Through partners, its own internal research staff, and work w​ith NASA, the country’s aviation safety regulator is looking at a range of AI applications. The FAA has a chief scientific and technical advisor for artificial intelligence — machine learning, who is charged with expanding the country’s role in understanding how AI might be deployed in aviation contexts. And the agency is working on a plan, along with NASA, for certifying AI technologies for use in the national airspace system.

“We are harnessing predictive analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to develop streams of data,” Polly Trottenberg, the FAA’s acting administrator, said in a note within one of the agency’s recent four-year research plans. “These capabilities allow us to create new tools and techniques and adopt new technologies.”

But hurdles remain for actually deploying AI. While the FAA has implemented risk management standards for the safety of national airspace, the agency told FedScoop it still needs to “adapt AI risk management methodologies and best practices from the National Institute of Science and Technology,” along with other institutions. The FAA has released several use cases in its AI inventory, but many of them are still somewhat modest, experts told FedScoop. Other uses are still in the research phase. 

There are further constraints, too. While the FAA is investing in research and development related to artificial intelligence, the aviation industry is more broadly facing ongoing safety issues with Boeing aircraft and an overworked population of air traffic controllers. And then there’s the matter of ensuring that flying stays safe, despite excitement about using artificial intelligence.

“It’s still very early days,” noted Anand Rao, a Carnegie Mellon data science and AI professor. “They’re taking a conservative, cautious approach.” 

The FAA declined to make Dr. Trung T. Pham, the agency’s chief AI leader, available for comment, nor did it answer FedScoop’s questions about staff within the agency focused specifically on artificial intelligence. The FAA, along with the Department of Transportation, have also declined to provide further detail about a mention of ChatGPT for software coding that agency staff removed from its AI inventory last year. Still, documents about several AI use cases from the agency, along with interviews with experts, provide insight into the FAA’s approach to the technology.

FAA pursues no-frills approach to AI

When asked about the most promising use cases for AI, a spokesperson for the FAA pointed to several, including predictive analytics that could help mitigate safety risks, assistance with decision support, automating certain processes, and improving engagement through virtual assistants. Some of those use cases have already been disclosed in the Department of Transportation’s executive order-required AI inventory while others are discussed in the agency’s four-year research plan. The DOT recently edited its inventory and some of the use cases appear to have been redacted, though the agency did not respond to a request for comment. 

Some of these AI applications are related to the weather, including a convective weather avoidance model meant to analyze how pilots navigate thunderstorms. The agency is also looking at an effort to use AI to support air traffic controllers, per the four-year research plan, as well as using artificial intelligence to address aviation cybersecurity. And the FAA is studying the use of AI and voice recognition technology to improve flight simulations used in pilot training. Still, many of the AI use cases identified by FedScoop are rudimentary or still relatively early in their deployment, while others remain in the research phase. 

Several that are in use are relatively modest — and reflect the agency’s circumspect approach. The FAA’s Office of Safety and Technical Training, which conducts data analysis and investigations, has already deployed a model for use by the runway safety team. The internal tool assists the team with automatically classifying runway incursions as part of their analysis. FedScoop obtained documents describing how this system works —  but the technology discussed in those documents, Rao said, represent well-tested algorithms that have been around since the 1990s and early 2000s, and not the newer technology used for systems like ChatGPT. 

Another is the “regulatory compliance mapping tool,” which is essentially an internal search engine-esque system for regulatory concepts. The tool is built off a database of documents provided by organizations like the FAA, federal agencies, and the International Civil Aviation Organization, a branch of the United Nations that focuses on aviation. The idea for the tool, which leverages natural language processing, is to reduce “research time from days or weeks to hours,” according to a presentation by the Aeronautical Information Standards Branch dated Sept. 20. 

