UAS in Critical Infrastructure: Lessons from Industry Veterans at Commercial UAV Expo
At the Commercial UAV Expo, held in Las Vegas from September 2 – 4, 2025, leaders from across energy, telecom, and utilities gathered to discuss how drones are reshaping critical infrastructure operations. A panel of long-time industry veterans shared their experiences with scaling drone programs, highlighting both achievements and challenges along the way.
A Panel of Industry Trailblazers
The session, moderated by Cynthia Huang, industry veteran and CEO of ACSL Inc., brought together representatives from some of the longest-standing UAS programs in the United States:
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Will Wheeler, Southern Company – Leads UAS integration and regulatory strategy. The utility’s Aerial Services team includes 14 full-time pilots, with experience in Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations under a Skydio dock waiver.
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Matt Gulsvig, American Tower Corporation – Oversees hardware solutions across 22 countries. His team of more than 100 pilots conducts photogrammetry flights for asset management and inspections.
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Robert Ford, Southern California Edison (SCE) – Senior Manager of Remote Sensing and UAS, with an 11-year-old program, more than 250 pilots, and 300 drones. Their operations have contributed to measurable reductions in outages.
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James Pierce, Ameren – Manages UAS operations across the Midwest utility. With 18 pilots, Ameren has inspected over 200,000 poles and flown 600 miles of transmission line LiDAR missions.
Together, these panelists offered a unique perspective on how legacy industries are driving innovation in automation and robotics.
Building Programs Through Standardization and Best Practices
One key theme was the importance of internal buy-in and standardized processes. Wheeler noted that Southern Company’s drone program began in the aviation department but quickly realized that true progress required collaboration with transmission experts in the field. “It was very important to our organization to bring in internal resources, get the equipment into their hands, to get buy in,” he explained.
Ford described a similar path at SCE, where early aviation-driven efforts expanded after actively seeking feedback from across the organization. This approach allowed them to build governance structures that empowered individual departments to adapt drone technology to their specific needs, which accelerated program growth.
At American Tower, Gulsvig emphasized the need to align workflows with existing employee practices. “Photogrammetry gives people the opportunity to interact with assets at their desktops. But people are used to their own workflows – we had to engage management to work with people on changing to realize results.” By starting small with inventory management, they were able to expand drone applications into other areas of the business.
Pierce, representing Ameren, highlighted the challenge of handling the massive amounts of data drones produce. “One of the things that we found was a pitfall is that we were finding more data than we could ingest,” he said. This reflects a common challenge across industries as UAS adoption accelerates.
Drone Program Pitfalls: Cybersecurity, Public Engagement, and Hardware Tolerance
Panelists also addressed operational pitfalls. Ford pointed to cybersecurity as one of the most pressing issues, noting that as enthusiasm for drone technology spread across the organization, strict protocols had to be put in place to ensure secure operations.
Pierce described the importance of clear standard operating procedures (SOPs) to address public interactions. Crews often face questions—or even confrontations—from residents when flying near infrastructure. “We have SOPs about having to talk to angry customers, or interested customers – because you always end up with people coming out to ask what we’re doing,” he explained.
Gulsvig raised the issue of using the right tools for the job to deal with industry specific issues like EMI tolerance, referring to electromagnetic interference. For telecom tower inspections, drones and their onboard sensors must be carefully tested to ensure they can withstand interference from powerful signals transmitted by antennas. Developing SOPs that account for scenarios ranging from electromagnetic interference to encounters with curious bystanders—or even dogs—has been key to maintaining safe operations.
Scaling Operations and Coordination Challenges
As drone programs and the rest of the commercial drone industry scale, coordination has emerged as a critical issue. Ford described days when SCE had as many as 62 aircraft in the air, including helicopters and drones. This level of activity requires a dedicated role to ensure airspace separation and deconfliction. “When you include drones from outside of your operations, it seems like that is a problem that is only going to get worse,” he warned.
American Tower has addressed scaling challenges by investing in dedicated support staff to ensure successful field operations, as those operations grow in number and complexity.
Looking Ahead: BVLOS Rulemaking and Industry Benchmarking
The discussion closed with a look at the FAA’s recently published Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on BVLOS operations, also referred to as Part 108. Panelists agreed that ongoing industry collaboration is essential to ensure that regulations continue to evolve to meet the needs of all stakeholders.
“We are staying engaged with each other and benchmarking at an industry level. We’re making as many connections as possible,” Wheeler said. This spirit of cooperation highlights the shared goal of ensuring that UAS integration continues to advance safely and effectively across critical infrastructure sectors.
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Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
TWITTER:@spaldingbarker
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