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CONTENTS NOVEMBER 2014 VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1

ON THE COVER: An unmanned aerial systems developer based in Nevada operates a quadcopter. PHOTO: SKYWORKS AERIAL SYSTEMS

FEATURES22 OPERATIONS

Looking to Save LivesUnmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) pilot Gene Robinson’s account of the search for a missing Texas woman using a UAV reveals the intricate regulatory process linked to a widely accepted UAV application. By Patrick C. Miller

28 MANUFACTURING & DISTRIBUTION

UAS Training GroundsTo form the country’s fi rst unmanned aerial systems maintenance program, Curtis Zoeller and Jon Beck had to connect with major industry players and restructure the classroom into a setting worthy of a high-tech industry. By Luke Geiver

DEPARTMENTS12 Test Site UpdatesThe need-to-know information on the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s UAS selected test sites. By UAS Magazine Staff

04 EDITOR’S NOTE

How We Should Describe The UAS IndustryBy Luke Geiver

06 AUVSI: THE AIRSPACE

Leading The Way Into The National AirspaceBy Michael Toscano

UAS MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 20144

The UAS industry is diffi cult to describe, but easy to understand. In many parts of the world, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) hold a thriving presence in commercial and private sectors. The U.S., on the other hand, is playing catch up as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration continues its daunting efforts to validate the safest and most practical entrance for the commercial use of UAVs into the national airspace. Although the regulatory trailblazing process currently being undertaken by the FAA can be diffi cult to comprehend, the potential of the UAS industry is as easy to see as a quadcopter hovering 10 feet above ground in a clear blue sky.

Several industries have already expressed interest or invested directly in UAS. In the U.S., the implementation of UAVs into planting efforts, fi eld monitoring and data gathering has the agriculture community enthusiastic about the possibilities linked to precision farming. The untapped potential for pipeline monitoring has the midstream energy sector eager to deploy UAVs. The fi lm and real estate industries are already convinced of the imagery capture potential that UAVs can and will provide. Weather forecast centers and disaster relief organiza-tions want unlimited access to UAVs for services from storm cell monitoring to victim relief. Even well-known Internet giants––search engine providers and online ordering services––with

the capability to pursue any tech avenue in existence have made national news for their research and developments aimed at UAV implementation. But for all of the interest and investment currently happening, the story of the industry which begins with untapped potential and will involve into unfathomable commercialized use—is only just beginning. The story is, however, reassuring to major UAV manufacturers, appealing to engineering and design fi rms, slow for policy followers and operators, and, for so many like our team at the UAS Magazine, beyond exciting.

In our inaugural issue we’ve worked to capture both the excitement and the reality of the UAS world. Staff writer Patrick Miller details the efforts of Gene Robinson, a Texas-based UAS operator contracted to pilot a fi xed-wing UAV in the search for a missing person. Miller’s discussion’s with Robinson revealed several facets and realities of the industry, including the intricacies of obtaining a certifi cate of authorization, the proven capabilities of pro-fessional UAV pilots and an obvious reason for the FAA to permit certain UAS platforms sooner than later.

Following a trip to the country’s fi rst-ever UAS maintenance training program facilities, our team was able to compile a feature story that clearly highlights the sense of excitement in the industry. As the feature, "UAS Training Grounds," illustrates, careers in the UAS sector are now more possible than ever. Curtis Zoeller and Jon Beck, the trailblazing UAS curriculum development experts who gave us the private tour, are proof. Both left the UAS indus-try to spearhead the UAS program at a tiny community college in small-town Minnesota. Three years later, the duo is fast-becoming recognized by the greater educational community for their program-building accomplishments and by major UAS manufacturers for their certifi able standards that are now responsible for providing employees to the biggest names in the industry.

For an unrivaled look at the state of the unmanned aircraft systems industry, our team is pleased to offer a monthly column written specifi cally for UAS Magazine by Michael Toscano, president and CEO of the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, the undeniable voice for UAS.

Toscano’s on-point commentary on AUVSI’s challenges, opportunities and successes in the industry combine with nearly every piece from this issue to show that the reality of commercialized UAS use in the U.S. is linked to a challenging regulatory and policymaking period for the FAA and an excitement that is sensible not just as for as far as the eye can see, but, past the line of sight.

How We Should Describe Th e UAS Industry

EDITOR'S NOTE

Luke GeiverEditor, UAS [email protected]


www.TheUASmagazine.com

VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1

EDITORIAL Editor Luke Geiver [email protected]

Staff Writer Emily [email protected]

Staff Writer Patrick C. Miller [email protected]

Copy Editor Jan [email protected]

PUBLISHING & SALESChairman Mike Bryan [email protected]

CEO Joe Bryan [email protected]

President Tom Bryan [email protected]

Vice President of Operations Matthew Spoor [email protected]

Vice President of Content Tim Portz [email protected]

Business Development Manager Bob Brown [email protected]

Account Manager Austin Maatz [email protected]

Sales & Marketing Director John Nelson [email protected]

Circulation Manager Jessica Beaudry [email protected]

Traffi c & Marketing Coordinator Marla DeFoe [email protected]

ARTArt Director Jaci Satterlund [email protected]

Subscriptions Subscriptions to UAS Magazine are free of charge to everyone with the exception of a shipping and handling charge of $49.95 for any country outside the United States. To subscribe, visit www.theUASmagazine.com or you can send your mailing address and payment (checks made out to BBI International) to: UAS Magazine/Subscriptions, 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203. You can also fax a subscription form to 701-746-5367. Reprints and Back Issues Select back issues are available for $3.95 each, plus shipping. Article reprints are also available for a fee. For more information, contact us at 866-746-8385 or [email protected]. Advertising UAS Magazineprovides a specifi c topic delivered to a highly targeted audience. We are committed to editorial excellence and high-quality print production. To fi nd out more about UAS Magazine advertising opportunities, please contact us at 866-746-8385 or [email protected]. Letters to the Editor We welcome letters to the editor. If you write us, please include your name, address and phone number. Letters may be edited for clarity and/or space. Send to UAS Magazine/Letters, 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203 or email to [email protected].

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AUVSI: THE AIRSPACE

For more than four decades, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International has advocated for and promoted the unmanned systems and robotics industry, most recently focusing on integrat-ing unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the Na-tional Airspace System and showcasing the uses of UAS in the commercial and civil marketplace.

Whether it is aiding search and rescue missions, advancing scientifi c research, responding to natural disasters, or helping farmers care for their crops, UAS are capable of saving time, sav-ing money and most importantly, saving lives. AUVSI supports the safe and responsible integration of UAS to unlock tremendous potential the technology holds while helping to boost local economies and create jobs.

Safe, Responsible Integration

As the agency in charge of aviation safety, the Federal Avia-tion Administration is at the forefront of this effort and has

laid out a timeline and process for examining these issues. AU-VSI is in regular contact with the FAA and we have also met and continue to maintain an open di-alogue with the pilot community, air traffi c controllers and others with a stake in aviation safety.

The industry is also taking steps to ensure that UAS are safely integrated through the de-velopment of “sense and avoid” systems and other technologies. AUVSI is committed to ensur-ing that UAS are integrated into the U.S. airspace in the manner that ensures the safety of all air-craft—manned and unmanned. One way AUVSI is helping with this is co-chairing the FAA’s Be-yond Visual Line of Sight User Action Group, which was created by the co-chairs of the UAS Avi-ation Rulemaking Committee in May. The purpose of this group is to seek input from users or po-tential users of UAS on what the immediate, near and long-term issues or hurdles are or might be for fi elding this technology.

FAA Test SitesThe FAA legislation re-

quired the FAA administrator to create six UAS test sites for

Leading the Way Into the National Airspace System

the testing and development of UAS as part of the safe and responsible integration of UAS into the national airspace.

Despite statutory require-ments, the FAA failed to meet the August 2012 deadline for seeking proposals for test sites, as well as the December 2012 deadline for establishing the ini-tial six test sites. AUVSI directly pressed the Department of Transportation and the FAA to open the test site selection pro-cess. In a letter to then-Trans-portation Secretary Ray LaHood and FAA Administrator Michael Huerta, AUVSI wrote that test sites were key to unlocking the potential of UAS both as a tool to make Americans safer, more secure and more productive, as

well as an economic driver and job creator.

