uas q1 2015

PlusUAVs Manufactured In Detroit 2

AND Exempt UAS Cinematographers Share Lessons Learned Page 18

The Business Model For Precision Ag UAV Firms Page 28

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CONTENTS Q1 2015 VOLUME 2 ISSUE 1

PlusUAVs Manufactured In Detroit Page 12

AND Exempt UAS Cinematographers Share Lessons Learned Page 18

The Business Model For Precision Ag UAV Firms Page 28

www.UASmagazine.comPrinted in USA

The Farm

Q1 2015

Flying For

ON THE COVER: The AgEagle UAV ready for launch in a Kansas field. Clients have purchased units for use in the U.S., Canada, South America, Europe and Australia.PHOTO: AGEAGLE LLC

DEPARTMENTS34 OPERATIONSUAV Tradition BuildersSinclair Community College invests in unmanned aircraft systems to keep its century-long tradition in the aerospace industry thriving.By Luke Geiver

04 EDITOR’S NOTEThe UAS Business ClimateBy Luke Geiver

06 UAS NEWSUAS News and Trends

FEATURES12 MANUFACTURING & DISTRIBUTIONUAVs Made In DetroitLockheed Martin and Detroit Aircraft have created a manufacturing and distribution model that will bring UAVs to urban settings and help with first response. By Emily Aasand

18 OPERATIONSEnhancing The ViewCinematographers with U.S. Federal Aviation Administration exemptions to operate unmanned aircraft vehicles find challenges, advantages and new realities to navigate. By Patrick C. Miller

22 PAYLOADUAS Startup Images Crops A small team in the heart of ag country has found a way to simplify data gathering for precision-based UAV farming operations. By Emily Aasand

28 MANUFACTURING & DISTRIBUTIONThe Birthplace Of Precision-Ag UAVsAgEagle has created a blueprint for UAV manufacturers and distributors looking to profit in the precision agriculture industry. By Luke Geiver

36 PAYLOADSensing The UAS FutureAfter the success of parent company SRC Inc. in the military market, Gryphon Sensors reveals the realities and challenges of adapting UAV sensing technology to the civilian market. By Patrick C. Miller

PG 12

PG 34 PG 36

UAS MAGAZINE Q1 20154

The UAS industry is not at a standstill. The regulatory cloud lingering above payload providers, precision ag services and cinematographers may cause unmanned aircraft-linked entities and interested parties to grumble, but the potential we all envision after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration regulations are issued already exists. Just see what’s happen-ing in Neodesha, Kansas, in “The Birthplace of Precision-Ag UAVs.” In that small farming community, a team of UAV designers and manufacturers has established a business case model that highlights the economic possibilities for linking UAV and precision agriculture.

For the story, we followed the work of AgEagle LLC for three months, communicating with and interviewing their team three times. Each time we talked, the merits of their opera-tion became clearer, and as we think you will find, the AgEagle team is experiencing today what many believe could be possible for UAV manufacturers in the future.

Sinclair Community College, an Ohio school with a long aviation history, is also dabbling in the future. The school has formed a unique UAV operator and data analysis program that is equipped with the country’s first indoor UAV test flight range. After converting a former newspaper printing facility into a test range, Sinclair can now offer its globally sourced student body a chance to perform first-time flights with expensive payload-equipped UAVs in a controlled space. It is hard not to be blinded by the cool factor surrounding Sinclair’s program offerings. To build the program, the school’s UAS leadership sought partnerships with firms large and small, from in and outside the state. One of those partnerships has helped a UAV manufacturer and distributor focus on its platform and set aside training new pilots because the Sinclair team has agreed to train students on the partner’s UAV platform in exchange for access and use of several high-dollar UAVs.

Lockheed Martin, a global technology provider, has also found a way to partner for the betterment of its sUAV ambitions. Working with Detroit Aircraft Corp., an unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturer and distributor, Lockheed and the Detroit firm are providing UAVs to first responders and firefighting entities throughout the city. For the story, “UAVs Made In Detroit,” we held a cover shoot in a Detroit airplane hangar. It seemed fitting, given the history of the company’s founder CEO Jon Rimanelli, who had the funding, foresight and commitment to build a UAV manufacturing and distribution company––and we wanted to capture the essence of his story in photos.

Our story, “Enhancing The View,” illustrates the state of the UAS industry. While the UAS world was abuzz following the FAA’s historic exemptions for six cinematographers, we were on the phone, talking with some of those firms to hear their perspective on the certifi-cate of authorization process and what exemptions will mean for their UAV ambitions.

As this young industry awaits the final FAA rules, remember, that feeling of positive anxiousness you might have for your UAS business need not give way to the partial reality that the regulatory climate in the U.S. is unfavorable. The industry is not at a standstill––it is, instead, constantly emerging and on the brink. For some, it is more than that.

The UAS Business Climate

EDITOR'S NOTE

Luke GeiverEditor, UAS [email protected]


www.UASmagazine.com

VOLUME 2 ISSUE 1

EDITORIAL Editor Luke Geiver [email protected]

Staff Writer Emily [email protected]

Staff Writer Patrick C. Miller [email protected]

Copy Editor Jan [email protected]

PUBLISHING & SALESChairman Mike Bryan [email protected]

CEO Joe Bryan [email protected]

President Tom Bryan [email protected]

Vice President of Operations Matthew Spoor [email protected]

Vice President of Content Tim Portz [email protected]

Business Development Manager Bob Brown [email protected]

Account Manager Austin Maatz [email protected]

Sales & Marketing Director John Nelson [email protected]

Circulation Manager Jessica Beaudry [email protected]

Traffic & Marketing Coordinator Marla DeFoe [email protected]

ARTArt Director Jaci Satterlund [email protected]

Graphic Designer Lindsey Noble [email protected]

Subscriptions Subscriptions to UAS Magazine are free of charge to everyone with the exception of a shipping and handling charge of $49.95 for any country outside the United States. To subscribe, visit www.UASmagazine.com or you can send your mailing address and payment (checks made out to BBI International) to: UAS Magazine/Subscriptions, 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203. You can also fax a subscription form to 701-746-5367. Reprints and Back Issues Select back issues are available for $3.95 each, plus shipping. Article reprints are also available for a fee. For more information, contact us at 866-746-8385 or [email protected]. Advertising UAS Magazine provides a specific topic delivered to a highly targeted audience. We are committed to editorial excellence and high-quality print production. To find out more about UAS Magazine advertising opportunities, please contact us at 866-746-8385 or [email protected]. Letters to the Editor We welcome letters to the editor. If you write us, please include your name, address and phone number. Letters may be edited for clarity and/or space. Send to UAS Magazine/Letters, 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203 or email to [email protected].

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UAS NEWS UAV NEWS & TRENDS

Flying an unmanned aircraft?

YesNo

It weighs more than 35 kg

No Yes

Yes

No

No No Yes

I can meet the exemption requirements for UAVs 2 kg or less

Yes No

I can meet the exemption requirements for UAVs

between 2.1 kg and 25 kg

It weighs 2 kg or less

1. Contact information2. UAV model3. Description of operation4. Geographical

boundaries of operation

• Fly during daylight and in good weather• Always keep your aircraft in sight • Respect the privacy of others• Don’t fly close to airports, in populated areas, near moving vehicles, or higher than 90 metres (295 feet)

Tips to fly safely

I use my aircraftfor work or research

Yes

It weighs more than 25 kg

You may need permission from Transport Canada

You don’tneed permission,

but you do have to fly safely

You must applyfor a Special Flight

OperationsCertificate

You don’t needpermission, but

you must meet the exemption

requirements You don’t needpermission, but you

must meet the exemptionrequirements and give

Transport Canada:

PHOTO: TRANSPORT CANADA


UAS NEWS

Canada is ahead of the game when it comes to integrating unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the national airspace. While the UAS industry in the United States continues to wait for the Federal Aviation Administration to lay out commercial operation regulations, Canada has the com-plexities figured out.

Canada has had safety regulations governing the use of UAVs in place since 1996, and Transport Canada recently announced two exemptions that simplify small unmanned air vehicles (sUAV) operations and safely integrate sUAVs into Cana-dian airspace.

The exemptions state that special flight operations certifi-cates won’t be required for UAVs

under two kilograms (4.4 pounds) and certain operations involving UAVs under 25 kg.

