Be prepared in the near future when you gaze into the blue skies to perceive a whole series of strange looking things – no, they will not be birds, nor planes, or even superman. They may be temporarily, and in some cases startlingly mistaken as UFOs, given their bizarre and ominous appearance. But, in due course they will become recognized as valuable objects of a new era of man-made flying machines, intended to serve a broad range of missions and objectives. Many such applications are already incorporated and well entrenched in serving key functions for extending capabilities in our vital infrastructures such as transportation, utilities, the electric grid, agriculture, emergency services, and many others.
Rapidly advancing technologies have made possible the dramatic capabilities of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV/drones) to uniquely perform various functions that were inconceivable a mere few years ago. Technology areas such as light-weight materials, high density batteries, aerodynamics, microchip computing power, sensing devices, cameras, mesh communications, artificial intelligence, and others have all contributed to evolving UAV/drone capabilities and systems that have the potential to greatly impact many segments of our daily lives and business routines. The advent of 5G communication, machine learning, new materials, and other breakthroughs promises further great leaps forward in new drone capabilities.
Unique and useful applications for drones to support commerce, infrastructure, and other operational functions in business are emerging daily. What had begun initially as a recreational or hobby activity is now being swiftly adopted for numerous practical uses – in most cases. With functional capabilities in video surveillance, photography, package transport, sensory methods, and others, modern drones provide the ability to support military activities, facility inspection, surveillance, farming & agriculture, emergency management, fire & rescue, law enforcement, package delivery, and many other roles being developed on a regular basis.
As is often the case with any new technology introduction, drones may also present new sources of risk factors which must be considered. The issue of drone/UAV interference with commercial air traffic in airport vicinities is well documented. Hostile or nefarious actors have found ways to use drones to conduct espionage, or deliver hazardous materials to targets of interest. Cyber-security aspects of drone use (or hostile use) are at an early stage of awareness and understanding. Legal implications of drone mis-application or intrusion require new areas of investigation and law to avoid liabilities. A full assessment of risk factors and methods for mitigation requires a comprehensive systems approach, not only of the UAVs, but also the guidance and monitoring process and the full scale of the systems that are served and interacted with.
The annual event known as EnergyTech Conference & Expo is being expanded in 2019 to include a significant focus on UAV/Drones and drone related applications beneficial to society. It also seeks to examine the potential for risk factors as drones are integrated into functional areas of business activities as well as our critical infrastructure. The fundamental purpose of the undertaking of “Drone Week” as part of EnergyTech is to establish a high-profile, broad visibility event which brings together essential expertise to address the myriad of opportunities as well as the risks of drone integration into modern societies. It is considered essential to apply rigorous systems engineering methods and practice to effect meaningful outcomes and risk mitigation for the beneficial realization of drone usage.
The core elements of the EnergyTech Drone Week include conference sessions and presentations by experts in the field, as well as panel discussions addressing the broad scope of drone technology and emerging applications, as well as risk considerations from cyber intrusions and “bad actor” threat scenarios. It will provide opportunity for STEM demonstrations and lectures to area high school students. There will be exhibits and product displays by drone vendors and professional drone pilots and practitioners. The final day of the conference will include a series of active drone demonstrations and competitive activities within the spacious confines of the Cleveland IX Center.
The EnergyTech Conference & Expo has established a solid reputation for nearly a decade as an “integrating” event for professionals and engineers dealing with the “systems” challenges of the modern world. With principal sponsorship from INCOSE (International Council on Systems Engineering) and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), the conference also finds support from institutions such as SAE, IEEE, ISA, AIAA, PMI, InfraGard, and others, as well as government agencies like FAA, DOE, DOD, DHS, FEMA, FBI, and others. With such a gathering of intelligent professionals, it presents an ideal opportunity to present this portion of the ET19 program – to be defined as “Drone Week”.
Welcome to EnergyTech2018!
Like a fine wine, some things continue to get better as they ripen with age. In this case, the “thing” is neither a wine or a cheese, its an idea born a decade ago from the newly minted North Ohio chapter of INCOSE (International Council on Systems Engineering), with support and encouragement of thought leaders at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. The idea then was simple in concept, derived from some core observations:
1) System Engineering is a mature discipline capable of solving complex, intractable problems;
2) our modern society has been plagued with a plethora of such problems, seemingly dormant but notably inherent within our infrastructure, and
3) some segments of our national infrastructure, like delivery of electricity, are vital to our continued civilized existence.
The national electric grid was then, and is still, a very complex system, demonstrably vulnerable to a number of potential threats and failure mechanisms (as witnessed during the 2003 eastern blackout, and subsequently by various cyber and other hostile attacks on power systems). Even more disconcerting is the growing awareness of the absolute dependency that virtually our entire civilization has on electricity, including the enabling of all critical infrastructure and any device that operates with any technology based on electrons. The dire consequences resulting from an event causing sustained and widespread loss of power has become the “nightmare scenario” of modern times.
So – the IDEA thing was, why not gather the best minds in systems and technology, establish a forum to discuss and focus on the problems with a disciplined “Systems” methodology, and help decision makers move forward with solutions.
Since 2009, when the initial (modest) gathering of engineers, scientists, technologists, utility professionals, model builders, and others was organized into a small conference at the Ohio Aerospace Institute, the “thing” has evolved. The original modest concept was of a broad perspective examination of our national energy infrastructure, i.e. – a “Systems Perspective”, with an intent to gain greater insight for managing its complexity. In recent times, EnergyTech has emerged as a unique, robust forum for technology experts, engineers, and system practitioners for presenting ideas and debating solutions that seek to address the challenges with the full scope of our collective, formidable capabilities. Several hundred speakers and panelists have presented their innovative thoughts and technology research to some thousand more attendees, which in turn has spurred further creative thinking about essential solutions.
Over the past decade we have witnessed the creative “fusion of energy and technology” to shed new light on our old grid and infrastructure problems. Have we achieved the desired resolution to the dreaded “nightmare scenario”? The answer is undoubtedly NO, but it must be noted that the problems in our legacy systems have been festering for over a century, with only recent awareness (elevated by speakers & contributors at EnergyTech) of the consequences. It is also clear that for effective mitigation of the risk spectrum, from cyber threats to physical attacks and electromagnetic effects, a convergence of thought on feasible approaches has begun to take shape. Several effective pathways for achieving needed resiliency of our electric power have been demonstrated and found feasible.
So the Idea thing remains as the quest for energy security continues. Until the challenges to our critical infrastructure are resolved, the re-engineering for energy protection and resiliency must go on. There is no doubt that whatever solutions emerge, EnergyTech participants and sponsors will play a role in those outcomes, continually improving the solutions like the fine wine. With their dedication and continued support :
EnergyTech is lighting the way to a brighter future.
