World Class Facilities
At Virginia Tech we have world-class infrastructure for trailblazing faculty and students who are researching complex problems that affect you and me.
MAAP is one of seven Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-designated unmanned aerial systems (UAS) test sites. It leverages operational capability, aviation expertise, and robust research resources to take on the most pressing technical and operational challenges in UAS integration.
MAAP works with the FAA, the government, and leading companies on fundamental research and advanced testing, bridging industry goals and regulatory priorities to develop practical, powerful, evidence-based solutions that set new precedents and lay the groundwork for expanded operations. Their rigorous approach to safety-case development has rapidly become a model for enabling new drone applications through systematic risk analysis and mitigation and they are also leaders of Virginia’s BEYOND team -- the FAA’s UAS Integration Pilot Program.
Recent Advancements
The Virginia Tech Drone Park is a football-field-sized facility which, at 85-feet high, is the tallest in the U.S.
The park offers an unfettered environment for research, testing, education, and recreation. Outside the park, drone flights in public airspace — including on campus — are governed by strict FAA regulations. Inside the park, all that is required is basic safety briefing, free time on the calendar, and an idea.
The space offers individuals and groups, including industry and K-12 partners, a unique opportunity to explore this technology and their own ingenuity.
Recent Advancements
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The Virginia Smart Roads are state-of-the-art, closed test-bed research facilities managed by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Opened in 2000, this is one of the world's most advanced testing facilities for transportation technology and safety research offering advanced-vehicle testing in an interconnected and comprehensive cross section of roadways: including highway, surface, rural, and unimproved. With over seven miles of roadbed, this suite of test tracks feature weather-making, lighting capabilities, advanced sensors, traffic intersections, and varying pavement types, enabling the institute to conduct vehicle evaluations and driver safety testing for its partners in a secure location.
The Smart Roads play a critical role in the overall success of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and its research mission: to save lives, time, and money, and protect the environment.
Virginia Smart Roads Drone Flyover
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Since its debut almost 15 years ago, Virginia Tech helmet ratings have helped protect millions of athletes, and reshaped the helmet industry in the process. They currently have publicly-available ratings of helmets used in 11 different sports. Most recently, the Helmet Lab, located on Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg campus, updated their equestrian helmet ratings to be more accurate for fast-paced events and have even moved beyond sports, developing ratings systems for safety helmets.
Recent Advancements
The Virginia Tech Stability Wind Tunnel is one of the largest university-operated wind tunnels in the United States. In addition to its size, the flow quality makes it a prime research facility. Along with typical aerodynamic capabilities, the facility was the first to pioneer the hybrid-anechoic configuration with the addition of a removable anechoic test-section allowing for full-scale aero-acoustic testing. This configuration has since become the preferred configuration for large scale aero-acoustic facilities across the world.
The facility has extensive experience offering state-of-the-art research capabilities for academic research projects, efficient and productive testing for industrial applications, and providing large-scale research testing experience to undergraduate students.
Recent Advancements
Jim Cantore Tests the Virginia Tech Stability Wind Tunnel
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At five stories high and with an interior stage space of 48 feet long, and 40 feet wide, the Cube located in Virginia Tech Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology is one of the very few places of this kind worldwide. Its black box theater features three modular 4,000 projectors, 134.6 channels of 3D spatial audio, nine Holosonic directional loudspeakers, sixteen channels of wireless headphone transmitters, a 16-camera Qualisys Optical Tracking System, a triptych immersive projection screen, four channels of Pozyx Ultra-Wide Band Radio Frequency Tracking, and nineteen miles of analog and digital audio, video, and data patchable connections. It’s a space where almost anything from musical performances and robot ensembles to XR simulations and art exhibitions can be made possible.
Recent Advancements
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Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology + The Cube at Virginia Tech
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Located in Roanoke, Virginia, the Virginia Tech Animal Cancer Care and Research Center is a comprehensive cancer care and clinical research center offering integrated services, including medical, surgical, and radiation oncology, and frontline cancer diagnostics and treatment for dogs and cats.
A state-of-the-art clinical and research facility representing hope for a brighter future in cancer care, Virginia Tech's Animal Cancer Care and Research Center is housed in the 139,000-gross-square-foot Virginia Tech Carilion Biomedical Research Addition in Roanoke, Virginia.
Patients visit one location for a range of services, including surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and advanced diagnostic imaging, and benefit from the highest safety standards for administering chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Recent Advancements
Located adjacent to the nation’s capital in Alexandria, Virginia, the Innovation Campus unites industry, government, and academia in dynamic project-based learning and research to shape the way knowledge and emerging technologies influence society, driving a new era for the greater Washington D.C., metro area’s innovation economy.
The 465-square-foot, two-story drone testing cage is located on the third and fourth floors. The space will be able to connect live with Blacksburg's drone park and is connected to a 1,340-square-foot cyber physical lab, where students will be able to present their capstone projects.
The research focus of the campus centers on artificial intelligence and machine learning, wireless and next gen technology, quantum architecture and software development, and intelligent interfaces.
Recent Advancements
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Virginia Tech’s Center for Autonomous Mining trains future mining engineers to use autonomous technology, data analytics, and machine learning to extract critical natural resources in environmentally and economically sustainable ways.
Housed in Holden Hall on Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg campus, the 1,200-square-foot, two-story center features three rectangular pits, similar to sand pits on a playground, which encompass the bottom level. On the exterior of Holden Hall, a glass garage door leads directly to the center so minerals can be delivered seamlessly into the pit, with the goal of simulating a real mine. The largest of the three pits is located in front of the garage door, while two smaller pits are laid to the right of the larger pit.
