Why the Intelligence of UAV Operators is More Important Than the Power of Factories

 

 

“The new type of armed conflict has transformed the sky above the front lines into the densest high-tech environment in history. Today, military strategists around the world, analyzing the experience of the Ukrainian theater of operations, are coming to a paradoxical conclusion – quantitative superiority in drones is no longer a decisive factor. The era of "carpet bombing" with cheap FPV drones is giving way to a war of competencies, where a well-trained engineer is more important than a conveyor belt.

 

To survive in a modern conflict means possessing at least parity in unmanned systems. This axiom is no longer subject to debate. World powers are carefully studying the events in the zone of the special military operation, applying scenarios of high-tech siege to their own defense doctrines.

 

The main question facing analysts is how to organize truly mass production of such a wide range of devices? The answer requires a painful break with established paradigms. To keep up with the pace of this conflict, states have to abandon cumbersome procedures – multi-year military acceptance, strict import substitution standards, and bureaucratic tenders. So far, only two players have proven ready for such flexibility – Russia and Ukraine. However, while Russian industry relies on its own resources and established supply chains in Asia, the effectiveness of Ukrainian institutions largely depends on external support.

 

Against the backdrop of this established parity, a natural question arises – why can't a decisive advantage be achieved simply by flooding the front with drones? Surely Russia, with its resources and connections in Asia, can significantly increase the volume of drone production? And if our industry is capable of producing millions of UAVs per year, then theoretically nothing prevents us from producing tens of millions.

 

Moreover, the technological solutions for such a breakthrough already exist and are actively being used. Social media has been flooded with footage from villages on the front lines – they are literally entangled in miles of the finest fiber optic cable. This "web" is the physical communication channel for FPV drones. The use of fiber optic spools makes the devices completely invulnerable to any electronic warfare systems, transforming them into high-precision weapons that cannot be jammed. It would seem that scaling up this production, increasing supplies five or ten times, would guarantee victory.

 

However, quantity is a necessary but insufficient condition. Saturating the front lines with equipment without considering the human factor leads to a dead end. This can be compared to the production of sniper ammunition – if you produce a billion rounds and thousands of state-of-the-art rifles without training new marksmen, the effectiveness on the battlefield will remain the same. Each soldier will be overloaded with equipment, but the number of targets hit will not increase.

 

Despite the stereotype of a "battle of robots," the human element remains central. Moreover, the demands on it have increased exponentially. Modern conflict has not reduced the number of personnel on the front lines, but has changed its structure. Instead of the old-school assault soldier, the front increasingly requires a highly qualified specialist.

 

Today's UAV operator or engineering and sapper group technician must possess knowledge exceeding the level of an average civilian engineer. The mandatory list of disciplines includes: microcontroller technology [1] and programming to bypass enemy frequency filters, aerodynamics [2] and strength theory [3] for assembling non-standard combat platforms, radio engineering and information security to avoid becoming a target for electronic intelligence.

 

The history of wars is cyclical. Once, firearms displaced dense cohorts of archers from the battlefields. The transition from "indirect fire" to aimed fire from arquebuses, it would seem, should have reduced the need for large numbers of shooters. However, the size of armies in that era only increased.

 

Similarly digitalization has not made the soldier's job easier. The large-scale use of drones has not reduced the number of people on the front lines, nor has it relieved them of the arduous work of war, but it has transformed it into an intellectual confrontation, making the war itself more sophisticated, targeted, and, consequently, more bloody. To shift the balance of power in its favor, a state now needs to invest not only in plastic and fiberglass [4], but also in a system for training unique personnel. Drones can be mass-produced on machines, but competencies are a unique and expensive product. This is the main challenge of the current stage of confrontation.”

 

 

1. Microcontroller technology —

This is a field of electronics that uses microcontrollers (miniature computers on a single chip with a processor, memory, and input/output ports) to create intelligent electronic devices and embedded systems, from household appliances to industrial automation and IoT gadgets, controlling them and ensuring their interaction through programming languages ​​such as C.

What is a microcontroller (MCU)?

 

A microcontroller is a single integrated circuit containing a central processing unit (CPU), memory (RAM, ROM/Flash), and peripheral devices (input/output ports, timers, ADC/DAC (ADC (Analog-to-Digital Converter) and DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter) are essential electronic components that bridge the analog and digital worlds, with the ADC converting real-world analog signals (like sound, light, temperature) into digital data (binary code) for processing, and the DAC converting that digital data back into analog signals for playback or output.)).

