The U.S. has moved to block foreign-made drones from receiving FCC approval — but what fills the gap? Bryce sits down with Mike Horton, CEO of HYFIX Spatial Intelligence and creator of GEODNET, to find out how a single American-made chip can operate in GPS-denied and jammed environments.

In this episode: the FCC's Covered List and what it actually means for the market, why sensor costs have dropped faster than Moore's Law, how GEODNET and low Earth orbit satellites fit into the HYFIX platform, and where Mike sees the biggest opportunities in drones, robotics, and physical AI over the next three to five years.

Learn more about HYFIX at hyfix.ai
Hosted by Bryce Bladon. Edited by AJ Fillari.

The drone mapping profession is real, growing fast, and largely invisible to anyone who hasn't already stumbled into it. Bryce breaks down why one of the fastest-growing professional sectors in the world still lacks the career infrastructure that would make it legible to the people who might thrive in it.

Discussed: FAA Part 107 certification, global drone workforce growth, the commercial drone market, photography vs. mapping market share, the four entry points into drone mapping, GCPs and RTK positioning, photogrammetry software, the four layers of professional drone mapping, where Spexi app pilots fit in the skill stack, how surveying and GIS professionalize, the future of aerial data specialists

Find us online: https://thedronenetwork.transistor.fm/

Hosted by Bryce Bladon: http://brycebladon.com/

Edited by AJ Fillari: https://ajfillari.online/

Sponsored by Spexi.com and LayerDrone.org

Links mentioned:

• PilotByte: https://www.pilotbyte.com/
• Dylan Gorman on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DylanGorman
• Dylan Gorman on The Drone Network: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ6EWonh4AI

Timecodes:

• 0:00 — Introduction
• 1:10 — Welcome to The Drone Network
• 2:00 — The numbers: 385K Part 107 pilots and a $54B market
• 3:20 — What drone mapping actually is
• 4:00 — Drone mapping in market share and growth
• 5:00 — The four entry tracks into drone mapping
• 6:40 — The legibility problem: why invisible careers stay invisible
• 8:50 — The four layers of a professional drone mapping practice
• 12:20 — How new professions professionalize
• 13:30 — Outro and sources

Click here to view the episode transcript.

This episode of The Drone Network demystifies what actually happens between the moment a drone pilot closes a mission and the moment someone uses that data to make a decision. That means covering perspective projection, photogrammetry, and explaining why a standardized mapping mission produces infrastructure, not photography. Learn why mission parameters matter, and why drone-derived imagery beats satellite at the detail level that actually matters for decisions on the ground.

The Drone Network is sponsored by Spexi Geospatial and LayerDrone. Fly or access the network at spexi.com. Learn more at layerdrone.org.

Click here to view the episode transcript.

Episode data sources: propelleraero.com, future3d.com, skybrowse.com, commercialdroneguide.com