Category: UAS (Aircraft)

HENDERSON, NV –(Marketwired – April 04, 2016) – Praxis Aerospace Concepts International, Inc. today announced it has entered into a partnership with the New York UAS Test Site, Griffiss International Airport, to provide the Test Site additional expertise as they accomplish requirements toward their support of NASA. The goal of which is to help integrate unmanned air vehicles into the world around us. 

NASA has invited test sites to participate in NASA activities, as well as to encourage teaming across test sites to gain cost efficiencies and maximize research data that will be delivered to NASA. The Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the National Airspace System project, or UAS in the NAS, will contribute capabilities designed to reduce technical barriers related to safety and operational challenges associated with enabling routine UAS access to the NAS. Subsequently, Oneida County has been awarded a 5 year Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract for future NASA task orders. These Task Orders may require Praxis participation and expertise toward their accomplishment.

Praxis Aerospace Concepts International, Inc. is best known in the unmanned systems industry for its White Label services, supporting FAA UAS Test Sites, Universities and corporate partners with Robotics Management, Technical Services and Autonomous Technology Testing. PACI is a partner of ASSURE, the FAA’s UAS Center of Excellence. “We are very excited to work with Oneida County and Griffiss International Airport,” said Jonathan Daniels, CEO, Praxis Aerospace Concepts International, Inc. “Teaming up with the New York UAS Test Site to engage in NASA’s UAS in the NAS research is an exciting development for our company.”

“Praxis Aerospace Concepts International, Inc. is a great partner and this partnership reflects our desire to collaborate with companies such as Praxis that have the excellent reputation and expertise within the UAS community and share our commitment to the growth of the UAS industry locally, at the Nevada Drone Port and nationally,” said Anthony J. Picente, Jr., Oneida County Executive and Operator of the New York UAS Test Site, Griffiss International Airport. The New York UAS Test Site at Griffiss International Airport is known for successfully testing UAS from small category to a full scale fixed wing aircraft and it’s state of the art range instrumentation system that combines the SRC LSTAR 3-d Radar and the Saab Sensis WAM sensors as well as the soon to be added X-Band Surface Movement Radar. 

About Praxis Aerospace Concepts International, Inc.

Founded in 2011, PACI is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business based in Southern Nevada. The company’s mission is to develop practical solutions for multi-modal (ground-air-sea-industrial) robotics and unmanned systems (UxS) using a mix of proprietary technology, unique team domain expertise, and unique partnerships, PACI can develop and operate laboratory and field facilities for autonomous systems research, development, test, evaluation, deployment, commercialization, and training. Praxis Aerospace Concepts International, Inc. currently serves over 20 clients with military, public and civil robotics/unmanned systems across the globe. For more information about Praxis Aerospace Concepts International, Inc., visit its website at www.praxisaerospace.com.

About New York UAS Test Site, Griffiss International Airport

The NY FAA Designated UAS Test Site at Griffiss International Airport is operated by Oneida County through its Department of Aviation. It is one of six Test Sites nationwide designated by the FAA. 

Additionally, clients have access to a system of data collection provided by range instrumentation that will consist of LSTAR, surface movement radar and WAM sensors. The data collected is provided to the client as well as safety data that is provided to the FAA. For more information about the NY UAS Test Site and Griffiss International Airport, please visit the website at http://ocgov.net

Read the full article on Yahoo Finance here

Seeking to benefit from the anticipated, widespread commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) nationwide, Nevadans have been working diligently to cultivate an industry around this type of aircraft.

Nevada is one of six states designated as FAA UAS test sites, or places for research and development and creation of technological strategies for integrating UAS into the NAS. The Silver State has nearly 40 centers where testing can occur. They include the four originals—Reno Stead Airport, Fallon Municipal Airport, Boulder City Municipal Airport and the Desert Rock Airstrip.

“Even if we only see 10 percent or are only able to capture 10 percent of that market, that’s $9 billion,” said Tom Wilczek, the defense and aerospace industry representative at the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED). “We absolutely see a value added in terms of developing a cluster in Nevada specific to UAV development. It’s a new chapter in Nevada.”

