The NOAA UAS Program and DOI’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) co-hosted the quarterly meeting of the Tribal Interest Group for UAS on November 14th. The NOAA UAS Program and DOI’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) co-hosted the quarterly meeting of the Tribal Interest Group for UAS on November 14th. Several tribal and non-tribal representatives were present and discussed current Native American UAS operations, future concepts of operations and STEM opportunities. John “JC” Coffey led

Government teams meet at the NASA HQ on November 15-16 to coordinate 2018 inter-agency scientific aircraft operations. The NOAA UAS Program briefed the Interagency Coordinating Committee for Airborne Geosciences Research and Applications (ICCAGRA) on November 15th and 16th. The ICCAGRA was established to improve cooperation, foster awareness, facilitate communication among sponsoring agencies having airborne platforms and instruments for research and applications, and serve as a resource to senior level management on airborne geosciences issues. The

British Embassy hosts panel on 09 Nov 2017. The proliferation of innovative unmanned technologies to improve productivity, bolster safety and create new business opportunities has accelerated over the past several years.  Unfortunately, these developments have also introduced new capabilities for adversaries.  The panel explored the emerging issues associated with drones and unmanned systems from a military perspective, including spectrum, safety and solutions, and discuss how to best capture lessons learned in theater to protect our

Channel Island National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) and Collaborative Center for Unmanned Technologies (CCUT) staff supported the planning and execution of a UAS-based oil on water imaging project in the Santa Barbara Channel from October 30 – November 2, 2017.  Participants in this exercise included Chevron Technology Corp, NOAA ORR, California Office of Oil Spill Prevention & Response (OSPR), American Aerospace Technologies, Inc. (AATI) and AeroVironment, inc. The project’s objectives were to test and evaluate the

UAS Arctic Wind Tunnel testing is in preparation for the Joint Inter-Agency 2018 Arctic UAS Missions. The NOAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Program coordinated with NASA Ames and Glenn and industry for UAS Arctic Wind Tunnel Testing for small UAS. This UAS Arctic Wind Tunnel testing is in preparation for the Joint Inter-Agency 2018 Arctic UAS Missions.  The wind tunnel will produce ice shapes and impingement shape for UAS including the The DataHawk, the ArcticShark, and the

NOAA UAS Program SBIR Partner exceeds several shipboard UAS requirements. Long range and endurance are capabilities not often associated with VTOL aircraft. But Aerovel’s unmanned Flexrotor, a unique miniature tailsitter, is cut from a different cloth. Last week a Flexrotor named for the sea nymph Actaea lifted off into a grey and rainy morning with 7.5 kg of fuel onboard. It transitioned from hover to wing-borne flight, and soldiered on through a showery day, a blustery

Report for the NOAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Program Office The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Program teaming with the National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Forecast Offices (WFO) analyzed the observational requirements for post-hazard damage assessment (PDA), or “damage surveys” to determine an approaches to acquire unique, affordable PDA imagery using UAS. In addition to providing other viable benefits for NWS WFOs, this technology may be applicable to assessing damage

Michael Kratsios, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer, The White House Keynotes at the Conference The NOAA UAS Program briefed the 2017 Drone World Expo in San Jose, CA October 2nd to 5th.  Thought leaders, industry experts and end-users gathered at Drone World Expo in the heart of Silicon Valley to present real-world solutions to business and environmental challenges.  UASs have provided the capability to capture data for applications including

NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management (OCM) with NOAA UAS Program Continues UAS Surveys of National Estuarine Research Reserves (NERR). NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management (OCM) with NOAA UAS Program Continues UAS Surveys of National Estuarine Research Reserves (NERR).   In September 2017, the team collected Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data and digital imagery using Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) at the San Francisco Bay NERR.  This is the third NERR survey in the past year as

Her award winning career with NASA and NOAA culminates with the formation of the NOAA UAS Program and successful introduction of UAS to NOAA. UAS Program Director, Robbie Hood retired on September 29th after 30 Years of Government Service.  Her award winning career with NASA and NOAA culminated with the formation of the NOAA UAS Program and successful introduction of UAS to NOAA. While she led the program through numerous “First-of-a-Kind” milestones, SHOUT was the

“Alaska – Our Aircraft Carrier in the Arctic!” The NOAA UAS Program briefed the 2017 Alaska UAS Interest Group Conference in Fairbanks, AK, September 12th-15th.  The Alaska UAS Interest Group Meeting is the premier event for keeping up with developments in the UAS industry in Alaska and beyond.  With the Arctic playing a more important role in international trade, search and rescue logistics, and natural resource extraction than ever before, the program coordinated an Arctic UAS Workshop in January 2017 in support of the Year

The HOPE-EPOCH campaign was a NASA program manager training opportunity directed at training NASA young scientists in conceiving, planning and executing a major airborne science field program. Additional flight hours were provided by NASA Airborne Science and NOAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program Office (UASPO) when the full potential of the program was realized in terms of conducting a combined hurricane genesis science investigation and at the same time testing the Global Hawk (GH) Unmanned Aerial

SHOUT mission successes highlighted at the inter-agency conference. The NOAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Program briefed UNOL’s Scientific Committee for Oceanographic Aircraft Research (SCOAR) on the recent mission successes and lessons learned over the past year.   The results of the SHOUT satellite gap mitigation study and UAS shipboard operations were highlighted by John “JC” Coffey supporting NOAA.  The UAS shipboard Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) were the focus on the second day of the conference.   The

Global Hawk 2015 & 2016 hurricane data is made publicly available for advanced research and analysis. The NOAA UAS Data Management Plan (DMP) was developed within the framework of the Environmental Data Management Committee (EDMC) for handling UAS instrumentation package data and covers acquisition, ingest, quality control, integration, visualization and archiving. Recommendations from that plan were used to prototype and demonstrate all phases of the UAS data lifecycle from real-time operations to post analysis and

Tribal Interest Group for UAS Webinar Discusses Common Interests and the Warm Springs Tribes FAA UAS Test Site. The NOAA UAS Program and DOI’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) co-hosted the quarterly meeting of the Tribal Interest Group for UAS on August 3rd. Several tribal and non-tribal representatives were were present and discussed current Native American UAS operations, future concepts of operations and STEM opportunities. NOAA’s Robbie Hood and John “JC” Coffey led the webinar from