As of late January, 2016 the Federal Aviation Administration had granted more than 3,100 Section 333 Exemptions en route to commercial normalized Small UAS access to the National Airspace System (NAS). Through this process various business models are being vetted, while concurrent efforts to establish equipage and procedures for Beyond Line of Sight (BLoS) capability continue. There remain several system components adversely affecting Small UAS, among them are: propulsion, position, navigation and timing (PNT), links for command-and-control and data transmission, batteries, sensors as well as non-hardware related services, certification and training.
Growing and maturing a Risk Class 1-3 commercial UAS industry in the NAS will require advances across all fronts. This panel will discuss the performance and pressure points commercial operators confront on a daily basis, and how industry could address these challenges through targeted product introductions.