UK government teams up with NASA to build drone tracking system

The United Kingdom government is teaming up with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to build a new tracking system for civilian drones, which aims to ensure hobbyists and commercial drone operators operate safely within the same airspace. The proposed system would track and trace all drones flying below 500 feet (150 metres), irrespective of whether they are being flown by commercial or leisure pilots.

Lord Ahmad Tariq, the Under Secretary of State for Transport, confirmed the NASA partnership in the House of Lords. "The Government are in early discussions with NASA about the drone traffic management system," he said. "It is hoped that those discussions will lead to a UK involvement in the development of that system and the participation of UK industry in future trials to test the robustness of the technology." The UK's partnership with NASA follows news that Google, Amazon, and other US companies teamed up with NASA to create an unmanned air traffic control system for drones. One of the proposed ideas would be to hook drones into a cloud-based system, which would provide constant communication, navigation, and surveillance. Whether or not the system will be privately or publicly run hasn't yet been decided.