Southern Company UAS Conference
September 22, 23, & 24, 2021
Agenda
| Wednesday, September 22, 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 12:30 PM - 12:45 PM | 12:30 PM - 12:45 PM Opening Remarks | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12:45 PM - 1:15 PM | 12:45 PM - 1:15 PM Aerial Services Rebranding Kevin will provide an overview Aerial Services and the unique blend of customizable solutions available. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1:15 PM - 2:15 PM | 1:15 PM - 2:15 PM Southern Company - UAS Program Overview & Updates Dean Barefield - Southern Company Corey Hitchcock - Southern Company Jonathan Tinch - Southern Company Aerial Services will provide a Program Overview, discuss rebranding, training, GOM Update, Pilot qualification, currency and other relevant updates including the MSU BVLOS Project. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2:15 PM - 2:45 PM | 2:15 PM - 2:45 PM Key Note Address The changing energy landscape provides ample opportunity to re-imagine how we make, move, and sell electricity in a safe, reliable, and resilient manner. Unmanned Aircraft Systems are one of many technologies being utilized to enhance our operations and maintenance capabilities and we will examine how UAS compliments existing and planned digital transformation initiatives. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2:45 PM - 3:15 PM | 2:45 PM - 3:15 PM Southern Company & MSU Group 3+ UAS & BVLOS Program Session will provide an overview of the 3-year Southern Company & MSU research and development effort focused on expansion of Southern Company’s UAS capabilities. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3:15 PM - 4:00 PM | 3:15 PM - 4:00 PM Data Access for the Future - Verizon/Skywards approach to Hardware agnostic solutions Drones are an excellent tool for data collection, but far from the only one. With our Robotic Business Technology group and pioneering work in integration of 4G and 5G connected devices, we know there is huge potential in leveraging the power of all kinds of robots for customer use cases. Let’s discuss the use cases, customer problems, and opportunities we are building toward in the future for a mixed fleet data acquisition. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4:00 PM - 4:30 PM | 4:00 PM - 4:30 PM GRESCO Technology Solutions - Meet the GTS team
- Overview of GTS and Unmanned Technology Solutions
- Valued Added Reseller
- Inspector Series-Southern Company Approved Aircraft & Accessories | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM | 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM BREAKOUT: GRESCO - FAA Summary of SUAS Part 107 - Operational Limitations
- Remote Pilot in Command Certification & Responsibilities
- Aircraft Requirements
- Aeronautical Knowledge Testing Information
- Test Taking Strategies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4:30 PM - 5:00 PM | 4:30 PM - 5:00 PM DroneDeploy: Aerial and Ground Capture James Pipe, Head of Product at DroneDeploy, will discuss how you can leverage DroneDeploy technology to orchestrate safe, effective and accurate inspections across the organization. He will also describe DroneDeploy's expansion into ground capture and the ways you can perform inspections using multiple collection vehicles on the interior and exterior of assets. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5:00 PM - 5:05 PM | 5:00 PM - 5:05 PM Closing Remarks | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thursday, September 23, 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1:00 PM - 1:30 PM | 1:00 PM - 1:30 PM Faster, Better, Safer. Supercharging construction with Skydio 3D Scan. Join Seth Hutcherson, Enterprise Account Manager, and Mike Ross, Sr. Director of Product Management, for a sneak peak at Skydio’s roadmap and how that will impact the next decade of utility operations across the industry and Southern Company Businesses.
