The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today made public the report and recommendations from the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Identification and Tracking (UAS-ID) Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) it set up in June. The 213-page report, which is dated Sept. 30, is available on the FAA website.
The UAS-ID ARC’s objectives were to identify, categorize and recommend available and emerging technologies for the remote identification and tracking of UAS; to identify the requirements for meeting the security and public safety needs of the law enforcement, homeland defense and national security communities for remote ID and tracking of UAS; and to evaluate the feasibility and affordability of available technical solutions, and determine how well those technologies address the needs of the law enforcement and air traffic control communities.
In releasing the report, FAA said that “although some recommendations were not unanimous, the group reached agreement on most.” The ARC had 74 members, including Flight Safety Foundation President and CEO Jon Beatty.
FAA said in releasing the report that dissenting opinions were primarily over which drones should be subject to the ID and tracking requirements, with many dissenters expressing concerns that exempting model aircraft operating under Section 336 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 would undermine the value of an ID and tracking requirement. Other dissenting opinions touched on issues such as privacy and a lack of detail or consideration for air traffic control involvement, FAA said, adding that it would use the ARC report in crafting a proposed rule for public comment.
