Lone Star UAS Center of Excellence and Innovation (LSUASC)

www.lsuasc.tamucc.edu

The FAA UAS Test Site Competition(Selected by FAA December 2013)

Test Sites

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LSUASC FAA UAS Test Site Purpose

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Stand Up And Operate A FAA UAS Test Site Designated To Safely Integrate Public And Civil UAS Operations Into The National Airspace

Provide FAA R&D And Operational Data To Facilitate The Development Of Procedures, Standards And Regulations For Safe UAS Operations

Serve As The Engine For Economic Development On Behalf Of The Governor And The State Of Texas

Partners – Texas Tech, UTARI, UTSA, SWRI, A&M College Station, multiple state agencies and key industry

The Solution• To provide a better understanding of UAS • To provide training and education to support

‘credentialing’ at all levels:• Students, executives, general public, UAS operators,

UAS maintainers and across state agencies• To conduct research operations on behalf of the FAA,

UAS industry and Texas state agencies• To develop a complete UAS research, development &

training capability in Texas!

Primary Goal• To safely and securely control UAS operations in the

national airspace over Texas

Challenge• Technology explosion. Technology is

ahead of the rules and regulation• Differences in UAS requirements• Alternative interpretations• Community education - Educate,

Energize and Enable• Deal with a society that doesn’t like the

idea of being regulated

LSUASC Proprietary

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LEGEND: NAS Elements

Enabling Capability

DAA Technologies

Air Traffic Services

CNPC Network

Legacy C2 Links

Air Traffic

Services

(Enroute)

Commercial UAS Operations

sUAS

Operational

Procedures

SATCOM

Uplink

Communications

Satellite

Air Traffic

Services

(Terminal)

Human Systems

Integration

Command

and Control

Research

Control

Station

T-34 UAS Surrogate

CNPC Test Aircraft

CNPC

Ground

Stations

Cooperative

Aircraft

Non-cooperative

Aircraft

UAS

Control

Station

Detect

and Avoid

Ikhana UAS

SAA Test AircraftUAS

Precision Agriculture

UAS Restricted

Use Certification

Oil and Gas 7

UAS Integration: The Big Complex Picture

UAS Impact on Texas

• Based on a 2014 Study by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI):

1,863 3,725

5,588

8,256 8,256

$181 $362 $543 $802

$6,500

$-

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

$7,000

-

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

2015 2016 2017 2025 10 yr.

UAS Impact on Texas

Total Jobs $M Impact

10 Year cumulative impact in Texas over 8,000 jobs and $6.5

Billion!!!

$MJobs

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UAS Vision for Texas

UAS Market National Level Ranking by State

Bridge Inspection 1 >50,000 bridges

Precision agriculture 2 >27M acres of Crop Land

Oil production monitoring1

~500 offshore oil platforms>350,000 miles of pipelines

Power line inspection 1 >3,500 miles of power lines

Railroad track inspection 1 >10,000 miles of railroads

Wind turbine inspection 1 >7,000 wind turbines

Border inspection 2 >1,200 miles of border

Port Security 2 4 of top 11 ports are in Texas

Coastline monitoring 7 >3,000 miles of coastline

Applications

Essential we get it right!

FLOOD SUPPORT

The Lone Star Center Supports Texas

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COASTAL MONITORING

AERIAL MAPPINGAGRICULTURE

BORDER SECURITY

The Lone Star Center Supports Texas

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As of 6/19/2015

The Lone Star Center Helps the Railway

4/22/2016

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LSUASC Proprietary

LSUASC Search and Recovery Operations

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The Lone Star UAS Center of Excellence

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Texas UAS Test Ranges(~68,000 Square Miles)

15

Why Texas?

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First to fly under 200’ Blanket COA(Search & Rescue Operations)First to fly under 400’ Blanket COA

(Oil & Gas Operations)

Why Texas?

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First to daisy-chain visual observers during flight

Why Texas?

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• First to fly between multiple test ranges

Why Texas?

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First to utilize situational

awareness tool during flight (Symphony® RangeVue™)

First to use ground-based detect and avoid radar (SRC Inc LSTAR®)

First to fly a large, fixed-wing UAS (greater than 55 lbs.)

Why Texas?

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First to develop an operationalMission Control Center (MCC) have outfitted hangars, large airports, multi-class airports and networks across ranges using fiber, boosted cellular and satellite communications.

