Recipient Universities to Examine UAV Relevance to Emergency Response

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has awarded $2.7-million to further research pertaining to the means and methods by which Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV)s may be applied to disaster preparedness and emergency relief efforts.

Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen states: “Every second counts in an emergency, and this funding will allow drones to safely and more quickly deploy in moments when minutes matter:”

The research to which the FAA’s 2.7-million will be plied seeks to determine the degree—if any—to which UAVs benefit personnel responding to varied natural and man-made disasters. Also of salience to researchers is the efficacy and efficiency of the procedures by which federal, state, and local disaster preparedness and emergency organizations coordinate their UAV operations.

The beneficiaries of the FAA’s largess and the amounts of their respective awards are:

• University of Vermont: $1,195,000
• University of Alabama Huntsville: $828,070
• New Mexico State University: $400,000
• North Carolina State University: $200,000
• Kansas State University: $145,000

The award is the latest of twenty grants cumulatively valued at $21-million issued through the FAA’s Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE) program—a federal initiative with the somewhat nebulous mission of “providing high-quality research and support to autonomy stakeholders both within the US and beyond to safely and efficiently integrate autonomous systems into the national and international infrastructure, thereby increasing commerce and overall public safety and benefit.”

The ASSURE Center of Excellence is one of six such initiatives the FAA has established to—ostensibly—help advance technology and edify the next generation of aviation professionals. Research conducted through ASSURE sets out to foster safe growth within the UAV sector, and promote the integration of unmanned air vehicles into the national airspace system of the United States.

The ASSURE Center of Excellence and its sister programs speak to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s commitment to Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) concepts and hastening their development through funding research and innovation.

The worldwide drone fleet comprises more than 850,000 recreational and commercial drones. That number is expected to grow dramatically in the coming years.

FMI: www.faa.gov