Research Projects

ASSURE

NC State is a core university partner of the Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE), the FAA's Center of Excellence for Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) Research. Since its inception in 2015, NC State has been part of seven funded research projects totaling over $1 million in awards.

This Center of Excellence is aimed at continuing and enhancing the safe, successful integration of drones into our airspace; and NC State's contributions include advanced use cases such as Shielded Operations and Disaster Preparedness and Response, as well as Economic and Market Impact analyses for various UAS related sectors.

ASSUREd Safe is the leading resource for the education, training, certification, and credentialing of public safety personnel. NC State has contributed to the training so providers can learn to safely and effectively utilize UAS in the national airspace, whether for immediate-action emergency response, disaster preparation, response, and recovery, or any other public safety activity.

AERPAW

North Carolina’s Research Triangle region has been selected for a $24 million NSF grant to build an advanced wireless communication testbed centered around programmable UAVs and programmable radios called Aerial Experimentation Research Platform for Advanced Wireless, or AERPAW. On today’s 4G networks, fixed cellular base stations communicate with mobile phones. On the AERPAW platform, the base stations can also be mobile, with the ability to transmit and receive radio waves from user devices while moving on-demand.

For example, in the aftermath of a natural disaster such as a hurricane, existing cellular networks may be damaged. As a result, aerial base stations can position themselves to provide the best wireless coverage to victims and first responders who would otherwise have no cellular connectivity. The platform also has the potential to help pilots fly drones beyond line of sight, allowing for improved air traffic control under Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations. NC State University is leading the AERPAW research.

Learn more about drone research at NC State's Institute for Transportation Research and Education

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