Unmanned aircraft systems: Surveillance, ethics and privacy in civil applications
01 Apr 2012-Computer Law & Security Review (Elsevier Advanced Technology)-Vol. 28, Iss: 2, pp 184-194
TL;DR: It is found that current regulatory mechanisms do not adequately address privacy and civil liberties concerns because UASs are complex, multimodal surveillance systems that integrate a range of technologies and capabilities.
About: This article is published in Computer Law & Security Review.The article was published on 2012-04-01. It has received 307 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: European union & Civil liberties.
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26 Aug 2021
TL;DR: The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is growing rapidly across many civil application domains, including real-time monitoring, providing wireless coverage, remote sensing, search and rescue, delivery of goods, security and surveillance, precision agriculture, and civil infrastructure inspection.
Abstract: The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is growing rapidly across many civil application domains, including real-time monitoring, providing wireless coverage, remote sensing, search and rescue, delivery of goods, security and surveillance, precision agriculture, and civil infrastructure inspection. Smart UAVs are the next big revolution in the UAV technology promising to provide new opportunities in different applications, especially in civil infrastructure in terms of reduced risks and lower cost. Civil infrastructure is expected to dominate more than $45 Billion market value of UAV usage. In this paper, we present UAV civil applications and their challenges. We also discuss the current research trends and provide future insights for potential UAV uses. Furthermore, we present the key challenges for UAV civil applications, including charging challenges, collision avoidance and swarming challenges, and networking and security-related challenges. Based on our review of the recent literature, we discuss open research challenges and draw high-level insights on how these challenges might be approached.
901 citations
Cites background from "Unmanned aircraft systems: Surveill..."
...[199] 2012 UAV surveillance in civil applications impacts upon privacy and other civil liberties Privacy and civil liberties...
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...In [199], the authors show the impact of UAV-based surveillance in civil applications on privacy and civil liberties....
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TL;DR: An exploratory investigation of UAV regulations on the global scale, including a thorough literature review and a comparative analysis of national regulatory frameworks, reveals distinct variations in all the compared variables.
Abstract: UAVs—unmanned aerial vehicles—facilitate data acquisition at temporal and spatial scales that still remain unachievable for traditional remote sensing platforms. However, current legal frameworks that regulate UAVs present significant barriers to research and development. To highlight the importance, impact, and diversity of UAV regulations, this paper provides an exploratory investigation of UAV regulations on the global scale. For this, the methodological approach consists of a research synthesis of UAV regulations, including a thorough literature review and a comparative analysis of national regulatory frameworks. Similarities and contrasting elements in the various national UAV regulations are explored including their statuses from the perspectives of past, present, and future trends. Since the early 2000s, countries have gradually established national legal frameworks. Although all UAV regulations have one common goal—minimizing the risks to other airspace users and to both people and property on the ground—the results reveal distinct variations in all the compared variables. Furthermore, besides the clear presence of legal frameworks, market forces such as industry design standards and reliable information about UAVs as public goods are expected to shape future developments.
377 citations
Cites background from "Unmanned aircraft systems: Surveill..."
...Moreover, data collection by UAVs remains invisible in most of the cases and the data subject is rarely aware of the fact that their data is being collected [46]....
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...Here, the discourse of UAV regulations includes public safety and liability in case of an accident, societal benefits and stakeholders in international regulatory bodies such as the European Commission [40], rule-guided risks and opportunities of UAV [44], ethical tolerability [45], and effects upon privacy and other civil liberties [46]....
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TL;DR: It is found that small fixed-wing UASs are most commonly used because these aircraft provide a viable compromise between price, logistics and flight endurance, and one of the main factors impeding the use of U ASs is legislation.
Abstract: Regular monitoring of animal populations must be established to ensure wildlife protection, especially when pressure on animals is high. The recent development of drones or unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) opens new opportunities. UASs have several advantages, including providing data at high spatial and temporal resolution, providing systematic, permanent data, having low operational costs and being low-risk for the operators. However, UASs have some constraints, such as short flight endurance.
