What’s involved in performing validation and testing of BVLOS and Safety protocols?
For that question, we turn to Andy Thurling, Chief Technology Officer of the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance. NUAIR, as its commonly known, is a New York-based nonprofit with a mission to safely integrate uncrewed aircraft systems into the national airspace, enabling scalable, economically viable commercial drone operations. NUAIR manages operations of the FAA-designated New York UAS Test Site at Griffiss International Airport, Rome, NY on behalf of Oneida County and is responsible for the advancement of New York’s 50-mile UAS Corridor between Rome and Syracuse, NY.
Andy leads technical research on current and future UAS technologies. He also evaluates potential paths to implementation, industry standards for approval by regulators, and test techniques to verify compliance. Prior to NUAIR, Andy was Director of Product Safety and Mission Assurance at AeroVironment where he led airworthiness, certification, and airspace access strategic efforts.In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Andy talks about NUAIR, the current efforts in testing BVLOS protecols, and validation of safety standards for UAS systems. We also talk about this year’s Xponential 2022 conference in Orlando and why we should all attend.
What is the best way to get your message out?
Dawn Zoldi is a retired Colonel from the United States Air Force. She is also a licensed attorney and the founder and CEO of P3 Tech Consulting. P3 Tech Consulting connects people who have a passion for advanced tech platforms with the plans, programs, policies and information they need to succeed.
Prior to starting P3 Tech Consulting, Dawn spent nearly 25 years of active duty as a member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps as a military attorney, where she performed a myriad of duties at various command echelons in the continental U.S. and deployed forward.
Dawn holds a number of distinctions. She is an internationally recognized expert on unmanned aircraft systems and advanced air mobility law and policy, listed in the eVTOL Insights 2022 Powerbook, one of the Top Women in Aerospace and Aviation to Follow on LinkedIn 2021 and a recipient of the Woman to Watch in UAS Leadership Award 2019.
Her endeavors in the drone law, regulatory and policy arena include roles as a consultant for multiple aerospace companies, aerospace and defense contributor to Forbes.com, legal columnist for Inside Unmanned Systems and Inside GNSS magazines, guest contributor to several other publications, host the popular weekly Dawn of Drones podcast and conference planner.
In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Dawn talks about P3 Tech Consulting and the importance of connecting with others through various ways to get your message out. We also talk about this year’s Xponential 2022 conference in Orlando and why we should all attend.
How is Texas Advancing Urban Air Mobility?
Michael Hill is CEO and Founder of Cumulus Technologies, a drone technology company based in the Dallas / Ft. Worth area. Michael is one of the top subject matter experts in the areas of Advanced Air Mobility and their integration on the land, in the air and at sea. He is a Part 107 Pilot with over 1,980 hours of flight time, a consultant helping companies use Drones and Ai to create safer, more efficient working environments and has helped NASA and the FAA develop Unmanned Traffic Management protocols for our National Airspace.
In 2021, the Texas Legislature passed SB 763 – which established a new committee charged with identifying potential changes in state regulations needed to facilitate the development of Urban Air Mobility operations and infrastructure in Texas. The committee must report its finding and recommendations Texas Transportation Commission and legislature by Sept. 1, 2022.
Michael is a member of the Texas Urban Air Mobility Advisory Committee and has been working with other committee members, industry leaders and the Texas legislature in implementing SB 763.
In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Michael talks about SB 763 and the Urban Air Mobility Advisory Committee, the efforts by the State of Texas and the North Central Texas Council of Governments to promote urban air mobility, and how Texas is positioning itself to be a leader in advance air mobility systems.
How is it possible to stop a rogue drone when there are crowds of people nearby?
Jeffrey Starr is Chief Marketing Officer at D-Fend Solutions. D-Fend Solutions is a technology company that supports the growth of safe and secure drone adoption with innovative solutions that defend against rogue drone threats. The company’s EnforceAir system has protected some of the world’s most important leaders, gatherings and organizations from the threat of rogue drones, including the G7 Summit and championship sporting events with tens of thousands of fans in attendance. This non-jamming, non-kinetic solution has been selected as a best-in-class radio frequency (RF), cyber-takeover system. In September 2021, a rogue drone appeared over a large public Mass led by Pope Francis in Slovakia. The threat was neutralized by EnforceAir without any disruption.
