About the Federation

The High Altitude Federation was established in January 2007 with the goal of advancing technologies necessary to develop a high altitude system capability for the Nation. The Federation’s vision is to design incrementally progressive testing capabilities for intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance, remote sensing and communications that will solve the Nation’s critical need for persistent presence. The National Federation of testing capabilities includes laboratory testing at partner facilities; field testing at various altitudes with the AerOhio1 Federation aerostat; environmental simulation testing with atmospheric chambers; and full-fidelity testing with short-term stratospheric flights using balloons, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or airships.

AeroCentric Federation Team Members: US Army Space and Missile Defense Battle Lab, SkySentry, LLC., the NASA Glenn Research Center, Western DataCom, LLC, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Toledo and the Lorain County Community College.

With the High Altitude Federation established, and initial payload and flight tests completed, we are now able to look to the future. In 2009 and beyond we are growing other enabling subsystems for High Altitude operations including the following:

* High-efficiency photovoltaics
* Ultra light, incredibly strong fabrics
* Control stations for efficient tactical operations
* Advanced fuel cells
* Miniaturized payloads
* High speed network communications
* Operational doctrine growth

The High Altitude Federation will continue to work toward its mission of advancing technologies necessary for wide area persistent surveillance at high altitudes. We will work with our partners to provide a cost-effective persistent presence platform that will allow both military and civilian operations that were previously cost-prohibitive. We will bring employment and research opportunities to Ohio while furthering the state of high altitude operations and advancing the technologies necessary for wide area surveillance.