The American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI) Unmanned
Aircraft Systems Standardization Collaborative (UASSC) released its draft
Standardization Roadmap for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Version 2.0) that
outlines the future of voluntary industry standards in the UAV industry.
In this newest roadmap, NAAA ensured more accurate and precise
technical language was used to describe aerial application operations and
technology. NAAA also ensured a study conducted by the Colorado AAA on the
difficulty associated with manned aviators seeing UAVs was included, as well as
an additional study from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological
Engineers (ASABE) that looks at pesticide drift when applied by a UAV.
The new roadmap also covers NAAA’s work bringing UAV potential
drift hazards to the attention of the EPA, stating, in part:
“Currently, USDA’s AgDRIFT model is
the regulatory and industry standard for calculating drift risk for ag aircraft,
ground sprayers, and air blasters. This model has been developed over the years
through extensive research and smaller unmanned aircraft do not fit properly
into the AgDRIFT model. NAAA has provided data to the EPA explaining why the
agency needs to develop a committee to accurately study the drift
characteristics of applications made by UAVs, so this data could be
incorporated into the AgDRIFT model. NAAA also requested that until this
research is conducted and evaluated, the EPA clarify the rules regarding how
UAS can make aerial applications under existing law.”
NAAA submitted comments on the draft 2.0 roadmap detailing
why the section on UAVs doing powerline inspections needs to include
information on agricultural aviators who operate above and below power lines
while making pesticide applications and as such UAVs conducting such work
should be equipped with sense and avoid technology. NAAA also suggested
clarification that standards research on UAS applications need to focus on
drift mitigation in addition to treatment efficacy.
Founded in 1918, ANSI serves as the administrator and
coordinator of the United States private-sector voluntary standardization
system. ANSI oversees the creation, promulgation and use of thousands of norms
and guidelines that directly impact businesses in nearly every sector. ANSI is
also actively engaged in accreditation by assessing the competence of
organizations determining conformance to standards. In September 2017, ANSI
launched the UASSC to coordinate and accelerate the development of the
standards needed to facilitate the safe integration of UAS into the national
airspace system. The UASSC was not chartered to write standards, but to review
areas where standardization is needed.