Presidents Island – Memphis Flyer

Successfully operating a drone in heavy rain or extreme wind conditions has long been a challenge, but a new, multi-million-dollar project at the University of Memphis could soon change that.

The university has secured a $9.2 million contract from the U.S. Navy to design and construct a cutting-edge facility on Presidents Island aimed at developing and testing drones capable of performing under adverse weather conditions. An additional $21.18 million in U.S. Navy funding over two years will develop a wind wall with variable airflow patterns for testing aerial drones. The majority of this work will be conducted in Memphis, with portions of the project also being carried out in Tucson, Arizona; Orlando, Florida; and Columbia, Missouri.

The facility, sponsored by the Office of Naval Research and the Naval Surface Warfare Center – Carderock Division, will be located on President’s Island at the William Morgan Large Cavitation Channel. This project, still in its early planning stages, underscores the U of M’s commitment to advancing technological innovation and contributing to national defense efforts.

“This project is the latest in an ongoing effort by the University of Memphis to develop intentional research-focused collaborations with the Naval Surface Warfare Center – Carderock,” said Cody Behles, Executive Director of Research and Innovation Development at the University of Memphis’ Division of Research & Innovation. “The Memphis Institute for National Defense Sciences at the University of Memphis helps coordinate opportunities in partnership with the offices of the Tennessee Congressional Delegation. Their collaboration and continued support are vital to get projects such as this off the ground.”

The project is being led by Eddie Jacobs, a senior researcher at the Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering Research (CAESER) and professor of electrical and computer engineering in the Herff College of Engineering. The U of M will collaborate with researchers from the University of Arizona, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

“The William Morgan Large Cavitation Channel is already a unique facility for testing ship and submarine components,” Jacobs explained. “We now have the incredible opportunity to help build another unique facility for testing unmanned aerial systems (drones) in this space, greatly expanding the Navy’s ability to develop and test these systems.”

Jacobs highlighted the potential of the new Unmanned Systems Degraded Environment Facility (USDEF) to significantly enhance the performance of unmanned systems in challenging environments, with far-reaching implications for both military and civilian applications.

“When flying drones, we are often restricted to days that have calm winds and no rain,” Jacobs said. “We will be able to accurately control the wind and generate rain in this new facility. This will help us design and test drones that can operate under more challenging conditions.”

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) said he’s long supported the U of M’s “headlong leap into the unmanned aerial technologies of the future.”

“This Navy contract will demonstrate the university’s critical national role in developing and testing these technologies, while helping create the cutting-edge aviation workforce of the mid- and late-21st century,” he said in a statement.

A former Department of Defense barge is headed for Memphis, courtesy of radioactive-waste disposal company Energy Solutions. The company hopes to use a massive Barnhart crane on Presidents Island to lift the 750-ton radioactive barge out of the water and onto land.

The barge, which contains nuclear contaminants from various military operations, is in Virginia while the company awaits approval of a temporary special-use permit from the Land Use Control Board. A meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 14th, and, if approved, will also require approval from the Memphis City Council.

“The main reason it’s being done in Memphis is because of the crane,” says Mark Walker, a spokesperson for Energy Solutions. The crane, affectionately dubbed “Ichabod” after Sleepy Hollow’s Ichabod Crane, is one of the largest in the country.

The barge will be lifted onto an outdoor pad lined with layers of fabric and rock, constructed solely to dismantle the barge. The pad will be concave to prevent spillage of rainwater that may become contaminated by radiation. The dismantled barge will then be shipped by train to a radioactive disposal site in Utah.

“We will have 24-hour security seven days a week to make sure everything is safe regarding rainwater leakage,” says Dan Shrum of Energy Solutions’ environmental compliance office.

The project is slated to take about three months.

Shrum says the ship contains very low levels of radiation. “The people doing the torch-cutting and working on the barge will get the equivalent of about two chest X-rays [worth of radiation],” Shrum says.

Low-level or not, some environmentalists are still concerned. Last year, Sierra Club members fought a proposed incinerator from R.A.C.E. (Radiological Assistance, Engineering, and Consulting), another radioactive-waste disposal company on Presidents Island.

“We’re not opposed to this operation. It’s not a nuclear incinerator like they were proposing at R.A.C.E.,” says Rita Harris, the Sierra Club’s environmental justice coordinator. “But I do think this is a dangerous operation if it’s not handled properly. We’d like to see state or local authorities say they will monitor these folks.”

Representatives from the Tennessee Division of Radiological Health have confirmed that they will conduct an inspection during the dismantling of the contaminated holding tanks. At that time, an inspector will determine if a follow-up inspection is needed.

Harris is also concerned about air emissions that could be released from paint on the vessel containing toxic poly chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), as well as escaping asbestos fibers. The area where the ship will be dismantled is only two miles from Martin Luther King, Jr Park.

The company will work with a licensed asbestos contractor to remove the substance before they cut into the barge.

“We’re also going to remove the PCB paint before we use a blowtorch on the vessel,” Shrum says. “Our [planned] air emissions are below the regulatory level and were accepted by the local and state air-quality folks.”

The project does not require a permit from the local Health Department, and Energy Solutions has already gotten a permit from the state Division of Radiological Health.