The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says it will begin field tests later this year to further integrate drones into the National Airspace System.
The FAA said in mid-February that its unmanned aircraft system traffic management (UTM) field test would “allow the government and the drone community to continue improving standards, data exchange methods and cybersecurity capabilities.”
UTM encompasses services that complement those already in use for air traffic management of manned aircraft but that are separate from those services. UTM is meant primarily for small drones being flown below 400 ft.
The FAA said that the field tests will give the agency “critical information to support the development of new policies and for industry development of updated standards to allow drones to routinely fly beyond visual line of sight of the operators.”
In a related development, the FAA said in early February that it had issued its 1 millionth au…
