National Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Project Office

Recent Missions

USGS UAS Office completes first THawk mission Inspecting Coal Mines in West Virginia

Imagery from Raven A being utilized in collaborative effort between USGS, Bureau of Reclamation and the National Park Service for the Elwha River Restoration Project

Project Highlights

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Surface Mine Inspections utilizing THawk, WV

Elwha River Restoration, Monitor River Sediment

Assess Park Boundary Fences, Haleakala National Park, HI

Identifying Groundwater Discharge at Red Rocks Lake Wildlife Refuge, MT

Groundwater Discharge at Red Rocks Lake, MT

Monitoring Soil Bank Erosion on Missouri River, SD

Sandhill Crane Population Estimates, CO

Blogs

USGS and NASA collaborate Mapping Underground Faults and Fractures in Surprise Valley, CA

Overview

The goal of the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Project Office is to support the integration of UAS technology into the process employed by USGS scientists to support informed decision making across the Department of the Interior. This integration will directly benefit the nation by creating the opportunity for USGS and our partners to gain access to an increased level of persistent monitoring of earth surface processes (forest health conditions, monitoring wildfires, earthquake zones, invasive species, etc.) in areas that have been difficult or nearly impossible to obtain information before. Each of the Bureaus in the Department is eagerly investing in the investigation of UAS to support their mandated missions. The USGS is working closely with partners from NOAA, DoD, DHS, NASA and academia to apply UAS technology in support of our specific and overlapping missions. The Dept. of the Interior has acquired Raven and T-Hawk small UAS systems (valued at nearly $15M) from the Department of Defense to conduct proof-of-concept projects; initiate UAS operator training; submit numerous Certificate of Authorization (COA) requests to the Federal Aviation Administration. The USGS has been nominated to serve as the DOI - Center of Excellence for Scientific Investigations by the DOI Office of Aviation Safety (OAS). The USGS UAS Project Office staff is recognized as subject matter experts not only for DOI but also internationally.

UAS currently utilized by the Project Office


Raven RQ-11A	RQ-16A T-Hawk

USGS UAS Deployed Systems Video

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) provide an affordable solution to those agencies that need "eyes in the sky" but don't have the budget to maintain a fleet of aircraft, obtain commercial satellite imagery or to supplement their current aviation units with more cost effective aircraft for specific missions. The UAS systems currently in use by USGS operate on rechargeable batteries or easily obtained gasoline. There is very little maintenance costs associated with the systems and DoD has provided an ample supply of replacement parts.

In the News

Denver Post article examines USGS UAS Project Office interagency use of UAS Technology - Keeping Up With Drones- May 2013

New York Times article highlights USGS and Fish and Wildlife Service use of UAS to monitor Sandhill Cranes - A Drone's-Eye View of Nature - May 2013

USGS and Colorado Parks and Wildlife partner to count Sage-Grouse - Over Grand County Drones Are Bird Watching, Not People Watching - NPR for Colorado, April 2013

USGS Quarterly Aviation Safety News Letter Head In The Clouds - April 2013

FAA Announces Request for Proposals for UAS Test Sites

USGS UAS Applications Podcast with Mike Hutt and Jeff Sloan for sUAS News - www.suasnews.com/suas-news-podcast/, January 2013

Drones for Hire - Smithsonian's Air and Space magazine - http://www.airspacemag.com, January 2013

Q&A with the UAS Project Office Project Manager - Increasinghumanpotential.org

USGS National UAS Office highlighted in National Geographic Daily News Article

USGS Releases 2010-2025 UAS Road Map Adobe Reader