We reviewed studies in which wildlife populations were monitored by using drones, described accomplishments to date and evaluated the range of possibilities UASs offer to provide new perspectives in future research.
We focused on four main topics: 1) the available systems and sensors; 2) the types of survey plan and detection possibilities; 3) contributions towards anti-poaching surveillance; and 4) legislation and ethics.
We found that small fixed-wing UASs are most commonly used because these aircraft provide a viable compromise between price, logistics and flight endurance. The sensors are typically electro-optic or infrared cameras, but there is the potential to develop and test new sensors.
Despite various flight plan possibilities, mostly classical line transects have been employed, and it would be of great interest to test new methods to adapt to the limitations of UASs. Detection of many species is possible, but statistical approaches are unavailable if valid inventories of large mammals are the purpose.
Contributions of UASs to anti-poaching surveillance are not yet well documented in the scientific literature, but initial studies indicate that this approach could make important contributions to conservation in the next few years.
Finally, we conclude that one of the main factors impeding the use of UASs is legislation. Restrictions in the use of airspace prevent researchers from testing all possibilities, and adaptations to the relevant legislation will be necessary in future.
339 citations
22 Apr 2014
TL;DR: In this paper, a brief overview on the recent advances of small-scale UAVs from the perspective of platforms, key elements, and scientific research is provided, particularly on platform design and construction, dynamics modeling, and flight control.
Abstract: This paper provides a brief overview on the recent advances of small-scale unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from the perspective of platforms, key elements, and scientific research. The survey starts with an introduction of the recent advances of small-scale UAV platforms, based on the information summarized from 132 models available worldwide. Next, the evolvement of the key elements, including onboard processing units, navigation sensors, mission-oriented sensors, communication modules, and ground control station, is presented and analyzed. Third, achievements of small-scale UAV research, particularly on platform design and construction, dynamics modeling, and flight control, are introduced. Finally, the future of small-scale UAVs' research, civil applications, and military applications are forecasted.
295 citations
01 Sep 2020
TL;DR: The emerging threats of using drones in cyber-attacks are investigated, along the countermeasures to thwart these attacks, and various civilian and military anti-drones/UAVs (detective and preventive) countermeasures will be reviewed.
Abstract: Recently, the world witnessed a significant increase in the number of used drones, with a global and continuous rise in the demand for their multi-purpose applications. The pervasive aspect of these drones is due to their ability to answer people’s needs. Drones are providing users with a bird’s eye that can be activated and used almost anywhere and at any time. However, recently, the malicious use of drones began to emerge among criminals and cyber-criminals alike. The probability and frequency of these attacks are both high and their impact can be very dangerous with devastating effects. Therefore, the need for detective, protective and preventive counter-measures is highly required. The aim of this survey is to investigate the emerging threats of using drones in cyber-attacks, along the countermeasures to thwart these attacks. The different uses of drones for malicious purposes are also reviewed, along the possible detection methods. As such, this paper analyzes the exploitation of drones vulnerabilities within communication links, as well as smart devices and hardware, including smart-phones and tablets. Moreover, this paper presents a detailed review on the drone/Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) usage in multiple domains (i.e civilian, military, terrorism, etc.) and for different purposes. A realistic attack scenario is also presented, which details how the authors performed a simulated attack on a given drone following the hacking cycle. This review would greatly help ethical hackers to understand the existing vulnerabilities of UAVs in both military and civilian domains. Moreover, it allows them to adopt and come up with new techniques and technologies for enhanced UAV attack detection and protection. As a result, various civilian and military anti-drones/UAVs (detective and preventive) countermeasures will be reviewed.
277 citations
Cites background from "Unmanned aircraft systems: Surveill..."
