Revolution or epidemic? A systematic literature review on the effective control of airborne drones

Abstract

Commercial and private deployment of airborne drones is revolutionising many ecosystems. With the aim to identify critical issues and research gaps, our systematic literature review findings suggest that historic issues such as privacy, acceptance and security are increasingly replaced by operational considerations including interaction with and impacts on other airspace users. Recent incidents show that unrestricted drone use can inflict problems on other airspace users like airports and emergency services. Our review of current regulatory approaches shows a need for further policy and management response to both manage rapid and efficient drone usage growth and facilitate innovation (e.g. intraurban package delivery) with one promising response being low altitude airspace management (LAAM) systems for all drone use cases.