Feds Carving UP US Airspace for UAV

Feds carving up US airspace for UAV tests

OSU and EDCO Announce Partnership to Test Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)

Bend, OR - Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO) and Oregon State University (OSU) have signed an agreement to develop technologies related to unmanned aerial systems that will benefit OSU’s academic and research programs, particularly natural resource management.  Simultaneously, the agreement would help EDCO incubate new UAS startups and bring additional UAS businesses to the region and to Oregon.

EDCO conservatively estimates the potential economic impact of recruiting UAS companies to the region to be approximately 450 employees, $28 million in payroll, and an overall economic impact of nearly $75 million within a seven-year period.

“To diversify Central Oregon’s economy, we systematically review all the industries EDCO targets,” noted Roger Lee, executive director of EDCO. “We’ve now identified the growth segment in aviation—the UAS sector—that capitalizes on our region’s natural and human resources. We see UAS, and other technology initiatives, as key steps in growing jobs and economic activity in the tri-county area and beyond.”

 

“The signing of this MOU,” Lee added “is an important step in attracting UAS testing activities.  In turn, that groundwork will attract industry to either relocate or start up in Central Oregon.”

The initial goal of the partnership is to establish one or more specific projects in which OSU researchers can conduct remote-sensing and engineering experiments, and EDCO can create an initial series of UAS test flights for those experiments.  Through special licenses called Certificates of Authorization (COAs), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorizes test flights. 

As a public partner, OSU benefits from the partnership by creating a test infrastructure to advance technologies such as robotics and sensor development and deploy them in ways beneficial to a number of OSU academic programs, including engineering, forestry, agriculture and other earth sciences. 

“For OSU, the ability to test in our backyard is exciting,” said Rick Spinrad, vice president for Research at OSU.  Current testing for the university that measures snowpack from the air is taking place in Colorado, for example. “It could be quite beneficial and efficient to conduct these tests over the Cascades, closer to university resources, receiving real time data and working with Oregon companies,” he said.  Spinrad oversees OSU’s substantial research efforts, which last year translated to over $260M in support.        

Last year, EDCO’s aviation recruitment committee developed strategic goals to establish Central Oregon as an R&D center for UAS research and as an incubator for UAS businesses operating in the Northwest.  An important component of the plan, required by the FAA, is a public partner to initiate testing. 

“With this agreement with Oregon State University,” said Collins Hemingway, volunteer chair of EDCO’s Aviation Recruitment Committee, “our initiative gains major ground in its goal to establish a UAS industry in Central Oregon.”

According to numerous studies, the current UAS market is $5 billion and is projected to grow annually by 10 percent. Applications of particular benefit to the Northwest include firefighting, search and rescue, rural law enforcement, infrastructure monitoring, low-impact inventory of plant and wildlife populations, and overall resource and land management.

Currently, UAS companies face long delays in securing air space to test new technologies, which include airframes, controls, sensor packages and software. Few places in the country meet the safety protocols required for testing by the FAA.  Delays of six months or more for only a few days of testing are common for some smaller UAS firms.

Because Central Oregon has large expanses of airspace that are over lightly populated rural areas and away from major airports and air traffic corridors, and because the region has a history of developing and testing experimental manned aircraft, the region believes it can obtain approval for the testing of experimental unmanned systems while meeting the FAA’s strict safety protocols.

Under the EDCO-OSU partnership, the initial series of test flights will use the COA method, but the hope is that the FAA will designate Central Oregon as one of six permanent testing areas in the nation. The proposal to create six new permanent sites is currently before Congress.

EDCO has gathered support from both public and private entities, Central Oregon’s congressional delegation, the Oregon legislature, Governor Kitzhaber, and cities and counties to establish one or more test sites in the region.

“We are all working together to make UAS testing a reality in Central Oregon,” said Collins Hemingway. “The sooner we start, the sooner we attract high-quality companies and start adding well-paying jobs.”

