AeroX Thought Leadership Series

FAA’s LAANC offers model for accelerating UAS integration

By Teri Bristol, CEO, Bristol Consulting LLC

The Federal Aviation Administration spent more than 60 years creating the infrastructure for safe operations in the National Airspace System (NAS) that we enjoy today. By contrast, it has worked little more than 10 years to operationalize the rules, policies and infrastructure that ensure safe integration of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the NAS. While the pace of UAS integration may seem slow to some, I witnessed more change and transformation within the FAA and the aviation industry during the past decade, than in all of my 30 years at the agency combined.

We as a UAS innovation community have made tremendous progress in that relatively short amount of time. More than 880,000 registered drones, including 350,000 commercial drones, operate in the NAS – far more than the 45,000 aircraft that fly daily under traditional air traffic control. Thanks to rules, systems and integration initiatives – including the current one, BEYOND – to register drones, certify aircraft, promulgate UAS rules and provide waivers for novel uses, drones now routinely operate across the country. They are fast replacing legacy methods and technologies for a wide range of operations – from inspecting transportation and utility infrastructure to fighting wildfires. In North Carolina, innovative companies have paved the way for using drones to deliver medicines and fast food, support public safety first responders and provide real-time imagery to inform disaster response and recovery. ?

As chief operating officer of FAA’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO) from 2014-2022, I was honored to oversee teams focused on UAS integration, as well as supporting other new entrant activity – commercial space operations, supersonic flight and high-altitude airspace operations. Each was undergoing rapid development and growth, accelerating change. By 2015, it was apparent that traditional FAA timeframes for development, review and approval of air traffic operations would not be sufficient to meet demand. On the UAS side, pent-up demand required FAA to adopt a more agile approach to achieve our priorities of driving UAS integration, including near airports, normalizing beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations, and deploying automation to improve FAA response times. Collaboration with industry and research partners, particularly NASA, has proved pivotal in exploring, demonstrating, and informing how UAS integration should advance and how FAA systems and processes could support it.

FAA’s Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) is a perfect example of how the ATO adapted its processes in a fast-growing industry to help enable UAS operations. At the time, there were thousands of requests to operate drones on or near airports, which was prohibited without approval. Knowing that the volume of these requests would increase exponentially, we believed that automating the process for routine approvals would deliver a more efficient process. We had to think outside the box.

We started by engaging industry innovators to help us work through the process of automating our complex sets of requirements for airspace approvals. The result: the creation of the UAS Data Exchange, a new platform to facilitate sharing of airspace data between the FAA and companies approved by the FAA to provide LAANC services. These companies, called UAS service suppliers, number more than a dozen today. Airspace authorization requests are processed through UAS service supplier apps and checked against multiple airspace data sources in the FAA UAS Data Exchange before approval or disapproval.

This collaborative process enabled us to launch LAANC in approximately 12 months. It reduces approval times for the tens of thousands of requests from an average 80 days to seconds. Only more complex requests that fall outside the parameters are subject to manual review and approval. Originally deployed to a limited number of airports, LAANC is currently available at 726 airports. At a pivotal moment in time, FAA’s partnership with industry offered game-changing results much faster than its traditional acquisition approach, which can take several years from approval to implementation.

Looking ahead, I see the pace of UAS integration reaching a new tipping point as drone delivery operators become certified under Part 135, the first UAS is certified by FAA, continued BVLOS approvals, and the Remote ID rule requirement coming online in September. These recent accomplishments continue to push toward a UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system allowing for the full market potential of UAS. However, there is still more work to be done in enabling scalable, repeatable, and economically viable BVLOS approvals. It is evident that the UAS industry is seeking a standardized process and methodology for approvals by the results of the BVLOS ARC recommendations.

This development provides a prime opportunity for taking UAS innovation to the next level. FAA’s BEYOND partners, like AeroX , are already supporting company innovators with a state-funded UTM and a guided path to test, demonstrate and gain approval for new vehicle types and operations. Each advancement informs FAA’s rules, processes, and systems to support the next, creating a continuous circle of innovation.

Let’s continue to think outside the box. What other opportunities exist for industry and agency collaborators to solve the current operational and integration challenges? We delivered LAANC rapidly, in approximately 12 months. What other solutions can be implemented between the agency and industry to safely and efficiently accelerate the pace of innovation as we solve the remaining challenges of UAS, UTM and advanced air mobility?

Bristol Consulting CEO Teri Bristol oversaw massive advances in technology and operations at the Federal Aviation Administration while serving as chief operating officer of the Air Traffic Organization from 2014-2022. She leverages her 30-years in air transportation operations and management to help organizations deliver results across complex operational portfolios and develop mutually beneficial public-private partnerships.

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