FAA committee releases drone report

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The Unmanned Aircraft Systems Identification and Tracking Aviation Rulemaking Committee recently submitted a report on technologies available to identify and track drones.

The committee is chartered by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The report contains a list of law enforcement needs and preferences and technology evaluations. It also contains recommendations and suggestions on implementing remote drone identification and tracking, existing and emerging technologies, and law enforcement and security.

Some of the suggestions include instituting two ways to identify and track drones. The first method would be by transmitting data with no specific destination or recipient, and the second method would be by transmitting data to an internet service or group of services. Both methods would store data in a FAA-approved internet-based database.

The data must include the drone owner, tracking information, remote pilot identification, and a unique identifier for unmanned aircraft.

The FAA should fast-track the development of industry standards while a remote ID and tracking rule is developed.

The rule should be implemented in three stages. The rule would apply to drones manufactured or sold in the United States.

The recommendations will be used to write FAA rules.

The committee is composed of 74 people from a variety of industries including drone manufacturers, law enforcement, aviation, and public safety.