A crew member prepares to launch a UAS during a demonstration for the county commissioners.
California, MD — Break out the cake and champagne. The University of Maryland Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Test Site at the St. Mary’s County Airport will be two years old Friday, Aug. 5. The 12,000-square-foot research hanger includes three test bays, direct access to the runway, conference rooms, offices and production spaces, and a systems integration lab.
In its two years the site has expanded rapidly, now with 33 projects being executed or in development. The 33 projects involved 30 vehicles, also known generically as drones. The short history and bright future has proven the site has been true to its stated vision: “A world where unmanned aircraft systems are safely and responsibly used to improve lives.”
The Commissioners of St. Mary’s County Aug. 2 got a first-hand look at what’s going on at the test site with a briefing, tour and UAS demonstrations on the airport runways. Their tour conductor was Matt Scassero, who single handedly sold his vision of a UAs future for St. Mary’s County to the community and to the university.
Maryland joined with Virginia and New Jersey to win one of the six test sites chosen around the country, with the St. Mary’s County Airport site being Maryland’s hub. Scassero told the commissioners that two of the six sites chosen are getting ready to drop out, putting St. Mary’s in a position to be a national leader.
The key companion in the Mid-Atlantic test site. of which the University of Maryland is part, is Virginia Tech, Scassero said. “It is very much a collaborative effort,” he proclaimed.
Customers for the test site have been a mix of military and commercial clients. Scassero said the Navy is becoming more interested in participating and he added Special Forces has also been a customer. The work with Patuxent Naval Air Station involves airworthiness, flight operations and the contracting process.
The test site is also doing work with agriculture/aquaculture, public safety and in airport intrusion detection. In the realm of public safety Scassero said the applications are “limited only by imagination.”
The test site is also working with other University of Maryland researchers in their grant funding. For instance, they worked on an anthropology project in which they looked at foliage from above.
Future projects on the horizon for the test site include sensors of all types, collaborative control and cargo, according to Scassero.
After a briefing for the commissioners in the test site’s meeting room, Scassero conducted a tour of the facility, showing some of the work being done by interns from the University of Maryland, from various engineering disciplines. One of the projects involved a UAV that can dive underwater and collect data.
The commissioners and staff then followed Scassero over to the airport terminal and out onto the tarmac to view three UAV demonstrations, including a longer flight that was pre-programmed and included a pinpoint landing on the runway. Scassero explained that most UAV flights start with someone holding the aircraft and manually launching it into the air.
During the flight demonstrations Scassero, in introducing the crew running them. said “There is nothing unmanned about UAS.”
The tour was cosponsored by the St, Mary’s County Department of Economic Development. The UAS test site is being held out as a vanguard of an explosion in an industry with a bright future for the country, with St. Mary’s County well-positioned to cash in economically on that future.
Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com
