Wright State Research Institute makes first drone flight

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Scientists from Wright State Research Institute went to Wilmington Air Park this week to perform its first UAS test. The test — a collaborative effort between the institute and the Ohio/Indiana Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center — used a 1.5 pound, model-plane sized aircraft piloted by Dayton based 3D Aerial Solutions.

Joe Cogliano

Senior Reporter- Dayton Business Journal

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Wright State Research Institute flew its first unmanned aircraft this week.

Scientists from the institute went to Wilmington Air Park to gather data for flight simulators to support on-going university research efforts. This was the first flight conducted under a recently awarded Certificate of Authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The test — a collaborative effort between the institute and the Ohio/Indiana Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center — used a 1.5 pound, model-plane sized aircraft piloted by Dayton based 3D Aerial Solutions.

"The ability to generate high accuracy imagery while collecting data rapidly and at a low cost has broad applicability to many organizations and could even be utilized by other test sites," said Bruce Preiss, lead research engineer at the institute.

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This week's test is a big milestone for the school, the Dayton region and Ohio, which have been pushing to break into the emerging unmanned systems industry. Federal permission to fly the systems, commonly referred to as drones or UAS', is difficult to get but necessary for the research and development work that would benefit this area.

The Ohio/Indiana Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center is working to expand the number of FAA approvals for testing and research at Wilmington Air Park and elsewhere across Ohio.

"We will continue to develop added infrastructure to support a safe and cost effective research and development environment, which will provide the foundation for this emerging industry," said Dick Honneywell, the center's executive director.

Reports project the UAS market will be an $82 billion dollar industry with a potential to create approximately 100,000 jobs over the next 10 years.