The 5th AIRlabs Future Conference took place this year at the picturesque Genusshotel at the foot of Riegersburg Castle. With the motto ‘Bringing drone high-tech to the ground – innovative for the environment, agriculture and forestry’, the two-day event harmonised perfectly with the green and agricultural region. 

The conference was opened by the AIRlabs Austria management and Mr Reisenhofer, the mayor of Riegersburg. In his welcoming speech, he emphasised the importance of the further development of drone technology and expressed his delight that Riegersburg had been chosen to host this forward-looking event. 

Holger Friemelt, Technical Director of AIRlabs and Head of the Institute of Aviation at FH JOANNEUM, moderated the conference. 

The first day of the conference was characterised by first-class presentations and impressive demonstrations. 

Philipp Amon from RIEGL GmbH opened the lecture series with ‘UAV-based LiDAR in Forestry Application’. He provided insights into how LiDAR sensors work and reported on a planned sensor test on one of AIRlabs’ test sites. 

Robert Delleske from GEORESEARCH presented ‘Airborne snow profiling – Large-scale UAS Snowpack Stratigraphy using Ground-Penetrating Radar’. His presentation emphasised the importance of drones in high-alpine measurements of snow thickness using ground-penetrating radar, which is used in particular for avalanche forecasting. 

Tatni Satyanarayana from Graz University of Technology presented ‘Advanced Techniques for Crop Hail Damage Assessment with Integrated Radar and Drone Technologies’, which provided new insights into determining and predicting ice damage in the wake of hailstorms using drones. 

A special highlight of the afternoon was the outdoor demonstration by the Neutillmitsch volunteer fire brigade. Visitors were able to experience live how drone missions support the emergency response team and what information is transmitted to coordination vehicles. 

The keynote speech by Ansar H. Lone, who had travelled all the way from India, dealt with ‘Indian agricultural drone applications and linking them to a tailored JARUS certification approach’. His presentation offered fascinating insights into Indian drone regulation, the rapidly developing market and current areas of application, particularly in the agricultural sector. 

Stefan Hölzl-Strohmayr from Droneline presented the latest DJI product, the FlyCart 30. During the dinner, Robin Sandfort gave a presentation on ‘Innovative Wildfire Monitoring with UAV’, which enriched the evening. Finally, the Neutillmitsch volunteer fire brigade demonstrated how a drone can be used for search and rescue for missing persons at night. 

The second day began with Gernot Paulus from the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences and his presentation ‘Precision Viticulture with Unmanned Aerial Systems: Every Vine Counts’, which demonstrated the connection between viticulture and drones. 

Raphaela Reiner from AustroControl followed with ‘Exploitation of EASA PDRAs and PDOM for Agricultural Drone’, a topic that was of great interest to all participants. 

The keynote speaker on the second day was Vadim Kramar from VTT in Finland. At the beginning of his presentation ‘Agricultural Monitoring with Drones and How this Feeds into the Digital Twins of VTT’, he clarified the correct legal definition of drones and provided numerous technical insights on the topic of ‘digital twins’. 

Emir Granić from the University of Belgrade illustrated the drone mapping of damage on airport runways in his presentation ‘International Exchange: Connecting Agricultural UAV Needs with Modern ATM Approaches’. 

Tim Wakonig-Lüking from FH JOANNEUM showed how drones are used in architecture in ‘Insight into teaching: Drone-supported digitisation in architecture’. 

Katja Rinck from AIRlabs Austria reported on ‘Rhino Monitoring with UAS’ in Namibia, followed by BSc students from FH JOANNEUM, who reported on a back lane identification project. 

Harald Krautgasser-Steidl from the FFG gave a presentation on the current and future funding opportunities available from the FFG. 

At the end of the two-day specialist programme, Holger Friehmelt spoke about the future goals of AIRlabs. 

Roswitha Wiedenhofer-Bornemann, Managing Director of AIRlabs Austria, bid farewell to the participants and invited them to the closing lunch, which provided an opportunity for networking and professional discussions. 

The 5th AIRlabs Future Conference was a great success. It expanded the knowledge of the Austrian drone community and provided a platform for dialogue within the industry. 

The AIRlabs team would like to thank all participants and looks forward to next year!