By Matt Hazenbush, Director of Communications and Member Engagement

The Computing Community Consortium (CCC), with event co-sponsor IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS), will convene leading researchers, practitioners, and technologists in Washington, D.C. next week for Computing on the Fly: Navigating a Vision for the Future of Drone Computing. This two-day interdisciplinary visioning workshop will focus on shaping a research agenda for drone computing over the next decade.

Held December 1-2 at The Darcy Hotel, the workshop brings together experts spanning robotics, distributed systems, security, networking, artificial intelligence, public policy, and industry innovation. Participants will engage in deep discussion, collaborative brainstorming, and structured breakout activities designed to surface the research challenges, opportunities, and grand visions that will define the field.

A Timely Moment for Drone Computing

Drone technologies are rapidly evolving, transforming how data is gathered, how environments are monitored, and how automated systems interact with the physical world. But as applications expand, new technical and socio-technical questions emerge around autonomy, safety, networking, secure operations, responsible use, infrastructure, and workforce needs.

“The capabilities of drones have advanced dramatically in the last decade, but the full potential of AI-enabled, networked aerial systems remains largely untapped,” said Kevin Butler, workshop organizing committee co-chair and Director of the Florida Institute for Cybersecurity Research and UF Research Foundation Professor at the University of Florida. “This workshop gives us a chance to step back, assess the state of the field, and articulate the major research directions that will propel drone computing forward.”

An Immersive, Vision-Driven Format

CCC visioning workshops are intentionally designed to spark creativity and collective insight. Across the two days, sessions will include thematic panels, guided breakout groups, and structured synthesis activities.

“Computing on the Fly isn’t about incremental next steps — it’s about imagining what drone computing should enable by 2035 and working backward from that future,” said Christopher Stewart, workshop organizing committee co-chair and Full Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at The Ohio State University. “We want participants to think boldly, challenge assumptions, and map out the breakthroughs that could transform industries and communities.”

The agenda features sessions including:

• The State of the Field: Current technologies, emerging applications, and collaboration patterns across research, industry, and government
• Dreaming of 2035: A forward-looking session exploring long-horizon visions for AI-driven drones
• Breakout Rounds: Focused exploration on policy, security, edge vs. cloud computing, communications, applications, and AI
• Action Planning: How the community can align and advance drone computing research
• Synthesis and Prioritization: Identifying the most compelling challenges and opportunities for the next five years

The workshop will also gather input for the final published Computing on the Fly Workshop Report, which CCC will share with the broader community and key stakeholders across federal agencies and industry.

Strengthening a Critical Research Community

The IEEE Computer Society joins CCC as a co-sponsor, supporting this effort to convene and energize the drone computing research community.

“IEEE-CS is proud to support a workshop that brings together multiple disciplines and sectors at precisely the moment when drone computing is poised for rapid growth,” said Nils Aschenbruck, IEEE-CS Vice President and member of the workshop organizing committee. “Visioning efforts like this help ensure the research community is aligned, collaborative, and prepared to tackle the most important challenges.”

CCC and IEEE-CS look forward to welcoming attendees next week and to sharing outcomes from the workshop in early 2026. Stay tuned to the CCC blog and LinkedIn Spotlight Page for updates, reflections, and the eventual release of the Computing on the Fly Workshop Report.

The Computing on the Fly workshop is co-sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society.

 

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) under Award Nos. 1734706 and 2300842. These awards support the Computing Community Consortium (CCC), a programmatic committee of the Computing Research Association (CRA).

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.