FAA conference at UND welcomes public to world of drones
Educators, police officers, students and FAA officials meet to share info, learn from one another
The Federal Aviation Administration’s Droning on: Great Lakes Edition event, drew students, educators, law-enforcement officials, and industry regulators to a three-day drone conference at UND, from Oct. 13 to 15.
For Sean Doyle, Great Lakes regional deputy administrator for the FAA, it was an opportunity to join in the discussion of the ever-evolving landscape of UAS, or uncrewed aerial systems.
“We really want to be a partner in the discussion, I think it’s the best way to say it,” Doyle said.
The Droning On event held at UND was part of a larger effort by the FAA to take part in conversations at its nine regions spread out through the United States. Each region, Doyle said, has unique use cases for drones. The FAA, in its role as regulator, needs to keep in touch with industry and academic partners to learn about the latest UAS initiatives, to safely integrate drones into the national air space.
“Here in North Dakota, you see a lot of agricultural use cases, which are really innovative and have a lot of really great potential,” Doyle said. “Different regions have different kinds of activities that UAS can be most beneficial for, so from the FAA’s perspective we’re definitely interested in understanding these use cases, seeing where the innovation is happening, and seeing where we can be involved.”
Preceded by Doyle at the podium set up in the atrium of Robin Hall was Robert Kraus, dean of the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences. Kraus welcomed attendees to the event and invited them to discuss their ideas with FAA administrators.
“At UND, we have a long history of working with the FAA on drone issues and welcome their regional and national representatives,” Kraus said. “Over the three-day conference, we’ll hear from a number of academic and government programs and experts on how uncrewed aerial systems opportunities are growing and opening doors to new careers.”
The conference featured more than 20 presentations and discussions. The first day of the event was dedicated to students and educators and was led off by a discussion on aviation and UAS careers. Universities including UND and others from across North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota presented about their programs.
Linda Burbidge, a professor at Dakota College at Bottineau, spoke about growing the UAS program at the college. There isn’t a lack of interest in drones, Burbidge said, but a lack of awareness of the program. She said funding from a United States Department of Agriculture grant helped the school buy more drones and will assist with outreach to high schools in the state. She is hoping to implement a dual credit course that will grow interest in UAS, leading to additional post-secondary education and ultimately a career.
“How many of you in high school knew you were interested in drones?” she asked. “No one, right? Did you even have an idea you could do that for a job?”
On the second day of the conference David Fulcher, director of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s National Air Security Operations Center located at Grand Forks Air Force Base, ran down the extensive list of CPB’s missions, from interdiction and patrolling to search and rescue and flood monitoring efforts. For the latter, Fulcher said CPB in Grand Forks has flown the entire length of the Mississippi River to Louisiana and back.
The final day of the conference was open to the public, and people interested in drones attended UAS 101 seminars held throughout the morning. People spoke with experts in attendance about how to get started using drones, and then watched flying demonstrations by UND’s Research Institute for Autonomous Systems, as well as other regional colleges.
