Continental Mapping is paying close attention to the developments to come from the FAA's six selected test sites. What comes from the sites will undoubtedly effect many aspects of the public and private sector.
1. Northern Plains Unmanned Systems Authority - North Dakota
• Research Focus – data linkages, human factors and
essential airworthiness data, and evaluating soil quality and crop
status in support of precision agriculture
• 2 year COA to fly a Draganflyer X4ES
University of Alaska Fairbanks
• Research Focus – airworthiness testing and system safety
requirements as well as wildlife location, identification and
counting
• 14 test ranges (7 in Alaska, 4 in Oregon and 3 in Hawaii)
• 2 year COA fto fly a Aeryon Scout
Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems
• Research Focus – UAS standards and operations, operator
and certification requirements and evolution of air
traffic control procedures for integrating UAS into NextGen
• 2 year COA to fly Insitu ScanEagle at or below 3000 feet
Texas A&M University - Lone Star UAS Center
• Research Focus – airworthiness testing, system safety
requirements for UAS and operators, and command and
control link technologies
• 2 year COA to fly an AAAI RS-16 UAS
Griffiss International Airport (Rome, NY)
• Research Focus – Sense and avoidance in congested
airspace as well as imaging agriculture fields with different
sensors. Specific projects will focus on insects, weeds,
diseases, crop biomass, crop characteristics and
background soil characteristics
• 2 year CoA to fly PrecisionHawk’s Lancaster Hawkeye Mk III
at or below 400’
Virginia Tech - Mid-Atlantic Partnership
• Virginia, Maryland, and New Jersey test ranges
• Research Focus – agricultural spray equipment testing, development
of procedures for integration of UAS flights in a towered airspace and
developing training and operational procedures for aerial surveys of
agriculture
• 7 - 2 year COA’s
• UAS models include: Smart Road Flyer, eSPAARO, Aeryon Sky Ranger,
MANTRA2, Sig Rascal, and two AVID EDF-8 micro UAS’s
8/2014 - Continental Mapping Consultants Inc.