AUVSI also engaged third parties to make their voices heard. The Aerospace States Association, a consortium of states with aerospace industries led by lieutenant governors, also wrote to the FAA requesting the test site process move forward to avoid “losing our global ad-vantage” in aviation innovation. In addition, AUVSI worked closely with the Congressional Unmanned Systems Caucus to ensure members of Congress were fully briefed on the FAA’s progress. In response to the con-tinued delay in implementing key milestones, the caucus sent let-ters to the DOT secretary and the administrator asking them to

By Michael Toscano

THE VOICE: Michael Toscano, president and CEO of the Association For Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.


stay on task and expedite the inte-gration of UAS.

On Feb. 14, 2013, the FAA fi nally released its request for pro-posals for the six UAS test sites and the deadline for proposals was May 6, 2013. The FAA also addressed privacy issues by solic-iting public comments on how test site operators should respect people’s privacy while still allow-ing UAS to fl y.

The FAA’s request for test site proposals was an important milestone on the path toward unlocking the potential of un-manned aircraft, and creating thousands of American jobs. States across the country have been eager to receive this FAA designation because they rec-ognize the incredible economic and job creation potential it would bring with it. While AU-VSI would prefer the FAA not limit the number of test sites, it applauded the agency for fi nally

taking this important step, which will help create jobs and ensure the U.S. remains a global leader in aviation innovation.

Small UAS RulesThe 2012 legislation also

required the FAA to publish a fi nal rule for small UAS weigh-ing less than 55 pounds, within 27 months from the time legisla-tion was signed. Unfortunately, the FAA has repeatedly delayed its small UAS rulemaking, miss-ing the congressionally mandated deadline. In the DOT's January update of signifi cant rulemak-ings, it listed the planned publi-cation date of the sUAS Notice of Proposed Rulemaking as No-vember 2014—almost four years late. The DOT’s explanation for the delay is “unanticipated issues requiring further analysis.” As of early October, the FAA has again pushed back the date of publica-tion to the “end of the year.”

AUVSI and 31 other indus-try associations, including agri-culture groups, realtors, media organizations, and public safety organizations, sent a letter to the FAA strongly encouraging the agency to expedite the public notice and comment for small UAS rulemaking and to grant exemptions for limited commer-cial use of UAS.

Section 333 In the meantime, the FAA

announced it was working to expedite limited commercial operations of UAS for specifi c low-risk applications, such as for crop spraying, fi lmmaking, pipe-line and power-line inspections, fl are stack inspections and pre-cision agriculture. Section 333 of the 2012 legislation allows the FAA to grant expedited ap-proval for limited commercial uses before the full integration is complete. As of September

2014, more than 40 organiza-tions and companies have fi led for exemptions, including the representatives from the fi lm and television industry, Ama-zon.com and Yamaha. On Sept. 25, the FAA granted its fi rst ex-emption to six fi lm production companies. This is an important milestone in the integration pro-cess as it lays out the FAA’s vi-sion of how commercial UAS may fl y in the NAS.

While expediting the ap-proval of certain low-risk com-mercial applications of UAS is an important step forward, the FAA is likely to miss the Sep-tember 2015 deadline for UAS integration according to a report by the DOT's inspector general. The potential benefi ts for UAS cannot be underestimated. In fact, it is estimated that this in-dustry will create more than 100,000 jobs and $82 billion in economic impact during the fi rst decade following integra-tion. Every year that integration is delayed, the United States loses more than $10 billion in potential economic impact. This translates to a loss of $27.6 mil-lion per day that UAS are not integrated into the NAS.

AUVSI will continue work-ing with the industry and other industries wanting to utilize this technology to push the FAA to integrate UAS safely into the NAS.

Author: : Michael ToscanoPresident and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International

NATIONAL PRESENCE: The AUVSI team continues to be the leading voice in the UAS industry, connecting industry to business at events across the country.PHOTO: PATRICK C. MILLER, BBI INTERNATIONAL


The possibility of using mobile phone signals to locate disaster victims is being jointly explored by Disaster Tech Lab, an Ireland-based disaster response organization, and Sentinel Air LLC, an American unmanned aircraft system fi rm.

The team reports that a sen-sor mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and fl own over a disaster zone could detect and triangulate the location of a phone using Wi-Fi or cellular signals.

“Nearly everyone has a smart phone in their hands or in their pocket,” said Dean Attridge, co-owner of Sentinel. “If disaster strikes, that phone is normally close to them. Instead of search-ing for hours looking for people who may be isolated after a disas-ter, we can assist by triangulating on that phone. We can say ‘there’s a phone there that could well be in someone’s pocket.’”

Providing this data to fi rst responders could drastically reduce the time needed to locate victims.

Evert Bopp, who founded DTL with his wife Kate, said another application of the technology is mapping which wireless communi-cation networks are still operating after a disaster.

The fi rst stage of the project is to test a sensor that detects Wi-Fi signals with an operator in the aircraft, and early next year, the sensor will be tested while being operated remotely from the ground. The fi nal phase will be to convert Sentinel Air’s single-engine, two-seat Sky Arrow, an airplane built in Italy by Magnahi Aeronautica, into a UAV.

“We can’t tell whose phone it is or what phone it is,” said Attridge, co-owner of Sentinel. “We can tell that there’s an emitter there, and that’s the important thing. We can’t snoop with it, but we can locate people with it if they’re lost or buried.”

The University of North Texas is also getting involved in di-saster relief efforts by using UAVs.

Researchers at UNT have created a new technology capable

of supplying Wi-Fi to damaged disaster areas with a range of up to 5 kilometers (3 miles) using UAVs.

Yan Wan, assistant profes-sor of electrical engineering at UNT, and her team developed a directional antenna, that rotates to automatically align with a target to maintain a stronger communi-cation link, which helps prevent signal disruption to maintain a wider Wi-Fi range.

“This technology would be

very useful in disaster scenarios when the cell towers are down and there’s not communication infrastructure,” said Wan.

According to the Na-tional Science Foundation, Wan’s research will, one day, “enable drone-to-drone and fl ight-to-fl ight communications, improving air traffi c safety, coordination and effi ciency.”

UAS NEWS UAV NEWS & TRENDS

Disaster relief eff orts eased with help from UAV

OPTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES: Sentinel Air LLC is using optionally-piloted aircraft for disaster relief efforts. Operating with a pilot has allowed the team to perform work today rather than waiting for future U.S. Federal Aviation Administration regulations. PHOTO: SENTINEL AIR LLC

AN EYE IN THE SKY: This drawing from Magnaghi Aeronautica S.p.A shows the Sky Arrow confi gured for UAV operation.PHOTO: MAGNAGHI AERONAUTICA S.P.A


UAS NEWS

Unmanned aircraft systems are being thrown into the heart of storms. The University of Col-orado-Boulder conducted what is believed to be the fi rst multiple, unmanned aircraft interception of a rush of cold air—known as a gust front—preceding a thunderstorm across the Pawnee National Grassland in Colorado.

A gust front is a boundary that separates a cold thunder-storm downdraft from warm, hu-mid surface air and can produce damaging wind speeds up to 100 miles per hour.

“We believe this was the fi rst time multiple unmanned aircraft systems were fl own simultane-ously to make coordinated measurements of the outfl ow from an evolving thunderstorm,” said CU-Boulder’s Jack Elston, lead investigator and organizer of the National Science Foundation-sponsored Multi-sUAS Evalua-tion of Techniques for Measure-ment of Atmospheric Properties fi eld experiment.

According to reports, as the gust front approached from the west at Pawnee National Grass-land, three UAS teams spread out about a quarter mile from each other and launched three small unmanned aircraft, including a Datahawk and two Skywalkers, which were created by the univer-sity. The CU-Boulder UASs had wingspans of less than fi ve feet.

The team was organized by CU-Boulder’s Research and En-gineering Center for Unmanned Vehicles with help from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Texas Tech University, Colorado State University, the University

of Tübingen in Germany and the Center for Severe Weather Research based in Boulder.

“I’m really looking for-ward to getting back into the fi eld for more supercell storm research with our meteorologist colleagues,” said CU-Boulder aerospace engineering professor Brian Argrow.

National Oceanic and Atmo-spheric Administration scientists and partners have also been implementing unmanned aerial systems to help collect weather information both above ground and in the water to help improve hurricane forecasts.

Researchers are sending dropsondes—instruments that are dropped into storms to measure weather data—and un-manned aircraft into places where it would be unsafe for people to gather hurricane and weather data.

