Unmanned Traffic Management Research Project

The UAS Center is partnering with The Ohio State University and others on a three-year research project along the 33 Smart Mobility Corridor to develop a different low-altitude air traffic management system using passive radar. This research will include using communication devices on both air and ground vehicles and will complement ongoing work to test autonomous and connected vehicles along the 33 Smart Mobility Corridor, a 35-mile stretch of highway between Dublin and East Liberty, Ohio. The use of passive radar for managing the low-altitude airspace could be a major key in finding a system that can be scaled up and deployed statewide. Passive radar is much less expensive to install and therefore easier to scale. The research will use the passive radar system, as well as sensors and communication devices, to deploy drones for a specific use case: monitoring ground vehicle traffic along the corridor.