UAS News Podcast — 2013-05-08
Transcript
Alright, hello everyone and welcome to the first anniversary of the SUAS news podcast series where we always discuss the news and issues relevant to the global end man technologies community. We've been doing that for actually a year tomorrow. I'm your program host Patrick Egan and let's say hello and welcome to our co-host Jean Robinson. Hello Patrick.
How's it going? This is pretty exciting stuff. I didn't realize it was just coming up on the news. It was only a few days ago.
So, yeah, this is great. Yeah, it is. It's a pretty exciting thing. I know it's not that on me too.
You know, here we are one year later, 200,000 plus downloads. I'm surprised by the whole thing. Pleasantly, I will say. But surprised on the rise.
It's been a good ride so far and I thought hopefully we can continue it. Well, me too. So anyway, I want to jump right in. I do want to say thank you, Jean.
You've added a lot to the program. It's fun being here. Well, I'm glad that you think it's fun being here because we hope to have another year or so of a podcast. Hopefully it will go on some more.
But yeah, we couldn't do it without you. The co-hosting into a craft, sir. Well, you know, getting in here, I wanted to talk about, you know, some high altitude impressions of kind of, you know, maybe what you think of the podcast over the last year, the guests and whatnot. Well, for me, you know, the top-down view of this thing is that we've done a pretty good job of keeping it varied and we've had some really good guests on and we've had the highly technical and then we've had the casual conversations where we've just kind of talked about issues.
So in that respect, I think we've done a pretty good job. I mean, that's just me, but, you know, with 45 minutes to discuss, a lot of material. I mean, there's a lot of stuff out there that we could discuss. And like you say, we go through 45 minutes and it seems like we've been on for five minutes.
I know that. We've been telling guests to talk about everything that we want to talk about and there's so much more to do. So, you know, from looking at it from 30,000 feet, we've got a lot to go. Yeah, we sure do.
I definitely think, you know, we've done good. Sometimes it isn't long enough. Sometimes people say it's too long, but I don't think that there's any... I guess you can't please all the people all the time, but for me, I mean, I could go on for longer.
I like these conversations and I find the information really, you know, enthralling and, you know, whatnot. So, over that past year, we've learned a lot, I think. I personally have and I've noticed a common thread that with this, let's say, unmanned technology and not only just unmanned aircrafts, but also, you know, we talked about some ground robots and also driverless cars and we've talked about other things along those lines. And, you know, the common thread is that these folks are breaking new ground and gathering unprecedented data with unmanned technologies.
And, you know, it's kind of just like it's a tool, you know. What are your impressions?
Oh, absolutely a tool. That's the thing that has really come to light in this entire situation. People are learning how to put sensors on aircraft or sensors on a robot or sensors on an unmanned vehicle and send it in where they wouldn't normally send in a manned asset or a vehicle that didn't have the technology they have because it would essentially be a one-way mission. Now, like the guys, the hurricane hunters and the guys that come out there, they turned an unmanned aircraft into the eye of the storm, you know, as it's occurring and blow in and blow out at low level.
That kind of stuff is just fantastic. And I think that as we continue down this path, there's going to be more and more people think about, oh, you know what, we could do that if we had this aircraft, this unmanned aircraft, or this robot that could go in there. I think you're going to see more of that. I think, you know, we've kind of sparked the imaginations, and the industry has sparked a lot of imagination, even in engineers who don't have much imagination.
Well, they have imagination to solve problems, I think, you know, but the imagination for how to use this tool and, you know, gather the data. But, you know, I do think, unlike what people have, say, you know, as far as when they start talking about their field of expertise and how they're using this technology, and I like to let people kind of enlighten us about their field of expertise, like when we heard about how tropical storms are formed, any energy transfer out of the ocean, or that fire modeling, that NIST work that you're flying
and doing, and how they hope to, you know, gather data and make these models and algorithms and, you know, save lives and homes.