“These exemptions will require companies to fly sUAVs within certain safety conditions including height restrictions, minimum distances from aero-dromes and other hazards, as well as flight in specific airspace and visual line of sight,” a spokesper-son for Transport Canada told UAS Magazine.

The 25 kg weight threshold was developed based on research from a joint Transport Canada industry working group of UAV systems program designers. The threshold is also consistent with international approaches to clas-sifying UAVs, including ongoing work by the International Civil

Aviation Organization, according to Transport Canada.

“Transport Canada has requirements in place for aircraft of all sizes. For businesses, these changes will make it easier for their small UAVs to take flight sooner, while maintaining safety of those on the ground and in the skies,” said Lisa Raitt, minister of Transport.

If operators are caught fly-ing UAVs without special flight operations certificates, Transport Canada can issue fines of up to $5,000 for an individual and $25,000 for a company. Miscon-duct of special flight operations certificates can result in $3,000 fines for individuals and $15,00 for a company, according to Transport Canada.

“This approach will dramati-cally improve the ability for Ca-nadian businesses to safely make use of this extremely capable technology while substantially reducing the time it takes to get authorization for more complex operations,” said Steward Baillie, chairman of Unmanned Systems Canada. “Coupled with the safety awareness campaign announced two weeks ago, I believe that Canada now has one of the most effective and progressive UAV regulatory frameworks in the world.”

Canada simplifies UAS rules

Preparing the UAV operator baseFlorida State University

believes the demand for un-manned aircraft vehicle (UAV) operators is growing. The school has announced a program that will prepare students to pilot UAVs in several applications. In the spring, FSU will offer unmanned aircraftl systems (UAS) courses in its Emergency Management and Homeland Security programs under a new program, Application of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems.

“Our discussion with state and local emergency managers show intense interest in what

drones can do for the field of emergency management, particularly emergency response, recovery and mitigation,” David Merrick, deputy director of the EMHS program at FSU, said. “These versatile systems can capture still and video imagery of disaster impacts and provide critical, near-real-time assess-ments for a fraction of the cost of manned aircraft.”

The program, a first for any educational institution in Flor-ida, will help students learn the basics of UAV operations set in wildfire monitoring settings,

identifying hot spots during urban fire incidents, monitor-ing agricultural conditions and locating or communicating with individuals stranded in disaster situations. The EMHS program has already used UAVs during two disaster situation projects, according to the school.

The program’s current faculty includes three UAV manufacturer-certified pilots. The school is looking to adapt existing indoor building space for uninhibited flying and prac-tice space.

“There’s much in the way

of understanding the technol-ogy and its application, not to mention the policy issues in-volved with the use of UAS that students need to learn before they get their craft up in the air,” Merrick said. “By the end of this program, these students will have unique experience in every aspect of UAS deployment, remote sensing applications and putting UAS imagery to work in a wide range of specializa-tions—and knowing how to fly them.”


UAS NEWS

Mapping and recording more accurate data sets and three-dimensional images just became more convenient for Android users. Pix4Dmapper released a smartphone app for the Android operating systems that allow unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operators using the DJII Phan-tom to map areas by defining various types of flights, the com-pany said. “Users can select flight areas and height to create a fully automatic flight, or fly the drone using the remote control. The app automatically calculates in real time when to acquire images to cover the area optimally, as well as enhance image attributes and characteristics.”

Christoph Stretcha, CEO and founder, said the company made the app to simplify the user experience while guaranteeing the best and most accurate results achievable.

Oliver Kung, co-founder of the company, recently held a webinar walk-through on the application. The app connects to the UAV via wireless connection and allows the user to place a pre-determined height (typically 165 feet) to fly the grid and capture images at predetermined times. A grid pattern of 260 feet will typi-cally yield 50 5-megabyte images, depending on the height of the objects below the UAV, which limits the number of images the UAV will record.

The app utilizes key points situated in the grid to match photos taken from various points along the grid back to those key

points to create a 3D rendering or orthomosaic. The system is better than using stitched pictures, according to Kung. Images cre-ated through the app can offer measurements as accurate as 1 centimeter depending on the settings and GPS capabilities of the UAV.

Images taken from a map-ping flight need to be download-ed to a computer currently, but Kung said a cloud-based option will soon be released. Other operating systems will soon be of-fered as well. The system can map a 6-acre property in 20 minutes, creating a 3D map with a resolu-tion up to 1 inch, the company also said.

Pix4Dmapper creates app for UAV mapping

THE PIX4D VOICE: Christoph Stretcha, CEO and founder of Pix4D has already spoken at events in Europe and China to showcase the mapping company's capabilities. PHOTO: PIX4D


UAS NEWS

Universities across the U.S.–– including the University of Maryland and the New Jersey Institute of Technology––are applying for and receiving certificates of authorization (COAs) from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to incorporate unmanned vehicles into their curriculum and into the national airspace.

With its COA, NJIT is preparing to con-duct its first unmanned aircraft system (UAS) over the Atlantic Ocean to test the feasibility of safely integrating drones into the public airspace and to assess the research and operational capa-bilities of several data-collecting sensors aboard the aircraft.

The flight will include weather sensors to gather information on atmospheric conditions and devices with mapping, communications relay, and high-definition video capabilities, ac-cording to NJIT.

NJIT was the first public institution in the state to be granted permission to test UAS.

“This [COA] process was a learning experi-ence for me and NJIT,” says Michael Chumer, director of the crisis communications center and of UAS applied research at NJIT. “As we proceeded through the application, we learned a lot about what data is required to safely integrate UAS technology within the national airspace.”

“NJIT’s mission is to enhance the country’s homeland security and emergency management capabilities. A primary goal is to develop drone-borne weather sensors that can predict where a major storm will make landfall as many as two days before existing technology now permits,” the university said.

The unmanned vehicle NJIT is using is the RS-16 integrated with the Applanix Direct Map-ping Solution created by American Aerospace Advisors Inc. The RS-16 has roughly a 13-foot wingspan, with a max gross takeoff weight of 85 pounds. The UAS has a catapult launch and lands on Kevlar skids, according to Chumer.

“The testing, evaluation, and applied research that NJIT plans to accomplish will be integrated into the nation’s overall test site research plan,” says Chumer. “The UAS has the potential to strengthen our nation in a myriad

of ways, and we at NJIT will call upon our con-siderable technical skill sot hasten this process along.”

Like NJIT, the University of Maryland Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site received its first COA. The authorization resulted from the first use of UMD’s airworthiness process, the only known university airworthiness process that is modeled after the U.S. Navy’s rigorous standards for ensuring the safety and reliability of its manned and unmanned aircraft, accord-ing to the test site.

“This COA gives folks not only in Mary-land, but in this region and even outside our region, a resource to go to in order to fly their systems,” says Matthew Scassero, director of the UMD UAS Test Site. “The whole reason we set up was to help the FAA but to also be a resource for the industry to get airborne.”

“This flight authorization is significant

because it builds on the exisiting relationship be-tween the University of Maryland and the Navy, and applies our mutually disciplined research approaches to the cutting edge of civil and commercial unmanned aviation,” said Darryll Pines, dean of the UMD A. James Clark School of Engineering.

The test site is using the Talon 240, which is designed and manufactured by UAV Solutions Inc. of Jessup, Maryland. The Talon 240 has a 20-foot wingspan and can fly for up to three and a half hours.

“We were looking for a large fixed-wing ve-hicle that could haul payloads that other people may bring to us to do research on and the Talon 240 had just about everything we needed,” said Scassero. “They’ve been extremely easy to work with and very cooperative with everything we’re trying to do.”

Universities armed with COAs for testing, teaching

THE TALON: The platform pictured here is designed to haul payloads that others may want to test before of-fering to the commercial market. PHOTO: NJIT

RS-16 SPECS• 13-foot wingspan• 85-pound max gross takeoff weight• 12-16-hour lifespan• 15,000 feet max height

TALON 240 SPECS• 20-foot wingspan• 3.5-hour lifespan (electric)• 12-pound payload capacity• 5,000 feet max height• 15-20-minute deploy time


GE Ventures, the investment arm of GE, has made its support of unmanned aerial systems of-ficial. The global firm announced it would invest in Airware, an unmanned aircraft system (UAS)-based company. The partnership aims to help identify ways that Airware’s platform can help deliv-er safer, more efficient solutions for GE’s industrial customer base and allow them to collect better data and make more informed decisions.

