As early as 2004, NASA’s “Civil UAV Capability Assessment” listed 30 categories of private-sector organizations with a potential interest in UAV use, including those in forestry management, crop dusting, and coastal search and rescue. (Pitchford, n.d.). The number of UAS has since increased to tens of thousands since then. With this expansion comes the security challenges. The FAA has had challenges in regulating UAS use and they continue to update regulations to enable safe and efficient use of UAS.
Notably, even if FAA standards are imposed, safety might still be at risk unless security standards are mandated. The 2011 crash of a CIA drone in Iran underlines that unless a system can withstand hacking, safety remains at risk. In that incident, local authorities claimed that they had diverted the vehicle by hacking its GPS. Their claim gained credence when Professor Todd Humphreys of the University of Texas and a group of U.S. researchers hacked a UAV in front of representatives of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The team spoofed an onboard GPS receiver by mimicking the actual signals sent to the global positioning device to trick the UAV into following different commands.
In more recent times, people have used UAS to cause disruptions to flights and passenger travels. Tens of thousands of passengers have been disrupted by drones flying over one of the UK's busiest airports. The number of aircraft incidents involving drones has grown dramatically in the past few years. In 2013 there were zero incidents, compared to almost 100 last year(BBC, 2018).
With these security threats and disruptions, it is very important to quickly obtain UAS information such as registration number during or after incidents. Previously, owners of small unmanned aircraft were permitted to enclose its FAA-issued registration number in a compartment inside of the device, as long as the compartment could be opened without a special tool. (Ashworth, 2019). However, members of the law enforcement and security communities subsequently expressed concerns that the current rule presents an imminent risk of harm to first responders. Law enforcement and security officials advised that requiring first responders to physically handle or disassemble a drone to obtain the registration number poses an unnecessary safety and security risk to those individuals, as well as to others in the area, because of the potential for the UAS to conceal an explosive device in an enclosed compartment. (Coburn, 2019).
To mitigate the imminent security concerns to law enforcement, the FAA issued new regulations requiring unmanned aircraft systems (UAS or drones) to display their registration number on the exterior of the aircraft, effective February 25, 2019. (Coburn, 2019).
This new rule reflects the challenges and complexity of the UAS industry. Comprehensive rules and standards will continue to change as UAS reaches a wider use and more challenges emerge.
References
Ashworth, S. (2019). Show me the sticker: FAA issues new rules on drone registration labels. Retrieved from https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/business-and-law/show-me-the-sticker-faa-issues-new-rules-on-drone-registration-labels
BBC. (2018, December 20,). Drones ground flights at Gatwick. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-46623754
Coburn, T. (2019). FAA announces new drone rule requiring visible UAS registration number. Retrieved from https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/faa-announces-new-drone-rule-requiring-89675/
Pitchford, M.(n.d.) What's needed to ensure safety and security in UAV software. Retrieved from http://mil-embedded.com/articles/whats-needed-ensure-safety-security-uav-software/