I mean, you know what, I really like that. I like hearing from those types of professionals and scientists who, you know, kind of impart that knowledge on us and how that's what they're trying to get and how they use the unmanned technology to get it. Yeah, I would have to agree with that, and that's what's really cool, because we're bringing in other disciplines, not just from the unmanned airframes or the unmanned vehicles part of it. We're bringing in disciplines that are completely unrelated, but plug into what we're trying to share, and I think that's pretty cool.
And for me, all those really technical, of course I'm an Alpha-UK, right? I don't know the vast majority of our listeners, you know, kind of strive to, but I really like the technical stuff. I like guys on there that, you know, tell us about the storms and the AGSB folks that, you know, get real technical with, you know, what they need to do. I love all that stuff.
That's what's really getting to me and grabs me and wants me to have those people keep talking. Oh, yeah, and I agree with that. I like how they're using that, you know, using the technology to better, let's say, their field of expertise, and it is very interesting. I like all of that technical data and all of the technical talk.
Maybe some people might find it a little, let's say, you know, it should get a little bit into the weeds for them, but, you know, I think overall that's kind of what we're trying to do here, is expose people to these technologies. And, you know, I mean, it's easy to say, and we hear all the time, you know, oh, yeah, you can use this to, you know, do smoke stack inspections or agriculture or first responders or whatever. And, yeah, that's true. You can throw all of these out there, and there's a myriad, and I think, you know, really, you know, it's only limited by our imagination.
However, you could keep saying that, you know, but how? And that's what I think we kind of delve into and get the expertise in there and say, hey, you know, how exactly are you using this?
What are you getting from that? And it gives the listener something, let's say, broader stroke of what's happening, that just that, you know, oh, keep throwing it out there. I've enjoyed the conversations that we've had with people, and I think that the friends, or I should say that the show has gotten some friends over the last year, you know, we've had people come on here and get to explain things, so we're going to have some people call in today that were on the shows and, you know, kind of talk about what they're doing.
You know, also it's a little bit of an update, but have them come on and, you know, talk to us about that, which I think it'll be good. I have gotten feedback from people that have listened to different shows, and they said, oh, you know, like one caller, Ted Wierszponowski, is supposed to call in, and he's the chair of the ASTM F38. And I think, you know, our, when we did that show for the update, I think people got a better understanding of what F38 was doing, and then, you know, we're able to get involved.
I've heard there's actually more people who've gotten involved in that. So, you know, it's a positive thing there. The Back to School series with the education, trying to give people an idea of what they're going to get if they go to a different one of these schools that do unmanned aviation. You know, we had several on, several didn't want to come on.
Others thought it was kind of, I don't know, I don't know what the deal was, but the institutions that did come on got to get the message out there of what their program was about, what you're going to get out of it, and hopefully what it meant for the future of the industry and the workforce. So I thought that was pretty cool, too. I enjoy bringing, let's say, these new concepts and new ideas to the public. And how do you feel about that?
Yeah, you know, that's a great part of the diversity of the SES News Podcast. And when you mentioned that we were coming up onto our year last week, and it did surprise me, I went back and I reviewed some of the ones that you kind of asked, you know, because they are available to download. And, you know, the historical perspective is kind of interesting. Is there someone that made you laugh a little bit?
Because, you know, you listen to some of the things that people said a year ago, or even what you said a year ago, and the way the industry has progressed up to this point, it's moving so fast. So, you know, it's not safe, the casual conversations that we've had, and the anecdotal stories that we've gotten from folks that buy out there and actually use the system, it's just not interesting, because it is. And it was just strictly from the historical standpoint. And it's just been half all week, because, you know, this time last year there weren't too many people talking about driverless cars.
And suddenly it's become mainstream. Japan has even released their first driverless cars for seniors. I mean, it just blows my mind how we're just kind of moving so fast into this industry, and it's coming. There's no way that, you know, it's going to be stopped.
It's just the next logical progression of taking the computer and making these robots work for us. It's exciting times, I think. Well, that's funny you say that, because now I caught a news story yesterday, which I thought was pretty interesting. I think we're moving beyond just the drone thing.
