Falcon Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Flies Into Action

Hye Lim Jung ’23

Landing an airplane is a critical task for any pilot to ensure that everyone on board will arrive safely at their destination. Some missionary pilots, however, have an additional challenge when they fly to the mission field: landing on unsafe runways in the jungle. Airstrips are commonly located in areas where fast vegetation growth and tall trees interfere with landing. Generally, no professional organization is responsible to keep updated airstrip charts for the pilots, making the runways dangerous.

This challenge was presented by International Association of Missionary Aviation (IAMA) to Indigenous People’s Technology and Education Center (ITEC), a nonprofit organization that supports indigenous Christians to meet their own needs and share the gospel though various tools and mission trainings. The Falcon Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) team partnered with ITEC to seek out a solution. Project manager Dereck Plante and student project managers Johnny Greaser ’20 and Geoffrey McClary ’21, led the project from the fall of 2019 until completion in May 2021. The team focused on finding a commercial drone and a software program that would update the airstrip charts in remote areas and allow aviators to land safely.

The students created a system that includes software that sends a drone on a pre-planned flight over the designated area, scans it, maps it in a grid format and takes many photos with a 20-megapixel camera. The images are transmitted to the software and then used to create a high resolution 3D model of the mapped area. The heights of vegetation or other obstacles on a runway are detected with a plus or minus 10 percent accuracy. With this user-friendly system, it is now easier and more accessible for people to survey airstrips accurately and keep the airstrip maps updated for pilots, allowing for safer flights as missionaries travel to remote areas around the world. The Falcon UAV team trained the ITEC workers on how to use this system in May 2021 and is now waiting to see its first use in Ecuador.

The team successfully completed their project even with on-campus COVID restrictions and drone regulations. They worked with Messiah’s Operations Division to create a new policy that allowed them to fly their drones on campus.

When asked what he would hope to see in the future of the Falcon UAV project, Plante answered, “It would be cool to hear someday that missionary pilots are benefitting from these maps of remote airstrips, making the aviation world safer because of it.”

word from the director

One of the joys of serving at Messiah University is experiencing the beauty of the four seasons of central Pennsylvania. As I am writing this update, the days are becoming shorter, the leaves are changing and there is a chill in the air. As poet Shel Silverstein wrote, “Oh the changing of the seasons it’s a pretty thing to see.” The same can be said in the season of activities for the Collaboratory; the changes are also a pretty thing to see.

As the students returned for a new school year, we began a new season of student leadership. Katie Bunch, who was the assistant student director last year, has now taken the full leadership role as the student director of the Collaboratory. We are also excited that Rachel Rashford has assumed the role of assistant student director. In total, there are 45 students serving in roles on the student board, as discipleship community leaders and as student project managers. Of these, 29 are new to these roles this year. The Lord continues to provide committed young men and women within the Collaboratory.

This year, the Collaboratory has 23 projects with partners spanning across Asia, Africa, and North and Central America. As part of our seasonal life, we experience the joys and sadness of ending projects. At the same time, we share the excitement of starting new projects, forming new project teams and working with new partners. Two new biomedical projects beginning this year are the Stance Control Orthotic and Functional Electrical Stimulation. Both of these projects look to create low-cost solutions to improve the lives of children with mobility impairments.

We are looking forward to summer 2022, the season of travel for the Collaboratory, with great anticipation. Without traveling the last two summers, our team members have a strong interest in visiting their partners and meeting with the communities they serve. Many alumni share that these cross-cultural experiences were the “mountaintop” of their time at Messiah University. We currently have an unprecedented 16 of our 23 teams that have begun applying for travel. For this, please consider a year-end gift supporting our Collaboratory Student Travel Scholarship Fund to ensure that every student that wants to travel has the opportunity. There is a QR code enclosed in the newsletter that directs you to the Collaboratory donation website.

At the Collaboratory, we thank God for our opportunities to learn, create and serve. We pray that these continue to be done in His perfect timing. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

Partner spotlight: alignedworks

Colleen Quinn ’22

The Collaboratory is blessed to partner with many great organizations. In this newsletter, we highlight our partner AlignedWorks, of which Dr. David Vader is a co-founder.

What is AlignedWorks’ connection to Messiah? Messiah University is close to Vader’s heart, as he recently retired from teaching here in addition to being instrumental in founding the Collaboratory and serving as its director for many years.

What does AlignedWorks do? Teams from AlignedWorks are seeking to make handpumps more reliable for the millions of people worldwide who rely on a handpump for daily water. The intellectual property for these handpump innovations was developed in the Collaboratory at Messiah University.

What is AlignedWorks’ mission? The mission of AlignedWorks is to launch businesses that bring products, services, jobs and ownership to communities left behind by business-as-usual. Members of the AlignedWorks Venture Talent Network invest their talent and discretionary time, and they share ownership in the businesses according to the contributions made. AlignedWorks believes that it is better, when possible, to be a customer and to have a job than to be a recipient of conditional and inconsistent generosity. Businesses can be self-sustaining and encourage economic growth in communities

homecoming and family weekend 2021

We had the pleasure of welcoming alumni and families of current students to campus this fall. Some team members demonstrated their project’s most recent work, while alumni enjoyed catching up with each other, and parents of current students caught a glimpse into their son or daughter’s project work. The event also included a short program to honor Collaboratory founders, Dr. Don Pratt and Dr. David Vader.