Navigating the skies: examining the FAA’s remote identification rule for unmanned aircraft systems

As technology and innovations in unmanned aerial vehicles progress, so does the need for regulations in place to create safe and controlled flying scenarios. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a governing body under the United States Department of Transportation that is responsible for a wide range of regulatory activities related to the United States airspace. In a recently published final rule, the FAA addresses several concerns such as the need for a system to identify all aircrafts flying in national airspace, as well as the implementation of a separate system from the prevalent Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast system to prevent interference with manned aircrafts. Their solution to these concerns is the deployment of remote identification (RID) on all unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) flying under its implied jurisdiction. While US governing agencies retain the use of the word UAS for now, the International Civil Aviation Organization terminology is remotely piloted aircraft systems. The FAA describes the RID implementation as a “ Digital license plate” for all UAS flying in the United States airspace. They outline additional policies including several options for compliance, operating rules, and design and production guidelines for manufacturers. As the September 2023 deadline for compliance draws near, this article highlights possible deployment applications and challenges.