“Airware is at the heart of to-day’s commercial UAV ecosystem, and GE Ventures is excited to use this partnership to learn more about how drones can be used to meet the needs of our custom-ers and business units,” said Alex Tepper, managing director of GE Ventures.

In announcing the partner-ship, GE Venture stated the com-pany is excited to invest Airware to help prepare for the com-mercial launch of its platform and expand its engineering, sales, marketing and customer support functions. “Airware is setting the standard among UAV manufac-turers and developers, and helping the entire ecosystem grow with it,” GE Ventures said.

GE Ventures has been work-ing with customers in the oil and gas, power, and transportation industries to outline potential uses for commercial UAVs and to identify new and innovative ways to tap its potential.

“We tend to look at innova-tion across different segment ar-

eas and the four themes that we’re investing in right now are around the world of health, the world of energy, the world of industrial in-ternet and the world of advanced manufacturing—where the drone space comes into play,” said Sue Siegel, CEO of GE Ventures.

“GE, a Fortune 50 com-pany, sees commercial drones as a promising way to collect richer, faster and more effective data in a wide range of markets,” said Jonathan Downey, founder and CEO of Airware. “The com-pany operates in more than 170 countries globally and across many industries and we’re thrilled to provide it with a platform to explore the space further.”

In July 2014, Airware an-nounced it raised $25 million in Series B financing to help prepare for the commercial launch of its platform, which will be used to expand its engineering, sales, marketing, and customer support. The round is led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers with participation from existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and First Round Capital. Mike Abbott, general partner at KPCB, will join Airware’s board which currently includes Downey, and Chris Dixon, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, according to Airware.

“Commercial drones are creating a revolution in insights and countless industries around the world will soon benefit from access to aerial information that, until now, has been too difficult,

dangerous, expensive or down-right impossible to get,” said Downey. “To help organizations use drones for any commercial application, we’re building a plat-form that anyone can customize and build on top of. This funding will accelerate our efforts, and we are extremely fortunate that high-caliber investors like Kleiner Perkins are partnering with Airware.”

Abbott adds, that Airware recognized the early opportu-nity to apply drone intelligence to commercial applications and is now, “at the forefront of the industry that will soon experience rapid global expansion.”

Airware has raised more than $40 million. The company received $12.2 million in Series A funding in May 2013, led by An-dreessen Horowitz with Google Ventures, First Round Capital, and Felicis Ventures participating.

UAS NEWS

Airware receives investments to build UAV platform

AIRWARE’S AUTOPILOT ALLOWS:- Autonomous flight control systems- Flexible ground control software- Cloud services- Access to third-party hardware and software solutions


UAS NEWS

Two unmanned aerial sys-tems successfully demonstrated their complimentary abilities to fight wildfires during test flights conducted at Griffiss Interna-tional Airport near Rome, New York.

An Indago quadrotor sUAS served as a scout, identifying hot spots and providing data to an operator who directed an unmanned K-MAX helicopter to autonomously extinguish the flames. In one hour, the unmanned K-MAX helicopter lifted and dropped more than 24,000 pounds of water onto the fire.

As a result of the test—con-ducted by Lockheed Martin and Kaman Corp.—the K-MAX UAS could, by next summer, be

playing a vital role in battling wildfires that threaten lives and property.

The demonstration was requested by the Department of Interior and attended by about 100 representatives, including the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. De-partment of Agriculture, service providers and New York state fire and police representatives.

The K-MAX flew different mission types to demonstrate its capabilities, which included delivering an ATV and dropping sequential lines of water to create a firebreak.

“We did eight different scenarios which were all guided to us by our customer on what would be appropriate for them to see to support future use of

aircraft like this for firefighting,” said Dan Spoor, vice president of Aviation and Unmanned Systems at Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems and Training Business

Spoor noted that the K-MAX recently returned from a 33-month deployment support-ing the military in Afghanistan where it flew about 2,000 mis-sions and successfully moved 4.5 million tons of cargo.

Greg Steiner, president of the Kaman’s aerospace group, said, the K-MAX can be flown as a manned platform during the eight-hour window when fire-fighting operations are typically conducted during daylight. The mission could be extended two or three times longer by flying

flying it as a UAV at night or dur-ing bad weather, he said.

“It can fight fires directly and also support the ground-based firefighters, resupply food, water, medical supplies and equipment,” Steiner said. “It can even perform rescue or extrac-tion operations.”

Larry Brinker, executive director of the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance, said the demonstration with two different UAS was a success in the Griffiss’ mission to integrate UAS into the national airspace. The airport control tower coordinated the UAV op-erations at the same time it was handling civil traffic.

UAVs team up to demonstrate firefighting capability

K-MAX TO THE RESCUE: The Kaman K-MAX demonstratrd its firefighting abilities during a demonstration at Griffiss International Airport near Rome, New York. The helicopter can be flown as a manned or unmanned system.PHOTO: KAMAN CORP.


MANUFACTURING & DISTRIBUTION



UAVs MADE IN

Detroit Aircraft and Lockheed Martin have partnered to revive Detroit and provide first responders with emerging UAV technology.By Emily AasandPhotos By Andrew Potter

It began in the early 1920s. Founded by Edsel Ford, William Stout, and other industry leaders, Detroit Aircraft Corp. was, at one time, the world’s largest aviation holding company. In 1929, adding to the companies under its umbrella, Detroit Aircraft purchased 87 percent of the assets of (what became) Lockheed Corp., just months before the stock market crashed, ruining the aircraft market and plunging Detroit Aircraft into bankruptcy, receivership and dissolution.

Five days after Detroit Aircraft closed its doors, in 1932, Lockheed Aircraft Corp. Division was bought out of receiver-ship by a group of investors and, in 1934, became Lockheed Corp. The company merged with Martin Marietta, in 1995, and has since become known for its global aerospace, defense, security and advanced technology services.

UAS VISION: Jon Rimanelli, Detroit Aircraft CEO, aimed Detroit Aircraft's beginning focus on small UAS for first response and public safety, in an effort to follow the business model of "think big, start small."

DETROIT



In 2007, Jon Rimanelli, an avid pilot, began working to revive the Detroit Aircraft name. He had learned of the Red Bull Air Races that are held in various locations around the world and began researching air racing. Rimanelli says he thought the banks of the Detroit River would be a perfect location and proposed it as the site for the 2010 Red Bull North America’s Air Races. In the process of making his successful pitch for the event, Rimanelli discovered the rich aviation history of Detroit.

“One of my biggest argu-ments [to host the races] was all the history in Detroit. From Charles Lindbergh being born here to Boeing being from here. All the aviation history here is incredible,” says Rimanelli. “It was the perfect opportunity to restore aircraft manufacturing in the city of Detroit.”

With the 2010 races ac-

complished, and armed with knowledge of the city's his-tory, Rimanelli believed the time was right to revive the defunct Detroit Aircraft. He contacted Bruce Holmes, former NASA Langley chief strategist, who led NASA’s small aircraft transporta-tion systems, to see what NASA had been studying in the area of mass producing small aircraft systems, and here he found his next business idea.

On July 11, 2011, Rimanelli founded Detroit Aircraft, a new company, under the same moniker, designed to “leverage Detroit and Michigan’s skilled labor and industrial base to mass produce highly automated freight and passenger transportation systems to network to the United States’s 20,000 airports.”

“The rule of thumb, if you ever want to start in business, is to think big, start small,” says Rimanelli. “So I decided to focus on small UAS for first response

and public safety because Detroit has a very large area to manage and I saw that as a force multi-plier. We spent a lot of time do-ing homework, researching and building multi-rotor helicopters to get some experience.”

In 2013, Rimanelli began visiting with Lockheed Martin. During those conversations, Lockheed Martin mentioned it had spent several years design-ing and developing the Indago unmanned aircraft platform and that there was potential for De-troit Aircraft to be a distributer of that platform.

“We had several meetings. They came to Detroit a couple of times—one for a meet and greet with city officials and an-other to demonstrate and present the Indago to various agencies in the region,” says Rimanelli. “They decided that we would make an excellent distributor, we signed a distributor agreement, and during that process we told them we were also interested in manufacturing for them.”

The company has not only become an Indago platform distributor in Detroit, it has also branched out to other cities. Detroit Aircraft recently sold a vehicle to a Louisiana police department and is currently final-izing certificate of authorization (COA) applications with Detroit fire department.

