Drones Allowed in U.S. Airspace - KEYE News Features UT Air Systems Lab

UT aerospace engineering students and Dr. Armand Chaput are featured in this KEYE news video about drones in U.S. airspace. Watch the video on KEYE's Top Video Stories section. Professor Wallace Fowler comments on KEYE's coverage.

Professor Wallace Fowler (left) next to Professor Hans Mark with an aerospace engineering student during the first aircraft design fly-off which was held April 19.

Professor Fowler makes some good points on KEYE's recent coverage of our students working in the Air Systems Lab:

"I was at the “fly-off” and subsequently viewed and read Lisa Leigh Kelly’s article “Drones Allowed in US Airspace." For the most part, she was factual, but in the section about student activities at UT Austin, she totally missed the point. Yes, students are designing, modifying, and flying model airplanes that, in some ways mimic what large drones do. However, the point of the exercise is not drone technology. The students are using what they are learning in their aerospace engineering classes to develop a working knowledge of systems engineering.

In systems engineering, things must work together in a harmonious manner to achieve an objective. In the arts, a good analogy is the cooperative actions of the various players and instruments in an orchestra. The students had to design and build systems that synchronize the operations of electric motors, batteries, aerodynamics, cameras, transmitters, receivers, GPS units, autopilots, computers, etc., to locate and identify an object on the ground and then drop a “kit” near the object. An analogy would be the location of a downed aircraft followed by dropping medical supplies to the survivors. The goal of the assignment is the development of graduates who can work with complex interrelated systems. The best assignments used in such a process are those that most excite the students."