NOAA researchers are team-ing up with NASA to launch two 115-foot wingspan Global Hawks that will go on several data-col-lecting missions during the course

of the fi ve weeks of the height-ened Atlantic hurricane season.

“With the Global Hawk, we can fl y farther out over the ocean and get to storms that manned aircraft cannot reach. We can look at storms when they fi rst come off the coast of Africa,” said Robbie Hood, director of NOAA’s UAS program. “Getting this data early in a storm’s life cycle is critical to understanding and predicting its ultimate evolu-tion. Our goal is to begin using unmanned systems to improve weather operations.”

NOAA scientists at the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory are

also taking to the lowest parts of tropical storms just above the sur-face to gather data using smaller aircraft called Coyotes.

The underwater gliders are capable of venturing to depths of more than 3,300 feet to gather data on how the ocean modifi es severe weather. According to the team, the gliders are able to take precise measurements of ocean temperatures, salinity, oxygen levels, and currents, all of which can provide data on the evolution of the temperature and ocean current velocity patterns across the upper layer of the ocean, that can fuel hurricanes.

Teams key in on storm fronts , oceanic weather research

NEW WAVE OF TECHNOLOGY: Unmanned aircraft systems allow scientists to gather information from every facet of a storm.PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO-BOULDER

HEART OF THE STORM: Researchers use unmannned aircraft to gather valuable storm research data in Colorado. PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO-BOULDER


UAS NEWS

Amazon and Google have been trading headlines regarding the unmanned aerial system-based delivery services being developed separately by the online retail giants.

Amazon made big news in December when its Prime Air delivery system was showcased on CBS’s “60 Minutes.” The system’s goal is to get packages into custom-ers' hands in 30 minutes or less using unmanned aerial vehicles.

Google created a stir in August when it announced Project Wing with a video showing dog treats being delivered via UAV to a farmer near Warwick, Australia. The team ran more than 30 suc-cessful delivery fl ights using what it refers to as “self-fl ying vehicles.”

Amazon has requested an exemption from FAA regulations prohibiting the commercial use of UAS. Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 gives the agency author-ity to grant expedited operational authorization to safely accelerate the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system.

“By this petition, Amazon is seeking its fi rst such authorization in order to conduct additional research and development for Prime Air,” wrote Paul Misener, Amazon vice president for global public policy, in a letter to Michael Huerta, FFA administrator.

The Economic Times of India reported in August that Amazon would debut its delivery service overseas with trials in Ban-galore and Mumbai, although the retail giant declined to comment.

However, in his letter peti-tioning the FAA, Misener hinted that the company might consider the possibility taking its UAS pro-gram outside the U.S.

“Of course, Amazon would prefer to keep the focus, jobs, and investment of this important re-search and development initiative in the United States by conducting private research and development operations outdoors near Seattle, where our next generation R&D lab and distinguished team of en-gineers, scientists and aeronautical professionals are located,” Misener wrote.

That point was later rein-forced by Michel Toscano, presi-dent and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicles Systems International, when he wrote to the U.S. Department of Transportation supporting Amazon’s exemption request.

“Amazon wants to test their systems outdoors in the U.S., as op-posed to overseas,” Toscano wrote. “Amazon’s exemption adequately addressed the safety requirements in a number of federal aviation reg-ulations, and there is a compelling need for the FAA to allow Amazon to test their systems to ensure the next evolution in package delivery happens in the U.S. fi rst.”

Google says its “self-fl ying vehicles” will deliver goods by fl y-ing a programmed route with just the push of a button, and will also follow rules to respond safely if they run into unexpected situations such as a wind gust.

“Self-fl ying vehicles could open up entirely new approaches to moving things around, including options that are faster, cheaper, less wasteful, and more environmentally

sensitive than the way we do things today,” says Google spokesperson Raymond Gobberg.

Google plans to develop dif-ferent vehicle types and shapes that will vary depending on where the delivery occurs and what’s being delivered.

“It's going to be a few years before we have a system ready,” Gobberg says. “This has much more in common with the self-driving car than with the remote controlled planes you might see in the park on the weekend.”

In the coming year, Google’s research goals include developing detect-and-avoid systems, precision navigation, reduced vehicle noise and an end-to-end delivery system.

It has been widely reported that Google is looking at develop-ing an Internet delivery system using UAS technology. Gobberg declined to comment on whether Google has requested permission from the Federal Communications Commission to test the system in New Mexico, when contacted by UAS Magazine.

Google, Amazon test UAS package delivery systems

FAMOUS UAV: Following the nationally televised airing of Amazon's efforts to utilize unmanned aerial vehicles for delivery purposes, photos similar to the one pictured above have become easily recognizable.PHOTO: AMAZON


Perfecting unmanned air-craft system (UAS) moving take-offs and landings is new territory to most aircraft users, but Scion UAS and the U.S. Coast Guard are among the entities that have completed the feat.

Scion UAS is one of the world’s fi rst companies to suc-cessfully land a manned-capable vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft on a moving platform.

The Ft. Collins, Colorado-based company released a video of its SA-400 Jackal landing smoothly on a 16-foot-by-20-foot trailer being towed along a runway at speeds up to 10 knots (11.5 mph).

“Capabilities like this used to be limited to large defense contractors,” said Steen Mo-gensen, Scion UAS CEO. “We’re very proud of what our small team in Colorado has accom-plished!”

More than 10 landings and takeoffs were performed, includ-

ing straight-line approaches and 45-degree approaches to simu-late ship-based operations. The company called it “a signifi cant milestone toward demonstrating the ship-based takeoff and land-ing capabilities of the optionally piloted helicopter.”

Safety pilot Jim Sampson was on board the aircraft during the fl ight to ensure compliance with FAA regulations. The SA-400 Jackal is a turbine-powered VTOL aircraft designed to carry a 110-pound payload for more than four hours. The fi rst of these aircrafts is being used by the Naval Research Laboratories to demonstrate emerging sensor systems.

“This is a major achieve-ment which demonstrates that a small company can push the state of the art in VTOL UAS development on an austere bud-get,” said Al Cross, head of the NRL Vehicle Research Section. “I am very proud of what Scion UAS has accomplished today

and look forward to accepting the SA-400 vehicles into the NRL research vehicle inventory.”

Researchers from the Coast Guard Research and Develop-ment Center and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Adminis-tration have also been working on designing some of the fi rst UAS to complete moving land-ings.

They have been working alongside Puma AE designer AeroVironment to create the UAS that successfully completed a take-off and landing on the fl ight deck of Coast Guard Cut-ter Healy.

The UAV, which recently completed the fi rst fl ight aboard a Coast Guard icebreaker, is equipped with an electro-optical and infrared camera plus illumi-nator on a lightweight mechani-cal gimbaled payload.

The Coast Guard RDC, located in New London, Con-necticut, provides research and evaluation of technologies and

equipment to help the Coast Guard’s abilities to carry out mis-sions. According to the research-ers, the hope for this UAS, as well as others, is to “perform monitoring and search opera-tions in the Arctic and other ar-eas where hazardous conditions might otherwise place human observers in increased danger.”

“The Coast Guard and its partners realize the value of exploring technologies like UAS to improve our ability to respond in the Arctic,” said Rich Hansen, RDC chief scientist. “Unmanned systems have great potential for tracking spills, so responders can avoid unnecessary risk while safeguarding our seas.”

The crew aboard the 420-foot icebreaker also conducts the Coast Guard’s traditional mis-sions including search and rescue, environmental protection and enforcement of laws and treaties while performing their primary mission of assisting with scientifi c research in polar regions.

Scion UAS, Coast Guard complete moving takeoff s, landings

UAS NEWS

A WORLD FIRST: The SA-400 Jackal completed one of the world's fi rst UAS landings on a moving platform.PHOTO: SCION UAS


FAA UAS Regulation Goals (per 2013 UAS Comprehensive Plan)

2013 2014 2015•To have one or more Pathfinder certification projects underway, which is an initial UAS airworthiness certification program that will aid the FAA in the establishment of certification requirements.

•To have FAA’s initial certification issues defined for the certification basis or new and novel systems.

•To have one or more Pathfinder standard airworthiness certification projects complete initial certification planning.

•A notice of proposed rulemaking on small UAS is under development with the intent to provide a safe small UAS access to the national airspace is being drafted and is targeted for release this year.

•To publish FAA’s unique certification requirements for new and novel systems, i.e., UAS control station, airframe, control system, propulsion system, and ground support equipment.

