The Federal Communications Commission will consider initial rules to enable operators of unmanned aircraft systems to gain access to wireless communications links in the 5030-5091 MHz band for non-networked operations.
In a report and order released Friday, FCC noted that dynamic frequency management systems would be used to oversee access to the spectrum and provide operators temporary frequency assignments to support control link communications for UAS.
“We are taking an important step forward to ensure the availability of wireless communications for increasingly important at remote-piloted aircraft activity,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement published Monday.
“The FCC must ensure that our spectrum rules meet the current – and future – spectrum needs of evolving technologies such as uncrewed aircraft systems, which can be critical to disaster recovery, first responder rescue efforts, and wildfire management,” Rosenworcel added.
On an interim basis, the proposed rules would direct operators seeking to access the band for transmission to send a request to the Federal Aviation Administration for approval and deconfliction and complete an online registration form with FCC upon receipt of authorization from FAA.
In January 2024, the commission started the rulemaking process to enable licensed spectrum use for drones.