Weather constraints on global drone flyability

Abstract

Small aerial drones are used in a growing number of commercial applications. However, drones cannot fly in all weather, which impacts their reliability for time-sensitive operations. The magnitude and global variability of weather impact is poorly understood. We explore weather-limited drone flyability (the proportion of time drones can fly safely) by comparing historical wind speed, temperature, and precipitation data to manufacturer-reported thresholds of common commercial and weather-resistant drones with a computer simulation. We show that global flyability is highest in warm and dry continental regions and lowest over oceans and at high latitudes. Median global flyability for common drones is low: 5.7 h/day or 2.0 h/day if restricted to daylight hours. Weather-resistant drones have higher flyability (20.4 and 12.3 h/day, respectively). While these estimates do not consider all weather conditions, results suggest that improvements to weather resistance can increase flyability. An inverse analysis for major population centres shows the largest flyability gains for common drones can be achieved by increasing maximum wind speed and precipitation thresholds from 10 to 15 m/s and 0–1 mm/h, respectively.