The Frontier of UAS Education

NC TC leads the nation in UAS technology

BY KRIS BEVILL

Students at Northland Community and Technical College’s unmanned aerial systems (UAS) maintenance training program learn UAS-specific maintenance concepts and operations. It is the only nationally certified program of its type in the U.S. PHOTO: NORTHLAND COMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE

Space may be “the final frontier,” for aviation exploration, but here on Earth, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) represent the new aviation frontier for many industries Over the next few years, as rules for the aircraft are finalized by the Federal Aviation Administration, the UAS industr y is expected to rapidly advance as sectors including energy and agriculture are allowed to begin exploring the real potential of this technology, primarily at six federal UAS test sites, where research and development hubs will be established for testing and product development by public and private institutions.

At the front of that pack will be the northern Plains, anchored by the Grand Forks, N D , test site and supported by a network of unmatched expertise that extends west to Devils Lake, N.D., south to Fargo, N.D., and east to Thief River Falls, Minn , where aviation maintenance training has been a mainstay for more than 50 years and UAS maintenance training has already been a successful part of the school’s curriculum for several years.

“I definitely think this is an area that has been well ahead of the power curve, looking at different opportunities well in advance of a lot of other areas and the ways we can address those through the college and university system to develop the programs that we know are going to be in high demand in coming years, ” says Jon Beck, UAS program manager at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls “UND (University of North Dakota) was the first university to offer a UAS pilot certificate program. We were the first on the maintenance side. Now, in the last year and a half, you ’ re starting to see colleges across the country start to offer different courses for UAS foundation classes, pilot certificates, maintenance certificates. So you ’ re seeing a lot of the academic side starting to follow suit and realize how big this industry is going to be and the importance of proper education and training for the technicians who are going to be utilizing these things ”

NCTC began pursuing support to provide UAS maintenance training in 2010 After securing a nearly $5 million U.S. Department of Labor grant, the college launched its UAS maintenance technician program in 2011, becoming the first in the nation to offer that type of training. It is currently the only nationally certified UAS maintenance training program in the U.S. and boasts program enrollment of about 19 students from all over the country

In 2011, the college recognized further opportunity to provide specialized training for the emerging UAS industry and secured a $4 7 million Department of Labor grant to develop a geospatial intelligence program, which includes imagery analysis (IA) training. That program launched in January 2013 and provides imagery analysis training using computers, full-motion video and still imagery, as well as training for data analysis, open source and dissemination techniques to provide the student with skills needed to perform a variety of analyst activities

About 56 students are currently enrolled in the geospatial intelligence program, bringing the total number of students receiving UAS-related training at NCTC this spring to about 75

Beck says temporary tuition waivers for the maintenance and IA programs, made possible by the labor department grants increased student interest in the programs, but interest is expected to continue to be strong after the tuition waiver ends (the UAS maintenance tuition waiver ended last summer and will end this fall for the IA program) as career opportunities continue to expand along with the industry.

Precision agriculture is expected to be among the first industries to commercialize UAS and education institutions and industry in the northern Plains are primed to lead the implementation Beck says NCTC is already working with many of Minnesota’s commodity grower groups as well as implement dealers that recognize the potential for small UAS to be used in agriculture and will need UAS technicians such as those produced at NCTC who understand the principles of imagery and can help develop more usable farm management products. “That’s definitely one of the big placement opportunities,” he says

This summer, NCTC will conduct a data collection project in Roseau County using hand-launched UAS devices developed by Mankato, Minn.-based Farm Intelligence UAS maintenance students will work on the equipment used in the project and will get to see how the equipment is used in precision ag while IA and geospatial intelligence students will help interpret the collected data A certificate of authorization from the FAA needed to be obtained before the college could conduct the project, a process which took two years to complete.

Other higher education institutions in the area are also working on precision ag-related UAS projects, and Beck says he hopes to continue collaborating with colleges and universities to share knowledge gained from those endeavors “I think there will be a tremendous amount of area to work together on these different projects that we have going on around small UAS and precision agriculture,” he says “I don’t think anyone has all the answers right now [or] the solution for what that impact is going to be.”

That collaborative nature has been fostered for years between NCTC and UND as they have implemented complimentary UAS training programs and it will likely continue as the schools work to meet the overall workforce needs of an emerging industry, from pilots to maintenance technicians and data analysts “We kind of cover the whole gamut of the new positions that are beginning to be developed,” Beck says. “As companies are looking at commercialization of UAS, which is just going to increase those opportunities, we continue to work with them very closely so that we ’ ve got one voice and one solution to answer all of those needs that are being created as we speak ” PB

Kris Bevill Editor, Prairie Business 701-306-8561, kbevill@prairiebizmag com