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Drones Are Everywhere. Ge Used to It.
无人机已经无所不在 习惯就好
BY ALEX FITZPATRICK
文/阿历克斯·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，飓风玛利亚袭击波多黎各，摧毁了岛上的电网和通讯系统。
For weeks, many of the approximately 5 million Puerto Ricans living in the mainland U.S. were unable to reach their loved ones.
连续数周，居住在美国大陆的大约500万波多黎各人中的许多人都与他们的亲属失去了联络。
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复电力，援助物资之际，手机运营商也在抢修他们的网络。
To get its service back up and running, AT&T tried something new: the Flying COW,
为了恢复运营，AT&T想到了新的办法：“飞牛”（Flying Cow），
a tethered drone that beamed mobile-data signals up to 40 miles in all directions.
一种系有绳子，可向周围40英里范围内的任何方向发送移动数据信号的无人机。
“As soon as we turned it on, people just started connecting to it instantly,”
“我们一打开，人们立刻就开始连网了，”
says Art Pregler, AT&T’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems program director.
AT&T无人机系统项目主管阿特·普雷格勒说道。
His team operated the Flying COW, short for “cell on wheels,” from the parking lot of a Walmart on the island,
就是他的团队在岛上的一家沃尔玛停车场操作“飞牛”，COW是“长翅膀的基地台”的缩写，
which provided the Internet connection for the airborne cell tower.
为机载蜂窝基站提供互联网连接。
With any technology, there are certain inflection points
任何技术都有一定的拐点，
when it goes from being something perpetually in the near future to being a part of everyday life.
从永远停留在不久的将来变成日常生活的一部分。
For years, drones have been hovering on the cusp—
多年来，无人机一直盘旋在尖端领域——
used by militaries and relatively small numbers of hobbyists but not part of the larger culture.
只有军方和小部分业余爱好者使用，并没有进入普罗大众的生活。
The U.S. military ushered in the drone age in 2001,
美国军方2001年就挺进了无人机时代，
when it began using the unmanned, remotely piloted technology to target al-Qaeda leaders in the wilds of Afghanistan.
开始利用这一无人驾驶的遥控技术攻击阿富汗野外的基地组织头目。
Drones have since become a key part of the military’s arsenal,
从那时起，无人机就成了我方军火库的重要组成部分，
and their use in conflict zones around the world has expanded under both the Obama and Trump Administrations.
无论是奥巴马政府还是特朗普政府，无人机在世界各地的冲突地区的应用范围都已越来越广。
Civilian uses, however, have long been more promise than reality.
然而，长期以来，无人机在民用领域一直都更像是一种希望而非现实。
That’s finally changing.
如今，这一形势终于发生了改变。
Some 3 million drones were sold worldwide in 2017,
2017年，全球无人机销量达到了近300万架，
and more than 1 million drones are registered for U.S. use with the Federal Aviation Administration.
其中在美国联邦航空管理局登记的就超过100万架。
(Most store-bought drones have to be registered with the FAA.)
(大部分于商店购买的无人机都必须到联邦航空局注册。)
These consumer drones can fly vertically, like helicopters, and are similar to remote-controlled airplanes
这些消费级无人机可以像直升机一样垂直飞行，还和遥控飞机有些类似，
but with more sophisticated technology such as GPS, wi-fi and obstacle-avoidance sensors.
但相比遥控飞机还拥有更先进的技术，如GPS、wi-fi和避障传感器。
They’re being used by tech-savvy farmers to monitor and spray crops,
精通技术的农民用它们来监测和播撒农作物，
by researchers to measure environmental pollution and by Hollywood studios to capture action-packed footage for blockbuster movies.
研究人员用它们测量环境污染，好莱坞电影公司用它们来拍摄大片的动作场面。
Drones are even saving lives, as first responders in places like Menlo Park, Calif.,
它们甚至还被用来拯救生命，加州门洛帕克等地用无人机开展急救工作，
use them to coordinate operations and search for missing hikers.
用它们来配合行动，寻找失踪的徒步旅行者。
(Sixty five people have been rescued by drones, by one estimate.)
(据估计，已有65人被无人机救出。)
And of course, drones are being flown by hundreds of thousands of amateurs,
当然，还有成千上万的业余爱好者在操作无人机，
who use them for everything from taking vacation photos to buzzing around their local park.
用它们拍旅行照片或是在当地公园飞着玩等等等等。
While businesses used the first wave of drones to take overhead real estate photos and deliver pizza for public relations stunts,
虽然企业最早利用无人机拍摄地产鸟瞰照片，为公关噱头递送披萨等，
now companies are experimenting in ways that could dramatically change entire industries.
如今，企业已经开始投入一些可能显著改变整个行业的未来的试验。
Amazon is working on drones that could deliver packages within minutes,
亚马逊正在研发几分钟就能完成包裹递送的无人机，
a technology that could one day be used for time-sensitive health emergencies like organ shipments.
有朝一日，这项技术或许可以应用到争分夺秒的突发卫生事件，比如器官运输领域。
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
