Drones For Anti-Poaching And The DWE Town Hall Meeting Open To All Attendees

Next month’s Drone World Expo will offer three keynote sessions, which will be open to all attendees.

The two newly announced sessions are Drones For Good: Using UAS To Stop The Slaughter of Rhino and Elephants in Africa, scheduled for Wednesday, November 18th at 9:00 am; and the DWE Town Hall Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, November 17th at 3:45 pm. These two sessions join the opening morning keynote Avoiding the Traffic Jam: A Government and Industry UTM Update (Tuesday, November 17th at 9:00 am), all taking place at the San Jose Convention Center.

“Attendees of Drone World Expo will have access to a world-class education program including three incredibly timely and important keynote presentations addressing critical issues facing the industry,” said Joel Davis, President, JD Events, producers of the DWE. “We are thrilled to be hosting John Petersen of the Lindbergh Foundation, in addition to the experts who will be part of the UTM Update and those that will answer our attendees’ most pressing questions in the Town Hall Meeting. This is an event not to be missed, and we encourage all commercial drone users to make plans to join us.”

John L. Petersen, Chairman, The Charles A. & Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation will present the Drones for Good keynote address on Wednesday morning at 9:00 am. Attendees will learn that at the recent rate of slaughter, all wild elephants in Africa will be dead in 10 years. The situation is similarly critical for rhino, whose horns can sell for over $500,000 on the street in Vietnam. These iconic animals will be extinct if something significant isn’t done quickly. Only one approach has shown itself to be 100% effective in stopping this poaching – flying drones at night with IR cameras and notifying rangers on the ground when suspects are seen.

The Lindbergh Foundation’s Air Shepherd program is leading the way in funding and deploying operating drone teams to combat the poaching. Using aircraft specially developed for the mission, the Air Shepherd mobile operating crews go off road into the bush in South Africa to find and deter the poachers with high efficiency.

“The Lindbergh Foundation’s Air Shepherd program is putting drones deep into the African bush to fly at night in very harsh operating conditions to benefit all of humanity. We don’t know anyone else who is doing that,” said Petersen. “I look forward to sharing our efforts with the attendees of Drone World Expo and discussing how and where drones are making a difference with global impact in a critical, high-profile area.”

On Tuesday, November 17th, Drone World Expo kicks off with a keynote presentation titled Avoiding the Traffic Jam: A Government and Industry UTM Update, featuring a dynamic panel of speakers including Verizon Ventures’ David Famolari, the FAA’s Marke “Hoot” Gibson; NASA’s PK Kopardekar and Google X’s Dave Vos, who will address the challenges of implementation, with timelines, industry involvement and progress. The panel will be moderated by Hogan and Lovells’ Gretchen West.

At the end of the first day, all Drone World Expo attendees are welcome at the DWE Town Hall Meeting. In an industry that is changing so dramatically, so rapidly, this is an opportunity to for attendees to bring their questions to a number of expert panelists who can provide details on where things stand and where they are headed. Panelists will speak to the most pressing issues and select questions from those submitted online and during the Town Hall Meeting.

Panelists for the DWE Town Hall Meeting include Mark Bathrick, US Department of the Interior; Robert Blair, Measure; Michal Drobac, Small UAV Coalition; Gregory McNeal, Pepperdine University/AirMAP; Treggon Owens, Aerial MOB; and Gretchen West, Hogan Lovells/UAVUS. The panel will be moderated by Michael Bates, Unmanned Aerial Online.

In addition to these three keynote presentations, there will be a comprehensive conference program, which can be downloaded here. The Drone World Expo exhibit hall will be open 10 am – 6 pm on Tuesday, November 17 and 10 am – 5 pm on Wednesday, November 18 with a networking reception on the show floor the last hour of the expo each day.

(Source: DWE news release)

FMI: www.droneworldexpo.com