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Civil aviation regulatory hierarchy. Adopted and modified from the South African civil aviation RPAS (part 101) regulations workshops, p.3.
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This paper proposes a drone policy framework for developing drone regulations for Africa, expediting the individual countries' developing drone regulations. This research was conducted following concerns raised by individuals and businesses whose imported drones were seized by customs or had to go through a cumbersome process for approval to use dr...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... provides an environment that is almost uniquely unforgiving of mistakes (Cook and Charles 1997), and when it comes to international standards, ICAO acts as a focal point in terms of the need for harmonisation of terms, strategies, and principles about the development of a regulatory framework for drones globally (ICAO 2011). (Figure 1) outlines the civil aviation regulatory hierarchy in the context of Africa. ...
Context 2
... data extracted is in (Table 4) and subsequently, we decomposed the provisions of the new regulation. (Figure 10). ...
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Citations
... Farmers all across the world are increasingly revolutionising farming by utilising drone expertise (Pathak et al., 2020) [12] . Drone technology is an essential tool that farmers may use to get regular information on tending to their crops and animals (Ayamga et al., 2021) [2] . The current requirement arises from the reconstruction of the agricultural sector. ...
... Farmers all across the world are increasingly revolutionising farming by utilising drone expertise (Pathak et al., 2020) [12] . Drone technology is an essential tool that farmers may use to get regular information on tending to their crops and animals (Ayamga et al., 2021) [2] . The current requirement arises from the reconstruction of the agricultural sector. ...
... Farmers and agriculturists are always looking for low-cost, effective ways to check their crops on a regular basis (Ahirwar et al., 2019) [1] . Drone technology has grown in recognition over the previous decade, particularly in agriculture (Ayamga et al., 2021) [2] . Drones can be used to examine any crop in any place. ...
... Automated technologies for agriculture that have been widely adopted include robotic milking parlours (Rodenburg 2017) and livestock care robots, such as feeding and barn cleaning robots (Gabriel and Gandorfer 2023). Technologies that have been adopted to a lesser extent include unpersoned aerial systems for precision agriculture (Frankelius et al. 2019;Kim et al. 2019), and weeding robots (FAO 2022;Gil et al. 2023), though these technologies are not widespread and some also face legal restrictions and challenges in certain jurisdictions (Reger et al. 2018;Ayamga et al. 2021). ...
The global agricultural sector faces a significant number of challenges for a sustainable future, and one of the tools proposed to address these challenges is the use of automation in agriculture. In particular, robotic systems for agricultural tasks are being designed, tested, and increasingly commercialised in many countries. Much touted as an environmentally beneficial technology with the ability to improve data management and reduce the use of chemical inputs while improving yields and addressing labour shortages, agricultural robotics also presents a number of potential ethical challenges-including rural unemployment, the amplification of economic and digital inequalities, and entrenching unsustainable farming practices. As such, development is not uncontroversial, and there have been calls for a responsible approach to their innovation that integrates more substantive inclusion into development processes. This study investigates current approaches to participation and inclusion amongst United Kingdom (UK) agricultural robotics developers. Through semi-structured interviews with key members of the UK agricultural robotics sector, we analyse the stakeholder engagement currently integrated into development processes. We explore who is included, how inclusion is done, and what the inclusion is done for. We reflect on how these findings align with the current literature on stakeholder inclusion in agricultural technology development, and suggest what they could mean for the development of more substantive responsible innovation in agricultural robotics.
... Drones are a technology that could contribute significantly to the creation of jobs in South Africa. Ayamga et al. [22] argue that drones could attract young people into venturing into agricultural businesses and improve production and farmers' returns on investment. ...
... In other countries, as well as in South Africa, some drone operators have opted to use commercial drones illegally owing to the stringent requirements to operate drones legally [55]; [22]. This indicates that strong barriers could negatively impact enforcement of the regulations. ...
The regulation of drones is a huge challenge for most countries around the world. The regulation and application processes are as much a challenge in South Africa as they are elsewhere. The number of drones is growing at a rapid pace, and there is a need to improve the current status to benefit from the technology. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the South African drone industry and to propose recommendations to enhance drone technology in South Africa. The research design applied in this paper was qualitative. Data was collected by interviewing drone operators who were interested in participating in this study. This was done to understand the drone approval process in South Africa and the perceptions of drone operators. The results indicated that commercial drone operators are being negatively impacted by the drone approval structure in South Africa and that it is holding the industry back. Key factors affecting the existing drone approval structure were identified and used to propose the strategies for improvement. The findings in this study could assist stakeholders in the South African drone industry to make effective decisions and to formulate policies that would promote the technological growth of the industry. Keywords: Approval process, Drones, Regulation, Technological growth
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Drones in food delivery (DFD) have been getting significant attention in recent years owing to their ability to deliver food quickly without being affected by traffic, enhancing business practices. Therefore, this study attempts to understand consumer desires and intentions to adopt DFD in the shed of behavioral reasoning theory. The proposed framework was examined using data from 394 DFD users via an online survey. The findings established that perceived environmental effectiveness impacts reasons for, reasons against, and desire. The reason for adoption positively influences desire and intention. In contrast, reasons against adoption negatively affect intention. Furthermore, we found that personal innovativeness in technology moderates the association between the reason for and intention. The tradition barrier also moderates the association between reason against and desire for DFD. Consequently, DFD platforms should resolve consumers' concerns and conduct awareness programs to promote the potential benefits of drone deliveries to attract consumers.
