SYRACUSE — Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research (NUAIR) has recently changed leaders as it continues its work on drone testing at Griffiss International Airport in Rome. Michael Hertzendorf, who previously served as NUAIR’s chief of staff, has been named interim president and CEO, Elle Hanna, director of communications and media relations for CenterState CEO, said […]
SYRACUSE — Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research (NUAIR) has recently changed leaders as it continues its work on drone testing at Griffiss International Airport in Rome.
Michael Hertzendorf, who previously served as NUAIR’s chief of staff, has been named interim president and CEO, Elle Hanna, director of communications and media relations for CenterState CEO, said in an April 25 email response to a cnybj inquiry.
NUAIR is an organizational partner of CenterState CEO and manages one of seven Federal Aviation Administration-designated UAS test sites in the country. NUAIR is a Syracuse–based coalition of New York and Massachusetts aerospace and academic institutions.
UAS is short for unmanned aircraft system. 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 (UAV).
Hertzendorf assumes the duties previously held by Major General Marke (Hoot) Gibson (ret). cnybj asked CenterState CEO why Gibson departed NUAIR, but the organization’s email reply didn’t offer any details about the reason for the leadership change. Instead, it focused on the organization’s progress and the work ahead of it.
“Over the past two years, NUAIR has been focused on the operational aspects of building a one of a kind unmanned traffic management 50-mile corridor. As we near completion of this critical global asset, expected to be finalized this fall, we continue to engage with partners and industry leaders, as well as identify customers ready to begin using our leading-edge UAS test site … The Central New York region is well positioned and continues to make ground-breaking advances for the unmanned-systems sector,” Hanna said in her statement.
Service suppliers
NUAIR on April 25 announced that the organization and the New York UAS test site at Griffiss International Airport have deployed five service suppliers for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the New York UAS corridor.
The suppliers include AirMap, ANRA Technologies, AGI/OneSky, Thales, and Unifly.
Each of the UAS service suppliers bring their expertise in live flight tracking, real-time situational awareness, flight data exchange mechanisms, analytics, UAS traffic management (UTM) and more.
ANRA Technologies
NUAIR and Griffiss on March 18 announced they had implemented the UAS traffic management (UTM) platform from ANRA Technologies into the New York State UAS (unmanned-aircraft system) test site.
The UTM implementation “advances” the test site’s capabilities by “enhancing” multiple, simultaneous beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations that involve both manned and unmanned vehicles sharing the same airspace, NUAIR said.
ANRA Technologies has offices in Tysons, Virginia; Chevy Chase, Maryland; and New Delhi, India.
Unifly
The organizations on Aug. 27, 2018 announced a new partnership with Unifly as part of its drone-research efforts. Unifly is an Antwerp, Belgium–based company with a software application that enables unmanned traffic management (UTM) systems to “visualize and manage” drone traffic in airspace.
Thales
NUAIR signed a multi-year collaboration agreement with Thales, a firm that focuses on UTM, per a Sept. 24, 2018 news release on the Thales website.
The agreement supports NUAIR’s efforts to try to safely integrate unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into traditional, controlled airspace and supports its ability to conduct operations at its New York UAS test site’s 50-mile UTM corridor.
Thales established a presence in Central New York at Syracuse University in 2017 as part of a broader UTM initiative to partner with organizations in advancing UTM globally.
Thales is working with NUAIR at the Griffiss test site to examine how advancement in UTM could provide a “glimpse into future airspace-automation capabilities.” Thales will do this by integrating the entire airspace situation into its software product for NUAIR to enable the tracking of unmanned flights and keep operators a safe distance from manned aviation.
AirMap
NUAIR and Griffiss on Sept. 13, 2018 announced they had selected Santa, Monica, California–based AirMap to provide UTM services at the Griffiss UAS test site.
They made the announcement at the New York UAS Symposium held that week at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona and at the Griffiss test site in Rome.
NUAIR describes AirMap as a global UTM platform. It will provide UTM services to “visualize, manage, and support” drone operations at the drone test site.
OneSky
NUAIR is also working with Exton, Pennsylvania–based OneSky. On the firm’s LinkedIn page, OneSky contends that its “enterprise-ready, software solutions use industry-leading analytics to ensure safe, compliant and efficient drone flights beyond a pilot’s visual line of sight (BVLOS) and within the same airspace as other manned and unmanned aircraft. Leveraging 30 years of modeling, simulation and 3D visualization experience from Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI), we place powerful predictive and real-time capabilities into the hands of platform and payload manufacturers, ground control software providers and commercial UAS operators.”