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11/22/2024 10:13:25 am

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NASA Building an Air Traffic Control System for Drones

NASA researchers are developing a traffic management control system for aerial drones.

This move is a response to tech companies suddenly developing small delivery drones that raise safety and privacy concerns.

Giant tech companies are involved in developing new drone technology, with Google X recently revealing its Project Wing.

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Google's drones consist of half plane and half helicopter elements that will act as an emergency response system by delivering emergency goods to large groups of people.

Amazon has also launched its own drone delivery package system called Prime Air that will focus mainly on its customers.

Drone technology hasn't been widely tested and is actually banned from commercial use in the United States. Some skeptics say these drones aren't a profitable business since they only deliver small items.

Now, NASA is looking ahead and developing a way to manage these drones. NASA proposes a system that concentrates on airspace just 400 to 500 feet above the ground, an altitude where most drones now fly.

While this system will operate in much the same way as a traditional air traffic control, the NASA system will run on algorithms and computers as opposed to humans in control towers.

The NASA system will also monitor air traffic and weather conditions. Due to their light weight, strong winds may pose a serious flying hazard to drones.

NASA's system will also ensure these drones don't collide with each other or crash into tall structures or low flying objects such as news helicopters. It will also enforce no fly zones, specifically locations near airports.

It's relatively easy to make the drones work one at a time but when there's a number of them in operation flying in the same airspace, there's no system to support it," according to Parimal Kopardekar, a NASA principal investigator.

Kopardekar also predicts drone technology for commercial use will be first used for agriculture and property surveillance in which the drones will be used as flying security cameras.

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