13 February 2013
US: Oregon State University (OSU) is forming a consortium with industry,
academia and government to develop a new era of unmanned aerial systems
for remote sensing, to perform tasks that range from environmental
monitoring to fighting forest fires, protecting crops or aiding law
enforcement.
OSU and its partners will coordinate closely with
the Oregon Innovation Council to support unmanned aerial systems,
including their use in forest fire monitoring and response. The
university also expects to become part of a new national centre of
excellence, and make Oregon a focal point of an evolving, multi-billion
dollar industry, while enhancing academic research and student
education.
Officials will meet at OSU in early February to
organise both the consortium and an application for a new “test site”
for unmanned aerial research and development. Several of these will be
set up by 2015 under a mandate from Congress to the Federal Aviation
Administration.
Collaborators on all these efforts include
Economic Development of Central Oregon, community colleges, local
industry, the Regional Solutions Team and the state Department of
Aviation.
“Business, industry and other academic institutions are
joining OSU in this effort because we’ve been a national leader in the
science and technology of remote sensing for decades,” said Rick
Spinrad, OSU vice president for research. “Aerial and other unmanned
craft are just the newest application of remote sensing, and everyone
knows of our extensive expertise in that field.
“This holds
enormous promise for scientific research, important advances in land
management, and new jobs, educational programs and economic growth for
the state of Oregon,” Spinrad said.
The future of remote sensing
will no longer be limited to satellites or expensive, manned airplanes,
helicopters or terrestrial platforms, experts say. It will include a
multitude of new, unmanned instruments that fly, walk, swim or crawl,
and perform many valuable tasks at far less expense than today’s
technology. Their sophistication and low cost will allow a wide range of
applications that were never before possible.
The military has
already made extensive use of unmanned aircraft, organisers say, but the
civilian uses of related technology for remote sensing is just
beginning. And Oregon, which already has a large aviation industry in
such fields as helicopters, small aircraft, aviation components and
other technology, has an excellent opportunity to lead the science,
research and industrial development in this area.
Source: OSU
http://www.geospatialworld.net
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