PENDLETON — The Oregon UAS Accelerator operating at the Pendleton Unmanned Aerial Systems Range is creating its first job and could get a “mini manufacturing facility.”

Oregon UAS Accelerator Executive Director Joseph Wyno delivered the tidbits and more Tuesday, June 11, to the Pendleton City Council during a detailed briefing about the program.

Wyno said Joel Mulkey, founder and CEO of Rangair, of Beaverton has announced he is hiring “because he knows he’s going to need to grow and expand his business.”

Wyno said Mulkey is working on “game-changing” technology for combating wildfires.

“When you have emergency services and firefighters embedded in these very remote areas, oftentimes communication is very difficult,” Wyno said. “They use radios, but if they’re behind a tree stand or behind a mountain, sometimes those radios don’t work as the difference between life and death.”

Wyno explained Rangair has a drone with a payload containing high-speed internet and Wi-Fi to provide emergency service individuals with the ability to communicate with each other.

“We’re very excited about the innovation,” he said.

Aerial Industries to expand

Wyno also told the council about the expansion and possible relocation plans of Aerial Industries Pte. of Singapore, another cohort member of the Oregon UAS Accelerator. The company has started preliminary work with him and Pendleton Economic Development Director Steve Chrisman to move the organization to Pendleton.

“In doing that,” Wyno said, “they would like to create a mini manufacturing facility here in Pendleton bringing about 20-30 jobs in a responsible and incremental manner.”

Aerial Industries’ founder, Arinze Eze, is developing a drone for the agricultural industry as a way to fertilize and spray fields, Wyno said, “and his drone mimics the wings of a bird,” a design that means there is not a loss of down spray.

“What typically happens when a drone flies over and sprays (is that) the rotors create this effect where the spray ends up in areas where you don’t want it to go, but he has developed a 76-rotor drone that allows the spray to go straight down without any being pushed to the side,” he said.

Wyno said he believes the innovation can benefit farmers in Pendleton as well as those as far away as sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.

“The startups are interested in us because we’re providing them with funding resources, coaching and mentoring to get them to a stage where they’re going to be attractive to investors and strategic partners,” Wyno said.

He said the Accelerator has created a “curated deal flow.”

“Investors don’t have to search around the country for a great investment,” Wyno said. “They can look in one place and find curated startups that we have essentially vetted and done some due diligence on, and it’s one less thing for investors or venture capitalists to think about.”

Program to court government

Wyno also predicted the Pendleton Accelerator will be interesting to government agencies.

“It’s because many of the startups within our Accelerator are on the leading edge of technology,” he said. “Government agencies have resource constraints. They can look at our Accelerator as potentially a means of finding skilled professionals for governmental initiatives. We’re all for that.”

Wyno also gave a rundown on what the other Accelerator cohort members are developing.

“Phenix Solutions is in McMinnville,” he said. “They have a copter that can carry 1,500 pounds and they’re trying to get 2,000 pounds here in Pendleton, and they’ll likely use it for both civilian and Department of Defense cargo transport, firefighting, as well as forestry management.”

Zepher Flight Labs of Bingen, Washington, will fly the first hydrogen-powered drone. Wyno said the company just finished the NATO contract for alternative fuel source for unmanned aircraft systems and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Cyphra Autonomy is working on a voice controlled drone, Wyno said, “so you can talk to your drones and tell them what to do.”

And Zing Drone Solutions of Saint Petersburg, Florida, has technology to read “digital license plates, which the Federal Aviation Administration requires on all drones.”

“The FAA or law enforcement wants to know where drones are and where they’re flying, should they be flying in restricted airspace or places they shouldn’t be,” Wyno said.

Mayor John Turner said the developments at the UAS Range at the airport in Pendleton are exciting.