The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced Friday that it had granted $4.4 million in drone research, education, and training grants to seven U.S. universities.
The drone research will focus on electromagnetic compatibility, detecting and avoiding classifications, and cybersecurity oversight.
“This funding and our ongoing partnerships with these universities will allow the FAA to safely integrate the airspace that has a growing number of diverse aircraft users,” said FAA Acting Administrator Billy Nolen.
The University of North Dakota, University of Kansas, and Drexel University will split nearly $1 million to evaluate electromagnetic compatibility – assessing the risks, design vulnerabilities, and other guidance for safer electromagnetic compatibility with emitted and static fields.
Four universities will split more than $1.5 million – The Ohio State University ($732,441); Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University ($371,000), Mississippi State University ($330,000), and the University of North Dakota ($80,000) – to study Detect and Avoid Track Classification and Filtering.
Three schools will split nearly $1.9 million to research UAS Cybersecurity Oversight and Risk management – the University of Kansas ($651,982), Oregon State University ($609,226), and Drexel University ($608,783).
The announcement is the second round of grants from the Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE) grants, bringing to 15 the total number of grants for Fiscal Year 2022, totaling more than $18.3 million. Research conducted through ASSURE is aimed at helping the drone market grow safely and help the industry integrate into the nation’s airspace.
According to the FAA, more than 800,000 recreational and commercial drones are active in the United States, with that number expected to continue to increase.