Read the full article from Nevada Business Magazine at this link here

The FAA will support seven public meetings during August and September, 2015. These meetings will be hosted by the six unmanned aircraft system (UAS) Test Sites and UAS Center of Excellence (COE). The purpose of these meetings is to discuss innovation and opportunities at the Test Sites and COE. PACI was awarded the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) contract to support this meeting on July 27, 2015.

On December 30, 2013, the FAA selected six UAS Test Sites. This selection was Congressionally-mandated by section 332 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (Pub. L. 112-95). The FAA is working closely with the Test Sites to guide research programs toward specific goals such as System Safety & Data Gathering, Aircraft Certification, Command & Control Link Issues, Control Station Layout & Certification, Ground & Airborne Sense & Avoid, and Environmental Impacts that will help the FAA safely integrate UAS into the national airspace system.

On May 8, 2015, the FAA selected a Mississippi State University team as the FAA’s Center of Excellence for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (COE UAS). The COE will focus on research, education, and training in areas critical to safe and successful integration of UAS into the nation’s airspace.

PACI is the only Southern Nevada company to be partnered with the FAA’s UAS COE’s External Advisory Board. 

The State of Nevada UAS Test Site meeting will be held on Thursday, September 17, 2015 From 10:00 am – 12:00 pm Clark County Commission Chambers, 1st floor 500 S. Grand Central Pkwy Las Vegas, Nevada

The purpose of these meetings is to discuss innovation and opportunities at the Test Sites and COE. The Test Sites and COE will host and set the agenda for each public meeting. The meetings will aid both public and private sector stakeholders to better understand the value the Test Sites and COE provide in furthering UAS integration through research, development, and operational testing.

About Praxis Aerospace Concepts International, Inc.

Founded in 2011, PACI is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business based in Southern Nevada. The company’s mission is to develop practical solutions for multi-modal (ground-air-sea-industrial) robotics and unmanned systems (UxS) using a mix of proprietary technology, unique team domain expertise, and unique partnerships, PACI can develop and operate laboratory and field facilities for autonomous systems research, development, test, evaluation, deployment, commercialization, and training. Praxis Aerospace Concepts International, Inc. currently serves over 20 clients with military, public and civil robotics/unmanned systems across the globe. For more information about Praxis Aerospace Concepts International, Inc., visit its website at www.praxisaerospace.com.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has released new regulations for flying Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Under the new broad area Certificate of Authorization (COA), small UAS weighing less than 55 lbs. can be flown up to 200 feet above ground level nearly anywhere in the country. The flights must be conducted in partnership with one of the seven FAA test sites during daylight and maintain visual line of sight with a pilot.

UAS companies are still required to partner with a test site and each test site will conduct safety and airworthiness checks on the UAS being flown. However, the flight locations are not restricted to the test site’s regional footprint.

Read more about the impact of the FAA’s newest COA on the UASTS here

WASHINGTON – After a rigorous competition, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has selected a Mississippi State University team as the FAA’s Center of Excellence for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (COE UAS). The COE will focus on research, education and training in areas critical to safe and successful integration of UAS into the nation’s airspace.

The Alliance for System Safety of UAS Through Research Excellence, or ASSURE, team is comprised of 13 universities and over 90 industry partners, providing the FAA with access to a team of scientists in the UAS community and coordination of activities to achieve common goals.

PACI is the only Southern Nevada industry partner of ASSURE.Access to the national airspace is a vital enabler for commercial and public safety UAS programs.

The COE research areas are expected to evolve over time, but initially will include: detect and avoid technology; low-altitude operations safety; control and communications; spectrum management; human factors; compatibility with air traffic control operations; and training and certification of UAS pilots and other crewmembers, in addition to other areas.

Read the FAA press release here

Vanilla Aircraft’s VA001 Unmanned Aerial System recently completed its first test flight, reaching altitudes of 6,000 feet MSL before landing.

The UAS, powered by an efficient heavy-fuel engine, met all test objectives, according to the company website. The test validated the VA001 design and performance projections. Vanilla Aircraft is planning additional flights to reach the aircraft’s full payload, endurance and altitude capabilities.

The VA001 features 10-day endurance and reduces the operating costs and manpower needed to provide persistent aerial coverage, according to the website. It is designed to complete missions that, until now, have been beyond the capabilities of mid-size UASs.

