NASA has launched the final stage of a four-year effort to develop a national traffic management system for drones, testing them in cities for the first time beyond the operatorsa国际传媒檚 line of sight as businesses look in the future to unleash the unmanned devices in droves above busy streets and buildings.
Multiple drones took to the air at the same time above downtown Reno this week in a series of simulations testing emerging technology that someday will be used to manage hundreds of thousands of small unmanned commercial aircraft delivering packages, pizzas and medical supplies.
sa国际传媒淭his activity is the latest and most technical challenge we have done with unmanned aerial systems,sa国际传媒� said David Korsmeyer, associate director of research and technology at NASAsa国际传媒檚 Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.
An autonomous drone took off Tuesday from the rooftop of a five-story casino parking garage and landed on the roof of another out of view across the street. It hovered as onboard sensors adjusted for gusty winds before returning close to the centre of the launchpad.
Equipped with GPS, others flew at each other no higher than city streetlights but were able to avoid colliding through onboard tracking systems connected to NASAsa国际传媒檚 computers on the ground.
Similar tests have been conducted in remote and rural areas. The Federal Aviation Administration has authorized individual test flights in cities before but never for multiple drones or outside the sight of the operator.
The new round of tests continuing this summer in Reno and Corpus Christi, Texas, marks the first time simulations have combined all those scenarios, said Chris Walach, executive director of the Nevada Institute of Autonomous Systems, which is running the Reno tests of unnamed aerial vehicles, or UAVs.
sa国际传媒淲hen we began this project four years ago, many of us wouldnsa国际传媒檛 have thought wesa国际传媒檇 be standing here today flying UAVs with advanced drone systems off high-rise buildings,sa国际传媒� he said.
The team adopted a sa国际传媒渃rawl, walk, runsa国际传媒� philosophy when it initiated tests in 2015, culminating with this fourth round of simulations, said Ron Johnson, project manager for unmanned aircraft systems traffic management at NASAsa国际传媒檚 Ames Research Center.
sa国际传媒淲e are definitely in the sa国际传媒榬unsa国际传媒� phase of this development here in Reno,sa国际传媒� he said.
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The results will be shared with the FAA. The agency outlined proposed rules in January that would ease restrictions on flying drones over crowds but said it wonsa国际传媒檛 take final action until it finishes another regulation on identifying drones as theysa国际传媒檙e flying sa国际传媒� something industry analysts say could be years away.
Critics assert that the FAA has stymied the commercial use of drones by applying the same rigid safety standard it uses for airlines.
sa国际传媒淭here can be a lot of Silicon Valley mentality where people donsa国际传媒檛 want to wait. So, wesa国际传媒檙e trying to strike a balance between unleashing entrepreneurship and ensuring wesa国际传媒檙e doing it safely while trying to accelerate acceptance of drones in public,sa国际传媒� Johnson said.
Amazon and FedEx are among the companies that hope to send consumer products by drone by 2020.Drone delivery company Flirtey began testing delivery of defibrillators for cardiac arrest patients last year in Reno under FAA oversight.
Johnson said cities present the biggest challenges because of limited, small landing areas among tall buildings that create navigation and communication problems.
He said it became apparent early on that the travel management plans for drones would have to be completely automated because FAA air traffic controllers cansa国际传媒檛 handle the enormous workload.
The system is being tested with the help of 36 private partners, including drone manufacturers, operators, software developers and other third-party service providers, Johnson said.
The system uses software on the ground that communicates flight plans and positions to other software systems. The drones are equipped with programs for landing, avoiding crashes, surveillance, detection and identification, optical cameras and systems similar to radar that work with lasers.
Huy Tran, director of aeronautics at NASAsa国际传媒檚 Ames Research Center, said her supervisors at NASA headquarters were surprised to hear they had be testing drones in Reno.
sa国际传媒淭hey said, sa国际传媒楢re you crazy?sa国际传媒檚a国际传媒� she said. sa国际传媒淲e hope (the test in) Reno shows drones can be flown and land safely.sa国际传媒�
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Scott Sonner, The Associated Press
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