University of Alaska - Fairbanks

The Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska - Fairbanks (UAF) established The Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration (ACUSAI) to explore the use of UAVs in government and scientific capacities, with an emphasis on the Arctic region. ACUSAI leads one of six testing sites in the US approved by the FAA.

History
UAF's Geophysical institute originally founded a unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) focused program in 2001. They aimed to resolve the difficulties that faced researchers and managers of Alaska's vast and hostile geography by experimenting with and implementing unmanned aircraft systems. Their partnership with the US Department of Defense and their aggressive experimentation has led them to become a world figure in UASs.

In recognition of the importance of an umanned aircraft program in Alaska, the University of Alaska Board of Regents created ACUSAI. This organization would encompass all drone related programs within the university and be led by the Geophysical institute. In 2012, ACUSAI sucessfully negotiated with the FAA to establish an The Pan Pacific UAS Test Range Complex, an approved UAS testing site that spans from Alaska, to Oregon, and to Hawaii.

Projects
In January 2012, UAF researchers assisted a Russian fuel tanker by determining the sea ice thickness with camera-equipped drones.

In May 2014, ACUSAI lauched their first drone out of their FAA approved testing site. The drone's mission was to survey populations of large animals in the Alaskan wilderness over the course of that summer. The outcome of their drone operations in this project will help the FAA determine how drones should be regulated in a research environment.

Drone researchers at UAF focus much of their research on wildlife surveys and other envrionmental research, but they have also been involved in search and rescue exercises.