The FAA’s efforts to oversee commercial and recreational unmanned aircraft systems seem to be growing almost as quickly as the industry itself.

With more than 1.4 million UAS now registered with the FAA, a statistic that did not even exist until a few years ago, the agency is pursuing several regulatory and other initiatives to manage the increasing traffic to ensure safe and efficient operations. 

“This is a fast-moving industry, and we’re doing our level best to keep up,” then-acting FAA Administrator Daniel Elwell said in a June speech. “The trick is to mitigate safety risks without putting the cuffs on technological and operational advances.”

Chief among the FAA’s activities is Remote Identification, which the agency defines as “the ability of a UAS in flight to provide identification information that can be received by other parties.” 
 
‘Key Enabler’
 
Remote ID will allow law enforcement officers to determine the location of an errant UAS and its control station. It will also help pave the way for more complex operations, including flights over people and beyond-visual-line-of-sight flights.

“I think that the Remote Identification rule is a key enabler of really the next step of integrating unmanned systems into the airspace,” Stephen Dickson, new head of the FAA, testified at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in May.

At a June hearing before the committee’s security panel, Angela Stubblefield, the FAA’s deputy associate administrator for security and hazardous materials safety, said the agency plans to release a draft rule for Remote ID in September. 

“Remote Identification is the top UAS rulemaking priority in the FAA right now,” Stubblefield testified. “We are putting all due resource to move that as expeditiously as possible.” 

The FAA Extension, Safety and Security Act of 2016 “laid the foundation” for the agency to work with operators and its security partners on how to address remote ID, Stubblefield said. The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, which President Donald Trump signed into law in October, granted the FAA authority to develop the rule. 

Jay Merkle, executive director of the FAA’s UAS Integration Office, told the agency’s Drone Advisory Committee in June that a final rule is likely up to two years away. 

“This is a complex rule, and the FAA has been working diligently to draft a rule that meets legal requirements and provides the most comprehensive proposal to enable the next phase of UAS operations,” the FAA told Unmanned Systems magazine in a written response to questions.

In the meantime, the FAA is exploring whether UAS manufacturers or operators could voluntarily equip UAS with Remote ID.

Some lawmakers want the FAA, which has been working on Remote ID for years, to move more quickly. In an April letter to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Sens. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and John Thune (R-S.D.), both members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee,urged the FAA to “swiftly publish” the proposed rule, citing recent drone sightings at major U.S. and British airports and Boston’s Fenway Park baseball stadium.

“Remote identification will enhance safety, security and privacy, and serve as a critical tool for law enforcement to respond to and address reports of illegal and unauthorized drone operations,” the senators wrote.

Exactly how the FAA will implement Remote ID technologically is unclear. In September 2017, an FAA-chartered panel, the UAS Identification and Tracking Aviation Rulemaking Committee, recommended two methods: direct broadcast, in which a drone sends out data that anyone in broadcast range can receive, and network publishing, in which a drone sends data to an Internet service or federation of services. In December 2018, the FAA issued a request for information to form an “industry cohort” to explore potential technological approaches for Remote ID.

The Blue Ribbon Task Force on UAS Mitigation at Airports, formed by the Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), has urged the FAA and Transport Canada to make Remote ID interoperable with air traffic control (ATC) systems so that a drone’s ID and position information could be sent automatically to ATC and public safety personnel. 

In an interim report released in July, the task force also suggested making Remote ID “interoperable internationally” so it works in countries besides the United States and Canada.

In addition, the task force recommended that the FAA and Transport Canada not exempt hobbyists from Remote ID and consider requiring manufacturers and retailers to include Remote ID in their products.

At press time, the task force, which is co-chaired by former FAA Administrator Michael Huerta and Los Angeles World Airports CEO Deborah Flint, was slated to release a more-detailed report in September.

Since malicious operators, such as terrorists, could try to conceal their identification, the FAA continues to explore systems that could detect and mitigate UAS at airports. Stubblefield said the agency plans to test such technology at several airports.

“The FAA is in the process of setting up a program and timeline, using a methodical and iterative approach to ensure it provides valuable data to the FAA, other government agencies at all levels, vendors of UAS detection and mitigation systems, and potential users,” the agency said. “We are still determining the selection process for the airports and systems at this time.”

