Footage like this has helped cement the place of drones in the American psyche as a deadly tool of modern warfare. But Fresno State professor Gregory Kriehn hopes to change that.
"I believe this is a really transformative technology," said Kriehn.
Since 2007 Kriehn has headed the school's unmanned aerial systems project.
"We began to think and expand our horizons and our scope and think about applications that would really benefit the central valley," said Kriehn.
That includes everything from monitoring crops with infrared cameras to spot crop dusting.
"A UAV or a drone can cover so much more area, it can provide you with video, it can provide you with GPS coordinates," said Private Investigator Rocky Pipkin.
Pipkin sees unmanned aircraft as the future of crime prevention for farmers and business owners in the valley, but the question remains, is it legal.
"Out in the open, out in the street, out on the sidewalk, that's pretty much going to be fair game for surveillance as it is now," said CBS47 Legal Expert Carl Faller.
Faller does say the same privacy rights currently in place would apply to unmanned aircraft as well. Over at Fresno State, invading people’s privacy is the last thing Dr. Kreihn is thinking about. He says the school is currently in the process of getting an FAA license for their new aircraft. The UAV’s ability to fly on its own and its advanced capabilities make the license a necessity.
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