{"id":216437,"date":"2026-02-23T01:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T06:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/23\/okc-velocity-oklahoma-invests-in-key-safety-technology-to-advance-autonomous-aviation\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T01:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T06:10:08","slug":"okc-velocity-oklahoma-invests-in-key-safety-technology-to-advance-autonomous-aviation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/23\/okc-velocity-oklahoma-invests-in-key-safety-technology-to-advance-autonomous-aviation\/","title":{"rendered":"OKC VeloCity | Oklahoma Invests in Key Safety Technology to Advance Autonomous Aviation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.velocityokc.com\/blog\/economy\/oklahoma-invests-in-key-safety-technology-to-advance-autonomous-aviation\/?backu003dsuper_blog\">OKC VeloCity | Oklahoma Invests in Key Safety Technology to Advance Autonomous Aviation<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.velocityokc.com\/blog\/economy\/oklahoma-invests-in-key-safety-technology-to-advance-autonomous-aviation\/?backu003dsuper_blog\">https:\/\/www.velocityokc.com\/blog\/economy\/oklahoma-invests-in-key-safety-technology-to-advance-autonomous-aviation\/?backu003dsuper_blog<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-02-23 01:01:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"www.velocityokc.com\">www.velocityokc.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Oklahoma is continuing to build momentum in autonomous aviation with a state-backed research project focused on one of the industry\u2019s most critical safety challenges: how uncrewed aircraft safely share airspace with other aircraft.<\/p>\n<p>In January, the state awarded OCAST funding for a year-long research effort to advance onboard detect-and-avoid technology for uncrewed aircraft. Detect-and-avoid, often referred to as DAA, allows an autonomous aircraft to detect other air traffic, track potential conflicts, and take action to maintain safe separation. The capability is widely considered a prerequisite for routine beyond visual line of sight flights, a regulatory and technical hurdle that must be cleared before applications like large-scale drone operations and advanced air mobility can expand.<\/p>\n<p>The work is being carried out by Vigilant Aerospace Systems with flight testing support from the Oklahoma Aerospace Institute for Research and Education at Oklahoma State University. The project is supported by the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology, which invests in applied research aimed at advancing technologies important to the state\u2019s long-term economic growth.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"caption\">Drone supporting a Vigilant Aerospace flight test with OAIRE at OSU\u2019s Uncrewed Aircraft Flight Station in 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"blockquote\">\u201cDetect-and-avoid is an industry-enabling technology,\u201d said Kraettli L. Epperson, CEO of Vigilant Aerospace Systems. \u201cIt fills a critical gap that allows autonomous aircraft to safely operate in the national airspace alongside helicopters, general aviation and other crewed aircraft.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Today, most commercial drone operations are limited to flights within the pilot\u2019s visual line of sight. While waivers exist, broader adoption of long-range uncrewed operations depends on systems that can independently provide safety assurances in mixed airspace. Onboard detect-and-avoid technology allows autonomous aircraft to operate without relying solely on ground-based&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.velocityokc.com\/blog\/economy\/oklahoma-invests-in-key-safety-technology-to-advance-autonomous-aviation\/?backu003dsuper_blog\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OKC VeloCity | Oklahoma Invests in Key Safety Technology to Advance Autonomous Aviation https:\/\/www.velocityokc.com\/blog\/economy\/oklahoma-invests-in-key-safety-technology-to-advance-autonomous-aviation\/?backu003dsuper_blog Publish&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":216438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.velocityokc.com\/clientuploads\/vigilant_aerospace_2.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-216437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216437"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216437"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":216439,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216437\/revisions\/216439"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}