Commercial UAV Expo content at Amsterdam Drone Week  

September 3-5, 2024  •  Caesars Forum  •  Las Vegas

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2023 Keynotes

Commercial UAV Expo 2023 Welcome & Opening Keynote

How Will the FAA Enable the Next Generation of Flight?

For the last decade, the FAA has worked to integrate UAS safely into the National Airspace System. The commercial drone industry has collaborated closely with federal regulators in an effort to move UAS integration forward. How have these collaborations impacted where things are with drone regulation in 2023? What can we do to collectively enable scaled commercial drone operations? How can the United States maintain its global leadership in advanced aviation? Join this fireside chat with David H. Boulter, Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety to hear updates from FAA leadership on what we can expect for drone integration in 2024 and beyond.

Moderated by:                                                    Featuring:

Lisa Ellman

Commercial Drone Alliance & Hogan Lovells

David H. Boulter

Federal Aviation Administration

Drones and AI: What Do Recent Advances in AI Mean for Your Business?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has opened up innovative and groundbreaking drone applications that range from delivery to inspection to surveying. While the potential of AI to enable autonomy for commercial drone applications has been a topic for years, recent advances are changing the paradigm around this topic for the entire drone industry in ways few could have imagined. These advances are raising a number of important questions, including:

  • Can AI make drone-based infrastructure condition assessments more accurate, efficient, and safe?
  • Are innovations in AI opening up brand-new opportunities or applications?
  • How can advances with AI integrate into an existing flight deck to augment current flights, and power future autonomous flights?
  • Who are some of the top AI innovators and solution providers?
  • Will AI unlock a new era of autonomy?


To answer these questions and more, a panel of experts will discuss how AI is transforming the drone industry and how businesses can leverage AI to improve their operations. The panelists will explore the latest trends in AI for drones, discuss the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, and offer their insights on how businesses can get involved.

Panelists include:

Barrit Lovelace

Collins Engineers, Inc.

Travis Mason

Merlin Labs

Panel moderated by:

Kay Wackwitz

Drone Industry Insights

People, Processes and Policies that Define and Enable Commercial Drone Programs

Presented by Cambridge Consultants

The Confluence of People and Technology Enable Drone Operations

Cambridge Consultants’ Martin Cookson, Director of Digital Service Innovation, will open Commercial UAV Expo with an overview of the industry breakthroughs and commercial successes in the world of UAS in 2023. He’ll detail what it means to connect breakthrough technology with the human dimension for drone programs of all sizes, highlighting how stakeholders can apply and profit from drone applications that measurably improve performance and safety.

Martin Cookson

Cambridge Consultants

Can Drones Measurably Improve What You’re Doing Today?

Joe Cione, NOAA’s Lead Meteorologist for their Hurricane Research Division, will detail how NOAA has been able to use drones to collect weather measurements in incredibly dangerous storms. In doing so, he’ll also explain what it has meant to use drones to capture information that would otherwise be impossible to capture, how the agency has employed this technology in a way that reduces costs, and detail how stakeholders can similarly approach the adoption of drone technology in a way that makes sense for the present and future of an individual project or an entire organization.

Joe Cione

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

An Open Conversation with the FAA

Dr. Joseph Cione, NOAA’s Lead Meteorologist for Emerging Technologies, will discuss how NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division and Aircraft Operations Center have used drones to collect weather observations in incredibly dangerous storm environments. In September of 2022, NOAA used Anduril’s Altius 600 to sample the strongest winds ever recorded by a drone. This mission also set a Guinness World Record for the longest survival of a small uncrewed aircraft in Category 5 hurricane conditions. Dr. Cione will discuss how emerging technology has allowed the Agency to effectively gather information that would otherwise be impossible to capture, and how NOAA has used drones to help reduce costs, protect property, and save lives. In addition, Cione will talk about lessons learned and how stakeholders can similarly approach the adoption of drone technology in ways that make sense for an individual project or for an entire organization.

Panelists include:

Panel moderated by:

Lisa Ellman

Commercial Drone Alliance & Hogan Lovells

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