Skydio and the Southern Company have been collaborating to refine utility drone use cases since the 2019 launch of the Skydio 2. Focused primarily on pilot-led inspection missions today, future drones will perform autonomous flights, with and without pilots present. That will require drones with high enough levels of autonomy to capture consistently strong datasets, and remote docking systems that can help an individual pilot perform missions in many different locations in a single day. Join us for this exciting roadmap sneak peek to learn how Skydio’s roadmap will enable these missions - sooner than you may think! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1:30 PM - 2:00 PM | 1:30 PM - 2:00 PM Flyability – From Seeing to Sensing: Intro to ELIOS 2 RAD Flyabiltiy's drones have been flying in a majority of US nuclear power plants for close to 5 years. Until today, our drones have primarily been used to provide visual data, used for a variety of inspections. We are excited to release a solution catered to the nuclear industry: the Elios 2 Rad, a dosimetry drone. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2:00 PM - 2:30 PM | 2:00 PM - 2:30 PM GEMA – UAS Program & Lesson Learned Overview of UAS applications and Lessons Learned | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2:30 PM - 3:00 PM | 2:30 PM - 3:00 PM EPRI Research and Demonstration Update Southern Company is a member to several EPRI projects researching UAS automation for both Transmission and Distribution applications. During this session, Dexter Lewis will present updates on UAS-based inspection requirements, image capture specifications, flight automation approaches, and machine intelligence. In addition to the project updates, Dexter will propose new research ideas for Southern Company feedback and listen for common utility pain points. The goal for this session is for SoCo UAS Leads to learn what’s ongoing, keep an eye out for what’s coming soon, and provide direction for where the research should go in the future. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3:00 PM - 3:30 PM | 3:00 PM - 3:30 PM Southern R&D Update and Strategy The technologies for unmanned automation stretch beyond just UAS. In this session, we’ll look into the research that is enabling full automation of unmanned technologies for water, land and air. We will discuss how advances in one sector can positively impact the successes of the others. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3:30 PM - 4:20 PM | 3:30 PM - 4:20 PM Southern Company & TVA Benchmarking Roundtable No name No Name - Technical Training James Manni - TVA Corey Hitchcock - Southern Company Jonathan Tinch - Southern Company Participants will discuss in an open and interactive forum UAS best practice, use cases, lessons learned, describe challenges and successes. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM | 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM BREAKOUT: Photography Best Practices & Optimization In this session Dennis Washington will share recommended UAS photo and video setting adjustments and best practices to improve the photos and videos you take with your drone. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4:20 PM - 4:40 PM | 4:20 PM - 4:40 PM UAS use in Substations From applications and lessons learned in the field, Denny will discuss how he leverage UAS in support of Substation Maintenance. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4:40 PM - 5:00 PM | 4:40 PM - 5:00 PM UAS in Support of Transmission CAI and Line Pulling Learn how UAS is improving reliability through comprehensive inspections and how line pulling is reducing cost while improving safety. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5:00 PM - 5:05 PM | 5:00 PM - 5:05 PM Closing Remarks | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Friday, September 24, 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1:00 PM - 1:50 PM | 1:00 PM - 1:50 PM Skyward – Maximizing Web & Mobile App This session will walk Pilots through both Skyward’s web and mobile platforms highlighting new features and sharing best practices. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1:50 PM - 2:40 PM | 1:50 PM - 2:40 PM DroneDeploy Overview & Best Practices Join Josh Voelker of DroneDeploy as he discusses the various ways that you can leverage DroneDeploy in your day-to-day to capture the data you need quickly and effectively. He'll cover everything from flight planning to asset and solar inspections, vegetation encroachment, and more! He will also review some of the specific ways that the UAV team is currently finding value with DroneDeploy. Bring any questions you may have for what's sure to be an informative, interactive session. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2:40 PM - 3:00 PM | 2:40 PM - 3:00 PM UAS Inspections – Distribution Kevin will discuss UAS application in Distribution, and how the technology is aiding in early fault detection and improving reliability. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3:00 PM - 3:20 PM | 3:00 PM - 3:20 PM The utilization of UAS (drones) technology in the management of the right of way asset, and beyond. In this session, Jason will share how he uses Drone technology and the benefits in support of APC Transmission Right-of-Way Management. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3:20 PM - 3:40 PM | 3:20 PM - 3:40 PM Embracing Technology: UAS in performing Environmental, Health & Safety Audits Utilizing UAS technology has enabled the EHS Audit Team to review and evaluate facilities in ways that was not previously possible. We have flown missions on a Power Delivery Construction, Electric Generation Plant and Gas Transmission Pipeline Construction projects. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3:40 PM - 4:00 PM | 3:40 PM - 4:00 PM UAS Utilization in Renewable Energy Christian will discuss where and how his team has used UAS on past and current projects to support Renewable Energy. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4:00 PM - 4:20 PM | 4:00 PM - 4:20 PM UAS – APC Public Relations In this session Dennis Washington will explain how Alabama Power Public Relations is using UAS to deliver key messages to its customers and stakeholders. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4:20 PM - 4:40 PM | 4:20 PM - 4:40 PM UAS in Fossil Generation Compliance Management Tamala Davis & Sharon Meier will share their experiences and lessons learned as they have implemented UAS Technology in support of Compliance Management | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4:40 PM - 5:00 PM | 4:40 PM - 5:00 PM Value of UAS in Investigations This course will describe how UAS are used to document fire and explosion scenes, along with the value that this information provides to inside and outside counsel. This segment will demonstrate how the information is gathered and how information is stitched into the photos to help recreate a scene. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5:00 PM | 5:00 PM Closing Remarks | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
