MHA Nation Drone Project: Planning and Protocol Development [supporting dataset]

Details

• Creators:
  Hartman, Kerry ; Heitkamp, Thomasine ; Askelson, Mark ; Brandt, Amanda ; Mathew, Cherian ; Gufford, Joseph ; Flynn, David
• Corporate Creators:
  Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation ; University of North Dakota ; Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College ; Northern Plains UAS Test Site ; Airspace Link ; Thales
• Corporate Contributors:
  Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Program
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Autonomous Vehicle Guidance Datasets Delivery Service Drones Health Care Indigenous Peoples Medical Equipment Rural Areas Technology Assessment
• DOI:
  https://zenodo.org/records/18318686
• Resource Type:
  Dataset
• Right Statement:
  Open Access; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Program
• Abstract:
  The MHA Drone Project: Planning and Protocol Development Project Team developed a comprehensive plan for the use of drones to serve the Tribal members of the Three Affiliated Tribes (TAT) of the Fort Berthold Reservation (otherwise known as the Mandan Hidatsa Arikara (MHA) Nation) to increase access to medical care and equipment, and potentially other use cases with opportunities for additional funding. The Fort Berthold Reservation, a federally recognized Indian Tribe, is in north-central North Dakota (ND), within a rural, rugged landscape with heavy oil production, rough roads, and unforgiving weather. They contracted with the University of North Dakota to determine the capacity of drones to deliver medications between two remote communities. Accomplishments of the project included: (1) identifying additional use cases, which included completion of two surveys of stakeholder needs and perceptions and a summary report with the findings of six listening sessions that were shared broadly with key Tribal stakeholders; (2) developing a blueprint for a safe, efficient, and scalable network for use of drones on these Tribal lands, which was accomplished by conducting a beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) demonstration of delivery of medication that provided the opportunity to gather gata to monitor the airspace system; (3) development and implementation of a robust workforce engagement plan, by finalizing an aeronautics articulation agreement between two educational grant partners with the primarily online program to begin in August 2026, offering three Drone Camps in 2023/2024/ 2025, and teaching over 200 youth at remote MHA Nation schools through a Drones in the Schools effort; (4) ensuring comprehensive community engagement and partnerships to support government to government relationships, by assembling and hosting monthly MHA Drone Advisory Board to guide efforts and testifying before the MHA Tribal Business Council to secure required resolutions including a corridor for drone delivery between two remote communities; and (5) exploring the economic feasibility of drone use at-scale by completing a comprehensive economic analysis of costs and benefits.
  
  The total size of the ZIP file is 283.6 MB
  
  
• Content Notes:
  This item is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Use the following citation: Hartman, Kerry; Heitkamp, Thomasine; Askelson, Mark; Brandt, Amanda; Cherian, Mathew; Gufford, Joseph` (`2026`). `DOT SMART Grant MHA Nation Drone Project: Planning and Protocol Development`. Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Program. https://zenodo.org/records/18318686
• Format:
  ZIP
• Funding:
  69A3552341027, SMARTFY22N1P1G38 I
• Collection(s):
  SMART Program
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c67061a182bbcff88e5183d814792a16191302fb695a5361a0eaaa497412344b9f30b257eb91e108cc2de1fd5ba637cbdfe47f0589a917a95b4aeca3561dbce6
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/88862/dot_88862_DS1.zip
• File Type:
  [ZIP - 270.49 MB ]