University of Maryland opens outdoor flight laboratory for testing UAS and robotics

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The University of Maryland (UMD) A. James Clark School of Engineering has opened the only “university outdoor flight laboratory” for testing UAS in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia region, and it is located just minutes away from the main College Park campus in the UMD Discovery District.

Known as the Fearless Flight Facility (F3), the facility, which is netted, will “serve as a catalyst for innovation in the areas of flight control, sensing, autonomy, collaboration, and counter-UAS.”

“With F3, we can conduct cohesive, comprehensive research and education programs in concept and development, testing and evaluation, and life-cycle testing,” says Norman M. Wereley, Department of Aerospace Engineering professor and chair.

The University of Maryland is located within the greater D.C. area; an area that's airspace is the most restricted in the United States, as all UAS flights within a 15-mile radius of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport are prohibited without federal government authorization.

Since F3 is considered indoors though, these restrictions, as well as other restrictions, on outdoor flights do not apply to the facility.
 
While F3 is considered indoors, its open black polyester netting still allows researchers to test their technology in real world wind and weather conditions.

“Facilities like this one provide the real-world testing conditions that enable innovative breakthroughs,” says Clark School Dean and Farvardin Professor of Aerospace Engineering Darryll Pines.

“F3 allows us to pursue an aggressive UAS research agenda that would not be possible without the protection of a netted enclosure.”

F3 will give student and faculty researchers a large area to test their UAS and other technologies. Before F3, testing was confined to labs, and in some cases, researchers couldn’t test at all.

F3, which is 100-feet wide, 300-feet long, and 50-feet high, will serve as a “critical nexus” between the Clark School of Engineering’s College Park labs and UMD’s UAS Test Site, which is located in St. Mary’s County, Maryland.