Conference Information

Wondering what sort of insights the FAA wants to see in a Part 107 Operational Waiver Application or Part 91 UAS exemptions? Or how you can make it apparent that you’re identifying operational risks and mitigations for those risks to ensure you are flying safely? Or what goes into the FAA’s complete safety analysis? Members of the FAA that review these sorts of requests and more will be at the event to provide feedback around the most common challenges and questions that they see and address with the submissions they receive and the feedback they provide on a daily basis. Come with questions and be ready to capture details related to what’s important to the FAA, what it means to clearly identify your proposed operations and more.

Many professionals have come to realize how much data can be gathered in a safe, reliable, and cost-effective manner via drones, but surveyors in particular have come to understand that they can do more with less by using drones. What does it mean to create drone and data collection operations tailored to specific surveying and mapping projects? How can workflows be developed from the surveying side? Do you need 2mm accuracy for every job? What happens when you capture more data than needed?

There is currently a large gap between crewed and uncrewed aviation. That gap has cultivated a sense of mistrust across technologies and industries, but it’s one that extends to the general public as well. This CUAV Summit will discuss where the industry is today, how the technology will evolve over the next decade to bridge this gap, what regulatory changes will likely be necessary, and what challenges the industry will face related to passenger expectations and public acceptance. Industry stakeholders will talk through and answer these questions:

• What should we be doing as an industry to increase security and trust?

• How we can build better airspace aware today

• Why is doing so vital to the future of the airspace as whole?

The value of using a drone to inspect and identify issues with roads, bridges, tunnels, ports, sewers, and other critical systems before they turn into problems is better understood than ever. However, the details associated with drone data collection techniques for these inspections are critical to understand. Are challenges with oversight protocols or training more significant to overcome? What costs need to come down (hardware, software, training, etc.) for an organization to either embrace or simply experiment with drones? What can it mean to use a drone as part of an inspection process where engineers may not be able to physically inspect a piece of infrastructure? How can the technology be deployed at scale? These questions will be explored and answered in a series of presentations that detail how drone technology is being used to create value for individual projects and across the enterprise.

The potential value that drones can enable for construction projects of all types when it comes to performing countless tasks in faster, cheaper and safer ways is well understood but what does it mean to unlock this value? How should this value be positioned to stakeholders that are removed from day-to-day realities where the technology makes a difference? A series of presentations will outline what doing so can and has meant in a variety of real-world situations, helping attendees understand how they can approach unlocking this value with their own workflow and throughout their organization.

For years now, energy and utilities companies have looked at drone technology as a means to reduce expenses and increase safety but adoption challenges had prevented many from moving forward. That has changed in a big way in 2023, with numerous organizations adopting the technology in large and small ways to create real value. What are some of the ways this value is being defined? How are operational expectations with these programs established? Who does what to ensure they simultaneously create opportunities for operators and the entire organization today and opportunity tomorrow? This session will showcase the industry’s leading drone programs to share insight on best practices, use cases, and safety methods.

Is 9 minutes enough time to newly inspire or wholly change the way you think about drone technology? Drone Industry Visionaries will prove it to you. Listen to what the most notable people from the top companies in the drone industry have to say about where the technology is today, how that should impact the choices you make for tomorrow, and what all of that means for the future.

Professionals in numerous industries have utilized drones in unexpected ways to create real value. Where specifically is this value being created though? And what does it mean to measure this value? What are some of the considerations and risk-management factors inherent in choices when it comes to in-house drone programs, outsourcing these services, or using a hybrid approach? Hear from industry stakeholders as well as drone program operators and team members as they discuss the roadmap to success through the implementation of drones as part of especially unique case studies that show where drones can create measurable and immeasurable value.

Professionals have utilized drones in unexpected ways to create real value. However, The value generated by drones in numerous industries and for various applications extends far beyond simple economic impacts, but how is the technology being used to unlock that value? And why has it made sense for stakeholders to push through what can something be especially onerous challenges with start-up costs and regulatory hurdles? How can these technology advocates best approach problems with existing hardware and software to enable this value at scale?