Environmental legislation and unmanned aerial vehicles (Drones) (Doctoral thesis)
Τσιάμης, Νικόλαος/ Tsiamis, Nikolaos
UAVs or drones have received increasing interest in recent years. Drones are used for several purposes, including scientific and commercial purposes, environmental monitoring, and crime prevention, including identifying perpetrators by law enforcement agencies. The use of drones by environmental legislation enforcement is applicable in several areas, such as deforestation, illegal logging, poaching, smoke detection to prevent forest fires, environmental pollution, and unknown perpetrators. Drones are useful tool for law enforcement officers and help them detect perpetrators faster than traditional methods of surveillance. In this thesis, the legislation for drones is investigated. We chose the OECD countries and pursued the first comparative analysis of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries’ national legislations to explore the similarities and differences in drone use and recommend improvements and homogenization. Although from the 35 OECD countries, 22 belong to the European Union, we observed much diversity among national legal frameworks. The intensive use of drones has led to severe ethical dilemmas that policymakers will need to address in the near future. We conclude with a proposal regarding the basic legislation for different uses according to the criteria that have been developed so far, followed by limitations and restrictions. Environmental enforcement agencies should use drones to detect environmental perpetrators. Cost-effectiveness and economic impact are valuable tools for all projects. The idea of this thesis was to analyze in detail a methodological evaluation framework for the levelized cost of drone services for law enforcement purposes. We compared Phantom 4 Pro and Thunder-B vehicles based on the available data. Moreover, their levelized costs per surveillance time and trip distance are calculated. Our approach helps users to estimate the real costs of their vehicles’ services and produce equations for rapid estimations. We observed economies of scale for time and distance and revealed differentiations per aircraft capacity, and the final is formulated in a case study. The case study includes a four (4) kilometer distance and compares the costs in a 4 km area constantly monitored by the two types of drones to support the best vehicle selection for detecting environmental perpetrators. We found that the use of Phantom 4 Pro in environmental monitoring is more cost-effective than the Thunder-B. The result of this research is a useful tool for calculating the cost of used drones by law enforcement officers for their work. After all, cost research estimations are a valuable tool and will help policymakers include in environmental crime prevention programs, especially those that include UAV technology. This thesis is organized as follows. In Chapter1, a general introduction including the environmental legislation and uses of drones in the recent years and especially the law enforcement agencies applications are provided. At the end of chapter 1, the applications of drones in economic activities are reported. In Chapter 2, the aim and objectives of this thesis is presented. In Chapter 3, the drone regulation in OECD countries is analyzed and is the first comparative analysis of 35 countries’ national legislations, in order to explore the similarities and differences in drone technology. In Chapter 4, a conceptual framework for economic analysis of different law enforcement drones, are presented. Two types of drones are selected: Phantom 4 Pro and Thunder-B. Based on the data availability, we calculated the cost with real data per surveillance time and trip distance. We produced equations for rapid estimations, and we observed economies of scale for time and distance. In Chapter 5, based on data analyzed in Chapter 4 we described the case study. The results of the Case study, which took place in a four (4) kilometers distance, show the most cost-effective type of drone used for law enforcement officers. In Chapter 6, the main conclusion of the thesis is provided. In Chapter 7, the innovation of PhD thesis and recommendations for future research are presented. In Chapter 8, scientific references are listed, and at the end in chapter 9 are presented published papers as Appendices.
Institution and School/Department of submitter: | Δημοκρίτειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θράκης. Πολυτεχνική Σχολή. Τμήμα Μηχανικών Περιβάλλοντος |
Subject classification: | Drone aircraft--Law and legislation |
Keywords: | Αποτελεσματικότητα κόστους,Οργανισμός Οικονομικής Συνεργασίας και Ανάπτυξης,ΟΟΣΑ,Επιβολή νομοθεσίας,Cost effectiveness,Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,OECD,Law enforcement |
URI: | https://repo.lib.duth.gr/jspui/handle/123456789/19973 http://dx.doi.org/10.26257/heal.duth.18663 |
Appears in Collections: | ΜΗΧΑΝΙΚΩΝ ΠΕΡΙΒΑΛΛΟΝΤΟΣ |
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Tsiamis N_2024 .pdf | Διδακτορική διατριβή | 4.03 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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https://repo.lib.duth.gr/jspui/handle/123456789/19973
http://dx.doi.org/10.26257/heal.duth.18663
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