University News

High noise levels during flight have long been a barrier to the advancement of urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles, or “air taxis.”

Late last month, two Meteorology undergraduates from Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University experienced a rare research opportunity.

Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University student Patrick Hunter has his career sights set on remote piloting drones to utilize uncrewed aircraft systems in exciting, new ways. Already, as a student in the Master of Science in Unmanned Systems program, he has been involved in a project using drones to track endangered turtles.

When an animal’s life is at stake, every second counts. Nowhere is this felt more keenly than southern Africa’s game reserves, where increasingly sophisticated poaching squads are decimating elephant and rhino populations on a daily basis.

As a student, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University alumna Rocio Frej Vitalle ('12) worked in the Eagle Flight Research Center, which helped land her first job modeling and simulating uncrewed flights for FAA NextGen projects.

In a first, an uncrewed aircraft system, or drone, operated by an Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University team has begun searching for threatened and endangered sea turtles beyond visual sight lines.

Researchers at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University are investigating the use of drones in active shooter scenarios, to help law enforcement more quickly identify assailants and their weapons.

An unknown number of invasive Burmese pythons, some measuring up to 18 feet long, slither throughout Florida's Everglades, eluding wildlife workers who seek to manage their population.

Researchers at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University helped bring the goal of widespread drone delivery service and air taxis closer to fruition, by flying small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUAS) along simulated delivery routes in Florida.

The goal of fully integrating unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or "drones" into the national airspace system is still a long way off, but four members of the Embry‑Riddle Worldwide Campus Department of Flight visited that future over the summer while conducting UAS operations in Pendleton, Oregon.

Worldwide Campus researchers recently partnered with marine biologists at Starry Hill Observatory in Eatonville, Washington, to lead tests measuring the noise impacts of ten different drones on nearby wildlife.

Military pilots have been using augmented reality (AR) systems to enhance their situational awareness since World War II. Heads-Up Displays (HUDs) allow the pilot to see vital information regarding their aircraft's attitude and performance while simultaneously maintaining visual contact with a target outside the cockpit.