The University of Alaska at Fairbanks is an exciting hotbed of UAV applications testing. For nearly 15 years the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration has been exploring practical uses for UAV including:
The Pan-Pacific UAS Test Range Complex is one of six official FAA test sites in the United States. The PPUTRC spans seven climate zones, allowing UAS manufacturers and potential users to test their equipment in the Arctic, the tropics and arid environments. Managed by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the test site builds upon ongoing work of the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration (ACUASI), which is part of the UAF Geophysical Institute.
In 2013 ACUASI submitted its proposal to the FAA for one of the six test sites established by the 2012 FAA Modernization and Reform Act, and in December 2013 the FAA announced that the University had been selected.
The ING Responder, equipped with its stabilized, gimbal mounted camera systems, can provide real time still and video images in both visual and infrared sections of the spectrum. Mosaicking and the production of 3D imagery are readily possible. The flexibility of the system allows for future technology advancements such as integration of new sensors.
UAV and UAS are rapidly finding fantastic new applications to save lives and report and sense remote, dangerous or inaccessible areas.
