The ANSI UASSC’s mission is to coordinate and accelerate the development of the standards and conformity assessment programs needed to facilitate the safe integration of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) – commonly known as drones – into the national airspace system (NAS) of the United States. The collaborative is also focused on international coordination and adaptability. The overarching goal is to foster the growth of the UAS market, with emphasis on civil, commercial, and public safety applications. The aim is to describe the current and desired future standardization landscape, articulate standardization needs, drive coordinated standards activity, minimize duplication of effort, and inform resource allocation for standards participation.
The UASSC released version 1.0 of its standardization roadmap in December 2018, and version 2.0 in June 2020. Like its predecessor, version 2.0 of the roadmap identifies existing standards and standards in development, defines where gaps exist, and makes recommendations for priority areas where there is a perceived need for additional standardization including pre-standardization research and development (R&D). The roadmap includes proposed timelines for completion of the work and lists organizations that potentially can perform the work.
Issues are addressed under the broad headings of: 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 overviews of the UAS activities of the FAA, other U.S. federal government agencies, standards developing organizations (SDOs), and various industry groups.
The UASSC roadmap describes 71 gaps where no published standard currently exists to respond to a particular industry need. When a standards developer or other organization initiates or completes work in a specific area identified in one of those gaps, an update is made to the Gaps Progress Report. The current report was published in November 2024 and the next report is expected in June 2025.
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More than 400 individuals from 250 public- and private-sector organizations supported the development of the UASSC roadmap, including representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), other U.S. federal government agencies, standards developing organizations (SDOs), industry, academia, and others. Participation is open to UAS stakeholders that have operations in the U.S. Membership in ANSI is not a prerequisite and there is no fee to participate at this time.
To develop the roadmap, the UASSC established four working groups that typically held online meetings twice a month: WG1 covering airworthiness; WG2 covering general flight operations, personnel training, qualifications and certification; WG3 covering flight operations for critical infrastructure inspections, environmental applications, commercial services, and workplace safety; and WG4 covering flight operations for public safety.
For those who want to receive periodic informational updates about the UASSC, click here. By clicking this link, you consent to the ANSI PRIVACY POLICY. You also consent to allow ANSI to retain your personal information. You may receive communications from ANSI directly related to your request.
As a general matter, ANSI undertakes to respond to national priorities on behalf of the community of interest with the expectation that those who benefit will provide funding to support the Institute’s engagement. While there is no fee associated with participating in the UASSC, ANSI welcomes financial support with appropriate recognition from those who are able to provide it. All sponsorship revenue is directly applied to help offset the Institute’s costs of operating the UASSC.
The reason for undertaking the version 2.0 update was to expand the document’s content, engage subject matter experts not previously involved, identify potentially overlooked gaps, track progress by SDOs to address the recommendations contained in version 1.0, review priorities, and otherwise incorporate feedback. Of 78 issue areas examined, 71 open gaps were identified, meaning there is currently no published standard or specification that covers the issue in question. Each gap includes a corresponding recommendation for action, along with a priority level for producing a standard and the name of a suggested organization(s) that can address the need. Of the open gaps, 47 have been identified as high priority, 21 as medium priority, and 3 as lower priority. In 53 cases, additional R&D is needed. Two version 1.0 gaps were closed, 3 were withdrawn, and 16 new gaps were added.
Many sections of the document were substantially revised or expanded, including such areas as: categories of spectrum applicable to command and control (C2) link and communications, continued operational safety, UAS detection and mitigation, and public safety tactical operations. New gap analysis sections were added related to:
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