“He has also bought the right to do top-level manufac-turing and top-level assembling from me,” says Dave Pringle, site general manager at Lockheed Martin for Procerus Technolo-gies.

“It’s kind of interesting how we went from a phone call a year ago to becoming a distributor to becoming a supplier,” says

Rimanelli. “It’s a very unique relationship.”

The VehicleThe Indago is a vertical

take-off and landing (VTOL) quadcopter with a weight of just under 5 pounds.

“It has multiple capabilities and uses that we are looking to market,” says Pringle. “Public safety is one of those, and Jon is attacking that market very heavily.”

The unmanned aircraft folds into two small cases—one that actually carries the VTOL itself and the other one houses the hand controller—all of which fits into a backpack.

“It’s nice for public safety—law enforcement, search and rescue—because of its quick set up,” says Pringle. “It can be set up in less than two minutes and be up in the air. It has a leading endurance within the industry ranging between 45 minutes to an hour of endurance depend-ing on the situational use of the vehicle.”

The Indago can fly between 25 and 35 miles per hour and has a ceiling height of more than 18,000 feet.

Lifesaving PartnershipTodd Sedlak is the lead

trainer at Detroit Aircraft with more than 3,500 flight hours. He is also a firefighter, and helped facilitate when Detroit Aircraft and Lockheed Martin developed a partnership with the City of Detroit and the Detroit Fire Department.

“When I was able to take these two skill sets that I have as an unmanned systems operator and a firefighter, the utility was

MANUFACTURING AGREEMENT: Rimanelli began visiting with Lockheed Martin in an effort to become the top-level manufacturing and assembling of the Indago platform.



AN EYE IN THE SKY: The Indago has a 45-minute lifespan and has a ceiling height of more than 18,000 feet.

obvious to me,” says Sedlak. “We set up meetings with the Detroit Fire Department and I explained the utility to them and they were immediately on board.”

Detroit Aircraft has applied for a COA and is expected to receive it within the next month, at which point, it will conduct training for the Detroit Fire Department.

Detroit Aircraft has been looking into dilapidated areas of the city to perform mock search

and rescue missions or hazmat scenarios and to train other Fire Departments how to improve their efficiencies in fighting fires using unmanned systems, says Rimanelli.

“We have more fire is-sues than anywhere else in the country, which would make an ideal training location for other agencies in the United States to learn how to use these vehicles in first response and fire applica-tion,” says Rimanelli. “That’s our

strategy. To create an academy to train other fire agencies and first responders on how to use them here in the city of Detroit.”

Rimanelli says he and his company have seen an interest from other fire departments across the country.

“Our goal is to make sure that these technologies are af-fordable and accessible for every law enforcement team, every first response team and every fire department in the nation,” says

Rimanelli. “It’s a tool that miti-gates risks, increases efficiencies and can help save lives.”

UAS VisionThe unmanned aircraft

vehicle industry within Lockheed Martin is spread across several business units, the Indago is the only platform Pringle has at Pro-cerus Technologies, but Lock-heed Martin offers a wide range of systems including fixed-wing platforms.



SEARCH AND RESCUE: Detroit Aircraft has developed a partnership with the city of Detroit and the Detroit Fire Department in which Detroit Aircraft will train firefighters to use the Indago platform for rescue missions.

As for Procerus Technolo-gies, Pringle says he and his team are focusing on the U.S. Depart-ment of Defense market as well as the international and public safety markets.

“My team is a relatively small, commercial entity of Lockheed Martin,” says Prin-gle. “We just received our first program of record with our preceptor gimbal with the U.S.

Army. We will continue to focus on the U.S. Army. Opportuni-ties within the Department of Defense is one of my big focus areas, but we’re also taking our products internationally and forming alliances with agents in other countries.”

In the U.S., Lockheed Mar-tin and Detroit Aircraft are no different than any other U.S. firm waiting to hear on the Federal

Aviation Association regulations.“The last I heard [on the

FAA ruling] is that there’s going to be a release by the end of the year where they [the FAA] will lay out an 18-month plan describing the process allowing people to qualify vehicles and operators as well as lay out the parameters upon which they’ll allow the aircraft to fly,” says Pringle.

“I’m hoping and looking forward to the FAA streamlining the process because it’s my belief that getting this technology to the people who need it the most is a big priority, not only as a company, but as a nation,” says Rimanelli. “It’s a moral responsi-bility, in my opinion.”

“The reemergence of De-troit Aircraft, the reemergence of the city, and creating jobs here



The Michigan State Police purchased the Aeryon Sky-Ranger, a small unmanned aerial system (sUAS), to evaluate for state-wide unmanned aircraft system (UAS) integration.

“It’s such a new technology that we believe it can enhance law enforcement in several different areas,” says 1st Lt. Chris Bush, commander field support and aviation section, Michigan State Police special operations division. “We’ll probably start out with some search and rescue calls, tactical calls and we’re looking at doing some mapping on our critical infrastructure in the state.”

The MSP is currently operating under a U.S. Federal Aviation Administration training certificate of authorization (COA) to train officers in a number of public safety scenarios, says Aeryon Labs Inc., developers of the SkyRanger. “The goal of the UAS program is to enable officers to operate the Aeryon SkyRangers in applications such as critical incident and natural disaster response, search and rescue, traffic accident reconstruction, as well as scene photography,” says the company.

“After the success of the UAS training scenarios, we look forward to receiving the operational COA for the entire state,” says Bush. “Our emergency response and investiga-tion teams are anticipating the benefits of using the Aeryon SkyRanger in the field.”

Michigan is home to four of the top 10 most violent cities in the country and the Michigan State Police say they hope to implement this new technology to better those cities.

“For the Michigan State Police agency to provide opera-tional UAS capabilities for 83 counties is a significant deploy-ment, especially with training operators who might not have previous experience flying unmanned systems,” says Dave Kroetsch, Aeryon Labs president and CEO. “We know that the Aeryon SkyRanger’s easy-to-use interface will help speed up the roll out process and ensure that first responders can gain critical field data quickly and accurately.”

A state affairPHOTO: AERYON SKYRANGER

in the industry, is for me, the bigger story,” says Rimanelli. “It’s been fun because it’s an opportunity to give kids who don’t see much of a future in Detroit an idea, an opportu-nity to have a different type of job in aviation. I’d say the broader mission of the com-pany is that at the end of the day, we’re successful in deliv-ering this technology to the

masses and first response. I would say long-term, I think unmanned systems are the foundation for a highly automated air transportation system in the future.”

Author: Emily AasandStaff Writer, UAS [email protected]


OPERATIONS


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THE VIEWHow exemptions for UAS cinematographers will positively impact the consumer and the industryBy Patrick C. Miller

ACTION TRACTION: HeliVideo Productions has provided aerial video to CBS News, the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, HBO Sports and others. Shown here is one of its UAVs, the Epic 6K Dragon.PHOTO: HELIVIDEO

When the U.S. Federal Aviation Administra-tion gave six aerial photo and video production companies exemptions for the commercial use of unmanned aerial systems, was it a significant step forward or a case of too little too late?

The debate started in late September when the FAA an-nounced the granting of exemptions to the six businesses (a seventh was later issued to Flying-Cam) to operate UAS for moviemaking and television production.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx hailed the oc-casion as “a significant milestone in broadening commercial UAS use while ensuring we maintain our world-class safety re-cord in all forms of flight.”

Chris Dodd, the former U.S. senator who heads the Mo-tion Picture Association of America—the organization that pe-titioned the FAA for the exemption—called it “a victory for audiences everywhere” that gave “filmmakers yet another way to push creative boundaries and create the kinds of scenes and shots we could only imagine just a few years ago.”

But Michael Drobac, executive director of the Small UAV Coalition, reflected the view of other pundits when he groused, “We’re hopeful that future petitions that are approved will not necessarily have to be a cookie-cutter model of what was ap-proved for the production companies in the closed-set filmmak-ing.”

Brendan Schulman, an attorney specializing in UAS law, opined, “I’m worried that it’s too small a step forward and it’s too narrowly limited.”

Some of the FAA restrictions include: no night operations; keeping the UAV within line of sight; operating UAVs on closed sets only; providing advanced notice of UAS flights; providing a plan of activities to an FAA Flight Service District; prohibiting UAV operations from a moving device or vehicle; and requiring a privately licensed pilot with a current third-class medical cer-tificate and an observer.

