The conference will be conducted virtually in view of the ongoing COVID-19 situation. Registration is free, and we invite anyone from academic, industry, and aviation agencies to register. We are planning for about 150 participants and will facilitate interactions among participants.
Background
Drones (also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs) are used in diverse applications as they are easy to operate and relatively low cost. Drone operations are likely to increase in number and scale in the following decades.
In 2015, NASA hosted the first unmanned aircraft traffic management (UTM) forum. Since then, the drone industry and associations have actively developed UTM systems and initiatives on urban air mobility (UAM). The numbers of symposiums, forums, discussion sessions, and exhibitions with a focus on UTM/UAM have also grown significantly. Events such as World ATM Congress and ICAO’s Drone Enable are hosted annually.
While drone operations and missions have become increasingly viable with technology advances in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), the full potential of large-scale applications are yet to be realized. Unlike manned aircraft aviation that have achieved stable and robust performances through gradual progression over several decades, the applications of drones (particularly for service and commercial drones) emerge in a relatively short time without systematic planning and development.
To achieve the full potential of drone applications, researchers and the industry would need to consider various issues, such as safe operations alongside manned aircraft and technology capabilities. In this conference, we will explore the potential of large-scale drone applications.