 think tech away civil engagement lives here it is Thursday noon our folks Ted Rawson here our think tech studios in Wamanalo Beach on a wahoo with our show where the drone leads where you bring to you incredible people actions activities and developments in the exciting world of drone ism with me at the table here in Honolulu is actually Josh Levy Josh who is a coordinator at UH Manoa ARL UAS programs thanks for coming on again Josh if we can fly around the show and a first-timer we have on the show far far away across the sea by electronic means we have no other than JC coffee of many affiliations and JC joins us right now from Washington DC JC you there hey greetings it's great to be with you today and a low hot call our folks out know why I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill and Washington DC we can tell Capitol Hill because we see the mountains and the ocean in the background so that's cool anyway just let's just to let everybody know JC in this particular case is representing the Cherokee Nation Technology Corporation recent participant and winner in the FAA's recently announced UAS integration pilot program as a partner to the University of Alaska they get it all right JC that's exactly right and it's good to have my teammates from Hawaii sitting there on the other side of the Pacific as we're discussing this right we're actually UH is part of that same winning team so we're very happy to be on that team and I'm going to go forward but we could also give you many other affiliations JC we won't go them through them all here but just let you know we had a briefing with NASA Ames on Monday and they kind of casually mentioned that JC coffee is in their Saturday Breakfast Club working on the future of HIV so you're everywhere and appreciate that and appreciate your willingness to come on the show and share with us what you picked up yesterday at that incredible announcement at the IPP program so take us through that if you will and I know we only have you for a short time here because you've got other obligations you bet that and it would have been right up your alley to be there I mean there was a lot of energy in the room at a pack Department of Transportation the foyer was full with with industry partners with people from the FA Department of Transportation there was five senators and about ten congressmen for this announcement there's a major development for the commercially unmanned aircraft systems a UAS industry as the US Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chow announced the first round of participants in the US Department of Transportation unmanned systems integrated pilot program the IPP the emerging technology of UAS industry benefits the public in real and profound ways yeah while the technology has moved quickly ahead policy makers has have lagged behind the technology in the United States and an effort to move UAS policy makers forward the White House announced plans last fall for the UAS IPP the IPP seek to accelerate the safe integration of UAS into the national airspace and to foster development of new UAS technologies be used in a wide range of commercial industries the selectees that were announced yesterday had withdrawn from a highly competitive pool of over 200 tribal state and local governments state and localities from every region in the country submitted applicants applications showcasing industry partnerships seeking to satisfy the growing demand from Americans across the country for UAS in support of as you're experiencing right now disaster response infrastructure inspection package delivery and much more and it was so exciting when you when they started announcing from around the country the different winners the initial round of selectees or from the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma me County mosquito control district in Florida our own University of Alaska at Fairbanks the city of San Diego in California North Carolina Department of Transportation Memphis County Airport Authority the city of Reno, Nevada North Dakota Department of Transportation Kansas Department of Transportation and the Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership what you would need to know about the about the IPP is that three primary objectives one is to test and evaluate various models of state local and tribal government involvement in development and enforcement of federal regulations for UAS operations the second is to encourage UAS owners and operators to develop safe safely and test new and innovative UAS concept of operations and finally to inform the development of future federal guidelines and regulation decisions on UAS operations nationwide this is going to be a fast move past part 107 and that's what we want so 107 kind of tested lead the groundwork force over the last few years we've had a number of test sites doing developmental tests and now we're moving into the operational test phase being able to test this in this technology these sensors these innovative applications and in real-world settings and operational environments and this is what we've done in the military for years you start off in a laboratory and then go to a test range and then eventually you go to an operational environment so now we're doing this frontman systems to get safe and and nationwide access to the national airspace and it's really a pleasure that Alaska who just has some of the most wonderful airspace to test is partnered with folks like us and Institute and with