Awards presented to companies and individuals demonstrating outstanding achievement in unmanned systems

DENVER — Finalists for the inaugural XCELLENCE Awards by the Association for Unmanned Vehicles Systems International (AUVSI) were named today during an awards ceremony at AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2018 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. The winners represent accomplishments by companies, organizations and individuals across the unmanned systems community.

"The unmanned systems industry is innovating at an incredible rate and creating tremendous benefits for our economy, lifestyle, and society," said Brian Wynne, president and CEO of AUVSI. "The AUVSI XCELLENCE Awards give us a chance to recognize the companies and individuals who are propelling the industry into the future."

The AUVSI XCELLENCE Awards, presented for the first time this year, honor innovators with demonstrated commitments to advancing technology, leading and promoting safe operations, and developing programs that use unmanned systems to improve the human condition. These are the winners in each category:
Technology Innovation

Counter UAS & Security
• First Place: WhiteFox, FLEA: Frequency Localizing Electronic Apparatus
• Second Place: Liteye Systems, AUDS and M-AUDS Counter UAS Detection, Identification and Defeat System
• Third Place: Fortem Technologies, Fortem DroneHunter™ Counter-UAS Solution

Cybersecurity
• First Place: Regulus Cyber, Regulus Pyramid Solution Suite
• Second Place: Leidos, Inc., The Leidos Remotely Piloted Aircraft Operations Center Design and
Installation Team

Detect & Avoid
• First Place: Office of Naval Research (ONR) / Aurora Flight Sciences (AFS) Autonomous Aerial Cargo/Utility System (AACUS) team, AACUS, the Autonomous Aerial Cargo System
• Second Place: AEye, AEye iDAR
• Third Place: Echodyne Corp, MESA Radar
Inspection/Mapping & Surveying
• First Place: Neurala, Brains For Bots™ SDK
• Second Place: Airobotics, Airobotics Automated Industrial Drones
• Third Place: RIEGL USA, Mini is More: Multi-Target Measurement Capability for a Wide Variety of Applications
Remote Identification
• First Place: Pierce Aerospace, Pierce Aerospace
• Second Place: WhiteFox, WISDM: WhiteFox Integrated Secure Device Manager

Innovative Unmanned Solutions
• First Place: Epson, Epson Moverio Flight Sim App
• Second Place: A³ by Airbus, Vahana
• Third Place: Global Energy Transmission Co, Distance Wireless Energy Transmission Hotspot for In-Flight Drone Charging

Training & Education

Training & Education Organization
• First Place: Consortiq, Consortiq Integrates CRM, Non-Technical, and Award Winning CQNet with sUAS Training
• Second Place: Consortiq, Consortiq Integrates CRM, Non-Technical, and Award Winning CQNet with sUAS Training
• Third Place: Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus, Professional Education Flight and Ground Training

Training & Education Provider - Airmanship and Contribution to the UAS Industry (Individual)
• Winner: Patrick "Lucidity" Sherman, Commercial Drone Operator, Trainer and Educator, Roswell Flight Test

Operations & Safety

Operations & Safety Organization
• First Place: NASA Langley Research Center, NASA Langley UAS Operations Office
• Second Place: AES Corporation, Creating a Safer, Smarter Workplace at AES Corporation
• Third Place: XM2 Aerial, XM2 Aerial Safety Management System

Operations & Safety - Airmanship and Contribution to the UAS Industry (Individual)
• Winner: Josh Olds, Vice President, Unmanned Safety Institute

Recipients of the AUVSI Humanitarian Award will be announced on Thursday, May 3 at 9:00 a.m. MDT during the keynote presentation in the Mile High Ballroom at the convention center.

As the unmanned systems industrys largest trade show and conference, XPONENTIAL offers a broad-based and balanced educational program brimming with cutting-edge content and inspirational insights, ranging from policy implications and technical challenges to use cases and best practices across vertical markets and everything in between. For more information about the AUVSI XCELLENCE Awards and XPONENTIAL, visit xponential.org

About AUVSI
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), the world's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of unmanned systems and robotics, represents corporations and professionals from more than 60 countries involved in industry, government and academia. AUVSI members work in the defense, civil and commercial markets.