According to a report by John Nolan in the Dayton B2B local online business news source, a proposed center for testing and developing sensors, communications and control equipment and on-board power for unmanned aerial vehicles is intended for Dayton, Ohio, to help small companies get into the field at lower cost, a backer of the project said.

The Center for UAV Exploitation would be co-located at 105 Janney Road, Dayton, with the existing TecEdge Works facility that specializes in accelerated solutions and prototype-developing in response to Defense Department needs. Small companies that may be developing just one component of the technology could work with the Air Force Research Laboratory and have access to other, complementary systems to test the viability of their products, said Larrell Walters, head of the sensor technology office at the University of Dayton Research Institute, a leader in the Center for UAV Exploitation proposal. That would reduce a small company's costs of research and development.

The AFRL is a partner in the project, hoping to encourage a UAV technology base in the region. So are regional companies including Co-Operative Engineering Services Inc., Xenia, which designs and builds unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); Defense Research Associates Inc., Beavercreek, that developed a device to allow UAVs to hook onto electric power lines for recharging; STAN Solutions, Dayton-Miamisburg, developer of sensing products; UltraCell Corp., which makes fuel cells as portable power units for troops; BAE Systems, Riverside (formerly the defense contractor MTC Technologies Inc.); and L-3 Communications-Nova Engineering, Cincinnati, which specializes in sensors and high-speed, high-volume communications systems.

UDRI applied this month to the Ohio Department of Development for $3 million in Third Frontier technology funding for the Center for UAV Exploitation. The project partners would be required to contribute a matching amount in funding, equipment and personnel to support the project.

(Photo: The Institute for Development and Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology and Co-Operative Engineering Services Inc. have formed a consortium to develop unmanned aerial vehicles. Shown (from left) are Donald Smith, president of CESI; Larrell Walters of IDCAST; Adam Dietz of IDCAST and John McNees of CESI.)