Oregon House Approves Measure Endorsing Remote Testing Area

Oregon House Approves Measure Endorsing Remote Testing Area - The Oregon House of Representatives has approved a memorial urging the federal government to permit the testing of unmanned aircraft in remote Central Oregon. Rep. Jason Conger (R-Bend) introduced House Joint Memorial 20, saying the designation would attract aerospace, aviation, and manufacturing industries to the area, and would create thousands of well-paying jobs in the process. “We have an opportunity to become a leader in drone research and development,” Rep. Conger said in a recent press release. “Central Oregon offers a highly-skilled workforce and vast stretches of remote land that’s ideally suited to unmanned aircraft testing.  I introduced House Joint Memorial 20 to send a message to Congress that Central Oregon welcomes these important industries and the jobs they will provide.” HJM 20 urges Congress to enact legislation requiring the Federal Aviation Administration to expedite the approval process for unmanned aircraft testing in rural counties with an unemployment rate of 10 percent of higher. “Economic Development for Central Oregon has worked hard to bring unmanned aircraft testing to Central Oregon,” Conger said.  “Drone technology is a new and growing segment of the aviation industry, and represents a real opportunity to diversify our economy and create new jobs in Central Oregon.”

NASA Sending UAV To Restudy Kilauea Volcano.

The Wired UK (4/5, Brown) reports, "More than a year after first surveying the destructive Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, Nasa has sent its data-collecting drone UAVSAR back to the Big Island to assess how it shaped and shifted the Earth's surface." The Jet Propulsion Laboratory last sent the drone back in January 2010. "Nasa will now repeat its previous journey, mimicking the 2010 flight paths to an accuracy of five metres" in order to examine the changes. "The agency has previously used the UAVSAR technology to measure the temperate ice caps of Iceland and the boreal forests of Canada in 2009, and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the Haiti earthquakes in 2010."

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)

FAA Fact Sheet
Introduction
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and serve diverse purposes. They may have a wingspan as large as a Boeing 737 or smaller than a radio-controlled model airplane. A pilot on the ground is always in charge of UAS operations.
Until recently, UASs mainly supported military and security operations, but that is rapidly changing. Unmanned aircraft promise new ways to increase efficiency, save money, enhance safety and even save lives. Interest is growing in a broad range of uses such as aerial photography, surveying land and crops, monitoring forest fires and environmental conditions, and protecting borders and ports against intruders.

In the United States alone, approximately 50 companies, universities, and government organizations are developing and producing some 155 unmanned aircraft designs.
The FAA’s Role:  Safety First
The FAA’s main concern about UAS operations in the National Airspace System (NAS) is safety. The NAS encompasses an average of more than 100,000 aviation operations per day, including commercial air traffic, cargo operations, and business jets. Additionally, there are more than 238,000 general aviation aircraft in the system at any time. It is critical that these aircraft do not endanger other users of the NAS or compromise the safety of persons or property on the ground.
Recreational use of the NAS is generally limited to operations to below 400 feet above ground level and away from airports and air traffic.

Grand Forks North Dakota UAV industry making big strides

Al Palmer, the head of UNDʼs unmanned aircraft research center, can talk pretty fast, but ask him how his industry is doing here in the Grand Forks region and it takes him two hours over two interviews to get everything out.

By: Tu-Uyen Tran, Grand Forks Herald

Al Palmer, the head of UNDʼs unmanned aircraft research center, can talk pretty fast, but ask him how his industry is doing here in the Grand Forks region and it takes him two hours over two interviews to get everything out.

Where does he even start?

From progress toward a test site where unmanned and manned aircraft can mix safely — critical for research and development — to a training contract with a European air force, to partnerships with North Dakota State University and businesses, Palmer ticked off one after another.

Others in the industry had plenty to say, too, mentioning the growing interest of major unmanned aircraft makers, emerging local businesses and maturing research programs. One UND project to use unmanned aircraft in precision agriculture is scheduled for real world testing at some area farms this summer.

“We have the start of an unmanned aircraft system cluster in Grand Forks,” said Chamber of Commerce President Barry Wilfahrt. He said he expects testing and training would emerge as key sectors.

Recently, the state Aeronautics Commission estimated that the unmanned aircraft industry had a $27.1 million economic impact and employed 231 statewide in 2010, mostly in Grand Forks. Thereʼs still room to grow, but the industry here has come pretty far since it started essentially from scratch a few year ago.

Teal Analysis UAV Industries Represent Key Targets of Acquisition

Paris, June 15, 2009  

"Unmanned Aerial Vehicles represent a prime area of acquisition interest for major aerospace contractors, report Teal analysts in their latest integrated market analysis.

"UAVs are one of the most active areas for acquisitions by defense companies," said Philip Finnegan, Teal Group's Director of Corporate Analysis. "The sector has the advantage of being a high growth area and having a number of small producers available for purchase." As a result, UAVs rank with intelligence, cyber security, homeland security and logistics as one of the most attractive for acquisitions." 

This  economic miracle has visited Oregon  

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