As consumer drones become more affordable and take to the skies, some manufacturers are implementing systems to avoid future catastrophe. I'm Jonathan Strickland, and this is tech stuff daily. In many parts of the world, you can buy a drone up to a certain weight and operate it without any need
for a license or other legal documents. You might be expected to follow certain rules, such as keeping your drone away from the airspace around airports, but for the most part, there aren't that many rules and restrictions to navigate around. That's exactly what the drone manufacturers want, and in an effort to preserve the status quo, some of them are coming up with air traffic systems. In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration or f a A has a
few requirements for drone pilots. If you plan to operate your drone commercially, for example, on a professional film or video shoot, you'll need to apply for a remote pilot license. This requires taking an aeronautical knowledge test. Pilots have to be at least sixteen years old and go through a vetting process with the Transportation Safety Administration or t s A. Once registered, commercial pilots have some further rules to follow. They must keep their vehicles within line of sight at
all times. They have an altitude ceiling limit of four hundred feet, and the drones have a speed limit of one hundred miles per hour. They must fly the drones during the day, and pilots have to avoid flying drones over crowds of people, and they're not allowed to control them from a moving vehicle. Recreational pilots have fewer requirements. You still have to register your drone with the f a A if the drone weighs more than point five
five pounds. Failure to do so could result in a fine if your drone is ever involved in an accident. There's also an age requirement for recreational pilots, but that's down to thirteen years old. You're not allowed to fly within five miles of an airport or near emergency responders. Generally speaking, you just need to follow the same basic guidelines at the pilot of a remote controlled airplane would
adhere to. One of the companies trying to make sure regulations don't get more restrictive is d j I, a drone company with headquarters in China. The company hopes to stay out ahead of regulatory agencies like the f a A in the United States or the Civil Aviation Authority in the UK. This is similar to how the video games industry voluntarily assigns ratings to video games to indicate how old a players should be to experience those games. It's all in an effort to self regulate before some
other entity comes in and starts giving orders. So what are the details behind dj ees strategy. First, the drones aren't going to communicate with existing air traffic control systems. They will communicate over Wi Fi frequencies, specifically the two point four and five point eight Gigga Hurts WiFi bands. The drones will broadcast information such as their position, velocity, and altitude, as well as the make and model of
the drone. The system, dubbed arrow Space, will allow pilots to include additional information if required by their respective countries. The information could include contact information for the pilot or the registration number for the drone if its size and operation requires such a number. A ground station will be able to detect, track, and identify drones within a five kilometer radius. These stations can be in fixed locations such as the outskirts of airports, or they can be installed
inside vans and turned into mobile air traffic systems. The WiFi signals are on an entirely different frequency from those used by air traffic control. According to d j I, this decision was necessary. If a TC picked up all the drones in an area, the signals might make it more challenging to identify and assist incoming aircraft. It becomes a problem of separating the signal from the noise. Because d j I drones already have WiFi capabilities, there's no
need to upgrade older models with physical alterations. The system can be rolled out as a software patch. D j I drone owners just need to update their drones system to incorporate the new features. As the skies fill up with more drones, from those operated by hobbyists to commercial unmanned aerial vehicles, delivering packages to your front door, systems like the one d j I is implementing will become more important. It's possible that governments may step in at
some point if things get even more hectic. For the time being, these industry initiated systems may do the trick nicely. To learn more about drones, robots, and other electronics. Subscribe to the tech Stuff podcast. Each episode is a long form exploration of some aspect of technology, from specific gadgets to the stories behind famous tech companies. That's all for today, See you again soon