Jeffry brings a track record of generating revenue and building market leadership through visionary business strategies. Prior to joining D-Fend Solutions, Jeffrey served as CMO and in executive roles at AlgoSec, Cellebrite, Verisk 3E, Magic Software Enterprises and Amdocs. Jeffrey also served as General Partner at Mission Ventures VC fund and as an Analyst at Booz Allen.
In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Jeffrey talks about D-Fend Solutions, the company’s innovative EnforceAir drone detection and mitigation system and how it successfully and safely neutralized a drone threat to Pope Francis in 2021.
What’s the latest in UAS Flight Controllers?
Kirill Shilov is Founder and CEO of Sky-Drones Technologies. Sky-Drones creates professional full stack UAV avionics solutions, such as flight control, ground control and communication systems as well as a cloud based management platform. The company helps its global customers build and operate drones for security and commercial applications. The company has an outstanding background in research and development, as well as manufacturing and delivering products and solutions for the future UAV market.
With a Masters in Aerospace Engineering, Kirill majored in Flight Dynamics and Control. His professional areas of interest include flight control systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, autopilot systems, electronics, software and embedded programming. Before starting Sky-Drones Technologies he worked as an engineer at ACSL in Tokyo and Perspective Robotics in Zurich.In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Kirill talks about Sky-Drones Technologies, the company’s flight control systems and how the technology is supporting enterprise clients across the globe.
What does real time autonomous UAS operations look like?
Barry Alexander is Founder and CEO of Aquiline Drones, a drone manufacturing and full service UAS company based in Hartford Connecticut. Aquiline offers full-service, UAV solutions with equipment, personnel and cloud infrastructure for a multitude of use cases. They have redefined the entire unmanned aerial vehicle landscape by developing a unified, real-time cloud with autonomous flight capabilities, edge computing and AI enabled data insights. This includes drone manufacturing, air carrier service, autonomous UAS services, insurance, training and UAS cloud computing services. Driven by the Aquiline Cloud, a dedicated hybrid-cloud services platform, their solutions provide increased applicability across industries and environments.
Barry brings over 25 years’ experience as an aviator and licensed aircraft technician for both airplanes and helicopters. He has spent most of his career working as an Airline Captain for various airlines, with over 22,000 hours of logged flight time, with his last assignment flying Boeing 747 aircraft globally - mainly in support of US military operations. Barry possesses key expertise in several areas of flight operations and management working as a Flight Instructor, Chief Pilot, Director of Operations and has led other successful and non-aviation ventures in the areas of health information systems, electronic payment systems and digital media.
In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Barry talks about Aquiline Drones, its full service Drone stack solution and their efforts to achieve true autonomy.
What does the mailbox of the future look like?
Dan O’Toole is a serial entrepreneur and business leader who is among the first in the United States to secure patents for a smart mailbox designed to securely accept packages delivered by drone. With those patents he founded and is the CEO of DroneDek.
The phone, the automobile, air travel and all of the other conveniences of our day-to-day lives have been updated, but mailboxes have not been disrupted since 1858 when they were first introduced. Drone delivery will increase efficiency, lower costs, raise convenience and speed, but that only solves half of the equation. To complete the final mile solution there must be a safe, secure, weatherproof receptacle, that is capable of housing items and notifying customers of their delivery. That’s where DroneDekcomes in. DroneDek brings the mailbox into the 21st-century and completes the last mile solution through its smart mailbox, app-driven solution and marketplace.
In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Dan talks about DroneDek, it’s revolutionary mailbox for drone deliveries and how the technology is about to radically change our lives for the better.
Can a drone help build a better solar roof?
Sinuhe Montoya is CEO and founder of Drone Quote, a web-based solar roofing company. Drone Quote works with drone pilots throughout the country to provide easy and precise estimates of solar roof installation projects. After the solar installation is complete, the pilots conduct a final inspection flight to verify the quality of the work performed. The company’s unique approach is driving solar adoption and it illustrates just one more innovative way that drones are providing real value.
