Empowering Indigenous Communities Through Drone Technology

At Energy Drone Robotics Coalition Summit (EDRS) in Houston, I sat down with Craig Husselby, VP of Business Development for Synergy Aviation to talk about oil and gas pipeline inspections and their recent expansion into the U.S.

Jacob Taylor - CEO Indigenous Aerospace; Darian Edwards,  Indigenous Air Mobility Specialist, Canadian Advanced Air Mobility; Kimble McComb, Drone Advisor, Moose Cree First Nation; and Jo-Anne Tabobandung Dean of Aviation, First Nation Technical Institute join us this week to discuss how the usage of drones is an important tool in the process of empowering indigenous communities.

Justin Simkins, a Technical Specialist from Emesent, joins us this week on how Hovermap is creating a new industry standard in autonomous lidar mapping. Justin discusses Emesent's SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) based lidar system and how it can be utilized for autonomous navigation on drone platforms. He also explores how this technology has been particularly useful in the mining industry, where it can provide safe, efficient, and accurate data collection. 

What are the current trends in the drone market? What do investors think about the drone industry? How do the answers to these questions impact the drone industry and how do we bridge the gap between positive market trends and investor confidence? We spoke with the CEO of Drone Industry Insights, Kay Wackwitz and CFO of Volatus Aerospace, Abhinav Singhvi, to get answers to these questions and address some of the current trends, concerns and common misconceptions about the drone industry. 

Richard Podolski, VP of Flight Operations, talks in-depth about the recent SFOC granted to Volatus Aerospace by Transport Canada to remotely pilot a drone using Remote Flight Control System (RFCS) software and optical Detect and Avoid (DAA) within an active aerodrome traffic zone. This is the first step toward commercializing their nesting station AeriePort.

While at CanSec, we sat down with Nigel Waterhouse, Delegate for Transport Canada, to discuss the challenges and nuances between autonomous passenger flight, remotely piloted passenger flight, and uncrewed cargo delivery when it comes to integrating them into the National Airspace safely. 

Designed by Dr. Tad McGeer, the inventor of the ScanEagle (a UAV that defined a  whole new group of military aircraft), the Flexrotor from Aerovel is a vertical takeoff and landing autonomous aircraft with a pedigree that predates most commercial UAVs. In this podcast, we speak with Aerovel's CEO, Ali Dian to dive into the dual-use applications and capabilities of the Flexrotor.  To learn more about Dr. McGeer check out a recent interview with him here.

Colonel (ret'd) Michel Latouche, leader of the Veteran Training Program, Task Force Drone, speaks about the challenges veterans face when retiring from the military and how becoming a drone pilot can be a fulfilling second career that leverages their military skills. 

We speak with Lieutenant Colonel Melanie Lake about what it has been like witnessing the Russian invasion of Ukraine after serving with Ukrainian soldiers as a commander during Operation UNIFIER from March to October of 2021 and how that experience led her and many others to establish Mriya Aid, a Not-for-Profit designed to provide non-lethal military aid to Ukraine.  

What does it take to evacuate a family from Ukraine? What are the dangers involved? We spoke with a gentleman, who in order to keep his family safe has asked to remain anonymous, about what it took to not only get his family out of Ukraine but to provide six weeks of humanitarian aid throughout Ukraine.