Blue Ridge Community College: UMS 111 - Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) I

UMS 111 - Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) I at Blue Ridge Community College

Course Description

Effective: 2017-05-01

Introduces students to the history of small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS), surveys current platforms, applications, components, and sensors. Covers the theory of flight, operations, manual flight, maintenance, and required record keeping. Introduces mission planning, crew management, and autonomous control. Emphasizes the ethical, legal, and safe use of sUAS.

Lecture 3 hours. Total 3 hours per week.

3 credits

General Course Purpose

This course is intended to provide beginning operational mission related concepts to those interested in becoming sUAS remote pilots. It provides introductory coverage of the operational requirements needed to complete simple missions and meet FAA regulations covering the operation of sUAS.

Course Objectives

Plan and implement simple UAS missions to collect and analyze data.
Perform the operations required to support simple missions e.g. plan, fly, collect data, maintain, repair, select sensors and analyze data.
Understand the requirements of operating a sUAS in FAA controlled airspace.

Major Topics to be Included

The historical evolution of the UAS, civilian and defense contributions, and current state of UAS development
The practical uses of small Unmanned Aircraft Systems in civilian and commercial applications
The elements that make up small Unmanned Aircraft Systems and discuss the functionality of each
The basic aerodynamic principles that apply to sUAS flight
Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems design and payloads
Basic maintenance on small Unmanned Aircraft Systems
Operation and Risk Assessment for sUAS
Strategies and risk assessment for sUAS missions
The basic requirements for mission planning
Factors that affect flight plans/missions
Manual and autonomous flights of small Unmanned Aircraft Systems
The various modes of operating a sUAS
The FAA classes of airspace and how they affect the legal operation of sUAS missions
The personnel qualifications for the various sUAS crew members associated with flight missions
The types of sUAS products and sensors
sUAS data processing workflows
Selecting the proper sUAS-based Geospatial Mapping System for a particular mission
Choosing an appropriate geospatial application for sUAS data processing
The various providers of sUAS aircraft, sensors and data processing software
Using software to create mapping products such as orthomosaics and digital elevation models
sUAS safety, cyber-security and privacy issues

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