AUVSI announces finalists for 2023 XCELLENCE awards

The Association for Uncrewed Vehicles Systems International (AUVSI) has announced the finalists for the sixth annual AUVSI XCELLENCE Awards. While industry recognitions are often considered important as brag tags, these awards are an especially big deal for the drone industry because AUVSI represents corporations and professionals from more than 60 countries involved in industry, government, and academia.

AUVSI XCELLENCE Awards honor innovators with a demonstrated commitment to advancing the safe adoption of drones, robotics, and autonomous technologies. Programs that use these technologies to save lives and improve the human condition are also celebrated.

Winners are announced during the annual XPONENTIAL gathering, which is the drone industry’s largest trade show and conference. The 2023 XPONENTIAL conference is scheduled to take place from May 8-11 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver.

Brian Wynne, president and CEO of AUVSI, says:

This year, XPONENTIAL is all about designing a shared plan for the future of autonomy. There’s no better place to announce the 2023 XCELLENCE award finalists. Together, they are redefining what’s possible with uncrewed and robotic technology.

Now, let’s take a look at the finalists across different categories:

XCELLENCE in Academic Research 

• Neural10, Autonomous Navigation in GPS-Denied Zones 
• Ocean Alliance, Tagging Whales with Drones 
• University of Colorado Boulder, 20 Years of UAS Research XCELLENCE 
• University of Michigan, Alireza Mohammadi 
• Virginia Tech’s Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership, Robert Briggs 

XCELLENCE in Innovation 

• Austal USA, Austal MCS 
• Plus, PlusDrive, An Industry-defining Driver-in, Highly Automated Driving (HAD) Solution 
• Sentera, Eliminating Stitching with the Sentera DGR System 
• Skydio, Skydio Dock, Automated Inspections of Sites with Autonomous, Remote Drone Operations 
• UPS Flight Forward, Inc., Safety Management System First in the Industry Accepted by the FAA 

XCELLENCE IN OPERATIONS 
Enterprise Application 

• Advanced Navigation, Cloud Ground Control 
• City of Pendleton, Pendleton UAS Range 
• JobsOhio and the Ohio Department of Transportation, Propelling AAM in Ohio 

XCELLENCE IN TECHNOLOGY  
Enabling Components & Peripherals 

• Elsight, Elsight Halo 
• infiniDome, infiniDome’s GPSdome2 
• LEMO Corporation, LEMO M Series High Power 
• MatrixSpace, MatrixSpace Networked Radar 
• SBG Systems, Quanta Micro 

Hardware & Systems Design 

• Advanced Navigation, Hydrus 
• Connect Tech, Anvil Embedded System with NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin
• D-Fend Solutions, EnforceAir 
• ModalAI, Inc., VOXL 2: 16g Blue UAS Framework 2.0 Autopilot 
• TOPODRONE, TOPODRONE AQUAMAPPER 

Software Design and Coding 

• Advanced Navigation, Cloud Ground Control 
• AlarisPro, Inc., AlarisPro Safety Ecosystem (ASE) – Advancing UAS Reliability Through Shared Data Across UAS Operators and Manufacturers 
• BlueSpace.ai, 4D Predictive Perception enabled Scalable and Explainable AI for Autonomy 
• Skydio, Skydio Scout, Situational Awareness for Moving Convoys 
• VOTIX, VOTIX 

XCELLENCE in Workforce Development 

• DroneUp, with partner, Richard Bland College, Established the First Commercial Drone Workforce Training Program for College Credit  
• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide and Warren College, Better Together: Producing Effective Educational Opportunities for the UAS Workforce 
• Fullerton College, Fullerton Drone Lab, Drone Piloting Registered Apprenticeship 
• Laurel Ridge Community College, Laurels Take Flight 
• National Robotics Education Foundation NREF, National Robotics Education Foundation (NREF) 

Finalists have also been named in the Humanitarian and Public Safety categories. These awards will recognize three organizations or individuals in each category that have made a significant impact using uncrewed systems to serve in humanitarian or public safety efforts. The winners will each receive a physical and monetary award. The finalists for those categories are: 

XCELLENCE in Mission 

Humanitarian Project/Program 

• ArroTech, Dr. Stephen Dunnivant  
• MissionGO, Inc., Operation Healing Eagle Feather 
• Near Earth Autonomy, Autonomous Aerial Blood & Medical Supply Delivery to the Wounded
• The David McAntony Gibson Foundation (GlobalMedic), GlobalMedic RescUAV Response to La Soufrière Volcano in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 
• UCAL Fuel Systems Limited, Drone Based Disaster Relief  

Public Safety 

• Brookhaven GA Police Department, Brookhaven Police sUAS Team 
• DRONERESPONDERS, DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety Alliance 
• Hidden Level, Inc., Airspace Monitoring Service (AMS) 
• Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Department of Public Safety 
• United States Forest Service, Testing and Scaling New Technologies for Operations and Safer Mixed Airspace Ops 

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