Startup Ideas With Drones: Cool Ideas for Drone Passionate

Drones had a great impact on how lots of activities are performed and it goes without saying that the current world is witnessing a drone craze. That’s why agile and creative entrepreneurs could exploit drone for their own gain doing something they love.

Drones are being used in a number of industries, be it aerial photography, cinematography, agriculture or recreational facilities (just to name a few). This article will explore some of the coolest startup ideas with drones that could bring you profit and the satisfaction of doing something fun and being paid for this.

Cool ideas to start a business

Drones have the capacity to create thousands of jobs as the drone market is expanding rapidly. More people are getting interested in UAVs from a commercial point of view and the ideas briefly explored in the preceding section could earn you millions in a short period of time. Now, let’s see some of these ideas and how you could make them happen.

Come up with a venture providing an Air Traffic Control system for drones

It is unimaginable for any government or airway authority to allow UAVs to fly in the air in a haphazard manner without any form of control. This will be motivated by their desire to avoid drone collision, act as some form of traffic control, as well as for protective measures to evade a possible attack from any enemy who might choose to use UAVs.

This means that for numerous drones to fly in a similar airspace there ought to be some form of identification with each other to avoid any collisions. This becomes even more significant after a given drone gets out of sight, thus increasing the need for the creation of an air traffic control system. By putting in place such a measure drones would be more useful since they can then be flown for longer distances with their control being assured.

If you are thinking in this direction you will appreciate that there is also a need to have a system which will control the takeoff, landing, as well as having some sort of flight plans for the various drones. If you are an expert in this field, you could think of creating a piece of software as well as a hardware unit that will facilitate this kind of operation. This could also act as a good business opportunity for the various existing or emerging drone system makers.

How about a platform for collision avoidance for drones

This is something that has been tried out in the recent past by the Hovermap team at CSIRO. They created a system that provides a real time mapping of various terrains and 3D structures. In simple terms, this system is able to transmit and interpret data and build a 3D model of the space it is moving through.

For this system to come to be, the team had to creatively come up with a Collision Avoidance algorithm which helps to delineate the surroundings for the avoidance of any obstacles in the flight path. It is worth noting that this information is relayed in real time to enable the drone to skillfully avoid and move around the obstacle on its path.

This is quite applicable in the drone world as many of them are expected to be in the air in a matter of time. There is need to create a system that will help drones to be taken care of when they are ought of sight or rather out of control. This will help to reduce on breakages and to help the drones to get safely to their destinations as well as back to their owners.

Though Hovermap has the hardware, the software, and an embedded software solution this is not yet out. However, it is estimated to be pretty expensive (over $15,000).

You could work around this and come up with a system that is less costly to the tune of about $600 to help many drone owners and would-be drone owners to afford this. As you think in this direction it will be prudent and highly profitable if your system could be as fast as possible as opposed to the existing technology which is relatively slow.

Drone maintenance and ops

Going by the surging number of beginner drone pilots and the experienced drone enthusiasts the need to fix drones which have been damaged or need replacement of aged parts is definitely there.

As foreseen, there seems to be a looming problem and there is need to establish a good number of drone maintenance facilities as well as those which will take care of the rapid refueling of drones and payload loading. One interested in this idea should come up with a very comprehensive and affordable platform to capture most of the existing drone users.

It is good to compare drone to aircrafts which are flown by pilots as a lot of effort is put to ensure that a plane is fit to stay in the air and travel for long distances for years.

Constant maintenance is key to this and the same is needed for drones which are regularly used. Though one might think that these UAVs don’t have anyone on board, it is good to keep in mind that drones do fly over other people and the risk of injury is high if you don’t take care of your drone.

Design new drone power plants

There is lots of fun in flying drones and the convenience they offer in cinematography and photography is unmatched. However many users have to contend with the short flight times that the existing drones can manage and this limits their usefulness. Most of the commercial drones have a flight time of about 20 to 30 minutes while the hobby drones can only fly for about 8 minutes.

You might be thinking of using a petrol engine for a quadcopter. Or you could try putting a gearbox and a drive shaft arrangement but these will more likely turn out to be heavy for the quadcopter and the response might be slow as well.

Batteries on the other hand are safe since their weight will be the same whether they will be empty or full. But most drones have a payload of about 2-5kg which means that one has to work out some way of powering the batteries as the batteries are doomed to limited short hops as well as constant battery swaps.

If you consider fuel you could easily refill the engines and it is also good to note that the overall weight will be decreasing as the fuel is being consumed. It is also a richer source of energy per kg compared to the batteries.

Weigh in on the possible sources of energy for the drones that could help them to last long in the air and beat the existing flight times. This is an opportunity that could bring in a nice income since most of the users especially the hobby drone pilots and those using drones for commercial purposes are looking forward to means of keeping the drones longer in the air.

Work on platforms that could help in flight tasking as well as management

Flight tasking and management for drones is a possibility in the near future since most industries and companies are beginning to make use of them to deliver various packages. It will thus be necessary to control the drones in terms of their flight times and the routes they will be using while in the air.

A delivery platform could help solve the impending problems in the use of drones and this should be one which could help in timing the landing and the takeoffs as well as loading of various packages. It will also be desirable that the delivery platforms could take care of scanning of the various packages being ferried by air and identifications of the departure and destination addresses. The reason for such a system will be to complement the existing GPS that is only accurate for about 20m.

This can become a reality if you can create a software that could coordinate all of these activities. The software should be tasked with managing the drone from the warehouse up to the preferred destination and flight plan should be provided for both the drone autopilot as well as the flight controller.

Create a system that will help addressing the unattended delivery cages

The delivery of various packages using drones is already happening with Amazon, and we have an article talking about delivery drones, which you can also check out. However, there is the challenge of a package being delivered to an unintended destination and the problem of easily recovering such a package.

This creates the need for a system that will be able to track such packages and prevent them from being stolen as well as facilitating a convenient handing over the process for such packages.

You also need to think of a way that a drone could identify a package that accidentally dropped. While at this, the safety of the drone should also be addressed as they are prone to be stolen. A monitoring software could help to address all of these challenges and the packages as well as the drones to be recovered easily if they are wrongly delivered.

In conclusion

The discussed startup ideas are just a handful of what one could do to cash in on the drone craze that is being witnessed. Most of them involve the setting up of software and hardware that could help to manage the burgeoning number of drones.

There is an increasing need to monitor and coordinate drones meant for commercial deliveries. Also, repair and maintenance facilities need to be established to address not only the needs of the beginner drone pilots but also those of experienced and enthusiast drone pilots. Next on the list is the flight time of the drones that needs to be elongated to increase their usefulness in terms of providing a fun experience as well as for professional purposes.

A drone startup could be the key to your financial freedom and you ought to give them a try by bringing something new to the drone market or solving the existing or impending challenges. Also, if you are in need of ideas how to use your flying gadget for financial purposes, you can check out our article about the ways of earning money with a drone.