Lesson 1 Introduction

Welcome to Lesson 1! In this lesson, you will become familiar with the history behind the use of the UAS. You will also be familiar with the current status of the UAS development. In addition, you will be exposed to the different classes of UAV/UAS according to their size, weight, and missions.

At the end of this lesson, you will have a working knowledge about how the unmanned aerial missions started, the current status and the classes of the UAV/UAS.

Lesson Objectives

At the successful completion of this lesson, you should be able to:

• describe the historical evolution of the UAS;
• recognize the defense contribution to the UAS development;
• recognize the civilian contribution to the UAS development;
• understand the current state of the UAS development;
• describe the objectives beyond the use of the UAS;
• classify different UAS according to their make and characteristics;
• describe the different classes of the UAS.

Lesson Readings

• Chapter 1 of textbook 1: Bankhart et al., Introduction to the Unmanned Aircraft Systems, 2nd edition  
• Chapters1 & 2 of textbook 2: Fahlstrom, et al., Introduction to UAV Systems (Aerospace Series), 4th edition
• Pacchioli, D., "Programming autonomous vehicles to fly like birds"
• Chiles, J., "Drones for Hire" 
• Maksel, R., "Robot Reporters" 
• Commercial UAV News report: "6 Predictions for 2016: UAV Experts Discuss Important Developments for Commercial Drone Applications"
• Parts I, II, & III of Collier Crouch, C., thesis "Integration of mini-UAVs at the tactical operations level : implications of operations, implementation, and information sharing" (pdf)
• Watts, et al., Remote Sensing

Lesson Activities

• Participate in the Lesson 1 Discussion Forum.
• Take the Lesson 1 Quiz (by the end of Lesson 2).
• Review the final project details document.