Over the last few years, a variety of technological innovations and new regulations within the drone industry have unlocked new possibilities for how these systems can transform workflows and drive greater efficiency than ever before. More industries than ever are starting to adopt UAVs into their regular workflows, and industry veterans are expanding their usage to cover more areas of their projects. With these growing capabilities, however, comes more complexity. Organizations need to navigate ever-evolving technology along with shifting regulatory environments, all while maintaining their day-to-day workload.
The keynote session, which kicked off the third and final day of this year’s Commercial UAV Expo, was all about this very topic. In a panel discussion format, industry veterans discussed how they have seen successful organizations and users untangle all of this confusion and the power of collaboration for overcoming the complexities. Moderated by Chris Fleming of Cyberhawk, the 50-minute discussion included insights from Cyberhawk’s Scott Lashmit, Flytbase’s Nitin Gupta, and 3 MAD Air’s Michelle Duquette, looking at the topic through three lenses: regulations, service providers, and future technology.
Duquette’s past experience working for the FAA gave her a great perspective on how they think about collaboration with the industry on the regulatory side. She looked back at traditional aviation’s own path in regulations, talking about the capabilities created by Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) in the 1990s, and how critical that has become. She believes the UAV sector can benefit the same way.
“I think we have that same opportunity here with this community,” she told the keynote crowd. “We’re right now in our nascent stages where it’s uncomfortable sharing information. We have a lot of competitors. However, there are lessons that we can learn from legacy aviation that actually show that the more information we’re able to share in a meaningful way, the more efficiencies we can gain.”
In collaborating with the regulatory bodies from the industry side, one of the major themes that came through during this discussion was the idea of keeping things simple and avoiding buzzwords, something that was expressed by both Duquette and Lashmit. The latter was speaking from the service provider side of the equation, and he shared his advice on how to collaborate with regulatory bodies. One, he said, was that if you are new to filing requests for Certificates of Authorizations (COA), start small and just get used to using the website to open a line of communication.
Additionally, he spoke about the importance of collaboration between those in the industry.
“I believe the industry writ large needs more cooperation and partnerships,” he said. “I’m happy to discuss, and even if you’re a one-person operation and you have no idea where to start, I’ve been there a decade ago.”
Finally, Gupta spoke from the perspective of the technology side, specifically talking about all of the power that artificial intelligence will be able to unlock as we look forward in this industry. He said that he is supporting regulators and other groups from that technology perspective, as he believes it’s important to shape the future of the sector.
“I’m supporting the regulators and everyone else in this chain, because technology becomes an enabler for trust. Technology becomes an enabler for mitigating risks.”
Speaking about AI, he called out how important it is that providers start to get used to using this technology, as those who are prepared now will be able to thrive in the future. In fact, he went so far as to say that AI is becoming “a new operating system for humanity.
Following that panel discussion, the keynote ended with the announcement of the annual Officer Eric Talley Memorial Award, given out by DRONERESPONDERS. The award is in honor of Boulder police officer Eric Talley, who was tragically killed while responding to an active shooter incident in 2021. Since then, this award has been given to celebrate outstanding leadership in the management of public safety UAS operations.
Jason Day was on hand to announce this year’s winner, with the award going to Officer Matt Rowland, a 20-year veteran of the Fort Wayne Police Department in Indiana. Office Rowland helped launch the department's Air Support Unit in 2017 as one of the founding members, with Day saying this laid the ground for what would become “one of the most forward-thinking public safety UAS programs in the country.”
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