Still, the tool is “essentially just a database,” said Syed A.M. Shihab, an assistant professor of aeronautics and engineering at Kent State University, and not particularly advanced. While around 175 FAA employees can access the tool, the agency told FedScoop, the platform is used fewer than 20 times a week, according to that same presentation. The FAA, which said the “internal FAA tool” is in the “development phase,” appears to have spent more than $1 million with a company called iCatalyst — which did not respond to a request for comment —  to build it, according to a federal government contracts database. 

“The FAA is continually working to make our processes more efficient. The Regulatory Compliance Mapping Tool (RCMT) is an initiative that can significantly speed up safety research,” the agency said in a statement. In March, the agency said security authorization would kick off later that month and that it had completed a Section 508 self-assessment process. 

Other systems disclosed in the AI inventory either don’t use the technology yet or haven’t been deployed. These include a tool to help transcribe conversations between pilots and another, called ROMIO, meant to help pilots understand cloud structures, according to FAA documents.

FAA’s AI work goes beyond disclosed use cases

Other AI work is ongoing, but it’s not clear if or how it’s been deployed. The FAA has worked with researchers at Georgia Tech and the University of Maryland to use AI for measuring collision risk, according to federal contract records. It also appears to have procured the development and implementation of a machine learning model from a company called Deep AI Solutions for its safety information sharing system. 

The FAA’s work with NASA, meanwhile, includes looking at AI for “runway configuration management, digitization of standard operating practices and letters of agreements, and natural language processing,” per a spokesperson. It also represents NASA’s machine learning airport surface model, which was supposed to help the FAA capture the location of routes, taxiways, and runways using a real-time machine learning system. NASA said this work has helped contribute to a framework it’s working on with the aviation agency. 

And at the MIT-based Lincoln Laboratory, which is funded by the Defense Department and the FAA, researchers aren’t focusing on AI for safety-critical applications, according to Tom Reynolds, who leads the lab’s air traffic control systems group. For example, the lab is researching a technology called “the offshore precipitation capability” to assist with weather radar coverage gaps. “Things that are more advisory and not directly in the loop of deciding where individual aircraft fly, but rather helping air traffic controllers with situational awareness and strategic decision making,” Reynolds said. 

Technically, the FAA has been looking at AI for decades — and lots of preliminary work with the technology does seem to be underway. For example, in March, the FAA announced a data challenge meant to help use artificial intelligence to address problems concerning the national airspace, and it’s recently hosted workshops on machine learning, too. Email records show that the FAA is invited to monthly meetings of the Department of Transportation’s AI task force. 

The FAA is working with industry and international counterparts on an AI roadmap, and developing a certification research framework for artificial intelligence applications with NASA. The plan is focused on developing a way of certifying AI applications that could be deployed in the national airspace in a highly safe way. It’s expected to launch later this year, the space agency said. 

Still, most of the AI work at the FAA isn’t for direct use in aviation. That reality reflects the broader challenge of using the technology in a safety critical context. In meetings with industry, the agency’s chief adviser for aircraft computer software has highlighted the challenge of approving AI software, while Pham, the agency’s AI chief AI, has detailed concerns about traceability, per a blog post on the website of RCTA, a nonprofit aviation modernization group. 

Similarly, a roadmap the FAA is working on with other aviation agencies around the world has encountered several challenges, including issues with predictability and explainability, the tracking of datasets that might feed AI models, training humans to work alongside AI, model bias, and safety.

“Because aviation is a safety critical industry and domain, in general, stakeholders involved in this industry are slower to adapt AI models and tools for decision-making and prediction tasks,” said Shihab, the Kent State professor. “It’s all good when the AI model is performing well, but all it takes is one missed prediction or one inaccurate classification, concerning the use cases, to compromise safety of flight operations.”

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MITRE’s new AI Assurance and Discovery Lab is designed to assess the risk of systems using AI in simulated environments, red-teaming, and “human-in-the-loop experimentation,” among other things. The lab will also test systems for bias and users will be able to control how their information is used, according to the announcement.

