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63-465: The airport is home to Southern California Aviation, a large transitional facility for commercial aircraft. As a logistics airport, it is designed for business, military, and freight use. There are no commercial passenger services at this facility except for FBO and charter flights. Southern California Logistics Airport (SCLA) covers 2,300 acres (930 ha) and has two runways: Southern California Logistics Center, immediately adjacent to SCLA, offers

126-662: A customer service representative (CSR). At medium and large airports, FBOs are typically affiliated with one of the major aviation fuel suppliers and display the fuel supplier's sign prominently. At smaller airports, the FBO is often the airport operator, such as Alpha Aviation at Boundary bay Airport (CZBB) or a flying club. Within the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulates some activities that may comprise an FBO such as

189-733: A 4-way stop intersection. The DARPA Robotics Challenge is an ongoing competition focusing on humanoid robotics. The primary goal of the program is to develop ground robotic capabilities to execute complex tasks in dangerous, degraded, human-engineered environments. It launched in October 2012, and hosted the Virtual Robotics Competition in June 2013. Two more competitions are planned: the DRC Trials in December 2013, and

252-403: A 96 km (60 mi) urban area course, to be completed in less than 6 hours. Rules included obeying all traffic regulations while negotiating with other traffic and obstacles and merging into traffic. Unlike previous challenges, the 2007 Urban Challenge organizers divided competitors into two "tracks", A and B. All Track A and Track B teams were part of the same competition circuit, but

315-596: A Systems Competition (in which teams compete with physical robots) and a Virtual Competition (in which teams compete in a virtual environment in the ROS Gazebo virtual simulator). The competition was split into three stages (Development Stage, Circuit Stage, and Finals Stage. The SubT Challenge consisted of four events, the Tunnel Circuit (August 2019), which was held at an experimental mine in Pittsburgh, PA;

378-562: A broader range of conditions. Because conditions can interfere with communications between robots and their handlers, the teams that developed robots with some degree of autonomy were most successful at the challenge task of mapping and searching a complex subterranean space. Such robots could explore on their own, and then return to radio contact with each other and their handlers to exchange information about what they had found. Australia’s CSIRO team even designed its robots to make cooperative decisions about what tasks to undertake. For example,

441-551: A desirable option for exploration and search and rescue operations. These environments pose significant challenges to robots as well, including a lack of lighting, dripping water, thick smoke, cluttered or irregularly shaped environments and potential loss of GPS capabilities and communications with their handlers. The Challenge was meant to help close gaps in four technical areas: autonomy, perception, networking and mobility. The Challenge started in September 2018 and consisted of

504-696: A heavily modified McDonnell Douglas DC-10 , which is on contract to the California Department of Forestry (CALFIRE). Tanker 910 used SCLA as its re-loading base for fires occurring anywhere in California . SCLA has since stopped its servicing for such tankers like the DC-10 and the Calfire Grumman S-2 Tracker with most refueling points for Southern California wildfires being at San Bernardino International Airport or

567-405: A longer time. “Marsupials” can carry other robots, including small flying robots which have short battery lives. Flying robots can be strategically deployed to map large or difficult-to-access spaces. Using diverse detection instruments, such as lights, radar, sonar and thermal imaging, enables a team of robots and their handlers to gather information about air and visibility conditions and respond to

630-589: A presidential transport VC-25B . It was one of two built for the Russian airline Transaero , but the airline went bankrupt before taking delivery of the 747s. The cost of converting both aircraft is estimated to be $ 4.68B. In 2019 Southwest Airlines used the airport to store its fleet of Boeing 737 MAX after the airplane was grounded by the FAA . On 14 February 2020, the Guinness World Record for

693-417: A robot that was too large to fit into a corridor could notify other robots that it existed, so that a smaller robot could explore there. A robot exploring an area could also for a communications node to be dropped to expand the contact area. A robot deep in a cavern could relay information back to a robot closer to the surface, which could more quickly walk back to a point where it could report the information to

