Embry-Riddle Research Park and Integrated Airport Project
Embry-Riddle is in the process of creating a research park on a 140-acre space at the edge of its campus next to Daytona Beach International Airport that will give researchers access to sophisticated labs and test equipment, an array of test aircraft and simulators, and a university full of experienced aerospace and aviation researchers.
Embry-Riddle is in the first phase of developing a research park on a 140-acre space at the edge of its campus next to the Daytona Beach International Airport. The facility will attract aerospace, aviation, and information technology companies that could benefit from testing their new ideas and inventions "from baggage handling and passenger screening to jet engines and airliner seats "at the nation's premier aeronautical university and an actual working airport.
The research park will house ongoing Embry-Riddle work involving new concepts such as the use of diesel engines to power single-engine and multi-engine planes and the development of unmanned aircraft.
On the drawing board for the park are plans for a professional and corporate education center, an aircraft seat-testing facility, and an aero-science research center. The facility will have flexible space for laboratories, workshops, and offices.
Further into the future, strategic planners envision a facility in the research park where engineers would develop or test biomedical equipment and life-support systems with applications for space travel and exploration.
The airport could serve as a real-world test bed for emerging technologies in areas such as safety and security, airport capacity and efficiency, environmental management, marketing, and training.
Integrated Airport Project
The first proposed project with ties to the research park concept would develop Daytona Beach International Airport into a model prototype of the operationally integrated airport of the future. In addition to the airport, Embry-Riddle's industry partners in the Teaching Airport Advanced Integrated Technology Project are Lockheed Martin, Transtech Airport Solutions Inc., ENSCO Inc., and Mosaic ATM.
The system proposed for the Daytona Beach airport would employ several kinds of technology: highly refined local area weather prediction; an advanced infrared Doppler radar system that detects and tracks wind hazards and aircraft wake vortices; a millimeter wave sensor that uses a mini-radar network to detect aircraft, ground vehicles, debris, and wildlife; an optical identification sensor that reads aircraft tail numbers to aid aircraft location; and realistic three-dimensional graphical displays that create virtual camera effects. The software that integrates all the electronically collected information provides some of the truly innovative aspects of this proposal.