UAS Demonstration Kicks Off North Dakota UAS Summit

A Draganflyer UAS, hovering to the right, takes part in a hostage response demonstration conducted by the Grand Forks, North Dakota, police department. AUVSI photo.

 By Brett Davis



A knife-wielding assailant had holed up in a small car with a hostage. The Grand Forks, North Dakota, police were able to use their Draganflyer X4ES aircraft to monitor the scene from a safe distance and then move in to end the standoff.



That mock situation played out in the Alerus Center at a demonstration for local media and officials at an AUVSI-sponsored road show that kicks off the eighth Red River Valley Research Corridor UAS Summit in Grand Forks.



Tim Schuh of the Grand Forks police said they have used their Draganflyers roughly 13 times in recent years for monitoring traffic accidents, crime scenes and to search for drowning victims, so the scenario was not an unusual one for them.



North Dakota is home to one of the six UAS test sites intended to help the Federal Aviation Administration integrate unmanned aircraft into the National Airspace System, and was the first one to begin flight operations.



Robert Becklund, director of the Northern Plains UAS Test Site, says it has $2 million in operation money for the next two years and has some matching funds available to companies seeking to conduct research.



"If you have a dollar's worth of research to do, you can do it for 50 cents in North Dakota," he said.



He said he's particularly interested in researching sense and avoid systems, which could help UAS fly more safely, and in making sure that data links are encrypted and secure. Becklund said the site flies using certificates of authorization from the FAA, and has virtually all of the state's airport facilities at its disposal for flight testing.



Lt. Gov. Drew Wrigley, who has actively pushed UAS issues in the state and serves as chairman of the Northern Plains Unmanned Systems Authority, said, "we believed we would be selected, and we believe going forward that we will be the premier test site in America."



However, he said the state is promoting the technology not just to create jobs in the area but for the overall good of humanity. North Dakota plans to work with other states in partnerships, he said.



"We are committed to moving this great technology forward," he said at a press conference before the indoor flight demonstration.



The state draws on its long history of aviation, as test site partner the University of North Dakota began pilot training for fixed-wing aircraft in 1968, and added rotorcraft training in 1980. It began working with unmanned aircraft around 2003.



The state also finds a high level of public acceptance. According to the preliminary results of a survey performed by the UAS Research Compliance Committee, nearly 700 residents in 16 northern counties in the state approve of UAS use for search and rescue, law enforcement, 

agriculture, weather monitoring and the military, often by overwhelming majorities.



In fact, the only area where disapproval ranked higher than approval came when asked about using UAS for package deliveries, despite Amazon's stated plans to do just that.



Safety was an overwhelming concern, according to Cindy Juntunen, a UND professor who helped conduct the study, but privacy concerns barely registered.