Sky Is The Limit

A day when it’s commonplace to see unmanned aircraft delivering packages, mapping farm fields and performing other tasks is still in the future, Kurt Barnhart said, but there is a huge upside to this growing industry.

“It’s probably even more potential than we realize,” said Barnhart, associate dean for research at the Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus in Salina.

Some five years ago, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International ranked Kansas seventh out of the top 10 states with major opportunity in unmanned aerial systems.

The AUVSI predicted that by 2025, the UAS industry would provide Kansas more than $2.9 billion in economic impact, $29 million in tax revenue and 3,716 jobs.

For now, however, the industry is in a fledgling stage. Employment in UAS is far short of those expectations, but progress is evident, said Durant Bridges, assistant professor in unmanned aircraft systems at K-State Polytechnic, where about 100 students are pursuing various UAS degrees.

“Our graduates don’t have any trouble finding jobs,” he said. “Most have jobs lined up or are interviewing during their senior year.”

Companies are starting to build UAS departments and infrastructure, and Bridges is confident those 3,700-plus jobs are reachable.

“I think we’re on track for that,” he said.

State competing

Kansas is among several states vying to be the nation’s go-to place for unmanned aircraft systems, said Bob Brock, director of aviation for the Kansas Department of Transportation. He often visits the K-State Polytechnic campus.

“A handful of new companies have sprouted up across the state,” Brock said.

Solid employment numbers aren't available, he said, but development is happening.

 “We’ve established ourselves as a leader in a number of impacted areas in this industry,” Brock said. “The opportunity is here and the people are willing.”

It’s not a matter of whether, but where.

“We are in a very hot competition with other states to capture this industry,” Brock said. “It’s going to the state that’s the most ready.”

Considering what’s possible, Barnhart figures that ceiling set by AUVSI to be even higher for Kansas.

“It’s kind of like a mushroom. It grows under your nose without you realizing how fast it’s growing,” he said.

Workers in training

A workforce is in training, Brock said. People are learning to fly drones; gather, transmit and interpret data, and then archive it.

“Every one of those elements represents a new job opportunity,” he said. “The more we put investment, time and manpower behind those elements, the more Kansas becomes a source of economic development for the country.”

Industry players have surfaced on the K-State Polytechnic campus, Barnhart said, such as contract workers who inspect towers and turbines at an area wind farm.

“We have lost count of the numbers of companies in Kansas with this as a significant part of their business plan,” he said. “I think the big hurdle that some people thought is the regulatory challenge to integrating this technology into the airspace.”

Jobs are growing, said Kurt Carraway, UAS executive director of the Applied Aviation Research Center at K-State Polytechnic. He is a retired Air Force colonel who piloted the Global Hawk, the Defense Department’s largest UAV.

“One of the things we’re seeing emerge is the continued availability of various positions in commercial UAS nationwide,” Carraway said.

Telecommute popular

Among the trends that’s becoming more prevalent is telecommuting, he said, with flexibility in terms of the job prospect’s location.

“They’re deployed for two weeks. They travel to a location, collect aerial data and go back to their home office and process data,” he said. “A lot of graduates have an entrepreneurial spirit and are starting up their own businesses. The third one is small businesses starting up and expressing interest in hiring our graduates, in some cases within Kansas, or they may have to relocate.”

KDOT has hired K-State graduates to work with UAS, Barnhart said.

Federal regulators have picked up the pace as well.

“The FAA a couple years ago really changed its level of engagement with the industry and said, ‘We want to try to find a way to remove the barriers. We just have to do it safely.’ They have really opened up airspace and opportunity. For the FAA, this really has been lightning speed,” Barnhart said, likening it historically to when jet aircraft started flying in the late 1950s.

“The jets were so much faster, and there was a learning curve for everybody,” he said.

Similar to now, Barnhart said, there is “just a seismic shift in the industry. It really is just a matter of time.”

Regulations limit

Carraway envisions the industry expanding rapidly once the rules are written.

“The continued expansion of the FAA regulatory framework is only going to make the UAS industry more and more attractive,” he said.

Current regulations are limiting factors, Barnhart said.

“We still can’t fly long distances. It’s still very restricted to flying as far as you can see, which isn’t very far, and flying at 400 feet or less,” he said. “But at some point we will have a set of regulations where you can do that.”

Barnhart pointed to the Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 107, which allows persons to obtain a drone pilot certification and begin to make money with a small UAS.

“That’s really the tip the market,” he said. “The real money is still pent up in the larger UAS operations. Operating outside of Part 107 requires waivers and policy exceptions.”

Generally, Barnhart agrees that the UAS market is largely untapped.

“With the large (unmanned aircraft) it will be at least five years before that can start happening, and once that happens you can start flying regular aircraft missions with UAS,” he said.

Kansas advantage

Kansas is in the running to take a lead in creating rules for integrating unmanned aircraft into the national airspace. KDOT has applied to to become one of the lead agencies, according to a Feb. 11 Salina Journal article. If chosen, the state will gain an edge in attracting UAS-related jobs.

Being situated in the middle of farm country gives Kansas and Salina a major advantage.

