Laboratories and test spaces
ISA’s purpose-built facility includes three floors of laboratories, test spaces and specialist equipment which can be made available to our partners and industrial collaborators.
The building is equipped to operate as a 'living lab' and all areas are connected via a dense fibre optic network which enables results to be shared in real time between spaces.
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If you would like to discuss hiring our facilities or working collaboratively with ISA, please contact us.
Test Space 1
TS1 is a 23 x 14-metre space, with a six-metre high ceiling, designed for testing unmanned aerial systems, such as drones and ground-based robots. It features a high precision, multi-camera tracking system and a mezzanine level control and observation room. The space is divisible into three with industrial curtains, has an indoor EV charger, desks and storage space. It also benefits from direct access to the Outdoor Test Space through three large doors up to four metres wide and 2.8 metres tall, one of which is automated.
Outdoor Test Space
This barrier-controlled hard-standing outdoor space measuring 1,000 square metres, with garage and EV chargers, is suitable for ground testing or flying drones. Observable from the Test Space 1 control room, it is accessible by road and close to multi-environment campus locations such as the lake.
Test Space 2
A versatile and reconfigurable 70-square-metre laboratory space, with a control room featuring one-way glass for test space observation and a large storage space.
Small Robot Lab
Ideal for research involving smaller robots and projects requiring cobots or robot arms. The total floor space is 100 square metres but this can be configured into up to three zones.
Simulation Lab
Includes a large touchscreen and a window for observation of or from the Small Robot lab.
The Underwater Lab
Purpose-built for underwater acoustic research, this lab hosts an 18,000L tank (3m x 3m x 2m) which is lined with specialist anechoic acoustic tiles. It is ideal for the study of small underwater robots and overlooked by two control and observation rooms, one at ground level and one at mezzanine height.
ISA is also adjacent to the man-made 10 hectare Campus East lake (and surrounding wetlands) which researchers from the Underwater Information Systems group are already utilising to develop and test advanced underwater information systems, such as acoustic modems and communication networks. The mezzanine control room has clear lines of sight to the lake and its environment, and the Underwater Lab has an external door with direct access to the lake.
Quantum Labs
ISA includes laboratories for quantum communications on the ground and second floors, primarily used by the York Centre for Quantum Technologies. These labs feature self-levelling, anti-vibration optical tables, ultrasensitive devices for low level light detection and access to compressed air, water and gas lines.
High Altitude Platform Lab
The High Altitude Platform (HAP) Lab benefits from direct access to ISA's large open-air roof space, which includes a helikite aerostat tether point. The lab allows the development and testing of ground systems and payloads for use with different forms of aerial platform. Examples of use include development of a telemetry, monitoring and control package for a tethered aerostat, advanced wireless systems and free-space optical systems.
Rooftop Lab
ISA’s roof space features a Helikite Aerostat tether, five-metre clamshell observatory dome (equipped with a telescope for free-space communication research) and can also be used for drone take-off and landings. The open roof space is over 500 square metres and includes a covered observation room equipped with power and data, and highly specified weather stations for real time environmental readings.
Contact us
If you would like to discuss hiring our facilities or working collaboratively with ISA, please contact us.