Why Texas?

First to fly and send data from the MCC to NASA’s UAS Traffic Management System (UTM)

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First to demonstrate UTM in Texas with multiple aircraft in the air simultaneously.The LSUASC has been awarded multiple research grants from NASA!

First to demonstrate UTM @ NASA Ames Research Center on August 28, 2015

LSUASC Provides Valuable Data to FAA for Safe UAS Integration into the NAS

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Flight Data Submitted to FAA

Unmanned aircraft system/registration # (13 Types and a large (on order) 34 foot

wing span, class 3 AC)

Type of operation (civil or public)

Test range

Airspace categorization and altitudes

Flight take-off/landing times

Weather data

Launch/recovery locations

Flight crew qualifications

UAS Sensors

23 Bringing UAS to America’s Skies23

Orthomosaic

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)And Video

Five or Six Channel Multispectral

IR Sensor

LiDAR

High Resolution Still Camera

Zoom

Ongoing UAS Research

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FAA Research Goals Research Projects

Safe UAS operations in authorized airspace; data gathering and reporting for safe integration into NAS

TEEX Flight Operations Disaster Safety Research (2014-15)

LSUASC Prototype LVC Connection for Wildfire UAS Operations (2015) & NASA LVC Development (2015-17)

LSUASC UTM Client Development and Evaluation (2015-16)

Establish and report airworthiness of UAS

TAMUCC Wind Tunnel Instrumentation Research (2014-15)

TEES Intelligent Motion Video Algorithms Autonomous Soaring for UAS (2014-16)

TEES Novel System Identification Techniques Flight Testing of Prototype UAS (2014-16)

TEES Autonomous Soaring for UAS (2014-15)

Address command and Control link issues for safe operations

Autonomous Neurocognitive Research (2014-17)

TAMUCC GPS/INS Integration Precision Ag Platform (2014-16)

TAMUCC Command and Control in Urban Areas (2015-18)

TEES Autonomous Take-Off and Landing (2014-15)

LSUASC / TAMUCC Flocking & SWARM (2016-17)

LSUASC Command and Control Spectrum Deconfliction (2015)

Ongoing UAS Research

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Conduct safe UAS ground and airborne sense & avoid research

TEES ADS-B Universal Access Transceiver on a UAS (2014)

TAMUCC/LSUASC Integrated Gas Monitoring and Source ID (2015-19)

LSUASC GBSAA and ADS-B Characterization (2015) / CRI (2016-17)

Investigate environmental impacts of

launch and recovery operations and airspace

TAMUCC High-resolution LiDAR Observations of Rookery Islands (2014-15)TAMUCC Precision Ag NDVI from Near-IR and Red Channel Imagery (2014-16)

TAMUCC Usage of a Terrestrial Laser Scan for Precision Ag (2014-16)

TAMUCC Gulf of Mexico Gas and Fluid Advection Sites (2014-17)

TAMUCC Aerial Survey Techniques for Eco-system Dynamics ( 2014-15)

Develop human factors solutions for UAS control station layout and certification

LSUASC Crew Procedures, Staffing Plan and Training Procedures for Disaster Recovery (2015)

LSUASC Human Factors at an FAA UAS Test Site (2014-17)

TAMUCC Development of Advanced Remote Sensing Tools (2015-20)

LSUASC / TAMUCC Sense and Avoid Research (2014-18)

FAA Research Goals Research Projects

Imagine: Herd Health and Welfare

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Somewhere Ranch –Texas

Scouts

Herd CountHerd LocationHealth AssessmentMeds Delivery

Meds

2727

Oil &Gas Commercial InspectionsOnshore Commercial

Operations

Medium Altitude Long Endurance UAS

Fixed wing UAS

Rotary wing UAS

Cargo helicopter

UAS

Asset security

Cargo transport

Offshore Commercial Operations

Early detection

Oil slick

Flare stack

Infrastructure integrity

Under deck integrity

Health, Safety, Security & Envt(HSSE)

Assetsecurity

Flare stack

Pipeline patrol

Wildlife assessment

Tank inspections

Infrastructureintegrity

Site survey & basin assmt

Environmental monitoring

UAS Operator Regulations(2016)