...Also, UAVs can be used by the police and other agencies to gather crucial information in dangerous situations with less manpower and money [79], [80]; drones were used by the police 372 times across Northern Ireland since 2013....
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...Outside the military domain, civilian drones/UAVs [264] can also malfunction and crash into a nearby house or a group of people, causing property/material damage [80], and human injuries/fatalities [265], ranging from trauma/blunt force trauma, deep cut injuries (caused by drone blades) and laceration....
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References
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present La Volonté de Savoir, the methodological introduction of a projected five-volume history of sexuality, which seems to have a special fascination for Foucault: the gradual emergence of medicine as an institution, the birth of political economy, demography and linguistics as human sciences, the invention of incarceration and confinement for the control of the "other" in society (the mad, the libertine, the criminal) and that special violence that lurks beneath the power to control discourse.
Abstract: This writer who has warned us of the “ideological” function of both the oeuvre and the author as unquestioned forms of discursive organization has gone quite far in constituting for both these “fictitious unities” the name (with all the problems of such a designation) Michel Foucault. One text under review, La Volonté de Savoir, is the methodological introduction of a projected five-volume history of sexuality. It will apparently circle back over that material which seems to have a special fascination for Foucault: the gradual emergence of medicine as an institution, the birth of political economy, demography and linguistics as “human sciences,” the invention of incarceration and confinement for the control of the “other” in society (the mad, the libertine, the criminal) and that special violence that lurks beneath the power to control discourse.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the social implications of a new and emerging raft of surveillance practices: those that specifically surround digital techniques and technologies, and explore the essential ambivalence of digital surveillance within the context of wider trends towards privatization, liberalization and social polarization.
Abstract: In this article, we seek to add to current debates about surveillance and society by critically exploring the social implications of a new and emerging raft of surveillance practices: those that specifically surround digital techniques and technologies. The article has four parts. In the first, we outline the nature of digital surveillance and consider how it differs from other forms of surveillance. The second part of the article explores the interconnections between digital techniques and the changing political economies of cities and urban societies. Here we explore the essential ambivalence of digital surveillance within the context of wider trends towards privatization, liberalization and social polarization. The third part provides some insights into particular aspects of digital surveillance through three examples: algorithmic video surveillance (in which closed circuit television systems are linked to software for the recognition of movement or identity); the increasingly prevalent practices of di...
268 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze the deployment of drones within warzones in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan and borderzones and urban areas in the USA What they call "drone stare" is a type of surveillance that abstracts people from contexts, thereby reducing variation, difference, and noise that may impede action or introduce moral ambiguity.
Abstract: As surveillance and military devices, drones—or ‘unmanned aerial vehicles’—offer a prism for theorizing the technological politics of warfare and governance This prism reveals some violent articulations of US imperialism and nationalism, the dehumanizing translation of bodies into ‘targets’ for remote monitoring and destruction, and the insidious application of militarized systems and rationalities to domestic territories and populations In this article, we analyze the deployment of drones within warzones in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan and borderzones and urban areas in the USA What we call ‘the drone stare’ is a type of surveillance that abstracts people from contexts, thereby reducing variation, difference, and noise that may impede action or introduce moral ambiguity Through these processes, drones further normalize the ongoing subjugation of those marked as Other
192 citations
TL;DR: The history ofCivil use UAVs, the research and development in the world and in Japan, and the subjects and prospects for control and operation systems of civil use autonomous UAV's are described.
Abstract: This paper describes the present state of research and development for civil use autonomous unmanned aircraft. In particular, the history of civil use UAVs, the research and development in the world and in Japan, and the subjects and prospects for control and operation systems of civil use autonomous UAVs are described.
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TL;DR: A bewildering number of proposals have offered solutions to the privacy problems inherent in RFID communication and an overview of the currently discussed approaches is given.
Abstract: A bewildering number of proposals have offered solutions to the privacy problems inherent in RFID communication. This article tries to give an overview of the currently discussed approaches and their attributes.
119 citations