HMMH participated in a literature and noise modeling data review for proposed flight operations of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) at Grand Forks Air Force Base (AFB) in North Dakota. The project determined the applicability and utility of existing United States Air Force (USAF) noise modeling data pertaining to Grand Forks AFB (GFK) and geo-spatial land use data used during previous National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or Air Installations Compatible Use Zones (AICUZ) efforts at the installation. Relying upon these datasets, noise modeling and analyses, the project’s primary purpose was to conduct a ‘screening’ type of noise analysis to estimate the extent to which UAS operations may be increased without meeting or exceeding a noise-based threshold of significance under the NEPA and the USAF Environmental Impact Analysis Process (32 CFR 989). HMMH modeled proposed RQ-4 Global Hawk and MQ-1 Predator operations with NOISEMAP computer program for six scaling type of scenarios, computing the Day-Night Average Sound Level (DNL) at noise sensitive receptors closest to the airfield. HMMH presented its technical approach and results in a series of two Technical Memoranda.