In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Sinuhe talks about Drone Quote, the use of drones to promote solar and how he built a successful drone based business.
Is there a way to protect whole cities from drone incursions?
Aaditya Devarakonda (AD) is CEO of Dedrone, a world leader in protecting organizations from malicious drones by securing the airspace using advanced hardware and software technology.
Today’s security requires a layered approach that keeps up with the evolution of drone technology. Dedrone’s sensors, software and communication technology detects, classifies, and protects against drone threats, including localizing the drone. Their passive and active countermeasures can be triggered, tailoring the defense mechanism to the severity of the threat. The company works with smart city customers as well as those across public safety, critical infrastructure, governments, correctional facilities, and enterprises to protect against unwanted drones.
As CEO of Dedrone, AD oversees the company's global growth and continues to build on its reputation as the market leader in smart airspace security. He brings a deep understanding of regulatory environment, industry dynamics and AI/Machine Learning technology to his role at Dedrone. His career includes working with companies leading the frontier technology world of IoT, 5G, semiconductors and next-gen security platforms. Prior to Dedrone, AD served as a senior member of the Technology Investment Banking Group at Centerview Partners. He has also held strategic finance and investment roles at Credit Suisse and Procter & Gamble.
In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, AD talks about Dedrone’s detection solutions, an innovative partnership with Swisscom Broadcast to protect their clients from drone incursions and how this technology could, in the future, as a shield to protect cities.
The 2022 NestGen will bring together leaders in the UAS automation sector to share experiences and technologies. In recent years, modular and autonomous drone-in-a-box systems have displayed a highly disruptive potential in increasing the quality and efficiency of aerial data, acquisition and management. However, as they are still a nascent and niche technology, there has been little emphasis on growing and supporting those that are involved in creating such systems. Navigating the rich and diverse ecosystem of the drone automation market is a daunting, but necessary, task. For all drone based businesses to encourage global collaboration in forging a platform for these businesses, Flytbase created the NextGen Summit. In this edition of the drone radio show, Achal Negi, Head of Business Development for Flytbase, talks about NestGen, what attendees will learn and how you can be a part of this monumental event.
What's the latest in drone-in-a-box solutions? Achal Negi is head of business development for Flytbase and Curt Lary is lead engineer and CEO for Hextronics. Flytbase is a Silicon Valley company that has build the world's first internet-of-drones platform to automate and scale drone operations. Hextronics is an engineering and manufacturing company that designs and produces scalable autonomous drone hardware solutions in a cost-effective manner. Both companies are leaders in their respective verticals, and they formed a partnershjip to produce a powerful low-cost autonomous drone-in-a-box solution. In this episode of the Drone Radio Show, Achal and Curt talk about Flytbase and Hextronics, their drone-in-a-box product and software, and the future of autonomous drone operations.
For that question, we head to Colorado to speak with Ken Geyer CEO and co-founder of Liteye Systems, Inc and Keven Gambold, CEO and co-founder of Unmanned Experts. Liteye Systems is a world leader and technology solutions manufacturer and integrator of military and commercial Counter UAS systems. Unmanned Experts is a world-leading provider of Subject Matter Expertise in the fields of autonomous robotics, swarms, UTM, and mass data. The companies recently formed a partnership to address drone swarms.
Ken is an entrepreneur who launched eight companies, including co-founding and starting Liteye back in January 2000. From virtual reality hardware & software to the new frontier of counter unmanned systems, his focus has been on developing, and advancing products that provide end-users with the tools to achieve their goals.
Keven completed 21 years of active duty service with the Royal Air Force as a front-line combat pilot. He has more than 1500 hours in Tornado GR4 fast-jets as well as over 1500 hours of unmanned combat missions. He completed his tours as the senior Standards Evaluator and the project officer for both Multi-Aircraft Control and Advanced UAV Cockpit programs.
In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Ken and Keven talk about their respective companies, the current state of UAS threats and the evolving threats posed by UAS Swarm technology.
