Northwest Aerospace News April | May Issue No. 2 | Page 49

CENTER OF EXCELLENCE SPOTLIGHT
T
o respond to the FAA request for proposals, all states
that wanted to participate were required to develop a list
of partners to prepare a bid. The Center of Excellence for
Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing was a partner
that offered support and encouraged other industry and
educational partners to join. Washington State Depart-
ment of Transportation (WSDOT) Aviation Division
stepped up to compile the partners and submitted the bid
to the FAA as a Washington state lead applicant.
To date, 31 businesses and non-profits have signed up as
partners — including heavy-hitters like Amazon, Apple,
T-Mobile, Intel, and Insitu. Also included are the Depart-
ment of Commerce, major universities, the Washington
State Patrol, cities, counties, and even the Oregon Depart-
ment of Aviation.
Site (BVLOS), sense and avoid, package delivery,
disaster damage assessment, and night flying opera-
tions are the primary focuses of our team.” Once testing
is complete, commercial use for aerial video and still
photos of buildings and structures, wildlife, and even
other aircraft are applications that may be available. The
responsibility to “see and avoid” obstacles is critical to
the success of UAS, Hodgman punctuated.
Applewhite Aero is developing a precision delivery
device that is in the design and engineering stage. They
envision extensive human support functions with their
product once there are clear rules about flight and safety.
They note that if Washington does win the bid to do
testing, there will be a lot of work to do, and Paul Apple-
white is ready to roll up his sleeves and engage. He said
their product would ultimately,
Washington has been through a similar exercise in the
past. Four years ago, the FAA requested bids from states
interested in setting up FAA-recognized testing sites. In
that case, Washington did not win the bid, but Oregon
did, which enabled some Washington companies to devel-
op partnerships.
The strength behind WSDOT’s application is team com-
position. Rob Hodgman, WSDOT senior aviation planner
said, “We have a robust team that is heavily invested.
Having well-known Washington-based companies like
Amazon and T-Mobile on our team is a real asset.”
By launching the UAS Integration Pilot Program, the
White House said, “it’s taking a critical first step towards
opening up the skies for commonsense, safe, commercial
drone activity.”
What will it mean to Washington State?
Echodyne, a Bellevue, Washington company, is one of
the 31 partners on the bid. They create high-resolution
sensors for autonomous machines and vehicles to safely
operate in any weather. Maureen Swanson, manager of
policy and partner engagement at Echodyne, sees Wash-
ington as a major innovation hub for aerospace, including
UAS innovation. She adds, “The UAS IPP is an oppor-
tunity for Washington State companies to model safe inte-
gration of UAS into portions of the national airspace.”
“The opportunity to conduct testing will open a variety
of applications,” said Hodgman, “Beyond Visual Line of
“Find a lost child in the
wilderness,deliver blood
plasma in remote areas, and
provide relief supplies after a hurricane.”
Applewhite sees broad applications such as finding sur-
vivors after a disaster, dropping in a radio to enable com-
munications and even delivering medicine. He concluded,
“We have reached a threshold of safety beyond line-of-
sight; we can now go to the next step of regulations.”
APRIL | MAY 2018 ISSUE NO. 2
49