•To have routine public and civil small UAS visual line-of-site operations conducted in the national airspace without certificates of authorization.

•To have routine public UAS operations in the national airspace.

UAS NEWS

Twenty states have passed laws on unmanned aircraft system (UAS) issues ranging from their use by law enforcement to what defi nes an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“State legislatures across the country are debating if and how UAS technology should be regulated, taking into account the benefi ts of their use, privacy concerns and their potential economic impact,” the NCSL reports.

The organization says that the laws passed address UAS issues, which include their use by the public, hunting game and Federal Aviation Administration UAS test sites. Another 35 states are considering UAS-related measures.

The NCSL says laws passed by states in 2014 include:

Iowa: HF 2289 makes it illegal for a state agency to use a UAS to enforce traffi c laws requiring a warrant or other lawful means, or to use informa-tion obtained with UAS in a civil or criminal court proceeding. It also requires the department of public safety to develop guide-lines for the use of UAS and to determine whether changes to the criminal code are necessary.

Indiana: HB 1009 cre-ates warrant requirements and exceptions for the police use of unmanned aircraft and real-time geo location tracking devices. It also prohibits law enforcement from compelling individuals to reveal passwords for electronic devices without a warrant. It also makes "unlawful photography

and surveillance on private prop-erty" a Class A misdemeanor.

Louisiana: HB 1029 makes the unlawful use of an unmanned aircraft system a crime, defi ning it as the inten-tional use of a UAS to conduct surveillance of a targeted facility without the owner’s prior written consent.

Ohio: HB 292 creates an aerospace and aviation tech-nology committee to research and develop aviation technol-ogy, including unmanned aerial vehicles.

Tennessee: HB 1777 makes it a class C misdemeanor for any private entity to use a drone to conduct video surveil-lance of a person who is hunting or fi shing, without their con-sent. SB 1892 makes it a Class C misdemeanor for a person to

use UAS to intentionally conduct surveillance of an individual or their property. It also makes it a crime to possess those images (Class C misdemeanor) or dis-tribute and otherwise use them (Class B misdemeanor). The law also identifi es 18 lawful uses of UAS, including the commercial use of UAS under FAA regula-tions, professional or scholarly research and for use in oil pipe-line and well safety.

Utah: SB 167 regulates the use of UAS by state government entities, requiring a warrant is for a law enforcement agency to “obtain, receive or use data” derived from the use of UAS. The law also establishes stan-dards for when it is acceptable for an individual or other non governmental entity to submit data to law enforcement. It pro-

States pass UAS privacy, economic, law enforcement rules


2017 2020•To have one or more Pathfinder standard airworthiness certification projects completed if all associated activities are completed per the nominal certification process.

•To have routine civil UASoperations in the national airspace.

•To have other certification programs completed, based on timely applications and system commonality or complexity

2017-2020

WA

AK

HI

OR

CA

ID

NV

AZNM

TX

MT ND

SD

NE

WY

UTCO

KS

OKAR

LA

MN

IA

MO

IL

WI

IN OH

KY

FL

MS AL GA

SC

TN NC

VAWV

PA

NY

ME

VT

NHMA

RICT

NJMD

DE

Pending UAS legislation Enacted UAS legislation Adopted a resolution

State UAS LegislationSOURCE: NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF STATE LEGISLATURES

UAS NEWS

vides standards for law enforce-ment’s collection, use, storage, deletion and maintenance of data. It requires law enforcement to submit an annual report on its use to the Department of Public Safety and also to publish the report on the individual agency’s website. The law is not intended to “prohibit or impede the public and private research, development or manufacture of unmanned aerial vehicles.”

Wisconsin: SB 196 requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant before using drones in a place where an indi-vidual has a reasonable expecta-tion of privacy. The law also specifi es as crimes possession of a weaponized drone and use of a drone.

A study conducted earlier this year by Embry-Riddle Col-

lege of Aeronautics professors David Ison, Brent Terwilliger and Dennis Vincenzi found that as a result of state and local governments passing their own laws, UAS stakeholders are facing a “changing regulatory

landscape, further complicating research and development of their systems.”

The study also concluded that UAS measures have added a layer of regulation that com-plicates the manufacturer and

operator landscape. It recom-mends further study to track legislation and implications for the UAS industry.


U.S. Customs and Border Protection’sUAS flight hours in operational certificates of waiver or authorization airspace encompassing border and coastal areas, fiscal year 2011 through April 2014SOURCE: US GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

UAS NEWS

On behalf of the U.S. Gov-ernment Accountability Offi ce, the Department of Homeland Secu-rity completed a review on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) program to ensure its compliance with privacy and civil liberty laws and standards.

The review, which was fi led in early June, contains informa-tion on CBP’s collecting, retaining, storing and disseminating images procedures to make sure they comply with aforementioned laws and standards.

The GAO analyzed the review on CBP polices and UAS

fl ight data from fi scal year 2011 through April 2014—covering the period when all UAS centers became operational. CBP reported that UAS operations are limited geographically via certifi cates of authorization (COA) but work with the Federal Aviation Admin-istration to create a new COA or

by requesting an addendum to an existing COA to operate in airspace outside the existing COA.

The GAO analysis of CBP UAS fl ight hour data found that “over 80 percent of the UAS fl ight hours were associated with border and coastal areas of the U.S.”

Homeland Security reviews US Border Protection’s UAS use

Aerial Technology Interna-tional is expanding its aerial system (UAS) technology business into the precision agriculture industry to help farmers make more cost-effective decisions.

Located in Clackamas, Oregon, ATI provides data through video, thermal imaging, multi-spectral imaging and tailored software applications integrated into its UAS technology. The com-pany is teaming with MicaSense, a fi rm specializing in multi-spectral camera solutions, data processing and analytics.

“A large percentage of the domestic drone sales will be in the agriculture industry,” ATI co-founder Stephen Burtt says of the company’s decision to expand.

ATI was formed in 2011 by Burtt and Lawrence Dennis to provide UAS operators with sup-port, education and resources for aerial video, photography, inspec-tions, research and mapping.

MicaSense designed a pro-prietary, lightweight multi spectral camera to remotely capture videos and photos of crops. The applica-tion senses different colors of light and provides data processing, mapping strategies and analytics to determine crop vigor.

“Being on the aircraft manu-facturing side, we build platforms for sensors,” Burtt notes. “The helicopter is the ideal platform for putting these sensors into sensitive areas without leaving a footprint.”

MicaSense will provide a

data processing service to ATI’s customers.

“We’ll set up our own portal so that our customers can go straight through ATI and get all of their imaging processed,” Burtt explained. “It makes us a one-stop shop by letting them take care of the back-end work for us.”

As an example of how ATI can assist farmers, Burtt said that in vineyards, it’s crucial to know when grapes are at optimal ripe-ness for picking.

“Farmers do this now by walking the individual rows and looking at the grapes, but we could fl y over and within about an hour, create a map that shows the exact sectors of the vineyard that are ripe before others,” he said.

A UAV using the MicaSense camera can see individual rows and individual plants because it fl ies much lower than a manned aircraft.

Burtt views precision agricul-ture as one of the logical applica-tions for the early commercial use of UAS technology.

“It’s just inherently a much safer place to operate,” he noted. “Drones are being vetted and there are still some kinks to work out, but operating them over farm-land is much safer than what some other people doing.”

ATI, MicaSense team up to expand precision agriculture


Nevada’s unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) test site was approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Admin-istration in early June to begin research on integrating UAS into the nation’s airspace.

Nevada was granted a two-year certifi cate of waiver or authoriza-tion (COA) to use an Insitu ScanEagle at the Desert Rock Airport located in Mercury, Nevada. According to the FAA, the ScanEagle will fl y at or below 3,000 feet, monitored by a visual observer and mission commander.

Nevada’s research will focus on UAS standards and operations as well as operator standards and certifi cation requirements. The test site will also research air traffi c control procedures and how they might evolve after the introduction of UAS into the civil environment and with NextGen, the FAA’s effort to modernize the national airspace system.

Nevada’s test site has partnered with the University of Nevada, Reno to work on a range of topics from improving navigation and control of autonomous systems to developing applications related to environmental science and land management. The university has partnered with Flirtey, a technology developer that provides real-time delivery using UAS to create a safe UAS delivery technology. It is the fi rst partnership on campus under the University’s Nevada Advanced Autonomous System Innovation Center. The University also added a

new minor degree program in UAS in January to help students prepare to enter the Nevada UAS industry.