How can using 3D model technology improve workflows of drone manufactures?
Patricia Hume is CEO of Canvas GFX, a company that develops visual communication and collaboration solutions. Canvas GFX is trusted by leading brands from verticals in aerospace and defense, automotive, commercial and domestic appliance, energy, and education. The company’s solutions bridge the divide between technical and graphics applications, empowering everyone to communicate and understand complex information with absolute clarity.
Pat’s career in software and high tech spans four decades. At Canvas GFX, she is responsible for creating and executing the company’s strategic vision. With a wealth of cross-functional experience and deep operational expertise across large companies and microcaps, she specializes in driving sustained growth and high-impact turnarounds.
Prior to joining Canvas, Patricia was chief operations officer at iPass, Inc., where she led global customer-facing activities until the company’s acquisition in February 2019. She has also served as chief revenue officer at Convio, senior vice president of Global Indirect Channels at SAP AG, group vice president of Avaya’s SMB Division, and CEO and president of VerticalNet Markets. She held numerous senior management positions during her 18-year service with IBM and Lotus.
In 2021, Canvas was selected by Zipline to optimize a range of visual documentation workflows. Launched in 2016 to deliver critical medical supplies, Zipline designs, manufactures and operates the world’s largest automated on-demand delivery service, which to date has made more than 200,000 commercial deliveries and has delivered millions of units of blood, vaccines and other critical medical products. Using the Canvas Envision platform, Zipline employees will have the ability to create rich, dynamic visual assets leveraging real 3D CAD data.
In this edition o f the Drone Radio Show, Patricia talks about Canvas GFX, the partnership with Zipline to create interactive 3D product models and the benefits of using new technologies to streamline workflows and communicate ideas.
What was 2021 like for the Drone Industry?
The best way to answer this question is to hear from some of those who helped shaped the industry in 2021. I’ve compiled a string of audio clips from my guests that provides an great image of the past year.
In this episode of the Drone Radio Show, we’ll hear from industry notables like Brandon Torres, Nick Flom, Brent Skorup, Amit Ganjoo, Phil Larsen, Romeo Duracher, Steven Flynn, Desmond Wheatley, Matt Dunlevy and others as they share their insights into their company and on the drone industry.
What does it mean to achieve the highest level of aerial Autonomy?
Nader Elm is CEO and Founder of Exyn Technologies. Exyn Technologies pioneers autonomous robot systems for complex, GPS-denied environments. The company’s full-stack solution enables flexible deployment of single or multi-robots that can intelligently navigate and dynamically adapt to complex environments in real time.
Earlier this year, the company announced that it had achieved what it considers the highest level of aerial autonomy reached within the UAS industry. Exyn drones are immune to GPS signal loss, meaning all spatial and mapping computations are done onboard. They can fly anywhere without a remote operator. This is a major step up from previous levels of autonomy, in which a human is required to potentially assume control, something that has prevented drones from entering spaces without ranging signals, such as underground mining locations.
Nader has spent his professional career in fast-growing technology domains, progressively moving from engineering roles to leadership of startups and strategic growth initiatives in large enterprises. He joined as CEO of EXYN Technologies at the company’s formation in 2014.
In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Nader talks about EXYN Technologies, it’s Level 4 autonomous drones, and how the company’s technology is successfully mapping dangerous and isolated underground locations in the mining industry, saving time and providing added safety benefits.
What is Evolving in the Global UAS Traffic Management Sector?
Amit Ganjoo is CEO and Founder of Anra Technologies, an Award Winning Drone Operations company based in Washington DC. The company’s award winning Platform is called SmartSkies™ is used by multiple commercial and government entities for running and managing commercial drone operations.
Amit is a serial entrepreneur and has over 20 years of aviation, telecom and wireless experience in both the federal and the commercial space. He is an engineer, a licensed pilot following a lifelong passion in aviation and he builds experimental aircrafts.