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756-529: A rock face on the other. Although the 2004 course required more elevation gain and some very sharp switchbacks (Daggett Ridge) were required near the beginning of the route, the course had far fewer curves and generally wider roads than the 2005 course. The natural rivalry between the teams from Stanford and Carnegie Mellon ( Sebastian Thrun , head of the Stanford team was previously a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon and colleague of Red Whittaker , head of

819-545: A wide variety of new warehouse and distribution facilities, ranging from 2,000 sq ft (190 m) to over 1,000,000 sq ft (93,000 m). The SCLA Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) facility offers urban warfare training, and has served over 15,000 U.S. military personnel during the past ten years. The federal government was responsible for helping the Victor Valley recover from

882-480: Is eligible to try to make a second launch in rapid succession. The second launches of the teams are scored (based on combination of time to launch, mass launched and orbital accuracy, etc.); the winning team gets $ 10 million, second prize is $ 9 million, and third prize $ 8 million. The pool of launch sites for the Challenge originally consisted of 8 launch locations; in the end, only Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska

945-536: Is the primary provider of support services to general aviation operators at a public-use airport and is on land leased from the airport, or, in rare cases, adjacent property as a " through the fence operation ". In many smaller airports serving general aviation in remote or modest communities, the town itself may provide fuel services and operate a basic FBO facility. Most FBOs doing business at airports of high to moderate traffic volume are non-governmental organizations, either privately or publicly held companies. Though

1008-520: The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA). The number of U.S. businesses meeting the minimum criteria as an FBO is 3,138 as of April 2009 according to a survey conducted by Aviation Resource Group International (ARGI). The number has decreased since the 2006 survey, which counted 3,346 FBOs. DARPA Grand Challenge#2007 Urban Challenge The DARPA Grand Challenge is a prize competition for American autonomous vehicles , funded by

1071-620: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency , the most prominent research organization of the United States Department of Defense . Congress has authorized DARPA to award cash prizes to further DARPA's mission to sponsor revolutionary, high-payoff research that bridges the gap between fundamental discoveries and military use. The initial DARPA Grand Challenge in 2004 was created to spur the development of technologies needed to create

1134-752: The United States Department of Commerce . The designation was intended to make it much easier for the Victor Valley Economic Development Authority to convince international carriers to use the airport as a base for shipping foreign products to Southern California. During that same period, the Department of Transportation approved a $ 4.9 million grant for the SCLA to extend its main runway from 10,050 ft (3,060 m) to 13,050 ft (3,980 m) to accommodate international jet transports. The airport authority required

1197-412: The 2004 event, Dr. Tony Tether , the director of DARPA, announced that the prize money had been increased to $ 2 million for the next event, which was claimed on October 9, 2005. The first, second and third places in the 2007 Urban Challenge received $ 2 million, $ 1 million, and $ 500,000, respectively. 14 new teams have qualified in year 2015. The competition was open to teams and organizations from around

1260-418: The 2005 race surpassed the 11.78 km (7.32 mi) distance completed by the best vehicle in the 2004 race. Five vehicles successfully completed the 212 km (132 mi) course: Vehicles in the 2005 race passed through three narrow tunnels and negotiated more than 100 sharp left and right turns. The race concluded through Beer Bottle Pass, a winding mountain pass with a sheer drop-off on one side and

1323-505: The 2015 emissions scandal , German automaker Volkswagen leased 134 acres (54 ha) of land at the SCLA to store 21,000 cars it had reacquired from customers. Fixed-base operator A fixed-base operator ( FBO ) is an organization granted the right by an airport to operate at the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down, and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance , flight instruction , and similar services. In common practice, an FBO

