Finalists for the inaugural XCELLENCE Awards by the Association for Unmanned Vehicles Systems International (AUVSI) were named today. They represent accomplishments by companies, organizations and individuals across the unmanned systems community. The winners will be announced during award ceremonies on Tuesday, May 1 and Thursday, May 3, during AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2018 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver.

“The unmanned systems industry is innovating at an incredible rate and creating tremendous benefits for our economy, lifestyle and society,” said Brian Wynne, president and CEO of AUVSI. “The XCELLENCE awards give us a chance to recognize the companies and individuals who are propelling the industry into the future.”

The AUVSI XCELLENCE Awards will honor innovators with a demonstrated commitment to advancing technology, leading and promoting safe operations, and developing programs that use unmanned systems to improve the human condition. These are the finalists in those categories:

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION

Counter UAS & Security

• Fortem Technologies, Fortem DroneHunter™ Counter-UAS Solution
• Liteye Systems, AUDS and M-AUDS Counter UAS Detection, Identification and Defeat System
• Raytheon, Windshear™ Scalable Cyber Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (CUAS)
• WhiteFox, FLEA: Frequency Localizing Electronic Apparatus
• WhiteFox, DroneFox

Cybersecurity

• Leidos, Inc., The Leidos Remotely Piloted Aircraft Operations Center Design and Installation Team
• Regulus Cyber, Regulus Pyramid Solution Suite

Detect & Avoid

• AEye, AEye iDAR
• AirMap, AirMap Advances Unmanned Traffic Management
• Echodyne Corp, MESA Radar
• Fortem Technologies, TrueView R20 Radar, Fortem Technologies
• Office of Naval Research (ONR) / Aurora Flight Sciences (AFS) Autonomous Aerial Cargo/Utility System (AACUS) team, AACUS, the Autonomous Aerial Cargo System

Inspection/Mapping & Surveying

• AES Corporation, AES Global Drone Program
• Airobotics, Airobotics Automated Industrial Drones
• Neurala, Brains For Bots™ SDK
• RIEGL USA, Mini is More: Multi-Target Measurement Capability for a Wide Variety of Applications

Remote Identification

• Pierce Aerospace, Pierce Aerospace
• WhiteFox, WISDM: WhiteFox Integrated Secure Device Manager

Innovative Unmanned Solutions

• A³ by Airbus, Vahana 
• Epson, Epson Moverio Flight Sim App
• Global Energy Transmission Co, Distance Wireless Energy Transmission Hotspot for In-Flight Drone Charging
• Liquid Robotics, A Boeing Company, Next Generation Wave Glider
• SkyX Systems Corporation, The Integrated SkyX Solution: SkyOne, xStation, SkyXOS

TRAINING & EDUCATION

Training & Education Organization

• Carolina Drone Academy, Carolina Drone Academy - A Safety Culture
• Consortiq, Consortiq Integrates CRM, Non-Technical, and Award Winning CQNet with sUAS Training
• DARTdrones, DARTdrones Safety “Wings” Credentialing System
• Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus, Professional Education Flight
• L3 Link Training and Simulation, Predator/Reaper Mission Aircrew Training System Program Team

Training and Education Provider- Airmanship and Contribution to the UAS Industry (Individual)

• Dr. Gregory Crutsinger, Founder, Scholar Farms
• Patrick "Lucidity" Sherman, Commercial Drone Operator, Trainer and Educator, Roswell Flight Test Crew
• Ric Stephens, Instructor/Drone Pilot, Oregon State University, Portland Community College, and University of Oregon

OPERATIONS & SAFETY

Operations & Safety Organization

• AES Corporation, Creating a Safer, Smarter Workplace at AES Corporation
• Federal Aviation Administration, Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability
• NASA Langley Research Center, NASA Langley UAS Operations Office
• Northern Plains UAS Test Site, Northern Plains UAS Test Site
• XM2 Aerial, XM2 Aerial Management System

Operations and Safety - Airmanship and Contribution to the UAS Industry (Individual)

• Harrison Wolf, President & Owner, Wolf UAS
• Jos Olds, Vice President, Unmanned Safety Institute
• Dr. Parimal Kopardekar, Senior Technologist, NASA

Finalists were also named for the Humanitarian Award, which is sponsored by DJI. These awards will recognize five organizations and/or individuals that have made a significant impact using unmanned systems to serve in humanitarian or philanthropic efforts. Recipients of the Humanitarian Award will receive a $25,000 donation divided among their organizations. These are the finalists for the Humanitarian Awards:

HUMANITARIAN

Humanitarian Project/Program

• Aeryon Labs Inc., Aeryon SkyRanger UAS Provides Critical Aerial Intelligence to First Responders in Sint Maarten in the Wake of Hurricane Irma
• AnsuR Technologies, GEO-VISION - Integrating Drones for Situational Awareness in Disaster Management
• ONG DroneSAR Chile, Emergency Response Team and Humanitarian Aid Through the Use of

Drones

• DroneSAR, DroneSAR UAV Search & Rescue (SAR) Solution - Executing Autonomous Aerial Search and Delivering Live Drone Data to Augment First Response Efforts
• Gene Robinson, Wimberley Fire Rescue, "First to Respond" Bringing UAS to Search and Rescue 2005 - 2018
• Nepal Flying Lab, Drone Hazard & Vulnerability Mapping in Nepal
• WeRobotics, Drones for Disease Vector Control
• Zipline International, Zipline's Medical Drone Delivery Operation in Rwanda

“UAVs are playing a vital role in humanitarian operations around the world—from Chile to Tanzania, to China and Australia—as demonstrated by the submissions we've seen from this inaugural program,” said Michael Perry, Managing Director of North America at DJI. “In addition to recognizing those that have made great contributions to their communities and the environment, this opportunity helped uncover some new innovative applications in how UAVs are being used to serve humanitarian and lifesaving purposes. We thank the judges who undertook the great challenge of selecting the eight finalists from a pool of remarkable submissions, and we hope this inspires more users to accomplish great feats with this valuable technology.”

The winners in the Technology Innovation, Training and Education, and Operations and Safety categories will be announced at XPONENTIAL 2018 on Tuesday, May 1 at 11:30 a.m. MDT at the Solutions Theater in the exhibit hall.

Recipients of the Humanitarian Award will be announced on Thursday, May 3 at 9:00 a.m. MDT during the keynote presentation in Mile High Ballroom.

As the unmanned systems industry’s largest trade show and conference, XPONENTIAL offers a broad-based and balanced educational program brimming with cutting-edge content and inspirational insights, ranging from policy implications and technical challenges to use cases and best practices across vertical markets and everything in between.

For more information about the AUVSI XCELLENCE Awards and XPONENTIAL, visit xponential.org.

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About AUVSI

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) — the world's largest non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of unmanned systems and robotics — represents corporations and professionals from more than 60 countries involved in industry, government and academia. AUVSI members work in the defense, civil and commercial markets. For more information, visit AUVSI.org.