Military Embedded Systems

Organizations solicit proposals for UAS traffic-management systems

News

May 10, 2017

Lisa Daigle

Assistant Managing Editor

Military Embedded Systems

DALLAS. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), have announced a Request for Information (RFI) on traffic-management systems for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

The ICAO -- a specialized agency of the United Nations tasked with managing the administration and governance of the Convention on International Civil Aviation -- announced the RFI on May 10 at the AUVSI-held XPONENTIAL 2017 trade show, which brings leaders in the areas of unmanned systems, robotics, and drones.

As UAS operations become more complex and are increasingly used for military, commercial, and recreational purposes, UAS traffic-management systems (UTM) are necessary to seamlessly integrate UAS into the airspace and existing air-traffic-management systems.

An operational UTM will ensure the safe and efficient use of the airspace as UAS operations become more complex; such a system will delineate navigation routes and point-to-point route segments requiring specific equipage requirements, all of which will ensure the continued safety of the airspace.