DAYTON — A bigger-than-expected turnout for this week’s Dayton conference on unmanned aerial systems may force its organizers to find a location with more capacity next year, the event’s chairman said.

About 490 people are attending the two-day conference on unmanned aerial systems, which are unmanned aircraft and their sensor equipment that can include cameras, radar and data-transmitting systems. The Ohio UAS Conference concludes on Wednesday at Sinclair Community College in downtown Dayton, featuring speakers from the Air Force, Defense Department, industry and academia.

The Defense Department uses unmanned aircraft for intelligence-gathering, surveillance and missile attacks on enemies. The planes and their sensors have a potentially larger civilian market for uses including law enforcement, border patrol, emergency-response agencies, agriculture and aerial mapping, industry officials have said.

This week’s conference had a capacity of 440 attendees, so the extra people who came spilled onto a second level of the college’s Ponitz Center, said Maurice McDonald, a vice president of the Dayton Development Coalition, which organized the conference.

There wasn’t enough space for trade exhibits, so some of the aerospace companies that wanted to host displays were turned down, said McDonald, the conference’s chairman.

Coalition officials said they plan on making the conference an annual event each April. No decision has been made on the location of the 2013 conference, other than that it will be in the Dayton area, coalition spokeswoman Sharon Howard said Wednesday.

The conference was intended to raise Dayton’s profile as the region’s leaders try to develop it as a nationally recognized center of manufacturing, research and training expertise for unmanned aircraft, McDonald said Tuesday as the event’s first day ended.

Planning for the 2013 event will start in two weeks to allow more time to prepare, he said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.