K
Kathleen Martin
Guest
In early August, RaceDayQuads dropped a 14,000-word, 154-page brief in a potentially ground-shaking case challenging the legality of the Federal Aviation Administration’s actions during the two years it took to finalize its early 2021 final rule on Remote Identification (RID) of Unmanned Aircraft. A win for RDQ would likely blow up the rule and require the FAA to go back to square one on its process. The cascading effects could include additional delays in routine expanded commercial drone operations, including operations over people and beyond visual line of sight. It could also impact implementation of a low-altitude unmanned traffic management system. All of these operations and systems remain critical to getting the nascent commercial drone industry off the ground. On Oct 5, after receiving a 30 day extension to respond, the federal government filed its 86-page reply. The fight is officially on.
The Rule RDQ is Trying to Get RID Of
The RID rule requires all drones over 0.55 pounds that register with the FAA to have an “electronic license plate” in the form of either an RID capability integrated into the drone at the time of manufacture (Standard RID drone) or attached to the drone as an RID broadcast module (Broadcast Module RID or BMID drone). The required RID technology would transmit “message elements” (MEs) through a broadcast signal, which would be available to any member of the public, that would include, among other things, the location of the drone and its operator.
Law enforcement and security agencies would additionally have the ability to triangulate these MEs with FAA registration data, to help pinpoint bad actors. RID non-compliant drones would only be permitted to fly in Federally Recognized Identification Areas (FRIAs), which only FAA-recognized Community Based Organizations (CBO) or educational institutions can apply to carve out. The FRIA policy is currently being written.
The rule became effective on April 21, but drone operators do not have to comply with it until September 16, 2023. Drone manufacturers have a shorter leash. They must start baking in RID capabilities before the production compliance deadline of September 15, 2022.
The final rule surprised many in the drone industry because it differed so significantly from the FAA’s original proposal in its Notice of Public Rulemaking (NPRM). Published on New Year’s eve 2019, the NPRM focused on a network-based RID solution in which Standard RID drones would be required to have both network and broadcast capabilities. Limited RID drones, which the FAA jettisoned in the final rule and replaced with the BMID drone, would have been network-only. The final rule deviated from the proposed rule in several other important respects outlined in the brief.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/dawnzoldi/2021/10/05/this-case-against-the-faa-could-revector-the-commercial-drone-industry/?sh=1b3c70de360a
The Rule RDQ is Trying to Get RID Of
The RID rule requires all drones over 0.55 pounds that register with the FAA to have an “electronic license plate” in the form of either an RID capability integrated into the drone at the time of manufacture (Standard RID drone) or attached to the drone as an RID broadcast module (Broadcast Module RID or BMID drone). The required RID technology would transmit “message elements” (MEs) through a broadcast signal, which would be available to any member of the public, that would include, among other things, the location of the drone and its operator.
Law enforcement and security agencies would additionally have the ability to triangulate these MEs with FAA registration data, to help pinpoint bad actors. RID non-compliant drones would only be permitted to fly in Federally Recognized Identification Areas (FRIAs), which only FAA-recognized Community Based Organizations (CBO) or educational institutions can apply to carve out. The FRIA policy is currently being written.
The rule became effective on April 21, but drone operators do not have to comply with it until September 16, 2023. Drone manufacturers have a shorter leash. They must start baking in RID capabilities before the production compliance deadline of September 15, 2022.
The final rule surprised many in the drone industry because it differed so significantly from the FAA’s original proposal in its Notice of Public Rulemaking (NPRM). Published on New Year’s eve 2019, the NPRM focused on a network-based RID solution in which Standard RID drones would be required to have both network and broadcast capabilities. Limited RID drones, which the FAA jettisoned in the final rule and replaced with the BMID drone, would have been network-only. The final rule deviated from the proposed rule in several other important respects outlined in the brief.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/dawnzoldi/2021/10/05/this-case-against-the-faa-could-revector-the-commercial-drone-industry/?sh=1b3c70de360a
