ATHENS, Ohio -- Ohio University's Avionics Engineering Center has signed a five-year contract with the Federal Aviation Administration to test new airport landing systems and related technologies under development by the aviation industry.

A team of 15 university engineers, led by Program Engineer David Quinet, will independently evaluate systems for aircraft navigation, landing and data collection. The engineers will install and conduct trial runs of the equipment at a test site located at the Tamiami-Kendell Executive Airport in Miami, Fla. Testing will begin later this year and will be ongoing during the five-year contract.

"As companies and industries come up with new technologies, the FAA needs a way to verify that they meet federal requirements," said Jim Rankin, director of the Avionics Engineering Center. "The FAA looks to Ohio University as a unique resource because we provide that technical expertise."

The current contract is a renewal of an agreement that ended on Sept. 30. The Avionics Engineering Center has received $65 million in contracts and grants since its establishment in 1963, about 80 percent of which have been through the FAA.

In addition to its work testing aviation systems developed elsewhere, the center also has contracts with the FAA to design and create new avionics technologies. Engineers are developing Global Positioning System (GPS) landing systems and other technologies to assist with airport runway traffic management, Rankin said. Most recently, the center participated in a test at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport of the Runway Incursion Reduction Program, which aims to reduce accidents and traffic problems on airport runways.

The center's other research and service sponsors include NASA, the U.S. Department of Defense, state and foreign governments and private industrial organizations.

The only facility of its kind in the United States, the Avionics Engineering Center specializes in the research, development and evaluation of electronic navigation, communication and surveillance systems. About 75 faculty, staff and students are affiliated with the center, which is part of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in the Russ College of Engineering and Technology. Visit the center online at http://webeecs.ent.ohiou.edu/avn/.