Drones

License to skill: System engineering team takes drone training to new heights

Nathan Kahl — Mon, 12 May 2025 18:20:40 +0000

License to skill: System engineering team takes drone training to new heights Nathan Kahl Mon, 05/12/2025 - 14:20

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A �鶹��Ƶ team of Systems and Industrial Engineering (SIE) students developed a training system to assist people working toward their drone pilot license.

As part of the project, the team developed a business plan that won Best Paper in the Systems Design Track at the Annual Andrew P. Sage Memorial Capstone Design Competition and Best Paper and Best Presentation in the Modeling and Simulation Track at the GEN Donald R. Keith Memorial Capstone Conference at West Point.

The system incorporates a drone pilot simulator, Zephyr Sim, that was developed separately by George �鶹��Ƶ alumni Kyle Bishop, Alex Estep, and Stewart VanBuren, who graduated from the Computer Game Design Program in the College of Visual and Performing Arts and worked at Virginia Serious Game Institute.

All pilots using drones for commercial purposes are obliged to hold a license known as the Part 107 Drone Pilot license. The license, issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), covers all the aeronautic knowledge and the rules-of-the-road for safely flying drones. These rules include establishing where is it legal to fly, how high is too high, how to account for weather, and when and how to notify the authorities about the flight.

Drone flying. Photo credit Public Domain Archive

“To obtain a Part 107 license, all one has to do is pass a multiple-choice exam with about 70 questions,” said SIE student Hannah Nguyen. “Can you imagine getting an automobile driver’s license without the behind-the-wheel driving test? With the Part 107, just pass the knowledge exam and you are good-to-go.”

The team conducted several stakeholder interviews to inform their project, which proved very useful. “After only a few interviews it became clear that enterprises that routinely use drones for data gathering, and image collection were experiencing excess costs due improper handling of the drones by the pilots,” said team member Corbin Phillips.

Team leader Emaan Abbasi added, “We designed a drone pilot training system that integrates drone flying on the simulator in the with the aeronautic knowledge material. For example, in the section on weather, the student practices flying the drone in different wind conditions or with different levels of fog.”

The end product has 17 modules with concepts-maps, video lectures, flash cards, and practice quizzes. Each module has one or more hands-on simulator flying activities. “The training system was thoroughly tested by five students,” said team member Andrew Kuo. “We learned a lot and made several adjustments. In the end, the training to proficiency is reliably faster than the industry best practices.”

“The most enjoyable part of the capstone course was seeing all our hard work come together,” said team member Shakira Mangrio. “The system engineering approach really helped us manage all of the moving parts throughout the year, it was really rewarding to see the final result and present it. And winning awards was icing on the cake.”

Rajesh Ganesan, chair of the systems engineering undergraduate committee, congratulated the team and confirmed that the class SYST 464 Commercial Drone Pilot Training was approved and will be added to the fall 2025 University Catalog. This course will also be part of the aviation flight training and management minor.

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George �鶹��Ƶ Police help emergency efforts and assess storm damage from Hurricane Helene

Lauren Reuscher — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 15:17:31 +0000

George �鶹��Ƶ Police help emergency efforts and assess storm damage from Hurricane Helene Lauren Reuscher Thu, 10/03/2024 - 11:17

�鶹��Ƶ Police’s Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) teams supported the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) deployment to Appalachian Power in Ivanhoe, Virginia, over the weekend. The primary mission at Ivanhoe—between Carroll and Wythe counties—was to inspect two dams, built in 1912 and 1913, as well as the power distribution lines affiliated with them.

Record precipitation and the effects of Hurricane Helene caused the second highest water level and flow on the New River since 1940, exceeding the design basis for the dams. The power lines are difficult to access from the ground, but the �鶹��Ƶ Police drones flew above and across mountains, following the power lines so that engineers could watch the livestream and assess possible damage.

The drone deployment by �鶹��Ƶ Police helped Appalachian Power ensure the integrity of the facilities more safely and efficiently.

“This storm has impacted all Virginians, and �鶹��Ƶ is always ready and willing to lend a helping hand,” said Michael Lighthiser, the deputy chief who oversees �鶹��Ƶ Police’s Special Operations, Research and Training Unit. “We have some very special capabilities, and we are proud to be able to help our fellow Virginians to safely get back on their feet in the aftermath of such a devastating storm. It’s the right thing to do.”

