I/UCRC Phase I: VT Site Addition to the Center for UAS

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The project will add an I/UCRC site at Virginia Tech, as a new member of Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-UAS). C-UAS is currently the only NSF-sponsored unmanned aircraft research center. It was established in 2012, with BYU as the lead institution and UC-Boulder as a member. VT faculty will share responsibility for managing research projects with BYU and CU. The participating members of the VT site will also collaborate with members of the current sites to ensure technical success and to foster multi-corporate relationships among industry partners. The Site will focus on the following application areas: agriculture (e.g., methods to monitor plant pathogen transport), civil infrastructure (e.g., bridge inspection), and geographic information systems. It will make an impact on society by developing: (1) pre-competitive research products and intellectual property that will advance UAS technology for commerce and security, (2) curriculum enhancements to support the special technical training needs of students pursuing engineering careers in the UAS domain, and (3) a diverse, strongly connected human network of forward-thinking, technically excellent professionals who will invent the future for the UAS commercial sector.Virginia Tech faculty will make contributions in the broad areas of (1) advanced flight control (e.g., methods to construct robust, secure, and mathematically certified control algorithms), (2) airworthiness, cybersecurity, and reliability (e.g., reliability prediction methods that incorporate imprecise uncertainties intrinsic to small UAS); (3) machine vision and machine learning (e.g., software for real-time, on-board intelligent image processing), (4) multiphysics design optimization (e.g., aircraft design optimization tools that incorporate unsteady fluid/structure interaction), and , and (5) wireless communication (e.g., the use of software defined radio and intelligent communication protocols that adapt the information flow to the environmental conditions).