I read this on the Fox news website.

[schlepprock]

Your drone may soon have to ID itself to officials while it's in the sky

 

[BCBasher]

I read that as they may soon be identifiable to officials if they cared to remotely check the ID of an aircraft doing something dodgy?

Sounds specific to bad apples and not a blanket "don't drone".

 

[Richard R]

The only way something like this could work would be if the FAA could require every UAV (and under the current legislation, all RC aircraft are classed as UAVs) sold in the US to have a transponder type device that would transmit a unique ID. No way any registration number could large enough to be read more than a few 10s of meters away! Boils down to people like the DJI rep giving lip service to public scare.

 

[BCBasher]

I could be wrong but pretty sure it says right in the article our drones have a transponder features built in already, it's just not implemented or the law doesn't have devices to interact with them yet.

 

[Richard R]

Article says "using radio equipment already built into may drones...." Doesn't say which ones and I would be willing to bet that the only transmitter in my phantoms is the lightbridge. Since it is linked and coded to the RC, not likely that it could be modified to broadcast ID and location info. Even if, it would require some serious FW and software modifications. Oh, and by the way, the FAA would still have to deal with the congressional mandate prohibiting any new regulations on hobby RC aircraft including quads.

 

[Mystic Sky Media]

Some proposals being reported are a system where an individual drone transmits a unique identifier that is detectable only by authorized governmental agencies. Another discussion involves generic "pings" that would be detectable by ATC and on-board aircraft radar for the purpose of Collision Avoidance.