New York drone test site in Rome using $1.6M federal grant for UTM work

ROME — The New York UAS test site at Griffiss International Airport in Rome is using a federal grant of $1.6 million for work on unmanned traffic management (UTM).

UAS is short for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). A UAS includes a drone and equipment used to control its flight. A drone is also referred to in the industry as an unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV.

The contract from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is part of the FAA’s efforts to perform “vital” drone-integration safety work at federally-designated UAS test sites. The project was awarded after a competitive acquisition process and intended for “qualified companies who can work at FAA UAS testing sites to forward essential integration technologies such as sense and avoid capabilities, geofencing, and unmanned traffic management.”

Beavercreek, Ohio–based CAL Analytics will lead a team of five commercial companies in the development of a single, integrated contingency management platform (CMP) for unmanned aircraft integration, per a news release about the grant.

Together with NUAIR and Oneida County, the companies will integrate and test their CMP technology to address specific safety and risk-mitigation concerns for operating UAS in the national airspace at the New York UAS test site.

Syracuse–based nonprofit NUAIR is short for Northeast UAS Aerospace Integration Research. NUAIR manages operations of the drone test site, formally known as the New York UAS test site. 

Cyber-physical systems-of-systems, like UTM, rely on a “multitude” of data from various sources to make decisions, often with “real-world” safety implications. The CMP will offer protection protocols and situational awareness, alerting operators of faults, failures, and severe weather to help ensure the safe flight of all unmanned aircraft.

CAL Analytics will lead system integration, which combines monitoring and mitigation software from ResilienX of Syracuse; micro-weather services from TruWeather, also of Syracuse; cybersecurity software provided by Assured Information Security (AIS) of Rome; and situational-awareness display systems from Kongsberg Geospatial of Ottawa, Ontario.

“Performance authorizations, identified in v2 of the FAA’s UTM CONOPS, will lead to scalable, routine commercial drone operations, a goal of the UAS corridor in New York,” Andrew Carter, president and chief technology officer of ResilienX, said. “ResilienX is providing safety assurance though health monitoring and fault-mitigation software to maintain a safe level of performance through encountered faults, failures or adverse conditions, enabling these complex ecosystems.”

ResilienX currently has operations at the Syracuse Tech Garden, per its website.

“This partnership further solidifies Oneida County’s UAS test site as the global leader in industry research and advancement,” Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente, Jr. said in the NUAIR release. “The unmanned traffic management corridor we have been establishing from Rome to Syracuse is laying the groundwork for the future of UAS deployment, performance, safety and delivery capabilities.”

NUAIR will manage validation testing, the organization said. The team will also leverage the state’s 50-mile UAS corridor installed with radars and advanced technologies to facilitate advanced drone operations.

“Having a reliable UTM health and monitoring function is a key element in the safe integration and commercialization of unmanned aircraft,” Andy Thurling, chief technology officer at NUAIR, said in a statement. “CAL, ResilienX, and TruWeather continue to be integral partners of NUAIR and the New York UAS Test Site, and we look forward to advancing routine, commercial UAS operations utilizing this program.”