Government agencies, universities, and some private companies won authorization to make use of drones within the US. Take a peek on the drones at the job.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) estimates that as many as 7,500 commercial drones — ranging in size from the massive wingspan of a Boeing 737 to a small radio-controlled model airplane — may be hovering inside the US airspace by 2018. Beyond the army, there are lots of potential uses for drones, or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), reminiscent of law enforcement, storm tracking, search and rescue, and aerial surveying. But managing drones domestically comes with its own challenges, which still have to be addressed by america government and the non-public companies involved.

The FAA in December deploy six sites to check drone operations across the country. The congressionally mandated sites are tasked with conducting research into the certification and operational requirements for safely integrating commercial drones into the national airspace. The six sites include the University of Alaska, the state of Nevada, the North Dakota Department of Commerce, Texas A&M University/Corpus Christi, Virginia Tech, and Griffiss International Airport in Rome, Big apple.

The FAA’s move to establish drone test locations follows the discharge of a roadmap in November, addressing current and future policies, regulations, and procedures so that it will be required as drones continue to become more mainstream. “We now have made great progress in accommodating public UAS operations, but challenges remain for the safe long-term integration of both public and civil UAS within the national airspace system,” FAA administrator Michael Huerta said within the document’s introductory letter.

Safety tops the list, especially in terms of the logistical challenges of managing drones. “Buildings, antennas, manned airplanes, and other drones could make it a chaotic place, and safety must be the number-one focus of these managing drone implementation,” said Roei Ganzarski, CEO at BoldIQ, in an interview with InformationWeek Government. BoldIQ, a provider of optimization software, recently completed analysis of Silent Guardian, a solar-electric drone to focus on some great benefits of using hybrid technology.

Companies managing drones have to consider logistical planning involving individual drone operations, coordinated drone fleet management, and incorporating drones right into a “manned airspace,” all while processing enormous amounts of real-time data, in accordance with Ganzarski. “When assessing a fleet of drones operating autonomously or maybe semi-autonomously, it becomes impossible for the human brain to process and manage the info to maintain the whole system operating smoothly. It requires sophisticated real-time dynamic optimization software,” he said.

Beyond logistics, another issue is the safety of the drones themselves, and the cargo they are carrying. It is important that systems are in place to give protection to these expensive technologies while in flight and at the ground. Privacy is additionally a primary concern for the general public. Organizations intend to make sure that UAS equipped with cameras don’t violate privacy laws, said Ganzarski.

At the instant, just about all commercial drones are banned by the FAA. But that are meant to change in 2015, when the agency expects to release its guidelines for safely operating drones. Meanwhile, government agencies, several universities, and a handful of personal companies are putting robotic aircraft to good use — and sometimes challenging the FAA’s authority.

Elena Malykhina began her career on the Wall Street Journal, and her writing has appeared in various news media outlets, including Scientific American, Newsday, and the Associated Press. For several years, she was the web editor at Brandweek and later Adweek, where she … View Full Bio

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