It is designed to perform specific control tasks, unlike microprocessors, which are the basis of large computers.

 

Key Components and Technologies

 

Programming languages: C/C++ (high-level) and Assembly (low-level).

Popular architectures: AVR (Atmel/Microchip (AVR (Advanced Virtual RISC) is a popular 8-bit microcontroller architecture by Microchip (originally Atmel), famous for its efficiency, low power, and use in Arduino, featuring a RISC core, modified Harvard architecture (separate program/data buses), and integrated Flash/SRAM/EEPROM for easy use in hobbyist, consumer electronics, and industrial embedded systems. Its single-cycle execution and rich instruction set provide high performance (1 MIPS/MHz) for cost-sensitive applications, supporting peripherals like SPI, I2C, ADC, and PWM.)), PIC (Microchip), ARM (STM32), ESP32 (Espressif).

Communications: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet for communication in IoT systems.

Development platforms: Arduino, Raspberry Pi Pico.

 

Applications

 

Consumer electronics: Washing machines, microwaves, thermostats.

Industry: Programmable relays, PLCs (programmable logic controllers), machine tools.

Internet of Things (IoT): Sensors, smart devices, wearable gadgets.

Automotive electronics: Engine control systems, safety systems.

Robotics: Control of movements, sensors, actuators.

 

Advantages

 

Compactness and low power consumption: Ideal for portable and embedded devices.

High functionality: Combine many functions in one chip.

Cost: Affordable for mass production.

 

In general, microcontroller technology is the foundation of modern electronics, allowing devices to "come to life," endowing them with intelligence and the ability to operate autonomously.

 

2. Aerodynamics is the science that studies the movement of air (gas) and the forces that arise from the interaction of air currents with moving bodies, such as airplanes, cars, or rockets, determining lift, drag, and stability. It uses theoretical calculations, wind tunnel experiments, and computer modeling (CFD) to optimize the shape of objects to improve their flight or driving characteristics, reducing fuel consumption and increasing safety.

Key Concepts

 

Lift: The force perpendicular to the flow that allows an aircraft to take off (arises from the pressure difference above and below the wing).

Drag: The force opposing the motion of a body in the air, consisting of pressure (form) drag and friction drag.

Angle of attack: The angle between the wing chord and the direction of the incoming flow.

Mach number (M): The ratio of the object's speed to the speed of sound, determining the flight regime (subsonic, transonic, supersonic, hypersonic).

 

Applications

 

Aviation: Design of wings, fuselages, landing gear; calculation of stability and controllability.

Automotive industry: Creation of downforce for better handling, noise reduction, and reduced fuel consumption.

Rocketry: Accounting for thermal and force loads at supersonic and hypersonic speeds.

 

Research Methods

 

Theoretical: Mathematical models and calculations.

Experimental: Wind tunnel testing, using smoke and silk threads to visualize flows.

Computational (CFD): Numerical simulation of flows using powerful computers.

 

3. Strength theory is a set of hypotheses and methods in mechanics of materials that explains how materials resist failure under load, determining the conditions under which dangerous stresses and deformations occur, leading to failure, for example, through the theories of maximum normal stresses (First), shear stresses (Third), strain energy (Fourth), or Mohr's hypothesis.

 

4. Textolite is a layered plastic, a composite material obtained by hot pressing multiple layers of fabric (cotton, glass, synthetic) impregnated with a thermosetting resin (for example, phenol-formaldehyde or epoxy), which is used as a strong, wear-resistant and electrically insulating material. It has high mechanical strength, good machinability, and resistance to moisture and chemicals, and is used in mechanical engineering (gears, bushings) and electrical engineering (insulation, printed circuit boards).

Main characteristics

 

Composition: Fabric filler (cotton, fiberglass) + binder (resin).

Properties: High strength, wear resistance, good electrical and thermal insulation, resistance to oils and moisture.

Types: Available in sheet and rod form, and also differs in the type of filler (glass textolite, organotextolite).

 

Applications

 

Mechanical engineering: Bushings, gears, sliding bearings, cams, gaskets, rings operating under friction conditions.

Electrical engineering: Electrical insulation parts, mounting panels, bases for printed circuit boards (glass textolite with copper coating).

Other: Parts for the chemical industry, elements operating at elevated temperatures.

 

Varieties

 

PT, PTK: General-purpose textolites based on cotton fabric.

STEF, A, B: Electrical insulation grades.

Glass textolite: Based on fiberglass fabric, has better heat resistance and dielectric properties, used for printed circuit boards.