George �鶹��Ƶ Police Corporal Blaine Ries (left) delivered a Starlink satellite internet system to the Asheville Police Department to help restore communications to their headquarters after the devastation of Hurricane Helene. Photo provided

After returning from the drone mission, �鶹��Ƶ Police answered another call for assistance from the path of Hurricane Helene. With all communications service lost in Asheville, North Carolina, after devastating and deadly flooding, the Asheville Police Department requested a Starlink system to restore cell and internet service at their headquarters. The �鶹��Ƶ Police have Starlink systems available, which provide high-speed satellite internet access.

�鶹��Ƶ Police Corporal Blaine Ries hurried into his Starlink-equipped drone truck and headed to Asheville. To get there, he needed to drive through Tennessee and approach from the south in order to avoid the worst of the devastating storm damage. Arriving shortly after midnight on Tuesday, Oct. 1, he quickly set up the Starlink, giving the Asheville police the communication access needed to coordinate their rescue and emergency management activities.

George �鶹��Ƶ Police’s drone teams have been an important resource for other jurisdictions, providing aerial support and training to other agencies. In late July, at the request of the Virginia Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security, �鶹��Ƶ Police taught a weeklong drone class to more than 20 police and fire department agencies in southwest Virginia to help them start the process of launching drone teams.

“I am very proud that the 12 members of our UAS team are always ready and willing to deploy, at a moment’s notice, anytime their unique capabilities are needed to enhance the public safety of our community and beyond,” said Carl Rowan, George �鶹��Ƶ chief of police.

�鶹��Ƶ Police includes more than 135 full and part-time personnel including more than 50 sworn police officers who provide services to the Fairfax, �鶹��Ƶ Square, and SciTech campuses. The department maintains a close working relationship with the Virginia State Police and the police departments of the City of Fairfax, Arlington, Fairfax County, and Prince William County.

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Students win contests designing delivery drones that respond to real-time wind change

Nathan Kahl — Wed, 08 May 2024 13:09:04 +0000

Students win contests designing delivery drones that respond to real-time wind change Nathan Kahl Wed, 05/08/2024 - 09:09

Part of the charm of tiny Tangier Island, located smack dab in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, is that in some ways it seems stuck in time, with residents speaking an outdated dialect and relying on crabbing for a living. What isn’t so endearing to residents about their simple life is the need to take a ferry to the Eastern Shore to obtain necessities, such prescription medications. Such a trip is an all-day affair, often causing people to miss work and lose wages.

But now Riverside Health System and DroneUp, a delivery service based in Virginia Beach, are working with a team of �鶹��Ƶ students to deliver medications via a small drone. But even that poses challenges.

“As a part of my systems engineering senior design project, my team and I performed a context analysis and a stakeholder analysis to find the performance gaps for a case study about drone delivery to an island located in the Chesapeake Bay–Tangier Island,” said senior Diana Machuca, who is majoring in systems and industrial engineering. “To bridge the gaps, we designed the Drone Range Dynamic System and came up with a business plan for the project.”

“The route is 15 nautical miles (NM) from Onley, Virginia, to Tangier Island,” said team member Darius Jack. “The route traverses both land and terrain resulting in significant wind shifts, including onshore and offshore winds, depending on the time of day.”

Depending on a drone’s design, it can be very sensitive to wind, requiring extensive analysis. Team member Grean Ramos said, “We developed an aerodynamic simulation of the drone and its batteries. The simulation showed that the 15 NM route is close to the drone's range limit. Any unexpected headwind could result in the drone running out of battery and needing to land before reaching Tangier Island.”

“There are weather stations at Onley and at Tangier Island airports, but no weather stations in-between," said team member Diana Machuca. "We analyzed one year of hourly wind data from the airports and found that headwinds would prevent the drone from reaching the clinic 32 percent of the time.”

