LAS VEGAS—Integrating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into civilian airspace poses “significant challenges” but the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is committed to ensuring it is done so safely through pilot training and the development of the required technology, the acting administrator of the agency says.
“We recognize the expanded use of unmanned aircraft systems present great opportunities, but it is also true that integrating unmanned aircraft present significant challenges,” FAA Chief Michael Huerta says at the annual Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International conference here.
President Obama in February signed legislation passed by Congress requiring the FAA to fully integrate UAVs into domestic airspace by 2015. That includes using the UAVs for a host of applications, including law enforcement and public safety, but also sets a September 2012 deadline for the complete integration of commercial UAVs. The law mandates the FAA ease and expedite the permit process for law enforcement to fly UAVs, and calls on the FAA to set up six test sites to develop and test the systems in civilian airspace.
The agency has created a single UAV integration office responsible for implementing the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012.
Huerta says he is confident the technology will come along to support the use of UAVs in domestic airspace, and that the agency, even though the planned date had slipped, plans to issue a request for proposals for the six test sites in the near future, reports our sister publication Defense Daily.
“We expect to ask for proposals to manage these sites very soon,” Huerta says. In addition to pilot training, there will need to be systems to ensure UAVs can detect and avoid other aircraft, and fly safely even after losing communication with ground controllers.
“We need to make sure that we use these sites to obtain the very best data that we can,” he says.
The FAA legislation potentially offers a lucrative new opportunity for the UAV industry and major defense firms, whose market has been mostly limited to the military. In the U.S. the Department of Homeland Security uses a small fleet of UAVs made by General Atomics to patrol portions of the nation’s northern and southern borders and also to conduct maritime surveillance operations.
In addition to cameras, UAVs can carry highly sophisticated infrared and imaging technology and wireless network detectors some say could infringe on privacy. Others have expressed public safety concerns and skepticism over whether the technology will be sufficiently advanced to avoid accidents or mid-air collisions.