A&M-Corpus leads Texas effort to test drones for feds

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is leading the Texas effort to be named one of six U.S. test sites for unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, officials said.

On Oct. 1, the university unveiled its new command and control center in preparation for winning that designation, spokeswoman Gloria Gallardo said Tuesday. The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to announce the winners in December, she said.

The university is still developing the control center, which is expected to eventually control all drone test ranges around the state, Luis Cifuentes, the school's vice president of research, commercialization and outreach, said in a prepared statement.

A&M-Corpus Christi's Lone Star Unmanned Aircraft Systems Initiative, which has access to 6,000 square miles of approved airspace, is the only Texas program under FAA consideration as a drone testing site, Gallardo said.

Gov. Rick Perry named the university the lead agency for the proposal this spring, she said.

"We're getting all of the resources across the state together and saying, 'What is it that will put Texas above the other states?' " Gallardo said.

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The university's partners in the program include Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station in College Station, Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, the Camber Corp. and American Aerospace Advisors Inc., which manufactures the RS-16 drone used by A&M-Corpus.

Texas has an advantage of having various types of terrain that would be part of the test site, including desert, coastland and snowy plains, Gallardo said.

"We think that gives us an edge on some other states to get this site," she said.

In addition to being in the competition for test-site selection, A&M-Corpus Christi already has an existing unmanned aerial vehicle research program, which conducted its first drone flight in May 2012, Gallardo said.

Under the existing research program, the university has FAA approval to fly drones along the coastal bend, including the Padre Island National Seashore, and inland over unpopulated ranchland, she said.

Among other experiments, university researchers have set out buckets of petroleum to see if drones could find them, an initiative that could prove helpful in mapping the size of oil spills, Gallardo said.

If selected as one of the six test sites, A&M's involvement would be different from its role in the research already underway, she said.

As a test site, it would manage the site to allow other users, such as commercial entities, to do their own testing to see whether drones make sense for their business, she said.

"We would manage that site so we can make sure everyone is using the safest practices, to improve the technology," she said.

Last month, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi was among 16 organizations invited to attend the Unmanned Systems Caucus 2013 Science and Technology Fair in Washington, D.C., hosted by U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar, D- Texas, and Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif.

"By attending the fair we were able to speak with both cochairs of the caucus and show them the cutting-edge research we are conducting at the university," Cifuentes said in a statement.