Vanguard Magazine

T Technology WAtCH 36 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017 www.vanguardcanada.com Sky guys has developed a unique defence surveillance uAV with commercial capabilities specific to the energy sector. reduce cost, reduce risk, and improve performance across many sectors — of which those technological advancements can be applied to the defense sector. I recently participated in Toronto's first major UAV show: a new event which was opened to the public and backed by the Cambridge House, a major international event business. This event was led by Adam Sax, the CEO of Canadian tech start up, Sky Guys (a Next Gen Dragon's Den investment of mine). Sky Guys has developed a unique defence surveillance UAV with commercial capabilities specific to the energy sector. The event was targeted primarily for the average consumer, with the vision to be like an auto show in the future, but the show at- tracted significant fanfare from the defence community, namely Boeing, General Atomics and the NATO Association of Canada. David Funkhouser, a Business Development Executive from Boeing-owned Insitu Inc., spoke up about the current UAV technology and applications. While he acknowledged that the traditional value proposition for using UAVs was under the filter of situations that are either "dull, dirty, or dangerous," UAVs are now finding more and more utility in the commercial sec- tors. "This transition will continue to grow and accelerate as regulatory environments become more tolerant of UAVs. As a result, we will witness exponential improvements in agronomy, cartography, geology, hydrology, and a host of other earth sci- ences over the coming years," he remarked. Personally, I loved the explanation that Facebook beat out Friendster in becom- ing the dominant platform because we needed the confluence of specific technologies to come together at the exact right time and become mainstream, specifically, in this instance, the digital camera. That's my way of conceptualizing the requirement for all of these various technologies to reach certain levels of satura- tion before moving up to the next step. Funkhouser continued explaining the benefits the commercial industry would receive from defence research and development: "Sensors that were originally designed to detect explosive ma- terials will be employed to detect wheat rust and other crop pathogens. Sensors that were originally developed to track the movements of enemy personnel, will be employed to track the movements of cattle herds. Moreover, the ability to inexpen- sively collect and process data in real-time will enable farmers, ranchers, explorers, and scientists to observe conditions, orient their resources accordingly, make informed decisions, and act upon those decisions with more speed and efficiency than ever before." He did, however, further acknowledge the flip I am predict- ing: governments will start to flip, that governments will lever- age commercial R&D more and more and seek out "commer- cial, off-the-shelf" (COTS) solutions for defence procurements. "By leveraging industry's ability to create and develop technolo- gies at the speed of market demand rather than at the speed of government bureaucracy, urgent defense procurements can be made with more speed and efficiency than ever before. Sen- sors originally developed to monitor highway traffic have been leveraged for terrain mapping. 3D printers have been leveraged to convert terrain mapping data into 3D models. Augmented reality software developed for video games has been leveraged to enhance battlespace awareness. As commercial unmanned aviation continues to grow, I believe we'll continue to witness the adaptation of such commercially developed technologies for defense purposes," Funkhouser confirmed. The relationship and R&D between the commercial, defence and academic sectors will undoubtedly continue to be symbiotic and ongoing. I was able to speak to a few innovative Canadian tech business- es this month about what they bring to the table in this sector. Pegasus Aeronautics Corporation, which is a small, proudly Canadian tech business located in Kitchener, Ontario, develops and manufactures power units that vastly improve industrial and military UAV endurance and payload capacity. The powertrains Adam Sax, CEO of Sky Guys, pictured with his latest prototype, called the "DX-3", which is a UAV specifically designed for the energy sector, but which can also be used in defence for surveying and monitoring.

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