A drone flies diagonallyalong the conveyor belt at an altitude of approximately80 m, enabling a low-cost check. On-the-spot investiga-tion of multiple collision accidents in main roads suchas highways is time-consuming. The economic loss forsuch investigation is inestimable. Drones can consider-ably reduce the time taken for on-the-spot investigationand restoration.

Drones are also suitable for sports view, volcano obser-vation research, and fire extinguishing activities. Fig. 20shows the volcano observation for Mt. Hakone. In addi-tion, drones are expected to be used in the fishery fieldfor searching fishing grounds. A group of seabirds fliesabove a group of small fish that are eaten by a big fish.Conventionally, birds have been observed using binocu-lars; however, it can be done using drones. If the preciselocations of fishing grounds are identified using drones,fuel for big vessels can be saved and fish catches will in-crease, leading to a revival of fishery.

Moreover, ACSL makes the most efforts for infrastruc-ture checking of various locations even under environ-ments where GPS signals are unavailable. ACSL estab-lished a navigation method for autonomous flying underGPS-unavailable environments. Fig. 21 shows the check-ing of a concrete wall surface under a bridge, whereasFig. 22 shows the radiation measurement in Cedar For-est. These photos were taken by means of autonomousflying. The SLAM technology enables flying without col-liding with obstacles by estimating the self-location basedon a 3D map created using a laser scanner. Fig. 23 showsa 3D image of SLAM. An object with a width of 1 mmor more can be recognized. SLAM navigation is per-formed by scanning at 100 Hz. Using SLAM navigation,autonomous flying in building No.5 of the FukushimaDaiichi nuclear power plant was achieved in February

Fig. 23. SLAM image for Fig. 22.

Fig. 24. Automatic battery exchanger.

2015. Furthermore, a navigation method using a total sta-tion (TS) has been developed, providing a SLAM/TS au-tonomous flying technology under GPS-unavailable envi-ronments.

5. State of the Art Drone Technology andFuture Prospect

A disadvantage of the present drones is the short flyingtime. Therefore, an automatic battery exchanger was de-veloped. A drone can return to service after an exchangetime of approximately 10 s because the battery-chargingtime is eliminated. Fig. 24 illustrates a drone landing onan automatic battery exchanger. The position of the droneis controlled with an accuracy of approximately 1 mm be-cause of the SLAM navigation. An auxiliary power sup-ply unit is activated to prevent the computer from shuttingdown during the exchange of batteries. A fully chargedbattery is exchanged with the one out of charge. A batteryplaced in the battery magazine is instantly switched to acharging mode and is fully charged in an hour. A maga-zine can hold eight batteries, and a drone can fly for 15–20 min using a fully charged battery; therefore, a dronecan fly without time limitations using an automatic bat-tery exchanger. Long-distance delivery using drones canbe achieved by establishing a heliport with an automaticbattery exchanger wherever necessary similar to a gas sta-tion. The same technology was used in the FukushimaDaiichi nuclear power plant.


Nonami, K.

Fig. 25. Model with fuel cells.

1,7001,700

760

Fig. 26. Larger drone withlarge capacity.

Fig. 27. High-speed long-distance flying.

Fig. 28. Formation of threedrones.

In order to increase the flying time significantly withoutusing an automatic battery exchanger, a generator or fuelcells can be used, and the fuel cells can be easily appliedin reality. Fig. 25 shows a drone equipped with a hydro-gen fuel cell developed by Intelligent Energy, UK. Themodel can fly for 2 h if a hydrogen fuel tank is installed.ACSL also realized a fuel cell model.

The size of drones should be increased for carryingheavy loads and humans for more than 1 h. Fig. 26 showsa model with a payload of 30 kg developed by ACSL.The distance between the axes is 1.7 m, the diameter ofthe propeller is 76 cm, the net weight is 25 kg, and themaximum takeoff weight is 55 kg. The flying time is pro-longed by charging via a wire because it can fly for just10 min using only a battery.

Logistics and delivery are the most promising applica-tions of the drone technology. A multi-rotor helicopter-type drone is not effective in delivering medicines andemergency supplies over a long distance (10 km) or be-tween remote islands. From this viewpoint, ACSL de-veloped a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) model asshown in Fig. 27. The model is designed to have a netweight of 10 kg, payload of 15 kg, span of 3 m, totallength of 2.5 m, flying velocity of 150 km/h, and flyingtime of 1.5 h. It shifts from a helicopter mode during take-off and landing to an airplane mode at cruising speeds.

