Diversifying Drone STories

Research explores opportunities, barriers and potential futures of drones in UK emergency response

Emergency responders are increasingly turning to drones as tools to assist in a range of pre-planned, routine and ad hoc operations. Yet while increasingly deployed as tools to gain insight from the air, and assist and inform wide-ranging emergency response operations, there remain both challenges and barriers to use, and further opportunities to be explored and exploited.

Exploring the use, perception, and impact of drones in changing UK airspace, Dr Anna Jackman's Economic and Social Research Council funded Diversifying drone stories research project engages with diverse stakeholders (including emergency services and responders, lawyers, industry, local authorities, pilots, air traffic controllers, and members of the public) who deploy, design, and live with drones, to understand different perspectives on how drones may be (re)shaping UK airspace and everyday life below.

The research involves focus groups bringing together groups of emergency responders, including members of UK police, fire, search and rescue, as well as relevant charitable organisations and volunteer groups, to share their views on: the use and benefits of drones; the challenges, barriers and limitations of drone use; encountering and responding to drone misuse; and visions for future drone use.

In addition to mapping out existing wideranging use cases and applications, the focus groups explored challenges, barriers and constraints that participants felt currently limited their drone use. These ranged from:

• Questions about regulatory exemptions and liability;

• Impact of weather on the ability to fly and the efficacy of cameras and sensors;

• Limitations of VLOS flight and desire for BVLOS operations;

• Funding for and lifespan of equipment;

• Permissions challenges for charities and volunteer organisations;

• Impacts of frequency, including challenges of urban operations and constraints at large scale events;

• Challenges of indoor operation (e.g. interference, dust);

• Limitations on the lifting and pulling potential of drones;

• Challenges of navigating different guidance (e.g. from CAA and NPCC) and need for further centralisation of guidelines and training;

• Concerns around the pace of regulatory change and misunderstanding around frequent updates.

In dialogue with the research's wider interest in drone misuse, the focus groups also explored emergency responder encounters with and responses to drone misuse, spanning both accidental or reckless, and intentional or malicious misuse. Emergency responder participants described wide-ranging experiences, from: flight over TV sets, horseraces and football games; flight in FRZs and proximity to manned aircraft; flight in proximity to critical and national infrastructure; flight over and in proximity to schools and parks; the use of drones to deliver contraband into prisons; as well as issues caused by media, journalist and hobbyist flight in proximity to and jeopardising emergency operations; and reckless flights by hobbyist users lacking awareness and familiarity with existing regulations and flyer responsibilities. In discussing responding to drone misuse, participants primarily stressed the importance of engaging with and educating the public, while also reflecting on enforcement, such as the powers to land, inspect and seize a drone (per the Air Traffic Management and Unmanned Aircraft Act 2021); access, use of and costs associated with counterdrone technologies; and the difficulties surrounding prosecution. Participants also described challenges around implementing and communicating an emergency event/ area; and challenges around subject matter expertise and resourcing to keep patrol officers abreast of relevant regulation, particularly as auditors increasingly seek to challenge officers for 'Youtube clout' (participant).

Lastly, the focus groups were interested in how emergency responders imagined drones being used in the future. Alongside a wish list around regulatory clarity, the centralisation of standards and guidelines, and improved permissions processes, in sharing their visions, participants described drones as/with:

• Equipped with vital attachments (e.g. defibrillators, trauma kits, EpiPens);

• Reliable 2 ways communications;

• Self-charging and/or battery improvements;

• Improved operation in inclement weather;

• CBRN 'sniffer' advancements;

• Low speed capabilities / slow mode for missing persons search;

• Obstacle avoidance in low light;

• Facial recognition and machine learning;

• Dropping extinguishing agents;

• Dragging bodies through water (water rescue);

• Operated from multiple control rooms/ command centres;

• The potential for augmented reality to enable assistance in unfamiliar areas.

Opportunities to engage with the research

The Diversifying Drone Stories Research project is ongoing and welcomes participation from emergency responders and members of the emergency services. If you are interested in learning more or participating in upcoming focus groups or otherwise sharing your views, please contact Dr Anna Jackman at a.h.jackman@ reading.ac.uk. You can find out more about the research on the project website (Drone Stories). Stay tuned for further updates!

Dr Anna Jackman is a Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Reading. Anna acted as the Specialist Adviser to the Science and Technology Committee Inquiry into 'Commercial and recreational drone use in the UK', and as an expert witness for the Defence Committee's Inquiry into the 'Domestic threat of drones'.

You can reach Anna at: a.h.jackman@reading.ac.uk or on Twitter @ahjackman.