Paul Rossi’s journey from military avionics technician to drone entrepreneur mirrors the transformation of an entire industry, from rigid hierarchies to open innovation. After years in the military and the defense industry, Rossi founded Nine Ten Drones to bring enterprise-grade UAVs to builders, cities, and engineers. The business case for this was clear: the machines pay for themselves in weeks by turning slow, costly inspections into fast, data-driven operations.

But even as drones revolutionized workflows, Rossi ran into a familiar constraint: accuracy. Traditional GPS correction networks were patchy, bureaucratic, and slow to scale. That’s when he discovered GEODNET, a decentralized real-time kinematic (RTK) network built on blockchain incentives. In a single year, it grew from 4,000 to over 16,000 high-precision stations. This DePIN (decentralized physical infrastructure network) was able to deliver centimeter-level accuracy without waiting for state budgets or government approvals to extend their network.

For Rossi and his clients, the impact was immediate. LiDAR data cleaned itself in real time. Projects finished faster. Margins widened. Precision became accessible, not exclusive. What once required million-dollar infrastructure now grows organically, powered by contributors who earn rewards for expanding coverage.

Beyond the tech, Rossi sees a cultural shift: from secrecy to shared infrastructure, from closed systems to community-driven precision. It’s a model that scales faster, costs less, and builds trust through transparency.

As drones take on critical roles, from infrastructure inspection to disaster response, open, decentralized precision networks like GEODNET are laying the groundwork for true autonomy. For Rossi, the message is simple:

Every barrier we remove brings us closer, to a world where high-precision tools are in everyone’s hands. That’s when things get interesting.

To learn more about GEODNET and Nine Ten Drones, check out the latest edition of GEODNET JOURNAL.

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