POLYCARP OTIENO: Drones now part of everyday life globally

The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority recently received the go-ahead to operationalise the Civil Aviation (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) Regulations 2020, paving way for the use of drones in the country.

The regulations will have huge economic impact in Kenya as drone use will lower operational costs.

Drones are formally known as unmanned aerial vehicles or unmanned aircraft systems. They are essentially pilotless flying robots that can be remotely controlled or autonomously fly through software-controlled flight plans in their embedded systems.

Most drone platforms come in two main types: Rotor, which can include single-rotor or multi-rotor (such as tricopters or quadcopters) and fixed-wing platforms, which include the Hybrid Vertical Takeoff and Landing drones that don't require runways.

However, drone manufacturers are increasingly developing newer more complex platforms to meet the ever-increasing demand of their use.

Drones are rapidly becoming a part of everyday life globally and can be used to undertake the very basic purposes to the most complex tasks. According to research, the global commercial drone market is projected to grow significantly by 2025. This will be driven by a rise in demand for aerial services and advancements in camera technology, mapping and surveillance.

Countries are continuously exploiting their technological prowess in the drone sector to become global players in the growing multibillion-dollar drone civilian sector.

Israel is one such country.

Harnessing its technological and innovative capabilities to become a global leader in this sector, Israel has developed drones that have breakthrough stability technology, which enables drones to fly in the most difficult environments while offering a highly customisable and actionable platform.

The drones are capable of lifting upwards of 45kg in extreme weather conditions, while flying at a speed of 90km/h and for longer, enabling them to be used for a variety of applications ranging from medical supply deliver, parcel delivery, agriculture, mapping, filming, wildlife conservation, infrastructure inspection to combat andsurveillance activities.

The Israeli drone technologies are used worldwide, making it one of the world's leading exporters of unmanned aircraft in terms of the number of systems sold. In the last eight years, it has sold over $4.6 billion worth of unmanned aerial vehicles globally.

In East Africa, Rwanda was first to legalise the use of drones and is leading the way in use applications in the healthcare sector. They use drones to deliver vaccines and medication in hard-to-reach hospitals and other remote areas.

Kenya is gradually adopting drone use as evidenced during the wildlife census, where Tourism CS Najib Balala termed it as a huge step in technology integration of wildlife management.

Drones were also recently used to fumigate infested dams as part of the Zero Malaria campaign. However, there needs to be more deployment of drones in Kenya as they will be crucial in enhancing performance of key sectors of the economy as well as create jobs and innovation.

The Israeli embassy in Nairobi and Ghana in a bid to promote the drone use in Africa organised a drone webinar in mid-July, which was attended by a number of Kenyan aerospace actors and homeland security agencies.

In his remarks at the webinar, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority director general Capt Gilbert Kibe said, “The future of drone technology in Kenya is bright, we (Kenya) have the necessary foundation to allow us to safely and securely utilize drones in Kenya”.

Capt Kibe added that Kenya has already certified a number of training organisations to provide training on drone operations and the uptake is encouraging

The regulations no doubt present unique opportunity to increase deployment of drones in Kenya.

Additionally, plans are underway to host a Kenya-Israeli drone exhibition in Nairobi, which will be a platform for Kenyan drone stakeholders to experience first-hand Israeli technologies and hopefully raise the appetite for use of drone technologies in Kenya.

Trade officer, Embassy of Israel, Nairobi