The university consortium selected by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) the week of May 4 for its unmanned aerial system center of excellence (UAS COE) added a number of schools to its previously-announced lineup, including a Canadian school and one based in the United Kingdom.
The UAS COE, called the Alliance for System Safety of Unmanned Aerial Systems through Research Excellence (ASSURE), will focus on research, education and training in areas critical to safe and successful integration of UAS into United States airspace. ASSURE is headed by Mississippi State University. The FAA said the week of May 4 it selected a university consortium after a rigorous competition.
The schools added to ASSURE were unveiled at a Capitol Hill press conference May 14. The additional schools are: Ohio State University, University of California-Davis, Louisiana Tech University, Auburn University (associate member), Canada’s Concordia University (associate member), Indiana State University (associate member), Tuskegee University (associate member) and the United Kingdom’s University of Southampton (associate member).
The ASSURE consortium schools announced by the FAA in a May 8 statement were: Mississippi State, Drexel University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Kansas State University, Montana State University, New Mexico State University, North Carolina State University, Oregon State University, University of Alabama-Huntsville, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, University of Kansas, University of North Dakota and Wichita State University.
The FAA’s COE UAS is a $10 million effort, with the FAA contributing $5 million and the university consortium it selected also contributing $5 million, according to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta.
Huerta said the FAA contributed $1 million in fiscal year 2014 and $4 million in FY ’15. Huerta said the university consortium will be looking for continued research resources moving forward, but he called the $10 million start a very sizable sum to conduct a “whole lot of research.” The FAA said in a May 8 statement the COE is a five-year agreement.
“They’re very well launched,” Huerta told reporters after the event.
Huerta said the schools will study autonomous technology, such as how the UAS operate themselves and detect-and-avoid technology. Things like what the FAA needs to consider in respect to operator certification or qualifications, he said.
The FAA will determine the relationship between the new COE and the six UAS sites the agency selected last year once the new team develops detailed research plans. The FAA expects COE flight testing to occur at one or more of the existing test sites. The FAA said Congress mandated the agency establish the COE under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014.