Bruce McPherson

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has released a working draft of Version 2.0 of the Standardization Roadmap for Unmanned Aircraft Systems for public review and comment. The roadmap is being developed by ANSI’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Standardization Collaborative (UASSC).

The UASSC aims to coordinate and accelerate the development of the standards and conformity assessment programs needed to facilitate the safe integration of UAS into the national airspace system, with international coordination and adaptability. It is focused on the use of UAS in civil, commercial, and public safety applications.

The roadmap identifies existing standards and standards in development, defines where gaps exist, and recommends additional work that is needed, including a timeline for its completion and organizations that can perform the work. It is intended to help clarify the current standardization landscape, minimize duplication of effort among standards development organizations (SDOs), help inform standards participation, and facilitate the growth of the UAS market.

Issues addressed in the roadmap include airworthiness, flight operations, personnel training, qualifications and certification, infrastructure inspections, environmental applications, commercial services, workplace safety, and public safety operations. The document also includes brief introductions to the UAS activities of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), other U.S. federal government agencies, SDOs, and industry.

Specific goals for Version 2 of the document include expanding the content to include topics such as spectrum, urban air mobility, and recreational operations; engaging subject matter experts not previously involved; identifying potentially overlooked gaps; tracking progress by standards developers to address the roadmap’s recommendations; reviewing priorities; and otherwise incorporating feedback.

ANSI president and CEO S. Joe Bhatia commented: “The UASSC has continued to make considerable progress over the past year to identify the standards needed to support the increasing use of UAS for civil, commercial, and public safety operations. At this time we are inviting comments from the broad community of stakeholders to inform the further development of the document.”

The draft roadmap can be downloaded from the ANSI website here.