United States
Like Europe, the United States requires a system to manage drone traffic: the UTM system, which is independent but complementary to the existing ATM system. Drones will be integrated with air traffic operating in low altitude airspace without interfering with their operations.
The UTM research carried out by the United States was divided into four stages called TCLs (Technical Capability Levels), with increasing complexity and specific technical objectives:
- TCL1 (2015): drones in agriculture, firefighting and infrastructure monitoring, and technologies such as flight scheduling or geofencing.
- TCL2 (2016): drones in sparsely populated areas and technologies to adjust flight zones or to clear airspaces in case of emergency.
- TCL3 (2018): technologies to ensure separation between drones (detection and avoidance) and ensuring that drones stay in their designated flight zones.
- TCL4 (2019): integration of drones in urban areas and weather forecast, communication and drone technical capabilities technologies.
A transition research team was created to coordinate all activities that are part of the UTM initiative, and a UTM Research Plan was developed to document the objectives and outline the future development of UTM. In addition, the LAANC (Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability) enabled the requesting and approving authorisation process for drone operations.
Faced with the increase in drone operations, the United States’ infrastructure to manage this expansion within the airspace was limited. In response, the UTM Pilot Program has been established to define an initial set of capabilities to support UTM operations, assess technologies and research results, and outline the next steps towards UTM deployment.