PNG Flying Labs Newsletters 2019

1. PNG Flying Labs was proud to partner with IBSUniversity to co-host our first free drone safety workshop to the
public in Port Moresby on the 28th (Saturday) and 29th (Sunday) of September, 2019 respectively. We shared
about local and global perspectives and insights from Civil Aviation Safety Authority-Australia Briefings as well as
user experiences with U.S Federal Aviation Administration. ‘Certificates of Attendance’ were offered to participants
who successfully completed our pre-&-post workshop evaluation and we provided a pathway of getting a Remote
Pilot License (RePL) based on our experiences.This workshop is an outcome of our on-going ‘Drone Outreach and
Education’ talks at IBSUniversity, University of PNG (Science Foundation and Medical School).
It was 4th of July, 2019 that we met Sir Mick Nades, Founder and Chairman of IBSUniversity through our friend, Mr.
Shahram Honarzad, Managing Director of Rural Tech Development. With 30 years of visionary commitment and
hard work, Sir Nades established IBSUniversity, a noble contribution to the educational growth of Papua New
Guineans. Sir Nades was so welcoming of digital and drone technology and offered us the facilities at IBSUniversity
for our outreach and education.
We were honored to have the Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister for Justice and Attorney General Honourable
Davis Steven as the Keynote Speaker, and Captain Tom Waqa, Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer from
Civil Aviation Safety Authority as the Chief Guest.
Local industry experts included (1) PNG Forest Authority, Senior Geographical Information Systems and Remote
Sensing Officer, Mr. Perry Malan, (2) Ms. Laua Marie Jose, President of National Capital District’s Active City
Development Program, and (3) Rural Tech Development Managing Director and Founder of PNG Educational
Robotics Lab, Mr.Shahram Honarzad. We also featured short videos from our international partners. Global Drone
Solutions, Chief Executive Officer, Mohammad Hussein, shared about the ‘drone rules’ while WeRobotics,
Executive Director, shared about the ‘Power of Local’ including Coordinators of other Flying Labs around the world
who shared about the investment in their local people and communities, teaching Relevant skills and providing
access to technology to youth - our future problem solvers - https://youtu.be/acUfl1vlUPU
Newsletter Q3 2019
First PNG Drone Safety Workshop

2. Newsletter April, 2019
We have conducted four ‘Coding and
Droning’ workshops during an
International Education Agency
‘Festival of Learning’ Conference in
Port Moresby, which were attended by
eight International Schools.
Other guest speaking engagements
included, 2019 U.S Embassy 4th of
July Celebration, Sogeri National
High, PNG Institute of Medical
Research in Goroka, and the recent
55th Annual PNG Medical Symposium
in Port Moresby.
Collectively, we have talked to about
1,000+ participants in PNG who have
expressed their interest in our drone
programs and services.
Photo Gallery
Follow us and Contact us
Kumul GameChangers Startup
Hub, MRDC Haus
P.O. Box 565, Waterfront
Konedobu
125 National Capital District
png@flyinglabs.org
https://flyinglabs.org/png/
https://blog.werobotics.org/tag/papua-new-guinea/
Other activities
Upcoming activities
We are now in discussion with
University of Technology in Lae for
drone hands-on training in November.
We are pleased to announce that we
have been tasked by the Deputy
Prime Minister, Hon. Davis Steven to
lead PNG’s First Drone Association
with his support. The vision is to
harness the potential for this national
association to provide coordination
and consultation amongst done users
and key stakeholders. The association
is intended to represent the members
on matters of policy and legislation.

3. Newsletter Q2 2019
Participation in the 2nd Annual Robotic
Conference at the South Pacific Flying Labs
PNG Flying Labs (PNGFL) team was hosted at the South Pacific Flying Labs (SPFL), University of South
Pacific, and we participated in the 2nd Annual Robotic Conference on the 8th of May. We presented the work
and progress of PNGFL. It was an opportunity to share the perspective of our personal journey and to advocate
and share about PNG's drone rules and regulations, airspace traffic management, training and local capacity-
building.
We were pleased to have PNG Forest Authority (PNGFA) rep (Mr. Perry Malan, senior GIS specialist) and
JICA-PNG rep (Mr. Daisuke Kadowaki, Chief Advisor) join us at the conference. Perry presented on ‘Possible
Application of Drones in PNGFA'. Their priorities for drone utilization are: plantation, natural forest monitoring,
and in national forest inventory. Their objectives are to use drones as a monitoring tool to overcome terrain
condition of forest and monitor forest resources through aerial photography, which is relatively more efficient
than existing remote sensing methods. Although there are higher expectations with drones, the methodology to
monitor forests using drones is not yet consolidated. Through JICA-PNG technical support, PNGFA are
currently using the latest DJI quadcopters for their aerial missions within a radius of 1km. They could safely
cover about 10 hectares of forest using one drone with one drone battery. One of the concerns that PNGFA
raised was the need for more outreach and education for drone users in industries in PNG about drone rules
and regulations in our navigable airspace.
A day before the conference, we observed the World Mosquito Program in action deploying Wolbachi-carrying
mosquitoes using a modified M-600 drone. Along with the flying robots, we also had a glimpse of the Trident
underwater drone and Digital Farmhand's drones-on-wheels, while in Fiji.
Key Achievement
Fixed-Wing Drone (eBee) training: The highlight for PNGFL in Fiji was undergoing the eBee drone
training. Here’s the link to our blog post: https://blog.werobotics.org/2019/05/28/fiji-is-a-leader-in-
pioneering-robotics-solutions-so-its-teaching-its-neighbors-how-to-fly-facing-the-wind/

4. Newsletter April, 2019
Photo Gallery
Follow us and Contact us
Kumul GameChangers Startup
Hub, MRDC Haus
P.O. Box 565, Waterfront
Konedobu
125 National Capital District
png@flyinglabs.org
https://flyinglabs.org/png/
https://blog.werobotics.org/tag/papua-new-guinea/
Drone Education Program:
WeRobotics through SPFL has leased
PNGFL two DJI quadcopters for our
drone missions in-country. We are
looking forward to utilizing the drones for
an upcoming drone education program
as there is already interest. We are now
in consultation with our Fijian colleagues
because of their experiences and traction
of two youth drone programs they run.
During the conference, SPFL Youth
Coordinator presented: (1) Fly Like A Girl
for female high school students, and (2)
Aerial Adventure Camp for male high
school students. Both student groups
were introduced to drones, and drone
rules and regulations in Fiji followed by
hands-on with pre-flight planning to field
surveying, and finally image processing
using industry standard software, Pix4D.
Community Engagements:
This month, PNGFL has been invited by
PNG Digital ICT Cluster to speak at the
TechInnovate Conference on 13 June,
Port Moresby. In July, Sophia will be the
guest speaker at the US Embassy, Port
Moresby 4th of July in Celebration of the
50th Anniversary of the NASA’s Landing
on the Moon.
Upcoming project and
engagements
Kevin and Sophia has completed their eBee flights
Sophia during the 'open discussion' session at the 2nd Annual
Robotic Conference of South Pacific Flying Labs