Texas A&M University-Fort Worth will be the home of the FAA's new Center for Advanced Aviation Technologies. Photo via Getty Images.

The Texas A&M University System will run the Federal Aviation Administration’s new Center for Advanced Aviation Technologies, which will focus on innovations like commercial drones.

“Texas is the perfect place for our new Center for Advanced Aviation Technologies,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a release. “From drones delivering your packages to powered lift technologies like air taxis, we are at the cusp of an aviation revolution. The [center] will ensure we make that dream a reality and unleash American innovation safely.”

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, included creation of the center in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024. The center will consist of an airspace laboratory, flight demonstration zones, and testing corridors.

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi will lead the initiative, testing unstaffed aircraft systems and other advanced technologies. The Corpus Christi campus houses the Autonomy Research Institute, an FAA-designated test site. The new center will be at Texas A&M University-Fort Worth.

The College Station-based Texas A&M system says the center will “bring together” its 19 institutions, along with partners such as the University of North Texas in Denton and Southern Methodist University in University Park.

According to a Department of Transportation news release, the center will play “a pivotal role” in ensuring the safe operation of advanced aviation technologies in public airspace.

The Department of Transportation says it chose the Texas A&M system to manage the new center because of its:

  • Proximity to major international airports and the FAA’s regional headquarters in Fort Worth
  • Existing infrastructure for testing of advanced aviation technologies
  • Strong academic programs and industry partnerships

“I’m confident this new research and testing center will help the private sector create thousands of high-paying jobs and grow the Texas economy through billions in new investments,” Cruz said.

“This is a significant win for Texas that will impact communities across our state,” the senator added, “and I will continue to pursue policies that create new jobs, and ensure the Lone Star State continues to lead the way in innovation and the manufacturing of emerging aviation technologies.”

A new construction-focused drone services company has landed in Texas. Photo courtesy of Helios Visions

Chicago drone company expands in Texas, opens office in Houston

taking flight

A Chicago-based company that provides drone-based infrastructure inspection services has announced new offices in Texas — including Houston.

Helios Visions announced its expansion into Texas earlier this month, and named three new offices in Houston, Austin, and Dallas/Fort Worth. The company specializes in collecting automated and repeatable aerial data via drone technology within the architectural design, engineering design and construction industries.

"Houston, Austin, and Dallas/Fort Worth are large markets, and it is a natural next step of our continuing expansion strategy," says Ted Parisot, co-founder of Helios Visions, in a news release. "Moving into the Texas market allows us to best serve the needs of both existing and new clients in architecture, engineering, construction, and commercial real estate.

"Coupled with the urgent need for infrastructure inspections across the United States, it was the right time to expand our drone services in Texas," he continues. "This also represents the continued growth and value provided by the commercial drone services industry as a whole."

Helios Visions, founded in 2015, will offer its Texas projects drone services in the following areas:

  • Infrastructure Inspection (bridges, overpasses, viaducts, etc.)
  • Building façade inspection
  • Construction progress documentation
  • Commercial real estate

"Given its central location and the high population growth trajectory, we knew that expanding into the Texas market would allow us to best serve the needs of both existing and new clients," says Calvin Gin, co-founder of Helios Visions, in the release. "I am often traveling across Texas for other projects including Luby's Restaurants and Charming Studios, so it is a natural progression for Helios Visions to expand our drone service offerings here."

Amazon Prime Air drones will fly into College Station later this year. Photo courtesy of Amazon

Amazon plans to land drone delivery down the road from Houston

prime spot

A Houston neighbor will be among the first in the nation to test pilot a game-changing delivery system. Amazon has announced plans to deploy its state-of-the art Prime Air drone delivery in College Station, Texas later this year.

The online juggernaut is already reaching out to College Station customers, telling them that they’ll soon receive free and fast drone delivery on thousands of everyday items. The deployment marks the largest selection of items to ever be available for drone delivery, per Amazon. College Station joins Lockeford, California as targeted test sites for drone launch.

“We are impressed with so many aspects of College Station,” notes an Amazon blog post announcing the news. “The innovative research conducted by Texas A&M University, the small-town feel, and the sense of community that is clear from the minute you arrive in town all make it a very special place.”

Jeff Bezos’ empire plans to also collaborate with the Aggies on tech. “We are thrilled about the opportunity to launch this service in College Station and partner with the city and its world-class university on some of the great work they’ve been doing in the area drone technology,” the post adds.

How will it work? Once onboarded, College Station customers can then view Prime Air-eligible items on Amazon, where they can place orders and receive an estimated arrival time with a status tracker for their order.

