The FAA’s original remote ID proposal for R/C model aircraft would have required that all model aircraft transmit their position in real time, once per second, via a cellular network connection, into a network database tracking all flying drones.

This was unworkable for many reasons and was dropped from the final rule.

The original proposal would have required model aircraft flyers to pay a subscription fee, and other costs of network communication, so their drones could be tracked. The primary purpose of this tracking was to sanitize the airspace for Amazon and UPS drone deliveries. It delivered no value to those who would have paid the costs: consumer drone flyers.

I proposed in my comments to the FAA that instead of requiring each craft to communicate to the network, commercial users could merely listen for the RID broadcasts and build their own network.

In fact, this is now the idea that the FAA is proposing.

In the case of widespread and scalable UAS Traffic Management (UTM) deployment, USS will require the capability to monitor drones and other air traffic over long distances in order to manage operations and avert collisions. The project will showcase a remote identification solution comprising B-RID transmitters and field networked RID receivers to communicate broadcasted messages within a federated and integrated UTM network.

Source: Broadcast ID to Network ID Remote ID for Drones – DRONELIFE

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