A two-day event that saw drones as protagonists, with demonstrations and workshops to explain their use to the public, with insights that ranged from the Italian legislation that regulates the use of this new technology, to use in investigative activities and in fight against clandestine trafficking.
The media partner of the event was the Italian Air Force magazine, present with a stand to explain the use of this new technology in the military field. There was a mockup of the Predator, the drone used for reconnaissance in Afghanistan, whose configuration and use was illustrated by the soldiers of the 16 wing. Another media partner present with a stand was the monthly of the state police "Poliziamoderna" which, on the June 2014 issue, will dedicate a large special in collaboration with the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology. The staff of the State Police of the 8 flight department of Florence informed the public about air control. During the expo there were a series of demonstrations, conferences and workshops dedicated to this constantly evolving phenomenon in our country. Precisely for this reason, ENAC, the national body for civil aviation, published a regulatory code on 30 April, postponing the release of an explanatory circular to next September to clarify the world of remote flight.
The workshop on Saturday on “Drones and security. First applications of UAVs in Italy for investigative activities and in the fight against crime and clandestine trafficking ", where the armed forces and the police forces discussed the use of remotely piloted aircraft (APR). Moderator of the workshop was Luciano Castro, president of the “Roma Drone Expo & Show” and Ifimedia association. To open the seminar was prof. Massimiliano Lega, of the Parthenope University of Naples. The soldiers of the various bodies present took turns to speak.
For the Italian army, Lieutenant Colonel Marco Ricci of SME introduced Lieutenant Colonel Vincenzo Spanò of the 41 "Cordenons" regiment of Sora, who explained how the APRs are classified, illustrated which ones are supplied by the Italian army and in what context are used, showing with slides and videos what a typical flight mission consists of. Paolo Orlando explained in which areas of security drones could be used, currently in an experimental phase in Rome and Milan. Lieutenant Colonel Cristino Alemanno took the floor for the financial police and explained how the aircraft could be used during the their interventions and what would be the advantages if they too made use of this technology still in the experimental phase. The commander (CV) Agostino Baldacchini of the coast guard spoke of the defense of the sea from its origins to the medium-term future. It is currently not in the Coast Guard's program to acquire UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle).
The drone, for the state forestry corps, represented by the chief commissioner Marco Di Fonzo, is a tool for investigating crime scenes, or forest fires, and making use of this technology, starting from the perimeter fire, with the help of specialized nuclei manage to tighten the investigations until they reach the fulcrum that triggered the fire.
For all the use of the drone is to be taken into consideration where there could be danger to humans. This is the concept then addressed by the engineer Andrea Maccapani of Selex ES, a company that is an aerospace reality in the panorama of Remote Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), who highlighted how a UAV could be used by the "Blue forces" and how it could facilitate human intervention in order to avoid risks during operations, for example, difficult or impossible to access to monitor areas such as landfills, or prevent personnel from being exposed to possible environmental risks, such as thermal gases. Each specialization has different needs in using this technology, and Selex ES is striving to understand and meet the different needs.
Monica Palermo
