Companies in Illinois, home to the upcoming AUVSI Xponential conference and exhibition, have for years been researching, testing and ultimately benefiting from unmanned systems technologies throughout the state. 

In 2015, the largest electric utility in Illinois, Commonwealth Edison (ComEd), became the first electric utility company to be granted permission by the Federal Aviation Administration to operationally use UAS. 

Primarily used for storm damage assessments, UAS have been an invaluable asset for the company, says Brian Cramer, UAS program manager for ComEd. Cramer played an integral role in establishing a cooperative relationship with the FAA and helped the company obtain permission to begin using the technology.  

There have been “so many different smoking guns where we’ve been able to find things that were difficult or impossible to find,” Cramer tells AUVSI.

ComEd doesn’t have a team of dedicated drone pilots, so the company takes UAS and puts them in the hands of people who have various jobs around the system. If they can’t see the things that they need to see, they can use UAS to perform better assessments. 

Most of ComEd’s drones are DJI Mavics and Inspires, but they also have an Aeryon Skyranger R60, which is capable of operating in extremely cold temperature — something Illinois is no stranger to, as the state and much of the Midwest was engulfed in extremely frigid temperatures in late January and early February. 

Ideally it will be a little warmer when Xponential takes over Chicago from April 29 to May 2. Regardless, Cramer says he is looking forward to all the opportunities the show provides.
 
“[There is a] whole gamut of things that you can benefit from the Xponential show,” Cramer says. “Presentations about accomplishments over the last year are valuable. Information about new technology, hardware, and software is also really important to stay on top of things.” 

State Farm, based in Illinois, has been testing drones with the help of Virginia Tech's Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership. Photo: MAAP

State Farm tests 

One of the state’s most well-known companies, State Farm insurance, is currently researching and testing how drones can be used for various insurance practices. These efforts are being conducted in the company’s headquarter home of Bloomington by the company’s RED Labs, which is looking into other ways that this technology can be used to help customers, according to Innovation Executive Mike Fields, who will be speaking at Xponential. 

An internal incubator that is building out new products and services for State Farm, RED Labs played an integral role in State Farm becoming the first insurer in the U.S. to receive FAA permission to test UAS. The first tests were conducted in Bloomington and were spearheaded by RED Labs, which was at the time known the Innovation Team. 

Now, RED Labs is once again in Bloomington looking at how drones can be used to help first responders, or its own team, be better prepared for future events. RED Labs is also looking into what can be derived from photos taken following catastrophic events. 

Like Brian Cramer of ComEd, Fields is also looking forward to all that Xponential provides attendees, and as one of this year’s speakers, he hopes to articulate that excitement to his fellow unmanned enthusiasts. 

“I want to emphasize the maturation that’s happening [with this technology] and talk about where it could go in the future,” Fields tells Unmanned Systems.

No stranger to UAS technology or their benefits, State Farm became the first company in the United States to receive a national waiver from the FAA that allows it to conduct UAS operations over people and flights beyond the pilot’s visual line of sight through November 2022. State Farm received this waiver in January. 

Other happenings 

A number of other companies and entities have found unique ways to use unmanned systems throughout Illinois.

Based in Morton, Illinois, AutonomouStuff is a company that supplies components used within autonomy systems. The company’s customers cover the gamut, as it works with the automotive tool chain (OEMs, tier 1s, etc.), universities, military contractors, agriculture customers, mining OEMs, and startup companies. 

In 2018, the company more than doubled its physical infrastructure, adding a new operations facility in Morton, Illinois, and expanding its physical footprint in Beijing; dedicated an entire facility in Morton to engineering innovation; nearly doubled its staff; and experienced a nearly 40 percent growth in sales. It was also acquired by Sweden-based Hexagon, a global technology group, to further its reach into the autonomous mobility market.
 
In Dec. 2018, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign announced plans to launch a new center called the Center for Autonomy, which will be used to focus on autonomous technology such as self-driving cars and robotic assistants.

The university has allocated $2.1 million for the center, while the College of Engineering is providing an additional $2.1 million to recruit new robotics faculty.

Professor Geir Dullerud will serve as the director of the center. Dullerud says that the center will play an integral role in designing systems that work without human intervention, in a way that’s both reliable and safe. With this in mind, Dullerud points out that “there’s a difference between a self-driving car that works most of the time and a self-driving car that works all of the time.”

On Nov. 8, 2018, electric services company Ameren Corp., along with Black & Veatch and Collins Aerospace, conducted a non-stop, 60-mile beyond visual line of sight UAS flight to inspect Ameren’s transmission lines.

This flight was six times longer than a 2017 BVLOS UAS flight that was used to inspect nearly 10 miles of Ameren’s power lines near Newton, Illinois.

With thousands of miles of high-voltage lines, Ameren wanted a “better and safer” way to monitor its assets spread over rural territories beyond manual or helicopter inspections.

The companies say that the successful BVLOS flight showed the promise that UAS could have when it comes to conducting more efficient monitoring of expansive utility assets, especially in remote rural stretches.

In an effort to “benefit the community and enhance officer safety,” the Rockford Police Department in Rockford, Illinois announced last year that it will begin using UAS. Donated by Illinois Drone-One, Inc., the new UAS were expected to be used for a variety of purposes, including speeding up the investigation of serious and fatal vehicle crash scenes.

Finally, in late 2017, Romeoville, Illinois’ Lewis University used a UAS from its unmanned aircraft systems program to deliver college admissions acceptance letters to eight students at Romeoville High School.

The delivery, which used a Spreading Wings S900 UAS, is believed to be the first of its kind in the United States. 

AUVSI Xponential will be held April 29-May 2 at McCormick Place in Chicago. To learn more and register, visit www.xponential.org.

Above: State Farm, based in Illinois, has been testing drones with the help of Virginia Tech's Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership. Photo: MAAP. Below: Lewis University in Romeoville used a drone to deliver college acceptance letters. Photo: Lewis University