The article yesterday was how, you know, the machines are going to be getting smarter than us here sooner than expected. And I should have had that pulled up, and I could have discussed it a little bit more, but I think it's kind of interesting. People now are concerned about the robots, and they're hearing about the Terminator, and computers are going to take over and be smarter than us by 2025. I don't know.
I just had a big hard drive crash, and I'm not thinking the computer's smarter than me, but I don't know. Who's smarter?
But I don't know. Are we going to, as a society, be fearful of technology?
I guess that's been the way it is forever. I mean, I'm sure the first guy that showed up in the cave with a torch, and I was lit, people were like freaking out. Probably some of them really thought this was great. And then you had other people thinking, oh my God, this is bad.
But I kind of embrace technology, and I think that the technology that's coming will be pretty exciting, the driverless cars, whatever it is, even flying around with a robotic pilot. I think there is apprehension on all that stuff, but when you think about the Air of France deal where the guy rode the stall in for 30-some-odd thousand feet, we're not perfect either. Certified aircraft crash, DOT-approved cars crash. I mean, it's just kind of part of the, comes with the territory, I guess.
But whatever, we can debate that here. I think that people are warming up to the technology, even some people that have privacy issues. I don't know if you read the story that we did about the Berkeley Drone Town Hall, but even the takeaway from that, I thought it was pretty good. People were interested.
They had kind of no idea. Again, I think it's up to us to kind of get out there and tell people the good that the technology can do. And I think that I slowly see the worm turning, as it were, on that. I think things are changing.
People are still concerned about privacy, but some new issues with that. And it's not only the drones, and I think that that is kind of pushing through some. So, you know, we'll see what happens. I'm really interested to see what happens over the next year.
Again, this technology and the advances are extremely fluid. Like you were saying, you know, you listened to some of that stuff from a year ago, and you're like, hmm, you know, did it come to fruition?
Is that what happened? How did this happen?
Or this is how we planned on using it, and it really didn't work out. Is it really, really fatal?
Well, you know, you hear tidbits and, you know, things every year. It seems like even every year we hear, you know, different things about regulation all around the world or whatever, and people are expecting things, and it just kind of, let's say, fringers away, and we don't really get that. So I think that that's part of the industry. There's a lot of, let's say, proprietary information, and there's a lot of secretive things kind of going on.
So, you know, it's hard to, you know, stick your finger in the wind, and you hear one thing or people are saying one thing, and you try and go with that, but that doesn't really always work out. So, you know, you go with what you got, and you make predictions or whatever else. I think, you know, overall, though, I think we're doing pretty good as far as that's concerned. Do you agree?
Yeah, not too bad. Yeah, not too bad. We haven't gotten too outlandish, but there are some predictions that are still hanging out there that we're going to wait and see as time will tell, but, yeah, we've done pretty good. All right.
Yeah, I agree. Let's, well, we have a caller, and I think this might be, this is caller number one we're going to bring him on, and hello, caller. Yeah, this is Ted Wierszmanowski. I think it's me, right?
It is you. Hey, Ted, how's it going, buddy?
Doing fine, doing fine. Just got back to California from Florida, so life is good. Life is good. Yeah, you were overseas, you were celebrating the birth of a baby granddaughter?
Yeah, we went over to visit my son in Abu Dhabi, and lo and behold, they forgot to tell us in quotes that my daughter-in-law was actually pregnant. So we showed up there, she was nine months pregnant, and had the kid while we were there, which was a surprise, but that was fun. Excellent, excellent. That's a great surprise to have.
Yeah. So that's good. So yeah, you call in on the one-year anniversary show, and... Well, congrats on that.
That's good. At least you're still on the air, right?
That's good. Haven't been shut down by the FCC or the FAA or anybody. Not yet. Nobody's called.
I have invited them on. I didn't invite the FAA on. They declined, but, you know, things are fluid over there. But yeah, we had you on during the year here, and you gave us a little update about ASTM F-38, and I've gotten a lot of feedback about that show.
