AUVSI Says Potential Is Only Limited By Regulations

The unmanned aerial vehicle industry welcomed the announcement Wednesday by FAA administrator Michael Huerta that the agency would extend its research in UAV operations to include urban areas and beyond visual line of sight operations.

In a speech at the AUVSI conference Wednesday, Huerta announced the initiative to work with industry partners on three focus areas, including:

• Visual line-of-sight operations in urban areas. CNN will look at how UAS might be safely used for newsgathering in populated areas.
• Extended visual line-of-sight operations in rural areas. This concept involves UAS flights outside the pilot’s direct vision. UAS manufacturer PrecisionHawk will explore how this might allow greater UAS use for crop monitoring in precision agriculture operations.
• Beyond visual line-of-sight in rural/isolated areas. BNSF Railroad will explore command-and-control challenges of using UAS to inspect rail system infrastructure.

In a statement released shortly after the announcement, Brian Wynne, president & CEO of AUVSI, welcomed the move.
 
“The potential of UAS technology is on full display at Unmanned Systems 2015. From anti-poaching to disaster response and package delivery, UAS applications aren’t limited by technology or imagination; they’re only limited by regulations," Wynne said in the statement. "We’re pleased to see the FAA recognize the need to keep the U.S. competitive with other countries who are also interested in this technology. If the next big leaps in UAS innovation are going to occur inside the U.S., we need to lay the groundwork now for more expansive and transformational operations, including beyond line of sight.”
 
In its comments on the FAA’s proposed rules for small UAS, AUVSI called for a flexible regulatory framework and, among other recommendations, allow for beyond-line-of-sight operations and nighttime operations.
 
In addition, Wynne testified at the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology in January calling for a deeper national commitment to UAS research and development. Specifically, Wynne called for a comprehensive industry-government UAS research plan, more resources for the federal government to coordinate UAS research, and intellectual property protections for the companies that participate in UAS R&D.

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.auvsi.org