Avionics Engineering Center Facilities

As the country’s only comprehensive avionics research and technology development center, we maintain a unique suite of facilities and equipment to support our work. Headquartered in the Richard H. McFarland Avionics Building at the nearby university-owned Ohio University Bush Airport (KUNI), we take advantage of the location’s $1 million research hangar and aircraft fleet, as well as the wealth of academic resources on campus through the Russ College of Engineering and Technology.

Our airport location features 12,000 square feet of office, lab, and conference space, and is equipped with experimental MLS, ILS, and VOR installations. Our hangar facility provides space for aircraft storage, flight program support, and laboratory space. We also operate an all-weather testing site for ILS glide-slope and localizer performance at Kendall Executive Tamiami Airport, just outside Miami, Florida.

Facilities shared with the Ohio University School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science include the Stocker Engineering and Technology Center, an $11.7 million research and educational complex located on the main Athens campus.

In collaboration with the Ohio Department of Transportation, the Avionics Engineering Center hosts a differential GPS ground reference station in Stocker Center that is part of the NGS CORS network. The center also hosts a ground station at KUNI that is being used by NASA's John H. Glenn Research Center for evaluation of UAV Command and Control (C2) Data Link minimum operational performance requirements.

The Avionics Engineering Center and the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science share an Antenna Anechoic Chamber test facility located in Morton Hall on the Athens campus. The chamber is used for antenna research, development, and testing by the center, while the school uses it for an academic lab.

As a university-affiliated program, the Avionics Engineering Center has also developed a repository for current and historical avionics-related documents in the William E. Jackson Library. Reference materials in the collection include the personal library and papers of the late William E. Jackson, inventor of the ILS and VOR navigation systems; extensive documentation of FAA, NASA, military, and industrial projects undertaken by the center and others; and technical and seminar materials on various aspects of the ILS and MLS.