Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.
Issue link: https://insideunmanned.epubxp.com/i/668560
26 unmanned systems inside April/May 2016 The Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE) is comprised of twenty-two of the world's leading research institutions and more than a hundred leading industry/government partners. A year ago when the Federal Aviation Administration selected ASSURE as its Center of Excellence for Unmanned Aircraft Systems the agency already had a to-do list for its new research consortium. "When we stood this up the FA A had eight projects ready to go that they wanted to get started," said Dallas Brooks, the director of the Raspet Flight Research Laboratory at Mississippi State University and ASSURE's associate director. by Dee Ann Divis ASSURE EXPANDING ITS RESEARCH FOR INDUSTRY But ASSURE is now nearing the finish line on those initial assignments. With the crush of launching the organization a receding memory and its government research settling into a more routine second round, the organization has the bandwidth to take on new tasks for in- dustry—something it couldn't do before. "We're just reaching the point to where we have the capacity to bring on external proj- ects," Brooks told Inside Unmanned Systems. Led by Mississippi State, ASSURE has 15 core and seven affiliate universities—all well known for their expertise in different aspects of un- manned technology. The ASSURE team can provide independent discovery and validation, Brooks said, and can help firms make sure the research they're pur- suing is not duplicative and fits into the overall UAS infrastructure being developed by gov- ernment agencies. "The research that is performed through ASSURE is immediately relevant because we've checked," Brooks said. The consortium contacts regulators and other institutions do- ing studies, he said, and cross-coordinates with NASA, DOD and DHS. "By dealing with ASSURE you are automatically plugging into multiple federal agencies' research efforts. So we can help ensure that the research we're do- ing on your behalf is immediately relevant to the people you want to be relevant to." Within those crosschecks is an assessment of whether a privately supported research proj- ect might fit into the overall goals of the FAA. FAA officials and ASSURE have been work- ing in a sort of push-pull system, he explained, where both the agency and ASSURE can submit project ideas. This enables ASSURE to serve as something of a matchmaker between the FAA and the industry, Brooks said. "When industry brings us a project there's a good chance that we might find alignment un- der a larger topic that the FAA's already selected for research," Brooks said. "If not we can often take that proposal, if it looks like it's something