The University of North Dakota’s UAS Program from a Graduates Perspective
With the FAA in the US trying to integrate Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the National Air Space (NAS), the question of how UAS pilots will be trained or get degrees, when this happens, is a question on almost everyone’s mind in the industry. The first college to have a full degree for UAS was the University of North Dakota (UND). The FAA is currently using much of what they have discovered as a template for how other degrees in the field should be run.
UND started its UAS program in 2009. In 2007, all it had been was a proposal from some students and teachers. In that two year span, a lot of work was done to make this program happen. The program is very extensive in training. First, a student must start on a commercial airplane pilot path, taking a few introductory courses in UAS to get them interested. Once they have started their mid-level manned aviation classes, they can start on harder level UAS classes. All of the UAS classes are built to teach their students to work as a team in either the development process of new systems in the UAS industry, or operating within one of those systems as a job.
For manned aviation, they are required to get their multi-engine, instrument airplane license. They also must take almost all the other standard classes for aviation, such as advanced aerodynamics, aviation law, crew resource management, flight physiology, aircraft systems, and several meteorology courses. These are just a few of their manned aviation experiences.
The introduction classes to UAS are Intro to UAS and Unmanned Aircraft Systems. The intro course goes over the basics of what a UAS is. It also covers what the whole system incorporates; including the pilot, the network, the plane, and the ground system. This course also covers the creation of COA’s to allow public entities, such as police or a school, to fly UAS in the NAS at present. The Unmanned Aircraft Systems course is much like the manned aviation class of aircraft systems, where you learn about different flight controls, engines, and mechanical aspects of the aircraft. This class also covers different ways UAS get their power and how that power is distributed. Technical aspects of batteries and engines are gone into detail.
The midlevel courses for a UAS major are UAS Ground Systems and UAS Communications & Telemetry. The ground systems class gets very in depth into the minor details of different GCS components. Discussion is over how to integrate one GCS for several different types of aircraft profiles, since this is still a major concern for the industry. The UAS telemetry class is all about different ways we communicate with our craft. Radio antenna theory is covered using the US Navy’s technical guide to antennas, and there is much self-study and papers done on different aspects of radio theory.
The advanced classes for a UAS degree are Senior Capstone, Remote Sensing, and UAS Operations. The capstone is a class where current day issues in aviation are studied and then presented in teams to the class. The remote sensing class goes into detail on different telemetry technologies and how they work/have evolved. This class is very technical on the camera side of things and also very specific when it comes to learning about synthetic aperture radar. The operations class is the final class of the major. It is where you learn how to run a ScanEagle UAS. You are given the full course that Insitu would teach it’s students, plus a little more training than that, as you do everything twice with your wing partner. There are three flight exams and several ground school exams. All must be passed before progression can begin. Both CRM principles are covered, as well as working as an individual UAS controller, under the supervision of a mission commander.
The civilian market in UAS will hopefully open soon. When it does we must be ready with a rigorous course to make sure that we do not have the market taken away due to conflicts with the already existing NAS. The present market also needs pilots desperately, just to feed the need now. UND, as well as a few other colleges, is stepping up to the plate to fill this need. Interest grows every day in our field, but is still misinterpreted via the press as drones that can be spent at will. Education, like this program, is the first step to really presenting our field to the larger public.