with you folks down in Hawaii so we're going to really have a very powerful team and we'll be able to do a lot of tests I'll just take a break right there see if you have any questions Ted from you or your team well I appreciate your unscripted report JC that was pretty well done all from memory and we have a teleprompter here too but it's showing yesterday's program so we probably won't use it but that's a great introduction and really good summary of the IPP concept in its grandest form interpreting that what that means is local jurisdictions whatever they may be federal state tribal commercial business educational institutions all will be able to contribute to the solution of how unmanned air systems will operate below 400 feet in their environment is that a way to look at it no that that's a great way to look at it and while we still may have to ask for waivers if we want to do some of the things that that are a little bit trickier I eat beyond visual on a site over people at night those those waivers will be accelerated there'll be a certain level of expanded trust between the government the FAA the localities and industry to to accelerate the operational test of these different platforms and these different operations and and boy we sure hope that getting the data getting the reliability data getting the safety data from these from these operations will will help us all get into the airspace a lot quicker well that's really cool and what what intrigues me is the engineering aspects that are looking behind that yet to be discovered we talked you talked about reliability and safety certainly those requirements at a at an operational level as they play out require design at the component level on the way in so a higher level of appreciation of the need for that kind of a cohesive study systems engineering wise to make sure these things are reliable and do what they say and do it the same way every time regardless of the influences placed upon them and the training provided to the operators matches that these are all issues that are going to be coming around the corner here and Josh and I we certainly have had our experiences here with where the other side of that is playing out as I'm sure everybody has and so seeing how this all plays together and how the FAA stirs the pot and keeps it all heading in the right direction is going to be actually a pretty a pretty good learning experience for all of us and you know what's great Ted your team out there you have it all you have the technologists you have the scientists you have the engineers you have the innovators but then you also have the policymakers and you understand the regulations and you understand how to influence those regulations to get better access to the to the airspace and it's one of the things that the secretary chow really highlighted she left the quote but that the pilot programs will take test the safe operations of drones in a variety of conditions currently forbidden these include operations over to the heads of people beyond line of sight and at night the secretary went on to said instead of a dictate from Washington this program takes another approach it allows interested communities to test drones in a way that they're comfortable with and you folks out there are pioneering this effort and I just can't wait just get to work with you on the IPP for this that's very good and of course we have our prior to the IPP kicking in and becoming totally effective we have our own legislative driven UAS working group across all the elements of the society out here to try to figure out how to make this work within the community and then we have the test range functionality so we have the ability to do some of this work already in fact Josh and I've been doing that and it's intriguing that you're saying that you're describing how IPP is working put it in the hands of the users out there in the jurisdictions just as a matter of interest the Marine Corps doing the same thing they have it quite figured out how to determine what overtly determine on a forward path how to use small UAS in the at the squad level so they're putting 2,800 of them out there to all the squads and saying you guys figured out you E3's you go figure out how to make this thing work and we the officers will back off we'll remove the barriers and let you go forward and then keep safe but coming out of this will be a very similar activity to what is going on in IPP as I as I now see it so and that's right on Josh you know go ahead speak up go ahead JC yeah so I'm just I was just gonna say yeah those lucky the Marines that that get the test in in paradise namely Hawaii the sides having pristine airspace out there you just have a paradise to test in so those lucky Marines that get to do it out there I'm all for them that lucky that but you just said something most interesting that that that that environment that you speak of is full of salt air and so circuit boards of salt air weren't born in the same domain right yeah space is not so clean yeah yeah so uh this is that that's a very intriguing aspect because the the environmental challenge we have here is exactly that salt air affecting electronics and such and that drives right back to reliability and safety so what we can do though maybe maybe what you should do JC is re-enlist and come back do you think they'll take you as an E3 well I'll tell you as an old salty sailor I know a little bit about corrosion and what I like about our team is the fact that we