Until December 2016, Amit acted as the co-chair for the FCC’s Technical Advisory Council for 5G and Internet of Things, which included ground and airborne autonomous vehicles. He was the Director of Engineering at and Principal Architect at Ericsson, providing telecom solutions to commercial customers and Federal Government, where he was the recipient of the Athena Award. He was also the Founder and CEO of a Mobile Marketing company from which he had a successful exit in 2009.
Amit is an adjunct professor at the George Mason University and shares his passion for engineering by teaching in the School of Engineering and volunteers at a local Maker Space in the D.C. area.
In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Amit talks about Anra Technologies, its enterprise drone solutions, drone delivery, urban air mobility and the role the company plays in delivering unmanned traffic management systems to enterprise organizations.
How is NOAA using drones?
Commander Paul Hemmick is Chief of NOAA’s UAS Division at the Aircraft Operations Center. Commander Hemmick received his NOAA Commission in 2004, serving in multiple operational and staff level assignments throughout his 16-year career. He’s piloted large ships, flown planes and is now heading NOAA’s UAS operations. In this role, he oversees safety, policy, and fleet oversight spanning a wide range of UAS missions. With the recent formation of NOAA’s UAS Operations Center, he is involved with implementing emerging UAS technologies to force multiply data collection and scientific observations across the Agency.
In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Paul talks about NOAA’s mission, the use of uncrewed systems to study hurricanes and the role of NOAA’s UAS Division in spearheading value-added research using drones.
How are companies responding to UAS threats worldwide?
Lucas Le Bell is CEO and Co-Founder of Cerbair, a counter company protects sensitive sites and events from dangerous drone activity. Michael Monnik is a cyber security consultant and founder of DroneSec a drone-security service that provides organizations with life-saving alerts and data on drone threats to their assets. Drone Sec and Cerbair have signed a partnership through which CERBAIR will provide its customers with weekly information in French, English, and Arabic on developing threats identified by DroneSec.
The DroneSec team comprises analysts including former hackers, military drone pilots and fighter pilots; the company audits, trains and informs its clients on the risks posed by drones to sensitive infrastructure. The partnership also benefits from ad hoc data sources from “Notify”, the UAV Threat Intelligence database of more than 3,000 incidents classified by severity. It is an example of how companies are working together to adapt to evolving drone threats worldwide
In this edition of the drone radio show, Lucas and Mike talk about their respective companies, the nature of today’s drone threats and their partnership to deliver an enhanced level of counter UAS threat intelligence.
What are AgEagle’s plans to serve the Drone Industry?
Brandon Torres Declet is CEO of AgEagle, a leading provider of full-stack drone solutions for customers worldwide in the energy, construction, agriculture, and government verticals. The company designs and delivers best-in-class drones, sensors, and software that solve significant problems. Prior to being named Chief Executive Officer of AgEagle, Brandon co-founded and was CEO at Measure, an aerial intelligence company that builds software to automate drone operations workflows. In April 2021, Measure was acquired by AgEagle, and Brandon was named Chief Operating Officer of the Company and was elected to the Board of Directors.
In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Brandon talks about AgEagle, current customer needs and overall trends in the drone industry.
Is India the next hot spot for unmanned business?
Ankit Mehta is Co-founder & CEO of ideaForge, India’s largest manufacturer of drones for defense, homeland security and industrial applications. Founded in 2007, the company has a consistent market share of over 90% in the Security & Surveillance segment. It is also the first company to indigenously develop and manufacture Vertical Take-off and Landing UAVs in India. IdeaForge is the pioneer in the UAV industry in India and has multiple IPs to its credit, including the then world’s lightest autopilot in 2009. The company has deployed over 1000 systems and has trained more than 1400 pilots in defense, public safety and security. The company is continually innovating and experimenting to transform its aerial platforms, to offer greater performance, higher reliability and autonomy.
At ideaForge, Ankit is leading the charge to deliver cutting-edge technology that is Made-in-India and second to none. One of those innovations is the IdeaForge SWITCH UAV, a first of its kind VTOL and fixed wing hybrid Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. SWITCH features advanced flight time, higher safety and simple operation with additional fail-safe redundancies. It is used for long duration operations, long endurance surveillance and security, inspection and photogrammetry. It is so good, the Indian Army selected the Switch above all others earlier this year to strengthen its unmanned presence.
