The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says it will commence field-testing new drone traffic management capabilities as part of its ongoing effort to integrate UAVs into the national airspace, and prepare for anticipated expansion of craft operation for a variety of purposes.
The FAA announced plans to rev up its Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) Field Test of drone platforms on an unspecified date this spring. The effort aims to improve the standards, data-exchange methods, and cybersecurity capabilities of government, civil aviation, and drone sector actors, and work toward establishing a safe and reliable means of UAVs operating in the same airspace as larger craft.
To do that, the FAA has conducted clusters of trials with other government agencies and aerospace partners including NASA. Those strive to identify the means by which the wide and ever-increasing array of aerial vehicles can avoid one another using automated systems directing…
