The aerodrome will be a net cage that will be 30 feet high and roughly 50 feet long and wide, making it similar to a facility that’s being built at the University of Michigan, a leader in drone research.
San Diego chipmaker Qualcomm gave UC San Diego $200,000 to create the flight center, which is meant to help promote the school’s quickly expanding research in robotic systems.
The campus recently announced that it will begin testing driverless vehicles on university roads next year, using golf carts to deliver packages. The research will begin about the time that engineers start to extensively use the aerodrome.
Such work could greatly benefit Qualcomm, which develops computer chips that are used in drones, and experimental versions of driverless vehicles.
It also could benefit defense contractors Northrop Grumman and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, which have large drone development operations in San Diego County.
“The aerodrome will allow us to test things like drone control, altitude control and collision avoidance,” said Falko Kuester, the engineer who runs the DroneLab at UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering.
Unmanned aerial vehicles “will be critical in post-disaster situations so we can determine if there are fires, or look to see if anybody is hurt, or if there is secondary damage, like gas leaks,” Kuester added.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department has already proved the value of drones. On more than 70 occasions this year, the department has used the vehicles in areas ranging from search-and-rescue to SWAT operations.
©2017 The San Diego Union-Tribune Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