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1386-498: The 3,000 ft (910 m) extension to ensure that cargo planes could depart fully loaded in summer heat. The longer runway was also required for the efficient use of the facility as the main transportation hub for the 70,000 troops a year traveling to and from the Army National Training Center at Fort Irwin. At 15,050 ft (4,590 m), SCLA's runway 17/35 was the second longest public-use runway in

1449-617: The Autonomous Land Vehicle and the Navlab . The Grand Challenge was the first long distance competition for driverless cars in the world; other research efforts in the field of driverless cars take a more traditional commercial or academic approach. The U.S. Congress authorized DARPA to offer prize money ($ 1 million) for the first Grand Challenge to facilitate robotic development, with the ultimate goal of making one-third of ground military forces autonomous by 2015. Following

1512-515: The CMU team) was played out during the race. Mechanical problems plagued H1ghlander before it was passed by Stanley. Gray Team's entry was a miracle in itself, as the team from the suburbs of New Orleans was caught in Hurricane Katrina a few short weeks before the race. The fifth finisher, Terramax, a 30,000 pound entry from Oshkosh Truck , finished on the second day. The huge truck spent

1575-639: The Czech Republic, England, Germany, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States) and 20 universities. On September 24, 2021, Team CERBERUS won the Final Systems Competition using four ANYmal C legged systems. Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) team came in second to Team CERBERUS, with an equal number of points, but a slightly slower time. Team Dynamo won

1638-599: The DRC Finals in December 2014. Unlike prior Challenges, the construction of the "vehicles" will not be part of the scope of the Robotics Challenge. In August 2012 DARPA announced Boston Dynamics would act as sole source for the robots to be used in the challenge, awarding them a contract to develop and build 8 identical robots based on the PETMAN project for the software teams to use. The amount contracted

1701-691: The European Union ( EUREKA Prometheus Project ), the United States of America, and other countries. DARPA funded the development of the first fully autonomous robot beginning in 1966 with the Shakey the robot project at Stanford Research Institute , now SRI International. The first autonomous ground vehicle capable of driving on and off roads was developed by DARPA as part of the Strategic Computing Initiative beginning in 1984 leading to demonstrations of autonomous navigation by

1764-625: The FAA, has the duty of establishing minimum standards for commercial aeronautical activities and recommends implementation of these standards by the airport operator or agency, commonly referred to as the airport sponsor. The United States FBO Industry is represented nationally by the National Air Transportation Association or NATA, but is also partly represented by both the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) and

1827-648: The FANG program is to test the specially developed META design tools, model libraries and the VehicleFORGE platform, which were created to significantly compress the design-to-production time of a complex defense system. The DARPA Subterranean Challenge tasked teams, consisting of university and corporate entities from around the world, to build robotic systems and virtual solutions to autonomously map, navigate, and search subterranean environments. Such areas can be difficult and dangerous for humans, making robotic teams

1890-561: The Final Virtual Competition. One important strategy was to build a team of robots with diverse capabilities. With a mix of navigational capabilities such as treads, wheels, rotors and legs, robots were able to navigate a variety of spaces. Different types of robots have different capabilities. Walking robots can deal with uneven terrain such as stairs and piles of rubble. Robots with wheels or treads can carry heavier payloads, including large batteries, and operate for

1953-487: The United States, surpassed only by that of the Denver International Airport 16,000 ft (4,900 m) runway 16R/34L. The runway was shortened in 2022 to 13,501 feet. The fiscal year 2002 military spending bill earmarked US$ 1.3 million to allow the U.S. Army to continue using the SCLA to transport troops en route to training exercises at Fort Irwin. The airport has proven to be one of

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2016-768: The Urban Circuit (February 2020), which featured an abandoned nuclear power plant in Elma, WA; the Cave Circuit (November 2020), which was held virtual only due to the COVID-19 Pandemic; and the Final Event (September 2021), which featured elements from all three domains (tunnel urban underground, and natural cave networks was held in Louisville, KY. Teams came from 11 countries (Australia, Canada,