can do that uh that maritime testing that salt water testing the ship testing down at your place and then uh then do our Arctic testing right up at uh with the University of Alaska Fairbanks or our lead for our IPP so you know there's perfect timing for uh for the different toughest testing environments in the world and we can cover two of them right there between Hawaii and Alaska yep and just as a matter of interest we do have a high tech company in town right down the street from the Sierra Colub ocean it is a 150 strong really good SBIR guys and they've got some incredible coating technology some of which from Hawaii is in place in Alaska dealing with uh ice phobic coatings on control surfaces and such to keep ice from forming on small UAS also corrosion coatings and we're going to be exploring further kind of coatings in terms of bug attraction and such like this to land on our flow wings so there's there's technology that's necessary to make these things happen anyway uh now we're going to lose you in a few minutes right you got to take off to take care of the next piece of business that's right that's right but uh just one quick closing it was uh interesting today we had the FAA kickoff meeting and we had the leads from all the teams over at the FAA and and the FAA leadership gave us their their initial briefing and and it's really time to roll up our sleeves and start getting ready to do some flying and to get ready to do some really fun and and and below pushing as pioneers and this test guy is out there so this is going to be exciting exciting next couple of years we're going to be doing this through 2020 and it's going to be just loads of fun well we're certainly looking forward to working with doing our part of the team here at in Hawaii and with both technology test ranges and operations and we can certainly bring the power of the university to bear on us as well as the high tech companies that surround us here and do something whatever we can to make this thing move forward and we do have right in front of us the Kilauea situation which is attracting all kinds of UAS attention and we have to use this I think as a setup for a future IPP task of some kind because all the elements that are that are valuable that UAS provide and all the issues that incident command system has to think about in terms of injecting new technology are all present in this one time so we'll be in the next couple of weeks developing I think a lot of use case-based needs and requirements and such that can shape some of these future initiatives we're talking about so JC we'll we've taken you to the end of the time you've given us we thank you very much for that unless you want to stick around for the next 15 minutes we will be unhappy to cut you loose but we understand you got obligations and I'm going to monitor you from afar but I want to wish you and your team and the people from Hawaii a lot of luck dealing with this natural disaster the volcanoes and God bless you all okay well same to you JC and thanks so much for coming on we'll have you again once you're on this show you got to come back next time you're in Hawaii we'll get you at the table here for real and uh at this point we'll take our our one and only break in the show and let JC unplug and get on to other business thanks so much JC coffee for coming on thanks all and we'll see you soon hello I'm Cynthia Lisa and Claire I have a show called finding respect in the chaos it's all about women's rights and gender equality it's a place for survivors of abuse to come on and tell their stories and a place for advocates to come on and share important resources so that people can get past the abuse and into the hope and healing that's on the other side I hope you'll join me every other Friday at three o'clock for finding respect in the chaos I'm Cynthia Lee Sinclair on thinktecawaii.com hey baby that's you I want to know will you watch my show I hope you do it's on Tuesdays at one o'clock and it's out of the comfort zone and I'll be your host RV Kelly see you there hi I'm Ethan Allen your host on Pacific partnerships in education here on thinktecawaii every other week Tuesdays at 3 p.m. we have guests on and talk about the fascinating interesting and unique partnerships in education that occur across the Pacific islands with Hawaii, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Guam all these places have really rich local education programs going on and the exchange among and between these programs is a wealth of great information helping the islands all learn how to survive and thrive in our ever-changing world I hope you'll join us on Pacific partnerships in education it is still the noon hour on Thursday folks Ted Rawson here downtown Honolulu and we've disconnected from J.C. Coffee who's in DC and going off on other businesses but Josh Levy thanks for coming on board Josh our coordinator at UHARL on unmanned systems and a generator of a lot of interest and enthusiasm across the university domain and into the high schools and into the business community around here in Hawaii anyway Josh just had a very exciting discussion here on something that was taking place in DC yesterday that we contributed to but got involved in through secondary means that was the FAA IPP program or the integrated pilot program for UAS operations but it'll be fantastic to see how that plays out here in Hawaii but you just came back from another overwhelming experience in Denver yeah talk about it yeah so I was