In remarks presented at the Monday launch, Keoki Jackson, senior vice president of MITRE National Security Sector, pointed to the corporation’s poll that found less than half of the American public respondents thought AI would have the trust needed for applications. 

“We have some work to do as a nation, and that’s where this new AI lab comes in,” Jackson said.

Mitigating the risks of AI in government has been a topic of interest for lawmakers and was a key component of President Joe Biden’s October executive order on the technology. The order, for example, directed the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop a companion to its AI Risk Management Framework for generative AI and create standards for AI red-teaming. MITRE’s new lab bills itself as a testbed for that type of risk assessment.

“The vision for this lab really is to be a place where we can pilot … and develop these concepts of AI assurance — where we have the tools and capabilities that can be adopted and applied to the special the specialized needs of different sectors,” Charles Clancy, MITRE senior vice president and chief technology officer, said at the event. 

Clancy also noted that both the “assurance” and “discovery” aspects of the new lab are important. Focusing too much on assurance and getting “tangled up in security” could prevent from balancing “against the opportunity,” he said. 

Members of the Virginia congressional delegation were also present to express their support at the event, which was held at MITRE’s McLean, Virginia, headquarters where the new lab is located. The three lawmakers were Reps. Gerry Connolly and Don Beyer, and Sen. Mark Warner. All are Democrats. 

Warner, in remarks at the event, said he worries that the race for the best large language model by companies like Anthropic, Open AI, Microsoft, and Google might be so intense that those entities aren’t building in assurance. 

“Getting it right is critical as any mission I can imagine, and I think, unfortunately, that we’re going to have to make sure that we come up with the standards,” Warner said. He added that policymakers are still trying to figure out whether the federal government houses AI expertise in one location, such as NIST or the Office of Science and Technology Policy, or spreads it out across the government. 

For MITRE, working on AI projects isn’t new. The corporation has been doing work in that space for roughly 10 years, Miles Thompson, MITRE’s AI assurance solutions lead, told FedScoop in an interview at the event. “Today really codifies that we’re going to provide this as a service now,” Thompson said of the new lab.

As part of its approach to evaluation, MITRE created its own process for AI risk assessment it calls the AI Assurance Process, which is consistent with existing standards for things like machinery and medical devices. Thompson described the process as “a stake in the ground for what we think is the best practice today,” noting that it could change with the evolving landscape. 

Thompson also said the level of assurance for that process changes depending on the system and how it’s being used. The consequences for something like Netflix’s recommendations system are low whereas those for AI for self-driving cars or air traffic control are dire, he said.

An example of how MITRE has applied that process to work with an agency is its recent work with the Federal Aviation Administration, Thompson said. 

The FAA and its industry partners came to MITRE to talk through potential tweaks to a standard inside the agency pertaining to software in airborne systems (DO-178C) that doesn’t currently address AI or machine learning, he said. Those conversations addressed the question of how that standard might change to be able to say “this use of AI is still safe,” he said. 

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A presentation dated August 2023 and titled “Advanced Capabilities for Capturing Controller-Pilot dialogue” shows that MITRE engaged in a serious effort to study how natural language processing could be used to help the Federal Aviation Administration, and, in particular, to help with “understanding the safety-related and routine operations of the National Airspace System.”

MITRE, which supported the project through its Center for Advanced Aviation System Development, told FedScoop that the prototype is currently being transitioned to the FAA for “potential operational implementation.” Otherwise, it’s not clear what the current status of the tool is, as the agency’s artificial intelligence use case inventory was last updated in July 2023, according to a DOT page. The FAA did not respond to a request for comment and instead directed FedScoop to the Department of Transportation. 

“Communications between pilots and air traffic controllers are a crucial source of information and context for operations across the national airspace,” Greg Tennille, MITRE’s managing director for transportation safety, said in a statement to FedScoop in response to questions about the documents. “Collecting voice data accurately, efficiently and effectively can provide important insights into the national airspace and unearth trends and potential hazards.” 

