Drone Advocacy and C-UAS

1. Thompson UAS UTM & CUAS
Falcon Foundation UAS L.L.C.
Rob Thompson

2. Thompson Family

3. Some of My Mentors

4. Thompson & Helicopters
Hans Weichsel, Jr Stanley Hiller Jr
Father of the Huey, Cobra gunship, & Jet Ranger Hiller Helicopters

5. Lessons for Silicon Valley
• Hiller at the age of 15, designed the world's first successful coaxial
helicopter, and produced a working model. At 17, he presented his
design for the XH-44 "Hiller-Copter" to the U.S. Army in Washington
D.C., to my grandfather winning not only their approval, but also a
draft deferment during World War II.
• Immediately thereafter, he established the first helicopter factory on
the West Coast at 1930-50 Addison Street in Berkeley
• Where is the innovation? Facebook, Uber and Snapchat?

6. Aviation & Airspace Management Experience
• 1,000 hours of commercial operations including skydiving, transport, ISR
and delivery.
• Repaired and inspected 100’s of airplanes for maintenance
• Certified aircraft equipment for Airbus, Boeing, Embraer, & Cessna
• Flown over 75 different aircraft including Dc3, Waco, T6, Cub, Beech,
Cessna, Piper & Diamond Aircraft
• Runway Incursion Avoidance System (RIAS) – My first taste of the FAA
• Pilot communication study
• Avionics design – usability in the cockpit
• iPad revolutionized modern aviation

7. Falcon Foundation UAS L.L.C. 2017
• I started in a loose lobby group working the energy sector in
Washington DC from 2015- 2016 I was brought in as a technical
consultant with 5 other lobbyists.
• UAS STEM – Briefing on Capitol Hill
• CUAS – Created the CUAS Coalition
• Gained 1 of 11 (at the time) BVLOS waivers from 22,000 applicants

8. Unmanned Transportation Management
AIA Publication 1975

9. Unmanned Transportation Management
• Command and Control links
• Operation Aphrodite using B-17’s in 1944
• Can’t control a vehicle if you lose the signal –”Can you hear me now?”
• Relay stations? – Expensive infrastructure and maintenance
• Satellites? – Expensive to maintain the satellites
• On board equipment or equipage – what to include?
• Traffic Management
• Flight procedures much like flying under instruments (IFR)
• Organizing for efficiency and safety
• We have the same problems they had in 1944 and in 1975

10. Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems
• CUAS Coalition Philosophy – “Through better CUAS equipment we can
worry about regulations less as the equipment takes care of rogue
drone problems.”
• +23 Federal criminal codes that need to be changed
• This makes Congress & Legislators nervous
• It will need to pass 4 committees in the House and 3 in the Senate
• The equipment is either military grade and expensive or garage grade
and not very good.

11. Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems
• Asset owners hands are tied – some are willing to circumvent the law
and pay a fine rather than to be exposed.
• Drone violations and reports to the FAA are up (averages)
• 2015 – 1 a month
• 2016 - 10 a month
• 2017 – 100 a month
• 2018 - 1,000 a month
• A major terrorist attack will change legislation over night

12. Thank You
Falcon Foundation UAS L.L.C.
www.falconfoundationuas.com
CUAS Coalition
www.cuascoalition.org