FAA Selects Mississippi State-Led Team for UAS Center of Excellence
MSU demonstrates using UAS for a river survey in the Mississippi Delta in December 2014. Photo: AUVSI.
AUVSI President and CEO discusses unmanned systems with FAA Administrator Michael Huerta at AUVSI's Unmanned Systems 2015. Photo: Robb Cohen.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has named a team led by Mississippi State University as its new Center of Excellence for Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
The new center will be run by MSU’s Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence, or ASSURE, which comprises top UAS research universities and over 100 government and industry partners. The COE will study technical issues needed for the successful introduction of UAS into the National Airspace System, including detect-and-avoid technology, low-altitude operations safety, control and communications, training and certification of UAS pilots, and compatibility with air traffic control operations. Other research areas may be added over time.
“This world-class, public-private partnership will help us focus on the challenges and opportunities of this cutting-edge technology,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “We expect this team will help us to educate and train a cadre of unmanned aircraft professionals well into the future.”
AUVSI President and CEO Brian Wynne congratulated the team and said AUVSI looks forward to working with ASSURE and the FAA to advance research and development on UAS.
“It’s critical that we begin looking to the future now and laying the groundwork for more transformational uses of UAS technology, notably beyond-line-of-sight operations,” Wynne said. “The Center of Excellence designation, the Pathfinder Program announced earlier this week and ongoing industry and government research efforts all point to a future where the possible will one day become reality.”
The FAA announced at AUVSI's Unmanned Systems 2015 conference earlier this week that it has partnered with three companies to perform beyond-line-of-sight operations, which it called the Pathfinder Program.
The new Center of Excellence will coordinate with the six existing UAS test centers, but how that will be done hasn't yet been determined. When it issued the final solicitation for universities competing to house the center, the FAA said that process will be set up once the COE is selected and develops its own detailed research plans.
"This has been a six-year effort for Mississippi State and three years for our partner universities,” said ASSURE executive director James Poss, also a retired major general from the Air Force. “We picked our team because they know unmanned systems and they know the FAA. That will make it easier to turn UAS research into FAA rules quickly.”
Congress approved $5 million for the five-year agreement with the COE. The center's academic team members will match the federal grants dollar for dollar from nonfederal sources.
“This team has the capabilities and resources to quickly get up and running to help the FAA address the demands of this challenging technology over the next decade,” said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta.
The FAA expects the COE will be able to begin research by September 2015 and be fully operational, with at “robust research agenda,” by January 2016.
The center joins seven others set up by the FAA, which cover topics such as commercial space, general aviation, alternative jet fuels and the environment.
For more information about the members of ASSURE, visit the ASSURE website here.
Click here for more information on the MSU Center of Excellence and the university’s plans.
