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Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Unmanned aircraft take on new uses

Chris Roberts
El Paso Times
Wednesday, February 22, 2006

When unmanned Predator aircraft prowled the skies of Afghanistan using their electric eyes to hunt down al-Qaida operatives, they provided examples of a blossoming technology that probably will become more common in civilian uses.

Over about 10 years, unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, have been employed by the military to perform dangerous duties. But other uses -- including homeland security and scientific experiments -- are being explored, along with ways to integrate the aircraft into the daily operations at the nation's municipal airports, according to researchers at New Mexico State University's Physical Science Laboratory.

UAVs will generally be employed in jobs that are "dull, dirty or dangerous," said Phil Copeland, the laboratory's deputy technical director. They also could provide a cheaper alternative to using large, piloted aircraft.

"There are lots and lots of new UAV systems out there," said Steve Hottman, the laboratory's aerospace technical director. "The primary users are related to security and defense."

The U.S. Border Patrol has flown UAVs on test missions in Arizona and Texas, Hottman said. The laboratory, which is working on mainstreaming UAVs into the civilian airspace, has received two contracts from the 46th Test Group at Holloman Air Force Base that so far have been worth about $12 million and other, smaller contracts, from industry groups.

Government agencies, such as the Border Patrol and the U.S. Forest Service, are looking at new applications, laboratory officials said.

Alaska, Hottman said, is interested in monitoring its coastal areas to protect fishing waters from poachers.

A UAV equipped with a radio and an infrared camera could be a boon to firefighters, Copeland said. The infrared camera would locate hot spots, allowing tankers to more effectively target their loads of water and fire retardant. A radio relay in the sky could keep smoke jumpers connected when they are in valleys that block signals. The infrared sensors also could provide firefighters warnings about smoldering hot spots on the verge of bursting into life-threatening blazes.

Those same radio-equipped UAVs could have kept rescuers and residents in contact during Hurricane Katrina, Copeland said, by providing an "aerial cell tower."

UAVs also have scientific uses, providing an observation platform situated between ground-based sensors and high-flying satellites. The UAV can provide a "God's-eye-view," but with more resolution than the satellites. Hottman said NASA has used them to collect data, such as moisture content in crops.

However, you rarely see one of these unmanned aircraft queuing up for takeoff at a local airport.

It can take up to three months to get a flight plan approved, Copeland said. That's because the Federal Aviation Administration is still working on standardizing some of the procedures for flying UAVs, he said. Copeland said he knows of no other nonfederal entity in the United States that has a Federal Aviation Administration Certificate of Operation, which allows the laboratory to fly UAVs in the airspace used by commercial and private traffic.

In 1999, when the NMSU program started, "there were no existing regulations within the FAA," Hottman said. "Our focus has really been to operate UAVs in the national airspace -- to be able to file a flight plan and more immediately fly in the national airspace."

The procedures, which are very similar to those used for piloted aircraft, ensure that airframes -- similar to the body and chassis in a car -- have structural integrity and won't fall apart. The procedures also entail filing flight plans that detail where observers will be located and the route to be flown.

"This is still kind of a real hazy area," Copeland said.

Another concern, which may be the biggest obstacle, is the need for a "sense-and-avoid capability," he said -- that is, the ability of the UAV to sense the world around it so it can avoid collisions.

"It's a major technological hurdle," Copeland said. "Until the FAA accepts what it considers to be a good sense-and-avoid system, you probably will not see UAVs flying routinely in the national airspace."

The NMSU laboratory is testing and evaluating an optical system that mimics the human eye by using multiple cameras that produce digital images stitched together by software to provide a three-dimensional representation of the space around the UAV.

"We really think it's a good solution," Copeland said.

Once problems are overcome, airline passengers may look out the window and see what used to be called a "drone" aircraft as part of the normal runway traffic.

Other UAV benefits could spin off to piloted aircraft, including adding sense-and-avoid capability that would make commercial aircraft even safer, Copeland said, noting that other applications will be found.

Chris Roberts may be reached at chrisr@elpasotimes.com; 546-6136.