2079-407: The authorization of repair stations, flight training, and air taxi/air carrier services. However, there are no federal regulatory standards covering all FBOs. The FAA has defined an FBO as "a commercial entity providing aeronautical services such as fueling, maintenance, storage, ground and flight instruction, etc., to the public." The United States Department of Transportation , in cooperation with

2142-726: The closure of George Air Force Base in 1992. The conversion of the former George Air Force Base to SCLA was designed to provide major corporations with logistics needs, access to a global intermodal logistics gateway to the Western United States. Located near Interstate 15 in California 's Victor Valley, the 5,000-acre (2,000 ha) complete intermodal business complex is approximately 20 mi (32 km) north of downtown San Bernardino , and 23 mi (37 km) north of San Bernardino International Airport . In July 2000, SCLA received foreign trade zone status from

2205-539: The competition failing to launch their rocket in the time frame set by DARPA, the Challenge was called off 2 March 2020 with no winner of the DARPA Launch Challenge. The $ 12 million prize pool went unclaimed. No rocket launch was performed by any contender of the DARPA Launch Challenge. A technology paper and source code for the computer vision machine learning component of the 2005 Stanford entry has been published. 2007 Urban Challenge teams employed

2268-419: The competition, Vector because of financial problems and Virgin because it wanted to focus on other customers than DARPA. The final remaining team, Astra, attempted to launch their Astra Rocket 3.0 for the Challenge from Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska in late February and early March 2020, but several launch attempts were all called off due to weather and technical difficulties. With the only team left in

2331-632: The contrast between the course map it was given by DARPA and the course map used by Tartan Racing. Tartan Racing claimed the $ 2 million prize with their vehicle "Boss", a Chevy Tahoe. The second-place finisher earning the $ 1 million prize was the Stanford Racing Team with their entry "Junior", a 2006 Volkswagen Passat. Coming in third place was team VictorTango, winning the $ 500,000 prize with their 2005 Ford Escape hybrid, "Odin". MIT placed 4th, with Cornell University and University of Pennsylvania / Lehigh University also completing

2394-399: The course. The six teams that successfully finished the entire course: While the 2004 and 2005 events were more physically challenging for the vehicles , the robots operated in isolation and only encountered other vehicles on the course when attempting to pass. The Urban Challenge required designers to build vehicles able to obey all traffic laws while they detect and avoid other robots on

2457-496: The course. This is a particular challenge for vehicle software , as vehicles must make "intelligent" decisions in real time based on the actions of other vehicles. Other than previous autonomous vehicle efforts that focused on structured situations such as highway driving with little interaction between the vehicles, this competition operated in a more cluttered urban environment and required the cars to perform sophisticated interactions with each other, such as maintaining precedence at

2520-550: The end of World War I in November 1918, civil aviation in the United States was primarily unregulated and made up of "barnstormers ," transient pilots flying inexpensive military surplus aircraft from city to city and often landing in farm fields on the outskirts of a town because airports were scarce at that time. The traveling aviators offered airplane rides and aerobatic flight demonstrations frequently collaborating as " flying circuses " by performing impromptu airshows for

2583-619: The established requirements for system performance and manufacturability. Since the beginning of the first FANG Challenge on January 14, 2013, more than 1,000 participants within more than 200 teams used the META design tools and the VehicleFORGE collaboration platform developed by Vanderbilt University in Nashville , Tennessee , to design and simulate the performance of thousands of potential mobility and drivetrain subsystems. The goal of

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2646-464: The facility in July 2020, due to the lack of international demand for flights. Aircraft maintenance and storage company ComAv Technical Services operates a 240-acre (97 ha) open storage facility at SCLA with a capacity of over 500 aircraft, plus hangars that can be used to maintain several more. The dry desert environment at SCLA is conducive to long-term preservation of aircraft. In the aftermath of