Team members Gurkirt Tahim, Darius Jack, Grean Ramon, and Diana Machuca

So the team developed a Drone Range Decision-support System (DRDS). The DRDS uses the aerodynamic simulation described above to continuously monitor the range-remaining as the drone flies. If the simulation estimates that the drone has experienced an unexpected wind and will no longer have enough battery power to reach the destination, it recommends the drone operator to return home (if it can) or to land safely in designated landing zones. Simulations showed winds would require the drone to return home 17 percent of the time.

The team’s plan won First Place in the STEM Track in the Patriot Pitch Competition, a annual contest sponsored by the Costello College of Business at George �鶹��Ƶ, and First Place in the Systems and Analytics Track at the Sage Memorial Design Competition, a student-focused international forum for the design of complex systems.

“Working on this project was an amazing experience,” said Jack. “We had to use all the system engineering knowledge and skills we learned over the past three years. Building systems in the real-world is hard, but perseverance and creativity pay off.”

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�鶹��Ƶ Police provide aerial security support to Marine Corps Marathon

Colleen Rich — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 18:04:13 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ Police provide aerial security support to Marine Corps Marathon Colleen Rich Wed, 11/02/2022 - 14:04

Members of one of five �鶹��Ƶ Police’s Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Teams assigned to Sunday’s Marine Corps Marathon stand as rooftop sentinels, watching the sun rise before launching multiple drones into the airspace above Arlington County to provide aerial security overwatch of the prestigious race, which is the fifth largest marathon in the United States. This was the first year that drones replaced expensive-to-operate helicopters to provide eyes in the sky. It was also the first time that the FAA had enough confidence in a law enforcement drone team to authorize flights in what is some of the world’s most restricted airspace. The drones provided real-time video feeds to the unified command center in a manner that is a game changer for decision makers in a massive security operation involving hundreds of law enforcement officers. The �鶹��Ƶ Police continue to be trailblazers in the use of this amazing technology.

Photo by �鶹��Ƶ Police UAS Unit

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Firefighters get an assist from 5G-equipped drones developed at �鶹��Ƶ

Tama Moni — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 20:34:23 +0000

Firefighters get an assist from 5G-equipped drones developed at �鶹��Ƶ Tama Moni Tue, 10/18/2022 - 16:34

A team of firefighters ascend the stairs in a high-rise engulfed in flames. The team disperses to put out the fire and search for survivors. Drones hover around the burning building and identify with pinpoint accuracy the location of each firefighter, who is wearing a sensor, sending this information back to a commander who has an “eye in the sky” vantage point.

The commander communicates with the firefighters, directing their movements, keeping them safe, and helping them extinguish the flames. If one member of the team hasn’t moved in several minutes, the system sends an alert to check on that person’s status.

Photo by iStock

You can imagine this scenario in a big-budget movie, but Vijay Shah, an assistant professor in the Cyber Security Engineering Department in the College of Engineering and Computing at �鶹��Ƶ is working to make it a reality. If all goes well, firefighters will have a new, important tool like this within five years.

Funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Shah is collaborating with colleagues at Virginia Tech and the Arlington, Virginia, County Fire Department on a 5G Indoor Positioning System that may someday be used by fire departments nationwide. Firefighters in Arlington will be testing the technology in a facility starting in 2025.

Advances in 5G network technology allow for this research because compared to other legacy wireless communications, 5G provides much greater accuracy and does not rely on equipment within the building, which may be damaged during a fire. A key development Shah and colleagues are exploiting is called “network slicing,” sending certain pieces of information over portions of the 5G network.

“The critical information, such as location of the firefighter, is sent in one ‘slice’ and in a much smaller packet, allowing for virtually no delay in information relay," says Shah. "Transmitting audio/video information requires more data, but any information lost there simply reduces the quality of the audio/video, which is not as important as losing someone’s location. That information would be put in another slice.”

Shah notes that 5G has key capabilities, such as support for various timing and angle-based techniques, device-to-device communication, and edge computing, which can be leveraged to locate users precisely and enable reliable communication infrastructure. Together this allows for much greater situational awareness of firefighters—and victims—by knowing their precise location and allowing for seamless communication among the firefighting team.

The drones add another level of complexity, and at least three will be needed around a building to guarantee high levels of accuracy. The team is working to ensure drone communications are synchronized precisely, as even delays as short as milliseconds may result in improper readings. Shah says that getting the independently flying drones synced up is one of the project’s biggest challenges.