Before Drones

Directing Cinematographic Drones

Quadrotor drones equipped with high quality cameras have rapidely raised as novel, cheap and stable devices for filmmakers. While professional drone pilots can create aesthetically pleasing videos in short time, the smooth – and cinematographic – control of a camera drone remains challenging for most users, despite recent tools that either automate part of the process or enable the manual desig...

Vehicle Routing with Drones

We introduce a package service model where trucks as well as drones can deliver packages. Drones can travel on trucks or fly; but while flying, drones can only carry one package at a time and have to return to a truck to charge after each delivery. We present a heuristic algorithm to solve the problem of finding a good schedule for all drones and trucks. The algorithm is based on two nested loc...

Drones—An Open Access Journal

Since the beginning of aviation, unmanned aerial systems have been a challenge for scientists and engineers. The first automatic airplane developed by the Wright brothers in 1916 and the drone used by the British Royal Navy for gunnery practice in 1933 serve as examples. The possibility of controlling an aircraft without a pilot has been a challenge, both from the civil and military point of vi...

Design Perspectives on Delivery Drones

Droning on About Drones—Acceptance of and Perceived Barriers to Drones in Civil Usage Contexts

The word “drone” is commonly associated with the military. However, the same term is also used for multicopters that can be and are used by civilians for a multitude of purposes. Nowadays, drones are tested for commercial delivery of goods or building inspections. A survey of 200 people, laypersons and active users, on their acceptance and perceived barriers for drone use was conducted. In the ...