The Origin, Development, and Future of Drones
In recent years, drones have rapidly entered people's field of vision. Whether in virtual worlds such as film and television works, games, or in real fields such as military, public safety services, resource monitoring and protection, natural disaster response, aerial photography, drones are constantly refreshing people's imaginations and facing one new challenge after another. Looking back at the origin and development of drones, it is not difficult to find that behind their brilliant achievements lies humanity's yearning for the sky and the accumulation of revolutionary technologies from ancient times to the present.
1. Get to know drones
The so-called drone, as the name suggests, refers to an aircraft that does not carry a pilot during flight, but it does not completely require human control. Generally speaking, users of drones need to remotely control their flight or set flight procedures for the drone in advance through a remote control device. We can assume a simple scenario: when a drone flies out of people's sight, it is difficult for people to remotely control it in real time based on the environment. At this time, the drone needs to have the "ability" to make judgments on its own, maintain a certain flight state, or be able to adjust according to the actual environment during mission execution. This is the core of "unmanned driving".
In fact, in order for drones to successfully complete their missions, in addition to the aircraft platform and the mission equipment they carry, they also need ground control equipment, data communication equipment, maintenance equipment, as well as command and control and necessary operation and maintenance personnel. Larger drones also require specialized launch/recovery devices. Therefore, from this perspective, the complete unmanned aerial vehicle should be referred to as the Unmanned Aerial System (UAS).
The initial exploration of unmanned aerial vehicles by humans
Wooden bird
The human desire and attempt to fly have a long history. The wooden birds that appear in many ancient books are a preliminary attempt by people to make unmanned aerial vehicles. In Chinese legends, people such as Lu Ban, Mozi, and Zhang Heng are said to be able to create flying wooden birds. Similar records can be found in works such as "Han Feizi • Outer Storage Left Top", "Mozi • Lu Wen", and "Huainanzi • Qi Folk Training", but none of them describe the structure of wooden birds. According to records, in 405 BC, the ancient Greek mathematician and mechanic Archytas designed and created a mechanical bird, named "Dove". It is believed to be the world's first unmanned aerial vehicle, which is said to be able to fly about 200 meters. Coincidentally, the "wooden carving flying alone" in the biography of Zhang Heng in the Book of Later Han is said to be a gliding device imitating birds, which can fly several miles at a time before landing. The Taiping Yulan describes the concept of "wood carving flying alone" as follows: "Zhang Heng tried to make a wooden bird, pretending to use feathers and feathers, and used a machine in his abdomen to fly several miles." However, the book did not provide a detailed explanation of its flight principle and power device, making it difficult for later generations to understand the principle of wooden bird flight.
kite
In addition to woodbirds, humans have also tried various types of flying machines, such as kites. Kite is a major aviation invention. Legend has it that kites were invented by the great general Han Xin during the Chu Han conflict. Before the Tang Dynasty, kites were usually made of silk, satin, and bamboo as raw materials, and were produced by the government. They were scarce in quantity and expensive, so they were mostly used in military reconnaissance, measurement, communication, and other fields. Since the Song Dynasty, kites have gradually been introduced into the folk and used for entertainment. We can consider kites as the prototype of remote-controlled aircraft, with their wires serving as the information channel connecting the flying platform to the ground. Moreover, after the introduction of kites to the West, they became an important tool for studying aerodynamics, laying the foundation for the development of modern aviation and the invention of airplanes.
Kongming lantern
Kongmingdeng can also be seen as the prototype of an unmanned aerial vehicle. There is no accurate record of the time when Kong Mingdeng was produced in ancient books. It is said that during the Five Dynasties period, Shen Qiniang accompanied her husband to Fujian and used Kong Mingdeng as a military signal in battles. This type of lamp is made of bamboo and paper into a square lantern, and the base is burned with turpentine oil. When the heat fills the lamp, it can be lifted straight up. Kongming lantern is actually a small hot air balloon. Subsequently, Kongming lanterns gradually spread to the West. In 1782, a Japanese lantern with a principle similar to Kongming lanterns was showcased at an exhibition in Paris, France. It was this dissemination that triggered a great leap in aviation history. A pair of French brothers Joseph Michel Montgolfier and Jacques É tienne Montgolfier watched the Japanese lantern show and, after experimentation, developed the world's first hot air balloon in 1783. In the same year, French physicists Jacques Charles and Nicolas Louis Robert created the first hydrogen balloon. After the appearance of balloons, scientists used them for high-altitude exploration, industrial households used them for transportation, and military households used them for aerial reconnaissance. These practical applications stimulated the continuous improvement of balloon technology. Initially, high-altitude exploration using balloons required manned personnel, so each exploration was an adventure and sounding activities were very limited. Until the end of the 19th century, unmanned balloon probes were widely used in lower atmosphere research.
