Grant: College and Community Innovation Program

The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) is requesting NSERC Innovation Enhancement fundingto support the development of the recently-created Centre for Innovation and Research into Unmanned Systems(CIRUS). CIRUS is designed to support applied research aimed at addressing industry challenges in three mainareas: innovative applications of unmanned vehicles, sensors and related equipment; application customisation;and validation and integration of data products derived from unmanned systems. CIRUS will act as a leadingunmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) research centre and a key supplier of highly qualified personnel to industry,and will function as a partner in applied research for both SMEs, and for more established companies.Additional partnership agreements have been established with the Foremost Centre for Unmanned Systems,which is currently the only licenced beyond visual line of sight facility in Canada for UAV testing. CIRUS hasalso developed links with other Alberta colleges and their faculty, through a progressive seven AB collegepartnership and one college in BC. NSERC funding will be used to provide a stable financial environment forthe establishment and operation of CIRUS through its first five years. NSERC funds will be complemented byindustry contributions to the various joint research projects undertaken at the centre, both with additionalfunding provided through industry donations, and through various federal and provincial funding initiativesspecific to individual research projects. The research carried out by CIRUS will complement the paralleldevelopment of unmanned systems and related curriculum at SAIT, and will provide a unique venue forstudent training. By working closely with industry, the centre will provide students with the opportunity towork on cutting-edge research, directly related to the rapidly-expanding adoption of UAVs both in Alberta, andin Canada as a whole.