Development of Resilient Drones for Harsh Arctic Environment: Challenges, Opportunities, and Enabling Technologies

The Arctic is one of the least developed and most under-invested regions in the world, primarily due to its harsh environment and remoteness. However, with the current retreat of Arctic sea ice, the pristine Arctic region is gradually open for economic activities and has been of great interest for Arctic council members. For example, the European Union (EU) Integrated Policy for the Arctic has a clear emphasis on the issues specific to the European Arctic. In particular, it focuses on sustainable Arctic maritime economic growth and launches a process of identifying and developing its relevant key enabling technologies. Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) or drone is a key enabling technology for missions in harsh and remote Arctic environment, such as finding shorter and safer shipping routes, geological survey for undiscovered rare earth elements, delivering medical supplies to remote areas, Search & Rescue operations, and tracking Arctic ice and vegetation for climate change study. In this paper, we present challenges, opportunities, and enabling technologies related to the development of UAS for Arctic applications. Furthermore, we discuss our hands-on experience of flying drones in harsh Arctic environment and provide a list of operational risks and recommendations.