Posted on October 9, 2023 by Sean M. Wood
The University of Texas at San Antonio’s aerospace program received a significant lift with the completion of a much anticipated large outdoor drone enclosure on campus. The facility will make it easier to conduct testing, training, and flight certification, not just for the UTSA community, but for other organizations interested in drone-related research.
A new drone enclosure has been built for research at Klesse College at UTSA.
The University of Texas at San Antonio’s aerospace program received a significant lift with the completion of a much anticipated large outdoor drone enclosure on campus. The facility will make it easier to conduct testing, training, and flight certification, not just for the UTSA community, but for other organizations interested in drone-related research.
“This is a pretty rare thing,” said Aerospace Engineering Program Director Christopher Combs, Ph.D., associate professor of mechanical engineering with the Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design. “It is one of the largest netted drone enclosures in the state of Texas if not the largest. There aren’t many other university drone enclosures in the United States that I’m aware of that are larger than this one. This is a unique resource that’s going to give us some opportunities to do a lot of things that you simply can’t do anywhere else, so we expect this to be a bit of a draw.”
The facility on the east side of the UTSA campus is 150 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 60 feet tall. There are also paved walkways, as well as plans for lighting and benches to accommodate operators and observers.
“This gives us a lot of freedom of movement and a very large area to conduct drone-related research,” Combs said. “We can also fly demonstrations or conduct training without having to worry about some of the safety issues that come up when you’re in fully open air. You have much more room to work than in an enclosed lab environment.”
Federal safety compliance requirements can be a major barrier to promoting drone-related activities. The small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) rule by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires pilot and drone certification. It also limits opportunities for drone testing. The enclosure removes those requirements while still providing an opportunity to fly and test equipment outside.
Combs said the Aerospace Program is working closely with local organizations that are either interested in sponsoring research or that want to partner to conduct drone research. “We’re also working with educational outreach organizations and people that are looking to get students involved in drones,” he said. “There are a lot of opportunities for activities and events in that space as well.”
Those opportunities were a major selling point in the grant application submitted to UTSA’s Strategic Investment Fund (SIF) by the KLESSE college administration in 2020. The fund is designed to support advancements of UTSA’s three destinations — becoming a model for student success, becoming a great public research university, and becoming an innovative place to work, learn and discover.
A faculty cluster of more than thirty faculty, senior design/capstone projects, affiliated student organizations, other local partner stakeholders will potentially benefit from this infrastructure. Associate Dean of Research, David Akopian, and Senior Associate Dean of Administration and Graduate Studies, Anson Ong, led the project development and implementation in collaboration with the UTSA Facilities, UTSA Risk and Emergency Management Office, and the UTSA Architect office.
“We want people to engage in these drone activities and be able to share this resource with the city of San Antonio and the broader community,” Combs said. “We really do welcome people who have ideas about how they could leverage a unique facility like this to reach out to us and talk about how we could program some activities that will really make an impact in this field.”
— Sean M. Wood
