An overview of Windwalker’s Services for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) Aeronautics Division
By Robin Grace & Jonathan Wren
In 2017, Windwalker partnered with MassDOT’s Aeronautics Division in order to accomplish their primary objective: develop a drone operations program that could provide support services to integrate Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS, or “drones”) into MassDOT and MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) operations. In Windwalker, MassDOT found an advisory partner with executive-level experience in aviation, management, government and military leadership, and knowledge of the frameworks used by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and the U.S. Department of Defense to govern drone program operations.
For over four years, Windwalker has provided MassDOT with a depth of experience identifying, onboarding, and retaining a team of experienced and highly qualified personnel. Since its inception, Windwalker’s team has grown from three senior consultants to fourteen positions including Video Producers, Drone Pilots, Graphics Designers, a Business Case Analyst, and Data Analytics & Cyber Security analysts.
The use of UAS technology has proven itself as an innovative and inexpensive solution to enhance MassDOT’s mission to provide transportation infrastructure that is safe, reliable, robust, and resilient. In addition, the Drone Program is incentivizing applied research across Massachusetts for economic development and to integrate drones into the National Airspace System.
Three Core Areas
Working closely with our customer, Windwalker focuses on three core areas. The first, drone integration strategy, includes policy, procedures, training, and regulatory requirements. Our consultants utilize senior-level experience offering industry perspectives and direction with cybersecurity considerations.
The second element of our approach involves providing an analysis of counter UAS (CUAS) technology alternatives for ground-based drone detection. We provide expertise to strategically integrate CUAS technologies with mindfulness of cybersecurity considerations.
Third, we provide test range support at Joint Base Cape Cod, one of the original FAA UAS test sites analyzing opportunities, improvements, and funding sources (multi-agency teaming).
Industry Innovators
As experts in a rapidly growing industry, we regularly and consistently engage with executive leadership in industry and government to advocate for, grow, and support resourcing of key UAS initiatives. We collaborate with academia and industry to develop programs to incentivize UAS industry growth in Massachusetts, with mindfulness of aviation related cybersecurity. We also support MassDOT on a variety of stakeholder engagement initiatives, industry research, and outreach designed to meet the Commonwealth’s UAS growth objectives.
In May of 2021, a team led by the MassDOT Aeronautics Division was selected by NASA as one of only five state and local government entities to participate in NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Community Planning and Integration Partnership Opportunity. MassDOT Aeronautics Administrator Dr. Jeffrey DeCarlo commented that, "MassDOT Aeronautics is pleased to have been accepted by NASA for this partnership opportunity as we have been collaborating with other entities already in an effort to make the Commonwealth of Massachusetts an early adopter location for advanced air mobility operations.” Read More
Our team is led by Robin Grace, the MassDOT Drone Pilot Program Senior Program Manager. Ms. Grace brings over 20 years of aviation and project management experience including Air Force Instructor Pilot experience for both manned and unmanned aircraft. Ms. Grace possesses expertise in the knowledge and understanding of regulatory and policy environments, quality assurance, project leadership, staff management, and deployment in a matrixed organization. In addition, she brings a breadth of regulatory experience, leading a team to an “outstanding” rating for regulatory oversite and program evaluations.
Specific Use Cases
Assessing and inspecting critical state infrastructure - This including roads, bridges, airports, rail, and transit facilities. After a significantly powerful Nor’easter impacted islands across the Commonwealth, the MassDOT Drone Team was able to access flooded areas utilizing unmanned vehicles. Our Drone team was able to provide MassDOT highway division and emergency response personnel documentation of flooded areas to better understand the breadth and depth of damage to critical infrastructure.
In Western Massachusetts, our drone team has assisted mapping historical rockslide areas. UAS provide a safe, efficient alternative to costlier and lengthier assessment methods.
Vegetation management - The MBTA is concerned with vegetation growth on its right of way that can impact its operations, especially after storm events, where there is the danger of trees falling on the railroad tracks. Such inspection is time consuming and resource intensive. UAS data can help quickly identify problem areas to enable better allocation of resources. In addition, data collected from UAS can help predict problem areas before they become an issue.
Similar flyovers are conducted near roadways to search for storm water drains that could potentially have clogged or over flowed.
Inspecting airports for multiple use cases - Utilizing UAS in vicinity of airports includes an additional level of coordination and safety, to which our team’s aviation experience helps enable. UAS are beneficial in a variety of use cases including obstruction analysis, security inspection, and environmental monitoring.
Infrastructure inspection – Using UAS to supplement inspections on bridges is safer and potentially mitigates traffic disruptions through less lane closures and less time spent inspecting. Other benefits include better quality and shareable data.
Map and monitor wetlands - By comparing aerial views of wetlands over time, experts can assess improvement or worsening of wetland conditions to better determine if additional mitigation efforts are needed. This also providing a method to document areas especially those that are difficult to access on foot.
In addition to these cases outlined above, MassDOT’s drone team provides services such as,
Documenting aircraft accidents
Responding to natural disasters
Monitoring construction projects
Enhancing environmental stewardship
Participating in state and local emergency drills.
We are taking an innovative approach to using drones to help organizations save time and money by being proactive. More importantly, we are also significantly reducing the risk to humans by replacing the manual work with the drones. Together with MassDOT’s drone team, Windwalker will provide cutting edge inspection and management support at the highest level, continuing to monitor our skies, transportation network, and vegetation areas to help keep Massachusetts safe!
For more information, please contact Jonathan Wren at Jonathan.Wren@windwalker.com.
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