Lexington Park, Md. —Ausley Associates, Inc. recently joined more than a dozen of the top Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) universities throughout the world and over 100 government and industry partners selected by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate the Center of Excellence for UAS (COE UAS) .
Ausley is the only industry partner from St. Mary’s County, Md., to be selected as a
teammate on the Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence
(ASSURE), the team that will operate the COE. ASSURE’s mission is to “provide the
FAA with the research they need to quickly, safely and efficiently integrate unmanned aerial systems into our National Airspace System with minimal changes to our current system.”
“We are extremely proud that the reputation of our skilled workforce led to Ausley’s
selection for this significant effort,” said Ausley President Paul Ausley. “We are a team of innovators helping to shape the future of unmanned systems development.”
According to the FAA, “The COE will focus on research, education and training in areas critical to safe and successful integration of UAS into the nation’s airspace. The COE research areas are expected to evolve over time, but initially will include: detect and avoid technology; low-altitude operations safety; control and communications; spectrum management; human factors; compatibility with air traffic control operations; and training and certification of UAS pilots and other crewmembers, in addition to other areas.”
“This world-class, public-private partnership will help us focus on the challenges and opportunities of this cutting-edge technology,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in the FAA’s release about the announcement. “We expect this team will help us to educate and train a cadre of unmanned aircraft professionals well into the future.”
The COE is expected to begin research in September 2015 and to be fully operational and engaged in a robust research agenda by January 2016. Congress appropriated $5 million for the five-year agreement with the COE, which will be matched one-for-one by the team members.