AUVSI Is Reviewing The Proposal, But Maintains Support For Remote ID

The FAA's proposed rule for the remote identification of drones has now been printed in the Federal Register, giving interested parties 60 days to respond. AUVSI says it is reviewing the rules and will be responding, but in the meantime president and CEO Brian Wynne said he welcomes the move.

“The importance of remote ID regulations cannot be overstated, as they are necessary to enable advanced and expanded operations such as flights over people and beyond line of sight," Wynne said. "They also serve as the linchpin needed for future rulemakings that will pave the way for transformative uses of UAS with significant benefits for our economy and society, including widespread UAS delivery. Finally, remote ID will also help law enforcement identify and distinguish authorized UAS from those that may pose a security threat."

The issue of identifying who's flying a drone has come to the fore from time to time, including after drone incursions near Heathrow Airport in London and more recently by sightings of night-flying swarms of drones in Colorado and Nebraska. "The ability to identify and locate UAS operating in the airspace of the United States provides additional situational awareness to manned and unmanned aircraft," the executive summary of the rule says. "This will become even more important as the number of UAS operations in all classes of airspace increase."

The FAA says full implementation of the rule relies on three parts, which are being developed at the same time.

The first is the rule itself, which sets requirements for UAS operators and design and production standards for drone producers. The second is a network of remote ID UAS service suppliers, which would collect the drone identifications and locations in real time and perform that service under contract from the FAA.

The third is the collection of technical requirements that standards-setting organizations will develop to meet the design and production requirements of the rule.

Almost all drones will have to abide by the new rules, with the exception of some home-built systems, drones operated by the U.S. government and unmanned aircraft that weigh less than .55 pounds, such as the new DJI Mavic Air, which just squeaks under that weight limit. The rule sets up two categories of remote ID: standard and limited. Standard means that a drone would need to broadcast its identification and location and simultaneously send that information to a UAS service suppliers.

The limited designation would mean the drone could send the info via the internet only, with no broadcast requirements, but they would need to operate no more than 400 feet from their control station. Drones that can't meet either standard — some homebuilt drones, or older ones manufactured before the rule — could only fly at specific geographic areas specially designated for them.

The FAA expects all drones to be compliant with the rules by three years after its effective date. No drones could be manufactured for use in the U.S. after two years of its effective date, and by three years after the date all drones operating in the country would need to be in compliance.

The FAA considered existing technologies such as transponders and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) but found them unsuitable "due to the lack of infrastructure for these technologies at lower altitudes and the potential saturation of available radio frequency spectrum." In fact, the FAA would prohibit drone use of ADS-B for fear of the effect it could have on manned aviation.

Companies such as DJI have proposed other systems, such as DJI's Aeroscope, which identifies drones by analyzing their electronic signals.

The proposed rule would also change the way drones need to be registered. Previously, hobbyists flying drones that weigh more than .55 pounds would need to register themselves, not each individual drone they flew. To meet remote ID needs, they would have to register each aircraft individually.

(Source: AUVSI news release. Image from file)

FMI: www.auvsi.org