SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News)– There’s no doubting the sudden emergence of the unmanned aerial systems industry, which is rapidly growing throughout Central New York. CNY’s UAS industry growth can be credited to the proximity of New York’s drone corridor in Rome. The Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance has been put in charge of operations at New York State’s 50-mile drone corridor. Being one of just seven test sites across the nation, there’s something that makes this site unique from the others according to NUAIR’s COO Tony Basile.
(NUAIR COO Tony Basile): “One of the things that separate New York test sites from most of the others which are mostly university-led, this is more of a state and county-owned and operated test site and that the purpose really is for economic impact to the region, and it seems to be playing out.”
Following a speedy influx of recent investments and companies hungry for success, Central New York’s drone corridor is testing more than ever before.
As state investment in the corridor continues to increase, the test site’s economic impact on CNY has also increased. And while UAS testing has ramped up significantly in recent months, jobs have also been created in the process of increased drone demand. But very few of these jobs are actually in the field of building drones according to New York State Assemblyman Albert Stirpe.
(New York State Assemblyman Albert Stirpe): “The majority of the companies right now that are located here, are writing software. There’s a few that are actually building drones, but more of them are creating the systems that drones will use.”
As the UAS industry continues to grow in Central New York, the state has continued to focus on growing the ecosystem through utilizing some of its state-funded programs. Prompting the state to select five UAS companies as the finalists for this year’s Genius NY competition. And there’s only one reason why the state is suddenly doing this according to Stirpe.
(New York State Assemblyman Albert Stirpe): “New York State’s sort of leveraging all these multiple programs in the same industry in order to accelerate the progress of the UAS industry in Central New York.”
Genius NY is a year-long business accelerator that promotes an opportunity for these worldwide companies to integrate within CNY’s booming UAS industry. The Tech Garden in downtown Syracuse is where this year’s finalists have set up shop, where they can discuss and work on their UAS projects. One of these companies, Windshape, is a company that builds indoor test sites for UAS from Geneva, Switzerland. And according to company COO Nicolas Bosson, they’re building a facility here in CNY which will act as a second testing site.
(Windshape COO Nicolas Bosson): “We hope to open this facility sometime mid-2022, and now is a good time for us to decide what size a facility we want, what kind of capabilities do we want to incorporate, rain, snow, force testing, wind”
New York State’s decision to refocus the Genius Competition is already paying dividends for both the ecosystem and the finalists. Circle Optics, a competition finalist that builds advanced aerospace imaging systems, has already experienced an increase in business opportunities since arriving in CNY thanks to the corridor’s natural attraction to many companies. And company COO Ian Gauger believes this growth trend will continue.
(Circle Optics COO Ian Gauger): “Whenever you start to build an ecosystem around one product it actually ends up rolling over to a bunch of different other associated projects and products, and that really helps the entire ecosystem grow.”
CNY’s rapidly growing UAS ecosystem is very promising for the future of UAS use in the region. Companies have already begun exploring how they can use this technology for future business operations. And there are multiple ways that commercial industries want to use drones in the future according to Basile.
(NUAIR COO Tony Basile): “Linear inspection, long-range linear inspection like power lines, pipelines, that kind of thing; and delivery, package delivery, like amazon bringing whatever you just phoned into your house in 30 minutes.”
Although there’s significant interest in drones from various commercial industries, there are still many issues and restrictions which need to be sorted out through continuous testing in the corridor. And there is one thing holding UAS back from commercializing more than anything else according to Gauger.
(Circle Optics COO Ian Gauger): “Why are drones not as ubiquitous as cars and other things today, like yes the technology is new but, one of the biggest things holding it back isn’t the technology it’s the regulation. And for good reasons, such a new technology has to be regulated.”
Easing many of these regulations is quite the challenge, which is why lately, NUAIR staff have been testing drone flight more regularly in the corridor. In this process, NUAIR has refocused its flight test learning goals in hopes of reducing some regulations. NUAIR’s chief pilot Chuck Hereth said they are currently testing the safety capabilities of various UAS at the corridor.
(NUAIR Chief Pilot Chuck Hereth): “If I give the aircraft a control input, it’ll do it and they’ll see it on their end; and if they do it ill see it on this end, so first in first out sort of technology; and it’s just a way to provide extra redundancy to keep these things safe.”
It appears that a future society using many UAS isn’t as far-fetched as many previously thought. And while there are still many problems that need fixing before we get there, CNY’s drone corridor and booming UAS ecosystem put the region in a prime position to lead America into the new technological age.
