The field of aviation is constantly growing to meet the needs of the world. Within this field, drones are the fastest growing sector of aviation. Each day, more and more people are using drones for both recreational and commercial purposes. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Elaine L. Chao has appointed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with the undertaking of ensuring that drones are being introduced to shared airspace in a safe manner. To do this, the DOT and FAA created the Unmanned Aircraft System Integration Pilot Program (UASIPP) in 2017. The UASIPP is a group of public, private, state, local, and tribal entities invested in drone technologies that will dedicate research towards testing drones for the future of the industry. The FAA announced that it would be looking for participants in this new venture. On Wednesday, May 9, 2018, the FAA selected 10 lead participants out of the 149 submitted applications to participate in the UASIPP.

Making history as one of the 10 participants in the UASIPP was the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Descendants of the original Choctaw Republic, the Choctaw Nation is the third largest federally recognized tribe in the United States of America. Their jurisdiction and reservations cover over 10 counties in the southeastern corner of Oklahoma. In 2014 Gary Batton became the 47th Chief of the Choctaw Nation and has maintained a strong relationship with both local, state, and federal governments. One of the areas that Chief Batton said he is most proud of is how the Choctaw Nation has always embraced the advancement of technology. As the only tribal representatives in the UASIPP, Cheif Batton said, “The Choctaw Nation is very happy about today’s announcement, and we believe this reflects very well on our continued work and efforts to identify and grow economic opportunities for our region. We realize that this technology has the potential to change our daily lives in many positive ways. This program will enable and foster technology and creativity in a safe environment.”

The Choctaw Nation UASIPP program will be a collaboration of researchers from Intel, Oklahoma State University (OSU), Flirtey, and more. The majority of their testing will take place at Green Valley Farms Living Laboratory in Cleveland County an area of 3,500 acres just 15 minutes south of OSU’s Norman campus. As the Choctaw Nation UASIPP program has been tasked with drone issues concerning agricultural uses, the Green Valley Farms Living Laboratory is a perfect location. Another test site will be the Choctaw Hunting Lodge, a 25 mile area with a wide range of biodiversity and no air restrictions.

Between these two sites, drones can be tested for many purposes including weather analysis, Extended Visual Line Of Sight (EVLOS) and Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) trials, utility maintenance, emergency response and disaster recovery, precision agriculture, and more. In recognition of the Choctaw Nation’s participation in this landmark program, a drone demonstration was presented to show some of the ways drone technology could be beneficial for the people of the Choctaw Nation.

One of the biggest plights for Choctaw farmers is invasions from wild boars that can ransack crops. Farmers have set up federally approved traps called Boar Busters developed by the Noble Research Institute to address this problem. However, getting to all of the traps to have them baited is not only time consuming, but treacherous. In the demonstration, a drone pilot flew a small drone carrying a 10lb bag of corn feed over a field and into a wooded area. Once the trap was located, the pilot released the feed baiting the trap. The entire demonstration, that covered a distance of roughly 4,000ft only took about 10 minutes to complete, the drone remaining within line of sight of the pilot at all times.

As outlined on the FAA’s website, the UASIPP will be working towards “Identifying ways to balance local and national interests related to drone integration. Improving communications with local, state, and tribal jurisdictions. Addressing security and privacy risks. Accelerating the approval of operations that currently require special authorizations. Engaging people where they live and work to understand community sentiment.” The Choctaw Nation and the other 9 participants will have an initial 3year term with the UASIPP to make headway for drone safety and advancement.