Though currently tucked away in a small corner of campus, a department at DU is doing some big work to help Colorado become a “pioneering” state in unmanned systems technology.
The DU Unmanned Systems Research Institute (DU2SRI), a program that has existed on campus since 2008, recently leased a hangar at the Front Range Airport to continue its work in the research and technological development of unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly referred to as UAVs.
The DU2SRI program focuses on building and technologically developing unmanned ground and aircraft systems, or sensor-based vehicles, for a variety of purposes including reconnaissance, wildlife preservation inspection, power line inspection, traffic monitoring and more. These vehicles are able to operate independently.
Not only does the program allow university students and faculty to research the development and application of these vehicles, but it also allows them to build and test model systems, a rare feature for most universities.
“A lot of the capability we are helping people with is taking this advanced research and actually applying it on real vehicles that work,” said Matt Rutherford, deputy director of the DU Unmanned Systems Laboratory.
“We do not conclude our research just by publishing a paper,” added Kimon Valavanis, director of the institute. “It is not just paper and pencil research. We develop prototype systems which are fully functional.”
Rutherford and Valavanis both joined DU and initiated development of the unmanned systems laboratory in 2008; both now run the facility.
The laboratory also hosts the work of 10 Masters students and between two and four undergraduates who all participate in research.
The lab also brings PHd students from worldwide to study, including current students hailing from Brazil, Italy, Greece, Portugal and other countries who are paid by their national governments to come to the University of Denver to participate in the research.
Now these researchers are planning to pick up and move their work to a new hangar leased at the Front Range Airport in early March. The new space will offer more room for prototype flight and testing.
“What we are trying to do with the establishment of the institute is that we are trying to be the focal point of research and development and activities within the state of Colorado,” said Valavanis. “To bring interested parties to do basic applied research development and also help the state of Colorado become a pioneering space in the aerospace industry.”
Rutherford and Valavanis said the department would begin moving into the hanger immediately. It will be fully functional within a couple of weeks.
“This allows our faculty and students to get out there and fly without the constraints of weather,” said Michael Keables, dean of the School of Engineering and Computer Sciences. “It also allows us to work with the folks at the Front Range Airport to fly some of the larger aircraft, which is a great opportunity for our students.”
Part of the funding for the hangar space will be supplied by the Adams County Economic Development Fund, while the rest will be paid for with funding from the Science and Engineering Department.
“Because our research involves experimentation, the appropriate terrain is essential,” said Valavanis. “We cannot do the experimentation within our offices or within a small lab on campus.”
However, the new hangar is not the only exciting development in the works for the unmanned systems institute.
The department is also working with the Front Range on its proposal to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for Colorado to be considered as one of six sites to be designated as a testing area for future integrated use of commercial drones. The six states will be appointed by the FAA in response to a direct congressional initiative announced in September.
The University of Denver is a stakeholder with the Front Range Airport, the testing site designated by the FAA project if the proposal is approved. The plan proposes development of a “Spaceport Colorado” for testing and eventual use of aircraft to offer commercial trips to space. Under the plan, DU would conduct systems research to assist the facility.
“Our role has not been determined, but we envision ourselves being part of the entity doing basic research. Our role will be education and basic research-related.” said Valavanis.
“There are lots of questions that have to be addressed in terms of policy and safety,” Keables said of the FAA mandate to incorporate UAV research. “Our work will be largely devoted to research.”
Dennis Heap, director of the Front Range Airport, said the benefits of this partnership would extend to both DU and the airport.
“It would open up the opportunity for DU to have access to more sites,” he said.
According to Heap, the University of Denver and Front Range Airport would continue a tenant relationship under this plan with DU financing its own research space.
Even if the proposal is not accepted, DU will continue its research from the recently-purchased hanger, and will even have the ability to test prototypes in open airspaces through working with the Front Range air traffic controller.
“No university that I know of has anything like this capability,” said Rutherford. “Everyone has been doing labs with high ceiling research. We could be the first to have this amount of space.”
The current program has been helped with a number of awarded grants, including being approved in late June for a grant from the National Science Foundation for $1.65 million.
According to Valavanis and Rutherford, the money was granted to DU out of hundreds of schools which applied after undergoing a thorough process of review for the school’s stated plan of use for the funding.
“It was a timely proposal because UAVs are everywhere right now. And what we proposed was novel, was challenging, it was well written,” said Valavanis. “The vast majority of all proposals that we write and that everyone writes do not get funded. The ones that do get funded stand on their own and are high quality.”
The funding was officially rewarded on Sept. 1, and will continue for three years while DU will match for $700,000, 30 percent of the reward, making the total amount of the grant $2.8 million. It was rewarded for the institute’s development of a unified helicopter landing platform.
According to Keables, a majority of the lab’s work is funded by research grants rather than coming directly from the university.
Though the idea of UAV research has been a controversial topic lately, Rutherford and Valavanis said they are excited for what the work being done at DU2SRI can bring.
However, they acknowledged that it may take time for people to adjust to the technology.
“The research we do is broadly applicable as scientists. We are trying to contribute to this science,” said Valavais. “We are interested in autonomous vehicles, we are not building weapons.”
Valavanis and Rutherford said they hope to help Colorado become a main site of UAV research and development to be looked to nationally within the next few years.
“We do this because we just love playing around with this technology,” said Rutherford.
