NJIT to Fly First in New Jersey
This Thursday and Friday, the New Jersey Institute of Technology will become the first New Jersey institution to test unmanned aircraft systems in the national airspace.
The Newark, New Jersey university will test the feasibility of safe integration into the national airspace and the operational capabilities of several sensors onboard.
After receiving a certificate of authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration in May, NJIT hopes to improve homeland security and emergency management through its UAS flight testing.
Mission director Michael Chumer, professor of information systems and director of UAS Applied Research at NJIT, will primarily be testing weather sensors that may enable landfall predictions of major storms up to two days earlier than with existing technology.
His team will also assess a communications array and mapping technology for use in disaster response and the efficacy of high-definition video capabilities.
This week’s flights will range one nautical mile offshore, less than 3,000 feet high, and last for up to one hour. However, in the future, NJIT will have authorization to fly as far as 14.5 nautical miles over the ocean, as high as 10,000 feet, and for up to 15 hours at a time.
Post-flight the team will assess the results and share their data with the FAA and emergency management agencies.