The August 2023 presentation describes several ways that natural language processing, a type of AI meant to focus on interpreting and understanding speech and text, could be fine-tuned to understand conversations between air traffic controllers and pilots. The project reported on the performance of different strategies and models in terms of accuracy and provided recommendations. At the end, it also describes a brief exploration of how ChatGPT might be able to help with comprehension of Air Traffic Control sub-dialogues, noting that “the results were surprisingly good.”  

The presentation reveals how the often-overwhelmed aviation agency might try to take advantage of artificial intelligence and comes as the Biden administration continues to push federal agencies to look for ways to deploy the technology. 

At the same time, it also outlines potential interest in ChatGPT. While the Department of Transportation said it doesn’t have a relationship with OpenAI, other documents show that officials within the agency are interested in generative AI.  

The Department of Transportation and ChatGPT

The reference to ChatGPT in the project, though it appears to be provisional and not a core part of the research, is more evidence of how the Department of Transportation might use generative AI tools in the future. FedScoop previously reported, for example, that the DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration had disclosed a use case — described as “planned” and “not in production” — involving “ChatGPT to support the rulemaking processes.”

PHMSA, which said it’s continuing to study the short- and long-term risks and benefits associated with generative AI, has said it does not plan on using the technology for rulemaking. The agency also said that it has an agreement with Incentive Technology Group, worth about several hundreds of thousands of dollars, to explore generative AI pilots. 

PHMSA said that the project did not involve ChatGPT, but instead involved “Azure OpenAI Generative LLM version 3.5.” (OpenAI explains on its website that GPT-3.5 models can be used to understand and generate natural language or code, but PHMSA did not explain whether the reference to ChatGPT in the AI use case disclosure was a mistake or a distinct project from its work with Incentive Technology Group.)

Notably, while other agencies are beginning to develop policies for generative AI, the Department of Transportation has not responded to questions from FedScoop about what policies or guidance it might have surrounding the technology. 

Emails obtained by FedScoop through public records requests show that the Chief Data Officer Dan Morgan had on-hand a “generative AI” guidance document attributed to the government of New Zealand. An email last summer to the Department of Transportation’s AI Task Force from Matt Cuddy, operations research analyst at the DOT’s Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, shows that the agency had made large language models a topic of interest.

A publicly available document from 2019 said that through the task force, the DOT had made transportation-related AI “an agency research & development priority.” 

Last year, FedScoop reported that the Department of Transportation had disclosed the use of ChatGPT for code-writing assistance in its inventory, but then removed the entry and said it was made in error. The department has not responded to questions about how that error actually occurred. Emails obtained by FedScoop show that the incident attracted attention from Conrad Stosz, the artificial intelligence director in the Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer. 

In regard to this story, the Department of Transportation told FedScoop again that the FAA ChatGPT entry was made in error and that the “FAA does not use Chat GPT in any of its systems, including air traffic systems.” It also said that the use case was unrelated to the MITRE FAA project. 

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The legislation, which is called the Drone Evaluation to Eliminate Cyber Threats, or DETECT, Act, could eventually lead to binding rules for the federal agencies that use civilian drones, based on the NIST guidelines.

It also has other components, including directions for the Office of Management and Budget to test those guidelines with one federal agency and to implement reporting guidelines for drone security vulnerabilities. ​​Federal agencies would also be forbidden from buying drones that don’t meet these guidelines without a waiver. 

“As the capabilities of drones continue to evolve and be utilized by both the federal government and the private sector, it’s critically important that they operate securely,” Thune said in a statement. “This common-sense legislation would require the federal government to follow stringent cybersecurity guidelines and protocols for drones and unmanned systems.”

It’s not the first time the two senators have taken action on drone technology. A previous proposal, called the Increasing Competitiveness for American Drones Act, would improve the Federal Aviation Administration’s process for dealing with the technology, which Warner and Thune have argued is opaque and sluggish.

“If we want the drones of tomorrow to be manufactured in the U.S. and not in China, we have to start working today to integrate them into our airspace,” Warner said in a February 2023 statement. 

