Drones over Cape Cod by Joe Quigley.
Role for Cape as FAA picks NY site for drone research
Area around Joint Base Cape Cod effected until February 13, 2017
The Federal Aviation Administration has chosen Griffiss International Airport in northern New York as one of six unmanned aircraft systems research and test sites, a choice with ramifications for Massachusetts researchers and the airspace over Cape Cod.
As a partner with Griffiss, MassDevelopment will manage testing facilities at Joint Base Cape Cod, with test site areas for what are commonly called drones including restricted airspace over the base and in "warning areas" off the Massachusetts coast. The base covers 22,000 acres on Upper Cape Cod.
"Lately, we have been engaged with multiple in-state and federal agencies who have taken advantage of our offer to 'host' them for different projects," Colonel Jim LeFavor, commander of the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base, on Cape Cod, said in a statement. "One of our main commodities is plenty of space and willingness to assist."
MassDevelopment reported Monday that "in anticipation of Massachusetts' potential selection," the agency and the Massachusetts National Guard established the MA UAS Test Center on Camp Edwards and "began to host active UAS use in the restricted airspace over the Army Guard's training area." Under current law, test site operations may continue until February 13, 2017.
One of six test sites nationally
The FAA announced its six test sites Monday following a ten-month process involving 25 proposals from 24 states - a MassDevelopment official said Massachusetts did not submit its own proposal and partnered with New York through the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance, a consortium of more than 40 public and private entities.
Other organizations in the partnership include Saab Sensis, SRC, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Rochester Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, Clarkson University, and Northeastern University.
The other five test site operators chosen by the FAA are the University of Alaska, the State of Nevada, the North Dakota Department of Commerce, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech).
While the advent of drones brings with it privacy concerns, Congress has required the FAA to develop rules to integrate unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system by 2015, according to MassDevelopment, the state's finance and development agency, which cites potential civil and commercial uses such as agriculture, disaster relief, environmental research and pipeline surveillance.
Amazon's Jeff Bezos this month told 60 Minutes about his company's plans to someday deploy drones as part of its distribution network, and there are myriad commercial and recreational possibilities for drones.
Griffiss, which is in Rome, N.Y., plans to work on developing test and evaluation and verification and validation processes under FAA safety oversight, to focus research on "sense and avoid capabilities" for unmanned aircraft systems, and to "aid in researching the complexities of integrating UAS into the congested, northeast airspace," according to the FAA.
A thousand new jobs
MassDevelopment on Monday cited the potential for 70,000 new jobs nationwide in the unmanned aircraft system industry by 2017 and 100,000 by 2025. The industry's economic impact in the U.S. could reach $82 billion by 2025, according to the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, and Massachusetts can expect an increase of 985 jobs, an economic impact of $386 million and tax revenues of $3.8 million between 2015 and 2017. UAS test sites will stimulate job growth, with the association estimating Massachusetts will receive nearly 3 percent of all manufacturing growth tied to the industry.
Along with Sen. Edward Markey, Congressman William Keating, National Guard Adjutant General Scott Rice, and state Transportation Secretary Richard Davey, Wendy Northcross, CEO of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the development.
"We are looking forward to the introduction of new firms and the high-tech jobs associated with UAS development here, which is enabled by the new high-speed broadband network proved through Cape Net and the OpenCape backbone," Northcross said in a statement. "We can also envision a great future with UAS supporting increased efficiency in the fishing industry of the Cape and new ways to support the conservation and protection of marine mammals as they move through Cape waters."
The reported use of drones in U.S. military operations overseas has drawn criticism from around the world.
In his statement applauding the selection, Markey said Massachusetts "will be well positioned to be a national leader in development of the highest operational standards and strongest privacy protections for drones as they prepare to take flight in U.S. airspace."
http://www.capecodtoday.com/article/2013/12/31/23397-drone-testing-coming-cape-cod
Drones spur privacy concerns
January 01, 2014
Political and business leaders tout the potential jobs and revenue from the Federal Aviation Administration's pick of Joint Base Cape Cod as a test site for unmanned aircraft, but some are worried drones will be used to snoop.
"Just the loss of more privacy," wrote Jan Olson Gilman on the Times' Facebook page.
Those comments were echoed by others reacting to the announcement that a coalition of colleges, businesses and government agencies in Massachusetts and New York had been selected by the FAA as among six test sites across the country. The mission of each site is to research ways to safely integrate commercial use of drones into the national airspace.
Kade Crockford, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts' Technology for Liberty Program, said privacy concerns are legitimate and need to be addressed through legislation already filed on Beacon Hill.
"As we've seen with the Edward Snowden revelations, when government agencies have the power to spy in the dark, they will do it," Crockford said, referring to surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency.
"The critical issue is that (drone testing) be done in a responsible manner that protects privacy and civil liberties of everyone in Massachusetts."
The ACLU is making a national push for legislation to regulate drones. Eight states have passed laws, according to information provided by Crockford. The Massachusetts bill, introduced by state Sen. Robert Hedlund, R-Weymouth, and state Rep. Colleen Garry, D-Dracut, would ban the use of drones equipped with weapons and set limits for how they are used by law enforcement, she said.
"With word that drones are being tested here, hopefully that will encourage the Legislature to act," Crockford said.
Even before Monday's announcement, the FAA had responded to privacy concerns by seeking public comment and issuing guidelines for the test sites, Michael Huerta, administrator of the FAA, said in a conference call with reporters Monday.
"We are also sensitive to privacy involving unmanned aircraft," Huerta said. "We issued a privacy policy that will apply to these test sites. It requires operators to comply with all local, state and federal laws concerning privacy and civil liberties. We are also requiring test site operators to create a privacy policy that is available to the public and they must require anyone operating unmanned aircraft at test sites to have a written plan for how they will use and retain any test data that might be acquired."
Although Joint Base Cape Cod will be one of the test sites, the military is not involved directly in its operation. The test site will be overseen locally by MassDevelopment, a state agency that seeks economic development opportunities for state land.
MassDevelopment spokesman Kelsey Abburrezze issued a statement saying the testing would follow FAA protocols.
"The same controls that currently apply to U.S. military and civilian aircraft will be in place for all (unmanned aircraft) operations at the test sites," she said. "Initial tests will determine how to integrate the platform into airspace with other traffic safely. The cameras and sensors used in these tests will tell the (unmanned aircraft) and its operator where other aircraft are in the airspace so that they can avoid one another and must strictly adhere to the privacy protocols establish by the test sites in coordination with the FAA."
As with any new technology, unmanned aircraft will have to be introduced while protecting individual freedoms, state Rep. David Vieira, R-Falmouth, said Tuesday.
"We're still learning about Internet issues," he said.
Vieira, who has advocated for the base as part of the Joint Base Cape Cod Homeland Security Steering Committee, said he was excited about the possibilities the testing site would bring with it.
Cape Cod Community College already has gotten involved by holding a workshop for students on smaller drones earlier this year, he said.
Vieira sees potential similar to the way Hydroid, a Bourne manufacturer of underwater robotic vehicles, spun off from research vehicles at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. There is potential not just for research, but for manufacturing on the Cape, he said.
"It's exciting that this could be another model," Vieira said.
The testing site is expected to generate as many as 1,000 new jobs in Massachusetts and $385 million in economic impact between 2015 and 2017, according to a study done as part of the application process.
"The announcement by the FAA will put Massachusetts and the Cape region on the forefront of the developing (unmanned vehicle) industry," Vieira said.
