Unmanned aircraft proponents see future beyond battlefields.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin

* Flying over London's Tower Bridge and the Thames River, dozens of small unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with lights flew in formation displaying the iconic Starfleet Academy emblem in the night sky.

The demonstration, which took place in March, was an advertisement concocted by Paramount Pictures and Ars Electronica, an Austria-based company, to promote the recently released Star Trek Into Darkness film.

The light-hearted promotion stands in contrast to the images of war that UAVs often conjure and is an example of a growing interest to use unmanned aircraft for non-military purposes.

"The ability for us to utilize this technology is unbelievable," said Michael Toscano, president and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. "It's almost like the Industrial Revolution or when we made a determination that we would go to the moon. This has some real, tremendous capabilities."

The agriculture industry would be one of the first to adopt commercial UAVs. They could help end global hunger, he said.

Precision agriculture carried out by UAVs could increase harvest yields significantly and feed rising populations, Toscano said during a panel discussion at the New America Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

"That's where there is going to be a tremendous ability for us to be able to produce more food. So when you think that you will be able to feed ... hundreds of millions of people, you can almost do away with starvation on the planet by utilization of this technology," said Toscano.

Over the next five to 10 years, the agriculture industry will come to rely on UAVs, said Missy Cummings, an associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a former fighter pilot.

"What's happening right now is kind of a quiet revolution," Cummings said. "This is an industry where we just can't get enough people to do the job that we need done, and farmers desperately need the technology both for healthy crop surveillance [and] being able to see what's happening with the tractors in the field."

UAVs could also aid in the movement of goods.

In Afghanistan, Lockheed Martin's K-MAX unmanned cargo system is already proving its worth. Two helicopters have delivered over 3.2 million pounds of supplies for the military since 2011.

The K-MAX, which has dual intermeshing rotors, can rapidly transport myriad items, including food, water, medical supplies and ammunition.

Domestic cargo...