Specifically, that FAA-focused bill would have the aviation industry create a more standardized approach to evaluating drone launch applications by establishing a “risk methodology.” The legislation spells out how the system would work: Operators using drones under 55 pounds would be required to conduct a risk assessment and open themselves up to potential audit, while those using heavier aircraft would have to undergo a more stringent process. 

Applications for drones up to 1,320 pounds would need an airworthiness certificate and operations would need to send risk assessment materials to the FAA. Any vehicle heavier than that would need to fully certified — just like a crewed vehicle. 

Among other steps, the legislation would also establish a remote pilot certification process, create an associate administration of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) role, and form a UAS certification unit.

Both proposals have support from those representing the UAS industry.

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“We have identified a fix for the technology issue and flights have resumed. We’re working with impacted customers to help them reach their destinations as soon as possible,” a United Airlines spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

United Airlines media relations said in a later email Tuesday that a software update caused the issue, which lasted a little over an hour. It also said the issue wasn’t cybersecurity-related. A previous statement described the issue as “systemwide.”

United Airlines had earlier asked the Federal Aviation Authority to pause departures across the U.S., according to an agency spokesperson. That news was first reported by ABC News.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg responded to the news Tuesday, saying “DOT will make sure UA meets its obligations to affected passengers,” in a post to X, the platform previously known as Twitter.

Editor’s note, 9/5/2023 at 4:57 p.m.: This piece was updated with an additional comment from United Airlines.

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NOTAMs are the notification tool that the agency uses to share critical safety information with pilots before flights takeoff, warning them of closed off airspace, dangerous weather patterns, and other hazards. But the NOTAM system is rife with problems, according to some pilots and other members of the aviation industry. The notices can be long and full of abbreviations, making them wonky and difficult to parse. Earlier this year, the NOTAM program failed after contractors inadvertently deleted files while working with NOTAM databases, an issue that ultimately forced the FAA to halt flight take offs across the country. 

Now, the FAA is facing a major push to modernize the system — a transition that could cost nearly $20 million. With air traffic on the rise, Congress is watching the issue closely, too.

“It’s been a functional system. But as the air traffic system in the airspace has become more crowded, it basically has not — in many respects — kept up,” says Mark Dombroff, a partner at Fox Rothschild who has represented major airlines and focuses on regulatory issues in the aviation industry. “I think the FAA went back to the drawing board, and essentially has now issued this.”

Dombroff briefly worked at the FAA, and also spent time focusing on aviation issues at the Department of Justice. 

Amid pressure to improve NOTAMs, the agencies started reaching out to private companies that might be able to take on a new role in operating the technology behind these notices, according to a market survey and request for information that the agency released earlier this year. 

According to that posting, the FAA is seeking three platforms, including a collection platform, which would involve a web service to upload new NOTAMs, a management platform for processing different kinds of NOTAMs, and a distribution platform that would allow for people to search for various active NOTAMs, as well as archived NOTAMs. Notably, the agency is focused on newer, digital versions of these notices, which — unlike legacy NOTAMs — include data that can be represented in both geo-spatial and textual formats.  

“The FAA requested information from industry to determine existing industry capabilities to provide systems and services for the lifecycle management of NOTAMs,” the agency told FedScoop. “The FAA is still determining our options for future operational management of the NOTAM system based on proposed responses that meet our needs for managing a safe National Airspace.”

The agency said it has received 22 responses from vendors, and that it’s now considering next steps. Traditionally, agencies issue a request for proposals from contractors after publishing a request for information, or market survey, to establish what commercial solutions currently exist and how a contract might be structured.

Notably, the prospect of privatizing some of the FAA’s responsibilities, and particularly the operation of air traffic control, has been controversial within the aviation industry. 

