The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has earmarked $5.8 million to fund the unmanned aircraft system research and training efforts of universities under the agency’s Air Transportation Center of Excellence (CoE) for UAS program.
FAA said Wednesday that the grants will support its Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE) initiative which seeks to advance next-generation air travel and safely integrate drones into the National Airspace System.
The initial awardees of fiscal year 2021 ASSURE grants will perform research and development work on eight topic areas including air carrier operations, UAS cargo operations, high-bypass UAS engine ingestion, small UAS mid-air collision, sUAS navigation and detect-and-avoid technologies.
Steve Dickson, administrator of FAA, said each grant is meant to explore subject areas that could support the integration of unmanned air carriers while driving economic and transportation benefits. FAA currently has 13 CoEs that work to promote research into a range of aviation issues.