I spent the last week in Denver at the AUVSI exponential which essentially is you know one of the world's largest drone or all things unmanned conventions where they have a whole bunch of different sessions on a variety of different topics range from public safety to scene avoid to very technical you know in vehicle inspection this is the annual gathering of this bunch exactly seven thousand people or something like that yeah probably around there definitely more than I can count and then an entire you know almost square a mile full of expo halls of people selling different things ranging from from LiDAR systems to full aircraft engines motors Pratt and Winnie was there actually big stuff hanging in the sky and little stuff on the table exactly yeah ranging from giant aircraft to you know circuitry so as long as there's nobody on it yeah man exactly not a single pilot seat yep yeah it was it was extremely interesting I mean it was one of the themes that I was realizing as I was speaking to other people who I'd seen there in previous years is how it's still a massive massive expo hall but it's actually starting to condense a little bit you know people starting to figure out what works what doesn't businesses businesses starting to merge even aircraft types and platform setups such as the v-tolls starting to condense to a certain consolidation of thinking and that's following it following up with actual physical change exactly yep yeah so people are figuring out what works and they're starting to kind of condense and and and you think it will get down to the size of holding it at the whole e-convention center here in Honolulu maybe that would be quite the undertaking I mean we could we could probably fit it there bring Asia in yeah absolutely and yes significantly more than they have right now I mean there was there were a couple of you know they had these international kind of corners of a couple of booths here and there from you know some from Denmark a couple from from Japan but yeah bring it to Honolulu you have like you know almost have to speak to the people at HIC uh H what Holi convention center whatever it's called and uh and bring some pictures videos or whatever you can from last week's experience let's bring it here let's talk to our people about bringing this here just like with hats off the way in Sheroma for bringing the IEEE conference here last year right yep no be a very similar very similar caliber and we have the test range so we can actually accommodate real flying and such like that yeah they actually did have some real flying over in Colorado too they had a couple of fenced off areas or I guess netted off areas inside the actual expo hall for drone racing so that whole mini drone racing booth out there you could hear them reverberating throughout the entire hall and then on the outside we didn't actually go see this but in the parking lot they had some actual real demos out in the in the open area too we could use that patio the Lanai in the in the convention center here yep well along with DNLR's expired fishing nets that we can get for free and run inside yeah or even gonna go to the top floor and build some kind of a dome over that area too that'd be a lot of fun what did you see in terms of the educational involvement at this conference or what could you say take from that experience and bring it to our educational theme here yeah so that that's a great question so education most of the stuff that they were focused on at this expo just because it is a commercial expo was actually public safety based so there was a lot of those a huge two-day session ran by Chuck Warner actually hello Chuck yeah hey Chuck on on public safety and a lot of that was actually trying to figure out how do we educate not only not only the general public on you know proper use of UAS but also how do you educate the folks within the public safety entities and whether it's proper you know properly operating them or understanding those rules of regulation to enforce UAS policies and so the the standardization of being able to actually you know quantify someone's skill level of how they can fly is a really important thing nowadays especially as we're you know talking about like the Kilauea situation you know folks are coming up to all these guys at UH Hilo saying hey I can fly I can fly how do we know that maybe you can't exactly how do we know where's your certificate how do I know that that standard is up to you know our acceptable levels and so you know the NISC National Institute of Standards and Technology testing has developed a really impressive apparatus to not only train people but actually quantify you know how good people are at flying so trying trying to bring that out to to the state of Hawaii not only for public safety but even for at the UH level understanding how well you know how well students can operate these vehicles so that they can be not not only for insurance purposes but so we can actually go out there and do the jobs that we promise people to do so bringing standards into the game operationally educationally design wise all those things are starting to show up at the national level that's what you're seeing exactly yeah and so you know for the past couple of years we've been hearing standards of being made you know we're working on this working list and this is the first time that I've actually seen some you know physical tangible evidence of stuff that we can do out here that we could help standardize across the