Unmanned Aerial Vehicles / Systems and Drones (UAVs) Consultants: 2

John V. Sabel is a retired Boeing 787 Captain with a Part 121 air carrier and an attorney. His more than 47 years in the aviation industry include experience as a check airman, FAA Aircrew Program Designee, and member of his pilot union's Safety and Accident Investigation Committees. 

John has logged over 23,000 flight hours in domestic and international operations and holds type ratings in the EMB-110, DC-9/MD-80, B-737, B-757/B-767, B-787, A-319/A-320/A-321; Flight Engineer certificate; Certified Flight Instructor certificate; Ground Instructor certificates; and Remote Pilot Small Unmanned Aircraft System certificate.

John has participated in NTSB accident investigations as a member of his pilot union's safety committee. He was a member of the 2011 Air Carrier Safety and Pilot Training Aviation Rulemaking Committee. He teaches Aviation Law, Aviation Safety, Aviation Regulations, Human Factors, Crew Resource Management, and other aviation courses as an adjunct faculty member at several universities.

Litigation Support - As an attorney with the expertise of an experienced airline transport pilot, John has the experience to examine technical issues and provide guidance and recommendations throughout all stages of litigation, from discovery through appeal.

Areas of Expertise:

DireenTech is a Design and Systems Development firm in the Electronics and Software Industry. They are currently under contract with the US Air Force Academy Center for UAS Research, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the area of using General Purpose Graphics Processing Units (GPGPU) in UAVs / Drones to provide fast autonomous target identification and GPS denied navigation. DireenTech has also partnered with FalconWorks and Falci Adaptive Motor sports on the NeuroGroove program to develop technologies to help those with neuromotor disabilities, including U.S. veterans, increase their ability to control and interact with their environment.

Core Services

• Software Design and Development
• Electronic Hardware Design and Development
• Research using GPGPUs for Control, Navigation and Image Processing
• Intellectual Property
• Reverse Engineering Hardware, Software, and Firmware
• Product Forensics

Chief Operating officer, Harry Direen, PhD, PE has over 30 years of experience as an engineer Designing and Developing Systems in the Electronics and Software Industry. He has taught engineering courses at the US Air Force Academy and at the University of Colorado. Dr. Direen currently works with a research group at the US Air Force Academy developing control systems and image processing using GPGPUs for UAVs. An inventor, he holds 3 United States patents. Dr. Direen has a broad base of knowledge in electronic and software systems gained from a long career developing a wide range of products and systems. He has reverse engineered a variety of complex systems over the years, including: media players, modems, modem compression algorithms, coriolis mass flow meters, database systems, and a range of other products to support patent infringement cases generating detailed claim charts and writing expert reports to demonstrate infringement. Dr. Direen has successfully discovered and analyzed complex digital signal processing algorithms and pertinent operations within these products for many years.

View Dr. Direen's Expert Witness Profile.