Mohawk College secures drone-related research site

Mohawk College is working with the City of Hamilton, Transport Canada and drone companies to test out new products. Students will learn to fly drones in a new secure location and the first tests will focus on inspecting large industrial buildings.

Mohawk College students now have Windermere Basin Park as a site to do drone-related research. The college says it’s in the secure facility behind Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority gates, “which means we don’t have to worry about the general public wandering through our site. From a regulatory compliance piece, this site is in a small slice of uncontrolled airspace within the City of Hamilton.”

READ MORE: Canada calls Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei ‘persona non grata’

The site will be used for pilot training and testing drone products that do not yet have certification to be flown in controlled airspace. Mohawk College says it worked with the city to secure Windermere Basin Park, and they say for many reasons, it’s the perfect spot.

Transport Canada is also collaborating with the college. It asked the college to use the site to test new drone products. Transport Canada tells CHCH News “For companies it’s a really good opportunity to allow them to get solid feedback both from the government of Canada as a regulator, but also from our engineering and technical teams…”

READ MORE: Bottlenose dolphin, beluga whale die at Marineland

One local company, Sky Gauge Robotics is already involved in this research. The college and the company will be using the new site to test new ultrasonic drones that are used for industrial inspections.

The college says this opportunity is extremely valuable for students. Research is expected to begin at Windermere Basin soon.