Spurred by Congress, the FAA is also developing standards for the eventual widespread deployment of counter-UAS systems.

Although the FAA has already tried out detection systems at four airports, that pilot program, which took place from February 2016 to December 2017, revealed that such technology was not ready for mass deployment. Experts say each kind of sensor has limitations and that fielded systems will need to integrate several types of sensors to avoid gaps in coverage.

With some airports trying out UAS detection systems on their own, the FAA sent out “informational correspondence” in May cautioning airports about using such systems, Stubblefield said. Among the FAA’s concerns is that such systems might produce inaccurate information that could spur “a reaction that is more detrimental than the errant UAS itself.” 

Then-acting FAA Administrator Dan Elwell speaks at the FAA UAS Symposium held earlier this year. Photo: AUVSI
 
More rules
 
The FAA is working on several additional regulations and other efforts to integrate UAS into the national airspace.

A proposed rule published in February would permit small UAS to fly over people and at night without waivers under certain conditions. According to the FAA, sectors that could benefit from the rule include motion picture filming, newsgathering, law enforcement, aerial and sports photography, construction and surveying.

The proposal “would benefit the economy and encourage innovation and growth across a variety of sectors,” the document says.

While public comments were due in April, the FAA has indicated that it does not plan to finalize the UAS-over-people regulation until the Remote ID rule is finished.

An interim final rule published in February requires small UAS to have external markings similar to those used in manned aviation.

Stubblefield testified that the rule, which directs small UAS owners to display their FAA registration numbers on the outside of their aircraft, came in response to concerns that first responders could set off concealed bombs when they open compartments to look for registration numbers.

The rule “will enhance safety and security by allowing a person to view the unique identifier directly without handling the drone,” the agency said.

The rule is considered interim because the FAA invited public comment to determine whether it should alter any of the provisions.

“The FAA issues interim final rules when delaying implementation of the rule would be impractical, unnecessary or contrary to the public interest,” the agency said. “In this case, the agency has determined the importance of mitigating the risk to first responders outweighs the minimal inconvenience this change may impose on small drone owners and justifies implementation without a prior public comment period.”
 
Seeking ‘broad thinking’ 
 
An advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) recently sought public comment on whether the FAA should impose more mandates to protect other aircraft, people on the ground or national security.

Examples of potential additional requirements could include stand-off distances, payload restrictions, redundancy of critical systems, the use of a UAS traffic management system and limits on airspeed, altitude and performance.

The notice was designed to encourage “broad thinking,” according to Elwell.

“9/11 taught us a lot as an industry and as a nation,” Elwell said. “We want to use this advance notice to make sure we don’t have to learn any of those lessons twice.”

The 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act requires the FAA to develop an aeronautical knowledge and safety test for recreational flyers. At press time, the FAA was planning to release a request for information with the goal of developing partnerships with commercial, nonprofit, academic or other private entities that will administer the test.

Not all of the FAA’s UAS efforts involve new regulations. In July, the FAA expanded the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) system to recreational users. Commercial operators were already using the automated system to expedite receiving approval to fly drones under 400 feet in controlled airspace.

“A key advantage of LAANC is that it offers drone operators more flexibility and reduces the time it takes to receive airspace authorizations to mere seconds instead of the weeks that it used to take through the manual process,” an FAA educational video says. “A further benefit is that LAANC allows air traffic managers to see where planned drone operations will take place.” 

By Sept. 30, the FAA plans to award contracts to continue testing key technologies needed to support more advanced operations, such as the ability of UAS to sense and avoid each other.

As part of its campaign to promote UAS safety, the FAA intends to hold the first annual National Drone Safety Awareness Week Nov. 4-10.

“Throughout the week,” the agency said, “we are asking leaders in the drone community to share safety messages and help educate new flyers about aviation safety culture, as well as drone regulations, best practices and technologies.”

Above: With more than 1.4 million UAS now registered with the FAA, the agency is developing a menu of new rules to mitigate risk without hampering technological advances. Photo: AUVSI Below: Michael Huerta, former FAA Administrator and co-chair of the The Blue Ribbon Task Force on UAS Mitigation at Airports, discusses the task force at Xponential 2019. Photo: Becphotography