Amazon Prime Air’s New Delivery Dronewww.youtube.com

Drones will then fly to the designated delivery location, descend to the customer’s backyard, and hover at a safe height. The drones will then safely release the package, rise back up to altitude, and return to base, per Amazon.

Amazon is touting the difference of its drone fleet versus the masses. Prime Air drones fly up to 50 miles per hour, up to an altitude of 400 feet, and carry packages of up to 5 pounds.

Unlike most drones, Amazon notes, Prime Air drones utilize a sophisticated, sense-and-avoid system allowing them to operate at greater distances while safely and reliably avoiding other aircraft, people, pets, and obstacles. That means the drones can identify objects such as aircraft, birds, or static places such as trees and chimneys, avoid them, and select a safe space to land and later, safely leave.

“Being one of the first drone delivery locations for Amazon puts College Station at the forefront of this exciting technology,” said John Sharp, chancellor of The Texas A&M University System, in a statement. “What happens here will help advance drone delivery for the rest of the country and perhaps the rest of the world. We welcome Amazon to our community and stand ready to assist however we can.”

College Station, Amazon promises, will benefit by more than just speedy, environmentally friendly delivery. “We’re bringing more than drone delivery to Lockeford and College Station,” notes the Amazon blog. “Through these Prime Air drone deliveries, we will create new jobs, build partnerships with local organizations, and help to reduce the impact of climate change on future generations.”

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

Hylio, based just south of Houston, is setting out to bring the agriculture industry into the 21st century. Photo courtesy of Hylio

Houston area drone company on track to revolutionize the agriculture industry

in-flight innovation

Renowned American inventor Thomas Edison once said, "There's a way to do it better, find it."

That timeless adage has been the spark that has ignited countless technological advances over the years and Hylio is no different, applying it to its own mission to disrupt the agricultural technology space.

With rampant systemic inefficiencies with current crop spraying solutions negatively affecting farm economics, Hylio developed its AgroDrone, a precision crop spraying drone system that is revolutionizing ag-tech.

"Our company started about five years ago, when we were delivering in Central America and noticed the way people were doing spraying was extremely inefficient," says Arthur Erickson, CEO and co-founder of Hylio. "They were doing it either by hand or by plane or helicopter. If you are doing it by hand, you are doing it extremely slow and very inaccurate. If you're doing it by plane or helicopter, you're doing it faster, but you're extremely inaccurate."

In most cases, when farmers use traditional crop spraying methods such as helicopter or plane, up 90 percent of the fertilizer or pesticides miss their intended targets or float away.

However, AgroDrone, which was recently accepted into the Capital Factory accelerator, provides for a very precise method of applying those chemicals with its intuitive planning system, which monitors and controls the spray volumes using pre-existing map files or polygons.

"For the past year, we've been our own first customer," says Erickson. "We've used the technology in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala on 40,000 acres. We learned the product and what made it more efficient by using it in the field 10 hours a day. We built this from the ground up using it as a farmer would. We worked out all the bugs, optimized it and made it reliable, so when farmers are out there in the mud or in the rain, it still works."

The drone's flight software allows it to be completely turnkey. The electron-based application can be run on any cross platform and gives pilots control over the drone at all times.

Additionally, the redundant critical flight system ensures stable flight.

"Our software was made completely in house," says Erickson. "Like a Google map interface, you can set up your own pre-loaded missions, in different polygon shapes, draw them yourself or import polygon files and generate missions for the drone to fly."

Because of the radar altimeters fitted on the drones, farmers are able to reduce the amount of chemicals they use because the drones maintain optimal height over crops at all times, which minimizes drift and maximizes application quality.

"If you talk to any farmer that has 400 acres of corn, for example, and they want to get it sprayed, it would cost them maybe $400 times 10 for labor times 10 for chemicals, so about $8000," says Erickson. "The problem is they're providing a brute force solution to a problem that is very simple to solve with a drone.

"If they've got weeds on their 400 acres, and the weeds are only on one or two acres, little spots in the field, they just want to eliminate those spots, so they don't need to pay someone to spray their entire field, so they're saving the chemical cost per acre is $10 bucks. So if they run our drone for 10 minutes, they're literally saving $7,000 or more."

The innovators behind Hylio started the company because they were passionate about drones, but saw that the crop spraying system for farmers was broken and inefficient, so they sought to make the process better and more sustainable.

"Farmers are responsible for how we eat, how everyone eats," says Erickson. "The current technologies used in agriculture is outdated and not very cost effective. We looked at the farm economics and wanted to help develop viable solutions. Every farmer has to battle weeds; it is universal. All crop and weeds are different, but it is the same concept. The more you control the weeds, the more money you make at the end of the year. A farmer could lose 20 percent or more of their crops if they do not control their weeds properly. Despite the inefficiencies and razor thin margins, farmers still use helicopters and planes because they have to kill those weeds.