I think you get about 7,000 downloads on that show, and a lot of people were like, hey, you know, it's almost like a community service type of thing, where they said, you know, appreciate that you did that, gave us a lot of insight, you know, people talk about F-38 or RTCA or some of the different efforts, and it's really kind of an obscure thing for people. And they were like, okay, so I went and listened to that podcast,
and I have a better idea of what's going on. So with that, I was hoping that what you're calling in today, that you could give us kind of a CliffsNotes version of updates from the F-38, if possible.
Sure. Yeah, not a problem. I think on the radio show we were on, I mentioned, you know, that we were developing all the standards that needed to be done to support the new, you know, the Small UAS rule whenever it comes out, and that we were trying to get the drafts done before the notice of proposed rulemaking was out. Actually, we've been asked to accelerate the development of the standards, which we're doing, so that they could start to be used for public applications and be beta tested over the next couple of years as that proposed rule gets refined from comments from the public.
So we just finished up a round of ballots on all the required standards. We have all of our task groups now addressing the comments that they got. We will be sending out another set, another draft of the standards. Some of them will go out around the 15th of May, and a couple of them the 1st of June.
We need a little bit more time to address some of the comments. We're hoping that it looks like a lot of them will actually be approved after this next round by using the ASTM process, and so they'll actually become final ASTM standards. And then it may take another ballot for a couple of them. We're not sure.
We're hoping that they'll all be approved. And then what we've been told is then that the FAA will allow them to be used by public entities to actually get some exercise, and to beta test them to see, you know, is there something in these standards that doesn't make sense, because we're writing these sort of in the dark, although we have a lot of experts working on this. But you never know when you're working on standards. There may be something that doesn't make any sense, something that is impractical.
There may be some holes in the standards that we'll need to fill, but we'll be able to do that over the next couple of years. So when the final rule comes out as a regulation, then these standards would have been exercised, and it'll just help accelerate the implementation of the regulation for civil commercial uses. So, you know, it's all goodness, actually, in my mind. And we're making a lot of good progress, and a lot of the feedback we're getting on the standards, they seem to be pretty rational and reasonable.
Does that help? Is that a good update for you?
A quick one? It is. It does help, and that's good news. And I kind of like that very pragmatic approach, so you can take that one back.
I do, I have heard that my name comes up now and again at the ASTM meetings, that, you know, we've got to make sure that the Patrick Eagans of the world are okay with this, and that sounds really good to me. Okay, cool. It sounds very pragmatic that we're going to take them out, trot them out, try them out, and hopefully find the holes. And you're probably making more progress because I'm not commenting on this.
Well, Patrick, Patrick, Patrick, what can I say? I know, the rewriting, I'm sure, as the chairperson, when you get the comments, you're probably like, oh, my God. We actually have a lot of folks that were on the ARC participating as well, the small UAS ARC, and a lot more, you know, because of the last show and the fact that we've been around asking folks to participate and play in this, we've been getting a lot of good input from a lot of different venues. So that will all make the standards be better.
So everything's cool. Well, that's good. So did you hear some feedback from the show, too?
Did people comment on that to you? Yeah, I've heard a few folks, you know, talk about it, and I think we actually got a few. I'll have to check with our membership fellow, Kyle, and see if we've actually gotten any additional folks that actually joined and participated in the review of the standards as a result of the show. But I don't know that for a fact, but I'll check on that.
Yeah, that would be interesting to know. But hopefully, you know, that's the case. We got more involvement, you know. Yep, absolutely.
Well, I know you got to run off to a meeting, and I appreciate you calling in and congratulating us and giving us a great update with F38. Sounds like things are moving ahead. We're trying. We're trying.
Like herding cats? Yep, no, dinosaurs, but that's okay. That's pretty funny. All right, Ted, well, hey, thanks again for coming on, buddy, and we'll talk to you again in the future.
Okay, cheers. Thanks a lot. Bye-bye. Bye.
Oh, you know, there's some good news, right, Gene? I would say so, yeah. He's always in the know on things like that, so that's helpful to have him give his feedback. It definitely is.
