Presidents Issue ADS-B Challenge
RAPID CITY,
S.D. (June 6, 2016) – Engineering
students from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology and business
students from Black Hills State University are partnering on an aviation
project to develop technology and prepare a business plan to meet new FAA safety
requirements at lower cost.
The presidents from the longtime
rival schools, both general aviation pilots who
each own light aircraft, are challenging their students to develop an
affordable version of air-tracking technology known as ADS-B (Automatic Dependent
Surveillance-Broadcast) that will be required by the Federal Aviation
Administration in 2020.
Black Hills State University in
Spearfish, led by President Tom Jackson, Jr., is a comprehensive liberal arts university
with an internationally recognized business program, and South Dakota Mines in
Rapid City, led by President Heather Wilson, is a top-ranked engineering and
science university. Jackson flies a Grumman Cheetah. Wilson owns a Cessna 152.
Faculty members from the two
campuses have already been collaborating. Next fall Black Hills State business
students and SD Mines engineering students will team up on a senior design
project to build and test an ADS-B system that complies with the technical
requirements set out by the FAA at a significantly lower cost than currently on
the market.
“President
Jackson asked me if I thought that innovative engineers from Mines might
collaborate with business students at BHSU to meet a safety need at a more
reasonable price for the general aviation community,” said Wilson, president of
the engineering school. “It sounded like an interesting project and worth a
try.”
The BHSU business
administration, professional accountancy, and MBA programs are accredited by
the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Less than 5
percent of the business schools in the world are accredited by AACSB. This
accreditation is considered the “gold standard” in terms of business school
accreditations.
“We’re linking the knowledge
of our students at BHSU with students at Mines and challenging them to solve a
problem together, a problem with awesome potential in the aviation industry,”
said Jackson, president of BHSU. “We’re looking forward to seeing the results
of this collaboration.”
On the technical side, Scott
Rausch, acting head of SD Mines’ Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering,
is a former engineer for avionics manufacturer Rockwell Collins. Avionics and antennas
are a strength of the electrical engineering program. This project will use the
department’s new flight simulator for testing and integration of the ADS-B
system. Rausch is also a private pilot and prior owner of a Grumman Tiger
airplane.
Wilson and Jackson may fly
the equipment as part of the test program. Aircraft currently are required to
have transponders in some busier airspace so that air traffic control can see
them. This new technology will allow aircraft to “see” each other in the air, a
major safety advancement. It would be similar to vehicle navigation systems that
visually show all the other cars on the road as well as all of the weather up
ahead. The project will try to significantly reduce the cost of a compliant,
reliable system.
“This joint project addresses
a real industry and consumer need and draws on the strengths of the two
universities. It’s a great opportunity for planting the seeds of
entrepreneurship in the Black Hills,” said Darren Haar, an
entrepreneur-in-residence at the School of Mines who helps to drive technology
developed at Mines into the marketplace.
Jeff Wehrung, Ph.D., director
of the Center for Business, Entrepreneurship and Tourism and an assistant
professor of management/entrepreneurial studies, will serve as the lead faculty
member from BHSU on the collaboration.
Dean of the College of Business
and Natural Sciences at BHSU, Priscilla Romkema, Ph.D., said the project will
enable business and engineering students to work together on a
mutually-beneficial opportunity.
“We know this partnership will create a
collaborative spirit among students as they apply the knowledge, skills and
abilities learned at their respective institutions (BHSU and SD Mines),” said
Romkema.