AASHTO Journal - FCC Adopts New Wireless Spectrum Rules for Drones

The Federal Communications Commission recently adopted new set of rules to enable initial drone operations in the 5 gigahertz or GHz spectrum wireless communications band in order to safely control uncrewed aircraft systems or UAS flights.

[Above image by the FAA]

The agency said that UAS operations in the U.S. are expected to triple in terms of the number of devices being operated over the next decade, with drones performing a wide variety of tasks, such as aiding search and rescue missions; inspecting infrastructure; delivering medicine; and even gathering news.

“We are already starting to live in the future we’ve long imagined: uncrewed aircraft systems are fighting wildfires, supporting news gathering, delivering packages, and supporting national security,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement.

“The FCC is working hard to meet the spectrum needs of remote-piloted aircraft activity,” she added. “We will continue to work with our public and private partners to support the best outcomes for public safety, wireless services, consumers, and our economy.”

This action establishes initial service rules that allow operators to obtain direct frequency assignments in a portion of the 5 GHz band for non-networked operations, the agency noted, with the new rules relying on dynamic frequency management systems to manage and coordinate access to the spectrum.

The FCC said such management systems should provide requesting operators with temporary frequency assignments to support UAS control link communications with a level of reliability suitable for operations in controlled airspace and other safety-critical circumstances.

The new rules also establish an “interim access mechanism” through which drone operators seeking to transmit in the band must first submit a request to the Federal Aviation Administration for de-confliction and approval, and, upon FAA authorization, complete an online registration form with the FCC.

This “interim mechanism” will be made available to drone operators after the rules become effective and the FCC has publicly announced that is accepting registrations, the agency added.

State departments of transportation across the country are already using drones in a variety of applications.

The Arizona Department of Transportation said its technicians now use a drone to monitor for cracks, leaks, worn parts or other problems within 50 pump stations that remove storm runoff from many sections of Phoenix-area freeways.

The Arizona DOT added that drones let its crews examine areas that are difficult for them to access, including upper sections of pipes that lift stormwater from a pump station’s storage well.

The Washington State Department of Transportation’s Tacoma-area maintenance crew is currently testing drone technology that can remove graffiti from hard-to-reach places; applying paint from aerial positions to cover graffiti on bridge abutments and other types of transportation-related infrastructure.

Additionally, earlier this spring, the Minnesota Department of Transportation used drones for its “aerial mapping operations” in the northwestern part of the state; using the aerial devices to help create a record of existing infrastructure and landscapes along rights-of-way managed by the agency for transportation planning and highway design.

In February, several state agencies in Alaska – including the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities – field tested a drone-based avalanche mitigation technology; a system that uses drones to place and then remotely trigger explosives to create controlled avalanches in order to protect transportation infrastructure.

In December 2023, the FAA issued a wide-ranging drone waiver to the aeronautics division of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation that allows the agency to fly drones over the state’s entire railroad network outside the remote drone operators’ fields of vision.

And in August 2023, the Georgia Department of Transportation began participating in a “drone as a first responder” or DFR program along a stretch of I-85.