Texas A&M Receives Approval to Fly SUAS Over Corpus Christi Campus



By Priya Potapragada



Texas A&M University Corpus Christi has been granted permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly its small UAS over the campus to map the grounds and infrastructure of the main Island University and the Momentum Campus. 



The approval will help graduate students in Geographic Information Science and Geospatial Surveying Engineering with mapping, road construction and boundary delineations projects. 

 

“This is one of the first operations we are aware of that has been approved by the FAA to allow a small unmanned aircraft to fly an entire university campus on a recurring basis,” says assistant professor of GIS and GSEN Dr. Michael Starek. “We will use imagery acquired by the system to monitor campus facilities and derive 3-D models of the infrastructure as well as to monitor shoreline change and assess coastal hazards facing our island campus.”



According to Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Kathryn Funk-Baxter each UAS flight led by a student saves the university around $1,500, and when aerial survey are conducted using ground control GPS coordinates, it amounts to savings of up to $200,000 as opposed to getting the survey done by a firm. 



“This program truly is a win-win in every aspect,” says Funk-Baxter.



Students have already been engaged in surveying projects on both campuses, field surveying construction progress of the Momentum Campus and Curlew Plaza, establishing and substantiating boundaries of ground leases on university property, developing standard procedure operations and locating new projects for the university administration.