You know, you got some good first-time information. I think that's another thing that's definitely a plus with this show, is you do get some inside baseball, and you get to hear about, you know, some of these different efforts, what's going on, what some of the ideas that, you know, with the effort and who's doing what, blah, blah, blah, you know, and what direction it's going to go in. You know, I kind of like that idea of taking some of the standards out and trotting them out and trying them out.
I wonder how that's going to work. Oh, hopefully the privacy thing will die down, and I wonder, you know, we need to get somebody on here to talk about the COA thing and find out how many applications have been put in, you know, say, lately. Try to figure that out and see if that number's really growing or people are doing it or they're just pitching it in or what the heck's going on. Have you heard anything on that, Gene?
No, you know, and that is a very good point. I don't know who we can ask on that either, but maybe do a little research and find out. I would, you know, the FOIA request that you put in, it took forever to get an EFF, ended up having to, you know, file a lawsuit to get the information. But, yeah, it would be nice to know if they have, at least in numbers, gotten an increase in applications, and, you know, if they so, if so, could they determine whether they were, you know, from colleges, universities, law enforcement?
I mean, it doesn't have to be specific. It would be nice just to have numbers, wouldn't it?
Yeah, I don't know, kind of gauge what's going on out there. I mean, you know, this issue's been very popular. You have all this legislation. You've got four bills here in California, and I'm trying to do some stuff there, maybe, you know, being a witness or whatever.
But it's really hot, so I'd be interested in seeing if we're flicking it in or if we're going whole hog or what the deal is on that. Now, one other update, and I think since the last podcast, it's been two weeks, been kind of busy. There's just a ton of stuff going on. It's crazy.
I did talk to Mr. Williams from the UASIO, and we talked a little bit about the pushback for the NPRM, because one of our readers actually sent me the heads up, and I FOIA'd the NPR or the SBAR 107 from OMB, which is the Office of Management and Budget, I believe. It's an office of the president. I don't have the paperwork right in front of me.
Anyway, that was pushback, and the reason it was pushback is what he told me was is some folks at DOT thought that the SBAR itself had gone through so many revisions and updates and people adding and putting and taking and whatever else into the equation that it was a little disjointed, and so they didn't feel that it was ready for prime time yet, so they took it back. They're going to go through it again and try and make it, let's say, streamline it or fix some of that and then submit it. So that's what's going on, and that's going to take a few months to do.
And that was a little update from it. And a post in the kitchen on that one?
Yeah, I mean, really, you know, the ARC, we turned that in in 2009, it's 2013. You know, I mean, there's been so many people going at it that it's probably, I don't know, I wonder if we even recognize it anymore. Still very tight to the best. Nobody wants to really talk about what's in there.
There are some changes at the FAA as far as people, again, who are involved and who have been involved. Good, bad, I don't know. New people coming on board. So we'll have to see.
We'll have to see this. What we just heard from Ted, I think, sounds pretty good too. I think they're going to try some of these standards and go, hmm, I don't know if that's working real good, you know, or maybe, hey, this did work good. I still wish we had an exemption for the under two kilos frangible aircraft under 25 miles an hour, say, you know, administered by a community-based standards group.
I think that that would be the way to go. I think we've espoused that a few times on the show, but, you know, easy for everyone to comply and easy for everyone to administer, blah, blah, blah. So I don't know. Your thoughts?
We can still hold out for that, Patrick. I think that that could happen on down the road, you know, much like the sport aircraft industry, you know, there was, they kind of got their deal going through pretty quickly, but once they found out that these guys are going to be flying, you know, around the patch and this sort of thing, then they lightened up quite a bit. Again, it's the perception, the unknown quantity of how many UA could be in the sky and which CFA controls and what the reality is going to be and what footprint is going to be.
Right. You know, because most of the commercial operations that we've heard of and that our people are wanting to do are, can fall within the 400 feet altitude, 1500 feet lateral, even less. Right. And commercial photography and stuff like that.