The test site also has a partnership with the Desert Research Insti-tute, an entity exploring UAS use in civilian government and the private sector. The work is aimed at developing applications such as cloud seed-ing to fi ght forest fi res.

Other partners of Nevada’s test site include the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, the College of Southern Nevada, the Small Business Administration, the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority, the Boulder City Municipal Airport, and the city of Las Vegas.

Staring down new standards

UAS TEST SITE U P D AT E S

PROVEN WORK: Skyworks Aerial Systems formed as a result of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' partnership with the Nevada UAS test site.PHOTO: UNIVERSITY NEVADA, LAS VEGAS

SOURCE: NEVADA GOVERNOR'S OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

NEVADA


UAS TEST SITE UPDATES

The Griffi ss International Airport unmanned aerial system (UAS) test site in Rome, New York, went operational Aug. 7. It is teamed with the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance, a New York nonprofi t coalition of more than 40 private and public entities and academic institutions.

NUAIR operates and manages UAS test sites in New York and Massachusetts. It will evaluate methods for scouting agri-cultural fi elds using different types of sensors, including visual, thermal and multispectral equipment. The research will enhance current methods of monitoring crops and provide additional information for continuing fi eld research efforts.

The FAA granted the Griffi ss International Airport team a two-year certifi cate of authorization to use a PrecisionHawk Lancaster Platform UAS. The Lancaster Platform weighs ap-proximately three pounds and has a wingspan of 4 feet. In early

September, NUAIR partners Cornell Cooperative Extension and Precision Hawk conducted fl ight tests in western New York.

The site’s projects include using UAS for the detection of insects, weeds, diseases, crop characteristics, crop biomass and background soil characteristics in two farm fi elds. Flights will take place at or below 400 feet, and will last up to 60 minutes from takeoff to landing.

They will also collect geospatially referenced imagery as part of the agricultural research. Eventually, the site also will manage unmanned agricultural research fl ights from Joint Base Cape Cod in Massachusetts.

In addition, the Griffi ss team plans to work on developing test and evaluation processes under FAA safety oversight, and conduct research on sense-and-avoid capabilities to prevent colli-sions with other manned and unmanned aircraft.

Focus on agriculture

TEAM EFFORT: Conducting training on the Precision Hawk UAV, are from the left: Bill Verbettan, Cornell Cooperative Extension; Brandon Eickhoff, PrecisionHawk: and Bill Pitre, Skyop.PHOTO: CENTERSTATE CORPORATION FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

NEW YORK



North Dakota Lt. Gov. Drew Wrigley believes the U.S. Federal Avia-tion Administration made the right decision in choosing his state for an unmanned aerial systems (UAS) test site. Speaking at a standing room only media event preceding the 8th Annual UAS Action Summit held in Grand Forks, North Dakota, earlier this year, Wrigley made a bold statement regarding the Northern Plains UAS Test Site. “We believe that we will be the premier test site in America,” he said.

Based on the state’s history and recent adoption of UAS use, Wrigley may be right. North Dakota has been using UAS for more than a decade by entities including the N.D. Air and Army National Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Grand Forks Air Force Base and the University of North Dakota UAS Center of Research, Education and Training. To date, the state has invested $13 million into UAS research and development along with another $5 million to the Northern Plains UAS Test Site. The N.D. Chamber of Commerce is also working to develop the GrandSky business park located next to Grand Forks Air Force Base. The park will include 217 acres for UAS-based businesses to house operations.

The Northern Plains UAS team includes several state-based institu-tions along with private businesses both large and small. From UND, testing will include sense-and-avoid mitigation research, airspace integra-tion, payload and sensor use, and factors impacting UAS operators. North Dakota State University is working on data interpretation for agriculture. Lake Region State College is developing a law enforcement program for

UAS and Northland Community & Technical College has begun building a training program tailored for UAS maintenance technicians.

From the private sector, partners include General Atomics, Northrup Grumman, Ideal Aerosmith, and several others. Northrup Grumman recently donated two SandShark remotely piloted aircraft trainers to UND for UAS research efforts. “The international UAS training market is growing exponentially and the University of North Dakota is considered a UAS training center of excellence,” said Al Palmer, director of UND’s Center for UAS Training, following the Northrup Grumman SandShark donation. “Until now, we haven’t offered international UAS pilot training,” he added, noting that the SandSharks will allow the Northern Plains UAS Test Site staple to “provide training to international students on their native soil.”

Uniting UAS business

THE NORTHERN PLAINS SCENE: UAS work on the northern plains includesresearch institution work, help from the state government and input fromprivate-sector UAS business. PHOTO: PATRICK C. MILLER, BBI INTERNATIONAL

NORTH DAKOTA



It should come as no surprise that the Pan-Pacifi c Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site became the fi rst U.S. Federal Aviation Administration-selected site to reach op-erational status. In May, the University of Alaska-Fairbanks conducted an aerial survey above a wildlife research station using an Aeryon Scout miniquadcopter. Following the suc-cessful survey above caribou present in the wildlife research station, UAF Chancellor Brian Rogers said the test illus-trated an important aspect of UAS test missions. “It’s not simply about the technology, but rather about the applica-tion of that technology to real-world needs,” he said.

Wildlife, product testing and surveys

XXX: XxxPHOTO: XXX

PRODUCT TESTER: Michael Wing, assistant professor at Oregon State University is leading the UAS work at the school. PHOTO: OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

Impact of Test Site Designation2014 2015 2016 2017

Total Employment 1,065 1,260 1,335 1,429

Direct Employment 490 571 602 642

Indirect Employment 198 243 259 279

Induced Employment 377 447 474 508

Total Labor Income ($ million) $56.9 $66.9 $70.8 $75.6

Direct Labor Income ($ million) $26.4 $30.5 $32.2 $34.2

Indirect Labor Income ($ million) $10.4 $12.5 $13.3 $14.4

Induced Labor Income ($ million) $20.1 $23.8 $25.3 $27.1

Output ($ million) $265.0 $301.8 $315.9 $333.5

Total Value Added ($ million) $109.3 $121.9 $127.1 $133.5

State Income Taxes ($ million) $4.3 $5.0 $5.3 $5.6

OREGON


UAS Campaigns Supported by the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2012

Client Flight Locations Type of UAS Purpose of Flights Revenue for Site Operator

Site OperatorStaff

Flight OperatorStaff

Aleutians Aleutian Islands, Alaska Aeryon Scout and Puma Seal observation $314,200 2 pilots 1 observer

Idaho Lewiston, Idaho Aeryon Scout Salmon nestobservation $115,000 1 pilot 1 observer

Eglin AirForce Base Fort Walton Beach, Florida ScanEagle and Aeryon

Scout Controlled burn experiment $413,000 4 pilots 3 observers

Prudhoe Bay Prudhoe Bay, Alaska Aeryon Scout British Petroleum fl are stackmonitoring $190,000 1 pilot 1 observer

Nome Nome, Alaska Aeryon Scout Harbor Ice monitoring for USCG $30,000 1 pilot 1 observer

Ugak Island Ugak Island, Alaska Aeryon Scout Seal population monitor $6,500 1 Pilot 1 observer

Fort Greely Fort Greely, Alaska ScanEagle and Aeryon Scout Flight test $25,000 2 pilots 2 observers

Chile Santiago, Chile Aeryon Scout Glacier Ice monitor $9,000 1 pilot 1 observer

Belgium Belgium Gatewing Flight training $16,000 2 pilots 1 observer

Anchorage Fort Richardson, Alaska Aeryon Scout Flight test and demonstration $1,000 2 pilots 1 observer

Fairbanks Poker Flat Research Range ScanEagle Payload test $347,000 2 pilots 1 observer

Fairbanks Poker Flat Research Range Aeryon Scout Payload test and demonstration $30,000 2 pilots 1 observer

Fairbanks Poker Flat Research Range Raven Flight test for avionics $5,000 2 pilots 2 observers

Hawaii Offshore Hawaiian Islands Puma Tsunami debris tracking $95,000 1 pilot 1 observerSOURCES: ACUASI, 2013

Several years prior to the FAA-certifi ed UAS testing, UAFs Geopyhsical Institute experimented with UAS technology at the Poker Flat Research Range, the nation’s largest land-based rocket range and the only range of its kind owned by a university.

Spanning seven climate zones, the Pan-Pacifi c UAS Test Range offers UAS manufacturers and potential operators to test systems in the tropics, the arctic and arid environments. The site is managed by the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration, a division of the UAF-GI.

