Since the birth of mankind, human being have had the dream of flying. The earliest unmanned aerial vehicle in a broad sense is the Kongming lantern, which is said to have been born during the Three Kingdoms period (from the year 220 to 265).
The earliest record of human use of “unmanned aerial vehicles” in the military can be traced back to the first Italian War of Independence in 1849, when the Austrian army surrounded Venice. The besieging Austrians released about two hundred unmanned incendiary balloons at Venice. Because the “unmanned system” that can only rely on wind and luck is too rudimentary, these incendiary balloons have not achieved much success, and most of the balloons have missed their targets.
1. The birth of drones can be traced back to 1914. At that time, the First World War was in full swing, and the British generals Cadel and Pitcher made a proposal to the British Military Aviation Society: to develop a small aircraft that is not piloted, but controlled by radio, so that the It can fly over a local target area and drop pre-loaded bombs on it.
2. In 1917, the first automatic gyro-stabilizer was invented, and the UAV was born in the United States.
3. In 1935, the advent of the “Queen Bee” drone was the real beginning of the era of drones, and it can also be said to be the founder of the history of drones.
4. In December 1966, China’s first unmanned aerial vehicle “Changkong-1” made its maiden flight successfully.
5. In 1982, Israel pioneered the coordinated operation of unmanned aerial vehicles and manned aircraft, which opened the real development path of unmanned aerial vehicles.
6. In 1983, the beginning of plant protection drones, Yamaha drones that successfully sprayed pesticides were developed in Japan, and the first test flight was successful in 1989.
7. In 1997, the beginning of the weather drone, Australia developed a weather drone, and the weather scout was put into use.
8. In 2003, the United States established a world-class civilian UAV application center to promote and apply it in emergency rescue and forest fire fighting.
9. In 2006, DJI UAV Company was established.
10. In 2008, Chinese drones were used in earthquake rescue.
11. In 2011, the manned test flight of the German multi-axis UAV was successful.
12. In 2012, DJI produced the world’s first aerial photography-integrated UAV Genie series, and UAV aerial photography was officially introduced to the public.
13. In 2013, delivery drones began, and Amazon disclosed its drone delivery plan for the first time.
14. In 2015, solar-powered drones came out, and it was also a year of rapid development of drones.
Future Trends of UAV
As the primary productive force, technology has always been the focus of attention of countries and enterprises. Artificial intelligence technology has driven the leap-forward development of drones. With the gradual maturity of the market, drones have been deeply applied in agriculture, surveying and mapping, logistics and transportation, traffic law enforcement, etc. The practical value has been continuously improved, and the application scenarios have also been diversified. expansion. The research and development, production, manufacturing and application of UAVs are accelerating to prosperity, and the potential market has been gradually released. At the same time, in order to ensure the safe and orderly operation of the UAV industry market, various countries and regions continue to introduce and improve UAV-related policies. The UAV industry is actively and healthy growth, and constantly creates better social and economic benefits. It plays an important role in improving the country’s comprehensive governance capacity.