Published to Whisper Club: January 27, 2026 ID: TBW2095
Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Gal
Photojournalist(s): Dr. Doreen Galli
Abstract:
This Whisper Report investigates how will drones change enterprise data strategy. It draws on insights gathered at the Commercial UAV Expo 2025 in Las Vegas, where UAV experts described the growing data volume, multi‑use potential, and rising compliance pressures shaping enterprise architectures. The report highlights strategic alignment, cross‑industry collaboration, and the challenge of converting drone data into actionable insights. It cites Barry Paul (Blue Nose Drones), Jason San Souci (Drone Ops USA), Kevin Teen (Aloft), Bill Reynolds (Central UAS Technologies), and Vik Chaudhry (Buzz Solutions).
Published to clients: September 15, 2025ID: TBW2093
Published to readers: September 16, 2025
Published to Email Whispers: TBD
Public with video edition: TBD
Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Galli
Photojournalist(s): D. Doreen Galli
Abstract:
“After 79 videos and 175 minutes of video including 3 livestreams and over 45 fact checks, out coverage of Commercial UAV Expo 2025 closes. Our coverage from Commercial UAV Expo 2025 explores the evolving landscape of drone innovation, enterprise operations, and regulatory strategy. This research highlights examples shared across keynotes, technologies, and industry use cases. Readers are encouraged to explore the full edition for insights into the trends shaping unmanned systems and their impact on commercial and strategic decision-making.”
After 79 videos and 175 minutes of video including 3 livestreams and over 45 fact checks, out coverage of Commercial UAV Expo 2025 closes. CUAV brought together over 3393 drone enthusiasts from over 62 countries. Registration had no lines whatsoever. We were able to capture the lunch served on Wednesday as well as breakfast on Thursday. This time we once again tried out the live streams with one on Tuesday requesting those attending to find me to answer Questions 1-3, Wednesday to let you know about upcoming events we have scheduled, as well as Thursday from Expo hall itself requesting assistance. Specifically I requested assistance on your favorite videos for my segment on the September 6th broadcast edition of Computer Talk Radio.
While at Commercial UAV Expo 2025, we conducted research for three additional forthcoming Whisper Reports for our clients. The playlists are unlisted but available and will eventually fill in with the video version of the report so you may wish to bookmark these playlists.
Readers and viewers wishing to experience the entire event are encouraged to view the Conference Whispers: Commercial UAV Expo 2025 Playlist in its entirety. Once the video edition is available, the playlist will be sited as a pinned comment on the video edition. It is also easy to locate any previous Conference Whispers playlists through TBW Advisors LLC corporate website.
At the Commercial UAV Expo we were excited we could cover the keynotes this year. The opening monologue set the stage. Buzz Solutions Kaitlyn Albertoli kicked off the event with 5 tips for overcoming inaction in your drone problem. This was followed by a great case study fireside chat with her client Dominion Energy. Dominion’s Thomas F. Butler emphasized that collaboration is the key to success. This was followed by a fascinating case study of how drones were used to capture the stunning beauty of the Grand Canyon.
Commercial UAV Expo’s team content manager, Matt Collins welcomed all back on Thursday morning. The Keynote panel was hosted by Cyberhawk’s CEO Chris Fleming. Collaboration was the key emphasis and produced one of our favorite quotes of the event. “Safety is not Proprietary”. The session also provided many insights for succeeding with FAA paperwork be it waivers or permits. The morning keynote was concluded with the awarding of the 2025 Eric Talley Memorial Award to Officer Matt Rowland.
When one attends a Commercial UAV expo, it is not unusual to see a lot of drones including a variety of specialty drones. IPET drones’ propellers and motors come as a set, easily snap on and off, and are notoriously quiet. These propellers also enable very quick maintenance. If you are seeking a variety of drones including nano drones, Ascent Aviation shared their wares. Need to cover remote areas? Starling’s drone in a box even can automatically manage between the three batteries possible in the box with the drone. Perhaps you need to deal with the chemicals of agriculture? Central UAS drones are specifically designed to handle the agricultural and pest spray space. If chain of custody regarding the cargo for applications such as medical deliveries, blueflite drones have you covered. Heavy cargo? FlyingBasket can handle 100 kilo cargo with a 200-kilo capable drone coming by year’s end. Parallel Flight Technologies are hybrid drones and can handle 100 pounds for 1.4 hours or 50 pounds for almost 3 hours. Finally if you want a tethered drone or want to convert your drone to a tethered drone, ELISTAIR came to Vegas all the way from France share their solution.
If you were seeking a distributor for drones, there were a number of options on site. One example was Frontier that represents product lines from over 40 different manufacturers. Another example was Multicopter. They consider themselves a drone provider with their advantage being NOT offering services. This eliminates competing with the manufacturers themselves. They enjoyed speaking both with drone manufacturers on site as well as customers seeking a great source to purchase their enterprise drones.