"There's a better way to do it with drones and it comes at a fraction of the price."

The AgroDrone starts at $19,300 and is delivered to the farmer fully tested and assembled. The package includes four pairs of 30,000 mAh 22V LiPo batteries, charging equipment, one handheld GPS tracker unit and access to the Hylio AgroSol Mission Control Software.

The software, which was designed by farmers for farmers, requires a recurring monthly fee that ranges from $100 to $500 depending on the level.

Hylio also provides the central device that can control multiple drones at the same time and service hundreds of acres per day.

"The people that are doing the weed control spraying for farmers literally won't come out because it's not worth their time to just come out and spray one or two acres," says Erickson. "So even if a farmer has a problem that they know is only on one or two acres, they have to spray the whole thing, because they market will only allow people to spray the entire amount. They cannot come out and afford to spray one or two acres. However, if you buy a drone, you can do it yourself with the click of a button. Farmers are saving literally $10,000 per application depending on how big their crop is."

According to the US Department of Agriculture, American farmers received $11.5 billion in subsidies in 2017. That number will be drastically higher in 2019 to offset the market losses farmers will see due to President Donald Trump's trade war with China.

With profits in continual decline, Hylio's mission to improve margins for farmers continues.

"Farming is heavily subsidized now," says Erickson. "None of them are making money, so they desperately need something to increase their bottom lines. We are here to make farmers' lives better and help them feed us better. It's a win win."

Paladin Drones wants eyes in the skies within 30 seconds of an emergency call. Getty Images

Houston drone company creating the next generation of first responders

To the rescue

When 911 is called, first responders usually arrive at the scene around three or four minutes after the call's placed. But Houston-based Paladin Drones wants to have eyes on the ground ­— or eyes in the sky — within the first 30 seconds.

The company's mission is simple: to outfit public agencies and first-responders with drones that can be autonomously deployed to the site of an emergency. Equipped with thermal sensors and flying around 200 feet high, the drones can give police and firefighters near-instantaneous information on a situation underway.

At the beginning of April, Paladin Drones began working with the Memorial Villages Police Department to respond to incidents in Memorial Villages, Hunter's Creek, Piney Point Village, and Bunker Hill.

"(This is) one of the first departments in the country to be testing this technology," says Paladin Drones co-founder Divyaditya Shrivastava. "We're very limited in the area that we cover, and that's just because we're taking baby steps and going as carefully and deliberately as possible."

Paladin Drones was co-founded by Shrivastava and Trevor Pennypacker. In 2018, the company went through a three-month boot camp at Y Combinator, a California-based incubator that's churned out Dropbox, AirBNB, Instacart and more. Through Y Combinator, Paladin Drones was connected with venture capital investors in Houston.

The company's drones capture critical information, such as a vehicle's color and body type, a suspect's clothing, or the direction a suspect fled the scene. And since roughly 70 percent of 911 calls involve witnesses or passerby giving inaccurate information about the emergency's location, these drones will be able to pinpoint the exact location of an emergency, further aiding the arrival of first responders.

"We're working on tracking technology to give the drones the capability to auto-follow (suspects)," Shrivastava says.

Paladin Drones is looking to hire a handful of employees in the coming months, Shrivastava says. He declined to disclose any information on the company's funding plans, but said it's still involved with Y Combinator in California.

Shrivastava began developing Paladin Drones when he was finishing high school in Ohio. The summer before his senior year, a friend's house burned down. While nobody was injured in the fire, the home was destroyed, and Shrivastava spoke with the local firefighters. Tragically, the 911 call that alerted firefighters of the emergency was one of the 70 percent of calls that involved inaccurate location information.

"If they'd known the exact location, the house would've been saved," Shrivastava says. "A fire doubles every 30 seconds."

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Axiom Space taps solar array developer for first space station module

space contract

Houston-based Axiom Space is making progress on developing its commercial space station.

The company awarded Florida-based Redwire Corporation a contract to develop and deliver roll-out solar array (ROSA) wings to power the Axiom Payload Power Thermal Module (AxPPTM), which will be the first module for the new space station.

AxPPTM will initially attach to the International Space Station. AxPPTM will later separate from the ISS and rendezvous with Axiom’s Habitat 1 (AxH1) on orbit. Eventually, an airlock, Habitat 2 (AxH2) and finally the Research and Manufacturing Facility (AxRMF) will be added to the first two Axiom modules.

