Toropova brings decades of experience in international public health and tobacco harm reduction to Global Action's team of experts committed to funding work to end the smoking epidemic.
NEW YORK, June 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Action to End Smoking is pleased to announce the appointment of Nataliia "Natasha" Toropova as its new Chief Development Officer, effective immediately.
"I'm honored to join Global Action, an organization that shares my own values of compassion for those who smoke and my vision of a world without smoking-related deaths," said Toropova.
Natasha will lead Global Action's efforts to expand its philanthropic reach by funding critical research and initiatives that accelerate progress toward ending smoking worldwide. She brings decades of experience in public health, tobacco control, and fundraising including as a Programme Manager for the World Health Organization (WHO) and as an Advocacy Coordinator at Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids in Eastern Europe. In these roles, she not only promoted public health initiatives but also led successful fundraising campaigns to support their missions.
Most recently, Natasha completed her six-year tenure as CEO of Healthy Initiatives, a nonprofit organization committed to strengthening public health by addressing the risk of non-communicable diseases in countries including Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. As a grantee of Global Action, Healthy Initiatives has educated hundreds of health care providers across nine countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia on the benefits of tobacco harm reduction for people who cannot or will not quit smoking—especially amid the stress of global conflict. The team has also provided critical aid—including CAT tourniquets, ambulances, and mental health support—to the areas most impacted by the ongoing war in Ukraine.
"Natasha brings a bold vision, deep expertise, and an unwavering commitment to public health," said Pam Parizek, Executive Board Chair of Global Action. "She's seen firsthand the positive impact Global Action's support can have to accelerate smoking cessation, and is the perfect person to lead our efforts to secure additional funding for this life-saving work."
Natasha joins Global Action at a pivotal time as the organization reinvigorates its commitment to grantees. Through a recent reorganization, Global Action has ensured its ability to exist until its mission to end smoking is completed, allowing it to honor existing commitments and fund future grants. Natasha's development work will directly support Global Action's grantees, which currently include projects with organizations such as Northwell Health, the National Harm Reduction Coalition and ECLAT, a research-based spinoff of the University of Catania. She will work closely with the executive leadership team to carry out her fundraising and outreach duties.
"Global Action remains steadfast in its commitment to its mission," said Heidi Goldstein, President and Chief Legal Officer of Global Action. "We have now guaranteed that our organization will last to see the end of the global smoking epidemic."
About Global Action to End Smoking
Global Action to End Smoking is an independent U.S. nonprofit 501(c)(3) grantmaking organization whose charitable mission is to end combustible tobacco use, which remains the leading preventable cause of death globally. Historically, Global Action received funding from PMI Global Services, Inc. (PMI). As of September 2023, Global Action and PMI terminated their original funding agreement, and Global Action formally adopted a policy not to seek or accept funding from companies that produce tobacco or non-medicinal nicotine products.
Media Contact:
Katherine Ellen Foley
202-215-9971
Katherine.Foley@actiontoendsmoking.org
** The press release content is from PR Newswire. Bastille Post is not involved in its creation. **
Global Action to End Smoking Welcomes Nataliia Toropova as Chief Development Officer
Compact, power-efficient platform combines edge AI, multi-sensor perception, flight-controller connectivity, and integrated robotics software for next-generation UAV development
TAIPEI, Oct. 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Advantech, a global leader in AIoT and Edge Computing, today announced the ASR-D501, a compact AI companion and mission computer designed to accelerate the development of autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Powered by the Qualcomm® QCS6490, the ASR-D501 delivers up to 12 TOPS of AI performance within a sub-10W power envelope, while integrating multi-camera vision, sensor connectivity, flight-controller interfaces, wireless expansion, and the Advantech Robotic Suite for Drone.
Designed specifically for size-, weight-, and power-constrained airborne applications, the ASR-D501 provides a unified computing platform for real-time AI inference, visual perception, localization, sensor fusion, and mission-level processing. It supports advanced autonomous capabilities including object detection, visual localization, VIO, SLAM, obstacle awareness, and GNSS-denied navigation.
Power-Efficient AI Computing for Autonomous UAVs
The Qualcomm QCS6490 combines heterogeneous CPU, GPU, and NPU computing to enable AI workloads to run directly onboard the drone.