Finally, one of the great challenges for all drone manufacturers is testing their drones. Filing all that paperwork and enduring the FAA delays can interfere with business. Ukraine, represented by their San Fransico Consulate, Consul General Dmytro Kushneruk wanted drone manufacturers to know that you are welcome in Ukraine. Unlike the US, it is only a matter of a few weeks to get approval for testing. They also have scenarios not generally available. This has resulted in over 2,000 drone producers coming out of Ukraine.
A universal need for drones is the ability to communicate either back to their controller or back to the enterprise. Teal.io specializes in mission critical infrastructure. With one SIM card you can connect to 100’s a networks via a single pane of glass including the ability to switch networks. GEODNET represents the largest RTK network – real-time kinematics makes GPS significantly more accurate which is required with drones. If you are concerned about GPS getting jammed, TUALCOM operates in anti-jam, electronic warfare, data links, flight termination, terrestrial navigation, and 4G and 5G as well as telemetry devices. Of course, alternatively one could leverage Anello Photonics’ World’s smallest optical gyroscope to ensure your navigation in the event GPS is blocked, spoofed or jammed. This year they brought their new maritime solution to expo hall.
As many drone manufacturers are gathering, those creating components and parts for drone those very manufacturers are also exhibiting. On the power side, if you are familiar with the benefits and challenges of hydrogen, H2MOF does not store it as a gas or liquid – enjoy their video to learn more! Do you want to further reduce the weight of your aircraft? Are you hoping to save a little money over carbon fibre? Mag Materials, a magnesium specialist, may be the vendor you have been looking for. If you need LiDAR sensors but could use help on the entire end to end picture? Green Valley International is looking forward to speaking with you. Finally, if your drones deal with harsh, hot environments? Pelican Wire has heat resistant custom wire to fit your needs. In fact, they had three different types of specialized wire on display. In addition to the heat resistant, they shared their Thermocouple/RTD wires which measure temperature, resistance wires that generates heat, and various other custom engineered wire solutions for specific customer applications.
With the October 6, 2025, deadline to comment on Part 108 for the FAA’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking fast approaching – it was the talk of the town. We were able to capture an exclusive summary of the panel discussing everyone’s primary concerns. This conversation highlighted many areas of concern and critical tips to ensure your comments are counted and matter. Once 108 passes, many drone manufacturers may be seeking components that can enable compatibility with the rules. To that end, uAvioni has been developing technology aligned with the proposed rules and is ready to serve. Part 108 is all about making the skies safe and enabling objects to navigate amongst each other. For pilots have concerns, DSPA – drone service providers alliance -is a group advocating exclusively on behalf of pilots on the local and national level.
At the enterprise level, drone operations require a lot of strategic thought, planning and technology. We first heard of the enterprise AI powered visual intelligence of Buzz Solutions during the keynote. The emphasis is always getting all of the information out of the data you can for all the use cases available for a given data set. Collect once, use many times was a common theme at the event this year. AirData provides a fleet management solution to manage all your UAS fleets, pilots, certifications, checklists and the likes. If your industry requires the handling of special care cargo, Apco Defence has a highly innovative drone recovery systems with technology to provide a soft landing. If your challenge is understand where that fleet of drones and aircraft are flying, ALOFT can enable you to visualize your airspace.
Frequently, drones are requested in locations a great distance from population making them difficult jobs to accept. Some drone operators got together with Custome Trailers to create a remote operating hub for drone operators. The result is Drone Pro Trailer and the Drone Ops Company.
Pilots are a required part of every organization. If you want enable them to virtually practice, Zepher has your covered over a large variety of aircraft. Looking to prepare your pilots for certifications? USI shared their enterprise solution. Expanding the team? The Neuro Diversity Works organization may have just the talent you are seeking!
Commercial UAV Expo 2026 will once again return to Las Vegas and will be held at Caesars Forum on September 1-3, 2026.
*When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other examples products in the same category may have also been on display.
After 12 hours of standing and over 200 minutes of taping, 40 videos and a few hundred shorts forthcoming, our coverage of the Commercial UAV Expo closes. The Commercial UAV Expo 2024 had over 3,000 attendees, Y exhibits and Z keynotes. The attendees travelled from over ZZ countries. The Expo had exhibits and keynotes on how to become a drone pilot to the drones themselves. There were countless examples of the latest technology in all types of UAVs and UASs, including the sensors and equipment they carry. The expo also showcased solutions for remotely operating and managing drone fleets, as well as advanced methods for analyzing geospatial data.
Highlights
Information was provided across the vertical and horizontal spectrum for UAVs, UAS. Note: few were fully autonomous and would be referred to more accurately as remote-controlled helicopters, drones, and marine vehicles.
