Drone Networks and Monitoring Systems in Smart Cities

Drones are commonly called unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for they do not have an onboard pilot. They are aircraft that can be controlled autonomously. In fact, UAVs and drones are similar and interchangeable. Earlier, in the ’80s, there was a time when drones were considered aerial weapons in military lingo. Their mode of usage was as an aerial missile deployer. However, drones have seen advancement and rapid evolution, leading to their contributions in many areas. The integration of machine learning and the Internet of Things (IoT) paved the way for drones as an application rather than as deployers. When compared to previous generations, drones are available in different forms and sizes, each modeled and textured for their respective needs. Evolution played a major role in their urbanization. IoT-embedded drones could be useful in fields like traffic management, crowd control, and pollution monitoring; to increase efficiency in agriculture; for safety and surveillance, and disaster management. It has always been a challenge to implement and monitor remote locations. Here, UAVs can help in such difficulties. They can survey and monitor the places difficult for a person to navigate. The output that we expect is the ultimate advantage in the implementation of drones. High-resolution imagery is flexible for acquiring an expected output. The concept of a smart city is the integration of ICT (information and communication technology). Drones can be a major contributor to various stages of development and sustenance of smart cities. They have also been used for devastation purposes. With such scope, it has found its way into virtually every field and smart city. Now there are several ways that a drone can accelerate the creation and maintenance of smart cities. As drones and related technologies become more advanced and sophisticated, new cases continue to emerge. This is obvious, particularly in connected ecosystems. This greatly improves its operation, citizen engagement, and detailed data. This chapter discusses the implementation of drone networks and monitoring systems in smart cities.