So, what do the six companies that received the exemption think of it? How will it affect their ability to shoot movie and TV scenes from unmanned aerial vehicles, engage in aerial pho-tography and record commercials? And, how do they view the process they went through, and will it open the way for other commercial UAS applications?

Eric Austin, owner of HeliVideo Productions in Austin, Texas, reflected Schulman’s view, saying, “There’s not much freedom about it. The limits they put on our use are quite se-vere.”

However, representatives of the other five companies were more charitable in their assessments of the FAA exemption. They all agreed that while they might not have gotten everything they wanted, they got what they needed.

“The FAA was very cognizant of creating fair limitations,”

ENHANCING


says Tom Hallman, president, Pictorvision, Van Nuys, Cali-fornia. “We addressed all the safety issues, yet are still able to use these things commercially.”

Preston Ryon, owner of SnapRoll Media, Franklin, Ten-nessee, expressed satisfaction with the way the FAA regulated the companies. “It does it in a safe way, and that’s the best part of it. It’s just restrictive enough to keep things safe and orga-nized,” he says.

For Chris Schuster, owner of Vortex Aerial, Riverside, California, the exemption pro-vides an opportunity to return to the U.S. for filming on closed sets. “Up until the last two years, we’ve had to operate out-side the United States,” he says.

Hal Winer, director of op-

erations for Astraeus Aerial, Encino, California, cites anoth-er reason the FAA’s exemption is important to the companies, which is to separate the pro-fessionals in the field from the amateurs.

“There’s a ton of hobby-ists out there who are throwing cameras on a UAS and market-ing themselves as aerial cinema-tographers,” he notes. “Every-one on our team has extensive experience in the film, televi-sion and advertising industries. We know where to put the cam-era. We know how to use the camera. We know how to get the shots. We also have experi-ence with the FAA in safety and flight operations.

“We’re not just trying to capitalize on an industry that

has the need,” Winer continues. “We are professionals in the in-dustry. We recognize the need and we’re filling it based on our expertise.”

Ryon echoes Winer’s view: “Just because anybody can buy a UAV doesn’t make it safe for them to be out there flying. We’re all for other people going through the same process we went through so that they can be licensed and safe. There’s a need for more than just six op-erators.”

Although the process ac-tually started months before the MPAA officially filed for the exemptions in early June, it took nearly four months to finalize them. All six compa-nies were mostly satisfied with the process and the manner in which the FAA conducted it.

“Given the tough task that the FAA is facing in terms of integrating commercial use of UAV’s into the national air-space, I think it was a reasonable process,” says Tony Carmean, founder of Aerial MOB, Carls-bad, California. “With that said, it took a huge amount of time, effort, and finances to develop all of the proper documenta-tion that the FAA required. It was not easy by any means.”

Austin agrees that the pro-cess was lengthy and expensive, requiring “powerful consul-tants and lawyers.” However, he adds, “Considering how slow the FAA moves, I was actu-ally surprised when they moved quickly toward the end. I know they’ve been under tremendous pressure for years on this sub-ject.”

There is no disagreement among the six companies that

the ability to use UAVs for their work improves safety and low-ers costs while opening new av-enues for creativity.

As Hallman explains, in contrast to using an expen-sive full-sized manned heli-copter, “Just because of the size, weight and noise, we can get much lower, much closer to actors. You don’t have a gi-ant combustion engine making tons of noise. You don’t have giant prop wash blowing stuff all over the set. We can fly in-doors.”

And, he adds, “Because the wing span of the class of multi-rotors we’re going to be using is three to four feet versus 36 feet, it opens up tons of locations and really interesting places we can now put a camera that you couldn’t even dream of before.”

Aerial MOB’s Carmean says, “This technology has the ability to get perspectives not possible with any other tradi-tional film production tools like dollies, jibs, cranes, cable cameras, Russian arm cars and full-size aircraft. The use of UAS allows for combining all of these types of shots into one continuous shot, and we can do them much more efficiently in terms of time and budget.”

Schuster references anoth-er instance in which UAS will help in capturing aerial shots.

“We can operate on city streets with the caveat that a set perimeter is secured and ex-cludes any non-production per-sonnel,” he says. “It keeps the general public out of the eye of the camera so it preserves their privacy, and it also preserves their safety as well.”

In granting the exemption,

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DAY AT THE BEACH: Earlier this year, Aerial MOB tested its quadcopter, hexactoper and octocopter UAVs at a beach near its headquarters in Carlsbad, California. PHOTO: AERIAL MOB


the FAA recognized the obvi-ous safety benefits that UAS of-fer over conventional manned aircraft.

“The fact that the aircraft are so much smaller, the blades are so much smaller and we’re using electric power instead of liquid fuel, there’s a lot less that can go wrong if there’s an ac-cident,” Hallman says. “Just not having hundreds of gallons of fuel that can spill if there’s an accident really changes the safe-ty issues.”

Among the six companies, there’s broad agreement that the FAA will use the experience gained from the regulatory pro-cess and the commercial UAS operations to eventually open the door to integrating other applications into the national airspace.

“The entertainment indus-try sector of drone use is prob-ably the best place for them to start with the integration pro-cess,” Schuster says.

Austin concurs, saying: “I know the FAA is using us as the first test case, and it makes sense because we operate in the tightly controlled movie and TV arena. They are moving on to other areas such as agricul-ture, pipe and transmission line inspection, and flare stack in-spection. These will take more time to approve, but I expect we’ll see some news on this front soon.”

As Hallman notes, now that the aerial cinematogra-phers can legally operate UAS, it should provide the FAA with guidance to develop regulations for other industries.

“We’re going to generate a whole bunch of data that the

FAA can use and figure out for the rulemaking process,” he says. “What is a reasonable amount of regulation? It’s a learning process for everybody. We can create standards that just haven’t been happening so far. This visibility should give the FAA and the public at large the information they need to come up with reasonable, per-manent rulemaking.”

There’s also an expectation that as the companies demon-strate they can operate under the FAA’s regulations, some of the restrictions could be re-laxed.

“In this initial approval, we are not going to be allowed to perform nighttime operations due to insufficient data for such operations,” says Carmean. “The FAA has said that they are open to approving nighttime operations in the near future if or when we are able to establish safe operational procedures.”

Winer says Astraeus Arial has a proprietary system that enables its UAV to fly blind. However they can’t use it un-der the FAA regulations. “We anticipate that rule changing

down the road, but for right now, we’re fine with it. We’ll take what we can get,” he says.

Schuster says that go-ing through the process has changed his perspective on the FAA and the regulatory pro-cess.

“Honestly, I have a new-found respect for that branch of our government. Being that we’ve been working hand in hand with these people, we’ve learned that the time commit-ments and the perceived delays were actually very well justified by the Federal Aviation Admin-istration,” he says.

“They rose to the occa-sion,” Schuster adds. “They got the job done in due course and actually in record time. Consid-ering how complex the problem was, they really did an excellent job. They realize that if things don’t work out right, they’re go-ing to be the ones that answer for it.”

Ryon also expressed admi-ration for the manner in which the FAA conducted the process.

“The FAA was super-pro-fessional and moved as fast as they possibly could while keep-

ing safety in mind,” he says. “They wanted this type of technology to be used, but they wanted to do it in a way that when it’s introduced for com-mercial use, it’s done safely.”

Ultimately, Carmean be-lieves the public will notice the difference in what aerial cin-ematographers can accomplish with UAS.

“The true beauty of what this technology offers film pro-duction is low-altitude aerial cinematography, not necessarily just the high altitude, wide-angle shots,” he explains. “The big winner here is the consumer. This technology will enhance the film-viewing experience.”

Author: Patrick C. MillerStaff Writer, UAS [email protected]

OPERATIONS

NEW TOOL: Pictorvision, known for its use of manned helicopters to provide stabilized camera systems for the broadcast, entertainment and commercial sectors, is adding UAVs to its platforms as a result of the FAA exemption.PHOTO: PICTORVISION


PAYLOAD


PAYLOAD

David Dvorak and his team are simplifying the world of precision agriculture by providing data-capturing payload systems to farmers, agronomists, and plantation managers.By Emily AasandPhotos By Emily Aasand

MULTIPLE OPTIONS: To date, Field of View has outfitted multiple UAV packages with its specialized payload offerings.

