Apr 22, 2022

A new ASTM International standard (F3548) will be used to satisfy requirements that are expected to be common for traffic management of uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS), commonly referred to as drones. 

The flight operations subcommittee of ASTM’s unmanned aircraft committee (F38) developed the new standard on UAS traffic management (UTM) with input garnered across multiple continents and a diverse group of industry contributors.  

The new standard is focused on strategic aspects of UAS operations, including conflict detection, aggregate conformance of operations to their operational intents, constraint awareness, and situational awareness in the event of nonconforming or contingent operations. These elements codify regionally-validated best practices for safe, efficient entry into UTM/U-Space airspace. The committee plans to evolve the standard to address increasingly complex strategic aspects of UAS operations and potential certain tactical aspects of UAS operations. 

"Aviation history is full of lessons learned that have improved operations and in many instances, is an outcome attributable to consensus-based standards,” said Amit Ganjoo, co-chair for F38 working group on UTM interoperability. “We add to this rich legacy as we announce the world's first interoperability standard for UTM. Uncrewed aircraft and the world they operate in will extensively rely on data exchanges. This standard will take a huge step towards implementing these innovative technologies into our daily lives." 

“We’re pleased to share this new standard, which represents a culmination of four years of broad industry and multi-national government collaboration, technical validation, and early adoption around the world,” said Subcommittee Co-Chair Michael Glasgow. “Interoperable, performance-based separation is a key enabler for the future of safe, uncrewed operations. Through the hard work of this committee, this standard establishes a fault-tolerant, digital exchange enabling a future harmonized airspace and aligns to key regulations, including the European U-space entry into force in 2023.” 

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