In addition to wildlife research, the UAF test range will be used to evaluate coordination procedures with air traffi c control-lers due to its proximity (5 miles) to the Fairbanks International Airport.

The Pan-Pacifi c Unmanned Aircraft Systems work has not been limited to Alaska, however. Test sites in Oregon and Hawaii are also part of the certifi ed test site’s range. Oregon has three test

ranges, one each near Tillamook, Warm Springs and Pendleton, all in the northern reaches of the state. The Pendleton UAS Range is managed by Peak3 Inc., an Alaska-based UAS solutions provider that has been crucial to the Cascade Chapter of the Associa-tion for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. The Cascade Chapter has received AUVSI’s chapter of the year award two years straight. Oregon State University is currently working on UAS research.

Hawaii is utilizing three test sites, and the University of Hawaii-Hilo is also working to develop UAS technology. Earlier this year, UH-Hilo received a certifi cate of authorization from the FAA for the use of a UAV to assess wiliwili trees on the Big Island.




Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi unmanned aircraft systems test site was granted permission to conduct research at the end of June, the fourth of six to become operational. The team was granted a two-year certifi cate of authorization by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to use an AAAI RS-16 UAS, which weighs approximately 85 pounds, has a wingspan of roughly 13 feet, can travel at 65 knots (almost 75 mph) and can carry a payload of up to 25 pounds.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will focus its research on safety of operations and data gathering in authorized airspace, UAS airworthiness standards, command and control link technolo-gies, human-factors issue for UAS control-station layout, detect-and-avoid technologies, and will investigate UAS surface and air volume environmental impacts.

According to the FAA, specifi c projects include preservation and restoration of the ocean and ocean wetlands along the Padre Island National Seashore, research in advance of approaching

tropical depressions, support to law enforcement in the Padre Is-land National Seashore, and providing metrics and lessons learned from these fl ights to the FAA.

“The campus uses images acquired to monitor campus facili-ties and derive 3-D models of the infrastructure as well as monitor shoreline change and assess coastal hazards facing the island cam-pus,” said Michael Starek, assistant professor of geospacial science and engineering.

At the end of June, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi’s Lone Star Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center of Excellence & Innovation fl ew its fi rst mission gathering video, ultraviolet and thermal image data from the onboard multi spectral camera for university researchers monitoring coastal habitats and shoreline changes.

The team will focus on UAS airframe design, sensor develop-ment, communications technology, modeling and simulation, and fl ight operations in airspace authorized by the FAA.

Lone star State embraces UAS

Big Bend Range: Largest test site with up to 17,999 feet over unpopulated terrain. Airspace runs 78 miles among its southeast border and 36 miles along its southwest border.

Chase Field Range and Corridor: Provides access to state waters off the Texas Coast and virtually unlimited airspace over the Gulf of Mexico for long-range and high-altitude UAS operations.

Duval II Range: Within Kingsville 1 military operations area, largely uninhabited ranch land, broad and flat.

Duval I Range: Its northern and eastern boundaries skirt critical estuarine habitat along Baffin Bay and the Laguna Madre and its terrain. Its land is devoted to agriculture, ranching and energy production.

TAMU-CC Padre Range: Has been operational under COA since 2011 and is one of the largest maritime COA in the US.

Gulf RangeWill use medium-to-large UAS requiring launch and recovery from Charles R. Johnson Airport and is located entirely over the Gulf of Mexico and within Texas’ 13 miles of offshore waters.

Laguna Range: Includes a launch and recovery site at Charles R. Johnson Airport and is ideal for visual-line-of-sight operational requirements for UAS. CRJ is proposed as a UAS launch and recovery site for FAA test-site research.

Fort Hood Range: Has an operational COA and it’s primarily a training range for small UAS used in small-unit military operations. It also coordinates operations for larger UAS flying within Fort Hood’s restricted airspace. Its procedures enable side-by-side air-traffic control of UAS and manned vehicles operating in tandem.

TEES Riverside Range: Covers a former military airbase facility that now houses state agency research activities and currently operates several aircraft under a FAA COA.

Disaster City Range: UAS operations are conducted under a COA which serves as a crisis response and research organization striving to direct and exploit new technology development in robotics and unmanned systems for humanitarian purposes.

Lone Star UAS Test Sites

TEXAS



The last of six U.S. Federal Aviation Administration-autho-rized test sites went operational Aug. 13 when the agency an-nounced that the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univer-sity’s program was ready to conduct research.

The FAA granted Virginia Tech seven certifi cates of au-thorization for two-years. UAS models tested at the site include the Smart Road Flyer, an eSPAARO (electric small platform for autonomous aerial research operations), Aeryon Sky Ranger, MANTRA2, Sig Rascal, and two AVID EDF-8 micro UASs.

Virginia Tech, the University of Maryland and Rutgers Uni-versity are members of the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership con-sisting of academia, government, industry, economic development agencies, and non-profi t organizations throughout Virginia, New Jersey and Maryland. MAAP conducted its fi rst operational test fl ight Aug. 13, demonstrating the Smart Road Flyer, a low-cost, low-risk, multi rotor UAS being developed to support research in vehicle and highway systems.

UAS research in the three states will eventually include ag-ricultural spray equipment testing, development of aeronautical procedures for integration of UAS fl ights in a towered airspace and developing training and operational procedures for aeronauti-cal surveys of agriculture

New Jersey’s Atlantic City International Airport will be a test location for mature operations after approval for integration with commercial passenger aircraft. The FAA’s William J Hughes Technical Center in New Jersey will assist with certifi cation of concepts.

Two NASA aeronautics centers—the Langley Research Center and the Wallops Flight Facility—are located in Virginia. Maryland is home to the Pax River Naval Air Station—an opera-tor of UAVs—and is also the headquarters of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

Last but not least

STUDENT PARTICIPATION: Virginia Tech engineering students Lance Holly, James “J.P.” Stewart, and Chris Morrell, prepare to launch an unmanned, autonomous helicopter.PHOTO: JIM STROUP

VIRGINIA


OPERATIONS


OPERATIONS

Although the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in the search for a missing Texas woman failed to locate her, UAS pilot Gene Robinson believes much was learned from the experience.

The Plano, Texas, Police Department began searching for Christina Morris, 23, on Sept. 2 after she was reported missing. She was last seen in a surveillance video early the morning of Aug. 30 while walking in a parking garage with a friend.

Robinson, who’s certifi ed to fl y the MLB Super Bat III UAV for an ongoing National Institute of Standards and Technology wildfi re research project in Texas, spent three days between Sept. 11 and 15 fl ying a 5-square-mile area of Plano looking for Morris.

“The only thing I’m not satisfi ed with is that we did not locate Christina,” says Robinson, who fl ew the NIST

LOOKING TO

SAVELIVES

UAS pilot reflects on lessons learned from Texas missing person searchBy Patrick C. Miller

THE TEAM: Left to right: Gene Robinson, Mike Hennig and Karen Ridenour with a NIST UAV on the launching catapult in Plano, Texas. The search and rescue UAV mission was conducted by NIST at the request of the Plano police.PHOTO: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY


Le Sueur County became the fi rst county in Minnesota to receive U.S. Federal Aviation Administration approval to fl y unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to collect high-resolution aerial imagery.

Le Sueur County contracted with Tim Briggs, president of Aer-oLogix Consulting Inc. of New Prague, Minnesota.

“Being able to fl y a small-scale UAV at a moment’s notice is a big advantage,” says Jus-tin Lutterman, Le Sueur County geographic information systems manager. “If we can pinpoint specifi c areas that we want to fl y, we’re hoping to use this to save money.”

Briggs comes from a back-ground of military sensor opera-tions. After retiring from the U.S.

Navy where he was a sensor op-erator who fl ew various aircraft, Briggs began working for the U.S. Army on the contractor side of military programs creating geo-spatial information used for mili-tary purposes.

“With a lifelong interest in radio-controlled airplanes and the technology of imaging and creating geospatial imagery and processing everything that goes with that, I was looking to start my own business,” Briggs says. “I knew the technology was out there, that UAVs were capable of carrying cameras and the pro-cessing software was available commercially, so I kind of put all the pieces together.”

