Conducting Coastal and Oceanographic Research at the Lone Star UAS Center of Excellence and Innovation

In June, 2015, the TAMU-CC Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program, with the support of the Lone Star UAS Center of Excellence and Innovation, conducted a week-long UAS exercise in the coastal region near Port Mansfield, Texas. The platform used was TAMU-CC's RS-16, a variant of the Arcturus T-16XL, that was equipped with a three-camera imaging system which acquired high-resolution images in the optical range of the electromagnetic spectrum and lower resolution images in the infrared and ultraviolet ranges of the spectrum.

The Lone Star Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center of Excellence and Innovation, a jointly-administered TAMU-CC/Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEES) research center, has been designated by the Federal Aviation Administration as one of six test sites in the United States for the purpose of integrating UAS safely into the National Airspace System. Of the test ranges comprising the LSUASC, many are ideally situated for coastal and oceanographic research, with two bordering the Gulf of Mexico, one located entirely within the Gulf, and another extending from a well-developed airport facility to the Gulf. These ranges offer a wide variety of coastal and ocean terrains and environments in a climate that is suited well to year-round research and testing. The June 2015 Mission provides an example of the varied types of coastal and oceanographic research that can be conducted using UAS at these LSUASC ranges.