When David Dvorak started Field of View in 2010, he saw a business opportunity for unmanned aircraft system (UAS) technology in agricultural imaging. After four years, he’s seeing an even bigger need for this technology.

While in college, Dvorak was part of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Engineering research group at the University of North Da-kota. While working with that group, led by William Semke, director of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Engineering, and the late Richard Shultz, electrical engineering department chair, Dvorak began trying to figure out how people could actually use a small UAV to do agricultural imaging. He found there were many issues with managing the camera triggering and actually knowing if the needed data was collected.

“That experience gave me the exposure to come up with the idea for Field of View’s GeoSnap System,” says Dvorak, CEO of the Grand Forks, North Dakota-based company.

UASStartupIMAGES CROPS


OPERATIONS

The company was formal-ized after Dvorak and his team competed in the North Da-kota Business Plan Competition through UND. Dvorak and his team won the competition in 2011, which helped the startup company get funding.

A Field of Opportunity Field of View’s flagship

product is the GeoSnap System, a turnkey imaging solution that helps service providers capture data desired by the agriculture industry. Dvorak and his team design and manufacture the sys-tems in its North Dakota office.

The GeoSnap System is a camera add-on designed to facilitate imaging missions by managing camera triggering and streamlining the direct georefer-encing of captured images. The stand-alone system can work in any aircraft and doesn’t need to interface with an autopilot. The customer just needs to provide power to the system and mount it in the aircraft to get a complete aerial imaging setup that intel-ligently triggers the camera and logs the position and altitude of the camera at the moment of image capture.

“We couldn’t really fix the fact that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration kept delaying the release of small UAS regula-tions, so we focused on what we could control, which is develop-ing technology to help with the imaging process,” Dvorak says. “One way we found we could do that was by producing a visu-alization of coverage while we are still on the site just to make sure we’re able to get the data

we need. With that, we started building early versions of the GeoSnap product. We decided to start selling that hardware and providing consultations.”

The company also resells a stitching software, Agisoft Photoscan Pro, an introductory geographic information system (GIS) software called Global Mapper, and resells Tetracam multispectral cameras.

“We resell Agisoft Photo-scan Pro, which is a stitching software that will take all the individual images and make a single, seamless file,” says Dvorak. “We also sell Global Mapper, which will take that data and generate the normalized difference vegetation index and allow you to see differences in crop performance.”

Field of View also provides an onsite training service for customers, which Dvorak says is definitely needed.

“Training is probably the biggest thing, in order to be successful. We are working on building a library of video tutori-als to help people walk through the different steps of the various pieces of software that we sell.”

Since Field of View doesn’t provide the actual aircraft, it’s only able to take the training so far, but the company can help customers with anything on the post-processing side of things.

“We’ll be launching an imag-ing processing service for next growing season where people will be able to send us imagery and we’ll stitch it together and provide it to them,” says Dvorak.

Today, the company con-sists of Dvorak, Kaci Lemler,

operations manager and systems engineer, and Danny Hajicek, software and electrical design engineer based in Los Altos, California.

“All three of us graduated from the University of North Dakota,” says Dvorak. “In ad-dition to us three, we also work with a company out of Fargo [North Dakota] who manages our international sales.”

In its early years, Field of View saw mostly international inquiries.

“As a small startup company trying to deal with someone from Brazil was challenging for us so that’s why we’re working with a company out of Fargo, who takes care of those leads for us,” said Dvorak. “We’ve sold our systems to countries including Canada, France and Australia.”

Servicing Both SidesAgriculture is quickly

becoming a focus in the UAS industry.

Farmers, crop consultants, and ag researchers are beginning to use remote sensing as a tool in making critical decisions, Dvorak says. “Many in the ag industry are enticed by UAS and their prom-ise of high resolution data that can be delivered on demand.”

“We’re a unique company in that we sit in-between two in-dustries—the ag industry and the emerging UAS industry,” Dvorak says. “Our easiest customer is someone who already has an unmanned aircraft and knows how to use it but doesn’t know a lot about the camera side of things.”

As for the future of ag imaging, Dvorak says multicop-ters will more than likely be the go-to. “The biggest thing right now is endurance and the battery and power system problem. The world is good at solving those eventually over time.”

“The UAS/agriculture equation involves so many pieces of the puzzle to make it work like everyone thinks it can and should work, that you pretty much have to team up with other people who can bring other pieces to the equation,” says Dvorak.

Insight On RegulationsIt has been a benefit to be

a small company while there haven’t been FAA regulations be-cause the risk of going bankrupt from enormous overhead while waiting for the FAA to enact regulation hasn’t been there, Dvorak says. “It was easier for us, in our early days, to be a small company because we didn’t have this enormous overhead that would make us look like a non-profitable company.”

On the other side, Dvorak says the lack of regulations has been frustrating.

“The biggest challenge right now is that people can’t spend money on our equipment be-cause they don’t have a clear way to link money back to it,” says Dvorak. “If they can buy our equipment and have assurance they can pay it off in a season, then that might be a different story, but with the current FAA situation, it’s not really feasible.”

Dvorak also mentions one of his biggest frustrations is


OPERATIONS

EXPANDING SERVICES: Field of View says they will be launching an imaging processing service which will stitch images together for clients.

PIECE OF MIND: Field of View offers training services, which Dvorak says is one of the big components of being successful with the technology.

DELICATE TOUCH: The camera add-on facilitates imaging missions by managing camera triggering and streamlines the direct georeferences of captured images.

‘We couldn’t really fix the fact that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration kept delaying the release of small UAS regulations, so we focused on what we could control, which is developing technology to help with the imaging process.’-David Dvorak, Field of View CEO


PAYLOAD

‘We’ve sold our systems to countries including Canada, France and Australia.’-David Dvorak, Field of View CEO

SMALL TEAM, BIG IMPACT: Dvorak and Lemler assemble the GeoSnap in house from Field of View's North Dakota-based headquarters.

that the UAS/ag industry still doesn’t have a reliable source of imagery from UAS. “I would like to get to the point where farmers can depend on this data and use it as part of everyday manage-ment practices,” he said. “A big part of that is to be able to capture the imagery and stitch it together so you

can start having all these data points to start driving your analysis.”

Author: Emily AasandStaff Writer, UAS [email protected]



AgEagle has put a small Kansas town on the map by providing the business model for linking UAVs with precision agricultureBy Luke Geiver

THE KANSAS CONNECTION: Farmers, including those pictured here from Kansas, are already working to implement the AgEagle unmanned aircraft system into day-to-day operations. PHOTO: AGEAGLE LLC

Neodesha, Kansas, may someday be considered the birthplace of the modern precision agriculture-based unmanned air-craft vehicle business. It’s in that small ag-based town where Bret Chilcott and Tom Nichols have created the largest UAV manufacturing business in North America that is solely focused on the practice of monitoring crop health, improving yields and providing the data and infor-mation necessary to make precision agricultural philoso-phies a reality. From their homebase in Neodesha, Chilcott and Nichols have built UAVs for clients around the world, including Sweden, Brazil, Canada and the U.S. When the duo is not working to tweak their fixed-wing designs and cloud-based data gathering systems, they are on the road at shows in cities of all sizes ranging from Lincoln, Nebraska, to Los Angeles. To Nichols, time on the road helps the team to clarify the mysteries of UAVs prospective clients have yet to understand.

Our team spoke with Nichols over the course of two months to uncover the truths about the state of UAVs in

The Birthplace ofPrecision-Ag UAVs



precision ag. We caught up with Nichols multiple times, once on his way to a small farmer gath-ering a short drive away from Neodesha where he was asked to discuss UAVs, and again, a month later, 30 minutes before he was about to take the stage at a Nebraska farm show. We saw Chilcott during an L.A. drone expo, but only garnered a quick hello due to the constant swarm

of interested parties asking Chilcott to explain AgEagle. For anyone interested in gain-ing a true understanding of the role unmanned aircraft systems can or will play in the precision ag industry, it is apparent that at this time, the story is only about the future. Fortunately for our team, the farmers near Neodesha and the attendees of the Lincoln show and the L.A.

event, the AgEagle team has al-ready experienced the future.

Early DaysBefore Chilcott, founded

AgEagle, he was involved in building model aircrafts, sell-ing Cesna airplanes, working in boat manufacturing and the world of composite mate-rial. He was once the owner of a composite materials firm.

