FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has shared with her colleagues proposed rules to enable wireless communications for uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) – ground control stations, software and communications systems that control drones – used in the 5 GHz band. If adopted by a vote of the full Commission, the action will establish service rules to enable operators to obtain direct frequency assignments in a portion of the 5030-5091 MHz band for non-networked operations.
“We are taking an important step forward to ensure the availability of wireless communications for increasingly important remote-piloted aircraft activity,” said Rosenworcel. “The FCC must ensure that our spectrum rules meet the current – and future – spectrum needs of evolving technologies such as uncrewed aircraft systems, which can be critical to disaster recovery, first responder rescue efforts, and wildfire management.”
The Report and Order (R&O) would rely on dynamic frequency management systems (DFMSs) to manage and coordinate access to the spectrum and enable its safe and efficient use. These DFMSs would provide requesting operators with temporary frequency assignments to support UAS control link communications with a level of reliability suitable for operations in controlled airspace and other safety-critical circumstances, according to the agency.
To enable operations in the band during the interim period before the DFMS is in operation, the rules would, on an interim basis, require operators seeking to transmit in the band to first submit a request to the FAA for approval and to ensure there’s no conflict. Upon FAA authorization, operators need to complete an on-line registration form with the Commission.
The R&O would fulfill the initial step previewed in the National Spectrum Strategy released in November of 2023, in which the FCC, in coordination with the NTIA and the FAA, would facilitate limited deployment of UAS in the 5030-5091 MHz band, in advance of future study of the band.
The new rules would not address remaining issues on which the Commission sought comment in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in this proceeding. Specifically, the R&O would not address network-based operations in the 5030-5091 MHz band, or whether FCC rules for various flexible-use spectrum bands are sufficient to ensure co-existence of terrestrial mobile operations and UAS use. It also doesn’t address the process for UAS operators to obtain a license in the aeronautical VHF band to communicate with air traffic control and other aircraft.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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