Under current FAA regula-tions, there was only one way for Briggs to start his own UAV busi-

How to receive a UAV certifi cate of authorizationBy Emily Aasand

FIRST OF ITS KIND: Le Sueur County is the fi rst county in Minnesota to be granted a COA, but Briggs hopes to expand that to the surrounding counties. PHOTO: TIM BRIGGS

UAV under an emergency certifi cate of authorization (COA) issued by the Fed-eral Aviation Administration on Sept. 10. Other than one day of stormy weather that prevented fl ight operations, he deemed the mission “fl awless.”

On Sept. 15, Houston-based Texas Equusearch, which coordinated the search with Plano police, said it was suspending—not terminating—the search for Morris until police gather more credible or signifi -cant information.

“We will come back again if the police determine that there’s another area they need searched,” says Robinson.

A three-person NIST team led by Robinson spent hours analyzing high-res-olution photos shot from a UAV of areas police asked them to search. Team mem-bers—called squints—are specially trained to spot objects that shouldn’t be in the photos.

“We can take one of our aircraft, fl y over an area and get high-resolution imag-ery, which we’ve got down to one centime-ter (less than one-half inch) resolution,” Robinson says. “We can see a signifi cant amount of detail in these images.”

The UAV takes images with a 24-megapixel camera. Robinson notes that

‘What they said is that if you are going to fl y for a hobby or recreation, then you don’t need FAA authorization—although you do have to follow the rules specifi ed in the law. For any other purpose, you need FAA authorization.’Les Dorr, FAA spokesperson

OPERATIONS


ness and that was to contract the services out to a government entity.

“After researching the laws, I realized I could do this under a contract style arrangement with a government entity, so I ap-proached the county I lived in [Le Sueur], proposed what I wanted to do and what I could offer them, and found out that the service was really needed in the county,” says Briggs.

Briggs fi rst proposed the idea to Lutterman and together they went to the county commis-sioners and eventually estab-lished a contract.

According to Lutterman, the county has a lot of use for the new technology.

“We’d be able to measure volume from gravel pits—how much volume of material has been taken out because that’s

actually how we assess the prop-erty,” Lutterman says. “If there’s ever a new road, we’d be able to fl y the corridor to try to plan it out to minimize costs. We’d also be able to use the aerial imagery for law enforcement, county asses-sors and appraisers and for real-estate.”

It took Briggs and the county nearly a year to receive a certifi -cate of approval from the FAA.

“That legal process was pret-ty lengthy,” Briggs says.

Briggs and the county re-ceived about 97 percent of the airspace that they wanted, with a few provisions of not being able to operate within fi ve miles of the airports and not operating over any of the densely populated towns, according to Briggs.

Briggs will be fl ying a four meter sailplane that he modifi ed to accommodate the needs of his

business. The UAV will have up to 45 minutes of endurance and include a camera internally for aerodynamic and recovery pur-poses.

“I’ve been working on modi-fying it all summer—the COA pro-cess and the building process kind of coincided,” said Briggs. “The airplane was pretty much completed as we got approval from the FAA and we started fl y-ing and testing it here just in the past couple weeks.”

The UAV has had three fl ying days and still needs modifi cations for launch and recovery. The next step is to test the parachute re-covery system before adding the camera and actually capturing imagery.

“We’re about to do our fi rst test of the parachute,” Briggs says. “Next is taking pictures, but for now, I haven’t put the camera on

until we’re comfortable with the parachute recovery system.”

“We’re excited about all of it,” Lutterman says. “We knew that this kind of technology was com-ing. I like the idea that it’s a local entity doing it, that way there’s more people to answer to, so I’m happy with how it’s working out on that end.”

Until the regulations change, Briggs hopes to repeat this pro-cess with adjoining counties in Minnesota.

“They’re already interested, they know what we’re doing and they want to see the products that we’re going to be creating,” Briggs says. “As soon as we have demonstrable products, I plan on going to all of the adjoining counties and proposing a similar operation.”

a standard point-and-shoot camera shoots 16-megapixel images, and high-defi nition video is 5 megapixels.

Unlike an observer in a helicopter or airplane, the squints examine photos in the comfort of a darkened mobile command unit free of distractions. They can examine 800 photos in roughly two hours.

In another search in which Robinson was involved, a white speck in a photo turned out to be a tennis shoe. That simple discov-ery enabled searchers to fi nd the remains of a man who had been missing for six months.

“Our philosophy on unmanned aircraft is that it is a force multiplier, a resource man-

FIELD WORK: Mike Hennig, director of RP Search Services southern California region, launches a UAV during a 2009 missing person search. PHOTO: RP SEARCH SERVICES

OPERATIONS


agement tool and a safety tool,” Robinson explains. “We can do in a matter of hours what it takes a hundred searchers to do in a day.”

When an object of interest is spotted in a photo, a hasty team is given the GPS coordinates to inspect the area.

“That’s where the effi ciency comes in,” Robinson says. “We need eyes on the ground to clear the area. It’s a very directed approach.”

In addition, it’s a much safer approach because the UAV can inspect areas from above that might contain dangers or haz-ards to humans, minimizing risks and liabil-ity issues.

“This is not our fi rst rodeo,” Robinson says of the search for Morris. “This is one of the best search and rescue teams you’ll ever see fl ying unmanned aircraft. It’s not like we just went out and bought a DJI Phantom and went searching.”

And, he adds, “There’s a science to

searching. The fact that we scrubbed the area as thoroughly as we did tells the police that we know where she (Morris) is not at this point.”

Robinson notes that during the mis-sion, all takeoffs and landings were ex-ecuted without mishap, the areas searched were covered 100 percent and there were no emergency situations. He also says they decided not to use the UAV to search two congested urban areas because of safety concerns.

Texas Equusearch is a nationally known volunteer organization that’s been involved in high-profi le searches for missing people. It also took the FAA to court after the agen-cy ordered it to stop using UAS to conduct searches.

“When there was an issue with Texas Equusearch earlier in the year, it was be-cause they had not tried to apply for an emergency certifi cate of authorization,” says FAA spokesperson Les Dorr. “They

were simply going out and fl ying. That was the reason we told them to stop.”

The case was dismissed in July when a federal appeals court ruled that the FAA’s order “did not represent the consummation of the agency's decision-making process, nor did it give rise to any legal consequenc-es.”

Robinson, who’s worked with Texas Equusearch for 10 years, founded his own charitable organization—RP Search Servic-es—for the purpose of using UAS to con-duct search and rescue operations. He’s also had differences with the FAA.

“We still disagree with whether they ac-tually have a regulation they can apply to this particular operation,” Robinson explains. “We’re willing to work within whatever con-fi nes they want us to work in as long as we can get out there and do this good work.”

Robinson owns RP Flight Systems Inc., manufacturer of the Spectra small unmanned aircraft. He wrote a COA ap-

SEARCHING: Mike Hennig (left) and Gene Robinson conducted a missing person search in California through RP Search Services, a charitable organization. PHOTO: RP SEARCH SERVICES

OPERATIONS


plication for a county government, one of the fi rst approved by the FAA. He was also the author of “First to Deploy, Unmanned Aircraft for SAR (search and rescue) & Law Enforcement,” a primer for agencies exploring the use of UAS.

Despite past disagreements, Robinson praised the FAA for granting the emergen-cy COA in a timely manner.

“Their response was stellar,” Robinson says. “It took them less than 24 hours. I’m just delighted that it happened. I can’t say enough about their participation and doing what they did to get us in the air.”

Dorr says the FAA hasn’t received many requests for emergency COAs, add-ing they’re usually issued “within hours” when they meet three criteria, which are:

• A situation in which there is distress or urgency and there is an extreme possibil-ity of a loss of life.

• Manned fl ight operations cannot be conducted effi ciently.

• The proposed UAS is operating un-der a current approved COA for a different purpose or location.

“They were requesting the COA under the auspices of NIST, which had an exist-ing COA,” Dorr explains. “We were able to grant it relatively quickly. It has to be an ex-isting COA that we can issue the emergency COA under.”

Alexander Maranghides, a NIST prin-cipal investigator, says that in this case, the emergency COA was granted through a COA for the agency’s ongoing wildland ur-ban interface research project in Texas. The NIST team fl ew the search mission at the request of the Plano Police Department as a regularly scheduled profi ciency fl ight.

“NIST is not a search and rescue agency,” Maranghides says. “But given the planned deployment for our work, we were able on very short order to adapt our de-ployment and respond to meet this impor-tant need.”

Dorr stresses that the regulations pre-venting charitable organizations from oper-ating UAVs for searches are not the FAA’s rules, but were passed by Congress in 2012.

