Drone industry leaders from around the world are beginning to plant stakes in North Dakota’s unmanned aircraft system (UAS) industry.

At yesterday’s UAS Industry Day by the North Dakota Department of Commerce, attendees traveled from Nevada, Texas, Maryland and as far as Norway and Israel to attend.

“If you’re in the UAS industry and you’ve come to North Dakota, you’re absolutely in the right place,” said Lieutenant Governor Drew Wrigley, kicking off the event.

He reiterated what so many UAS companies find appealing about North Dakota; six FAA approved test sites, close access to aviation schools such as the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences, agriculture and energy sectors in your backyard, and airspace. “Boy, do we got airspace,” he said.

The perks are drawing people from across the country and the globe, he said – one of which is Israel, who is already doing some testing on a North Dakota test site. Harlan Jacobs, president of Genesis Business Centers of Hopkins, Minn., has been instrumental in drawing Israeli companies to North Dakota as well.

“We might be able to bring 10-20 Israeli enterprises to the state,” Jacobs said. “We’ve already brought two of the companies here.”

Those two companies are ARTsys360, which manufactures a 3D micro radar system, and NewByte, which develops flight simulation tools. They are both opening space in Grand Forks and are in the middle of raising venture capital, Jacobs said.

Also based near Grand Forks is Grand Sky business and aviation park, which was announced at last year’s UAS Industry Day as “America’s first unmanned airport.” Company president Tom Swoyer gave a status report, stating that the $300 million project has completed phase one, an area that is now 50 percent leased. So far they have secured Northrop Grumman and General Atomics as tenants, and are looking for more before moving on to phase two.

From Norway to Fargo

One customer who is interested in the Grand Sky lots is Per Kristian Haga, co-founder of Norwegian company Robot Aviation. Haga and his co-founder Ole Vidar Funnemark Homleid came to Fargo to scope out potential partnerships and assess the UAS landscape in North Dakota. In the meantime they presented at 1 Million Cups and attended Drone Focus lunch and UAS Industry Day.

It seemed that the trip had gone well when Haga, at the end of the conference, asked, “Can you please buy a house for me here?”

He and his team are particularly drawn to the close proximity of the different aspects to the UAS industry, he said.

“In Norway if I need a sensor I have to order it from Germany,” he said. “Here we can find every sensor, field, pilot, airspace – everything is nearby. You can get much faster to the goal.”

The only minor setback is the stricter regulations in the United States compared to Norway, he said.

“In Norway, when you want to fly out of line-of-sight, you just have to make a call,” he said.

However, he was encouraged by how many exemptions are given by the Federal Aviation Administration, he said, adding that the regulations are not a a deterrent from establishing partnerships in North Dakota.

What Robot Aviation would bring to North Dakota is access to the large scale of their products, the SkyRobot line, Haga said. He has thus far not seen a drone, or “bird”, to the size of their SkyRobot in North Dakota, he said.

“Our plane is a big bird,” he said. “It’s useful because it can carry heavy sensors, heavy radars, and the sensor is far from the rotor so it doesn’t vibrate.”

In addition it can fly for up to 30-40 hours with a 50 kilogram payload, and up to 25,000 feet in the air, he said. Height is still difficult because in Norway, as in Fargo, they deal with the problem of ice; something that Haga said he hopes to find a solution to with the help of local universities like University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University.

“Here, we find a spot in the world where everything is around,” he said.

Haga and his team from Norway are not the only ones. In addition to he and the Israeli companies, a company from Finland called Sharper Shape has recently opened an office in Grand Forks. Other interests have sparked in Sweden, United Kingdom and Singapore, according to Brian Opp, Manager of Aerospace Business Development for the North Dakota Department of Commerce.

“By opening up not just to U.S. companies but international companies, it’s another way to promote the state, grow the state, and diversify the economy,” Opp said. “North Dakota has a way of coming together to work together for the greater good. You get an all hands on deck feeling… I hope that’s what people feel when they visit.”

 

Photos from Emerging Prairie, and Robot Aviation.