Research engineer Cody Lundberg, left, points at the sky while electrical engineering student Jay Kaushik Mehta looks at the Maverick Autonomous Vehicle Research Center on Sept. 11 in Fort Worth. The facility will host educational programs, workshops and training sessions for students, researchers and industry professionals.
After about a year of construction, UTA held the grand opening of the Maverick Autonomous Vehicle Research Center on Sept. 16 at the UT Arlington Research Institute in Fort Worth.
The new facility is a 40-foot-tall, 150-by-120-foot outdoor netted building with a control building that can be used as a classroom, said Eileen Clements, director of research at the research center.
While the institute already had a smaller indoor drone facility, the new facility will be able to improve research capabilities and provide a space to test in all weather conditions.
The center will be used to test unmanned and autonomous air systems, commonly referred to as drones. The space will allow researchers to conduct research without concerns for safety within FAA regulations, said Nicholas Gans, principal research scientist at the research institute.
There are 28 Vicon motion capture cameras to help researchers better understand the performance of the vehicles, develop control algorithms and provide accurate verification to the drones. The facility also has lighting that allows use at night.
The control building is a climate-controlled environment that houses computers used to monitor the drones, and the facility can also be used as a place of learning, Clements said.
The Maverick Autonomous Vehicle Research Center is a netted drone facility, set for a 2025 completion.
Courtesy of UTA
Gans said that they want student groups and classes to use the space.
“We want to allow this to be used by anyone who has a strong use case for it,” he said.
The Maverick Autonomous Vehicle Research Center also opens up doors for collaboration, Gans said.
The facility could facilitate cooperation with first responders for training purposes. It could also be used for local schools and small businesses, allowing for teaching, training and outreach activity.
“We do want this to be a space that’s available and used a lot,” he said.
The Maverick Autonomous Vehicle Research Center is surrounded by a net, cameras and sensors Sept. 11 in Fort Worth. This facility will serve as a research center for UTA students and faculty, as well as area companies, local municipalities and the broader community.
Gans joined the project in 2019, working with other faculty members such as electrical engineering professor Yan Wan to make the building happen.
He said the process of getting the drone facility built was difficult, but once the university reached tier one research status, a team worked with the president’s office at UTA, and they were able to receive funding and begin designing and constructing the almost $2 million project.
“We had done our homework and looked at similar facilities in other universities, figured out how we wanted this to be,” Gans said.
The university hoped to break ground in February and complete the construction between May and early June, but the project was delayed due to the weather.
“We had a really wet spring, which caused a lot of delays, but we’re very excited that it’s been completed now,” Gans said. “We’re very excited and looking forward to using it.”
@atclements03