Embry-Riddle and SATSLab Partners to Demonstrate New Aircraft and Airport Technologies

Its current membership stands at 45 (listed below), with representation from consulting and economic development organizations, industry, not-for-profit aviation associations, public and private airports, and universities. The states represented in the membership are Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, and Virginia. Outreach to airports and governments of the other southeastern states for participation in the regional transportation system experiments and demonstrations is ongoing. Other government organizations participating include Enterprise Florida, FAA Orlando Airports District Office, FAA Southern Region, and Florida Department of Transportation.

Over the next 12 months, the Southeast SATSLab Team will receive $2.5 million from NASA, with more than $2.5 million expected to be contributed by member airport and industry organizations, leading to experiments and demonstrations among a network of airports throughout the southeastern states. Real market-based transportation scenarios will be flown not only to experiment with and further develop the new technologies, but also to collect data to compare the convenience, cost, and time savings of this alternative to current modes of travel. With NASA, industry, state, and other anticipated funding streams, the SESLC expects the entire five-year project to exceed $80 million.

SATS will integrate affordable new, high-technology, easy-to-fly personal and business aircraft into 5,000 "smart" small airports, with new capabilities to operate in low-visibility weather conditions referred to in the aviation community as "instrument meteorological conditions." New pilot and passenger improvements to these underused airports will attract business and leisure travelers who are not well served by the commercial carriers at the nation's major airports, thereby serving the aviation needs of the nation without further burdening the current system so plagued with delays and cancellations.

In conjunction with NASA and the FAA, the SESLC will lead the efforts to prove concepts and demonstrate the operational capabilities of the Small Aircraft Transportation System in the Southeast. Tangible experiments and demonstrations will be conducted to prove that this new system can move people and goods from their doorsteps to their destinations more affordably, efficiently, quickly, and safely than is being done today. Furthermore, significant environmental and economic benefits can be realized by the communities in which it operates. These experiment and demonstration missions will represent business, cargo, and personal/leisure uses of the operational concept and will cover a wide range of economic, geographic, and social variables in the southeast United States.

Through this initiative, improvements are being made to small aircraft, making them easier and safer to fly and therefore more accessible to more of the general population. The new aircraft will be faster, quieter, safer, and more cost-efficient than their current counterparts, and will take advantage of advanced data communications systems, landing systems, navigation and weather systems, and technology control and display systems that allow operation in low-visibility conditions. Similar advances in technology will be made to the ground infrastructure supporting these aircraft. These improvements will make on-demand personal travel a practical reality.

During the next year, the SESLC will establish new experimental ground systems at several airports throughout the southeastern United States. Simulations and flight experiments with NASA and SESLC aircraft will demonstrate that more flights can be safely conducted in and out of these small airports in all but severe weather conditions, without the delays, diversions, and flight cancellations suffered by today's airline travelers.

Since 1998, Embry Riddle and its partners has worked to establish the SESLC. It was officially incorporated in Florida on Sept. 28, 2000, and represents the hopes and dreams of communities across the nation whose economic growth depends on the success of SATS.

The direct membership of the SESCL includes more than 40 airframe manufacturers, airport managers and aviation authorities, aviation and technology companies, aviation infrastructure providers, pilots, professional associations, and universities across the nation.

Through members such as Florida Aviation and Aerospace Alliance, Florida Aviation Trades Association, Florida Space Grant Consortium, and National Safe Skies Alliance, the SESLC's stakeholders number more than 200 aviation-related organizations interested in changing the future of personal transportation. More than two dozen airports in the southeastern United States are either SESLC members or becoming members, and each has expressed interest in hosting SATS experiments and demonstrations.

Southeast SATSLab Consortium Membership:

• Airports/Government Authorities: Daytona Beach International Airport, Economic Development Council of Collier County, Gainesville-Alachua County Regional Airport Authority, Lakeland Linder Regional Airport, Lee County Port Authority, Melbourne Airport Authority, Miami-Dade Aviation Dept., Sebring Airport Authority, Spaceport Florida Authority, Tallahassee Commercial Airport, Tallahassee Regional Airport
• Associations: Florida Aviation and Aerospace Alliance, Florida Aviation Trades Association, Florida Space Grant Consortium, National Safe Skies Alliance
• Consulting Organizations: Air Traffic Consulting Service, Cogent Corp., Jakari Associates, Munro and Associates, Technical Strategies International
• Industry Members: ADSI, Air-Sur, Airway Developers, ANPC, Applied Systems Intelligence, ARINC, Avidyne, Engineering & Computer Simulations, Flightline Group, Global Navigation and Surveillance Systems, Goodrich Corp., Harris Corp., Micco Aircraft Co., Proton Aerospace, Rannoch Corp., Rockwell Collins, Safire Aircraft Co., SkyShare International, SMA, VB Aviation
• Universities: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Ohio State University, University of Tennessee Space Institute

Embry-Riddle, the world's largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, meets the needs of students and industry through its educational, training, research, and consulting activities. Embry-Riddle educates 23,000 students through the master's level at residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., at more than 100 teaching centers in the United States and Europe, and through distance learning.