Speaker 1: As consumer drones become more affordable and take to the skies,
Speaker 1: some manufacturers are implementing systems to avoid future catastrophe. I'm
Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland, and this is tech stuff daily. In many
Speaker 1: parts of the world, you can buy a drone up
Speaker 1: to a certain weight and operate it without any need
Speaker 1: for a license or other legal documents. You might be
Speaker 1: expected to follow certain rules, such as keeping your drone
Speaker 1: away from the airspace around airports, but for the most part,
Speaker 1: there aren't that many rules and restrictions to navigate around.
Speaker 1: That's exactly what the drone manufacturers want, and in an
Speaker 1: effort to preserve the status quo, some of them are
Speaker 1: coming up with air traffic systems. In the United States,
Speaker 1: the Federal Aviation Administration or f a A has a
Speaker 1: few requirements for drone pilots. If you plan to operate
Speaker 1: your drone commercially, for example, on a professional film or
Speaker 1: video shoot, you'll need to apply for a remote pilot license.
Speaker 1: This requires taking an aeronautical knowledge test. Pilots have to
Speaker 1: be at least sixteen years old and go through a
Speaker 1: vetting process with the Transportation Safety Administration or t s A.
Speaker 1: Once registered, commercial pilots have some further rules to follow.
Speaker 1: They must keep their vehicles within line of sight at
Speaker 1: all times. They have an altitude ceiling limit of four
Speaker 1: hundred feet, and the drones have a speed limit of
Speaker 1: one hundred miles per hour. They must fly the drones
Speaker 1: during the day, and pilots have to avoid flying drones
Speaker 1: over crowds of people, and they're not allowed to control
Speaker 1: them from a moving vehicle. Recreational pilots have fewer requirements.
Speaker 1: You still have to register your drone with the f
Speaker 1: a A if the drone weighs more than point five
Speaker 1: five pounds. Failure to do so could result in a
Speaker 1: fine if your drone is ever involved in an accident.
Speaker 1: There's also an age requirement for recreational pilots, but that's
Speaker 1: down to thirteen years old. You're not allowed to fly
Speaker 1: within five miles of an airport or near emergency responders.
Speaker 1: Generally speaking, you just need to follow the same basic
Speaker 1: guidelines at the pilot of a remote controlled airplane would
Speaker 1: adhere to. One of the companies trying to make sure
Speaker 1: regulations don't get more restrictive is d j I, a
Speaker 1: drone company with headquarters in China. The company hopes to
Speaker 1: stay out ahead of regulatory agencies like the f a
Speaker 1: A in the United States or the Civil Aviation Authority
Speaker 1: in the UK. This is similar to how the video
Speaker 1: games industry voluntarily assigns ratings to video games to indicate
Speaker 1: how old a players should be to experience those games.
Speaker 1: It's all in an effort to self regulate before some
Speaker 1: other entity comes in and starts giving orders. So what
Speaker 1: are the details behind dj ees strategy. First, the drones
Speaker 1: aren't going to communicate with existing air traffic control systems.
Speaker 1: They will communicate over Wi Fi frequencies, specifically the two
Speaker 1: point four and five point eight Gigga Hurts WiFi bands.
Speaker 1: The drones will broadcast information such as their position, velocity,
Speaker 1: and altitude, as well as the make and model of
Speaker 1: the drone. The system, dubbed arrow Space, will allow pilots
Speaker 1: to include additional information if required by their respective countries.
Speaker 1: The information could include contact information for the pilot or
Speaker 1: the registration number for the drone if its size and
Speaker 1: operation requires such a number. A ground station will be
Speaker 1: able to detect, track, and identify drones within a five
Speaker 1: kilometer radius. These stations can be in fixed locations such
Speaker 1: as the outskirts of airports, or they can be installed
Speaker 1: inside vans and turned into mobile air traffic systems. The
Speaker 1: WiFi signals are on an entirely different frequency from those
Speaker 1: used by air traffic control. According to d j I,
Speaker 1: this decision was necessary. If a TC picked up all
Speaker 1: the drones in an area, the signals might make it
Speaker 1: more challenging to identify and assist incoming aircraft. It becomes
Speaker 1: a problem of separating the signal from the noise. Because
Speaker 1: d j I drones already have WiFi capabilities, there's no
Speaker 1: need to upgrade older models with physical alterations. The system
Speaker 1: can be rolled out as a software patch. D j
Speaker 1: I drone owners just need to update their drones system
Speaker 1: to incorporate the new features. As the skies fill up
Speaker 1: with more drones, from those operated by hobbyists to commercial
Speaker 1: unmanned aerial vehicles, delivering packages to your front door, systems
Speaker 1: like the one d j I is implementing will become
Speaker 1: more important. It's possible that governments may step in at
Speaker 1: some point if things get even more hectic. For the
Speaker 1: time being, these industry initiated systems may do the trick nicely.
Speaker 1: To learn more about drones, robots, and other electronics. Subscribe
Speaker 1: to the tech Stuff podcast. Each episode is a long
Speaker 1: form exploration of some aspect of technology, from specific gadgets
Speaker 1: to the stories behind famous tech companies. That's all for today,
Speaker 1: See you again soon