The VA001 program began development under Vanilla IR&D funding and Phase I and Phase II SBIR funding from the NASA Earth Sciences Division, according to the website.

Congratulations from the Praxis Aerospace Concepts International team to our dear friends at Vanilla Aircraft. We were very proud to be a part of your maiden flight, and will enjoyed seeing your successes in the future.

Read the press release on SuasNews here, and get more information from Inside Unmanned Systems here.

Today organizers announced that the first edition of the Flying Donkey Challenge in Kenya, which had preliminary sub-challenges slated to begin this November, is on hold indefinitely due to delays in obtaining final approvals from Kenyan authorities.

According to their press release:

Beginning with the horrific Westgate attack last September in Nairobi and following the tragic terrorist attacks near Lamu this month, it has become clear that organising a high visibility drone event in Kenya is incompatible with immediate security concerns. To be clear, it is not that cargo drone testing presents any threat whatsoever to Kenya, or that international participants would be at risk from travelling to Kenya, but only that, for the coming months, the overseers of civil and military aviation in Kenya have made it clear they are unlikely to be able to sign off on legal precedents for autonomous flight.

Since April, we have been pursuing air space approvals and locations in other African locations. While these talks have been productive, our unfortunate conclusion is that we will not be able to confirm a new date and location in 2015. Without a clear time-scale, closing on the budget is not possible. Taking into account the speed with which research and commercial drone ventures are proceeding, we feel it unfair to leave the teams that have applied for the Challenge in limbo and prefer to put the Flying Donkey Challenge in its current format on hold.

Simon Johnson & Jonathan Ledgard
Flying Donkey Challenge Co-Founders

Organizers remain steadfast in their goal to spur a new transport industry using cargo drones in order to solve the problem of supply delivery in places where infrastructure is poor or non-existent.P

Zürich , 24 March 2014: The IBM Intelligent Operations Center (IOC) greeted potential FDC participants at the first Flying Donkey Challenge Technical Workshop with the premise: “Can we use IOC as a Master Control System, with links to the authorities such as the KCAA, for the FDC starting in Kenya by November 2014?”

The Workshop began with a keynote by Oliver Evans, Chairman of The International Air Cargo Association & Chief Cargo Officer Swiss WorldCargo.

Simon Johnson, Co-Founder, led the Workshop to address a simple objective to demonstrate how IOC could be used to track the location, log the status and send commands (e.g. Abort Flight) to multiple UAVs via operators’ Ground Control Stations.

Selected entrants provided presentations on their team solutions: senseFly, University of Southampton, University of Bristol, Barnard Microsystems Limited, Praxis Aerospace, and the University of Zurich .

Afterwards, the attendees formed teams to work on best practices and recommendations.

About The Nevada Twenty-Mule Team
The Nevada Twenty-Mule Team draws its name from the great Nevada mule teams that hauled minerals across the blistering deserts of Death Valley over 100 years ago. These trains traveled 162 miles from Furnace Creek in Death Valley to Mojave, California; and from the mines at Old Borate to Dagget, the nearest railroad points. Their routes carried them over some of the most forbidding land on the face of the earth: parched and shifting sands of the desert, and dry and rocky ravines of the Funeral Mountains.

The successful transportation of minerals out of Death Valley by the 20-Mule Team is the highest development of this method of transportation, and speaks volumes for the ingenuity and ability of the past.

About The Flying Donkey Challenge 
The Flying Donkey Challenge is an escalating series of sub-challenges held annually in Africa. World-leading roboticists, engineers, regulators, entrepreneurs, logisticians, and designers will win substantial grants by advancing the safety, durability, legality, profitability and friendliness of flying-parcel carriers on a massive scale. Before 2020, with world media attention, the sub-challenges will culminate in a race of Flying Donkeys* around Mount Kenya in under 24 hours, delivering and collecting 20 kilo payloads along the way. The winner(s) will collect a multi-million dollar prize. *Cargo robots with a maximum takeoff weight of 60 kilos

The event is open to worldwide entrants but non-African teams entering the Flying Donkey Challenge must collaborate with a recognised higher education African school or laboratory.

You can read more about the Flying Donkey Challenge here, in this article and in this article here.

