Rumors of Apple Drone Exaggerated

UAS enthusiasts may have felt a pang of excitement or anxiety upon seeing the news that clickbait fodder favorite Apple, Inc. received a drone-related patent.

Whatever projects they pursue, their market penetration and unique approach towards the end-user tends to have an effect on every product ecosystem they enter. It’s not an overstatement to say that whatever they do, there will be an industry reaction. The imperious swiss watch industry had a brief, if muted panic upon release of the highest tier Apple watch in 2014, fearing their intricately hand-built watches would be knocked from their $5,000+ thrones, with the ‘quartz crisis’ still lingering in the back of their minds. UAS manufacturers and pilots may rightly fear, then, the changes incoming when they see a sleek, glassy white drone mockup with the apple logo in their inbox. Would their approach to operation and design kick off industry fads that infect the rest of the UAV brands? Thankfully, to an extent, those fears are unwarranted. 

Apple’s newest patent pertains to UAS utilization in cellular networks. Now granted, “Systems and Methods for using Unmanned Aerial Systems in Cellular Networks”, describes a methodology for positioning a UAS in a 5G network for enhanced connectivity. The processes described, from a non-technical, layman’s perspective, seem like methods to enhance the communications between a drone, its controller, and the network at large. Command and control is especially vital with unmanned systems, and the newest 5G networks’s weakness lies in the need for high-density placement of antennas for adequate coverage without dead zones. Under the Apple patent, drone operators would be able to maintain their link with a drone out of sight, and out of immediate range of their control, by immersing each part of the operator-drone-network triangle in connectivity. 

Until further patents, design trademarks, or product announcements arrive, it’s fairly safe to say that an Apple drone is not coming any time soon. 

FMI: www.apple.com