Listen Now

The inside story of how a dedicated team of engineers and explorers developed cutting-edge autonomous navigation technology to use on Mars, as shared by Dr. Jeff Delaune of Ingenuity’s Navigation Team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Our conversation details how the helicopter finds its way around Mars and the navigation technologies the Ingenuity helicopter team invented to accomplish one of the greatest engineering feats in aviation history. All our show notes can be found here: https://www.catalyst-go.com/podcasts Please like our show and subscribe.

The unfolding AI revolution in commercial aviation is far broader than the envisioned pilotless airplane flown by a HAL9000. Learn about how airplanes, airlines, and airports will never be the same because of AI. Joining me is Mark Roboff, most recently General Manager of Transformation for Aerospace at DXC Technology. Mark’s an industry visionary, consensus builder, and standards maven for using AI in commercial aviation. He has an expansive career at the epicenter of AI including a gig with IBM’s Watson, co-inventor on 2 patents covering natural language processing, and Chairman of one of the most important committees steering the vision for AI in commercial aviation. Mark is now working on a top secret project that could change flying as we know it. Will he spill the beans??

How do you position your business for success in a post-COVID world? How do you inject your organization with more creativity and innovation? You must design an environment where team members have the freedom and support to take a chance. Israel Stol is a leading inventor, author, lecturer, and corporate business process consultant. He is also a professional welding development engineer with numerous patents for advanced torpedo propulsion and welding processes. Israel has worked at SpaceX and is a founder of Always-βeta, LLC. You’ll hear Ken and Israel discuss the challenges of remote work, the systems that support innovation, and the huge value created by advancing technology. Connect with Israel Stol https://www.linkedin.com/in/israel-stol-50b09059/ Find every episode’s show notes at Catalyst-go.com

Uber’s ground breaking Elevate program is single handily responsible for ushering in the age of on demand quiet electric aircraft (eVTOL)that fly above the grid and across cities. It presents an entirely new mode of transportation. Joining us is Danielle Rinsler, Head of Aviation Policy and John Illson, Head of Aviation Safety for Uber.

Stella Weidner is Director Regulatory Affairs-Autonomous Systems Engineering at Boeing. In this episode, she shares her unique perspectives that span safety and engineering at Boeing and the UAS industry. We’ll build pictures of both the range of UAS programs/aircraft Boeing is advancing and the many challenges associated with aircraft and production certification.

Andy Cebula is Vice-President, NextGen and New Entrants at Airlines for America. In this segment Ken taps Andy’s unique perspective of how the civil aviation safely system operates and interconnects. We'll focus on the key questions facing the aviation industry, especially what does the unmanned community need to understand about sharing the airspace with commercial aviation?

We’re kicking off this 6 episode podcast series with Paul Lewis, Vice President, Policy and Finance from the Eno Center for Transportation. He's coauthor of Bridging the Gap: Sustaining UAS Progress While Pursuing a Regulatory Framework. We’ll be leveraging Paul’s and the Eno Center’s perspectives that spans across all transportation sectors. In this segment will focus on comparing and contrasting the challenges facing the nascent unmanned industry against similar ones faced by other sectors as they developed.

Steve Jangelis is the Aviation Safety Chairman for the Air Line Pilots Association and oversees all of ALPA's safety efforts for the airline industry. Ken and Steve compare and contrast the challenges ALPA faces in commercial aviation safety against those facing the unmanned industry and place these within context. What should an airline pilot really think when she sees a drone outside the window?

Paul Snyder is the Assistant Chair and Director of UAS at the University of North Dakota. The New York Times calls the campus "the silicon valley of unmanned aircraft systems." Paul and Ken build for you a picture of what the unmanned industry looks like from flight test to small users to the military and compare and contrast the challenges in each segment.

Ken updates the audience on what's been going on since the last episode, the effects of COVID on the business of the UAS industry, and previews the 3rd season.

Security is one of the greatest challenges caused by the proliferation of drones. Luckily, Luke Fox is on the case. Luke Fox is CEO & founder of WhiteFox, a global leader in drone airspace security. WhiteFox’s products focus on the secure management of drones in sensitive airspace worldwide. Prior to founding WhiteFox, Luke ledcyber-forensics and high-performance drone manufacturing companies. Those experiences inform Luke’s vision for establishing an effective market solution to ensure drones fly safely and legally. You’ll hear Ken and Luke discuss the challenges identifying drones, securing locations, and limiting costs associated with this technology. Connect with Luke Fox www.whitefoxdefense.com/ Find every episode’s show notes at Catalyst-go.com

Chris Runde is the Senior Director of Strategic Development at CGH Technologies. CGH is an aviation innovation firm providing management consulting and solutions to public and private customers. Prior to his current role, Chris held numerous executive, aviation-related positions in the public and private sectors. He’s lead initiatives in airport biometric credentialing, the first deployment of TSA PreCheck as a core member of the Risk-based Security team, and worked on a venture-backed startup. In this episode, you’ll hear Ken and Chris discuss where innovation & autonomy will impact airport, trends in UAS applications, and how to go about innovating in a slow-moving industry. Connect with Chris https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherrunde/ Find every episode’s show notes at Catalyst-go.com

