Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
In light of the US Federal Aviation Administration’s recent ruling that drone operators must make sure that their aircraft remain in their line of sight at all times, NASA and several other groups are working on an air traffic control system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Droning on and on…
According to Gizmodo, one of the aerospace companies working with NASA, Exelis, plans to unveil its solution to the problem later on this month. Under their system, remote drones could be worked into the FAA’s existing radar surveillance program, and their plan would take advantage of existing mobile towers and the company’s own relay stations, the website added.
The Exelis system is known as the Symphony RangeVue, and it would reportedly transmit FAA data and drone-tracking information into a mobile app, thus allowing UAV operators to see what aircraft were in the vicinity of their vehicles at any given time. While the system does not meet existing line-of-sight regulations, the company hopes that it can convince the FAA to ease those restrictions by demonstrating that it could solve traffic-related issues.
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“For any drone that needs to go beyond line of sight, this is a potential solution,” Exelis VP of civil aerospace systems Edward Sayadian told Reuters on Tuesday. The goal, according to the news outlet, is to develop technology that “enables drones to safely fly over long distances to do everything from inspections of remote pipelines to surveys of crops or delivery of packages.”
Exelis is not the first aerospace company to try and tackle the issue. As the MIT Technology Review reported back late last year, a startup known as Airware has joined forces with the US space agency on a four-year project involving the development of a series of prototype air traffic control systems. That program would also involve the use of cellphone networks.
Airwave’s first prototype “will be an Internet-based system,” the MIT publication explained. UAV operators will submit flight plans for approval, and the system will use information about other drone flights, weather forecasts and other obstacles before when deciding whether or not to give the drone permission to lift off. Later phases of the project will utilize more sophisticated systems that can actively manage traffic by sending out commands to drones in flight.
Leg up on the competition
Exelis’ Symphony RangeVue has a leg up on Airwave, however: the company has the exclusive right to use a data feed it currently supplies the FAA to track manned aircraft, Reuters said. With 650 ground stations at its command, Exelis looks to improve upon that data feed by adding low-altitude information that can help precisely identify the locations of drones and UAVs.
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Executives at the company said that they plan to officially announce their products this month, and make RangeVue available at some of the six drone test sites established by the FAA by this summer. Prices have not yet been determined, and while the company said that it does ultimately plan to make its systems available internationally, it is currently focusing on the US market.
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