After learning about Kansas State University’s experimen-tal work to develop a remote control flight platform capable of holding cameras, roughly four years ago, Chilcott put his aircraft and composite build-ing skills to use. He designed a fixed-wing platform that KSU said should be offered to the commercial marketplace. At the same time, Nichols had joined

SIMPLE BY DESIGN: The newest AgEagle UAV launching system and control center can all be run by as few as one operator.PHOTO: AGEAGLE LLC



Chilcott as a business develop-ment executive to help grow Chilcott’s composite material business. “KSU said we should sell our product to farmers and ranchers,” Nichols says, but be-fore they were willing to invest time and effort the duo visited a Kansas precision ag event to speak about how the UAV they had built may be used in farm-ing.

“There were all these guys in farm attire, overalls made for the middle of winter,” Nichols says. “But, they all pulled out iPads and laptops. They were very smart in talking about their operations.”

After giving their preci-sion-ag-UAV pitch, Chilcott and Nichols were swamped. “They could see the value of it [the AgEagle] in their sky,”

Nichols says. “If we had the ability to sell 10 at that show we could have. That was two-and-a-half years ago.”

Following the show, the team of two returned to the shop and decided they needed to commit to UAVs. “We took the list of all the customers that we supplied carbon fiber parts to and told them we were changing our business and that

we were now AgEagle and that was all we were going to do,” Nichols says.

Since January 2014, the Kansas-based team has manu-factured and sold more than 130 units and established roughly 23 dealerships for its AgEagle UAV.

How AgEagle SucceedsThe AgEagle product is a



fixed-wing UAV equipped with a foot-operated launcher. Be-cause the team is focused of precision ag only, the entire de-sign of the system is geared to-wards easy, one-man operation. Along with the UAV, the team has developed AgEagle Rapid, a data gathering system used to assemble information from sensors and stitched images. The system begins tabulating its own scan patterns soon af-ter ascension, tweaking its flight pattern for wind and other fac-tors while optimizing lens focus and camera settings if it is not operated manually.

Photos taken during flight are geo-referenced and upload-ed to Rapid’s cloud-based au-tomated data transfer network

within 15 to 20 minutes thanks to DroneDeploy, a UAV-soft-ware and technology firm that offers a system called CoPilot. The system helps connect un-manned vehicles to an Inter-net feed, eliminating the need for ground-based operational control. The data or image set can be viewed on a smartphone or tablet and can be imple-mented into the client’s desired farm management software of choice capable of creating field remedy prescriptions for trouble areas highlighted in the images.

Chilcott and Nichols have worked with multiple farm management software provid-ers, payload designers and oth-ers to learn which offerings will

work best with the AgEagle, but according to Nichols, the system is capable of handling nearly any payload offering.

The business model to date for the AgEagle team has been a success. The company focuses on precision agriculture firms, agronomists and even individu-al farmers. When the team is on the road educating and selling, the conversations had can be described in one of four ways, Nichols says. There are some worried about UAVs and joke that if one were to fly over their respective property, they may take action to remove the UAV from the sky. Others have seen or heard about UAVs in farm-ing publications. “Those people want to know how it will ben-

efit them. By the time I explain the benefits they understand,” he says.

Then, there are precision ag professionals already applying high-level farming techniques. “They know about UAVs, but they want to know how to im-plement them with their farm-based prescription software.” There are also farm support service providers and co-ops. They want to know about how to add them to their suite of services and how to start up a dealership. “The novelty of the UAV has not worn off, but the knowledge base has expanded so that there is less mystery sur-rounding UAVs,” Nichols says.

Although Nichols tone has always been best described as

TRAVELING SERVICE: The AgEagle team has traveled across the U.S. to explain its products and services, even offering field demonstrations when possible. PHOTO: AGEAGLE LLC


MORE THAN A PLATFORM: In addition to its fixed-wing UAV, the Kansas company offers a cloud-based data viewing and software package that allows farmers to see data the same day as the flights. PHOTO: AGEAGLE LLC

energetic and excited, he does have a sliver of frustration be-hind his voice with the current state of U.S. regulations against UAVs.

Profiting In LimboFollowing Transport Can-

ada’s passage of small UAV rules, AgEagle’s calls from Canada have exploded, Nichols says. “Everyone wants to order one or set-up a dealership,” he says with that excitement, but the same cannot be said of the company’s U.S. operations. “The only reason why the indus-try hasn’t exploded is because the co-ops, the agronomists and all the people that want to fly for hire are concerned about the FAA or a competitor might

step-in and create legal hassles for them,” he says with frustra-tion. “So, they wait.”

Although AgEagle is main-ly serving clients in Brazil, Swe-den, Canada and other non-U.S. markets, it has still found suc-cess at home. According to Nichols, there are people will-ing to pull the trigger on buy-ing the AgEagle today even if they know they are going to lose another growing season due to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s delay of sUAV rules. “They want to use their time now as a learning experi-ence so that when they can use them they will now how,” he says. It’s that reality that has the entire team excited at a time of industry stagnancy. Interested

parties, the agronomists, co-ops and farm support teams are still investing in ag-based UAVs even though regulations cur-rently prohibit their use.

“I think our story can be about what other startup UAV companies can look like,” Nich-ols says. The company, less than five years old, has already quadrupled its employee base in Neodesha and is becoming a well-recognized brand in the UAV sector. Until the FAA is-sues its regulations, Nichols be-lieves other firms can maintain success by continuing to travel, get in front of potential us-ers and test products possible. The AgEagle team has already moved past its UAV business aspirations, Nichols adds, and

is already working on new edi-tions of its UAV, tweaking the manufacturing model and de-veloping more and more distri-bution models beneficial to all parties. Until the U.S. explodes the way Canada has, Nichols and Chilcott will continue to travel and look for potential payload offerings or software offerings that can keep their product flying high. He ended our talk earlier this year from the shop in Kansas with that message. “I’m off to a small-town farmers meeting,” he said “Usually people want to learn more and buy our products.”

Author: Luke GeiverEditor, UAS [email protected]



OPERATIONS

UAVS IN FOCUS: The Sinclair UAS team will provide students with the chance to build UAV platforms and train on other, prebuilt offerings in its UAS courses.PHOTO: SINCLAIR COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Sinclair Community College has been of-fering aviation classes since 1911. Deb Norris and Andrew Shephard are making sure the Ohio-based school can continue its long tradition in the aerospace world. The duo has helped to spearhead the forma-tion of a unique, unprecedented

unmanned aircraft systems program capable of training future UAS operators, designers and data analysts. They’ve also helped give something to the UAS industry of North America that has never been done before: an indoor UAV flight test range.

In 2008, after several major manufacturing companies pulled out of Dayton, Ohio, Norris,

the vice president for workforce development at Sinclair, and Sherphard, now UAS director at the school, began searching for an emerging market that the school could rally behind. Norris knew then that the school could grow by taking advantage of the surrounding community’s capabilities, which still included manufacturing and also data

analytics. “In the fall of 2008 we went on a trade mission to Israel with the purpose of researching UAS technologies that we might form partnerships around,” Nor-ris says. “We also wanted IP that we could form basic business around in the U.S.”

After the Israel trip and some following market research performed by the school and third-party consultants, Nor-ris, Shephard and the school’s leadership team decided to invest in a national center for UAS training. The school was built on a three-legged stool, Norris says, that includes access to airspace, simulation and modeling and a

UAV Tradition BuildersAt Sinclair Community College, the UAS industry has become the priority to keep its long-history in the aerospace industry alive and well. By Luke Geiver


OPERATIONS

ANNOUCEMENT SERIES: Since it entered the UAS space, Sinclair has met many of its self-imposed goals and milestones, including a press conference held earlier this year unveiling the nation's first indoor UAS range. PHOTO: SINCLAIR COMMUNITY COLLEGE

leading edge curriculum backed by industry partners that know how to analyze data. “That is the only reason you are going to fly an application. It is about gather-ing and then understanding your data,” Norris says.

Since committing to the UAS program, the school has in-vested roughly $7 million. Ohio has provided another $4 million, and in addition, the school has earned other income sources. Norris created a pro-forma early on in the program’s formation, complete with tasks, goals and a timeline. Through consulting and other engagements, Norris and the team have already met all of its financial and time-specific UAS goals, an element of the effort that Norris is proud of.

