Michael Mewhinney 	May 29, 2002
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Phone: 650/604-3937 or 650/604-9000
E-mail: mmewhinney@mail.arc.nasa.gov

Angela Bazydlo
Clark University, Worcester, Mass.
Phone: 508/793-7635
E-mail: abazydlo@clarku.edu

RELEASE: 02-67AR
NASA SIGNS AGREEMENT FOR UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES CENTER

NASA officials today signed an agreement to explore development of a 
world-class center designed to investigate science and commercial 
applications of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with 
high-resolution digital imaging systems.

During a ceremony at NASA Ames Research Center in California's Silicon 
Valley, officials from Ames, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, 
Calif., Clark University, Worcester, Mass., and the Girvan Institute, a 
non-profit organization located in NASA Research Park, signed a Memorandum 
of Understanding (MOU) to establish a "UAV Applications Center" in NASA 
Research Park.

"We are delighted to be working with Clark University, the Girvan 
Institute and our friends from the Dryden Flight Research Center to 
explore prospects for developing this exciting new center here at the NASA 
Research Park," said Ames Center Director Dr. Henry McDonald.

The charter of the new center is to conduct collaborative research and 
development, leading to enhanced scientific and commercial utilization of 
UAVs as high-resolution imaging platforms in national airspace. Specific 
activities will include planning future UAV image acquisition campaigns; 
developing procedures for operating UAVs in Federal Aviation 
Administration-controlled airspace; testing and evaluating high-resolution 
imaging systems; testing real-time telemetry systems for payload control 
and data transfer; evaluating data acquisition and control systems for 
real-time applications; developing and packaging automated image 
processing streams; integrating imaging payloads onto UAVs; and 
implementing educational research opportunities for university students.

"We are excited by the tremendous commercial potential of UAV research and 
happy to be working with NASA Ames and our other partners on this 
project," said Clark University President John Bassett.  "We are confident 
that the UAV Applications Center will serve as a useful model for 
efficient and responsible technology transfer."

The Ames-based research team is currently conducting a  $3.76 million 
project for NASA's UAV Science Demonstration Program.  The effort will 
provide the first-ever test of the commercial use of a solar-powered UAV 
operating in national airspace. Dr. Stanley Herwitz, professor of earth 
science at Clark University, serves as principal investigator and leads a 
team of 15 researchers.  The selected demonstration site will be the 
largest coffee plantation in the USA, located on the Hawaiian island of 
Kauai.

The project will use a lightweight flying wing called the Pathfinder Plus, 
developed for NASA Dryden Flight Research Center with partner 
AeroVironment Inc., Monrovia, Calif.  If successful, the project holds 
broad implications for any users needing high-resolution imagery in 
near-real time.  This emerging technology could be used to fight forest 
fires, evaluate environmental change, or assess civil emergency responses.

Visit http://www.clarku.edu/faculty/herwitz/ for details about the UAV 
Coffee Project.

"The agreement comes at an opportune time when NASA is working more with 
the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense to 
enable UAV operations in the commercial marketplace," said Rich 
Christiansen, associate director for planning at the Dryden Flight 
Research Center.

 "This dynamic new collaboration will provide an excellent stimulus for 
accelerating technology development between NASA's field centers, the 
academic community, and the private sector," said Carolina Blake, chief of 
the Ames Commercial Technology Office.  "This proposed center will 
complement NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe's vision and goals for the 
agency."

Clark University is a private, coeducational research university with 
2,000 undergraduate and 600 graduate students. Since its founding in 1887 
as the first all-graduate school in the United States, Clark has 
challenged convention with innovative programs such as the International 
Studies Stream, the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide 
Studies and the five-year BA/MA programs with the fifth year tuition-free.

Further information about Clark University is available at:

http:// www.clarku.edu

For information about the NASA Research Park, please see the project Web 
site:

http://researchpark.arc.nasa.gov

Publication-size images of the signing ceremony and UAV Coffee Project are 
available at:

http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov/releases/2002/02images/coffee/coffee.html


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