ACSL is working on the state-of-the-art control tech-nology in the formation flying shown in Fig. 28, takeoffand landing on a water surface by using an all-weathermodel shown in Fig. 29, integrated navigation underGPS/non-GPS environments shown in Fig. 30, self-tuningcontrol based on an adaptive control theory [2], and faulttolerance control [3].

Recent research studies include autonomous flyingbased on artificial intelligence or artificial brain. MITComputer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratorydeveloped a fixed-wing drone with a weight of 450 g that

Fig. 29. Takeoff and land-ing on water surface.

Fig. 30. Flying un-der GPS/non-GPS environ-ment.

Fig. 31. Drone with AI by MIT.

Fig. 32. Autonomous flying using artificial brain SOINN.

can avoid obstacles by detecting them in real time [e].The artificial intelligence of the drone can recognize thesurrounding objects automatically at a flying speed of48 km/h (Fig. 31). Two cameras capture 120 frames persecond for the 3D mapping of the surrounding environ-ments in real time. The distance for detecting obstaclesis approximately 10 m; the model changes the position bydetecting obstacles nearby. Only two general-purpose mi-croprocessors installed in smartphones are used, and themodel costs as low as approximately 1,700 dollars includ-ing the cameras.

On the other hand, an artificial brain SOINN wassuccessfully used for flying a drone autonomously [4].Hasegawa et al. developed a method for learning video-recorded human operation without using special programsand parameter settings. SOINN can learn to operate au-tonomously by viewing the video images of the operationof a drone for recreational use (Fig. 32) for approximately5 min. SOINN can accept various types of data and is wellcompatible with the Internet regardless of the languageand hardware.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration



Fig. 33. UTM system announced by NASA.

Fig. 34. Hover motorcycle.

(NASA) commenced testing the UAV traffic management(UTM) [f], an air traffic control system for drones. TheUTM performs a unified management of various dronesfor business using radio communication by permittingdrone flying as shown in Fig. 33. NASA is planning tooperate the UTM on a full scale by 2020. The currentrestrictions by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)are strict because there is no air traffic control system fordrones. In contrast, if drone air traffic control systemssuch as the UTM were established, the restrictions forcommercial drones would be mitigated. The US gov-ernment assumes that drones will considerably benefitvarious industries and is not considering preventing thegrowth of the drone industry. The UTM is the basis totake off the drone business, and the public and privatesectors intend to realize the UTM. The UTM is estab-lished on a cloud base and each drone is connected to thenetwork in real time. Because each drone is individuallyauthorized, collisions of drones can be avoided andthe abuse of drones can be prevented. It is plannedto use a mobile communication network. Such droneinfrastructures should be established rapidly, and Japanwill follow suit.

A hover motorcycle [g] shown in Fig. 34 has beendeveloped in the US. Emergency drones [h] shown inFigs. 35 and 36 will soon be completed. When a seriousaccident occurs in a highway and an emergency drone iscalled for, an unmanned drone will land in the specifiedarea automatically. As shown in Fig. 35, the seriously in-jured person will be carried on the drone by the bystandersand transported to the rooftop of an emergency hospitalas shown in Fig. 36. It can be imagined that lives willbe saved by emergency drones and the quick response of

Fig. 35. Emergency drone(in accident).

Fig. 36. Emergency drone(on hospital roof).

bystanders.The drone code project launched in October 2014 has

been attracting much attention [i]. This project is man-aged by Linux Foundation, US, in a non-profitable man-ner to establish a unified open source drone project.Inaugurating member companies include 3D Robotics,Baidu, Box, DroneDeploy, Intel, jDrones, Laser Naviga-tion, Qualcomm, SkyWard, Squadrone System, Walkera,and Yuneec. Existing open source projects and resourcesare gathered under the supervision of Linux Foundationas a collaborative project. The resources are composedof software platforms APM/ArduRover of 3D Robotics(including ArduCopter for helicopters, ArduPlane for air-planes, and ArduRover for automobiles), Mission Plan-ner, and DroidPlanner. In Dronecode, more than 1,200engineers have committed themselves to various projects.Dronecode is adopted by companies such as Skycatch,DroneDeploy, HobbyKing, Horizon Ag, PrecisionHawk,Agribotix, and Walkera. Dronecode was originally startedas a non-profitable project by Mr. Chris Anderson, a co-founder of 3D Robotics. Mr. Anderson opened a com-munity site DIY Drone in which multiple experts ex-changed information. Their fields include software, elec-tronics, robot engineering, aeronautical engineering, anddata analysis. These activities formed the open sourceproject.

