Enabling remote UAV identification to enhance safety, drone operator accountability, and compliance with privacy and security regulations.
Challenge
Any vehicle, manned or unmanned, is a potential risk to other people’s safety. Because of that, it’s crucial to be able to easily identify a vehicle and its operator. Currently, the UAS industry lacks the ability to provide complete transparency in unmanned aircraft operations, which elevates the potential risks. The ability to remotely identify drones and UAVs throughout their flight is necessary to enhance safety and drone pilot accountability.
Solving the drone identification issue
Equipping drones with a remote ID function can provide solutions to various UAS industry challenges. Additionally, EU regulations require that all drones operating below 120m must provide a remote recognition of the pilot’s registration number.
Currently, there are two existing drone identification methods – direct remote and network remote identification. LMT has developed a unique remote ID device prototype for the network ID method.
LMT’s remote ID prototype uses cellular network data to verify the accuracy of incoming GPS signals, provides feedback on network parameters, and in the future could facilitate the communication between remote ID devices. This broadens remote drone identification functionalities and enhances overall air space security. Additionally, in the future it could be applied to a broader range of aircraft with further development of the prototype.
The prototype's operational concept
The remote prototype’s operational concept is currently under research and development, yet you can explore an overview of the current concept.
A drone Operator Registration Number that is issued by an EU member state is uploaded to an unmanned aircraft to enable identification of the UAV via mobile network broadcast.
Drone and UAV’s identification information is available to both the authorities and public observers through software, accessible on regular mobile devices.
Public observers only have access to the operator’s ID number without any further details to ensure the security of information and eliminate risks of using the data in a harmful manner. Thus, authorities can check the validity of the drone pilot ID and are granted access to a detailed overview.
You can also explore this video introducing the concept of remote identification. Contact us directly if you have any further questions about LMT’s remote ID prototype and its development.