The Wall Street Journal
By ANDY PASZTOR
Sept. 25, 2015 4:49 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON—U.S. aviation experts have laid out preliminary standards intended to eventually permit large drones, such as those used by the military and border-patrol officials, to fly in domestic airspace alongside jets and general aviation aircraft.
Though they are many years away from becoming final, the tentative technical requirements envision that three different types of anticollision protections will be mandatory on the largest and most advanced unmanned aerial craft, some of which have the wingspan of a Boeing Co. 737 jetliner.
The ultimate goal is to allow such drones to routinely climb from takeoff to operating altitudes—sometimes higher than commercial jet traffic—while a pilot on the ground is able to rely on onboard systems to see and avoid any potential airborne conflicts. But extensive testing and technical analyses remain to be done before that can become a reality.
The Federal Aviation Administration faces escalating pressure from industry and would-be drone users to quickly open up at least a tiny portion of the nation’s airspace for operations of small commercial drones. Within months, the agency is expected to issue final rules spelling out how unmanned vehicles weighing less than roughly 55 pounds and staying below 500 feet will be able to fly commercially, though probably only during the day and within sight of a human operator.
The FAA and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration also are working together to develop operational limits and concepts for drones of various sizes.
But when it comes to larger unmanned aircraft, senior FAA officials for years have stressed the agency will move slowly and cautiously in allowing them into U.S. airspace. Preliminary standards covering those categories of drones, released earlier this week, provide the first clear outline of what major operational restrictions ultimately might look like.
The FAA told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that the preliminary standards “constitute a basis to start validation studies with NASA and give feedback on the document. We expect final approval sometime next year.”
The draft safeguards include conventional airborne collision-warning systems currently mandatory on all jetliners and business jets, called TCAS, which alert pilots about dangers and automatically issue commands for avoidance maneuvers.
The second level of protection is anticipated to be precise navigation and pinpoint location technology, called ADS-B, which forms the basis of proposed satellite-based air-traffic control upgrades slated around the end of the decade.
In addition, according to the preliminary standards, top-of-the-line drones will need a separate suite of sensors connected to onboard radar intended to identify and avoid small manned aircraft or other unmanned vehicles that may not be equipped with sophisticated collision-avoidance technology.
The specifics were released earlier this week by RTCA Inc.,the FAA’s primary adviser on technical standards and emerging technologies.
The thrust of the recommendations indicate “significant unity of purpose” throughout the aerospace industry to make progress on developing safety rules, according to George Ligler, co-chairman of the panel that made the draft standards.
Paul McDuffee, the other co-chairman, said the extensive safeguards are appropriate for the largest drones because “they don’t have to overcome the same kind of weight and size limitations” affecting smaller unmanned vehicles.
RTCA experts working on the issue also disclosed that modifications are planned for TCAS systems, with the goal of making them more effective in spotting unmanned aircraft and preventing collisions involving drones.
During a meeting of RTCA’s policy-making committee on Tuesday, air-safety experts stressed that technical issues are still in flux and subject to the outcomes of anticipated flight tests. For example, Don Walker, a high-level FAA manager, told the panel the agency has no plans currently to issue binding technical mandates covering any of the TCAS changes under review.
Original article can be found here: http://www.wsj.com
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