6. Rules for Drone Operation and Mini-Surveyor Consortium [j]

The Civil Aeronautics Act and the Radio Act must beobserved when flying a drone in Japan. The amendedCivil Aeronautics Act prohibits the flight of drones indensely populated areas or Densely Inhabited District(DID) areas shown in Fig. 37 and restricts the flyingmodes. A flying permit must be obtained when flying inprohibited areas or modes. On the other hand, the RadioAct stipulates the frequencies and power that can be usedby drones as well as special small power radio stationsthat do not require a license. A license must be obtained touse the frequencies and power other than those stipulatedby the Radio Act. Meanwhile, the Civil Aeronautics Actand the Radio Act can be mitigated in the special districtsand the national strategic districts as mentioned above.The NASA plan and operation rules in countries with ad-vanced drone technologies such as France and Canada are


Nonami, K.

Fig. 37. Flying prohibited areas designated by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

very strict, establishing license systems and mandated cer-tification for each drone. The world trend is to acquirecertification for all autonomously flying drones (for recre-ation and business) and license for owners and users. Ifthe probability of crashing of drones is reduced to thelevel of automobile accidents and the safety of drones areensured to the level of manned airplanes, drones can flyabove urban areas. For the social implementation of dronelogistics and delivery, drones should fly in urban areas inthe future. This requires strict rules and the developmentof a sound drone industry. In fact, drone business is veryactive in France and Canada owing to the strict rules. Onthe other hand, if the applications for obtaining permitsare not approved in many cases, hurdles for flying dronesincrease hindering the growth of the industry. Therefore,it is important to strike a balance between growth and reg-ulations.

The mini-surveyor consortium was established by ap-proximately 40 organizations in October 2012 to indus-trialize the domestic drones or mini-surveyors. It pro-posed activities for three and a half years. Then, it hasbeen incorporated as mini-surveyor consortium corpora-tion in April 2016. Almost 250 organizations formed thisconsortium in May, 2016. Autonomous Control SystemsLaboratory Ltd. (ACSL), a university-launched venturecompany, was also founded in November, 2013 and thedrone industry boomed. As shown in Fig. 38, commit-tees for planning, local affairs, safety management, publicrelation, skill test, usage, and local promotion are estab-lished under the board of directors. Safety guidelines forthe multi-rotor helicopter not limited to the mini-surveyorwas developed in detail. Based on this, a course of skilltest was created to provide lectures and training. A certifi-cation is issued for a person who passed the final test afterinitiation, elementary, and middle courses followed by a

Fig. 38. Mini-surveyor consortium.

Fig. 39. Emulator using 3D images.

one-week long skill test. In this phase, group insuranceis available. During the skill test training, virtual train-ing with 3D images shown in Fig. 39 is provided using aflight simulator for the mini-surveyor. More accurately,this simulator is an emulator with a precise non-linear



Table 1. ImPACT “TRC: Tough Robot Challenge” Sub-committee on flying robot.

Flying robot meeting member

Robot platform Flying robot Chiba University Professor Kenzo Nonami

Robot component

Robot hand Hiroshima University Associate professor Ken TakaghiSoft wing Chiba University Professor Hiroshi Ryu

Ducted rotor

Osaka Prefecture Uni-versity

Professor Shigeru Sunada

Osaka University Assistant professor Koichi YonezawaJAXA Research fellow Antyu TanabeKanazawa University Associate professor Hiroshi Tokutake

Robot intelligence

Limit image processing Tohoku University Professor Takayuki Okaya

Limit communicationNIICT Manager Ryu MiuraAIST Group leader Shin Kato

Accurate measurement Waseda University Assistant professor Taro SuzukiMultiple resolution DB Shizuoka University Professor Kenjiro MiuraControl Shinshu University Assistant professor Satoshi Suzuki

Field test evaluation,Field test evaluation IRSI Commissioner Toshi Takamori

safetySafety Nagaoka Technology

and Science UniversityAssociate professor Tetsuya Kimura

physical model considering the dynamic performance ofthe motor, amplifier, and various sensors. Realistic train-ing is possible using the simulator before experiencing theactual drone flying because the simulator incorporates anactual environment model including bridges, tunnels, andvolcanos.

