Press of Atlantic City

BY EMILY PREVITI
June 8th, 2010

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP - Researchers will start figuring out how to expand the use of unmanned aircraft under a two-year contract for a study at the William J. Hughes Technical Center signed today by military, government and corporate officials.

Today also marked the arrival of a set of the FAA's first unmanned aerial systems, each consisting of a tiny ScanEagle drone and its accompanying launcher and ground station system, manufacturer Insitu's vice-president of commercial development Paul McDuffee said.

Researchers have for several years been reviewing safety standards and other issues related to integrating autonomous aircraft into skies dominated by the piloted kind, but they were limited to using second-hand information from manufacturers and the military users until now, research team leader Xiaogon Lee said.

The pair of ScanEagle machines will allow the FAA to conduct tests specifically for information needed to guide the expansion of robotic aircraft use in the United States, Lee said.

Each tiny plane has a 12-foot wingspan, weighs 40 pounds and operates best at between 1,500 feet and 3,000 feet altitude. They can be controlled remotely by a ground pilot or preprogrammed for an autonomous flight, Lee and McDuffee said.

The research team will fly them in restricted airspace over the Warren Grove Range, 20 miles north, according to an FAA  statement.

Insitu has produced about 1,200 ScanEagle machines during the past decade and sold them mainly to military units for reconnaissance purposes. Non-military agencies also have used them for environmental research, search and rescue operations, law enforcement and other functions, according to Insitu's Web site.

Privacy concerns will be addressed by the FAA's Office of Safety, which issues policies and regulations, including any that would cover the integration of unmanned aircraft based on technical and safety gleaned during the local study, Lee said.

"We know that's a sensitive issue," McDuffee said. "Airborne assets have been operated by law-enforcement agencies; it's not a new thing. Police have had helicopters flying over communities for quite some time. They ... have assured (us) that whatever regulations that exist for manned airborne assets would apply to unmanned. The only reasons they would be used would be to save lives, reduce risk or whatever other functions needed for public safety."

No money will change hands between FAA and Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing, because each entity will share information and workload related to the study, along with the New Jersey National Guard, said Lee, acting manager for avionics research and the advanced aircraft systems avionics subteam.

Insitu also donated the equipment, worth about $1.6 million, Lee and McDuffee said.

Insitu will send several employees from its headquarters in Washington state to the Tech Center for four to six weeks to train roughly 20 or 25 people on the research team, McDuffee and Lee said.

After that, one Insitu representative will stay on permanently. There are no plans to dedicate more workers to this project, but that could change in the future if needed, McDuffee said.

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