The agency would not say whether which, or if any, private companies are currently involved in running the federal NOTAM system — and directed FedScoop to file a public records request instead. The FAA has a contract with a Maryland-based company called Spatial Front — the company whose contractors deleted files and caused the halting of flights earlier this year —  for assistance with the legacy NOTAM system. The FAA has also hired a firm called Concept Solutions for support with modernizing the NOTAM system. 

Concept Solutions did not respond to a request for comment by time of publication, and Spatial Front referred FedScoop back to the FAA.

“With proper oversight, with proper controls, the privatization of the NOTAM system is not going to be the nose under the tent for broader privatization,” said Peter Goelz, a former National Transportation Safety Board managing director who now works as a senior vice president at the lobbying and crisis communications firm O’Neill and Associates. “The arguments that get made for privatization is — and we’ll see whether this is true or not — is one, that they’re more adroit.”

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Back in 2019, the aviation agency announced a new program called the Privacy International Civil Aviation Organization aircraft address, or PIA, program. The system is designed so that some aircraft can fly under a temporary vehicle address that isn’t directly assigned to the owner registered in the Civil Aircraft Registry — theoretically, anonymizing the vehicle — while also remaining trackable by the FAA, according to the agency.

“Real-time tracking of the geographic location of a specific aircraft is possible, generating privacy concerns for the aircraft operator community,” explains the FAA on its website. The agency adds that PIA is “limiting the extent to which the aircraft can be quickly and easily identified by non-U.S.government entities, while ensuring there is no adverse effect on [air traffic control] services.”

Notably, this is the same program that SpaceX tried to use to prevent the tracking of CEO Elon Musk’s private jet. Vice reported earlier this year that employees at the company did not use the system properly, which eventually enabled the viral (and subsequently banned) Twitter account @ElonJet, which tracked the whereabouts of the billionaire’s aircraft.

The PIA program has received support from organizations that represent the users and manufacturers of private jets. Others, though, see the ability to track these vehicles as a source of transparency and accountability for some of the world’s wealthiest people.

Nevertheless, the PIA program was originally anticipated to be transferred to a third-party provider or providers by the middle of 2020, according to several reports from aviation publications at the time. Jens Henning, the vice president of operations at the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, an aviation trade organization, also said that the FAA had originally indicated the transition would take place in 2020. 

As of now, that transition hasn’t happened. The FAA would not comment on the frequency of user issues with the program in “the interest of privacy.” The agency did not provide a comment on why the transition is running behind by the time of publication.

“The PIA program is currently in Phase 1, with the FAA operating, monitoring and maintaining the service,” an FAA spokesperson told FedScoop. “We are working to transition the service to Phase 2, where a third-party service provider or providers would operate, monitor and maintain it.”

The FAA added: “The Privacy International Civil Aviation Organization (PIA/ICAO) Address (PIA) program will continue without any interruption to users while the FAA investigates the feasibility of transitioning it to a third party. The FAA will base its decision on demand, final requirements and FAA needs.”

Henning, from GAMA, said that the PIA program is one of two systems focused on addressing the privacy of these aircraft. The other is the Limited Aircraft Data Displayed program, a system established back before the PIA program that filters out some information about aircraft before it’s shared with third parties that work with the FAA.

“[T]he aircraft identification is transmitted through ADS-B enabled Mode S transponders to any ground-based receiver — government operated and private networks. This basic aircraft transponder functionality logic was developed in the 1970s and is still core to how an aircraft is identified with a unique address,” said Henning. “The ground receivers are internet-connected, which means an aircraft can be tracked online, which raises security concerns for many aircraft owners as a result of their real-time location being known.”

If and when the FAA transitions the service, there are companies that already provide third-party call signs, and which could serve as providers of the PIA service, according to Henning. Still, this approach may not necessarily be a perfect solution for people looking to completely hide their jets, according to researchers who’ve found that — with enough effort — these vehicles can still be tracked.

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The new law comes after the safety critical system crashed in early January, grounding domestic flights across the United States for nearly two hours.

