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Drones Are Everywhere. Ge Used to It.
無人機(jī)已經(jīng)無所不在 習(xí)慣就好
BY ALEX FITZPATRICK
文/阿歷克斯·菲茨帕特里克
When Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico last September, it ravaged the island’s electrical grid and communications systems.
去年9月，颶風(fēng)瑪利亞襲擊波多黎各，摧毀了島上的電網(wǎng)和通訊系統(tǒng)。
For weeks, many of the approximately 5 million Puerto Ricans living in the mainland U.S. were unable to reach their loved ones.
連續(xù)數(shù)周，居住在美國大陸的大約500萬波多黎各人中的許多人都與他們的親屬失去了聯(lián)絡(luò)。
While recovery groups worked to restore power and deliver aid, cell providers scrambled to repair their networks.
就在救援人群努力恢復(fù)電力，援助物資之際，手機(jī)運(yùn)營商也在搶修他們的網(wǎng)絡(luò)。
To get its service back up and running, AT&T tried something new: the Flying COW,
為了恢復(fù)運(yùn)營，AT&T想到了新的辦法：“飛牛”（Flying Cow），
a tethered drone that beamed mobile-data signals up to 40 miles in all directions.
一種系有繩子，可向周圍40英里范圍內(nèi)的任何方向發(fā)送移動(dòng)數(shù)據(jù)信號(hào)的無人機(jī)。
“As soon as we turned it on, people just started connecting to it instantly,”
“我們一打開，人們立刻就開始連網(wǎng)了，”
says Art Pregler, AT&T’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems program director.
AT&T無人機(jī)系統(tǒng)項(xiàng)目主管阿特·普雷格勒說道。
His team operated the Flying COW, short for “cell on wheels,” from the parking lot of a Walmart on the island,
就是他的團(tuán)隊(duì)在島上的一家沃爾瑪停車場操作“飛牛”，COW是“長翅膀的基地臺(tái)”的縮寫，
which provided the Internet connection for the airborne cell tower.
為機(jī)載蜂窩基站提供互聯(lián)網(wǎng)連接。
With any technology, there are certain inflection points
任何技術(shù)都有一定的拐點(diǎn)，
when it goes from being something perpetually in the near future to being a part of everyday life.
從永遠(yuǎn)停留在不久的將來變成日常生活的一部分。
For years, drones have been hovering on the cusp—
多年來，無人機(jī)一直盤旋在尖端領(lǐng)域——
used by militaries and relatively small numbers of hobbyists but not part of the larger culture.
只有軍方和小部分業(yè)余愛好者使用，并沒有進(jìn)入普羅大眾的生活。
The U.S. military ushered in the drone age in 2001,
美國軍方2001年就挺進(jìn)了無人機(jī)時(shí)代，
when it began using the unmanned, remotely piloted technology to target al-Qaeda leaders in the wilds of Afghanistan.
開始利用這一無人駕駛的遙控技術(shù)攻擊阿富汗野外的基地組織頭目。
Drones have since become a key part of the military’s arsenal,
從那時(shí)起，無人機(jī)就成了我方軍火庫的重要組成部分，
and their use in conflict zones around the world has expanded under both the Obama and Trump Administrations.
無論是奧巴馬政府還是特朗普政府，無人機(jī)在世界各地的沖突地區(qū)的應(yīng)用范圍都已越來越廣。
Civilian uses, however, have long been more promise than reality.
然而，長期以來，無人機(jī)在民用領(lǐng)域一直都更像是一種希望而非現(xiàn)實(shí)。
That’s finally changing.
如今，這一形勢終于發(fā)生了改變。
Some 3 million drones were sold worldwide in 2017,
2017年，全球無人機(jī)銷量達(dá)到了近300萬架，
and more than 1 million drones are registered for U.S. use with the Federal Aviation Administration.
其中在美國聯(lián)邦航空管理局登記的就超過100萬架。
(Most store-bought drones have to be registered with the FAA.)
(大部分于商店購買的無人機(jī)都必須到聯(lián)邦航空局注冊。)
These consumer drones can fly vertically, like helicopters, and are similar to remote-controlled airplanes
這些消費(fèi)級(jí)無人機(jī)可以像直升機(jī)一樣垂直飛行，還和遙控飛機(jī)有些類似，
but with more sophisticated technology such as GPS, wi-fi and obstacle-avoidance sensors.
但相比遙控飛機(jī)還擁有更先進(jìn)的技術(shù)，如GPS、wi-fi和避障傳感器。
They’re being used by tech-savvy farmers to monitor and spray crops,
精通技術(shù)的農(nóng)民用它們來監(jiān)測和播撒農(nóng)作物，
by researchers to measure environmental pollution and by Hollywood studios to capture action-packed footage for blockbuster movies.
研究人員用它們測量環(huán)境污染，好萊塢電影公司用它們來拍攝大片的動(dòng)作場面。
Drones are even saving lives, as first responders in places like Menlo Park, Calif.,
它們甚至還被用來拯救生命，加州門洛帕克等地用無人機(jī)開展急救工作，
use them to coordinate operations and search for missing hikers.
用它們來配合行動(dòng)，尋找失蹤的徒步旅行者。
(Sixty five people have been rescued by drones, by one estimate.)
(據(jù)估計(jì)，已有65人被無人機(jī)救出。)
And of course, drones are being flown by hundreds of thousands of amateurs,
當(dāng)然，還有成千上萬的業(yè)余愛好者在操作無人機(jī)，
who use them for everything from taking vacation photos to buzzing around their local park.
用它們拍旅行照片或是在當(dāng)?shù)毓珗@飛著玩等等等等。
While businesses used the first wave of drones to take overhead real estate photos and deliver pizza for public relations stunts,
雖然企業(yè)最早利用無人機(jī)拍攝地產(chǎn)鳥瞰照片，為公關(guān)噱頭遞送披薩等，
now companies are experimenting in ways that could dramatically change entire industries.
如今，企業(yè)已經(jīng)開始投入一些可能顯著改變整個(gè)行業(yè)的未來的試驗(yàn)。
Amazon is working on drones that could deliver packages within minutes,
亞馬遜正在研發(fā)幾分鐘就能完成包裹遞送的無人機(jī)，
a technology that could one day be used for time-sensitive health emergencies like organ shipments.
有朝一日，這項(xiàng)技術(shù)或許可以應(yīng)用到爭分奪秒的突發(fā)衛(wèi)生事件，比如器官運(yùn)輸領(lǐng)域。
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