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Weekly UpdatesEvergreen Helicopters Inc., an Evergreen Aviation International company, is hot on the trail of a budding new industry--operating Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in conditions deemed hazardous for manned aircraft.
With increasing interest in oil and gas exploration offshore in Alaska's Beaufort and Chukchi seas, and the need to monitor forest fires and whale and wildlife migration patterns and population counts, the opportunities for the UAS seem boundless.
"There are all kinds of potential markets for this technology," said Nicole Whitmire, EHI's media representative and a member of the Unmanned Systems sales team. "These systems can provide border patrol, monitor whale populations, and map geophysical changes. Applications present themselves daily, based on the capabilities of the payload onboard the UAS.
"The most immediate issue right now is obtaining permission to fly," Whitmire said. "The Federal Aviation Administration is working hard to update regulations to adequately and safely cover the unmanned systems, but until they do, civilian and commercial organizations must work with the FAA to obtain Certificates of Authorization."
The University of Alaska, along with Insitu Inc. of Bingen, Wash., is testing these drones as a way to offer additional safety to pilots--drones can fly over the remote ice fields and open water that make manned flights so dangerous--and testing is currently under way at the university's Poker Flat range.
FAA ONBOARD
In June 2006, the two organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding in which the university purchased Insitu's Insight unmanned aerial vehicle to fly test demonstrations targeted to finding out how the drone can be used in Alaska, and how it operates in Alaska conditions. Under this MOU, Insitu will continue to provide the university with upgrades over the next three years, as technology improves.
"We've signed contracts with the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy to help develop new regulations for these aircraft," said Greg Walker, manager of the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Poker Flat Range.
"Flying them in Alaska is ideal," Walker said. "Our airspace is less congested, and this enhances safety as the work matures.
"We're also working to identify the hurdles that must be overcome for a new operation to become financially feasible, testing the technology that can be loaded onto the craft as payloads, and identifying new uses for the technology," Walker added.
Insitu's Insight weighs about 40 pounds, has a 10-foot wingspan and can fly more than 20 hours at a time on a gallon and a half of gas. While the aircraft performs a variety of missions, its pilot is not onboard. Instead, the pilot operates the system from a ground station that may be up to 100 kilometers (62 miles) away.
CIVILIAN MATTERS
"There's a need to find out how to use these planes cost-effectively in the civilian world," Walker said, "how to make them a viable new way to do business. There's also a need to update the regulations. FAA takes the position that they don't want to increase risk to manned aircraft, so we're working with them to integrate the two types of aircraft safely."
Walker pointed out that all legal operations of the drones in the United States thus far have been by the government, or have been government-sponsored.
"Since our work is research-related and we operate as the government, we can, therefore, receive an exception from the FAA's standing regulations," Walker said, "but our work is all research-related."
That research will provide new information that will aid Evergreen's customers. One of the anticipated outcomes from these test flights is cost-effectiveness.
"We don't know how much civilian flights will cost right now," said Walker. "We plan to find that out.
"Very few places can afford to experiment with this technology for civilian use," Walker added. "We know what it costs for the military, because they've been using it. But here we can do just-in-time inventory, for example, so no one really has a handle on costs."
As these questions are answered, and as Insitu continues to develop the technology, Evergreen, of McMinnville, Ore., is already working with customers to develop commercial flights.
Insitu also produces ScanEagle UAS, a sister to Insight. The ScanEagle has been in use by the military in Iraq, and has more than 30,000 hours in flight, said Steve Nordlund, vice president for business development of Insitu Inc.
"In Canada, we're currently doing magnetic geophysical surveys with a magnetometer payload," Nordlund said, "and the UAS is also equipped with day and nighttime cameras for video survey. This is being done for a commercial customer, and we see many opportunities for our technologies in Alaska.
"What's unique about Insitu," Nordlund added, "is that we've been focused on using these aircraft in military operations and now we're also focused on transferring those technologies to commercial use. The military has helped refine the technology, so commercial customers can benefit from that."
In August of 2006, Evergreen and ConocoPhillips saw the first use of a UAS to do whale monitoring--in answer to the government's requirement to shut down operations when exploration gets within a certain sound range of the whales.
According to Whitmire, Evergreen works with Insitu to match the UAS and its payload to the customer's needs.
WORLDWIDE PARTNERSHIPS
"We're currently working to develop projects with commercial partners around the globe," Whitmire added. "There is a worldwide commercial market for UAS, and the FAA recognizes that the U.S. commercial market isn't far behind. This is why they're working hard to address the issues of airspace.
"This is a very exciting time with all the work being done by the New Mexico State University (which is helping to develop the new UAS regulations), by the FAA, and by the University of Alaska with Insitu. Alaska's airspace likely will open before the rest of the country, and this will bring an influx of technology to Alaska," Whitmire said.
Evergreen, in partnership with Insitu and other partners, plans to be ahead of the game when that happens. Insitu will be able to provide the tested UAS technology, and Evergreen will have the experience, safety and operational quality to operate those systems.
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