... Scholars have started examining the implication of digitalization in Africa's agriculture. Recent studies have focused on the need for regulatory frameworks [19,20], farmers' perceptions of digital technologies [21] and the socio-technical factors influencing the adoption of digital technologies [22,23]. Prior studies also have examined the entrepreneurial activities surrounding the adoption of digital innovations, mostly focusing on why businesses fail [24]. ...
As digitalization increasingly gains attention in the agriculture sector, many African youths are seizing the opportunity provided by digital technologies to engage in agriculture. While prior studies have started examining the intricacies of digitalization in agriculture, they have paid less attention to its implications for fostering institutions and inter-organizational synergies that can support and sustain the businesses of youth enterprises engaging with Africa’s agriculture. Against this backdrop, we undertook a qualitative case study to shed light on the development of a community of practice comprising youth enterprises engaging in agriculture through digitalization. Thus, we studied Africa Goes Digital (AFGD), a consortium of young African enterprises that rely on digital technologies and solutions to provide services to farmers across the African continent. The results showed that: (1) the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) played a pioneering role as a development agency in supporting enterprises with drones and training for agriculture, which led to the formation of AFGD; (2) two prevalent themes characterized the services offered by AFGD members; (3) AFGD brings members under one platform where they leverage WhatsApp for communication and knowledge sharing and Twitter to showcase success stories and form partnerships with each other to execute certain development projects with governments and development agencies; (4) the lack of regulations or the restrictive regulations on the use of drones are still problems that some members face, and the high costs of sensors and related drones are challenges for the members. Building on the results, we discuss the implications of digitalization for supporting African governments in meeting sustainability goals and conclude by describing the theoretical contribution of our study and promising future research directions.
... While in the recent past we could only talk about drones that could only carry a tiny camera, today it is possible to talk about drones that can carry large amounts of payload, have dozens of sensors, and can operate autonomously, solo, or in a swarm in more complex environments. Due to their high mobility and flexibility, drones are frequently used in the defense, surveillance, agriculture, health, search and rescue, mining, entertainment, and logistics sectors [1][2][3]. Having a wide range of applications outdoors, drones are now also used in many ways and in indoor environments as indispensable systems. While drones continue to function as indispensable aircraft in all areas of our lives, the increasing use of drones has accelerated the study of scientists to increase the capability of drones. ...
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... According to DroneVisual (2019), drones are applied in capturing images which allows for a multi-spectral view of the crops for application in farms, monitoring of crop growth and crop health analysis. According to Ayamga et al. (2020), in agriculture drones are used for real-time monitoring to minimise the need to walk through the farm and reduce cost. Tsiamis et al. (2019), argue that the use of drones has led to serious problems that authorities and regulators will need to address as the drone technology continues to evolve. ...
... According to Drone Council Soutth Africa (2020), the TAT at SACAA is a major obstacle to drone industry development. Software development of drone technology delays commercial drone regulatory processes due to continuous change in the technology (Ayamga et al., 2020). ...
Drones are considered to become more significant as technology develops and be used in creative ways. The aim of this paper is to develop a framework to improve the turnaround time (TAT) of the drone application process at South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA). According to some of the drone companies, application process of drone approval takes time to complete. These delays impact negatively to drone companies in South Africa. Drone operators were interviewed, and the current status of the application process was captured. Thirteen drone operators were interviewed using a structured set of questionnaires. Results show that application process is not well implemented and that the structure does not create a positive outcome to the South African drone industry. Findings indicate that the average turnaround time to complete the approval process is long, and it is time consuming. The framework to improve the current turnaround time of the application process was developed. The proposed framework consists of three techniques (process activities improvement, capacity enhancement and process redesign). The proposed framework can be used as a guide to improve the situation at SACAA. .
... Indeed, FO members were only involved as participants rather than decision-makers in the service innovation process. To strengthen the capability of local service providers to access, control, and own the data produced, the authors suggest that clear guidelines or regulations should be created (ibid.), as they currently remain very fragmented in Africa (Ayamga et al., 2021). ...
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The high demand for distilled agave products reduces wild populations. The use of geospatial technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer enormous benefits in spatial and temporal resolution and lower costs than traditional direct field observation techniques for natural resource monitoring. The objective was to estimate the green biomass (Wt) of Agave durangensis Gentry using high-resolution images obtained by a UAV in Nombre de Dios, Durango. Random sampling was performed in the agave area. A Pearson correlation analysis was performed, followed by a regression analysis. The results showed that NDVI was the most correlated (r = 0.65). The regression analysis showed that the model obtained explains 59% (RMSE = 32.06 kg) of the total variability in the estimation of green biomass (Wt) of agave using images derived from the UAV. The best estimate was achieved with B1, B2, NDVI, GNDVI, EVI2, and SAVI as predictor variables. High-resolution images were shown to be a tool for estimating Wt of Agave durangensis Gentry.
