UAV'S STARTED AS TUNA TRACKER??
I found this interesting as I've recently had the
privilege to chat with Andy von Flotow and Guillermo Fisch who explained to me
their idea about unmanned aircraft and Tuna Tracking.
In the beginning, 1998, a couple of engineers who formed
Insitu, Andy von Flotow and Tad McGeer set out to build better UAV's (unmanned
aerial vehicle)... and they did just that. They developed the SeaScan- launched
by a catapult and caught with a hook when it got back to the ship.
Guillermo Fisch, an Argentinean-born naval architect and
engineer, in the 1990's, helped big fishing companies improve their standard
approach to finding tuna — roaming the ocean by helicopter from a fishing ship.
Guillermo paired up with InSitu to help with the idea and development of this
Tuna Tracking system.
Engineer, Tad McGeer, who was developing the UAV's,
intended to have the unmanned vehicles fly over the deep ocean, find schools of
tuna and stream back meteorological data. This is a Tuna Tracker - or Tuna
Searcher- as Andy puts it. The goal is to monitor the fish when they're
feeding.
Boeing was interested with the technology and potential of
UAV's, and acquired InSitu in 2008 for $400 million. InSitu operates as a
separate subsidiary under Boeing.
The pursuit and development of the Tuna Tracker was laid
to rest, as the price ticket was much to high for fishing companies. There were "other fish to catch".
Today, UAVs are becoming a staple of modern military
operations. Drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) have several other (good) purposes as well, including patrolling small areas of the nation’s borders, flying over areas to
assess damage after hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, forest fires, weather
patterns, etc.
I know UAV's are a controversial subject for many. I have a friend who emailed her opinion to me......
ReplyDelete"Hey Donna - I didn't like ur blast post this morning girlfriend! I find the mere thought of using technology to pillage the oceans of species which in some instances are on the endangered list wrong on all accounts. I know there r many in town who don't like what insitu stands for as drones aren't used for anything good! Killing people & animals... Just a thought..."
My thoughts back were - I couldn't agree more in regards to protecting the earths endangered species, and NOT killing in general. On the flip side, I can understand how these's drones are useful by assessing damage in areas after hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, forest fires and weather patterns.... If only they were used for just that (for the good)...
Another comment was this...
"I don't see them out doing great things in the community or finding a balance between what they do & how they use their profit to give back...now that would be a nice profile!"
My thoughts back are - I'm not sure what "great" things they do for the community, BUT I do know w all the InSitu employees living local they help to support our community and bring jobs to our area... and recently they've created a lot more jobs for the unemployed.