Bonny Simi is the President of JetBlue Technology Ventures, where she is responsible for investing in and partnering with early-stage startups focusing on technology and travel. Before leading these efforts, Bonny was an Olympian, television broadcaster, and airline pilot. These diverse experiences have prepared her to lead a team that takes JetBlue’s original mission to bring humanity back to travel and expands it to a wide range of technologies. This episode includes conversation about how investment from JetBlue signals legitimacy, the process for incubating technology concepts into businesses, and how Bonny got into Olympic luge. Hint - it started with $8. Connect with Bonny Simi https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnysimi/ Find every episode’s show notes at Catalyst-go.com

The Department of Homeland Security pursues tech and innovation in a number of ways. One of the most inspiring is their Center of Excellence Student Grand Challenge. The DHS-sponsored hackathon challenges students to come up with novel methods of answering difficult security questions. This year, they focused on how to better protect ourselves from drones The competition took place in July 2019 and featured a 36-hour sprint for developing the new ideas. In this episode, you’ll hear a roundtable of students, educators, and leaders from across the country. They all share a perspective on the competition and the exciting seeds that have been planted. Note: The COE Network of university-led consortia is funded and administered through the DHS Science and Technology Directorate Office of University Programs. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the participants and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Find every episode’s show notes at Catalyst-go.com

David Ihrie is the Chief Technology Officer at Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology. He focuses on driving economic welfare for the state of Virginia by evaluating technologies and their ability to play a role in the future. David has more than 35 years of experience innovating in the fields of satellite and terrestrial communication, computing, and information science. He has been a principal in seven different startup companies across a number of industries. Now, as CTO, David consistently evaluates how to make Virginia a hotbed of “Smart Communities.” David and Ken discuss how technology firms can work with governments, the frameworks he uses to evaluate trends, and how most innovation is incremental vs disruptive. Find every episode’s show notes at Catalyst-go.com

Bob Leigh is Senior Market Development Director, Autonomous Systems at Real-Time Innovations (RTI), headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA. RTI lives at the intersection of functional artificial intelligence and pervasive networking. RTI is the largest vendor of products based on the Object Management Group (OMG) Data Distribution Service™ (DDS) standard. Throughout his career, Bob has facilitated transformative technology implementations. He understands the costs, opportunities, and pitfalls that firms and regulators can run into during a significant change. Ken and Bob talk about adapting technology to leverage IOT data distribution services, the challenges associated with DDS in autonomous vehicles, and how to connect vehicles to infrastructure. Connect with Bob https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertleigh/ Find every episode’s show notes at https://www.Catalyst-go.com

Kaitlyn is an associate at OpenView Venture Partners, an expansion stage venture capital firm. She is responsible for identifying, evaluating and executing on investment opportunities. Prior to OpenView, Kaitlyn worked at Amazon as a senior financial analyst for Amazon’s machine learning group, where she worked on machine learning projects in Amazon’s worldwide consumer engagement team. Ken and Kaitlyn discuss her investing philosophy, why “artificial intelligence” is synonymous with hype, and the kind of pitch in autonomous technology that holds her interest. Kaitlyn also served as an advisor to early-stage technical founders through her work at the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, an accelerator in Central California. Connect with Kaitlyn www.linkedin.com/in/kaitlynhenry/ Find every episode’s show notes at www.Catalyst-go.com/podcasts

Dr. Karl Wunderlich is a Fellow for Transportation Analysis in Washington, DC, serving as a task leader or senior advisor on numerous research and development tasks related to surface transportation. Dr. Wunderlich is a recognized expert in the use of simulation and modeling techniques to evaluate emerging technologies or system policies intended to improve traveler mobility or system productivity. He is also a thought leader in the facilitation of collaborative transportation research through open source and open data communities. Karl and Ken discuss how to coordinate complex systems, what happens when blockchain meets transportation. Connect with Karl linkedin.com/in/karlwunderlichphd/ Watch Karl youtu.be/CNSWC42Zk78 Find every episode’s show notes at Catalyst-go.com

Jim Williams served as one of the world’s top unmanned aircraft regulators. He created and ran the FAA’s UAS Integration Office, where he was the executive lead. He is now director of U.S. regulatory affairs at Drone Delivery Canada. Jim shares with the audience best practices on when to engage with a government agency and how to avoid wasting time. This conversation explores regulatory perspectives on UAS systems, what to focus on regarding UTM, and complying with regulations of the present and future. Connect with Jim linkedin.com/in/jim-williams-866531b/ Find every episode’s show notes at Catalyst-go.com

Show Notes: Why Ethical A.I. Needs a Focus on the Fundamentals w/ David Danks Dr. David Danks is one of the world’s premier ethicists in the area of artificial intelligence and the Department Head & L.L. Thurston Professor of Philosophy and Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. David has examined the relations of trust and identity as they are affected by technologies like self driving vehicles, autonomous weapon systems, and autonomous cyber-systems. This interview covers the key ethical considerations for driverless cars and drones, how to apply AI ethics to building a company or device, and the United Nations AI for Good Summit. Connect with David https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/philosophy/people/faculty/danks.html Find every episode’s show notes at https://www.catalyst-go.com/podcasts