New York Claims a Leading Role in UTM and Drone Technology

Miriam McNabb

5 years ago

At this year’s Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research (NUAIR) Symposium, New York will showcase all of the capabilities of their impressive UAS ecosystem.

Mike Hertzendorf, CEO of the NUAIR Alliance, is a native New Yorker. He grew up in Syracuse, and went to school in Ithaca. After 29 years in the U.S. Army as a special ops aviator, he’s brought his expertise in low altitude aviation and an impressive leadership background back to New York. Hertzendorf is not only a passionate advocate for UAS Integration – he’s an even more passionate advocate for the economic potential of drone technology for his home state.

Creating a hub of drone tech in New York is a vision that Hertzendorf shares with a broad range of state government stakeholders. New York has emerged as a major player in unmanned research including unmanned traffic management (UTM) in the last several years. As one of only 7 FAA designated testing sites in the country and a major partner in NASA’s UTM testing, NUAIR has expanded from 66 test flights in 2015 to more than 700 in 2018 – and they’re on track to beat that number in 2019.

Part of NUAIR’s success is due to an wide variety of facilities available. “We offer all kinds of capabilities, including indoor testing,” explains Hertzendorf. “From there, the facility is being built out into a UAS Corridor, which will have ground-based detect and avoid radar.” The corridor offers 50 miles of coverage from Rome to Syracuse. Hertzendorf says that the corridor isn’t just about aircraft – it allows for testing of all of the technologies that surround UAS. “It’s not just physical infrastructure, but a lot of technical work. We can use the corridor to test parachute recovery systems, capabilities for BVLOS [flight beyond visual line of sight], communication links, new types of surveillance… We can layer those into the corridor and see how these other systems perform.”The wide variety of technical solutions available is something that Hertzendorf says is one of the most interesting aspects of the industry. “I’ve been very impressed with the technical solutions,” he comments. “People tend to see the drone as the primary entity. The drone is just the ability to gather the data – but the magic that goes into flying an autonomous mission is much bigger.”

A test site like NUAIR, Hertzendorf points out, can help move those new technologies to market and ultimately to public adoption. “It’s an aviation industry: that requires rigor and precision. Applying the rigor of aviation risk mitigation to new technologies – that’s the path to pubic adoption.”

Another part of NUAIR’s reach is due to the range of cooperative agreements they hold with other agencies: and to support from the state governemnt. NY Governor Cuomo has established a UAS Center of Excellence, a partnership between industry and academia in the drone industry. Syracuse University’s Autonomous Systems Policy Insititute (ASPI) is also a partner. And economic driver Genius NY is bringing new drone companies to the area to utilize the facilities and help develop the ecosystem.

NUAIR’s 2nd annual Symposium, scheduled for September 16 -18, will showcase all of the capabilities in the NY UAS Ecosystem. “At this year’s symposium we’re going to showcase our UTM testing scenarios. We’ve got a great lineup of thought leaders, including from ASPI. We want to bring in local municipalities and state agencies, so that they can see how we can help them use UAS, and how communities can benefit from the use of UAS.”

“What is most exciting to me is not the drones,” says Hertzendorf, “It’s the economic potential that this technology could have on communities – how can we make New York State better for the people.”

That being said, Hertzendorf is also enthusiastic about new advances in drone technology. “The best is yet to come,” says Hertzendorf. “UTM is the building block. Once we get into urban air mobility and the larger platforms which are out on the horizon, it’s really exciting.”

Miriam McNabb

Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.

TWITTER:@spaldingbarker

Subscribe to DroneLife here.

Google privacy and terms