Bamboo dragonfly
The exploration of vertical flight has provided new directions for human research on aircraft. In 500 BC, the Chinese learned from the observation of dragonflies flying and made bamboo dragonflies, which provided ideas for the development of vertical flight. In 1483, Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci designed an airplane that could ascend vertically, which is considered by some experts to be the ancestor of helicopters. In 1754, Russian scientist Mikhail Lomonosov combined the rotor and mainspring of the "Bamboo Dragonfly" to design and create a "twin rotor unmanned aerial vehicle" for display at the Russian Academy of Sciences. He hoped that small gadgets could carry some small meteorological instruments into the sky. This "twin rotor drone" is considered the predecessor of a helicopter, which has two propellers driven by clock springs that rotate in opposite directions to balance torque. However, in the demonstration, the device only gained about 0.1N of lift and did not get too far from the ground.
It is worth noting that the design of aircraft requires a high degree of integration between scientific theory and technology. Without a foundation of thought and theory, the dream of human flight is difficult to sustain. Therefore, humans have never given up on the study of air properties and effects, laying the foundation for the development of aerodynamics and aviation. The principle of flying birds being able to fly high was mentioned in the book "Baopuzi • Zaying" compiled by Ge Hong in the Jin Dynasty: "The teacher said that when a kite flies and turns high, it should spread its wings straight and move in without flapping, gradually taking advantage of the rising air flow..." Here, the rising air flow refers to the upward airflow, indicating that people at that time had already begun to ponder the relationship between flying birds and air flow. However, as a Taoist classic, the narration of 'Baopuzi • Zaying' has not undergone rigorous scientific verification. The ancient Greeks had in-depth scientific thinking and research on the nature of air and its macroscopic characteristics, such as pressure, compressibility, elasticity, and fluidity. Especially after the Renaissance, the scientific revolution in Europe promoted systematic research on air and bird flight by scientists such as Galileo Galilei, Leonardo da Vinci, and Blaise Pascal. With the continuous deepening of quantitative research on various sciences in the 17th century, temperature measurement, liquid and gas pressure measurement instruments and technologies developed rapidly, further promoting the development of fluid mechanics and gas mechanics, laying a solid theoretical foundation for humans to explore the mysteries of flight and design various types of aircraft.
War has become an important engine for the rapid development of drones
The earliest record of drones being used in combat can be traced back to the First Italian War of Independence in 1849, when the Austrian army besieging Venice produced approximately 200 unmanned incendiary balloons, each carrying an 11-14kg bomb, attempting to air raid Venice. However, the weather was not favorable, and after the balloons were released, the wind direction suddenly changed. These balloons deviated from their targets and instead landed on the Austrian army's own positions. Although the initial battle of drones ended in failure, it is still a great attempt in human history.
In 1887, British meteorologist Douglas Archibald installed a camera on a kite and controlled the shutter through a long cable connected to the kite line, forming the prototype of an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft and attracting the attention of a US Army corporal named William Eddy. In 1898, during the Spanish American War, Eddie used his own Archibald Kite Camera to capture aerial views of enemy positions, making further attempts at the application of drones in warfare.
The two world wars of the 20th century propelled the development of drones onto the fast lane. At the end of the 19th century, the discovery and application of radio made it possible to remotely control aircraft. In 1914, during World War I, two British generals proposed to the British Military Aviation Society to develop a small aircraft that could fly over targets and drop bombs using radio control. Subsequently, the UK carried out the development of "aerial targets". The project was led by British scientist Archibald Low, and despite multiple failures, the "aerial target" was successfully launched from the Royal Air Force's Apavin Air Force Base in 1917, becoming the world's first powered drone to fly under radio control.
The gyroscope is a core component of modern aircraft automatic control and inertial navigation systems. In 1909, American inventor Elmer Sperry invented the "gyroscope" and installed it on an airplane to stabilize its flight direction and attitude by measuring its rotational speed. The emergence of gyroscopes caught the attention of the US Navy, who hoped to develop an aircraft based on it that did not require pilots to pilot. In 1917, as World War I came to an end, inventors Peter Hewitt and Sperry, with funding from the United States Navy, invented an automatic gyro stabilizer that could keep airplanes in a balanced state and fly forward. They installed an automatic gyro stabilizer and radio remote control device on the Navy's Curtis N-9 trainer aircraft, successfully transforming it into the first unmanned aerial vehicle capable of autonomous flight. As it did not yet have a recovery function, it was classified as an "airborne torpedo", but it was still named the "Hewitt Sperry Automatic Airplane". Subsequently, American inventor Charles Kettering designed a more advanced unmanned aerial vehicle called the "Kettering Bug". In fact, with the end of World War I, these "air torpedoes" were not used in warfare, but they showed the military their potential in combat. We can consider today's cruise missiles as a variant of these 'air torpedoes'. In order to improve the accuracy of "airborne torpedoes", the military and scientists have continuously promoted the development of inertial navigation and radio control technology, making them the core technologies for the development of unmanned aerial vehicles for a long period of time.