By processing perception and mission-level workloads locally, the ASR-D501 reduces reliance on continuous cloud connectivity while allowing the primary flight controller to remain focused on real-time flight stabilization and actuator control.
Supported AI workloads include:
- Object detection and tracking
- Semantic segmentation
- Visual inspection and anomaly detection
- Obstacle awareness
- Vision-based localization
- Sensor-fusion processing
Multi-Sensor Perception and Flexible Connectivity
To support increasingly sophisticated UAV perception systems, the ASR-D501 integrates five 4-lane MIPI-CSI interfaces, enabling flexible combinations of RGB, monochrome, stereo, and high-resolution cameras.
The platform also provides a 2.5 GbE interface, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports, and onboard interfaces including CAN FD, UART, I2C, and GPIO for connecting LiDAR, depth cameras, IMUs, flight controllers, ESCs, battery-management systems, and other onboard devices.
For long-range and BVLOS-oriented deployments, the ASR-D501 supports Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth, and 4G/5G cellular connectivity through M.2 expansion, together with an onboard Nano-SIM. This enables flexible communication architectures for telemetry, command and control, video transmission, and remote mission management.
Accelerating Development with Advantech Robotic Suite for Drone
The ASR-D501 supports Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and the Advantech Robotic Suite for Drone, providing a pre-integrated development environment for autonomous UAV applications.
The software environment connects high-level ROS 2 applications with flight-controller ecosystems including PX4 and ArduPilot, leveraging technologies such as MAVLink, MAVSDK, and MAVROS.
Advantech also provides validated reference workflows that integrate AI perception, visual localization, sensor fusion, mapping, object tracking, path planning, and flight control. By providing a connected software and hardware foundation from perception to flight-control integration, the ASR-D501 helps developers reduce integration complexity and move faster from hardware bring-up to autonomous-flight application development.
Built for Production UAV Deployment
The ASR-D501 is engineered to meet the practical requirements of industrial UAV deployment with a compact, fanless design and industrial-grade reliability.
Key specifications include:
- 100 × 60 mm compact form factor
- Approximately 50g board weight without heatsink
- 5–12V DC input
- Passive / fanless thermal design
- -20°C to 70°C operating temperature
- 3.5 Grms vibration resistance
- Industrial-grade ESD protection
- Lockable connectors
- Long-term product lifecycle support
Expanding Advantech's UAV Computing Portfolio
The ASR-D501 is part of Advantech's broader strategy to build a scalable computing portfolio for increasingly diverse UAV architectures and mission requirements.
Beyond the QCS6490-based ASR-D501, Advantech's UAV roadmap includes OSM- and SMARC-based SOM solutions for flexible system designs, as well as IQ9075M-based platforms for applications requiring higher AI performance and advanced sensor integration. In 2027, Advantech plans to further expand the portfolio with mid-range Qualcomm® CQ8-based solutions.
By combining scalable computing platforms, robotics software integration, sensor ecosystem support, and long-term industrial lifecycle management, Advantech aims to provide drone developers with a clear path from autonomous-flight prototyping to increasingly intelligent and production-ready UAV systems.
To learn more about the ASR-D501 drone computing solutions: Link
Advantech robotics solutions: Robotics eBook / Robotic Suite
About Advantech
Advantech is a global leader in intelligent IoT systems and embedded platforms, with the corporate vision of "Enabling an Intelligent Planet." To embrace the trends of edge computing and artificial intelligence, Advantech has adopted a sector-driven strategy centered on Edge Computing and Edge AI. The company focuses on five key markets: edge intelligent systems, smart manufacturing, energy and utilities, intelligent healthcare, and intelligent retail and services. By integrating its Edge Computing hardware platforms, WISE-IoT industrial IoT software platform, industry-specific Edge AI solutions, and domain expertise, Advantech enables collaborative business models for integrated industry applications and helps partners connect across the value chain. Advantech also actively co-creates industry ecosystems with partners to accelerate industrial intelligence. www.advantech.com
** This press release is distributed by PR Newswire through automated distribution system, for which the client assumes full responsibility. **
Advantech Launches ASR-D501 AI Companion Computer for Autonomous Drone Applications
