Next week is National Drone Safety Awareness Week, a series of FAA-coordinated events designed to advance public understanding of drone safety and the benefits of drone operations. A preview event will be held tonight at the Commercial UAV Expo Americas in Las Vegas. That event is hosted by Sundance Media Group, Droneresponders, the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), and KSNV NBC 3 News Las Vegas.

It will feature a drone-based crime scene investigation simulation simultaneously combined with a newsgathering drone flight in common airspace. Tonight’s demonstration will include a night forensic scene aerial capture workflow by Sundance Media Group, FoxFury, and Pix4D that highlights how two different drones and related technology can be used to capture law enforcement evidence.

Halfway through that mission, a news crew-launched drone will simulate incident newsgathering. Three drones will operate in relatively confined airspace as they accomplish their separate objectives.

"This type of operation will be coming to cities and towns around the world in the very near future," said Droneresponders director Charles Werner.