OSU lab receives $44M contract for unmanned aerial systems
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October 06, 2010
A research and development arm of Oklahoma State University received a $44.2 million contract to combine optical, electrical, radio frequency and acoustic sensors with unmanned aerial vehicle technology.
PONCA CITY – A research and development arm of Oklahoma State University received a $44.2 million contract to combine optical, electrical, radio frequency and acoustic sensors with unmanned aerial vehicle technology.
The work is being performed for the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in Lakehurst, N.J.
University Multispectral Laboratories, which is performing the R&D, is owned by Oklahoma State University and independently managed and operated by Ponca City-based Triton Scientific LLC, said Tim Reynolds, UML associate laboratory director for physical sciences and intelligence and Triton COO.
University Multispectral Laboratories serves as a focal point in the transition of innovative technologies for the defense, security, intelligence and energy communities within Oklahoma, said Reynolds. The lab is a partnership between OSU and Triton Scientific LLC, with essential infrastructure support from the Ponca City Development Authority and ConocoPhillips.
“The lab is designed to accelerate delivery of technology to the war fighter and first responder communities and to foster more rapid commercialization of those technologies,” Reynolds said.
Oversight of UML is provided by a board of directors made up of OSU management and an independent member of the Ponca City community appointed by the board, Reynolds said.
“So, while the UML is owned by OSU, it is not funded under the university’s operating budget” he said, and it was organized as a nonprofit limited liability corporation within the state. This means UML employees are very focused on developing their own work within the federal, state and local governments, national laboratories and the commercial market, all of which benefit OSU and the state of Oklahoma.
The partnership won the 2007 International Economic Development Council’s award for the most innovative partnership in economic development in the nation.
Unmanned aerial vehicles are tested at a facility in Fort Sill.
Flying UAVs require some level of human interaction, Reynolds said. Unmanned aerial vehicles employ cameras and sophisticated sensors and related technology to aid ground support personnel.
“At low altitudes, they can detect peoples’ movement, track vehicles and detect electromagnetic emissions from a target and locate the source,” Reynolds said.Testing on the UAVs may one day help avoid plane crashes on manned aircraft, Reynolds said.
University Multispectral Laboratories, which had $3.3 million in operating revenues in 2008 according to a Cole and Reed audit, has 30 employees in Ponca City and has another 40 workers scattered in offices across Oklahoma, Reynolds said.
Officials from UML expect more than 90 jobs will be created over five years, with an average salary of $80,000, that will directly support government and commercial research, test, commercialization efforts, Reynolds said.
Ken Viera, associate laboratory director for tactical and unmanned systems, heads UML’s unmanned aerial systems program. Viera said the $44 million contract moves Oklahoma ahead of the industry curve for testing, certification, education, policy study, training and manufacturing for unmanned systems and related sensor technology markets.
Oklahoma State University recently announced the creation of an unmanned aerial systems graduate degree program.
“The creation of that degree validates the importance of this new contract and the confidence held by the federal government in the technical capabilities and capacity resident within the state,” Reynolds said.The UAV work will be performed at state-of-the-art UML flight test facilities in Lawton, while research airpark and analytical support will be done in Stillwater and Ponca City, Viera said. The U.S. Navy, which operates a lab in and in Patuxent River, Md., will handle about 10 percent of the work in that office.
Work is expected to be completed in September 2015.