2709-475: The farthest distance, completing 11.78 km (7.32 mi) of the course before getting hung up on a rock after making a switchback turn. No winner was declared, and the cash prize was not given. Therefore, a second DARPA Grand Challenge event was scheduled for 2005. The second competition of the DARPA Grand Challenge began at 6:40 am on October 8, 2005. All but one of the 23 finalists in

2772-560: The few independent entries in Track A was the Golem Group . DARPA has not publicly explained the rationale behind the selection of Track A teams. Teams were given maps sparsely charting the waypoints that defined the competition courses. At least one team, Tartan Racing, enhanced the maps through the insertion of additional extrapolated waypoints for improved navigation. A debriefing paper published by Team Jefferson illustrates graphically

2835-499: The first fully autonomous ground vehicles capable of completing a substantial off-road course within a limited time. The third event, the DARPA Urban Challenge in 2007, extended the initial Challenge to autonomous operation in a mock urban environment. The 2012 DARPA Robotics Challenge , focused on autonomous emergency-maintenance robots, and new Challenges are still being conceived. The DARPA Subterranean Challenge

2898-412: The following: Though not required, fixed-base operators generally also provide at least basic auxiliary services to pilots, flight crew, and passengers such as restroom facilities, telecommunication services, and waiting areas. General aviation FBOs (commonly in the U.S.) sometimes provide courtesy cars that can be used for free or little cost by flight crews mostly for short trips from the airport and

2961-475: The former Norton Air Force Base and Mojave Air and Space Port . The 2007 Autonomous Vehicle Competition took place on the former George Air Force Base. DARPA selected the location because its network of urban roads best simulated the type of terrain American forces operate in when deployed overseas. N118UA, United Airlines' "Friend Ship" 747-400, arrived at the boneyard on November 9, 2017 to be stored. It

3024-449: The human operators. This changed the way in which humans worked with the robots: the human operator used the control system to set goals and direct overall strategy, leaving the robots to assess on-the-ground conditions and choose how to get the job done. In early 2020, three teams were expected to compete by rapidly launching a small satellite payload into orbit, with minimal notification, from two different launch sites (this requirement

3087-768: The longest-distance wheelie in an airplane was set in a Cessna 172 on the airport's runway 17. The pilot kept the plane's nose wheel from touching the asphalt surface for a distance of 14,319 feet (4,364 m). In response to the sharp drop in air travel during the COVID-19 pandemic , several airlines contracted with aircraft boneyard operator ComAv to store aircraft and to keep them clean and in working order while they are in storage. By late March 2020, about 275 airliners were in storage at SCLA. As of 30 March 2020, Southwest Airlines had parked 50 active Boeing 737-700 aircraft at Victorville. The Australian airline Qantas began to move its entire Airbus A380 fleet into storage at

3150-502: The most efficient and safest locations for travel to and from the Army's National Training Center for the troops who rotate through each year. Company D of the 158th Aviation Regiment is a general support aviation company that moved in under a five-year contract the Army signed with SCLA and the city of Victorville. The unit is part of the 244th Aviation Brigade of Fort Sheridan, Illinois . In late 2006, SCLA became home to Air Tanker 910 ,

3213-489: The night idling on the course, but was particularly nimble in carefully picking its way down the narrow roads of Beer Bottle Pass. The third competition of the DARPA Grand Challenge, known as the "Urban Challenge", took place on November 3, 2007 at the site of the now-closed George Air Force Base (currently used as Southern California Logistics Airport ), in Victorville, California ( Google map ). The course involved

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3276-508: The surrounding city area. Larger and better equipped FBOs may additionally offer food vending and restaurant facilities, ground transportation arrangements by taxi/limousine, shuttle van, flight planning and weather information areas (computer- or telephone-based), rest lounges and showers, aviation supplies shop (selling navigation charts , manuals, or in-flight comfort items), access to in-flight catering, and accommodations reservations or concierge services for both crew and passengers through

