Eyes In The Sky: Middle East's Drone Industry Potential Unleashed

With the explosion of “smart devices” and the increased automation of physical tasks, IT’s remit is growing to extend beyond laptops and phones. CIOs must now consider how to onboard, manage, maintain, and secure such business-critical physical assets as smart factory equipment, and inspection drones. The physical tech stack now requires the highest levels of system uptime and resilience and a fresh approach to device governance and oversight. However, reports suggest that only 6 percent of the population in the region currently lives under smart governance. Governments including those of the GCC have plenty of work to do.

In this exclusive interview with Scott Henderson, the General Manager at The Drone Centre, we explore the growth opportunities in the region for the Drone industry while looking at its greatest challenges and the solutions. 

Join us for an inimitable conversation with Scott Henderson – The Drone Centre's General Manager – as we delve into the prospering prospects that the Drone industry holds in the region, while simultaneously assessing its most arduous trials and their possible remedies.

Q:  How do you see the inside future of the UAV industry in the Middle East region?

A: I see the UAV industry in the Middle East as a part of innovation. And I would say innovation serves as a bedrock for numerous government initiatives. Governments in the Middle East here are fuelling the adoption of drones as a prominent technological concept. They have acknowledged that there's immense potential for drones. This is leading to concerted efforts to foster development, and also for better seamless integration with current standards. Governments are actually proactively implementing regulations now that encourage the use of drones as a sustainable way forward. I think the future is bright. 

Q: The Drone Company has a sister company, FEDS Drone-powered Solutions, who provice multiple services such as drone survey mapping, construction, monitoring, drone inspection, drone filming, etc. Among all these, which are the most popular services and why?

A: FEDS, has been at the forefront of drone surveying, and inspections. So, this has been driven by the region's economic development. And in the last eight years, drones have revolutionised data analysis, there's been cost savings for servers and service companies. Countries like the UAE and Saudi are currently experiencing a period of rapid growth again. So, there's a lot of investment currently taking place. And because construction is picking up once again, companies are looking for more efficient, more cost-effective ways of analyzing their construction process. Drones have actually become an indispensable tool for progress monitoring, and also to ensure that efficient and safe construction process continues.

Q: When it comes to drones, over the next 10 years, what's the most viable energy storage system that you expect to see?

A: Right now, we're looking at the precipice of drone battery technology. Just like smartphones these days, where you see evolution, not revolution. with batteries, we were at that pinnacle. So, we're getting the most out of lithium polymer technology right now. So, there are a few developments in battery technology. And these have been on the horizon. 

Now for four or five years, I've been having discussions with manufacturers on how we can improve that technology. One example is solid-state batteries. They're not to be confused with the solid-state drive in your computer. This is an emerging technology. And it gives advantages over traditional say lithium polymer batteries or even lithium-ion batteries. And what they do is they use solid electrolytes, instead of a liquid or gel. And this improves safety. It also increases the energy density inside of this battery, and it improves the cycle life, so you get more uses out of this.

Secondly, there are hydrogen fuel cells. So, this converts hydrogen gas into electricity, and you would see a massive improvement in flight time over batteries. They have been explored, but not the solution. right now, they're not a cost-effective solution. It's. They're quite expensive to manufacture, bulky and large. You can imagine a fuel cell to be a big tank as well.

Finally, there are supercapacitors and I've seen this technology being developed in the last few years like an ultracapacitor. But these offer high power, very high density and also quick charging capabilities. They will allow a user to charge in 15 minutes instead of 45 minutes, for example. 

But right now, it's bringing those scalable, cost-effective solutions to market. They are all in the concept stage as lithium polymer once was. So, we are now trying to realise and utilise this technology and bring that price down as well.

Q: Compared to the world, where does the Middle East stand in terms of market size, scale and usage, operation pattern, etc, in the drone sector?

A: My experience in Europe, the United States, and in this region shows that traditionally, the Middle East has been three to four years behind the rest of the world. However, it's becoming a very significant player in the drone sector and has a huge opportunity now because it's accelerating and growing, and people are starting to realize the potential of an emerging market.

