33 unmanned systems
inside
Spring 2014
FAA test sites
3
TEST
RANGES
Texas offers 11 test ranges including
the airfeld complex at the
Riverside campus in Bryan,
Texas and the nearby Disaster city
test area, the large, Big Bend range near Fort
Stockton, the Fort Hood range near Killeen
Texas, the chase Field Range near Beeville
and the chase corridor which stretches 13
miles to the Gulf of Mexico, plus fve land
and shore sites, including the large TAMU-
cc maritime range on Padre Island and the
adjacent Gulf range, the Dual 1 and 2 site west
of TAMU-cc Padre and the laguna range
along Texas' laguna Madre. A map of the
sites is available at
http://lsuasc.tamucc.edu/
lsuasc_test_site.php
4
cONTAcT
Gloria Gallardo
Director, Communications & Public Affairs,
Texas A&M; University-Corpus Christi
Office: (361) 825-2427
mObile: (361) 331-5093
email: Gloria.gallardo@tamucc.edu
could be guided to the location to
investigate further. Team members
are also working on the advances in
information technology and computer
science required to get the information back
and forth from these aircraft, said Cifuentes, "so
that you cannot only safely operate the system
but you can also get the data you need from the
system in real-time if it's critical."
That does not mean platform development
is getting second shrift. The fixed-wing UAS
research and testing program at Texas A&M;
University-College Station develops custom fixed-
wing aircraft to support specific applications in-
cluding humanitarian relief, precision agriculture,
infrastructure assessment, and environmental
monitoring.
The state also offers a unique resource for test-
ing UAVs designed for first responders. Disaster
City is a made-for-training "urban" area full of
simulated rubble and recreated emergencies. Re-
searchers developing autonomous air and ground
vehicles can use this world-renown facility,
located in College Station, to test their inventions
on sets modeled on the damage from real earth-
quakes, fires and bomb blasts.
Under its agreement with the FAA, the team
will gather data during its research flights to sup-
port development of safety requirements and the
protocols and procedures needed for airworthi-
ness testing. Not all of the research on autono-
mous vehicles will be useful for setting flight
rules though. Cifuentes said the team also will be
working on underwater autonomous vehicles and
land-based autonomous vehicles.
left to right: texas a&m; university-corpus christi seen
from above. an unmanned aircraft captures attention on
the corpus christi campus. a test team puts an aircraft
through its paces at a test site on the coast.
Photos courtesy of Texas A&MUniversity-Corpus; Christi