AxPPTM is anticipated to launch toward the end of 2027. The two-module station (AxPPTM and AxH1) is expected to be operational as a free-flying station by 2028, and the full four-module station around 2030.

The modules will be integrated and assembled at Axiom Space’s Assembly and Integration facility, making them the first human-rated spacecraft built in Houston.

Redwire’s ROSA technology was originally developed for the ISS, according to Space News. It has yielded a 100 percent success rate on on-orbit performance. The technology has also been used on NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission, the Maxar-built Power and Propulsion Element for the Artemis Lunar Gateway and Thales Alenia Space’s Space Inspire satellites.

“As a market leader for space power solutions, Redwire is proud to be selected as a strategic supplier to deliver ROSAs for Axiom Space’s first space station module,” Mike Gold, Redwire president of civil and international space, said in a news release. “As NASA and industry take the next steps to build out commercial space stations to maintain U.S. leadership in low-Earth orbit, Redwire continues to be the partner of choice, enabling critical capabilities to ensure on-orbit success.”

Greentown Houston to add new AI lab for energy startups

AI partnership

Greentown Labs has partnered with Shoreless to launch an AI lab within its Houston climatetech incubator.

"Climatetech and energy startups are transforming industries, and AI is a critical tool in that journey," Lawson Gow, Greentown's Head of Houston, said in a news release. "We're excited to bring this new offering to our entrepreneurs and corporate partners to enhance the way they think about reducing costs and emissions across the value chain."

Shoreless, a Houston-based company that enables AI adoption for enterprise systems, will support startups developing solutions for supply-chain optimization and decarbonization. They will offer Greentown members climate sprint sessions that will deliver AI-driven insights to assist companies in reducing Scope 3 emissions, driving new revenue streams and lowering expenses. Additionally, the lab will help companies test their ideas before attempting to scale them globally.

"The future of climatetech is intertwined with the future of AI," Ken Myers, Founder and CEO of Shoreless, said in a news release. "By launching this AI lab with Greentown Labs, we are creating a collaborative ecosystem where innovation can flourish. Our agentic AI is designed to help companies make a real difference, and we are excited to see the groundbreaking solutions that will emerge from this partnership."

Greentown and Shoreless will collaborate on workshops that address industry needs for technical teams, and Shoreless will also work to provide engagement opportunities and tailored workshops for Greentown’s startups and residents. Interested companies can inquire here.

Recently, Greentown Labs also partnered with Los Angeles-based software development firm Nominal to launch the new Industrial Center of Excellence at Greentown's Houston incubator. It also announced a partnership with Houston-based EnergyTech Nexus, which will also open an investor lounge on-site last month. Read more here.

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This article originally appeared on our sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

Houston medical institutions launch $6M kidney research incubator

NIH funding

Institutions within Houston’s Texas Medical Center have launched the Houston Area Incubator for Kidney, Urologic and Hematologic Research Training (HAI-KUH) program. The incubator will be backed by $6.25 million over five years from the National Institutes of Health and aims to create a training pipeline for researchers.

HAI-KUH will include 58 investigators from Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, University of Houston, Houston Methodist Research Institute, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Rice University and Texas A&M University Institute of Biosciences and Technology. The program will fund six predoctoral students and six postdoctoral associates. Trainees will receive support in scientific research, professional development and networking.

According to the organizations, Houston has a high burden of kidney diseases, hypertension, sickle cell disease and other nonmalignant hematologic conditions. HAI-KUH will work to improve the health of patients by building a strong scientific workforce that leverages the team's biomedical research resources to develop research skills of students and trainees and prepare them for sustained and impactful careers. The funding comes through the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

The principal investigators of the project include Dr. Alison Bertuch, professor of pediatric oncology and molecular and human genetics at BCM; Peter Doris, professor and director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine Center for Human Genetics at UT Health; and Margaret Goodell, professor and chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Baylor.

“This new award provides unique collaborative training experiences that extend beyond the outstanding kidney, urology, and hematology research going on in the Texas Medical Center,” Doris said in a news release. “In conceiving this award, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases envisioned trainee development across the full spectrum of skills required for professional success.”

Jeffrey Rimer, a professor of Chemical Engineering, is a core investigator on the project and program director at UH. Rimer is known for his breakthroughs in using innovative methods in control crystals to help treat malaria and kidney stones. Other co-investigators include Dr. Wolfgang Winkelmeyer (Baylor), Oleh Pochynyuk (UTHealth), Dr. Rose Khavari (Houston Methodist) and Pamela Wenzel (UT Health).

“This new NIH-sponsored training program will enable us to recruit talented students and postdocs to work on these challenging areas of research,” Rimer added in a release.