27 unmanned systems
inside
April/May 2016
UAS RESEARCH UPDATE
the FAA would have an interest in, turn that
proposal into a white paper that we then submit
to the FAA to say: 'Here's something you might
want to consider looking at.'"
Industry provides resources for its projects,
often in the form of in-kind contributions.
Though federal funding is in short supply, the
FAA may also contribute to certain projects
that support its goals—or simply make a point
of tracking a project's progress.
Safety Focus
There is good reason for aviation officials to stay
abreast of private sector research. If properly struc-
tured, such projects can provide the data necessary
to support the safety case for new UAS operations.
"Most commercial entities don't do research
just to do research," Brooks said, "they do it be-
cause they want to achieve a goal, and in most
cases on the UAS side that goal is to be able to
f ly an unmanned aircraft somewhere in the
(National Airspace System) to do a task—and
demonstrating you can do that safely is 90% of
the battle."
ASSURE can structure research projects
so the safety arguments will be acceptable to
the FAA, Brooks said. For example, if you're a
company that's interested in performing pipe-
line inspection with UAS, and you want to do a
study on the safety of those operations—f lying
at low altitude over a pipeline—ASSURE can
ensure essential considerations are addressed.
"If you're going to research how to do that
safely, then we want to understand what the
parameters are. We want to see what models
were set up by the universities, for example, to
"WE'RE JUST
REACHING THE
POINT to where we
have the capacity
to bring on external
projects."
Dallas Brooks, ASSURE
associate director
Results from PrecisionHawk's
ASSURE research, and the
Pathfnder tests seen here and
on the facing page, are shared
between the two projects.
Photos courtesy of PrecisionHawk