Alaska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Texas and Virginia will host research and test site operators for the Federal Aviation Administration as the agency seeks to further research unmanned aerial systems.Test site operations will continue through at least Feb. 13, 2017 under current law and each site operator is required to manage the locations in a way that other parties interested in the sites can have access, the FAA said Monday.
The FAA evaluated 25 proposals from 24 states during a 10-month selection process, through which the agency aimed to achieve cross-country geographic and climatic diversity.
Selected site operators include:
- University of Alaska
- State of Nevada
- New York’s Griffiss International Airport
- North Dakota Department of Commerce
- Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi
- Virginia Tech
Research areas encompass system safety, data gathering, aircraft certification, command and control link issues, control station layout and certification, ground and airborne sense and avoid, as well as environmental impacts.