“Agriculture remains the largest market for UAS applications,” Barnhart said. “It’s not just the flying part, but whether we can turn an image into a prescriptive solution for the grower and make it economically advantageous to use this technology. Right now, there is a lot of science that has to be developed to take what we see and sense and turn into practical solutions on a scale that becomes affordable and accessible. Once we figure that out, it’s a matter of technology catching up. There will be a lot of agronomists working with that data.”

Farming applications

Gypsum-area farmer Justin Knopf is convinced unmanned aircraft systems will benefit his industry, but it’s not yet time.

“It’s still on farmers’ radars and still being developed by companies and university research,” he said. “There will be companies that offer service with these applications.”

For example, Knopf expects groups, such as crop consultants, flying drones to judge how a crop’s stand has established after planting, or detecting disease outbreaks, rather than driving around or walking through a field to scout the process.

“One company provides the sensor that flies over the crop. It pushes the data to another company that converts it into products that the farmer can use to make decisions about his crop all the way along that value chain,” KDOT’s Brock said.

Those abilities will “make us more profitable,” Knopf said. “The bottom line is it gives us more efficient and quick access to a broader scale of information to make more informed decisions to either save or make more money. If a management practice is warranted, then you’re more confident in the return on investment of that expense.”

Opportunities exist

Some producers may own their own drones and do research in-house, Knopf said, but he predicts companies like CropQuest will someday offer those services. 

Satellite imagery is also improving, Knopf said, and may be in the running to facilitate farming decisions.

Regardless of where it comes from, he said the latest technology “will continue to be more applicable to farmers.”

Even with current restrictions and the need for advancement, opportunities are out there, Barnhart said, especially for UAVs weighing less than 55 pounds.

“If you can get the right contract or drum up enough business, you can make it work,” he said. “People are definitely employed on our campus and I can point to surrounding communities. It’s starting to pop.”

Program growing

Brian Wynne, president and CEO of AUVSI, quoted Federal Aviation Administration figures that nearly "60,000 remote pilots have been certified to fly in the United States, and expect more than 400,000 unmanned aircraft to be flying for commercial purposes over the next five years, a five-fold increase,” he wrote in late 2017.

Academically, K-State Polytechnic’s UAS program has grown from four students in an experimental course in the fall of 2007 to 100 students pursuing four-year degrees in unmanned aircraft operations and engineering technology. The first bachelor’s degree option in UAS was put forth in 2010, Barnhart said, and today is one of the strongest programs on campus, with professional pilot.

“We’ve seen a lot of two-year colleges in Kansas and around the country with this on their radar at some level, hoping to use (UAS) as a support technology,” he said, mentioning wind turbine inspection as an example.

Without a doubt, UAS is loaded with possibilities in Kansas.

“This is a very exciting time,” Brock said. “The states that move the smartest and the fastest will create the most jobs.”

FACTOIDS:

AUVSI’s Unmanned Systems magazine’s November-December edition highlighted a number of developments in the industry, including:

• Agriculture is experiencing labor shortages in parts of the nation, and producers are turning to robots and drones, a story in the magazine reads.

• Researchers from Johns Hopkins University medical school have transported human blood supplies 161 miles across an Arizona desert using a Latitude Engineering HQ-40 UAS, setting a new delivery record for medical unmanned systems. The drone was able to maintain temperature control during the three-hour flight, so the samples were viable for lab testing after landing.

Bob Brock of KDOT, mentioned a company, Zipline, that uses drones to deliver blood and medical supplies daily in Rwanda.

• Harvest Automation, based in New Hampshire, has joined the push for more automation in agriculture, producing and selling the HV-100 for approximately $3,200 since late 2013. It uses sensors and “behavior-based robotics.” The HV-100 is in charge of “spacing and aligning plants when they are potted, when they begin to grow, when they need to be protected from inclement weather, when the season changes and when they are ready for shipment,” and collects data for growers.

Each HV-100 replaces roughly one worker, according to Charlie Grinnell, Harvest Automation CEO and cofounder.

A number of crop applications were covered, with precision crop spraying getting specific attention.

• Drones were part of the recovery from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in 2017.

Drones dropped out of surveillance planes “gave researchers an ‘unprecedented view’ of Hurricane Maria;  providing ’near real-time, potentially life-saving data.’ ”

Forecasters were given the ability to “predict the storm’s intensity from a safe distance.”

• The radio industry is using drones to inspect towers and antennas.

Sam Wallington, vice president of engineering at Educational Media Foundation, shared what he’s learned in a June 15, 2017 article.

“The main reason I wanted a drone for work was to perform tower inspections. I happen to like climbing towers, but the costs of maintaining certifications and insurance can become prohibitive, plus I found that not many of the engineers on my team share my love of heights,” Wallington wrote.

• Major drone uses: Wildfire mapping, agricultural monitoring, disaster management, thermal infrared power line surveying, law enforcement, telecommunications, weather monitoring, aerial imaging and mapping, television news coverage, environmental monitoring, oil and gas exploration, construction and architecture, and freight transport.