FCC Adopts Initial Rules for 'Drone' Operations in the 5 GHz Spectrum Band

The Federal Communications Commission adopted new rules to enable initial drone operations in the 5 GHz spectrum band for wireless communications necessary to safely control the flights of uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS). The use of UAS in the United States is growing quickly: during this decade, UAS operations are expected to triple in terms of the number of devices and see the market expand into in the tens of billions of dollars. These tools are aiding in search and rescue missions, helping farmers, inspecting infrastructure, delivering medicine, and even gathering news. This action establishes initial service rules that allow operators to obtain direct frequency assignments in a portion of the 5030-5091 MHz band for non-networked operations. The new rules rely on dynamic frequency management systems to manage and coordinate access to the spectrum and enable its safe and efficient use. These management systems 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. The rules establish an interim access mechanism in which operators seeking to transmit in the band first submit a request to the Federal Aviation Administration for deconfliction and approval, and, upon FAA authorization, complete an online registration form with the FCC. The interim mechanism will be made available to operators after the rules become effective and the FCC has announced by Public Notice that it will begin accepting registrations.