On May 16th, 2024, NASA orchestrated a face-to-face meeting at Arlington City Hall in Arlington, Texas. The meeting included members from
NASA Ames Research Center's Aviation System Division and Human Systems Integration Division, the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), several local police and fire departments,
Texas Department of Public Safety, the
Department of Homeland Security, industry service suppliers, and multiple other public safety entities in the North Texas region.
The purpose of the event was to share information about
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) with first responders who currently use drones to perform public safety missions. Both public safety and commercial drone delivery operations are expected to increase in number, and largely be flown beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). Leveraging support from companies offering traffic management services is the current standard to enable safe and routine BVLOS operations in a shared airspace environment. NASA briefed the concept of UTM and provided specific examples of the need to safely integrate and prioritize live-saving missions in the National Airspace System (NAS).
