Welcome to the Drone Age: Oil, gas, engineering, construction use UAVs to reach the unreachable.

• Author: Bohi, Heidi
• Position: TELECOM & TECH

The general public may consider drones a fun (if somewhat expensive) hobby, but what many may not know is that these commercial and government flying robots are revolutionizing the way Alaska companies and state and federal entities conduct business as manpower is increasingly replaced by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).

By all indicators, the use of drones is not a passing phase. It's expected that nearly every industry either already is using drones or will be impacted by the use of drones in the near future, especially in Alaska where UAVs are used to reach the previously unreachable.

"If it's dirty, dull, or dangerous... use unmanned aircraft."

The petroleum, engineering, construction, and filmmaking industries, along with public utilities and government entities, are some of the first industries to realize the revolutionary cost-saving benefits of drone technology, and of course, there is the fact that there is virtually no limit to the potential uses for drones. Already they can be seen hovering over real estate lots, golf courses, major events, and farms. They are used for security and search and rescue missions, as well as to fly emergency food or lifesaving medicine and supplies to disaster zones or extremely remote parts of the world.

On an even larger scale, early this year the US Patent and Trademark Office granted Amazon a patent allowing the company to launch Prime Air, a delivery system that delivers packages to customers in thirty minutes or less using UAVs. In addition to improving customer service for millions of customers, Amazon says it also increases the overall safety and efficiency of its transportation system.

"If you think about it, the great number of different ways you can use drones, from doing mapping and surveying to mammal monitoring, package delivery, and agricultural spraying, means that many different businesses see ways to improve safety for their employees, reach more customers, reduce costs, and other benefits from the technology," Catherine Cahill, director of the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration (ACUASI), says.

In other words: "If it's dirty, dull, or dangerous, that's when to use unmanned aircraft," she says, a rule of thumb that applies to most of Alaska's largest industries.

"The use of drone technology for commercial purposes has only recently become legal and cheap enough that businesses can apply it to their challenges. The regulatory environment has evolved very quickly under pressure from businesses desiring to use the...