Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), have a variety of use cases, including surveillance, mapping, search and rescue, inspection, delivery, and photography. Surveillance is one of the most common applications for drones, as they can be deployed to monitor large areas or to track specific targets.
Until recently, remote control systems were the only way to guide a drone. Today, autonomous drones — where the major drone designs are quadcopters, multi-rotor, fixed-wing, hybrid, and single-rotor — are mostly operated by an on-board drone computer, with the flight controls helping fine-tune the aircraft’s orientation and path.
The main function of a mission control center and a launch site is to take off and land the drones, and to provide wireless communication between the UAV and the ground station. Flying a drone may seem easy, since often, you have got a flight assistance system and collision avoidance technology to help you. However, in reality, orientating yourself from the object you are controlling is a skill you have to gain.
Statistically, it would take you 100 hours of flight time to professionally operate an advanced drone model. Plus it takes a fair bit of effort to not crash your UAV, as you have to train how to stay away from aerial obstacles and safely fly the drone into the ground.
The good news is the growing use of drones and the expansion of their capabilities have given rise to the adoption of virtual reality (VR) to train drone pilots. VR allows the user to experience a simulated environment, in which the pilot gets familiarized with the handling of drones, avoiding physical risks.
The pilot, equipped with a headset that covers their eyes and ears and has sensors that track their head movements, performs practical exercises within the virtual environment, where 3D models represent real-world objects, and gets real-time feedback. Using a simulator reduces the costs and time of flight training, not to say you can train at any time, without being affected by weather conditions.