By Jack Nicas
Some of the biggest players in the world of commercial drones
are drawing up plans for how to safely manage the growing flock of
unmanned vehicles in what are quickly becoming crowded skies.
On Tuesday, Amazon.com Inc. laid out a proposal centered on
slicing U.S. airspace into segments for different categories of
unmanned aircraft, while keeping them all away from airplanes. The
plan, described by Amazon's top drone executive at a conference
hosted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, would
include one slice--a "high-speed transit zone" from 200 feet to 400
feet above the ground--for advanced unmanned aircraft like the
delivery drones Amazon is developing.
The Amazon proposal is part of a broader push to develop
automated systems to maintain order among the growing number of
drones zipping around U.S. skies. The Amazon vision incorporates
much of a NASA plan for an automated drone-traffic management
system, a project that has more than 100 other collaborators,
including Google Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc.
While implementation of any new system is still years away,
consensus is emerging among regulators and the drone and aviation
industries that one is necessary. Hobbyists and professionals such
as real-estate agents are increasingly using the devices, and big
companies including Amazon and Google have ambitious plans to use
them routinely. Already, airline pilots are increasingly spotting
the devices near airports, and drones recently forced the grounding
of planes that were trying to fight wildfires in California. Strict
U.S. rules currently limit drones commercial potential, but don't
solve some of the biggest safety threats.
Parimal Kopardekar, head of NASA's drone-management project,
said he hopes the U.S. can adopt a system to manage drone traffic
before a tragedy occurs. "It's crucial," he said. Without a system,
"everyone flies anywhere they want to and they end up going into
no-fly zones and into firefighting efforts and near airports."
There are no statistics on the number of drones in the U.S. but
industry executives estimate the figure is in the hundreds of
thousands. The two largest consumer drone makers, SZ DJI Technology
Co. and Parrot SA, have together sold more than 3 million devices
worldwide, and the U.S. is their largest market. The Federal
Aviation Administration has approved 900 operators to use drones
commercially in the U.S. and that number is expected to soar once
the agency finalizes proposed rules next year.
Under the NASA plan, drones would maintain distance from other
drones by communicating with one another and use onboard sensors to
avoid obstacles like birds. Central computers would act as regional
traffic managers, running drones' flight plans against other
data--weather, flight restrictions, other drones' plans--to
determine if a route is safe. All of this would happen in seconds
automatically.
NASA plans to demonstrate a version designed for rural areas
next month, and it aims to enable autonomous drone flights in
cities within five years. Implementation of such a system would
likely require support from Congress or the FAA.
Amazon's plan proposes a no-fly zone between 400 feet and 500
feet to create a buffer between unmanned and manned aviation.
Airplanes would be restricted to above 500 feet, while the area
below 400 feet would be split into two sections. Drones equipped
with collision-avoidance technology and reliable links to the
traffic-management system would be able to fly in the high-speed
zone between 200 feet and 400 feet. Other drones, including $500
consumer drones and devices being used for surveying or video,
would be restricted to the "low-speed localized traffic" zone below
200 feet. The proposal permanently bans drone flights around
airports.
The system is designed to allow one person to oversee many
automated drones well beyond the person's sight--a scenario that is
currently banned by the FAA but is necessary for drone
deliveries.
Gur Kimchi, head of Amazon's drone effort, said the company's
proposal would create a safe environment that enables new drone
uses. "We want a model that's open-ended for innovation, and a big
part of that is how you change what exists today."
The existing proposals leave many questions largely unanswered,
including how to verify drones are equipped for certain airspaces
and how to keep devices away from no-fly zones, such as airports.
So-called geofencing software, which uses satellite data to
restrict drones from certain areas, is already used in some
consumer drones, but many in the industry consider the technology
unreliable. There is also the question of whether the general
public would accept a bevy of drones overhead that is almost
entirely choreographed by computers.
Amazon's proposal would enable drones to choose their own
routes, with the central management systems ensuring devices aren't
on a collision path. NASA proposes letting drones pick their own
routes in less congested areas, but it wants the central computers
to assign routes above cities. "We want flexibility where it's
possible and structure where it's necessary," said Dr.
Kopardekar.
Another idea being discussed for managing drone traffic is to
set them on common routes, somewhat like manned aviation. The
design of cities and the current airspace will trigger computers to
naturally create low-risk routes for drones, such as above rivers,
said Jonathan Evans, a former helicopter pilot who now heads
Skyward IO Inc., a firm that aims to become one of the central
managers envisioned in NASA's plan. "We see a dynamic system, but
there will be a path of intelligence that is the most
risk-mitigated path," he said. "It will become a common trunk line
of sorts, with aerial robots flowing in an out."
Write to Jack Nicas at jack.nicas@wsj.com
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