33 Teams from Africa, Australia, Europe, India and North America have applied for the first edition of the Flying Donkey Challenge that will be held in Kenya 8-16 November 2014, including PACI-led “Nevada Twenty-Mule Team”.

La Fondation Bundi (a Swiss non-profit organisation) and its partners are pleased to report that 33 teams from around the world have applied for the first edition of the Flying Donkey Challenge that will be held in Kenya 8-16th November 2014. Applications are from universities, start-ups and companies with recognised research, proven technology and experience in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). All the candidates are eager to take on the challenge of demonstrating the capabilities, safety and benefits of unmanned cargo aircrafts in Africa and beyond. The proposed aerial designs vary from fixed-wing, rotary-wing, lighter-than-air, paramotor to inflatable airframe. Teams are also proposing different powertrains (variations of combustion or electric motors) and cargo delivery strategies (e.g. loaded, winched or dropped). The event is open to worldwide entrants, but non-African teams must collaborate with a recognised higher education African institute, school or laboratory.

“This is a great endorsement for what we are doing. The teams understand that we must find solutions that are adapted to the environment and task. It’s the ecosystem of engineers, designers, lawyers, regulators and business partners that must collaborate to demonstrate the benefits and gain acceptance of flying donkeys that are going to be part of our future transportation infrastructure”, said Simon Johnson, Flying Donkey Challenge Co-Founder and Director.

About The Flying Donkey Challenge 
The place to launch commercial aerial delivery services is in Africa! Africa has a population that will double by 2050, some of the fastest growing economies, forecasted infrastructure deficit, a flexible regulatory environment, plenty of air bandwidth and a structure that makes it ready to leapfrog technology. Solutions proven in Africa will be replicated in other areas.

The Flying Donkey Challenge is an escalating series of sub-challenges held annually in Africa. World-leading roboticists, engineers, regulators, entrepreneurs, logisticians, and designers will win substantial grants by advancing the safety, durability, legality, profitability and friendliness of flying-parcel carriers on a massive scale. Before 2020, with world media attention, the sub-challenges will culminate in a race of Flying Donkeys* around Mount Kenya in under 24 hours, delivering and collecting 20 kilo payloads along the way. The winner(s) will collect a multi-million dollar prize. *Cargo robots with a maximum takeoff weight of 60 kilos

You can read more about the Flying Donkey Challenge here, in this article,and in this article here.

Carson City, January 1, 2014: On December 30th the FAA designated Nevada one of six test sites for the integration of commercial applications of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) into the National Air Space. Nevada’s success was the culmination of two years of work to put the state at the cutting edge of this new and promising industry. With an FAA stated goal of introducing small unmanned vehicles into the commercial airspace by September 30, 2015, Nevada has already begun the process of recruiting companies to Nevada to test at our sites.

“Being selected as one of six sites for UAV development in the country is a historic moment for Nevada,” Governor Brian Sandoval said.

The State of Nevada submitted the final volume of its proposal to the FAA in May of 2013. Nevada’s application included the State as the direct applicant and a 28-member team. Nevada’s team members, who represented a cross section of public and private partners, industry and academic leaders, within the northern and southern regions of the state, identified four locations for testing across the state. Those four testing sites are: Fallon Municipal Airport, Boulder City Municipal Airport, Desert Rock Airport, and Stead Airport.

Praxis Aerospace Concepts International (PACI) is proud to be one of the 28-members of the awarded team. Our CEO was the proposal manager for Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) bid and establishment of an FAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site within the State of Nevada, and was the inaugural Technical Director of the State’s UAS Program Management Office for the full duration of that contract.

49 regions from 36 states submitted responses to the FAA. That number was reduced to 25 in mid-2013, and on the 30th, Nevada joined successful sites in New York, Virginia, Texas, North Dakota, and Alaska. Director Hill signed the Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) – the contract with the FAA – on December 31st.

In their announcement release, the FAA had this to say about Nevada: “Nevada’s project objectives concentrate on UAS standards and operations as well as operator standards and certification requirements. The applicant’s research will also include a concentrated look at how air traffic control procedures will evolve with the introduction of UAS in the civil environment and how these aircraft will be integrated with NextGen. Nevada’s selection contributes to geographic and climatic diversity.”

Read the full article in the January 2014 issue of “THE ECONOMIC PULSE” here