‘We wanted to recreate the eyes of a pilot … but we have gone a lot further,’ says Australian drone entrepreneur

James Howard is harnessing the power of drones and AI to help police catch criminals and paramedics respond faster to emergencies.

Iris Automation co-founder James Howard has been lauded for his use of artificial intelligence to enhance drone safety. Picture: NCA Newswire / Nicki Connolly

James Howard is an evangelist for the potential of drones. He has long seen how they could revolutionise home deliveries, and work in remote areas in agriculture and mining.

But, for now, he is working on using drones to help law enforcement and first responders get intelligence about accidents and crime scenes.

“The drone can be deployed as soon as there is a call to 911, getting there to gather intelligence on what’s happening in an emergency while the police car is on the way,” said Mr Howard, 30, who grew up in Melbourne before moving to North America and becoming involved with drone technology.

“It is decreasing response times in cities and has the potential to de-escalate responses (as police know the situation they are about to encounter). If an ambulance is required, they can see from the drone rather than having to wait until the police car gets there.”

Mr Howard – the great-nephew of former prime minister John Howard – has just sold his company, Iris Automation, to US company uAvionix for an undisclosed sum, and been recognised by the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia for his use of artificial intelligence to enhance drone safety.

Amazon's latest mk30 drone during wind tunnel testing. Drones are being used for more mainstream purposes.

Mr Howard founded his company with a Canadian friend he met studying mechatronics engineering and robotics at the ­University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, in 2015.

While drones have long had great potential, the key challenge has always been safety – the need to avoid aircraft and other flying objects in a systematic way, allowing them to be used beyond the immediate line of sight of the ­operator.

“We started out (with Iris Automation) wanting to recreate the eyes of a pilot in software,” said Mr Howard, who now lives in Reno, Nevada, during a visit back to Australia to receive his award. “But we have gone a lot further than that, using the technology in different ways.”

His latest interest is a program called “drone as first responder”, which is being used by police and emergency forces in the US. The key is developing low-cost accurate intelligence about what is in the sky that can be used by the drone operator.

“We are deploying a network of cameras on the ground all looking up at the sky, using the same software and AI we have developed for drones, to help track aircraft from the ground,” Mr Howard said. “We can deploy a lot of cameras, creating a network of vision-based aircraft surveillance, which gives high-resolution tracking of what is in the sky in a given area.”

It has allowed regulatory approval for use of the drones by an number of police forces in the US.

At the BHP Billiton-managed Goonyella coal mine near Moranbah in central Queensland, drones have changed the way miners keep physical tabs on their operations.

Mr Howard’s focus has been around developing the technological “vision” for the drones, so their operators know what else is in the sky. “We work with a lot of mining companies, railroad companies, transport companies and government entities – anywhere where drones need to fly at low altitude over infrastructure,” he said. “We are still working with this critical infrastructure, but we are now getting into this police and ‘smart city’ work.”

The process has seen Mr Howard having to focus on the use of AI to process data.

“A camera can just record a video, but artificial intelligence is about being able to extract information from it,” he said. “The specific information we are looking for is the location of aircraft. Using artificial intelligence, we can extract more advanced information about what type of aircraft it is and what might be the intent of the aircraft.”

A law enforcement officer prepares to fly a drone over an area in Monmouth, Maine. Picture: AFP

The sale of his company to uAvionix has the potential to apply the technology Iris developed to a broader field. Mr Howard is director of optical engineering at the combined business. Iris expanded in the Silicon Valley area but Mr Howard moved to Reno during Covid, where the US Federal Aviation Administration has a drone testing base.

uAvionix, a leader in communications, navigation and surveillance (CNS) solutions for crewed and uncrewed aircraft, said it would combine its “extensive CNS and aviation expertise with Iris’ leadership in computer vision-based systems for the safe separation of aircraft.”

He is watching US President Joe Biden’s proposals for regulation of AI released this week.

“AI has developed so fast recently that governments and society, are still figuring out how to respond,” Mr Howard said. “It’s encouraging to see that the US government is moving quickly on key areas while taking what initially appears to be a balanced approach to AI regulation. It will be key to not stifle innovation while protecting privacy and security.”

Over the long term, Mr Howard said, he would like to return to home to Australia to put his expertise to use. But meanwhile he is a strong advocate for entrepreneurial Australians to consider the US as a place to expand their businesses.

“I would really encourage Australian entrepreneurs to look to the US and see what opportunities are available there,” he says.

“It is so accessible to Australians because of the visa program. The US also has applications for technology that we may not have here.”