So, I would say we need to look at the market size. The Middle East is a hub for the rest of the world. And it's experiencing this unprecedented rate of growth, and it's becoming fully established. So, in the drone sector, if you look at the oil and gas sector, infrastructure, and public safety security, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, they've been at the forefront of drone adoption. And we have been at the forefront of identifying these sectors for growth. So now we're starting to realize the full potential of that.

 If you look at skills and usage, the Middle East is invested in developing the necessary skills for drone operations. There are universities and organizations offering drone-related courses now and certification programs, and it's becoming part of the education curriculum. 

We've been working with Dubai civil aviation, Dubai feature foundations in Dubai, and Silicon Oasis, which are pushing an agenda for geofencing drone flights, which means we are working with regulations to create regular drone flight paths so that drone delivery can take place. 

The UAE wants to be the first in the world to offer the largest drone delivery system for a country. And this is great because this is showing that we are accelerating ahead of the curve of other regions. I think it's making remarkable strides in the drone sector. So, with the growing market size and its efforts and skill development, there are innovations and use cases for this investment as well. The government is 100% behind this. So are we.

Q: In the drone industry, what are the biggest challenges and how can we overcome them?

A: If we're looking at the biggest challenges, you're going to have to break them down. If we're looking at, say regulatory framework, one of the primary challenges is establishing a clear and comprehensive regulation. We have to strike a balance between safety and enabling innovation. For example, regulations should address issues such as flight restrictions, privacy concerns, licensing requirements, and also a concept such as beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS).

This is one of the main directives on the agenda for drone use cases. What happens if I want to use a drone, and I don't have pilots there? What happens if I have a fleet of drones for my oil and gas pipeline and I want an instant response, but I don't want the pilot there? I want to control it remotely. To find these solutions, we are collaborating between industry stakeholders, manufacturers, governments, the civil aviation, and this is crucial.

If we communicate, and we have an understanding of where the future use cases of drones are going to be with regular dialogue, we're going to improve the regulatory framework and that's currently taking place. For example, in the UAE there are conversations on how we can manage it better with a framework such as in America, where there is the part 107 framework, in the UK they used to have permission for commercial operation before that then changed into the COC to GBC regulation. So, there is an evolution, and in this region, we are a bit behind. But I think it's going to accelerate and maybe overtake public acceptance and perception.

You know, there's so widespread public acceptance that drones are essential for successful integration into society. But also, there are concerns regarding security, privacy, maybe noise pollution, and also misuse of drones. So, our job here is to educate the public, educate businesses on the benefits of drones and their safety features, and that can alleviate those concerns. 

And finally, we could talk about airspace management. How do you manage drones, for example, in Dubai, where it's such a busy airspace? So, I was part of a UTM program in the UK. And we worked with Manchester Airport in delivering a commercial drone operation simultaneously with manned aircraft, and it was a massive success. But I don't think there have been enough steps to improve that. So we'd like to see more of it.

Q: What are the top three commonly held misconceptions about UAVs as a viable sustainable means of transport and how would you clear them up?

A:  I would say that safety concerns are number one. So, if you look at drones, as a means of transport, many people believe that they're prone to accidents, maybe they pose a risk to people, and maybe they pose a risk to the property, and their infrastructure on the ground. 

It is important to emphasize that safety is a top priority for a lot of the manufacturers that we work with. And also, for us as an operator, UAV drones bounced between both references, and they offer a host of redundancy systems. Now, people may not be aware of this. For example, some of the latest drone technology we sell, have dual batteries. If one fails, you have a backup that has inertial measurement units, and these are measured at the altitude, and the bearing of the barometric sensors. There are two of them if one fails.

And as a backup, even if a blade fails, or if it snapped, or if the motor fails, the aircraft will operate on three units that will rotate, so it won't drop from the sky. So, these safety systems are there to guarantee a better, safer environment for users and also for those in the area region of those drones.

Additionally, strict regulations and licensing requirements for operators also help maintain safety standards. And also, simply regulatory frameworks are not prepared to accommodate UAVs. Currently, we are working on improving regulatory frameworks in the region. 

