Defense Daily
Featured Categories
Login | Signup Search
LOG IN

Defense Daily subscriber and registered users, please log in here to access the content.

Forgot Password?
Not a subscriber or a registered user yet? We’ve got you covered!
Need something more?
Please contact clientservices@accessintel.com or call 888-707-5814 (M – Th 9 am – 5:30 pm and F 9 am – 3 pm. ET) , to start a free trial, get pricing information, order a reprint, or post an article link on your website.
Login | Signup
Search

Menu

  • FREE E-Letters
  • Publications
  • Events
  • Resources
    • Contracts – FREE ACCESS
    • Documents
    • Defense Daily Issue Archive
  • Career Center
  • About Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • Sitemap
Defense Daily
© 2025 Access Intelligence, LLC - All Rights Reserved. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service, Private Policy, and Cookie Policy.
Unmanned Systems

FAA Targets 2021 for Launch of Drone Remote ID Service

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced the final effective date of April 21, 2021, for drone remote identification (Remote ID) rules to go into effect after unveiling the rules in December 2020. (Airbus)
Share:
By Brian Garrett-Glaser |
5 years ago |
05/14/2020
FAA remote ID
Also In This Issue:
  • Trump Questions Value of F-35’s Global Supply Chain
  • DHS Needs To Review Cyber Security Guidance For Chemical Facilities, GAO Says
  • Leonardo Cleared To Build New Navy Helo Trainer
  • Report To Congress Seeks Clarification On Marine Corps’ Redesign Plans
  • AeroVironment Receives $75 Million From Army For Swtichblade Loitering Munitions
  • TSA Not Monitoring Key Performance Requirements For Body Scanners, IG Says
  • Sikorsky Wins $905 Million Contract For 24 MH-60R Helicopters
  • Boeing Wins $2.6 Billion In International Missile Sales

The FAA’s remote ID cohort hopes to launch at last one remote ID service supplier by sometime next year, according to documents viewed by Defense Daily. (Airbus)

The Federal Aviation Administration is planning to have remote ID service for drones — a foundational component of integrating unmanned aircraft into the national airspace — up and running by sometime next year, according to documents viewed by Defense Daily.
Earlier this month, the FAA chose a cohort of eight companies to develop technology requirements for its implementation of remote ID, working in parallel with the agency’s policymaking process. A critical goal for that cohort, according to documents obtained by Defense Daily, is to launch remote ID services through at least one UAS service supplier (USS) by 2021.
Through the remote ID system described in the agency’s proposed remote ID rule, released on Dec. 29, drone operators will be required to transmit via broadcast and network their location, their drone’s location, velocity and identifying data to a centralized system, which a variety of remote ID USSs share and retrieve information from in near-real-time.
That publication received more than 53,000 comments from the public, including UAS service providers, hobbyists, law enforcement agencies and many other stakeholders concerned about the cost of compliance, privacy implications, timeline for implementation and much more.
The following companies were selected by the FAA to form the remote ID cohort:
  • Airbus, which will participate via AirbusUTM, a component of Airbus Acubed
  • AirMap
  • Amazon [AMZN], which operates PrimeAir
  • Intel [INTC]
  • OneSky, spun off from AGI (recently raised a Series A)
  • Skyward, owned by Verizon [VZ]
  • T-Mobile [TMUS]
  • Wing, owned by Google [GOOGL]
With the inclusion of Intel, Skyward and T-Mobile, the remote ID cohort is noticeably network-heavy. Many dissenting voices, including drone manufacturing giant DJI, have argued that broadcast alone is sufficient to enable remote ID; the FAA’s choice of three telecom providers and its exclusion of DJI from this cohort indicates proceeding with a primarily network-based solution, perhaps mandating broadcast as well or including it as a backup option.
“This initial group will support the FAA in developing technology requirements for other companies to develop applications needed for Remote ID,” an FAA press release reads. “The applications will provide drone identification and location information to safety and security authorities while in flight.”
Documents obtained by Defense Daily provide some insight into how the cohort is building the RIDEx system. Original plans suggested the creation of a “baseline stream” of data automatically flowing to FAA servers, but the cohort has since abandoned that idea — at least for initial rollout — in favor of a Discovery and Synchronization Service (DSS), through which it appears the FAA, along with other qualified agencies and public-facing apps, would query flight information from participating USSs based on a grid system.
The cohort is currently requiring a refresh rate of “at least once per minute,” a frequency rate not capable of providing real-time deconfliction services, for example, but that creates less burden on cellular networks throughout the country. The FAA appears to be creating a low-capability remote ID system that is feasible in the short-term, rather than a more robust functionality that might run into significant coverage and bandwidth problems.

Considering the planned one-minute refresh rate, the FAA appears to be choosing a low-capability remote ID system that is perhaps more feasible in the short-term, rather than a more robust functionality that might run into significant coverage and bandwidth problems. It is worth noting that the draft rule released by the agency proposes at minimum “a transmission rate of at least 1 message per second,” stating that this is achievable by existing systems.

Compared to a once-per-second transmission rate, that requirement also significantly reduces the amount of historical data available on drone flights. Through broadcast, observers — including law enforcement organizations — would be able to track drones in near-real-time, but it will likely be difficult using one one ping per minute to track the path of flights that have already taken place using network-based applications. Again referring to the draft rule released in December, the FAA defined one of the purposes of remote ID as “to provide greater situational awareness” of drones operating within the national airspace, an objective which is less fulfilled by a slower transmission rate.

An FAA representative declined to provide comment for this article, stating the agency is currently in the rulemaking process.

FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson publicly pushed for the agency to release its final rule by the end of this year — an already-aggressive goal for a complex rulemaking process during an election year that now may not be possible due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“The technology is being developed simultaneously with the proposed Remote ID rule,” according to the FAA press release. “Application requirements [to become remote ID service suppliers] will be announced when the final rule is published.”
Stakeholders across the drone industry are anxiously awaiting a final remote ID rule and technology architecture — some, to make investment decisions related to enabling infrastructure, and others, to survive until a larger market for drone services is made possible. 

Recommended

UAS Service Suppliers Discuss Comments on FAA’s Remote ID Proposal

UAS Remote ID Could Come This Year

Final Drone ID Rules Begin

Final Drone Rules Start In April, FAA Announces

close x
Defense Daily readers get exclusive defense industry news–every business day.
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Cookie Settings
  • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Sitemap
© 2025 Access Intelligence, LLC. - All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy
Login | Signup
Search

Featured Categories

  • Advanced / Transformational Technology
  • Air Force
  • Analysis
  • Army
  • Budget
  • Business/Financial
  • Column
  • Congress
  • COVID-19
  • Cyber
  • Force Multipliers
  • General
  • Homeland Security
  • IIOT
  • Intelligence Community
  • International
  • Missile Defense
  • Navy/USMC
  • Nuclear Modernization
  • Partner Content
  • Pentagon
  • Press Releases
  • Space
  • Special Operations
  • Sponsored by L3Harris
  • Unmanned Systems
  • Weapons
Defense Daily
© 2025 Access Intelligence, LLC - All Rights Reserved. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service, Private Policy, and Cookie Policy.