benefit the government sector and
The program will
Photo courtesy of ScanEagle UAS produced by Insitu, Inc. and ISR Group
U
nmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are already big business for the military, but the commercial side of UAS is ready for takeoff, too. More law enforcement agencies are using drones for surveillance, and, as technology advances, UAS could be used for search-and-rescue operations or even to monitor crops on large farms.
Tennessee’s economy as well”
ISR Group, located in Savannah, Tenn., is a business specializing in UAS field service operations and training for military applications. It wants to tap into the fledgling commercial UAS market, but the FAA currently won’t allow drones in the national airspace unless they are used for The launch of a UAS program at MTSU could law enforcement or research. not have come at a better time for students, A multiyear partnership agreement between says program director Kyle Snyder. Those MTSU and ISR, signed in February, has who study UAS now will be ready to go into business selling and operating the systems something for everyone, Snyder says. MTSU gains access to ISR’s expertise and just as the commercial market emerges. facilities and gets corporate funding to The program will benefit the government establish a UAS curriculum. ISR wins entrée sector and Tennessee’s economy as well, into the commercial market through its says Snyder. research with MTSU. And the FAA captures The Federal Aviation Administration has rare data because (unlike UAS programs seen the UAS trend coming, but it needs at most universities, which tend to be solid research to determine how to integrate located near military bases) MTSU is in drones into the nation’s airspace. unrestricted airspace.
Dornan says he’s still waiting to hear that conversation at home. “People don’t realize they’ve got one of the best aviation programs—I would argue the best—in the entire country, right here in Murfreesboro,” he says. “It bothers me a little to be the best-kept secret in the United States. It bothers me a lot to be the best-kept secret in Tennessee. And it drives me crazy to be the best-kept secret in Rutherford County.”
Super sim That secret may not be safe for long. In MTSU’s $3.4 million ATC lab, the new facility that Rath toured, students learn air
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In short, MTSU is uniquely positioned to help develop the commercial side of UAS. And Snyder, who worked for years in aerospace product development, is uniquely positioned to leverage that experience. “I can take my knowledge, all those connections, and say, ‘Hey, you at John Deere, you’re wondering if we can provide an application that tells you when you need to apply nitrogen. Well, we can go do that research. We can fly to MTSU farms and do exactly that.” Since his hire, Snyder has been busy building a curriculum along with lucrative business partnerships. The Department of Aerospace began offering an introductory UAS course this fall. MTSU
traffic control in a simulated environment that has never been possible before—even at the FAA’s own simulator in Atlantic City, N.J. “I’ve been to the FAA tech center,” Rath says, “and the tower simulator is just two big flat-screen TVs. It covers about 100 degrees of visibility. It really pales in comparison.” The full-scale tower at MTSU is a quiet, darkened, circular room, 30 feet in diameter, where students direct landings and takeoffs while checking radar screens, watching runways, and scanning the horizon for arrivals. That horizon is a 360-degree screen onto which a seamless vista is generated by 10 high-definition digital projectors. On the panoramic screen are interactive scenarios written by aerospace faculty; they can specify traffic patterns and