The incident marked one of the largest examples of a significant federal IT system outage caused by a damaged database file, and has raised questions about the pace of the Federal Aviation Administration’s ongoing Next Generation Air Transportation System modernization initiative, which is known as NextGen.

Federal Aviation Administration Acting Administrator Billy Nolen said in April that his agency has requested $19.6 million to modernize its Notice to Air Missions system and retire aging applications that played a role in its systems going down earlier this year.

Nolen also said at a Senate hearing earlier in February that the FAA is approximately halfway through its modernization effort of the NOTAM system where it is transitioning to the standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) which is intended to promote further global harmonization among neighboring Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs). 

It is also expected to provide improved accuracy and accessibility for pilots, dispatchers and NOTAM consumers. This modernization effort is expected to be complete by mid-2025 although the FAA is looking into ways to accelerate this current schedule, Nolen said.

The bill was shepherded by Reps. Pete Stauber, R-MN., and Mark DeSaulnier, D-CA., and Senators Amy Klobuchar, D-MN., Jerry Moran, R-KN., and Shelly Capito, R-WV.

The FAA task force will be required to accomplish the following: review existing methods for publishing NOTAMs and flight operations information for pilots; review regulations, policies, systems, and international standards relating to NOTAMs, including their content and presentation to pilots; evaluate and determine best practices to organize, prioritize, and present flight operations information in a manner that optimizes pilot review and retention of relevant information; provide recommendations to improve the publication and delivery of NOTAM information; and report to Congress on its reviews and evaluations.

The FAA by September 30, 2024, must complete implementation of a federal NOTAM system and implement a back-up system, and brief Congress on a plan to enhance information delivery through this federal system to promote further global harmonization and provide users of the National Airspace System a consistent format for domestic and international operations.

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The companies involved reflect the range of potential BVLOS applications. One of the drone operations seeking approval is Phoenix Air Unmanned, which uses drones to collect data and conduct power line inspections. Another is UPS Flight Forward, a subsidiary of the package delivery company that primarily focuses on developing drone technology. 

“The FAA recognizes BVLOS operations provide significant safety, societal, and economic advantages and benefits,” said David Boulter, the FAA’s acting associate administrator for aviation aafety, in a request for comment posted to the Federal Register. “[T]he FAA seeks public comments that address how advances in technology, standards, and operational strategies to safely demonstrate UAS BVLOS operations can be applied without adversely affecting safety.”

Right now, these companies need exemptions from existing FAA regulation in order to fly drones beyond pilots’ visual line of sight. But before the FAA grants exemptions that would allow them to move forward, the agency wants input on a range of logistical and safety questions surrounding BVLOS.

For instance, the FAA is looking for guidance on potential “vehicle-to-vehicle communications,” which could help stop drones from colliding with one another. The FAA is looking for input on regulating detect-and-avoid systems performance standards, as well as third-party services that could assist drone operators with their detect-and-avoid systems. Officials want feedback on rules that govern the airspace separating drones and crewed aircraft, too.

A twenty-day comment period opened on Thursday and a final decision is expected later this summer. If cleared, the companies’ projects could guide how the FAA regulates drone operations in the future.

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The wireless communications contract is part of the agency’s enterprise mobile devices and services program issued by the VA.

As part of the contract, Verizon will provide the department with the delivery of voice, text and data services as well as tools, materials, labor, management support and equipment. 

Verizon will also through the contract support wider VA network objectives including the adoption of mobile edge computing and software-defined, wide-area network technology.

Details of the contract come after Verizon was last month awarded a $2 billion contract to build and operate a next-generation communications platform to support the agency’s critical missions applications across the National Airspace System.

In October, the State Department also awarded Verizon a $1.6 billion task order to upgrade technology and network infrastructure at about 260 embassies, consulates and other diplomatic facilities around the globe.

That task order includes the implementation and management of network solutions for the department’s overseas footprint, including across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America.

Correction, 5/16/23: This story was updated to clarify that the award was not made through the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract.

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