Influential wireless and drone companies at inaugural UAS summit

Stakeholders also listened to presentations at the event highlighting the evolving nature of drone utilization from a wireless carrier, vertical realtor, contractor and tower technician perspective.

NATE hosted the UAS Summit in order to help scale UAS operations in the industry and take advantage of the many benefits associated with this technology.

At the event, the following working groups were established in order to foster collaboration between participants and continue building on the momentum that was established: Wireless Carriers and Vertical Realtors Working Group, Standards and Resource Development Working Group, and FAA Advocacy Working Group.

NATE also plans to host a UAS Operations “Show and Tell” field day at a communications tower site near the Washington, D.C. beltway in early October with invited stakeholders from federal government agencies, Capitol Hill and the industry.

“I would like to thank all of the participants and companies who were represented at our inaugural UAS Summit,” stated NATE UAS Committee Chairman Jimmy Miller from MillerCo, Inc. “Even though the Motor City was the birthplace of the automotive industry, due to NATE’s leadership at the Summit, it quickly became the site of innovation for the commercial utilization of drones in the wireless industry,” added Miller.

“The communications tower industry is tailor made for the commercial utilization of drones and it was great to see NATE assemble such a talented group of participants who will be instrumental in developing industry-specific standards and a graduated level of training requirements governing UAS operations,” said NATE UAS Committee Vice Chairman Bryan McKernan from Consortiq.

McKernan was officially appointed as Vice Chairman of the NATE UAS Committee at the conclusion of the Summit.

The following is a listing of the NATE UAS Summit participants:

American Tower Corporation American Tower Corporation B+T Group B+T Group Consortiq Crown Castle D&A Construction Management, Inc. D&A Construction Management, Inc. DARTdrones DARTdrones Drone Airspace Management Drone Airspace Management Drone Airspace Management Eagle Drones, LLC Ehresmann Engineering, Inc Focal Revolution Focal Revolution MillerCo, Inc. NATE NATE NATE Needmore Towers Inc. NUAIR Alliance Precision Hawk Red Mountain Scientific SBA Communications Corporation SBA Communications Corporation Skyward (A Verizon Company) Skyward (A Verizon Company) Sprint Corporation Stampede Global Talon Aerolytics, Inc. Tamarack Aerial Services Tamarack Aerial Services T-Mobile Tower & Turbine Technologies LLC Tower Engineering Professionals, Inc. U.S. Cellular United Tower Alliance, LLC Unmanned Vehicle University Vertical Bridge Holdings, LLC Vertical Limit, LLC

Robert Clifford Paul Roberts Jay Perkins Wyatt Musgrove Bryan Mckernan Robert McCoy Denise Frey Brian Saczynski Abby  Speicher Carroll Karl Schwab Avery Brown Wachira Reed Yesef Trowell Rodney Murray Eric Taylor David Wenzlick James Castiglia Jimmy Miller Jim Goldwater Paula Nurnberg Todd Schlekeway Danny Pelczarski Jon Thies Irina Denisenko Sam McGuire Jonathan Lark Mark Foster Mike Danielak Tariq Rashid Jillian Wirtel Bill Badnaruk Tim Dunnigan Chad Hankins Christopher Pugh Heather Gastelum JP Jones Jordan Shelley Daryl Morris Jim Tracy Josh Roetzer Michael Deboer Steven Roessler

NATE’s UAS Committee and Working Group participants have pledged to be a source of information by providing timely updates to the Association’s members and industry stakeholders as key developments emerge in the landscape surrounding Unmanned Aerial Systems.