CICERO — The unmanned-aircraft systems industry is a $140 billion business and moving toward becoming a trillion-dollar industry worldwide. That’s according to Robert Simpson, president and CEO of CenterState CEO, who contends Central New York has “the strength and the capabilities” to “capitalize on that.” Simpson announced the 2016 UTM convention is coming Nov. 8-10 […]
CICERO — The unmanned-aircraft systems industry is a $140 billion business and moving toward becoming a trillion-dollar industry worldwide.
That’s according to Robert Simpson, president and CEO of CenterState CEO, who contends Central New York has “the strength and the capabilities” to “capitalize on that.”
Simpson announced the 2016 UTM convention is coming Nov. 8-10 to various sites in the Syracuse area and Griffiss International Airport in Rome.
UTM stands for unmanned-aircraft system (UAS) traffic management (UTM), a NASA-led research effort that seeks to “safely” integrate low-altitude, unmanned aircraft (such as drones) into the national airspace, according to a news release about the event.
Simpson announced the convention during a June 9 event at SRC, Inc. in the town of Cicero.
The convention represents “a chance to showcase our region’s assets to hundreds” of companies that work in the sector.
“Instead of going out individually and calling on those companies and trying to talk to them about what New York state can offer, we are bringing those companies right here to Central New York for three days when we can sell them on what we have to offer,” said Simpson.
Organizers are expecting “upwards of 500 attendees,” Simpson added.
Onondaga County, Oneida County, CenterState CEO, and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), in partnership with Empire State Development and the Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA), are partnering to bring the convention to the region.
“AUVSI, which is the world’s largest trade association for unmanned systems and CenterState CEO together are going to be putting on this conference,” Simpson said in his remarks at SRC.
Organizers expect the convention to attract attendees representing the systems integration, unmanned-aerial vehicle, and unmanned traffic-management industries from around the world.
“As the only UAS test site in the state of New York, Oneida County is pleased to see the annual UTM convention here in our region,” Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente, Jr. said in the release. “When Oneida County’s Griffiss International Airport applied for and became the UAS test site, these are the type of opportunities we had planned to see and be a part of. This is an integral step in developing the UAS industry throughout all of Central New York and the Mohawk Valley.”
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in August 2014 authorized the NUAIR Alliance and Griffiss International Airport in Rome to conduct drone testing. The NUAIR Alliance is an acronym for Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance.
The application approval for the certificate of authorization cleared the way for testing under the FAA-designated Griffiss International Airport UAS test site.
SRC is a partner with the NUAIR Alliance, according to the NUAIR website.
SRC and Gryphon Sensors develop products that allow unmanned air systems to fly in national airspace “safely,” Paul Tremont, president of SRC, Inc., said to open the June 9 announcement.
Gryphon Sensors is a subsidiary of SRC, Inc.
This is really what the future is about, New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul said in her remarks at SRC.
“We’re incorporating and bringing together the strength of two regions to be able to sell the rest of the world on the fact that this is now the epicenter of research and development for unmanned-aerial systems as well as transportation networks, which are necessary,” said Hochul.
Participants
The list of industry and public officials expected to participate include representatives from the FAA, NASA, and other federal agencies, as well as industry and academic organizations.
The program will feature a number of workshops on developing beyond visual line of site (BVLOS) operations in New York, as well as flight demonstrations in Syracuse and the Griffiss International Airport.
The convention will also include keynote briefings from NASA on technical-capability level demonstration 2, in which industry collaborators will participate this October.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com