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A Silicon Valley for Drones, in North Dakota

nytimes.com

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Re: A Silicon Valley for Drones, in North Dakota

#21

Post by protomyth »

bkjelden wrote: post #13
jmspring wrote: post #3

I think a serious benefit ND has, aside from the established reputation and money put in is space . I can't really think of somewhere in Silicon Valley (or near by) that has the lack of population, lack of airspace traffic, and lack of local / state / federal ordinances that would allow this degree of freedom. Silicon Valley has it's strengths, but it can't be ground zero for everything. Honestly, if the NUMI plant w…

Nevada is closer and seems to have most of North Dakota's benefits? I also wonder if Nevada's climate would make it a better choice too. The Dakotas have some of the most extreme weather in the US - hot summers, frigid winters, severe thunderstorms, and wind - there were a lot of windy days when I lived in North Dakota. Would days with subzero high temps and 30 MPH sustained winds be a useful environment for drones?…

Nevada has two big minuses - Las Vegas and the amount of planes going in and out plus the Air Force has a rather large base in the state that is a bit more... secure than anything in ND.

The extreme weather (hot, cold, windy, etc.) is a bonus for drone testing since they have to operate in those conditions in the real world.

Re: A Silicon Valley for Drones, in North Dakota

#22

Post by Animats »

jmspring wrote: post #3

I think a serious benefit ND has, aside from the established reputation and money put in is space . I can't really think of somewhere in Silicon Valley (or near by) that has the lack of population, lack of airspace traffic, and lack of local / state / federal ordinances that would allow this degree of freedom. Silicon Valley has it's strengths, but it can't be ground zero for everything. Honestly, if the NUMI plant w…

"I can't really think of somewhere in Silicon Valley (or near by) that has the lack of population, lack of airspace traffic, and lack of local / state / federal ordinances that would allow this degree of freedom."

Southern California has Mojave Air and Space Port, which is, among other things, a flight test center for civilian aircraft. Scaled Composites flies from there, and SpaceShip One was launched from there for the X-Prize. They have a test pilot school. Lots of exotic aircraft activity takes place there. Read their "Why Test Here" section.[1] Three of their features: "Welcoming attitude toward imagination and experimentation", "Huge airspace away from populated urban areas", and "Should you ever need it, a sophisticated Aerospace Rescue and FireFighting operation". This is useful for larger or longer-ranged drones. QF-4 drones, converted from F-4 fighters, are built and tested there.

[1] http://www.mojaveairport.com/why-test-here.html

Re: A Silicon Valley for Drones, in North Dakota

#23

Post by bradgessler »

rfrank wrote: post #7
protomyth wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although ND has crop dusters which will be an interesting conflict.

How often do crop dusters usually fly? I feel like that's a problem that could be solved by a bit of communication.

Replace the crop dusters with drones?

Re: A Silicon Valley for Drones, in North Dakota

#24

Post by fancy_pantser »

protomyth wrote: post #21
bkjelden wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nevada is closer and seems to have most of North Dakota's benefits? I also wonder if Nevada's climate would make it a better choice too. The Dakotas have some of the most extreme weather in the US - hot summers, frigid winters, severe thunderstorms, and wind - there were a lot of windy days when I lived in North Dakota. Would days with subzero high temps and 30 MPH sustained winds be a useful environment for drones?…

Nevada has two big minuses - Las Vegas and the amount of planes going in and out plus the Air Force has a rather large base in the state that is a bit more... secure than anything in ND. The extreme weather (hot, cold, windy, etc.) is a bonus for drone testing since they have to operate in those conditions in the real world.

ND has Minot AFB and is also peppered with missile silos that have very precise airspace restrictions. With B-52s and Minutemen missiles, it all sounds like cold war relics, but they are adding new MOAs to this day plus NOTAMs that pop up daily.

The weather is so extreme that it often manages to simulate the north pole and other tundra. If that's your aim, then it's a goldmine.

Example of a newer wide area air restriction in the state: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-06-20/pdf/2012-15008.p...

Re: A Silicon Valley for Drones, in North Dakota

#26

Post by bigiain »

frisco wrote: post #17
bigiain wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't a lot of the em[ptyt open space in NV under BLM control, and therefore off limits to "drones"? (Also, good luck getting your experimental UAV back when it mysteriously goes down over Area 51...)

I'm pretty sure BLM means open for drones... It's national parks that are off limits. BLM is the "everything else" of US land and in general has the most relaxed rules. Like, you can land a plane anywhere on a dry BLM lakebed, for one.

Ahhh, you're right (here from .au I kind of automatically substitute "National Parks" for "BLM", cause that's a reasonable close translation to our local government nomenclature. I forget Natioanl Parks and BLM aren't synonyms.)

Re: A Silicon Valley for Drones, in North Dakota

#28

Post by digi_owl »

tillinghast wrote: post #19
bkjelden wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nevada is closer and seems to have most of North Dakota's benefits? I also wonder if Nevada's climate would make it a better choice too. The Dakotas have some of the most extreme weather in the US - hot summers, frigid winters, severe thunderstorms, and wind - there were a lot of windy days when I lived in North Dakota. Would days with subzero high temps and 30 MPH sustained winds be a useful environment for drones?…

One could argue that extreme climate swings might make for an _ideal_ development environment. Environmental extremes would better model real-world conditions.

I have sometimes wondered if where a company is based forms their products.

While wikipedia now says that Subaru has their HQ in Tokyo, i could have sworn they were initially based on Japan's northern island. And they seem to make some damn fine cars for winter roads.

Similarly both Korea and Finland gets damn cold during winter, and thus both Samsung and Nokia may have ignored capacitive touch screens since they don't work too well with thick gloves.

Re: A Silicon Valley for Drones, in North Dakota

#30

Post by protomyth »

fancy_pantser wrote: post #24
protomyth wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nevada has two big minuses - Las Vegas and the amount of planes going in and out plus the Air Force has a rather large base in the state that is a bit more... secure than anything in ND. The extreme weather (hot, cold, windy, etc.) is a bonus for drone testing since they have to operate in those conditions in the real world.

ND has Minot AFB and is also peppered with missile silos that have very precise airspace restrictions. With B-52s and Minutemen missiles, it all sounds like cold war relics, but they are adding new MOAs to this day plus NOTAMs that pop up daily. The weather is so extreme that it often manages to simulate the north pole and other tundra. If that's your aim, then it's a goldmine. Example of a newer wide area air restri…

A lot of the missile silos are now empty in ND and Minot is a distance from Grand Forks.

> The weather is so extreme that it often manages to simulate the north pole and other tundra. If that's your aim, then it's a goldmine.

Oh come on, we've actually had better weather than SD and MN for the last couple of years. Its not that horrible, it just has horrible moments. Poor people can get their car too and fro, so its not that bad.

> Example ....

That's from 2012 and for Devils Lake, ND. The range is pretty small and they were talking about the firing range. Heck the same document tells of scheduling with local crop dusters. I work 10 miles from there and the local airport is within 8 miles of the place. Mostly they are doing construction training and now a bit of drones themselves.

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