I think we'll get down to the point where that's going to happen. It may take a while, and, you know, a lot of us, you know, we're all anxious with this thing because we can see it and it's something that should be easy to do, but, you know, again, there's the government and they're being careful about things and making sure they have all the things discovered. It's just taking an inordinate amount of time to get through into a wise decision that, you know, okay, yeah, this can be done. Right.
So, but I'm, yeah, I'm optimistic. I'm going to say that right now. Well, I'll say, yeah, me too. I hope something comes along.
Well, we've got another caller and I think this is, I think someone from Florida and I'm going to say this is probably Jeff Land. Okay. Howdy, Patrick. Yes, it is.
Good afternoon. Good morning. Hey, Jeff. How's it going, buddy?
Hey, it's going pretty good. How about you?
Pretty good. We're celebrating a one-year anniversary here of the UAS News Podcast Series. Congratulations. Thank you, sir.
We're, you know, reminiscing about all the great guests that we've had and all of the excellent information we've got to listen to and all of the different ways that people are employing this technology. And, you know, I was hoping that you would call in because actually the show that you guys did was probably, it was actually the most popular show that we ever had. It had over 26,000 downloads. Well, that's fantastic.
I'm glad people are tuning in. Well, they're tuning in to hear, you know, they're tuning in to hear guests like you, man, and, you know, hear what this technology can do. And, you know, the one other thing I wanted to have you on for is I also, you had some update worthy stuff. Now, you went down and did some volcano work.
We ran a story about that. Would you give us the Cliff Notes on that?
Oh, certainly. We took some dragon eyes, some surplus dragon eyes that are currently at the Ames Research Center, NASA's Ames Research Center, and built some special custom payloads that measured sulfur dioxide particularly, but we also had particles. The principal investigator, Dave Pieri, is out at JPL. So this is a project that was between NASA JPL, Ames, and Goddard at Wallops.
And we built these little payloads and got them in the volcano plume to measure the sulfur dioxide concentration, which was actually a fairly localized measurement. When you look at the plume coming out of the Turialba volcano in Costa Rica, it's not very widespread. So it really lent itself to using the small UAS to get into the specific areas and measure the concentration because if you say we're just a few tens, if not a hundred meters away from the plume layer, the concentration went way down.
So this was a great exercise in understanding how to do this, and it really shows the value of a small UAS in being able to fly slowly and fly in very, very precise locations. It's something that would be very difficult with a manned aircraft. So overall we had a couple flights, and it was very successful, and we're looking forward to doing it again. That's excellent.
So there's another use, because that's another thing I've kind of been dispelling with, let's say, privacy advocates, believe that there's nothing else besides visual or pictures or video that people do with this technology. That's not really true. People have snippers or they're trying to get particulates or whatever else. I've heard of people, they do the bug strips to try and catch certain pests on the wings or whatever with the unmanned aircraft.
So there are other uses. This is great. There would really be no safe way of gathering this data and say a manned aircraft because the gases don't really support life. True, Jeff?
Well, in this particular case, you really wouldn't want to do it. Sulfur dioxide does evolve to sulfuric acid, for example, and we're really trying this as a pathfinder to some of the more energetic volcanoes. So even if you dared go after the Torre Alba, which is a very nice, benign, it's currently well-behaved volcano. As we extract into the more energetics, you most certainly wouldn't want to put a person at risk.
And so we're still trying to sort out the procedures and the sensors and the equipment to make these types of measurements. And Patrick, I do want to just say that I think that the dialogue about the alternative uses is very healthy. And hats off to SUAS News for getting that information out because there is a huge variety. This is just a small example of the things that can happen.
Obviously, people are talking about agriculture, but airborne sampling for air quality, for example, or studying the Arctic or looking at hurricanes are all things that we're working towards. Right. And we appreciate people like you out there beyond the bleeding edge of this technology out there using this tool because that's really what it was about. We kind of went over that a little earlier.
How the common thread is you have different people in different disciplines saying, Now, here it is, man. This is the tool that we've been looking for to gather the data so we can do X and model this and make that and figure this out. And it's very exciting. And I know you're one of the old timers in the use of this stuff over at NASA.