country so kind of contacts you made can we bring some of that information forward to feed to our legislature through the legislation working group do you got absolutely I mean I those guys are more than happy to help I'm sure that that Chuck and all the other guys that at NIST would be more than happy to have their standards you know explored throughout the rest of the country expressly Hawaii and can you do that can you make that connections and cause the stuff to come out here yeah I'll just put it on my next list of things to do right okay it's not very long you're listening right now so standards and people recognizing the needs for standard the important part is people recognize the needs for standards the admission that that's a critical issue uh says that we don't have any or that they're coming from places that don't quite apply so now we have to regenerate standards in a way that do up that does apply to the situation exactly and and so actually the I was at a workshop before the the big AVSI conference as well and that was more of a Colorado specific public safety and kind of getting people to try and understand what the FA is doing and including a little bit about the FA IPP as well and it was it was pretty clear there that a lot of people are frustrated with the current FA rules and regulations specifically well I'm not going to get into the details here but it was it was really eye-opening and that was actually one of the more informative workshops I've had just for a couple it was just for one day it was maybe you know 25 30 people but they were extremely knowledgeable on their topics of expertise and gave us a lot of really interesting insight on what what needs to be done in terms of getting on the capabilities of public safety to start using these new technologies consistently and legally so what we need to do I think in our obligation at UH and our relation to the legislature who was funded this activity is to pull together what you can from that in is understandable of form as it may be and let's get it out to this quote-unquote drone professionals group that we seem to have put together we got Kevin and we got Craig we got we got David we've got Mike all that whole bunch and let's start getting this stuff spread out in some way absolutely I still have to go through you know a foot tall set of leaflets and flyers and business cars to figure out you know what actually works what doesn't but when we get through that you can assign it to Joshua can't you yeah yeah exactly well he's got his own he's got his own stack of leaflets too okay so well actually still trying to undig from the january episode in in melbourne florida even really undug from that yet so this is an interesting point then there's a lot of information coming and the way that we filter and sort that and make use of it is probably the same as california or as arizona or as colorado would so maybe a thing we can send back to avusi and say hey why don't you guys organize this stuff in some way that's useful commonly to all of us yeah but at the same time i mean as i was saying before you know the the specific needs in in california florida may be different from what we're right here too so there's a little bit of a of an interesting kind of nuances between you know who who needs what depending on where they are but it's i mean going back to trying to figure out you know what works and what doesn't you really have to have some kind of experience understanding what doesn't work so you actually know what to look for and what things make sense right and what doesn't work part uh that only comes about by experience exactly it's a pretty tall list unfortunately yeah that's about right so once again thinking we have the unspoken obligation to figure out how to work this at the state of hoey level which is the university the community colleges and then into the high schools we've begun connecting with marinal with kamehameha uh with a castle with groups like that the specific america foundation so there's a bunch of folks are ready to receive all this information if we can generate it yep and we've got to put it down into these bite-sized chunks that people can take away yeah maybe it's just one piece at a time rather than a whole meal all at one time you don't want to feed them out of a fire hose right yeah so we've got to make sure that we whether it's designating a specific task so each of those each of those entities or maybe giving all of them that one piece that you want together and see what they come up with we've got to figure out a way to do this in a digestible manner okay and i think we can do that in the in the light of what's taking place at Kilauea so people can see the reality of where it fits in and why it's important to pay attention to this absolutely so somehow we have to take this on maybe saturday or something like that in between the other things we've got going yeah and and move forward anyway it's certainly an exciting week for all the aspects of unmanned aerial systems and i just wonder what next week holds the store for us who knows who knows exactly right so anyway we thank jc coffee for coming on from Cherokee Nation in DC earlier in the show speciality thanks for coming on for the coordinator role at UH and telling us what you're you just to find your role what that coordination is all about yep for the state of Hawaii and the bitterness of all of us so anyway thanks very much for coming on and folks we will see you next thursday