Professional drones: market trends and current situation

According to the latest activity reports (the most recent being from 2019) published by the French Civil Aviation Safety Directorate (DSAC), the number of registered professional drones (i.e., those weighing over 800 grams) is steadily increasing: 9,582, 13,647, and 15,946 respectively between 2017 and 2019. These civilian aircraft are owned by approximately 8,500 professional drone operators (manufacturers, training organizations, industrial companies, and service providers). The observed annual growth has therefore reached 29.61 TEUs (3-tonne equivalent units) over the past few years. This surge supports the study conducted by SVP on June 20, 2020, which estimates the annual growth of the civilian professional drone market at 27.21 TEUs between 2018 and 2024.

Professional drones currently used exclusively for visual line-of-sight flights

The use of a drone is currently exclusively associated with national operational scenarios (S1 – S2 – S3) over short distances; in other words, the remote pilot must be located within 1 km of the drone to operate it. This type of operational scenario and the specific activities that can be associated with it address very diverse use cases: (i) Media and aerial photography (25%); (ii) Surveillance and civil security (20%); (iii) Construction and public works and infrastructure inspection (20%); (iv) Agriculture (15%); (v) Mining, quarrying, and earthmoving (15%); (vi) Other (5%).

Long-range drone flights (between 1 km and 100 km) and long-range flights (over 100 km) are currently prohibited (except with specific exemption and validation of a specific safety deposit).

This situation contradicts the evolving needs of clients.

While the use of civilian drones to meet needs within the framework of professional activities has been demonstrated in many sectors, the generalization of the use of this technology is proving difficult to achieve because the employment scenarios require conditions that counteract its economic viability:

• The remote pilot (holding a high-level drone pilot qualification) must be required to be in close proximity to their drone., This undermines the drastic reduction in the cost per flight hour promised by the concept of unpiloted flight.

• Impact (depending on the air mission) on air traffic management requires obtaining prior flight authorizations.

New uses associated with long-distance flight (package delivery, monitoring and inspection of linear infrastructure, border surveillance, monitoring of semi-wild environments, etc.) are emerging and should significantly contribute to accelerating this growth (the cost per flight hour should decrease sharply for these types of missions). However, these new activities require:

• Long-distance AND long-elongation employment scenarios not covered by national operational scenarios (S-1, S-2, S-3) And the future European scenarios (STS-1 and STS-2)

• Performance improvements of the vectors in terms of torque, reach/payload in the ranges of 4-25 kg and especially 25-150 kg (or even exceptionally more) leading to constraints on ground safety (takeoff – landing) expensive in addition to the increased cost of owning professional drones.

• To deploy dedicated telecommunications infrastructure (adapted to each intervention zone) between the ground control post and the drone in order to overcome the range of the drone's remote control.

Projections from institutional bodies

According to the study "Development prospects for the civil drone export sector" written by the DGE, the DGAC (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) and the PIPAME on June 5, 2017, More than 701,000 professional drone flights are expected to be carried out by 2024 beyond visual line of sight.. This study is supported by the study «"«European Drones Outlook Study » of SESAR Joint undertaking published in November 2016. This estimates the European market at 400,000 drones (100,000 drones in France) by 2035, of which 70% will carry out beyond visual line of sight flights.

• Parcel delivery (2-10 kg) to remote locations using rotary-wing drones (VTOL) – 7,000
• Inspection and monitoring of linear infrastructure – 20,000
• Precision agriculture: agricultural or natural diagnostics – 5,000
• Surveillance of semi-wild environments (border police or civil security) – 2,500
• Area reconnaissance for traffic monitoring: air traffic mapping – 5,000
• Precision agriculture: spreading – 500
• Air transport of heavy packages (200 kg) in sparsely populated areas or maritime areas – 2,500
• Air transport of heavy packages (200 kg payload) using a local network – 25,000
• Real-time audiovisual reporting: aerial filming and imaging – 500
• Other cases – 12,000

So what are the obstacles to overcome in order to consider high-extension flight scenarios?

The inherent reliability of the devices should allow for the safe use of drones and the execution of these missions within a few years. The main difficulties identified to date concern:

• The safety and quality of telecommunications to be established between the drone and the ground control station;
• The drone's autonomy in flight is achieved through the ability of the autopilot board to manage air risks (detection of moving objects in the airspace and real-time recalculation of trajectories).