And I want to applaud your efforts, Jeff, and it's guys like you that are giving us something to talk about and bring to the public. And I just want to say thanks for calling in and wishing us well on the one year anniversary of the SUAS podcast. Hey, thank you so much for the invitation, Patrick. And yeah, just you have been at it for about 25 years and it's taken that long to get this type of measurement.
So we're real happy that it's happened and looking forward to more. And again, so thanks again for your interest and thanks for the invitation. Thank you, sir. Have a good day.
Yeah, you take it easy. Bye bye. So yeah, that's exactly more of what we were talking about. Now, we do have another caller and let's see who the next caller is here.
Hello, caller. I think this is, is this Mike?
Hi, Patrick. Yeah, this is Mike from United States Geological Survey. Congratulations on your one year anniversary. Small UAS is one of those places we go to find out what's going on.
We appreciate that because that's kind of exactly what we're trying to do. Even if you heard from the last caller, we are trying to get this information disseminated out to the folks out there so that they get a better understanding. And I even use it to, you know, I just did another town hall in Berkeley and you have a lot of privacy people and I say, you know, they want no drone is a good drone. It's like, well, you know, wait a minute, let's talk about this.
And you may want to go to the podcast and you may want to get on there and listen to it and listen to some of these other uses that people have for this. It's extremely interesting. And we did kind of go over this a little bit earlier, but I was, as we, me and Gene were talking about, it's guys like you, you get them on here, you talk about what you're doing with these things and it's very exciting.
So another reason I wanted to have you on today was I know we got a couple of stories came through about what you guys are doing, seeing that you guys are out in the media doing more outreach, which I have to commend you on because I think we need to do exactly that.
And so you're hitting all the right notes. What have you guys been up to?
We continue to support the applications coming up from the grassroots level within the Department of the Interior. The number one application we're seeing for small UASs is really coming out of the wildlife biologist, counting, inventorying, monitoring things like elk, mountain goats, sandhill cranes, migratory waterfowl. A tremendous amount of interest from the wildlife biologist to help using UASs to do their jobs better and more effective and more cost effective. The next biggest group that we're seeing interest from are the hydrologists.
And they're very, very interested in using the thermal capabilities on small UASs to monitor stream temperatures and standing water temperatures and a bunch of different projects coming out of the hydrologist. And then the ecologists are probably the next big group coming in. And what we're doing with them is tracking, monitoring vegetation differences, tracking different invasive species. One of the more innovative things I've seen coming out of the National Park Service is they're interested in using small UASs to develop virtual tours of the national parks.
Sign me up. That sounds great. That's another one I was thinking about that. I was looking actually, Utah was advertising for tourism and they were talking about the five parks that they have there.
And I was like, wow, it's really beautiful. That would be cool if you could do a virtual tour. I mean, that's great. That's excellent.
I love that idea. So they're going to move ahead with that?
You think you guys are going to assist them in making that happen? We're looking at ways to help them do that. Some of the things that we've demoed is some parks on the east where they've actually flown over battlefields. And you get a first-eye view of the cannons deployed.
And yeah, I think that's something that is going to take off in not just national parks, but also the other Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife Service are coming in right behind them. Yeah, man, that is really fantastic. The other thing that I like to do too is I really like to toot the horn about, you know, when I had asked you if you guys were realizing a cost savings and you're like, oh, yeah, 10 to 1. That's a no-brainer, man.
Everybody's talking about saving money. And I think that's great. But this new idea with the national parks and what's out there and some of those historic landmarks and things like that, man, that is a great idea. I think you get more people invested in what is actually out there in the national parks to see.
I haven't been out there in a while, to be honest. I should be out there. We have some really beautiful parks in this country. It's great.
Yeah, we're pretty excited about that. And the new Secretary of Interior, Sally Jewell, her background is in recreation. She came to DOI from REI. So hopefully we can get her excited about the idea.