“What they said is that if you are going to fl y for a hobby or recreation, then you don’t need FAA authorization—although you do have to follow the rules specifi ed in the law. For any other purpose, you need FAA authorization,” he explains.

“Regardless of who’s doing the fl y-ing, it would be diffi cult to say that doing a search for someone could be considered a hobby or for recreational purposes,” Dorr says of the FAA’s position on the issue.

Author: Patrick C. MillerStaff Writer, UAS [email protected]

DATA SEARH: Mike Hennig was part of the NIST team operating under an FAA emergency COA that used a UAV to search for a missing Texas woman. PHOTO: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY

OPERATIONS


Curtis Zoeller and Jon Beck are un-manned aircraft sys-tems veterans (UAS) turned UAS curriculum trailblazers. The duo has developed an educational training model driven by industry input. The team has also created a unique infor-mational delivery system. At the campus of Northland Commu-nity & Technical College in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, Zoeller and Beck have offered the emerging UAS industry a glimpse into the future of standardized unmanned maintenance training by combining the two. NCTC currently offers the country’s fi rst UAS maintenance training

program, and, after roughly three years in existence, the program has earned the respect of some UAS industry giants. Northrup Grumman Corp. requires most UAS technicians to receive fi ve years of UAS maintenance expe-rience before entering the fi eld, or, thanks to the work of Zoeller and Beck, a UAS certifi cate from NCTC.

For a general audience look-ing to grasp the potential of a commercialized UAS industry in the U.S., both Zoeller and Beck can offer up both personal and student-based accounts show-ing real-life UAS success stories. Both Zoeller and Beck have re-located to Thief River Falls to pursue a career in UAS. The two have shared the story of UAS’s

MANUFACTURING & DISTRIBUTION

UAS TRAINING GROUNDSAt Northland Community & Technical College, the UAS industry can find certified maintenance techs and a glimpse into the futureBy Luke Geiver

HANDS ON INSTRUCTION: Jon Beck, program manager for the Northland Community & Technical College's Aerospace program brings fi eld experience and a hands-on approach to the classroom.


potential during many community, legislative and industry tours of their Thief River Falls UAS facility. But, for insight into the behind-the-scenes progression of the UAS industry—specifi cally how standardized education and certifi -cations can be developed, defi ned and completed for the entire U.S. industry—Zoeller and Beck can talk for hours. The UAS Magazine visited the NCTC campus to learn the story of Zoeller, Beck and the how the emergence of the small-town’s UAS presence will impact the marketplace. We left with an education on how the UAS indus-try can be educated.

UAS 101NCTC’s UAS program was

born from a simple question: who

maintains the UAVs? At the time of NCTC’s UAS program’s con-ception in 2011, the answer was very few, if any. Through a $5 mil-lion grant from the U.S. Depart-ment of Labor, Zoeller and his team were able to establish a pro-gram that could provide students with a core knowledge of how to work on UAVs. “We give our stu-dents help in understanding a num-ber of advanced systems,” says Zoeller, NCTC’s associate dean of aerospace programs. The core knowledge gained in the program includes insight into mainstream UAS operating systems, engineer-ing and design characteristics and several other elements that make the basics of UAVs seem complex.

To create its curriculum, Zoeller and Beck combined the

experience of its team with in-dustry input. Because very few options existed for a UAS mainte-nance textbook at the time of the program’s start, Zoeller pushed the idea of open source informa-tion as the basis for study material. Supplied with manuals and other internal information from UAV manufacturers, the NCTC team has created an evolving curriculum that is verifi able by industry. Stu-dents of the program will receive regular visits from industry experts or UAV manufacturers as part of the learning process. The facil-ity has industry-supplied UAVs to train with as well. “We go out to partners like Northrup Grumman to see what their objectives are,” Zoeller says. “Then, we can defi ne those objectives in our curriculum.

We are always telling industry part-ners, we are not trying to reinvent how you build a UAV. We are cur-riculum development experts.”

According to Zoeller and Beck, the success of the program can be credited to the fact that none of the staff working on the UAS program came to the pro-gram with a college teaching back-ground. “We come right out of industry,” he says. The team’s back-ground and willingness to try new educational techniques has helped the program meet the needs of in-dustry and grow enrollment.

“We are not located near a major epicenter. We have had to develop the program through in-novative ways,” says Zoeller.

One of the main elements of the program that both Zoeller and


PRACTICE EQUIPMENT: Not only do students learn from industry representatives, they also have the ability to work on real-life unmanned aerial vehicles.


Beck positively gush about when the topic is brought up, is the use of telepresence technology. The school has taken the basics of an online classroom and turned it into something worthy of a high-tech industry. Users can log-on to the system on any device, from any-where. Classrooms equipped with the system allow any user logged in to interact with the system. At any given point, users from mul-tiple locations could be on one of several screens present in one of the telepresence rooms at NCTC. The remote classroom experience mimics a master control room with several screens showing dif-ferent people or presentations on each screen. “It answers our logisti-cal issues of not being located near a major epicenter,” says Beck, pro-gram manager at NCTC.

The combination of indus-try input, teacher experience and a high-tech learning environment has helped Beck accomplish sev-eral of his program’s goals. The students are learning advanced

composite structures, computers, electrical networking and avion-ics systems. A foundation course gives the students a grasp of the industry today, and where it will go in the future. “We aren’t synergiz-ing through emails. We are actually working face-to-face with actual partners,” Beck says. “We are put-ting things into the curriculum so that when this [UAS] does break, our students will be ready to go.”

Program HighlightsThe NCTC team hasn’t had

to rely solely on industry input for its teaching sessions. The team has already applied for and received a certifi cate of authorization from the U.S. Federal Aviation Adminis-tration for a data collection effort based in Northern Minnesota. Ac-cording to Beck, NCTC applied for a COA to work with growers in the region. Using a small UAV, members from NCTC are work-ing to collect imagery from a 40-acre research plot along with other acres in the area. The students

operate, gather and analyze the im-ages for another ag-based fi rm in the area through paid internships. “We have been able to develop a true business case that funds the research and activities because of the imagery work with our re-search partners,” Beck says. Dur-ing a county commission meeting, Beck and his team were publically thanked by several commission members for the work with UAVs in the area.

In addition to its COA re-search, Beck has led a UAV sum-mer camp for grades 5 through 11 that included educational ses-sions on avionics and composite material. Participants of the camp were able to produce the compos-ite frame for a sUAV. Beck and Zoeller have led other UAV work-shops for high schools in the re-gion, and Beck recently submitted a proposal for funding for another UAV workshop. “We want to let people know what the career op-portunities are going to be in the UAS industry,” he says.

Setting the StandardThe current list of accom-

plishments for NCTC UAS pro-gram is long, and includes the program’s proven curriculum, the integration of industry and tele-presence technologyies for edu-cational purposes and enrollment growth, community outreach and maybe most importantly, the sup-ply of skilled UAV maintenance technicians to a growing industry. Someday, however, Zoeller hopes the program will be considered a founding father to industry main-tenance and training standards that are used by the entire industry. “What we are trying to do is ensure that this work that has been devel-oped is becoming standardized,” he says. To ensure that, Zoeller is working with industry partners and testing bodies like ASTM.

“Our team has always talked about our unique opportunity to develop where the UAV industry is going and to be able to tell our grandkids, ‘we developed that stan-dard’.”

If Zoeller is successful in streamlining the goals of his pro-gram, and making the work of its UAV techs both certifi able and standard across all UAV platforms, the entire industry won’t have to take a step back, he says. The idea of stalled growth in the industry isn’t a concern of the NCTC team. In fact, the team is preparing for more students, an expanded pro-gram and a greater presence in the industry. “Right now,” Zoeller says, “anybody that survives today is go-ing to see a lot of growth in the next few years.”

Author: Luke GeiverManaging Editor, UAS [email protected]


TECH SPACE: A multi-screen room offers Curtis Zoeller the ability to communicate with multiple sources located in multiple regions. UAS students also have the ability to utilize the room for teaching sessions with industry experts.


Supporting the integration and development of unmanned systems.Our Expertise: • Training and Industry Research• Program Management• Strategic Planning• Innovative Solutions• Modeling and SimulationFor a FREE Consultation Call Us at (701) 738-4871.

www.uaiinternational.com200 James Ray Drive | Grand Forks, ND 58203 | (701) 738-4871


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