In the decade following the end of World War I, the development speed of unmanned aerial vehicles sharply declined. However, the outbreak of World War II sparked enthusiasm among countries for the development of unmanned aerial vehicles. In the 1930s, new types of drones emerged as an important combat training tool. In 1935, Britain developed the first reusable unmanned target drone, the Queen Bee, as an aerial target for training missions. In 1939, British actor Reginald Denny and his radio aircraft company designed the large remote-controlled RP-1 aircraft for training anti-aircraft gun crews. In the following years, they successfully produced a series of drones and carried out large-scale production, providing nearly 15000 drones to the US military during World War II.
Meanwhile, by modifying manned bombers, Germany, the United States, and others have developed unmanned bombers. These drones have dismantled excess self-defense weapons and equipment, installed automatic control systems, and can carry more bombs. In 1944, the Vergeltungswaffe-1, developed by German engineer Fieseler Flugzeuhau, demonstrated the enormous threat that drones could pose in combat. In the same year, the United States destroyed the German Avenger I missile launch site by modifying B-17 bombers and using television guidance systems for remote control during the confrontation with the Avenger I. Although the remote control device is not reliable and still requires human control for takeoff, this is the first time that a drone has been used to deal with another drone and laid the foundation for the development of drones in the post-war United States.
After the end of World War II, the two major camps, represented by the United States and the Soviet Union, engaged in fierce competition in the field of drone research and development. During this period, drones mainly carried out reconnaissance activities. The Ryan Firebee drone from the United States became the first jet propelled drone, mainly used for intelligence gathering and wireless communication monitoring activities. It played an important role in both the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and the US military still uses multiple improved versions of the Firebee drone to this day. In 1957, the Soviet Union also successively developed the "Harrier" supersonic unmanned aerial vehicle, "Kite" unmanned attack aircraft, "Swift" and "Range" unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, etc.
In the 1970s, other countries also launched the research and development of unmanned aerial vehicle systems. Among them, Israel's drone development is exceptionally rapid. Under the pressure of war, while outsourcing drones, Israel also quickly established its own drone design and production base and developed a large number of drones, such as the "Vanguard", which was later purchased and used by the United States during the first Gulf War.
With the development of science and technology such as electronic technology, communication technology, materials science, and aerodynamics, unmanned aerial vehicles have gradually moved towards miniaturization, informatization, and lightweight since the 1990s. Their military applications have become increasingly widespread, no longer limited to high-altitude reconnaissance, but can also complete various tasks such as relay communication, electronic countermeasures, air defense, air superiority, and precision strikes. Drones have become an important force that affects the course of combat, with Predator, Global Hawk and other series of drones being widely used.
4 drones will enter a golden period of development
Entering the 21st century, with the rapid development of science and technology and the continuous advancement of military reforms, the research and application of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the world has entered a new era. The performance of UAVs is becoming increasingly superior, and the alternative power for UAVs is also becoming stronger.
On the one hand, the scope of use of drones in the military field is still expanding. Integration of reconnaissance and combat, comprehensive integration, high intelligence, agile miniaturization, long endurance, structural invisibility, collaborative use, and combat networking have become important development directions for military drones, and the development speed will be even faster.
On the other hand, with the increasingly stable technology of military drones and the leap of artificial intelligence technology, the demand for the application of drones in the civilian field is showing explosive and leapfrog growth. Currently, drones have been deeply applied in various fields such as agriculture, surveying and mapping, logistics and transportation, traffic law enforcement, and film and television shooting, with increasing practical value. The application scenarios are also showing a trend of diversified expansion, and the scenes in science fiction works will gradually be realized in daily life.
The "White Paper on the Development of General Aviation Industry (2022)" released by Aviation Industry Corporation of China shows that the global civilian drone market will maintain high-speed growth, and the market size is expected to reach 500 billion yuan by 2025. Although China's drone technology started relatively late, it has also achieved fruitful results. From the replica of the Soviet drone ChangKong-1, to the Changjian series of large-scale high-altitude long endurance drones, the Rainbow series of medium to high altitude long endurance drones, the pterosaur series drones, the Longmen drone, the Xiaolong drone, etc., China's technological level in the field of drones has significantly improved, and at the same time, world-renowned civilian drone manufacturing enterprises such as DJI have also emerged.
Looking ahead to the future, with the further release of the potential market for the drone industry, the changes it brings will exceed most people's imagination, but with it comes a series of technological and legal issues that the whole society may face. Therefore, in order to ensure the positive and healthy development of the drone industry, we need to pay more attention to the relevant policies for the development of the drone industry, and strive to create a good ecological environment for its development, so that drones can continuously create better social and economic benefits for humanity. We believe that in the future, drones will be more deeply integrated into our lives, change our lives, and bring us more surprises.