Earlier this year the team hosted an opening ceremony for its indoor training facility. The 28,000 square foot facility—a former university printing building—has an impressive list of UAV amenities available for students.

The facility includes a UAS simulation center and a sensors avionics lab. Shephard can offer his students access to turbo-prop UAVs along with other electric

small UAVs. A 3-D printer allows students to print a UAV platform and then assemble a full unit be-fore test flights at the range. The range consists of 3,200 square feet with a mezzanine level to allow operators to stand 14-feet above ground to watch the UAVs from above if necessary. The indoor range is also GPS permeable, so UAVs equipped with GPS will allow the students to test UAV programs that have such software capability.

“We know we can run a lab in any weather conditions. You aren’t as worried about students making a mistake,” Shephard says. “If they fly into the wall it is not the end of the world.”

The indoor range will also allow students to perform pre-flight checks and crash assess-ment briefings, Shephard says. Flight testing capabilities are important to Sinclair, Nelson says. Testing allows the students to gain the experience needed in the workplace. Nelson says here background in economic devel-opment has taught her to focus on establishing a talent pipeline before working to attract new businesses. To help expand both Sinclair’s capabilities in attracting

students and offering a cutting edge curriculum, Norris and Shephard have worked to part-ner with industry, including many partnerships that are not based in Ohio. “We are seeing that you want to find as many connection points across the country as pos-sible,” she says.

One of those connections has already paid off for both the school and the industry. Sinclair has partnered with UAV designer and manufacturer Altavian. “We wanted a more strategic part-nership that just buying some of their UAV’s,” Nelson says. Through its partnership with Altavian, Sinclair is educating stu-dents on the Altavian UAV plat-form—how to fly and maintain it. Because Altavian was focused on research and development and less on training, Sinclair was able to find a need it could fulfill for the company by training fu-

ture Altavian pilots that are also purchasing units for commercial use post-graduation.

To date, Shephard has helped provide UAS interns to operations around the world, and, each year when the program offers short-term workshops, the attendees include participants from places as far away as Italy, he says.

“We are application focused now, but we fully intend to add other specialties such as data ana-lytics or maintenance,” Nelson says. “We are looking at this as an investment in the future.”

NO CRASH WORRY: At the Sinclair indoor UAS test facility, students training to fly will be able to utilize GPS-capable systems in a controlled setting, a situation the Sinclair team believes will alleviate student concern of flight risks.PHOTO: SINCLAIR COMMUNITY COLLEGE


PAYLOAD

Sensing the UAS Future Gryphon Sensors seeks to leverage its military roots into commercial marketsBy Patrick C. Miller

Tony Albanese sees developments in the world of unmanned aerial systems as the beginning of a renais-sance with enormous potential.

“There’s going to be so much going on in the next 10 years in this industry,” says Alba-nese, the president of Gryphon Sensors. “It’s going to change the way commerce works. It’s going to change the way a lot of things

work, but it has to be done safe-ly. It’s critical to get it done that way.”

Getting UAS integrated safely into the national airspace is the primary reason SRC Inc.—a major defense contractor head-quartered in North Syracuse, New York—created Gryphon Sensors and chose Albanese to head it. SRC has extensive experi-ence in developing radar systems for the military, ranging from airborne systems to ground sur-

veillance radars, and from avian surveillance to weapon location applications.

As SRC’s former executive vice president of defense and en-vironmental solutions, Albanese brings experience in the defense and air traffic control industries, including radar system engineer-ing, program management, do-mestic and international business development, and operations and manufacturing management.

His familiarity with applying

technology in the commercial world should help the Federal Aviation Administration solve the dual challenges of UAS air-space integration and commer-cialization, which Albanese de-scribes as a massive problem.

“The No. 1 mission of the FAA is safety first,” he says. “With tens of thousands of UAS being delivered into the U.S. ev-ery month, this problem’s only going to get worse before it gets better.”

TECH BE NIMBLE: Trachsler probes clock voltages on an analog-to-digital evaluation card. SRC wants Gryphon Sensors to have a "skunkworks" atmosphere and to be quicker and more nimble in developing technology for commercial markets. PHOTO: GRYPHON SENSORS


Compounding the problem is the nature of small, low-flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and the challenge of separating them from the environmental background.

“This mission is extremely difficult because we’re focused on the very small UASs,” Alba-nese says. “When you set up a radar to detect them, you’re also detecting birds that are basically the same size. It complicates the problem for the radar proces-sor to sort through that data and determine what’s real and what’s not.”

SRC is supplying the mili-tary with similar solutions. How-ever, applying what SRC does for the military to the civilian world isn’t as easy as it might seem.

“We’re spinning off to a commercial entity so that we can create separation from the mili-tary,” Albanese explains. “As you can imagine, the military’s very sensitive to the commercial use of technology that can get wide-spread exposure and that would create an opportunity for adver-

saries to determine vulnerabilities to military technology.”

SRC moved some of its expertise to Gryphon Sensors to create new systems that don’t look or function anything like those currently used by the mili-tary. Albanese believes SRC can leverage its success in the military world to assist the FAA in the ci-vilian world.

“There’s already a precedent in place with the ground-based sense-and-avoid program,” he notes. “The FAA, quite frankly, has been very comfortable with and understands the benefit of radar. We feel that there will be a tilt toward the use of radar for this mission.”

Another reason SRC formed the new subsidiary was to avoid the defense contractor mindset of process and proce-dure that tends to add costs and cause delays with government contracts.

“By creating the subsidiary, we can avoid the process-heavy costs and delays to focus on the commercial business,” Albanese says. “It also allowed us to take a number of people and isolate them from the rest of the busi-ness to get them highly focused on achieving our goal—more of a skunkworks type of atmo-sphere for attacking this prob-lem.”

In addition, he notes that the business model which has been successful for SRC requires a different approach for a com-mercial venture such as Gryphon Sensors.

“You really have to make more investments. You have to take more risks. You have to be very price sensitive and you

have to be quick and nimble,” Albanese explains. “Sometimes government contracting doesn’t train you that way. It’s extremely difficult to sell commercial items from within a government busi-ness framework.”

Could the relationship with SRC prove to be a two-way street in which Gryphon Sensors tech-nology has military applications? While Albanese says there are no plans for the subsidiary to sell to military markets, he didn’t rule out the possibility.

“If you’ve establish some-thing as a commercial product, move the intellectual property into SRC and then they modify it—enhance it for military appli-cation—it’s a much easier path,” he says.

Over the long term, Alba-nese envisions UAS with on-board sensor systems providing the ability to avoid obstacles in close proximity and maintain separation in more heavily traf-ficked areas close to the ground.

“As computing power grows, you could have deliveries scheduled in an urban area,” he says. “You could be flying many UASs simultaneously, keeping proper separation, making sure the airspace is clear of commer-cial aircraft. But you still have to worry about emergency response teams—helicopters and that sort of thing—to make sure it’s free and clear.”

There are other issues on the UAS horizon that have yet to be tackled. For example, Alba-nese says he was contacted by a motion picture studio complain-ing about private UAS operators recording its scenes during mov-ie production and posting them

on the Internet—the ultimate spoiler.

“When you detect the UASs in that environment, what do you do about them?” he asks. “There are lots of things you can do. There aren’t too many that are legal right now. Jamming is not looked at very favorably by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission).”

UAS have also demonstrat-ed the potential to create more serious security issues, another area in which Albanese sees op-portunities for Gryphon Sensors.

“In France, they’ve already had at least three incursions into nuclear facilities by UAS,” Alba-nese notes. “Chancellor Merckel of Germany had a UAS fly right up to her podium. The threats are there.”

Albanese sees potential for Gryphon Sensors technology in UAS precision agriculture.

“You could have a mobile ground-based system that es-sentially goes in and clears the airspace so you could determine where to irrigate or where to spread fertilizer or pesticides,” he says.

Other UAS areas of interest to the company include search and rescue, package delivery, news gathering and law enforce-ment. Still, Albanese is realistic about the remaining problems and the amount of time required to solve them before UAVs are in widespread use.

“The economic engine of the United States is going to drive this to fruition,” Albanese emphasizes. “These vehicles have tremendous use, but they have to be safely integrated.”

PAYLOAD

GRYPHON'S LEADER: Tony Albanese, president of Gryphon Sensors, came from SRC Inc. with experience in the defense and air traffic control industries. PHOTO: SRC INC.


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