The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Monday said that the Univ. of Alaska’s test site to conduct research flights of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) is now operational, allowing flights for the next two years under an agency Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA).
The school’s Fairbanks campus will be flying Aeryon Labs Inc.’s quad-rotor Scout small UAS (sUAS) system to conduct animal surveys at its Pan-Pacific UAS Test Range Complex in Fairbanks. The purpose of the wildlife operations is to show how the unmanned aircraft can locate, identify and count large wild animals such as bear, caribou, musk ox and reindeer for surveys requested by Alaska.
The Univ. of Alaska has been using the Scout UAS for a couple of years for various projects including a sea lion count. The Scout has also been used in a Coast Guard operation to work with an icebreaker and has been used in tests with British petroleum company BP [BP] for pipeline inspections and oil spill monitoring applications.
In addition to the wildlife operations, the flight-tests will help with integration of unmanned aircraft into the national airspace.
“The University of Alaska Fairbanks program is important because it includes a diverse set of test site ranges in seven climatic zones, so it will give us a wealth of data to help develop appropriate safety regulations and standards,” Michael Huerta, the FAA administrator, said in a statement.
The current tests will also evaluate procedures for coordination with air traffic controllers located five miles away at Fairbanks International Airport.
The Alaskan site is the second of six UAS test ranges cleared by the FAA for operations. In April the agency approved a site in North Dakota to begin operations this week (Defense Daily, April 21).
In the North Dakota operations, Draganfly Innovation’s Draganflyer will be used to check soil for agricultural research.
The FAA is overseeing the UAS flight tests around the country as part of efforts national airspace integration. There is increasing demand from a wide range of groups, including law enforcement, media, agriculture, real estate and others, to use UAS for different purposes on a daily basis.
This summer and fall flight tests will expand to other locations in Alaska for wildlife-related operations. Data for operations near airports will be shared with Alaska’s partner test sites in Oregon and Hawaii.
The Scout UAS can be used in very cold to very hot conditions. Scout has a flight time of between 25 and 30 minutes and can operate in sustained winds up to 30 miles per hour with gusts of 50 mph.
The university and Aeryon are also in discussions about the possibility of eventually using the company’s SkyRanger sUAS for the flight tests. SkyRanger has more capability and can fly up to 50 minutes and operate in sustained winds of 40 mph and gusts up to 55 mph.