OOS 68-2
Regulations and considerations for operating unmanned aircraft systems in the United States: The good, the bad, and the ugly
The proliferation of high resolution imagery acquired using Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the United States and abroad along with rapidly growing interest in the technology and capabilities for UAS has potentially overshadowed the paramount importance of understanding regulatory guidelines for safe and legal use. Ten years of working with the New Mexico State University Physical Science Laboratory UAS Flight Test Center and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has taken the Jornada Experimental Range UAS flight team from ignorance of FAA regulations to compliance. Current FAA UAS regulations apply to all UAS ranging from under a kilogram in weight to the largest military UAS - the Global Hawk - weighing over 11,000 kg. The newly proposed regulations target UAS under 25 kg (known as small Unmanned Aircraft Systems) if adopted can potentially expand opportunities for Earth observation for ecological research by reducing the logistical costs of compliance with FAA regulations while maintaining high safety standards.
Results/Conclusions
The rapid expansion of UAS and sensor technology, decreasing costs for hardware and operation, increased availability of technical support, and evolution of user-friendly software tools for processing UAS imagery increase access of very high (< 5 cm) resolution imagery for characterizing the land surface to a broader audience of users. We provide an overview of FAA UAS requirements, contrast the proposed changes for small UAS with current FAA regulations and highlight adaptive approaches to meeting FAA requirements. This overview of regulations and approaches for compliance will be put in the context of planning and implementing research to share logistical considerations and suggested best practices with the ecological community.