Drones can now be equipped with 3-D imaging and high-resolution cameras with video capabilities, making them capable of gathering highly detailed renderings. These renderings can be saved, analyzed, and used for multiple purposes in a variety of applications. These uses include search and rescue, archaeological discovery, and construction or structural monitoring. As evidenced by videos following Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, drones allow news organizations to provide real time, close-up videos of events as they happen. Because they are operable any hour of the day or night, irrespective of weather conditions, drones are proving effective for security patrols over large commercial or industrial properties, securing the safety of the business as well as the staff.

 Disasters

Drones, some no larger than a model airplane, were sent into areas of Texas and Florida to assess hurricane and flood damage. In Texas, 43 different organizations received special FAA authorization to operate drones in the hurricane areas. Some insurance companies were permitted to do inspections, as well as oil and gas companies to ensure there were no oil or gas leaks.

 The advantages of using drones in disaster situations are that they are very nimble and fast, and their high-resolution cameras can zoom in and look inside buildings for damages and missing persons, all at a safe distance for the responders.

 Agriculture

Agricultural drone use could be beneficial in surveying, monitoring, and weed or disease management of large crops. In the future, there are predictions that swarms of bee-sized drones will be able to fly among farm fields, mapping the location of weeds with the help of onboard vision systems. However, the U.S. is unlikely to be able to use drones for crop surveys in the near future due to individual state licensing requirements and the need to comply with both FAA requirements and Part 337 chemical and toxic regulations.

 Construction

Drones can collect video footage that can be used to track and monitor construction progress, and highlight deficiencies or needed resources. Where people observing or using fixed cameras would typically do this, the use of drones provides a way to monitor and evaluate resources and project status in real time, without interrupting work in progress and keeping workers and civilians safe from the project site.

 Medical Deliveries

In addition to package deliveries, drones could transport medical samples and supplies, including defibrillators that could help revive people from cardiac arrests. A drone carrying an automated external defibrillator (AED) could be activated by a dispatcher and sent to an address provided by a 911 caller so that anyone nearby can use it, and they could be sent into areas that may be inaccessible or otherwise difficult to quickly reach by other means.

 Testing is taking place for drones to deliver medical supplies in rural Virginia, Bhutan and Papua New Guinea. UNICEF is testing the feasibility of using drones to transport lab samples in Malawi.

 Inventory Control

Advancements are taking place in developing drone-based wireless systems that can scan and locate items in warehouses, and with each item identified by a RFID (radio frequency identifier) sticker, the drone could pinpoint an item's precise location. A drone operator could then dispatch a small drone equipped with its own RFID tag to fly throughout the warehouse, scanning, cataloging and localizing all of the RFID items in the warehouse.  In addition to reducing the number of personnel needed to conduct inventories, drones also allow for accessing items that a person would need a ladder or lift to access.

 Hazardous Equipment Inspections

Drones offer a safer alternative for performing inspections of outdoor power and utility lines and equipment. Autonomous drones can perceive with minute detail the surrounding environment and acquire more precise and reliable scan results for inspecting downed or damaged power lines, towers, wind turbine blades, mine shafts, dams, bridges, barges, electric and water utilities, etc.

 Insurance Claims Process

Drones can facilitate the efficiency and exactitude in claims adjusting. Certification is required for adjusters to use drones, and from a privacy perspective, using a drone to assess damages poses no greater privacy issue than an onsite visit by a field adjuster.

 Drones are especially useful in gathering information following a disaster, going into dangerous areas such as where there are debris and downed trees and power lines. Drone use allows for immediate data collection and risk monitoring to assess flood damage and to direct claims adjusters on the ground. Before drone technology, surveys of large flooded sites would have taken weeks before adjusters could safely enter receded floodwaters.

 Drones allow adjusters to more safely access other areas, such as on steep roofs where they would normally need to bring in an outside expert specially trained with harnesses and rigging. Drones document accurate roof dimensions and take high-quality photos of the damage, providing the claims adjuster with a bird's-eye inspection of rooftop damage, while allowing the operator to remain safely on the ground. The cameras mounted on the drones can zoom in to see damage even to a single shingle on a roof. Drones can also go inside a boiler to get some information following a loss, eliminating the need to set up scaffolding inside of a boiler. Conducting regular inspections with drone cameras can record changes in the condition of property and areas of deterioration to help deal with possible latent problems before they become a major crisis. Other areas where drones can assist claims personnel is in gathering video feed of large areas and crops.

 Allowing a claims adjuster to use drones facilitates a safer, faster and less expensive alternative to strictly using individuals to assess damages.  Drones can be deployed quickly, remotely and precisely; therefore, drone pilots are likely to be able to complete far more inspections than an adjuster would in any given day. Often, adjusters can print out a claims check on site, resulting in a more satisfying customer experience by helping insureds to get their damages repaired as quickly as possible and lessen recovery time. This also enables quick closure of claims and adjusters can handle a much higher claims volume. In addition, insurers see fewer workers compensation claims as adjusters encounter less safety issues.

 In event of nuclear or environmental accidents, drones can track, survey, monitor and measure contamination without exposing humans to these hazardous properties.

 Loss Control and Prevention

Companies can prevent losses as well as measure those that have already occurred by using drones to collect instantaneous and precise data, particularly from natural disasters. In some situations, drones can identify risks from disasters as they are happening, from volcanic eruptions to fires, floods, and hurricanes. With the collection of real time, precise data, insurers could encourage people to avoid particularly risky areas, thereby helping their customers to avoid undue risk and perhaps save lives.

 On a more regular basis, drones could be used to capture data for a loss prevention survey in areas that are difficult to reach or inaccessible to an engineer or surveyor. Some examples of where using drones can enhance the safety of engineers include surveys of dams, bridges, electric utilities, water towers and wastewater treatment facilities, asphalt plants, solar power farms, oil and gas operations, or other risks that pose particular hazards or risks that are located in unsafe areas.

 Real Estate

The real estate industry is using drones to get better photographs and to market their listings. The detailed video drones capture, including remote access and large and dangerous terrain, assist the industry in showing or completing property boundaries, property surveys, property development, surrounding areas, and the interior and exterior of buildings.

 Entertainment

Drones can capture high resolution and 3D imaging for films, including capturing film scenes more strategically and rapidly, video-graphing weddings, sport tournaments, etc. In addition, drones can operate in inclement weather that might prevent or distort other methods of capturing video.

 Conservation

There are many conservation uses for drones, from using thermal imaging to detect wildlife and people acting illegally, to searching for dolphins in the Amazon River and monitoring trees and forests. Drones facilitate wildlife management when used to track endangered species and to map out nesting areas that are in need of protection.

 Other Drone Applications

We are just scratching the surface of drone use. Drone capabilities and uses continue to grow and develop in tandem with advances in technology and artificial intelligence. Drones have many varied, useful and beneficial applications that could improve efficiency, reduce costs, save lives, and provide more strategic and accurate data for operations. However, concerns over individual privacy and interference with aircraft are major concerns that currently restrict use in all but the most critical of situations. Until the FAA is able to lift more restrictions on drone use, the list of useful benefits and the types of industries that could profit from their use continue to expand.