Moderator Comment by Sgt Ric on March 13, 2009 at 9:44pm

Good luck battling the FAA.

Comment by Rory Paul on March 13, 2009 at 10:12pm

@John

How much funding have you got or are we working for free?

Moderator Comment by Sgt Ric on March 13, 2009 at 10:21pm

Sounds like the same intentions as half the members of this site.

(including Chris, Jordi, and Dean)

Moderator Comment by Jack Crossfire on March 13, 2009 at 11:23pm

The UAV startups tend to be 1 person shows nowadays. Modern tools can get a single person all the hardware & software from concept to production pretty easily. Maybe a second person can do the selling.

There aren't any standards yet for UAS's. When it gets to the point where you have to comply with voluminous standards & get certified, it'll require a staff & then the work will be thousands of pages of ensuring function x returns a 1 when wind speed is y & radio power is z & none of us will be here anymore. That's how consumer electronics work nowadays.

Comment by Rory Paul on March 14, 2009 at 1:15pm

The FAA will kill 99% of these start ups by simply requiring the manufacturer to provide an air worthiness certificate and then they will run them through the wringer.

If anybody had though that the potential market has been lost on players like Boeing, Raytheon, Aeroenvironment etc they have got it wrong. I believe they are now trying to tie up the civilian "security / rescue" market. Currently the sUAS ARC is being chaired by Aeroenvironment and the draft of the proposed rules that will be submitted to the FAA for consideration that I saw (out of date by now I suppose) appeared to accommodate Aeroenvironment's products. I suspect that in the end a layer of platform certification / pilot training and certification will be added to keep small players out of this market. So anybody who thinks it is going to be a matter of putting an auto pilot in a foamie to sell to their local law enforcement dept I have bad news you will probably be required to spend 1 mill setting the required training certification programs for pilots, observers, flight planners etc before a single unit is even sold.....oh and do not forget the money you will need to spend taking the FAA boys to play golf to anything done...

Moderator Comment by Sgt Ric on March 14, 2009 at 1:43pm

Unfortunately, this appears to be all too true.

Comment by John on March 14, 2009 at 8:32pm

Are there any scientific avenues that may be permittable to government research counter parts? I would see this a a possible target and avenue. I would expect there are possible restrictions and guidelines applicable to unmanned surface vehicles yet scientists routinely deploy these in harbors, estuaries and open sea for weeks at a time.

Comment by Gary on March 15, 2009 at 4:43am

There is a market for this that will allow me to make enough money to pay for my hobby and stay under the radar, if I keep it small and simple. It's the hot dogging idiots that could screw the pooch with this and if they make this illegal the hot dogging idiots will be the only ones doing it. LOL

Comment by John M. Smith on March 15, 2009 at 8:46am

Reply to all.

We have a fair amount of funding and some alliances that are ahead of most of the pack. We are currently exploring these joint venture avenues and think we can come to some mutually agreable terms. We are already contracting with a design house that will build upon what is already out there and add those other very precious features that we all are looking for. The FAA is seen as a formidable obstical but not insurmountable.
I've seen recent documents that congress and other areas of the governement has put pressure and deadlines on the FAA to have completed the new doctirne and guidelines by 2013. Yes still far away but nonetheless a time to count upon. Development and design work will run us through most of this timeframe and we should be pretty much good to go by the time 2013 rolls around.

Comment by Rory Paul on March 15, 2009 at 9:55am

@John

My suggestion is you should start out by doing some due diligence, you need talk to your prospective clients and understand the scenarios in which they would use a UAS and how that will effect your platform. Do not assume that if Border Patrol wants X your local Police Dept wants X. Plan to field multiple airframes fixed and rotary.

Personally I think you are going to require plenty of financial stamina to break into this market against companies with systems that have been proven and their R&D costs recuperated already by military sales leaving them ready to be sold at heavy discount into the civilian market.

Good luck.

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