{"id":1713,"date":"2015-11-01T21:31:09","date_gmt":"2015-11-02T05:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/droneanalyst.com\/?p=1713"},"modified":"2017-01-04T10:26:32","modified_gmt":"2017-01-04T18:26:32","slug":"uncertain-case-for-ads-b-in-small-drone-traffic-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/droneanalyst.com\/2015\/11\/01\/uncertain-case-for-ads-b-in-small-drone-traffic-management\/'","title":{"rendered":"Uncertain Case for ADS-B In Small Drone Traffic Management"},"content":{"rendered":"

What the heck is ADS-B and why should I care?<\/p>\n

I asked myself that question a year-and-a-half ago, because I kept seeing the term ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance \u2013 Broadcast) come up in discussions and articles on unmanned aircraft traffic management (UTM).<\/p>\n

You may have seen it yourself in the UTM solutions proposed by Amazon, Google, PrecisionHawk, and NASA, with NASA trying to coordinate it all. \u00a0They all know that someday unmanned vehicles will share airspace at low altitudes with general aviation equipment such as airplanes, helicopters, and gliders. Agreeing on a safe and efficient system that will manage both manned and unmanned traffic is a vital concern for the FAA, NASA, private companies, and academic users.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s UTM Fact Sheet<\/a> summarizes the concern that there is currently no infrastructure system in place for UAS flight:<\/p>\n

\u201cA UAS traffic management (UTM) system for low-altitude airspace is needed, much like today’s surface vehicles that operate within a system consisting of roads, lanes, stop signs, rules, and lights, regardless of whether the vehicle is automated or driven by a human\u2026 Civilian use of UAS has many growing applications: product delivery, surveillance security, agriculture, film industry, mapping and planning, real estate, and search and rescue.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was never envisioned when the FAA conceived the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen<\/a>) for manned aviation, which is due for implementation across the U.S. in stages between 2012 and 2025 and proposes to transform America\u2019s ground-based air traffic control system to a satellite-based one. So, here we are looking for an infrastructure solution to low-altitude flight management, and the mistake may be that we are trying to solve it with an \u201call-altitude\u201d flight management solution.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the origin, all of these system proposals all have one thing in common – ADS-B.\u00a0 \u00a0This technology is the key element for the system \u2018tracking\u2019 and reporting a drone\u2019s position to other aircraft.<\/p>\n

But is it right for all small UAS operating in Class G airspace?<\/p>\n

With that question in mind, we conducted an in-depth research study<\/strong> and have just released it: ADS-B and Its Use for Small Drone Traffic Management<\/em>.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The study is both qualitative and quantitative<\/strong>. The qualitative portion includes information gleaned from academic sources as well business sources — including interviews with aircraft avionic vendors working on ADS-B solutions for all size UAS. Data collected for the quantitative portion study comes from a survey we conducted over the web in August 2015.<\/p>\n

The study gives six key insights and seven recommendations<\/strong>. For example, it finds ADS-B is a complex topic that includes a myriad of acronyms (such as \u201cADS-B\u201d itself), frequencies, and technical concepts. These important details need to be well understood in order to be discussed and adapted.\u00a0 It also finds the small UAS community does not fully understand the issues of ADS-B \u201cOut\u201d and seems to know very little about how ADS-B \u201cIn\u201d works. This insight is supported from the statistics we gathered in our survey.<\/p>\n

We also gathered statistics about perceptions of current ADS-B transponders.\u00a0 Most survey respondents felt current ADS-B units are too expensive, too big, and too heavy<\/strong> \u2013 and for the most part, they are right.\u00a0 Over half had a concern about power consumption \u2013 an important issue for small drones since most don\u2019t have a lot of power reserve. To be fair some avionics vendors do have or are working on cheaper, smaller, lightweight units specifically for the small drone market.\u00a0 They\u2019re also working to solve the power consumption issue.\u00a0 These vendors are listed in the report.<\/p>\n

The study:<\/p>\n