Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Regulations will require most uncrewed aircraft, or drones, to transmit identification and location information. Hidden Level’s Airspace Monitoring Service (AMS) technology has been created to track, monitor, and validate drones, even if they do not comply with new FAA requirements.
Remote ID Requirements
The immense growth of uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) and the necessity to maintain safe airspace sparked the new regulations to be created. The FAA reported over 865,000 registered drones as of May 2022. The estimates show that number growing to 1.4 million by 2024.
The FAA will require all drones that must be registered, operating in U.S. airspace, and not flying in an FAA-Recognized Identification Area (FRIA) to have Remote Identification (RID) capabilities. RID is the ability of a drone to provide identification and location information that other parties can receive in real-time. Remote ID provides airspace awareness and allows the FAA, law enforcement, and other federal agencies to find the control station when a drone is flying in restricted airspace or flying in an unsafe manner. Remote ID will also lay the foundation of safety and security for advanced drone operations. As of December 2022, all drones made or sold in the U.S. will need to support RID. As of September 2023, all drone pilots must operate drones in accordance with remote ID.
Jeff Cole, CEO and co-founder of Hidden Level commented, “When it comes to integrating the FAA’s broadcast Remote Identification in drone tracking systems, Hidden Level is way ahead of the game. Our AMS not only receives RID signaling in its coverage area, but also verifies it, addressing two significant gaps in the RID system.”
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The gaps mentioned appear when a drone, intentionally or unintentionally, fails to broadcast RID information, broadcasts false RID information, or is broadcasting information, but the information is not being received. The AMS technology uses an additional local network of passive RF sensors installed on buildings, rooftops, and cell towers to detect drones.
Hidden Level AMS also reviews and validates RID signals by correlating “fine angle estimates” from sensors on received RID broadcast messages (Hidden Level).
