Unmanned

AUVSI Honors Innovators With Inaugural ‘Xcellence Awards’

Liteye’s counter-drone solution on display at AUVSI Xponential.

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) presented 10 awards for the first time at AUVSI Xponential in Denver this week. The goal for the awards is to recognize innovation and safe operation in the field of unmanned technology.

“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 AUVSI Xcellence Awards give us a chance to recognize the companies and individuals who are propelling the industry into the future.”

The following are the first, second and third place winners of each award:

Technology Innovation

Counter UAS & Security

  • First Place: WhiteFox, FLEA: Frequency Localizing Electronic Apparatus
  • Second Place: Liteye Systems, AUDS and M-AUDS Counter UAS Detection, Identification and Defeat System
  • Third Place: Fortem Technologies, Fortem DroneHunter Counter-UAS Solution

Cybersecurity

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

Detect and Avoid

  • First Place: Office of Naval Research and Aurora Flight Sciences, autonomous aerial cargo/utility system (AACUS)
  • Second Place: AEye, AEye iDAR
  • Third Place: Echodyne Corp, MESA Radar

Inspection, Mapping and Surveying

  • First Place: Neurala, Brains For Bots SDK
  • Second Place: Airobotics, Airobotics automated industrial drones
  • Third Place: RIEGL USA, mini is more: multi-target measurement capability for a wide variety of applications

Remote Identification

  • First Place: Pierce Aerospace, Pierce Aerospace
  • Second Place: WhiteFox, WISDM: WhiteFox integrated secure device manager

Innovative Unmanned Solutions

  • First Place: Epson, Epson Moverio flight sim app
  • Second Place: A³ by Airbus, Vahana
  • Third Place: Global Energy Transmission Co, distance wireless energy transmission hotspot for in-flight drone charging

Training & Education

Training & Education Organization

  • First Place: Consortiq, Consortiq integrates CRM and non-technical CQNet with sUAS training
  • Second Place: Carolina Drone Academy, Carolina Drone Academy – a safety culture
  • Third Place: Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus, professional education flight and ground training

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

  • Winner: Patrick “Lucidity” Sherman, commercial drone operator, trainer and educator, Roswell Flight Test

Operations & Safety 

Operations & Safety Organization

  • First Place: NASA Langley Research Center, NASA Langley UAS operations office
  • Second Place: AES Corporation, creating a safer, smarter workplace at AES Corporation
  • Third Place: XM2 Aerial, XM2 Aerial safety management system

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

  • Winner: Josh Olds, VP, Unmanned Safety Institute

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