3339-423: The teams chosen for the Track A program received US $ 1 million in funding. These 11 teams largely represented major universities and large corporate interests such as CMU teaming with GM as Tartan Racing, Stanford teaming with Volkswagen , Virginia Tech teaming with TORC Robotics as VictorTango, Oshkosh Truck , Honeywell , Raytheon , Caltech , Autonomous Solutions , Cornell University , and MIT . One of

3402-614: The term fixed-base operator originated in the United States, the term has become more common in the international aviation industry as business and corporate aviation has grown. The term has not been officially defined as an international standard, but there have been recent uses of the term in International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) publications such as Implementing the Global Aviation Safety Roadmap . After

3465-498: The townsfolk and charging whatever the local economic conditions would allow. As a result, mechanics and early flight instructors moved around with the aircraft and had no established business in any location. With passage of the Air Commerce Act of 1926 and its resulting requirements for the licensing of pilots, aircraft maintenance requirements, and regulations in training standards, the transient nature of civil aviation

3528-423: The world, as long as there was at least one U.S. citizen on the roster. Teams have participated from high schools, universities, businesses and other organizations. More than 100 teams registered in the first year, bringing a wide variety of technological skills to the race. In the second year, 195 teams from 36 U.S. states and 4 foreign countries entered the race. The first competition of the DARPA Grand Challenge

3591-591: Was $ 10,882,438 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract and work is expected to be completed by Aug. 9, 2014. On April 22, 2013, DARPA awarded a $ 1 million prize to "Ground Systems", a 3-person team with members in Ohio, Texas and California, as the winner of the Fast Adaptable Next-Generation Ground Vehicle (FANG) Mobility/Drivetrain Challenge. Team Ground Systems' final design submission received the highest score when measured against

3654-418: Was curtailed. The pilots and mechanics who made their living on the road began establishing permanent businesses at the growing number of airports appearing throughout the United States. These were termed fixed-base operations to distinguish them from the transient businesses that had been common prior to 1926. Fixed-base operators support a wide range of aeronautical activities which may include one or more of

3717-515: Was held on March 13, 2004 in the Mojave Desert region of the United States, along a 150-mile (240 km) route that follows along the path of Interstate 15 from just before Barstow, California to just past the California – Nevada border in Primm . None of the robot vehicles finished the route. Carnegie Mellon University 's Red Team and car Sandstorm (a converted Humvee) traveled

3780-422: Was later, when there was only one competitor left in the Challenge, relaxed so that the launches should use different launch pads, but could use the same launch site ) – one just days after the other – for an opportunity to win prizes. The prizes of the Challenge are: All teams that qualify for the competition would receive $ 400,000. Each team to successfully carry out an orbital launch gets a prize of $ 2 million, and

3843-627: Was tasked with building robotic teams to autonomously map, navigate, and search subterranean environments. Such teams could be useful in exploring hazardous areas and in search and rescue. In addition to the challenges in autonomous technology, DARPA has also conducted prize competitions in other areas of technology. Fully autonomous vehicles have been an international pursuit for many years, from endeavors in Japan (starting in 1977), Germany ( Ernst Dickmanns and VaMP ), Italy (the ARGO Project),

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3906-674: Was the final United 747 to carry passengers, flying its final revenue flight on November 7, 2017. On November 2, 2018, the Presidential Plane of Mexico named TP-01 (registered as XC-MEX) of the Mexican Air Force arrived here to be sold off to its new owner by the order of New President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador . On March 27, 2019, the first of two 747-8i (N894BA) flew from SCLA to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio , Texas , for conversion into

3969-474: Was used for an attempted launch. The Challenge was announced on 18 April 2018, and on 10 April 2019, three finalist teams who would be attempting to launch rockets were announced: Virgin Orbit , Vector Launch and Astra (although at the time it was not published that the third finalist was Astra; the company was referred only as a "stealth startup"). In the autumn of 2019, both Vector and Virgin dropped out of

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