FAA www.faa.gov/uas/what_can_you_do_with_your_uas/• FAA owns the airspace from the ground up• Hobbyist, Public (governmental) or Civil (Commercial, Industry, and non public)• Aircraft Registration – All UAS must be registered (>0.5lbs)• Hobbyist Rules – Follow model aircraft operations (AMA)• Public or Civil

– COA (60 days) – Certificate of Authorization or Waiver– Civil- Section 333 Exemption (90 days) – Grant of FAR exemptions

State of Texas • Texas Privacy Act – Video/Imagery protection for citizens• Department of Public Safety - Limitation of UAS use around Capital Complex • Critical Infrastructure Facilities – flying less than 400’ above ground over facilities not allowed

Important Info• Knowbeforeyoufly.org• www.lsuasc.tamucc.edu

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UAS Landscape

• ~3,500 approved Section 333 Exemptions holders nation-wide (350 in Texas)– Day Time Operations – Only for registered aircraft <55lbs– Line of Sight (about a mile)– Private Pilot’s License and Class II Medical – No operator’s competency test required– Self-certify for insurance, procedures and training

• ~3,000,000 sold at Christmas 2015• UAS Traffic Management, Swarming and Beyond Visual Line of

Sight R&D Underway• Rapidly bridging from “Hobby to Commercial”• Many “Drones” operating in the NAS outside of FAA regulations

and rules• LSUASC working with large numbers of industry who desire to use

UAS supporting their business (over 250)

Bringing UAS to America and The World 29

Operational Cost

• Overall Mission Cost is Dependent on Many Factors, Not “One Size Fits All.”

• Location/Logistics requirements• Type, size, complexity of aircraft• Operator credential requirements• Type and complexity of payloads• Amount of data processing required• Security requirements• Airworthiness evaluation required?

• Type and amount of training required• Maturity of safety and operational procedures• Experience and qualifications of client team and aircraft• Nature of the mission (Duration, frequency)• Visual Line of Sight? (Need for visual observers or chase

plane)

$

Increasing Complexity

Less Expensive:• Simple demonstration in VLOS• Smaller, simpler aircraft• Pilot license not required• Little or no data processing• No training required• Existing COA• Client already has mature safety &

operational procedures

More Expensive• Complex research BVLOS• Larger, heavier, more capable aircraft• Pilot license required• Extensive data processing• Substantial training required• New or modified COA required• Client already has mature safety &

operational procedures

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Doing Business with the LSUASC

• Process is straightforward, designed to accommodate clients to assess and test UAS in their business case

• Each SOW is unique, developed through dialogue, patterned to specific requirements of client

• TRUST meeting designed to minimize potential misunderstandings

• Checklist approach to needs assessment ensures thorough discussion of potential requirements

*TRUST: Test Site Resource Utilization Strategy Team*NDA: Non Disclosure Agreement for Information Protection

Develop SOW and Investment Profile

Both Parties3

Process NDA, Schedule TRUST*

Meeting

LSUASC

2

Initial Contact with LSUASC

Client

1

Finalize Range Users

Agreement/ Schedule Mission

4Conduct

Mission(s)/ Analyze &

Report Data

5

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LSUASC Advisory Group Members

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Nancy Archuleta

Business Executive

(High Technology Area)

Mike Gallagher

Former FAA Airworthiness & FAA

Senior Executive

Keith Graf

State of Texas,

Office of the Governor

The Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison

Former US Senator from State of Texas

Dr. Jon Mogford

Vice Chancellor for Research

Texas A&M University System

Dr. Ellen Ochoa

Former Astronaut and current Director

of Johnson Space Center

Emilio Pena

President and CEO

Houston Clean Energy Park

Takeaways!

• 100% Safe Operations

• Clear airspace for testing/operations

• National reach with operational credibility

• Texas wide proven support

• Robust research capacity supporting industry and state agencies

• Beyond Visual Line of Sight and Swarming research underway

• Trusted agent that is making an impact!

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LSUASC Points of Contact

Jerry Hendrix

LSUASC Executive Director361-825-4103

Dr. Melanie Neely Willis

LSUASC Research Director361-825-4120

Lori Blades

LSUASC Business Manger361-825-2896

Dr. Luis CifuentesVP Research Commercialization and

Out Outreach @ TAMUCC361-825-3881

Joe HenryLSUASC Commercialization and Outreach Director512-962-9711

\

Tom FriersonLSUASC Aviation Safety Officer361-825-4113

www.lsuasc.tamucc.edu

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