We are working with Syrah for example, at the moment on a drone number plate system for all users in this region which helps in identifying drones based on that number plates. The electronic number plate will secure the safety of this region because if we know who's operating that drone, we know who's responsible for that drone, and then that prevents misuse of those drones as well. So, we're part of the action in the UAE for example.

Q: Could you tell us more about the Drone Number Plate System project?

A:  Well it's not as simple as car number plates I can tell you that much. These are less ‘visible’ means of identification but instead transmit their position, the position of the control point or where the drone was launched from.   

It is a challenge to want to maintain a fair and reasonable system for drone operators because there is an ongoing use case. And you see so much online video content, where you see drones flying freely in airspace. Then there are new disruptive innovations coming into the picture like driverless cars etc on the ground, and also drone helicopters and drone taxis. So how are we going to better regulate when they are here and they're not going anywhere? They're going to be part of our future. So, regulation needs to catch up. 

Quite often we're having these discussions. We see technology now drawn in the box with solutions that we have. And we're developing with some of the biggest stakeholders in this region. We're now pushing the technology. Now legislation needs to catch up because it's now an integral part of the construction and surveying ecosystem. 

People think drone technology is rocket science, it's not that easy. I can give you a drone and you could operate it very easily. Because they have so many safety features. They have collision avoidance sensors due to which you can't fly into an object and you will fly in wind, rain, and sandstorm, and they will maintain their altitude. If you lose a transmission, they will return back to you. And they will avoid obstacles as coming back. So now we're in a stage where they're really developing and very safe. It's now how can we best understand them.

Q: And in what ways are the countries in the Middle East encouraging or supporting environment-friendly modes of transport, like drones? 

A: If you look at UAE’s economic vision for 2030, it endeavours to achieve a comprehensive transformation of the Emirates. They want to foster global integration and lasting benefits for us. It's central to their vision and part of its sustainability and its diversification of capability. 

For example, if you look at sustainable urban planning, maybe the integration of renewable energy. If you look at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, that's the largest single-sector solar park in the world. And real research and development is becoming a big part of what the government wants to do. They want to invest in sustainability and in new technologies.

Much of their content is about reducing our carbon footprint, and drones have a lower carbon footprint than traditional methods of inspections. So, a very small carbon footprint is a very disruptive technology. And that's why we feel that they're important to the future.

If you look at other solutions, like the Dubai flying cars that were introduced at the GiTex 2022, to reduce that carbon footprint to face global warming.

Q: Please tell us a bit about your background and what you got interested in and then get involved in futuristic industries such as UAV. 

A: I've been in the drone industry now nearly for 10 years. And I've seen it from Toy technology up rather than military technology down. So, I had those golden years of remote-control helicopters, Flight Control stabilization systems, or back in the day we used to have nitrous helicopters, unstabilized Gimbels, using gears and cogs and they were terrible. They were expensive. 

They were prone to failure too. I've seen the innovation and improvement in technology to now when anyone could pick up a drone and use them. So, for 10 years, I have been there since the inauguration of drone technology. And it's been a romantic journey. I love the industry and I'm very passionate about the industry. We've got a passionate team here. 

I'm so proud to say I work in the drone industry. Whenever I'm socializing and meeting new people tell them what I do, it seems to encapsulate their imagination. 

Q: What do you consider as your key contribution to sustainability within the environment? And what would you like to do in your free time?

A: Sustainability is very much part of what we do as a business. So, FEDS, which we abbreviate as F-fun, Employees excellence, D is for Diversity, and S is for Sustainability. So, we want to be sustainable in everything we do. We don't want to use paper. We want to turn off the lights when we leave the office and turn off the air conditioning when you're not in there. And we carry that to us on the field too, we closely monitor our usage of cars for example, and try to be as efficient as possible. We carry out initiatives in the office, this month we’re actually doing a clothes donation drive!

In my free time, I am a bit of a car fan. I like modifying cars and so on. I used to be on a job as a drone pilot with 10 years in the industry, but this is something I like to do to my own cars and I love driving. I wish to become maybe a race car driver someday.