National Aviation Day, which takes place every year on August 19 in honor of Orville Wright’s birthday, celebrates the advancement of mechanical flight.
Aviation has come a long way since the early flying machines; today, unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS, represent the latest in aviation technology. At Iowa DOT Research, we’re exploring how we can use UAS technology to improve safety and mobility for the people of Iowa.
One of our current research projects explores how routine environmental assessments could be conducted using drones outfitted with special cameras and other equipment. These assessments, which evaluate the impact of potential construction on a natural area, are typically done manually and require significant time in the field. By using UAS to scan the area from the air, the job could be done faster with less cost.
It’s likely beyond what the Wright Brothers had dreamed, but thanks to National Aviation Day we have an annual reminder of where we started and how far we’ve come.
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