Comment by squarefoot
2 years ago
You don't even need many drones for surveillance, just a few ones that deploy mini cameras using power lines both for power and communication. Cameras wouldn't need a battery to operate because they'd remain in place. No drive logic, no sensors, no motors, no batteries: much cheaper, just leave each one at regular distance and collect information remotely.
I should have probably left surveillance out because I was thinking less about panopticon style surveillance and more things like traffic patterns, crop growth, etc.
IT could have also less malicious uses, like wildfire monitoring for example. A 360 degree thermal camera hanging from a line would allow immediate warnings about the surrounding area long before some human notices.