Unmanned aerial systems (UAS, formerly called unmanned aerial vehicles), which the U.S. military has routinely used abroad for more than a decade, will soon be a standard tool for many civilian applications — including police surveillance, fire mapping, border security, real estate photography, and surveying structures after natural disasters.

“There is really a shift happening in the market, from the military side to the civil side, with future growth on the commercial side of the industry,” says Gretchen West, Executive Vice President of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). The association has about 7,000 individual members and about 600 corporate members, most of whom are involved in the unmanned aircraft industry.

Read more…