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WASHINGTON
� After a rigorous competition, the U.S. Department of Transportation�s Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) has selected a Mississippi State University team
as the FAA�s Center of Excellence for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (COE UAS). The
COE will focus on research, education and training in areas critical to safe
and successful integration of UAS into the nation�s airspace. The
team brings together 15 of the nation�s leading UAS and aviation universities that
have a proven commitment to UAS research and development and the necessary
resources to provide the matching contribution to the government�s investment. �This
world-class, public-private partnership will help us focus on the challenges
and opportunities of this cutting-edge technology,� said U.S. Transportation
Secretary Anthony Foxx. �We expect this team will help us to educate and train
a cadre of unmanned aircraft professionals well into the future.� The
COE research areas are expected to evolve over time, but initially will include:
detect and avoid technology; low-altitude operations safety; control and
communications; spectrum management; human factors; compatibility with air
traffic control operations; and training and certification of UAS pilots and
other crewmembers, in addition to other areas. �This
team has the capabilities and resources to quickly get up and running to help
the FAA address the demands of this challenging technology over the next
decade,� said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. The
FAA expects the COE will be able to begin research by September 2015 and be
fully operational and engaged in a robust research agenda by January 2016. Congress
appropriated $5 million for the five-year agreement with the COE, which will be
matched one-for-one by the team members. In
addition to Mississippi State University, the other team members include:
Drexel University; Embry Riddle Aeronautical University; Kansas State
University; Kansas University; Montana State University; New Mexico State
University; North Carolina State University; Oregon State University;
University of Alabama, Huntsville; University of Alaska, Fairbanks; University
of North Dakota; and Wichita State University. The
FAA will determine the relationship between the new COE and the six UAS sites
the FAA announced last year once the new team develops detailed research plans.
The FAA expects COE flight testing to occur at one or more of the existing test
sites. Congress
mandated that the FAA establish the COE under the Consolidated Appropriations
Act of 2014. Like university think tank partnerships, the agency�s Centers of
Excellence bring together the best minds in the nation to conduct research to
educate, train and work with the FAA toward solutions for aviation-related
challenges.
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