There will soon be something else flying through Auburn’s skies.
Auburn University will begin offering classes in, unmanned aircraft systems, also known as drones, as early as the end of July, according to Bill Hutto, director of Auburn University Regional Airport.
Hutto said classes will be open to students, faculty and community members and are not for class credit right now. He said certification in unmanned aircraft flight is a desirable skill and will make people more marketable in several job fields.
Hutto said practical applications include construction, where drones can be used to inspect buildings. He also said they could be used in agriculture, where someone can pinpoint delivery of fertilizer or water to be more efficient.
Christian Brodbeck, research engineer in the department of biosystems engineering, is using the drones to research precision agriculture, which is spraying fertilizer or nutrients only where needed.
“Rather than putting a blanket application across the whole field,” Brodbeck said.
Brodbeck said he is using drones with four types of cameras: true colors, or what something looks like from the naked eye, infrared, thermal or multispectral.
“The reason for all these ... we can actually detect plant stress before you can see it from a naked eye,” Brodbeck said.
Brodbeck said a practical application of UAS is using the thermal cameras to detect where there was a lack of water in a field, and then water only where it is needed. He said these drones would be cost-efficient for farmers by being more precise with using nutrients and resources and being able to detect problems early.
“We can really translate this into really potential savings,” Brodbeck said.
Eldon Triggs, lecturer in the department of aerospace engineering, said drones are the next level for aerospace engineering.
“With more and more automation, we can use [drones] where pilots would be too risky of a choice,” Triggs said. “Very, very long duration type flights, hazardous flights ... basically using them as a safe way to get pilots in there.”
Triggs said drones can be used in many military operations and as a way to protect people.
“You’re risking a $200,000 drone, as opposed to a $10 million aircraft as a pilot,” Triggs said.
Triggs said drones can also be used across many disciplines, from law enforcement to public policy. He encouraged anyone who had an idea for a new way to use drones to suggest it.
“It’s very easy to go out and design a drone to go out and do something,” Triggs said. “Whether it’s surveillance, or re-supply, or hobby, whatever it is, it’s really kind of easy to design a drone to do that. But designing what to use it for sometimes can be the more challenging mission, and finding ways to use it.”
Triggs serves as a point of contact between the department of aerospace engineering, and outside entities. He also helps maintain the fleet.
Triggs said students can be involved through the Design, Build, Fly competition, which is held with the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. Students build a drone for a specific purpose.
“That gets the students looking at how to build [drones],” Triggs said. “We’re trying to get them into the mode of not just going out and build something for fun ... but actually to accomplish some series of tasks, some payload that it needs to carry.”
Triggs said drones are becoming widely used.
“We’re at a point right now where it’s really starting to blossom,” Triggs said. “I really see a huge expansion coming.”
Triggs said Auburn is the first university to have Federal Aviation Administration clearances for drone training.
“When you stay in the forefront of this, when you stay in the lead, of course that brings in funding, that brings in new talent, it brings in new students in those areas, because they want to be where the technology and the research is in the lead,” Triggs said.
However, Brodbeck said they are still in the early stages of UAS use.
Hutto said UAS can be used across many disciplines.
“Application of UAS is really limited only by imagination,” Hutto said.
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