Curriculum development of undergraduate and post graduate courses on small unmanned aircraft

This paper describes the development of an undergraduate and a post graduate course on Small Unmanned Aircraft (SUA). Few emerging technologies provide the potential for such a diverse application of knowledge as SUA which are more commonly referred to as “Drones”. They are being used for civil purposes in a growth business sector predicted to be worth billions of pounds over the next 10 years. They are also revolutionising everything from agriculture to film-making and are increasingly being used to monitor, research and conduct data gathering missions in surveying, mining, forestry, ecology, archaeology virtual reality and computer gaming. The purpose of this paper is to present the ideas and the researched findings which informed the rationale used for the curriculum development of the first Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Drone Technology to be offered in the UK, and also that of an accompanying Master of Science Degree in Unmanned Aircraft System Technology.