Sec. 601. Department of Energy research activities
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Consistent with the research plan in section 102, the Secretary shall carry out cross-cutting research, development, and demonstration activities to advance unmanned aircraft system technologies, capabilities, and workforce needs and to improve the reliability of the use of unmanned aircraft systems in ways relevant to the mission of the Department. In carrying out these activities, the Secretary shall coordinate across all relevant offices and activities at the Department, including the Office of Science, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the Office of Nuclear Energy, the Office of Fossil Energy, the Office of Electricity, the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response, the Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy, the Office of Environmental Management, the Office of Environment, Health, Safety and Security, the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Artificial Intelligence Technology Office, the UAS Research and Engineering Center, and any other relevant office or activity as determined by the Secretary.
In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary— shall formulate goals for unmanned aircraft systems research activities to be supported by the Department, including in the research areas under section (c); shall leverage the collective body of knowledge from existing unmanned aircraft systems research and development activities, including the work underway by the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Research and Engineering Center; shall provide research experiences and training for undergraduate and graduate students in unmanned aircraft systems research and development, including in the fields of— artificial intelligence and machine learning; applied mathematics and algorithm development; advanced imaging, sensing, and detection technologies; materials science and engineering; and advanced energy technologies and propulsion approaches; shall ensure all activities under this section are subject to the data management policies of the Department; and may support one or more Institutes as described in section 201(a) of this Act for the purpose of advancing the fields of unmanned aircraft systems and the mission of the Department.
In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary shall award financial assistance to eligible entities to carry out research, development, and demonstration projects over a range of subject areas including— fundamental science, applied science, and advanced technology areas, which may include— advanced sensor technologies and innovative sensor materials, devices, and processes, including— optical capabilities, including Light Detection and Ranging, hyperspectral, thermographic, and visible imaging capabilities; nonoptical electromagnetic capabilities, including radar and radiofrequency capabilities; acoustic capabilities, including ultrasonic and infrasonic capabilities; micro and nano technology; collection, processing, and storage of uniquely identifiable signatures; and radiation detection, gravimetric, hyperspectral or other measurement modalities; advanced technologies and methods for remote handling, precision positioning, and navigation control; advanced technologies for secure autonomous operation, including edge computing and artificial intelligence; power electronics and wireless charging systems; novel materials, including lightweight materials and materials with robust performance under extreme conditions; scalability of unmanned aircraft systems for increased payload capacity; technologies and processes to improve secure interoperability practices, including with existing satellites, constellation networks, industrial control systems, and surface-based facilities; strategies and technologies for integrated cybersecurity considerations; strategies and technologies for improved endurance, including lightweight long duration fuels, batteries, fuel cells, and other storage systems; open architectures and advanced algorithms to enable multi-sensor fusion and tracking of unmanned aircraft systems; swarm and cooperative drone data collection and operation, and integration of drone control systems with dynamic sampling and real-time digital twin simulations; approaches to allow for use of advanced artificial intelligence and advanced computation for improved aircraft structural and aerodynamic design; relevant microelectronics technologies, including novel devices, systems, and architectures; and strategies and technologies for energy efficient manufacturing of specialized components; approaches for leveraging unmanned aircraft systems for diverse applications, which may include— advanced assessment, characterization, mapping, and recovery of energy resources, such as geothermal energy, bioenergy feedstock resources, and critical minerals resources; real time asset management, infrastructure inspection, monitoring, fault prediction and detection, and field testing of electric grid and energy infrastructure systems, such as onshore and offshore wind energy, fossil energy, solar energy, marine energy, nuclear energy, and hydropower systems; damage assessment of the electric grid and energy infrastructure following cyberattacks and other human-caused destruction and other physical events such as wildland fires, including prescribed burns containment and emissions measurements, potential health and safety effects from contaminant releases and dispersals, and real-time analysis of impacted assets; leak detection of greenhouse gases related to resource extraction and energy production and delivery, including methane leak detection; agriculture and aquaculture applications; integrated data collection to inform and enhance Department modeling capabilities, including the development of climate and earth systems models and computational tools; assistance in environmental management and cleanup activities; assistance in Department infrastructure management at National Laboratories and other relevant Department sites; intrusion detection and facility monitoring for physical security applications; data collection of building envelope features and characteristics for rapid energy modeling purposes; and improving efficiency of manufacturing processes.
In carrying out subsection (a), and in coordination with the Office of Technology Transitions, the Secretary shall support technology transfer of unmanned aircraft systems research. In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary may make available high-performance computing infrastructure and other relevant research facilities and test beds at the National Laboratories. There are authorized to be appropriated to the Department to carry out this section— $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2024; $52,500,000 for fiscal year 2025; $55,125,000 for fiscal year 2026; $57,881,775 for fiscal year 2027; and $60,775,863 for fiscal year 2028.
In this title: The term Department means the Department of Energy. The term eligible entity means— an institution of higher education; a National Laboratory; a State, local, territorial, or Tribal government research agency; a nonprofit research organization; a private sector entity; or a consortium of 2 or more entities described in any of subparagraphs
(A)through (E). The term Secretary means the Secretary of Energy.