Cautions
One must understand the use case to select the correct drone or solution route if one doesn’t want to take on the training burden internally.
After 12 hours of standing and over 200 minutes of taping, 40 videos and a few hundred shorts forthcoming, our coverage of the Commercial UAV Expo closes. The Commercial UAV Expo 2024 had over 3,000 attendees and was one of two conferences held at Caesars Forum not to be confused with Caesars Palace a stroll away. Everything seemed very organized with no significant registration lines on Wednesday morning. Attendees arrived from across the global and each was invited to put a pin on the map to represent where they traveled to attend. For those that had a full event pass, boxed lunches were available; we were able to catch videos of the boxed lunches Wednesday as well as Thursday. The exhibition hall* was open on Tuesday for cocktails, as well as Wednesday and Thursday. Overall, the expo had exhibits and talks on how to become a drone pilot to the drones themselves. There were endless examples of the latest technology in every type of UAV or UAS, to the sensors or equipment they may carry, to solutions to remotely operate and manage fleets of drones to advance solutions for analyzing geospatial data.
One hot topic at the Commercial UAV Expo is getting enough pilots for the industry as most technology today is remote controlled versus truly autonomous. An entire aisle in the exhibit hall was dedicated towards pilot schools including the Pilot Institute. The Pilot Institute even has a free class for those just getting started with a hobby license. Dan Tartaglia from Droneability shared his lessons learned from his journey as a recreational drone pilot to a commercial pilot with his own company. Paul Rossi shared detailed information on his methodology for a pathway to professional drone pilot. Meanwhile, another session by FlyGuys highlighted that if you have a license and equipment, they will hold our hands and give you the settings if needed to help drone pilots to get experience on a 1099 basis.
Finally, if you want a one stop shop and expect to need a variety of drones or perhaps prefer to lease them, then Exhibitors such as Blue Skies Drones, that manufactures and sells others’ drones was on hand. Frontier Drones provided an extensive tour of their exhibit. As an organization, they represent over 30 different manufacturers.
The key to the success of the industry is working together. Successful integration and successful collaboration dictate agreement on how things work or standards. The drone pilot hub featured a talk on establishing standards to ensure quality. One safety measure that was popular was drone parachutes which are required to enable flight over people in the USA. One vendor, VSS was involved in the press competition. Parazero Drone recover system was on exhibit and demonstrated how the parachute is as easy as buckling a seat belt to attach.
A new occurrence due to drones use in warzones is the requirement to operate even if GPS is jammed or spoofed. Annello Photonics shared their Silicon Photonics Optical Gyroscope (SiPhOGTM). It is the world’s smallest gyroscope on a chip which enables robust navigation that is reliable even in such hostile GPS contested environments. Another challenge of commercial real-world solutions like War is range. Range anxiety is as real for drones as it is for electric car owners. Gas solutions are as loud as a flying lawn mower. How do you triple the range of a UAV? The exciting news is that the UAV industry has a solution in hydrogen engines. Intelligent Energy provided TBW Advisors LLC with a detailed walk around of their hydrogen energy cells. Not only is the range better but hydrogen cells and hydrogen weigh must less over other energy solutions leaving more space for cargo and sensors.
At the enterprise or sovereign level, there is an additional level of management required. SparrowHawk can identify UAVs in your airspace – friendly or hostile! flytebase provides an enterprise done autonomy software and platform for advanced field placement. Together it enables complete remote management of one’s fleet of drones. If you are seeking to manage the drones, missions and airspace with one piece of software, Anra Technologies shared their effortless solution. For enterprises just looking to get started and have no idea what drone is appropriate let alone how to build the entire solution to get the mission accomplished, Attis Aviation was in the exhibit hall to share their story of helping customers realize their UAV solutions.
Geospatial data is an exciting area within data that is critical for UAVs. Geospatial data has to do with the real world and is three-dimensional information about a space. Geospatial data is considered time-based data related to that exact location on earth. GeoCue shared their out of the box LP360 solution for evaluating LiDar information. This enables organizations to take the information from the LiDar and processes providing information that humans recognize and can leverage. Sense Aeronautics took great pride in their drone video analytics solution and its ability to recognize humans or cars coming into the monitored scene. Assetta has a specialty solution to detect red tide when spotted by drones. Dat/em also specialized in drone’s famous stereo image and makes it useful for customers, providing a coherent image as expected by clients. Finally, those that just want the data and don’t want to mess around with drones or getting the data useful, FlyGuys is a (DSP) data service provider that provides that exact service!
Next year’s Commercial UAV Expo will be once again held at Caesars Forum on September 2-4, 2025.
*When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other examples products in the same category may have also been on display.
