NASA Working On Air Traffic Control For Drones

NASA Working On 'Highways' For Drones

With all these drones heading into the sky there's surprisingly little regulation in place for managing them.

Well NASA has realised that as more and more people start sending their drones skywards -- whether for consumer or commercial reasons -- someone has got to stop it all from descending into chaos.

Researchers at NASA's Moffet Federal Airfield are working on a complex air traffic control system that would be designed solely for drone aircraft, or indeed any flying aircraft below 400ft.

The system would include provisions to stop drones from flying into buildings and other aircraft while also including classic no-fly zones - preventing any unwanted snooping on federal buildings.

Speaking to the New York Times Parimal H. Kopardekar, a NASA principal investigator explains why this system is so vital.

“One at a time you can make them work and keep them safe but when you have a number of them in operation in the same airspace, there is no infrastructure to support it.”

It's important to note that for now the system wouldn't have direct communication with an off-the-shelf drone. Its principally designed for commercial drones like Amazon Prime Air and Google's 'Wing' project.

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