California Polytechnic State University has deployed a Clear-Com system at its Autonomous Flight Laboratory (AFL) to better prepare students for the real-world challenge of controlling unmanned aerial systems.
The aim of the programme is to teach aerospace engineering students how to operate communication systems, and to work as a team efficiently and productively in a ground control station, using an industry-standard communications infrastructure.
As Clear-Com is the preferred system for most unmanned aerial systems programmes, it is a natural choice for a training environment. Associate Professor Dr Paulo Iscold says: “Our ground station is one of the most important parts of this laboratory for introducing students to how to talk on intercoms. That’s why we selected Clear-Com.”
The students are provided with practical experience using the tools and systems they will encounter in real-world operational environments. They learn to brief test pilots and view and analyse data in real time – soft skills aerospace engineers “rarely learn in school and instead have to develop during their professional lives”, according to Iscold.
In designing the university’s system, Iscold visited several ground stations in southern California, working closely with Clear-Com representatives to choose components. Built from the ground up this summer, the AFL’s ground station features a Clear-Com system comprising an Eclipse HX matrix intercom system frame (with an E-IPA high-density IP interface card), four Iris Panels, multiple CC-400 headsets and LQ Series IP Interfaces for connectivity.
Additionally, the lab will incorporate Clear-Com’s Agent-IC Mobile App and Station-IC Virtual Desktop Client to provide students with remote connectivity. Given that the programme serves 120 students annually, and only 10 can occupy the lab simultaneously, remote connectivity is a necessary asset. While they rotate students in and out of the lab, the capabilities provided by Agent-IC and Station-IC allow those not physically present to listen, learn and understand the language and flow of proper communication by way of a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ perspective.
“Our ground station looks like what you’d see in NASA or Space X rocket launches, with engineers sitting in front of displays as data rolls down their screens, communicating with each other, the flight director and air-traffic control,” says Iscold. “We need to teach students how to handle all that communication simultaneously, so the flexibility Clear-Com provides was a defining factor for us.”
The integration of an HCI licence on the matrix makes the system more sophisticated than many ‘working’ stations. “We’re using one intercom on multiple frequencies and changing frequencies on all the other control stations,” adds Iscold. “That flexibility – and the ability to integrate Clear-Com with other components in the ground station – was very important to us.”
