DRONERESPONDERS Global Public Safety UAS Summit to highlight benefits of drones to public safety sector

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During Xponential, the DRONERESPONDERS Global Public Safety UAS Summit will highlight the immense benefits that drone technology provides to public safety agencies and first responders across the world.

Offering four days’ worth of content on how drones are being used to aid public safety operations, the Summit will welcome speakers from around the world to provide a holistic perspective on how public safety agencies and first responders around the globe are using this technology, according to Chris Todd, executive director of the Airborne International Response Team (AIRT), which DRONERESPONDERS, a non-profit program supporting the use of UAS for public safety, was launched under in April 2019.

The Summit will kick off on Monday, Oct. 5, with a focus on major cities. There will be a special meeting with major cities that have jurisdictions that represent 500,000 or more people, during which attendees can discuss the unique challenges that their jurisdictions are facing. That afternoon, a federal stakeholders meeting will take place, where there will be representatives from the FAA and other agencies participating in a virtual town hall meeting to talk about the public safety sector and drones. There will also be a Q&A portion during the meeting. 

Tuesday, Oct. 6 will be law enforcement day. Christopher Church, senior forensics specialist and UAV lead at INTERPOL, will provide a global perspective on how agencies around the world are using drones. There will also be a major cities panel, and a panel on the use of forensic analysis in crime scene investigations.

Wednesday, Oct. 7 will be fire and rescue day. There will be a morning panel that includes representatives from London, Australia, and Croatia talking about how drones are being used by fire and rescue agencies around the world. There will be a U.S. group talking about coordinating mutual assistance between public safety drone teams, and there will be a major cities panel featuring individuals from fire and rescue departments representing some of the largest jurisdictions in the country talking about how their respective departments use UAS. There will also be a Hazmat panel that discusses how different departments are using drones for hazardous materials responses.

And finally, Thursday, Oct. 8 will be emergency management day. There will be a discussion about the humanitarian use of drones around the world. There will also be a panel with civil air patrol and other responders who use drones to respond to disasters. Members of the Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE) will also discuss how they’re using a new research grant from the FAA, as well as some of the research they’re conducting on using UAS for disaster response.

Greg Crutsinger, director of Applied Research, GeoAcuity (United States) will also discuss the work he’s doing with GIS and drones to map fires. The day will wrap up with a panel featuring AUVSI President and CEO Brian Wynne, Chris Todd and Charles Werner, director, DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety Alliance, as they discuss the future of drone technology for public safety and disaster response.

Helping public safety agencies get their programs off the ground

In less than two years of existence, DRONERESPONDERS has experienced an unprecedented amount of growth and expansion. Part of that has been of the organization's own doing, as it was really aggressive about creating new partnerships, and launching and publicizing news releases with other organizations when it first launched, Todd says. The founder and president of Airborne Response, a for profit service provider that works with public safety agencies to show them and train them how to use unmanned systems, Todd says that people started seeing the DRONERESPONDERS brand more frequently.

That concerted effort played a big part in DRONERESPONDERS' growth, but word of mouth has also played a major role in the nonprofit's growth, as other agencies often become interested in drone technology after seeing the benefits that the technology provides a neighboring city or jurisdiction. 

“As we help one public safety agency start a drone program, and that program becomes more and more visible, the neighboring cities and jurisdictions ask them, ‘hey, how did you start this?” Todd explains.

“And by and large they’re saying, ‘we work with DRONERESPONDERS. They got all of this information on the website. They’re running educational courses and webinars and conferences. Check it out.’ That’s helped us as much as anything, to create not only credibility, but momentum within the public safety sector.”

While drones might not be the answer for every agency for a myriad of reasons such as funding and/or challenges actually being able to operate the technology in a particular area, if an agency is able to acquire a system, there’s no shortage of potential use cases, and that list of use cases will only continue to grow over time thanks to plenty of ingenuity and outside of the box thinking.

“It’s going to keep evolving, and it’s going to be based on the technology and the imagination of the operators and how they use the technology,” Todd says.

AUVSI’s Trusted Operator Program and Embry Riddle help you standout above the rest

With the implementation of the Part 107 rule in the United States, and similar regulatory frameworks around the world, UAS are transforming fundamental concepts for providing airborne services across various sectors, including public safety. With this in mind, AUVSI launched the Trusted Operator Program (TOP) in 2018 to fill the gap between these minimally prescriptive operating regulations and a higher level of demonstrated knowledge, flight proficiency, safety and risk management practices that is expected to be valued by employers and customers of commercial UAS operators. By earning AUVSI TOP Certification, operators can set their career apart from others in the remote pilot industry.

There are three levels of certification - Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3.

Level 1 operations include routine operations under FAA Part 107; operations that do not require a waiver of FAA Part 107; operations in which the remote pilot is competent and proficient; flights using electric aircraft less than five pounds or two kilograms; and operations that do not have any of the characteristics mentioned in Level 2 or 3 such as operations close to airports, helipads, populated areas, people and livestock.

Level 2 operations include any of the characteristics of Level 1 plus: any operation that requires a waiver under FAA Part 107; operations that require a visual observer, or sensor operator; and operations with elevated risk factors or complexity including but not limited to operations close to airports, helipads, populated areas, people and livestock.

Level 3 operations include any of the characteristics of Level 2 plus the following: operations in safety-critical and complex areas that require higher levels of risk mitigation, such as operations involving industrial and chemical facilities, including offshore oil rigs, mine sites, power plants; or operations around infrastructure, including wind turbines, powerlines, communications towers, rail and pipelines.

Level 3 operations also include operations in any hazardous or extreme environments including: from ships, moving vehicles, aircraft, confined areas and underground; within close proximity to and within severe weather (storm research); or remote, harsh or hostile locations, including wildlife considerations. Operations requiring the development and testing of new procedures also fall under Level 3.

In 2018, Embry-Riddle became the first academic institution in the world to receive TOP certification from AUVSI.

According to Embry-Riddle Worldwide Campus Chancellor John R. Watret, students who complete the required TOP courses will be certified to handle a variety of UAS flying scenarios, from wedding photography to more dangerous situations.

“AUVSI has determined that our UAS curriculum is rigorous enough to prepare students for safe flights, even in the most challenging environments such as near chemicals, oil, gas, nuclear [power plants], or mining facilities,” Watret says.

For more information on TOP and how to become certified, click here.

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