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The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI)
UNMANNED SYSTEMS INSTITUTE CHARTER
1 PURPOSE
1.1 The Purpose of the Institute is:
‘To promote vision, intellectual leadership and education in the ethical, philosophical, legal, scientific and technical aspects of unmanned systems.’
2 FEATURES AND ROLES
2.1 The Institute has the following features and roles:
2.1.1 It is an AUVSI individual member service.
2.1.2 There is to be no additional membership fee, but a list of individual Institute members is to be maintained.
2.1.3 Qualification for membership of the Institute is to result from an application, qualification and acceptance. A typical qualification is the acceptance and/or publishing by AUVSI of a paper written by the individual. All members of the Institute have to be current members of AUVSI.
2.1.4 The Institute is to be managed by a Council of Fellows, appointed by AUVSI and supported by AUVSI Staff.
2.1.5 The Institute is to be the professional knowledge focus of AUVSI and should normally lead in or support the wide range of knowledge-related issues dealt with by AUVSI. Specifically, the Institute is to increase AUVSI’s capability to participate in political, ethical and technical debates and to act as an impartial and objective trusted adviser, analyst, think-tank and partner in wide a range of issues.
2.1.6 The Institute is to establish and maintain an up to date knowledge base which is accessible to members and to AUVSI.
2.1.7 Individual Institute programmes and activities are to be incrementally implemented depending on requirements and the availability of resources. As one of AUVSI’s individual member services, the Institute falls under the regular AUVSI budgetary process.
2.1.8 Activities are to include:
Subject matter groups carrying forward focused work, such as studies, surveys, directories, workshops, forecasts, debates. Publishing reports, technical journals and proceedings. Academic, industrial and government information exchange and networking through workshops, seminars and meetings, both face to face and using remote meeting techniques. A range of awareness, educational and training programs (including professional development courses). Courses are to be offered on repayment. Developing, maintaining and promulgating many of the AUVSI knowledge resources (eg databases, directories, compilations). Maintaining a list of subject matter experts and qualified spokespeople.
3 PREMISES AND ADDRESS
3.1 The Institute is based in AUVSI’s main office at:
2700 South Quincy Street
Suite 400
Arlington VA 22206
Phone: 703-845-9671
Fax: 703-845-9679
4 GOVERNANCE, STAFFING AND ORGANIZATION
4.1 The Institute is to function and be organized along academic/collegiate lines. Specifically:
The senior decision-making body shall be the Council of Fellows, chaired by the Dean, and comprising a Deputy Dean and up to three Fellows At Large. There shall be a body of Fellows, each Fellow being appointed by the Council of Fellows in recognition of individual contribution to the unmanned systems sector in appropriate areas of activity. There shall be a group of Fellows called the Senior Combination Room (SCR for short) which is to act as a consultative body for the Council of Fellows. Any Fellow may volunteer to participate in the SCR. There shall be a body of Members (see Paragraph 2.1.3). An AUVSI staff member is to be the part time Executive Secretary of the Institute, maintaining the fellowship register, managing communications and recording proceedings. Committees, appropriate to the business hand, are to be formed from Fellows and Members and are to be disbanded when they have served their purpose. Each committee shall have a Chairperson and a Secretary for each meeting. Meetings should take place as frequently as required by the business in hand and can be both face to face and through use of remote meeting techniques. The quorum for decision-making, for the Council of Fellows and all committees is 60% of the full Council/committee membership. There shall be an Annual Review, at which the performance, results and activities of the the Institute will be reviewed. Activities, such as studies, report writing, workshops and the like, may be conducted by volunteers (ie Members and Fellows), by sub-contractors, by AUVSI Staff or by any combination of the foregoing. Selection of sub-contractors is to be impartial, objective and focused on delivering best value for money. While grants and sponsorship to support the Institute are strongly encouraged, the impartiality and objectivity of the Institute are never to be compromised.
5 PRIVACY AND FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
5.1 The Institute will comply with all appropriate local national and international law, regulations and practices concerning privacy of the individual and of the organization and with the requirements for Data Protection and Freedom of Information. See the Policies section of this web site.
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