Delivery Drones Are Coming and the FAA Wants to Be Ready - AnalyticsWeek

Drone technology continues to advance, as more research and development is targeted toward traffic control systems for the small, flying devices. The Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems (NIAS) was recently awarded the bulk of a roughly $1.8 million earmark by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to study and test virtual unmanned traffic management technology, known as UTM. The effort is a partnership among NIAS, an FAA-designated drone test site; Switch, maker of data-center technology; and ANRA Technologies, which produces drones. Switch and ANRA will lead demonstrations and testing of unmanned flight systems, while NIAS will explore some of the system and requirements to operate drone fleets safely. Advances in drone traffic control could not be more timely, say makers of the devices, as companies explore using drones for any number of on-demand deliveries -- from groceries to chicken wings.