That's a great idea. I love that one. I'm really pleased to hear that one. But I'm also pleased to hear what you guys are doing.
And I don't know if you listen to the show, the NIST show. Did you get a chance to listen to that show?
I don't think I listened to that one. I was going to comment that your previous caller from NASA, USGS is also interested in using UAS to monitor volcanic activity. We've had a lot of follow-up discussions with NASA about linking up, joining sensor development with USGS and JPL and others. One of the exciting things about the small UAS community is that we all work very well with each other.
We share ideas, visions. We're working with NASA and NOAA and others on almost a daily basis sharing projects and ideas. Yeah, well that's great. I would recommend that you listen to The Burn because they're actually a gene.
Our co-host here is a pilot for NIST and they're using small unmanned aircraft. They were out in the field and they were collecting data to do some modeling for fires. Gene, maybe you would like to speak to this a little bit?
Yeah, that would probably be a good idea for you guys. The Wildland Urban Interface is where we're studying how fire propagates. As you know, it seems like in the United States there's some place on fire all year round. So this is something that there could be some synergy there between those two agencies that you guys could get together and work with.
Alex Meringettis is the primary scientist involved and I'm sure he'd be happy to talk to you about that because that would be a great one for you guys. Yeah, we actually have a couple of projects with the Department of the Interior's Office of Wildland Fire Coordination and Bureau Land Management. Projects coming up in Idaho this year and what we're doing is looking at the impacts of wildfire on the environment, primarily looking at the effectiveness of various treatments post-fire and monitoring things like erosion and debris flows, that kind of thing.
We also have projects coming up in Montana and Colorado later in the year where we're flying small UASs to help detect underground coal seam fires. So again, I will make sure I contact the NIST guys and see if we can collaborate. Well, yeah, I want to... Oh, go ahead, Gene, sorry.
I was just saying, this is so great because you guys have really got the vision to look forward and to do that sort of stuff and if people can't see that this is coming, they're hiding under a rock because it's going to be huge. I would concur with that and I want to throw it out there that anyone listening or Mike or whatever, if anybody would like a, let's say, introduction to someone else that's doing something else that may work with them or for them or assist them or pick their brain or whatever, email me, patrick at suasnews.com
and I will make that introduction because I think, like you were saying, Mike, all this cross-pollination and people working together, it's just, it's right on the money, man.
That's exactly what we are trying to do here, facilitate people to hear these ideas, make connections, do science, get some data and make the world a better place to live. I couldn't agree with you more. I think one of the things I'm personally looking forward to is a three-legged stool. We're getting a lot of help from universities, working with other government groups.
I'm really looking forward to the day where there will be more of a commercial UAS industry out there that we work with on a more frequent basis and be able to reach in and contract with them to help us fly motions. Amen, brother. I've been saying that. I think that really there's going to be a big services industry here.
Guys like you are doing stuff. Hey, we can only afford to do this much, but even out here talking to a guy at the Department of Water Resources for California, all the money they're spending for helicopters to survey levees, cheaper, better, faster. It's coming. Gene's correct.
It's coming. It's going to come big. Hopefully, we're giving that information a leg up to our listeners. They're getting the inside scoop.
They're getting the real experience, and they're getting this information from folks that are in the know. Mike, I want to thank you for being on today and giving us an update. We love what you guys are doing. We love what everybody's doing.
It's great. Hopefully, we'll be here for another 10 years or maybe more. Who knows?
We'll make sure we call you next year and congratulate you on year two. I appreciate that. We're going to have to have you back on because we're going to have to hear an update too within the year. I want to hear what you guys are doing.
I'm sure this thing is growing like a weed, and we want to be part of that. Gene, again, I want to thank you, buddy, that the show would just not be the same without you. I guess until next week, to the listeners, thank you very much. I want to thank everybody.
Like I said, over 200,000 downloads. I'm just floored. I appreciate everyone listening. Again, if you have any questions, comments, or ideas for shows, please send them Patrick at SUASnews.com.
Until next week, I guess keep it in the air. Talk to you later. See you later.