Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
UAS Conference in U.S. Ushers in New Drone Order
Upstart and legacy manufacturers of unmanned aircraft systems exhibit side by side at AUVSI conference.
On the eve of the conference, the FAA granted Yamaha Motor Corp. USA an exemption to fly the Rmax helicopter. (Photo: Bill Carey)
On the eve of the conference, the FAA granted Yamaha Motor Corp. USA an exemption to fly the Rmax helicopter. (Photo: Bill Carey)

The Unmanned Systems conference in the U.S., traditionally the largest event of the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) industry, is no longer your father’s military-focused trade gathering. As of next year, it will also have a new name. The sponsoring Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) has rebranded the annual trade show as “Xponential.”

The new name reflects the robotic aircraft industry’s “tremendous growth and innovation…as well as the broad societal benefits of the technology,” explained AUVSI. Indeed, UAS–more popularly called drones–have evolved relatively recently from military and model aircraft roots into a promising new commercial industry.

In this article