In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Ankit talks about IdeaForge, the Switch UAV and how the company became India’s leading drone manufacturer.
How can small drone companies use their experience to tap into larger businesses opportunities?
Rolf Schlub is founder of TerraCam, a drone services company based in Johannesburg, South Africa. TerraCam was founded in 2012 to satisfy the growing trend of remote sensing in industries such as mining, land surveying, construction, urban development, security and agriculture. The company is one of the first operators of commercial drones in Africa. It started delivering drone services directly to customers, but today, TerraCam specializes in the integration of professional drone solutions for clients wanting to establish their own in-house drone capabilities. After the integration, clients can independently conduct on demand aerial surveys, aerial photography, blast filming, mine maps and much more.
In this episode of the Drone Radio Show, Rolf talks about TerraCam and how it successfully transitioned from a direct service provider to an integrator.
Can small UAS businesses thrive in this changing industry?
Today’s guest has proven they can. Matt Dunlevy is founder of SkySkopes, an unmanned aircraft systems flight operations company based in Grand Forks, North Dakota. SkySkopes is a professional service provider with a highly qualified operations and geospatial team. They operate a wide variety of advanced sensors and aircraft for transmission and distribution line inspections, oil and gas applications, and many other innovative use cases that focus on adding value.
Matt founded SkySkopes in 2014 and secured the first FAA permission to fly UAS for business in North Dakota. Since then, he has success sfully navigated the company’s growth through the changes and evolution of the drone industry. A lifelong aviation enthusiast, Matt has taught numerous UAS courses at the University of North Dakota such as UAS Business, UAS Engineering, and UAS Ethics.
Matt was also one of my guests on the first year of the Drone Radio Show podcast. At that time, the company was only about 1 year old and just starting to find its way in the energy sector.
In this episode of the Drone Radio Show, Matt returns to talks about Sky Scopes, how the company has grown over the past 7 years and the lessons learned in creating a drone-based energy services company.
Can a drone help to speed up the flight check of landing systems at airports?
For that question, we head to Chelaybinsk, Russia to talk with Vitaly Munirov, CEO of Cursir, a Russian based company that produces innovative drone-based solutions for flight inspection of navigation and landing systems at airports. The company uses UAVs to calibrate, check and configure navigation aids at Russian airports resulting in huge cost savings to air traffic management organizations.
Cursir was founded in 2015 as a spin-off project of Russian landing and navigation systems manufacturer RTS Union. Vitaly has 14 years of experience in the aviation industry. Prior to leading Cursir, Vitaly spent several years as the chief of the research and development department.
In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Vitaly talks about Cursir, its innovative flight inspection system and how it will transform air management operations.
Joining Vitaly will be Lena Nimchenko and Aleksandr Shushkov, both part of the Cursir team.
Michael holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. He’s been working on Linebird for over 3 years and is a proud member of Richmond, VA’s startup ecosystem. As CEO, Michael leads research, development, and commercialization along with fundraising, IP strategy, and customer discovery efforts.
In this episode of the Drone Radio Show, Michael talks about Linebird, its innovative method for using drones to measure live wire electric currents, and how the technology can dramatically improve safety and ROI.
Where Can American Drone Companies Go To innovate?
Preston Huntington is the Client Relations Manager at Xelevate Solutions, the mid-atlantic regions premier UAS Center of Excellence located in Leesburg, VA. With on-location labs, and varied operational areas, Xelevate offers innovators and operators a safe location to mature unmanned products, policies, and procedures in any industry.
Prior to Xelevate, Preston served as a Program Analyst at the United States Marshal’s Procurement HQ team working side-by-side with law enforcement contractors. His career has also seen him serve in various roles in the higher education industry eventually becoming the Director of Admissions at the Texas A&M Bush School of Government & Public Service in Washington D.C. Preston has a Masters in International Relations and a Bachelors in History from Norwich.
In this episode of the Drone Radio Show, Preston introduces us to the Xelevate UAS Center of Excellence, and shares how the center can help strengthen American position and presence in the drone industry.