In Japan, an innovative research and development pro-motion program ImPACT related to drones is introduced.ImPACT aims at creating scientific and technological in-novations that cause great changes in industries and thesociety to promote challenging research and develop-ment with high risks and high impacts. The flying robotmeeting of this program addressed the tough robot chal-lenge [k] led by Professor Satoshi Tadokoro (Tohoku Uni-versity). The target is to realize a tough flying robot. Re-search themes and the organizations involved in the toughrobot challenge are listed in Table 1. The flying robotmeeting is managed by Nonami. In order to increase thetoughness of the domestic mass-produced mini-surveyors,research and development for 11 themes including eval-uation testing is conducted by 15 organizations. Theprogress is announced to the public twice a year throughfield testing results.

7. Conclusion

The author considers that recognition and intelligence,as shown in Fig. 40, will eventually be implemented indrones similar to birds and insects that can sense andavoid objects even during a high-speed flight. An ad-vanced flying technology will be achieved in the future.

Fig. 40. Flying of living organism for motion, recognition,and intelligence.

It may take about ten years because computers that aremore powerful are required for the purpose. When thesmartphone can be as powerful as the current supercom-puters, the bio-inspired flight using motion recognition in-telligence similar to the flight of a living organism can berealized easily.

Our lifestyles will dramatically change if drones canfly in spaces up to 300 m where only birds fly and radiowaves transmit now. By utilizing the last frontier spacesusing drones, our lifestyles will change to 3D style. Au-tomobiles drive automatically on the ground, whereas au-tonomous flying drones will soon fly in the air. In thefuture, we can commute using our own drones.


Nonami, K.

References:[1] K. Nonami et al., “Autonomous Flying Robots,” Springer, 2010[2] T. Furui, A. Hori, D. Iwakura, and K. Nonami, “Online mass esti-

mation and autonomous control of multi-rotor helicopter,” Proc.ofthe 12th Motion and Vibration Control Conf., Hokkaido, 2014.

[3] Y. Yang, D. Iwakura, and K. Nonami, “Fault Tolerant Controlof Multi-rotor Helicopter in Case that Some Motor-propeller Sys-tem fails,” Proc. of the 12th Motion and Vibration Control Conf.,Hokkaido, 2014.

[4] “Deep learning is almighty?,” Nikkei Electronics, June 2015.

Supporting Online Materials:[a] http://www.do-koyo.co.jp/wp-content/uploads/SkyRanger.pdf

[Accessed June 7, 2016][b] http://www.ccuvs.com/services/special-flight-operating-certificate/

[Accessed June 7, 2016][c] http://www.airinov.fr/

[Accessed June 7, 2016][d] http://www.mlit.go.jp/report/press/road01 hh 000429.html

[Accessed June 7, 2016][e] http://www.borg.media/mit-csail-drone/

[Accessed June 7, 2016][f] http://utm.arc.nasa.gov/index.shtml

[Accessed June 7, 2016][g] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3hLxnrQkF0

[Accessed June 7, 2016][h] https://www.dronecode.org/

[Accessed June 7, 2016][i] http://image.search.yahoo.co.jp/search?rkf=2&ei=UTF8&p=

%E3%83%89%E3%83%AD%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3#mode%3Ddetail%26index%3D55%26st%3D2200[Accessed June 7, 2016]

[j] http://www.mini-surveyor.com/[Accessed June 7, 2016]

[k] http://www.jst.go.jp/impact/program07.html[Accessed June 7, 2016]

Name:Kenzo Nonami

Affiliation:Professor, Chiba UniversityCEO, Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory,Ltd.

Address:1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8522, JapanBrief Biographical History:1979 Received Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from TokyoMetropolitan University1985-1988 Research Scientist and Senior Research Scientist, NASA1994- Full Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, ChibaUniversity2008-2013 Vice President, Chiba University2013- President, Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory, Ltd.2013- Director, Mini-surveyor ConsortiumMain Works:• “Autonomous Flying Robots,” Springer, 2010.• He started an autonomous control of small-scale unmanned helicopterproject in 1998 and succeeded a fully autonomous flight control in 2001 asa pioneer in Japan.


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